Oregon, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, etc

[pdedse]

Up to this point in the trip...6 riding days to Illinois, 6 days visiting mom there, then Springfield, MO 1 night, Topeka, KS 3 nights and I was to spend 3 nights in Denver as well. As promised, my sis had dinner waiting for me after the long ride, basically all Saturday, the 10th of Sept.

Didn't spend much time site-seeing in Denver, rather just got a feel for what it's like to live in a metropolitan downtown area. Everything is within walking distance...that's kind of nice. Sis lives 5 minute walk from work, 5 minutes from grocery store, 5 minutes from outstanding restaurants...but a good 30-40 minutes to escape from it all.

I live in Gresham, OR, about 25-30 minutes from downtown Portland. But I'm only 10 minutes from work and country roads, so that's not too bad.
Confluence of Platte River and Cherry Creek

The Platte was a river that we always crossed when I was a kid traveling north from KS to NB to visit the grandfolk's farm. I enjoyed connecting the rivers on this trip geographically.

You look at views like that and wonder how there could ever be a hill anywhere.

Yep! And I love that feeling...of course, in modern times we know the Rockies, will come...the sun will rise...but first peoples? What made them so sure things would be better by marching toward the sunset, sunrise? It's a good feeling out there to think the cb has taken me this far, why shouldn't it continue to do so?

Thank you for capturing the beauty of the plains states. "Flat" is sometimes mistaken for "boring", but your story and pictures dismisses that notion.

Thanks, EmptySea...the view from beartooth is easy to see see beauty... the view from west oberlin, ks has a beauty of its own...maybe growing up in ks was training to appreciate the latter

No reason at all. Your story answers in the affirmative—again—the question of whether the CB is an OK touring bike.

No reason at all. Your story answers in the affirmative—again—the question of whether the CB is an OK touring bike.
You mean there was some doubt to that?!? 9.7 times out of 10 it's attitude I'd say...and how much time you got.

Terrific reportage and photos. Thanks so much for sharing.

Thanks for taking a look!

I love it ...thanks time to plan.. a long ride...


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I hope your long ride becomes reality.

You mean there was some doubt to that?!? 9.7 times out of 10 it's attitude I'd say...and how much time you got.
Not in my mind, but there was a quite lengthy discussion about it once, and it raises its head from time to time.

You mean there was some doubt to that?!? 9.7 times out of 10 it's attitude I'd say...and how much time you got.
Not in my mind, but there was a quite lengthy discussion about it once, and it raises its head from time to time. Right! I've seen a bit of your road trips. AND...my only sib I didn't get to visit this trip lives in Adelaide...you guys are prolly neighbors! : )
Day 10: Denver to Green River, UT: 361 miles

Tuesday, the 13th. Weather was kind of getting iffy, colder and colder temps seem to be in store for me in the mountains. I had originally thought about heading for Yellowstone, but a news report of some snow there (later a member here said it wasn't all that), but also me running out of time made me think the best thing was to leave that for another trip and take a more linear route home, yet still not hurried. Leaving Denver meant for me getting back on 70, and soon I was enshrouded in misty fog, and I was happy to already have every stitch of clothing I could manage to get on for the temps were at 37 in the highest elevations.
Frisco, CO, some 11,000ft





The Eisenhower Tunnel is 1.7 miles (2.7k) long and its elevation is 11,158...pretty cool structure although I didn't stop to take pics. It was the beginning of the descent and I was happy to be headin' down the mountain and not too cold nor wet.
Vail, Avon, Edwards, Gypsum...some names I had only heard of before and if you had asked me before the trip, I wouldn't have guessed they were off I-70, but no stops, it just feels too good to ride sometimes and enjoy what you and the bike are doing. Plus it was warming up a little and that made me want to just keep going.


Really need to come back another day with more time to ride and hike. Glenwood Springs canyon area looked very inviting.


At Glenwood Canyon, stopped for yet another Subway sandwich, but this time I got behind some Amish gents who were ordering for the entire family, at least 15 sandwiches, and it totalled $178 which the guy paid for with 2 $100 bills. Cool. Time to head for Grand Junction. Another town, that if you think about its name, it ought to cause you to think about gas. I did fill up, but...there wasn't a lot else for sometime after.