Cheese Weasels Get Dirty In Utah

[Stichill]

Monday morning we left Salina, Kansas bright and early, bound for Palisade, Colorado where we would meet up with our buddy who was riding in from Colorado Springs.

We stopped for breakfast in Russell, Kansas, home of the late Senator Bob Dole.


Food and service were excellent. By the way, masks were being worn nowhere we went on this trip, which really made everything so much more enjoyable.


Colorado may be known for its wonderful Rockies, but the eastern plains also cover a vast part of the state and are pretty featureless and boring, at least looking out the window from the interstate. It seemed far more tedious than crossing Kansas. It didn't help that the road condition deteriorated markedly the moment we crossed the border from Kansas. This picture might be from the far western edge of Kansas just before Colorado, judging by the relatively good appearance of the road surface.


Once we hit Denver, we encountered a lot of traffic and construction, but we got through pretty well without any jam-ups. We had one close call with road debris coming into the city. The had been an accident somewhere ahead of us because we had to swerve to miss an entire front fascia and then we saw damaged vehicles along the left shoulder. Speaking of swerving, on the plains of Colorado we were passing a junky little car on a dead-flat, dead-straight section of road with no one around. Suddenly the car quickly drifted left until it was occupying 75% of our lane and was moving us onto the left shoulder. My buddy hit the horn and woke up the errant driver.

The rest of the way across Colorado on I-70 west of Denver was crowded with generally bumpy / potholed / uneven road conditions. Gas mileage of course suffered greatly, which was exacerbated by the ridiculously high fuel prices in Colorado, perhaps $0.50 to $0.80 higher per US gallon than Kansas. Thankfully road conditions improved once we got closer to Glenwood Springs.


Somewhere, maybe west of New Castle, Colorado it really started to take on that southwest character.


When we reached our motel at Palisade, Colorado the temperatures were fairly hot, about 97° F but tolerable in the low humidity.




We got the bikes unloaded, unpacked our gear, and headed off to a craft brewery for some dinner.








Palisade is a nice small town, somewhat trendy with wine / winery culture and known for peaches as well.


That evening we settled into the conversation area built where there once might have been a swimming pool. The motel was popular with groups of women, making us all wish we were 25 and single again!


Next installment: Riding to Mexican Hat, Utah