An "Almost Heaven" DR gets "Rocky Mountain High"

I did ride my DR all the way back to WV. I took my time doing it, but didn't get to do quite as I planned.

I packed up camp and headed out to Estes Park to the post office. I didn't plan on camping on the way home, so I mailed some more gear home to lighten my load.

Rt 34 east out of Estes Park is a great ride.



Nice and twisty and beautiful.



Not much traffic either.



It's like that until you get through Loveland, then everything changes. It flattens out completely and is into open farm land.
I love the smell when you go by one of these feed lots.



Cattle as far as you can see, and smell.

My plan was to ride 34 out through rural Nebraska and get a feel for the farmland in this area. Except for the day of rain, I enjoyed riding across even central Oklahoma as long as I stayed on rural roads.

It's not Colorado, or even West Virginia for that matter, but at least on a first time through there are still nice views and interesting things to see. I don't know if I would want to commute on one of these roads everyday.

This is still east Colorado.



Here I am in Nebraska



Looks like someone was having a bit of the good life around this sign.



Apparently everyone has these historic markers.



I had to look twice, but there was a small canyon (I don't know that I would have called it that, but...) nearby.

I don't know if this is a normal thing in Nebraska, but this one was surrounded by dead people



These apparently were pioneers that were killed nearby.

Before I made it this far I started having a problem. Anyone that rides a DR knows that one challenge is range with the small gas tank. I usually average close 110 miles +/- before I have to switch to reserve, but today it started happening earlier and earlier. I was starting to have to switch to reserve at around 50 miles. Not knowing what was wrong and not knowing where anything was, I decided I should change my plans. So far I hadn't seen any shops, and had barely even seen any stores, so I didn't know what to expect.

I decided to drop down to I70 in case I had to find a shop.

So much for my rural ride across Nebraska.



Another state, another marker.





My problem was getting worse. After around 30-40 miles I was having to switch to reserve and even sometimes would have to switch to prime to keep it running, and was only getting about 70 miles before it wouldn't run at all. It was also getting hot. Everywhere I checked, from eastern Colorado into Kansas, when I asked or saw the temperature it was this.



Quite different from what I had gotten used to in Colorado. 85 was hot while I was there.

I limped along to Hays Kansas and pulled into an Advanced Auto minutes before they closed and bought a fuel filter for a lawnmower that I thought would take the place of my inline filter and put it in. I rode around a little bit that evening and it seemed to work, so I spent the night and thought I would try it the next day.

The next day I head off east on 70 and the DR ran fine. Turns out the screen inside the fuel filter had jarred loose and was blocking off the outlet.

Not a lot of sights to see along the interstate, here's a few sentinels in the wind.





How many of these would it take to replace oil

I made it across the Mississippi before I stopped for the night. Just a little over 500 miles.

I took off the next morning and when I made my first stop for gas, a little over 100 miles, I was noticing a slight vibration.

I guess this could cause that...



I checked the tire pressure and it was around 24, so I aired it up and headed on. The temperatures were nasty this day. In Indiana it was 113 and probably didn't vary much along my trip. I guess between the temperature and low pressure my tire didn't like it. I only had around 2000 miles on it at this point and still had 400 miles to go, but decided I would give it a try.


I met a friend near Louisville for a few minutes and otherwise rode on through. When I got home it looked like this.



I think it was missing around 9 knobs altogether, but it still got me home. My longest day on the DR.

I forgot to reset my trip meter that morning until I had already ridden 5 miles.



Gotta go, but it was a great trip and I would have no problem doing it again. Just got to have the vacation. Maybe next time I can talk someone into going along.

Great report! I appreciate your mining history enthusiam. I've explored these mountains for the past five years and I still don't tire of discovering some rusted old piece of equipment or abandoned shack.

I'm seriously thinking of heading out west next summer.

Great trip photos with tasty historical tidbits and geographical perspectives.

Awesome story telling, with the high points, low points, and everything in between, keeping it real throughout the journey.

Very cool references of things learned and improved upon from Geek and other excellant Ride Reports on this site.

An excellant Ride Report! I give it an A+

We should ride Colorado like Ponch and John next summer!

Thanks for the comments. I guess I missed the Ponch and John reference

I will probably try to go out again next year. I would like to see some of Utah next time as well.

California Highway Patrol or CHP's was a very cool TV series back in the '70's where Ponch and John would ride their way too cool white police bikes in perfect formation while working traffic detail, and arresting the bad guys.

Anyways that's the image I have in my head for a dual dualsport adventure through Colorado and Utah next year!

Those are some awesome pictures. I really enjoyed the pics and the information explaining them. Great ride...

I get it now

I like the idea of the dual adventure. My problem is scheduling. Let's keep in touch.

Did I miss this?

I'm going to base out of Silverton for six days of riding starting next week. Can I make it to Taylor Park and back in a day?

Great RR, thanks.

Todd

I finished Mosquito Pass in post #50.

You could make it from Silverton to Taylor Park and back in a day, but not have much time to ride.

Good read man. I hope I can make my way through in Sept

http://international.findmespot.com/

and

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=609006


p.s. been loving the RR

Do you know anyone who uses the spot? I'd like to follow one to see what it's like.

I've been thinking about going to one of the Laurel Fork rides, but I don't know about all those bat types hanging in the trees

Yea i heard those bats are an eastern descendant of the mothman

Nah haven't followed anyone, but have heard nothing but good concerning the emergency features. Costs money but may be worth it if remote alone.

man you covered some nice ground in colo.
that blue green lake in the san juans (you were looking down to) is lake como

enjoyed the read and pics.
if i was younger i'd do it myself.

Enjoyed your RR and fabulous pictures.

Can you tell me of a TAT route that does not have too aggressive a mountain passage. Instead of Hancock Pass one can take Marshall Pass..but after Marschall Pass what comes next that is not too aggressive. I don't want any paved roads doing the passes, just all dirt...but a bit not overly aggressive. Can you name them in sequence all the way to the Utah stateline?

Thank you...

I didn't follow much of the TAT. Just a short section over a couple of passes, none of which were too difficult.

Thank you..so these were all on dirt/gravel roads leading you to Monticello,UT??......Moab!

Didn't get to Utah either. Just rode around Colorado for a week.