[18/09/2024 – 25/09/2024[

Our Last Week – Whenever You Read IT

Well now that our flights are booked, this journey is undeniably coming to an end. Not yet however, and we still have some way to go, and discover all the wonders, both the US and Canada have to offer. And there are quite a few, the landscape ones you can read and look at, but the thing I found most interesting this week was a discussion we had with someone in the Cedar Pass Campground. The guy was a former deputy Sheriff in St. Louis, and he said that he is very glad that after his service he got away with all his guns. As if you are running around with a gun you look at the world different and you see problems. And problems come find you. He said that since he is not carrying anymore – not on the job, and not privately – he is much more joyful in his daily life. One more thing he spoke about was the fact that up until recently he had a very tight schedule that he adhered to, and it is the first time that he has taken a vacation, since a few years. And he still needs to remind himself that currently he does not need to follow that tight schedule. The discussion was quite contrary to what we had the other time shortly before Yellowstone, and to me it was very refreshing. Especially since we are in the region people commonly refer to as fly-over-country.

Wednesday: Grand Junction

This was the usual blog rest day. Stefan already started the video cut on Tuesday, and was done with them by eleven. Meanwhile i went to replace my riding pants. The ones i had were good but after nine months of almost daily wear, they were done. In addition they are not really good in rain, of which i assume we will see some more the coming weeks. Let’s see if the new pair keeps what it is promising. The blog had a bit of an issue, as i ran into an arbitrary file limit. Basically i had to insert more coin towards the hoster and it will be running for the rest of our trip. – note to self: host it yourself, properly –
Later in the afternoon Stefan went for a run, this was the third time in September and if he keeps going like this he would have a below two hour time on his first half marathon. even though currently he declines any ambition to participate in a half marathon. Let’s give him some time.
One last thing, we want to ride through the Rocky Mountain National Park, but for that one you still need an additional timed entry pass, a reservation. A 40% contingent has been released on August first with the remaining 60% being released at 7 pm on the evening before the entry. We plan to enter on the 20th – Friday. Come 7 pm Stefan starts to shout my name in order to hook the reservation, and we succeeded even though he got one from 9 – 11 and i got one from 11 – 1. I had to create my own account as he was not allowed to book two. Anyway that reservation did us no good as it was for the 19th and not the 20th. Idiots at work.
At least we were successful and in addition booked a room at the Hot Sulphur Springs about 40 km off of the east entrance of the park.

Thursday: Grand Junction – Hot Sulphur Springs

Even though we mostly rode on the I 70 towards east the Greenwood Canyon was pretty cool, and due to cleanup on the interstate we spent about 120 minutes at a really nice resting area in the canyon. Had a short stretch of gravel towards Kemmerling, but almost not worth to mention. The landscape we rode through however, definitely is worth mentioning, as it is simply beautiful.
We arrived at about 5 pm, just enough time for a quick coffee, a soak in the hot pools, before we made a second attempt in reserving the entry slot for the Rocky Mountain National Park. Succeeded again, and this time for the correct day. Dinner was served in “the deans public house”, which turned out to be an unexpected gem in the middle of nowhere, and we definitely had the best food in the US thus far. We as well discovered the distillery of “Idlewild” which make good whiskey and bourbon and an even better gin. Another quick soak after dinner and off to bed.

Friday: Hot Sulphur Springs – Dutch George Campground

The ride through the Rocky Mountain national park was spectacular as expected, even though for Stefan he does not make it into the best of three US national parks thus far. It was the highest we have been in both Central and North America with clocking in at an elevation of 3700 m. After we cleared the park Stefan surprised me a bit eith stating that he ain”t going to ride for another 120 km and that we are going to look for a campground. The first two we looked at were fully booked but at the Dutch George Campground we got lucky. Next to a creek, this promises to be a good night. But first running. Turns out i ran for 12 km and all of that slightly below 6 min/km. I am quite happy with that. By the time we finished dinner the campground was full with people still looking for open spots.

Saturday: Dutch George Campground – Chadron

My morning started at 04:45. And after preparing a cup of coffee i moved with my sleeping bag into the hammock. This is where parts of this blog entry have been written. As sunrise is only at 06:45 i had about an hour of stars and the moon over me, and later on dawn. It was quite nice, but my fingers shere really frosty ;-). Riding the length of the valley alongside the creek was, well beautiful, and in addition we where able to observe the locals at one of there hobbies, fly fishing. Never could get the appeal of it, but quite a lot of people doing it here.
Out of the Rockies and onto the flat lands, still at an elevation of 1800 m. Interestingly in both Utah and Colorado we did not see any windmills, but right after the state line back into Wyoming there was a rather huge windpark. Our initial stop for the night was supposed to be Scottsbluff, but availability of accommodation was low and the city did not appeal to us. So we decided to move onwards toward Chadron in Nebraska. Good choice as there are now again little hills and interesting landscape while the roads are mostly straights. In Chadron itself we found a nice little restaurant/bar called “the ridge” which when we entered had an event for an independent senate candidate. And the location was packed with independents and democrats. It seems like Chadron might be an outlier in an otherwise red state.

Sunday: Chadron

Chill day, really chill only a 5 km run. Booked plane tickets for our return flight and had an initial search for our last motorcycle service.

Monday: Chadron – Sheridan Lake Campground

The morning took its time as we where still searching for a dealer to service our motorcycles. Found one in Appleton, and he is willing to do this within s day or two, so we will be there by Sunday.
The ride took us through the Custer State Park and to Mt. Rushmore. And on our way we saw Bison, Antilopes, one Chakal and Deer and a whole lot of Prairie Dogs (Erdmaennchen). The campground itself is rather idyllic, located at the Sheridan Lake within a forest. Stefan fired up the little stove we had. It was a good night in the tent. Let’s see how many of those we still get.

Tuesday: Sheridan Lake Campground – Cedar Pass Campground

So today it is – into The Badlands – National Park. The first time we have been told about this particular park was back when diving the lake in Guatemala and now it is the time. And honestly is is among the three best parks we have visited, for both of us. The landscape is so far out of anything we have seen thus far. And while we have seen similar rock formations, we have never seen them in such a vastness.
In the park itself they have about 1000 buffaloes, and we have seen quite a lot of them, as they were hearded together by the Nationl Park Service. We arrived at the Campground quite early and got talking to another white guy – hence the title of this weeks post – who offered quite a different perspective then the last guy. Stefan and I got talking as well about the future. Very good day, even though it remains to be seen what the future might bring. But yes as we our return home is now on the schedule, what awaits us there and how we will cope with the change if being moving constantly to be stationary, is on both our minds.

This concludes week #43
Till next time
Happy Hacking Everyone