Colorado Cruiser: Chimney Rock and Scotts Bluff

Day 1 of Rushmore and Yellowstone tour

My good friend John asked me months ago if I wanted to go for a long ride with a group from Phoenix. They were coming up to Colorado, then on to the Black Hills of South Dakota, Devil's Tower, and Yellowstone.

After talking it over with Nannette, we decided that we would go.

We had an interesting few weeks leading up to the trip. First, Nannette took our granddaughter Sydnee, a nephew Jace, and our daughter Kadi to Hawaii for 12 days. She got home on Wednesday and were leaving on the following Monday.

On that same Wednesday our oldest daughter called to say her refrigerator had gone out and all her food was spoiled. Then my son called to say his car had broken down. It turned out to be a seized engine. Finally my youngest daughter's brakes were on the verge of going out. They shuddered violently every time she hit the brakes.

I was petrified every time the phone rang, thinking our 4th child would be calling with a major problem for me to fix, but she never did.

I didn't think we could get everyone's problems solved in time to go on the ride. But Saturday we helped them all get their problems solved, and for the most part, they solved it themselves. We've got great kids.

We did have one other thing happen to us. Jace, the nephew that went to Hawaii was supposed to get on a plane home Saturday evening, but due to bad traffic and checkin lines around the hotel, he missed his flight. Jace had to stick around 1 more day, and this time, Nannette would take him to the airport 4 hours before his flight.

SO.... Saturday afternoon 5 bikes show up in Colorado Springs. They were on the road for 2 days coming up from Arizona and had a great couple of days.

They called to invite us to meet them for dinner, but Nan was still busy with things, so I rode my bike over to Outback Steak House to meet the people I'd be riding with for the next week. We had a great dinner and laughed allot as we told stories of motorcycle trips, mishaps, and embarrassing moments.

2 Bikes checked into a hotel for the weekend, and 3 bikes followed me back to our home. They'd stay with us for the weekend.

At dinner, everyone had decided to come to church with me at 8:00 in the morning. So early Sunday morning I made a bit of breakfast and all of us at my house headed out to church. We had intended for Nannette to drive the ladies to church in our car, but she had the car at the airport, so the ladies had to figure out ways to ride motorcycles with a dress on.

We had a great time at church, then met back at my home for lunch.

The Airzona group rode to Garden of the Gods to look around and take pictures but they had to cut it short when a storm swooped down off the mountains.

Everyone met up at my home that evening for a big dinner of Pulled Pork and BBQ Brisket. We ate and chatted for a log time, then the hotel group headed back.

Monday morning we all got up early to eat breakfast and finish packing up. We were on the road 8:00, but when we stopped to gas up, one of the bikes wouldn't start again. We pushed it into a parking spot and started diagnosing. I ran back home to get a few extra tools, but they found the loose battery terminal before I could get back. We met the others at their hotel and were on the road by 9:00.

By 9:15 we were stopped again. Highway 24 was under construction and we got stopped waiting for a chance to get past. After 20 minutes we figured it was going to take too long, so I led us on a little back country way around the construction. We took side roads out to the town of Elbert, then North to Kiowa, and finally out to Limon Colorado.

We met up with another couple whose wife had flown into Denver on Sunday, then stayed the night there. They had to wait about 45 minutes for us to fix a bike and detour around construction.

From Limon we headed North. We rode allot of straight roads until we arrived in Bush for lunch. We had a couple of false starts until someone pointed us to the Homestead Cafe. We had a pretty good lunch, then head North again.

Eventually we wound up at the Chimney Rock National Monument. It is in Nebraska and was a major landmark on the Oregon and Pioneer trail. We got some good pictures of all the bikes and riders with the rock behind us, then went in to study a bit of the history. Many of us have ancestors that came across this trail, either in wagons or hand carts.

From Chimney Rock we rode another 20 miles up to Scotts Bluff. Another landmark of the Pioneer trail. We rode up to the top of the bluff to see some great views. The road up was pretty cool, 3 tunnels and allot of winding turns. It was so good I rode it twise, the second time with Nannette on the back.

By the time we'd ridden to the top, then come back down and toured the visitor's center we were all exhausted and ready to end the day. We rode to Torrington Wyoming and checked into our hotels, then met back up in a truckstop cafe for dinner. Apparently that is the only restaurant that stays open past 8:00.

We had some good food, but someone decided to get hot wings and share them. They were so good we ordered a second batch.

I started sorting pictures and videos through the meal. After dinner I came back to the hotel, and now I'm sitting here writing this blog and uploading photos when I'd much rather be asleep. Oh well, rest is for the weak.

BBQ Dinner at my house