We have stay for so long for several reasons. The weather and our hosts have been amazing. Blake and Anita have been so fun, interesting and generous. They also love having people visit from out of state. They have several guest rooms and a shared bathroom so Cody and I each get a bed and our own sink. The bed... oh man. It's sooo nice to sleep on a bed after spending a month on couches. I didn't shower the first night here so I just slept on top of the sheet under my less than silky smooth wool blanket. I guess I can't sleep without some kind of discomfort. Like the times when I used to sleep halfway wedged between the bed and a wall.
Now that we're about ready to leave the state I figure it's time to fill every one in with what we've been up to.
Friday
Since I already wrote enough about that morning and afternoon we'll skip to the evening. On the way down from Cabrini it became clear that the front-left brake on the truck was not happy. We got a quote from Brakes Plus and then started to roll towards Castle Rock when we saw that dune buggy and stopped for pictures. On the way back to Castle Rock we discussed hauling the bikes into Denver so we could ride around while they worked on the brakes. Less than 3 miles away from our temporary home we noticed another Brakes Plus. Who knew Brakes Plus is a huge franchise and there's one on almost every block? We had the brakes fixed while we looked around at an organic grocery store. They must have been in a rush to get them done by the time the store closed because the brake was still making weird noises. It's a different weird noise but still, that's not cool. We followed one of the employees for about two miles in complete silence. Honestly, I was a little afraid that I was about to get involved in something. It was probably just a coincidence we followed the guy for so long and no one got hurt.
Dinner time! Cody made chicken alfredo and bow-tie pasta. Look at it.
It was better than it looks because in real life it was not blurry.
After dinner I believe we just sat around watching TV and doing internet things. I also write on a forum that is specifically for people who travel with motorcycles. Even though we're not riding the whole way there we still have them and ride as much as we can. For the rest of the night I brought everyone on that site up to speed about what's going on. It's really important to keep that up to date because more people read that than this and we're hoping riders in other areas will try to contact us to go for rides.
Saturday
This is the first time we took the bikes off the trailer so far.
I should have put the straps in a better place so it they wouldn't crack my fairing.
We got these things out so we could go for a ride after helping a neighbor with a chore. This is cool. Don't skip this. Blake and Anita's friend, Scott, displays some interesting holiday lighting. A custom made steel christmas tree in his yard requires several people get it taken down. Here are a few images of the piece we moved.
The guy in orange there is Scott. The guy taking the picture accidentally got a glove in the way of the lens so I removed it as much as I felt like. It's good enough.
So.. Christmas lights, huh? I know what you're thinking. You're wrong. Please watch this video from his site. It is from 2009 and it's exactly what Christmas lights should be used for.
Dueling Banjos - RockinChristmas 2009 in HD from RockinChristmas on Vimeo.
Check out the rest of his videos on his website. His newer decorations are incredible. The tree we helped to move can even scroll some text in a while spiraling up the tree. Just check out something recent to see that in action. If we got here just a week sooner then we could have seen it live.
After completing our daily chore it was time to hit the road on the bikes! YAaaa HOOO! Maybe you just want to watch the ride instead of me typing at you about it? Ah.. crap. I'm going to do both.
There are some occasions in the video where just stop and maybe we can't be heard that well. Cody's brand speedometer cable for his GPS got caught on the tire and was shredded so it stopped working on a road that is notorious for speed traps. The sun was getting low soon anyway so we turned around and headed back.
Most people really don't want to watch a video of riding and I understand that. It's kind of boring when you're not really doing it but there are exciting moments that I would combine into a compilation video with some sweet tunes to make it interesting. My laptop just isn't fast enough to handle that. So those videos will have to wait until I get my desktop computer shipped out to Oregon. What I will try to do is log the time of a cool spot in a video so people can skip straight to it if they want. Skip to 18:39 to see a comparison of how we turn around. I go very slow and keep the bike very vertical. Cody, on the other hand, always does this other thing that I REEALLY need to learn.
After the ride we called up my friend from high school and arranged to meet at a trendy little restaurant downtown in Denver. It's a vegetarian place that a contact of mine wanted to meet at. Three of us all got there late and he got there earlier when the line was too long so we didn't end up getting to meet. Oh well, I probably will be back in the area again some time and it would have been for only a short while because I would rather hang out with Mariam for a few hours and get to catch up since we hadn't seen each other in probably three years.
Recently I found out she used to ride a Virago. That's a pretty big bike for a girl her size. She crashed it one night at a low enough speed to not get seriously injured and then decided it would be good to take the safety class. It paid off well. She's now on a more reasonable sized machine for a beginner and has learned that much of what her first "instructor" taught her was most likely wrong. She's getting skilled and tired of the small 250cc and is looking for something that can go over 55 MPH. I'm going to keep pressuring her into getting a dualsport. Why not have one when the mountains are so close? We've talked before about riding together when I was going to be coming through town in the summer but never did. If that did happen I would have been by myself unless a friend from Missouri had decided to go with. All this talking and no eating? Where's my food?
Oh.. what a lovely plate of blurry slop.
That right there, is a glorified pancake. It's called a savory crepe and it's the first one I've ever tried. The best part was when I hit the flavor hidden under the crepe.
"Ginger!" Is what I said when I tasted it.
Cody pretended(?) to be offended by my words until I apologized. I didn't need to be involved in a fist-fight in the middle of such a seemingly nice place. Our server overheard most of our conversation. How could she not? I was having a few "loud mouth soups" on an empty stomach and I am not known for my silence.
"What kind of motorcycle do you have?"
"A Kawasaki KLR650. It's a dual-sport."
After explaining what that is she seemed a little disappointed and said something along the lines of "Well, I only like riding on Harley's." Whatever it was that she said, I took as an insult for not riding what someone else thinks I should ride.
I was quick to respond with "I don't friggin' care what you like to ride. I'm the one riding it. Also, I don't want to constantly be doing maintenance and chrome polishing." I'm putting this in here because Cody thought it was hilarious. She was a nice girl but I think I took that statement the wrong way and I'm a little sensitive about people asking what I ride and then being told they prefer some thing else. Well, WHOOP DE DOO!! It's like asking someone what kind of lunch they had and then telling them they should have eaten a grilled cheese sandwich because it's what you prefer. White bread and American cheese. Yum. Sorry, lady, if you're reading this. I don't know if I got your name but you're alright. I'm just a sensitive and mean spirited jerk who doesn't like people who don't like exactly the same things I like. Her friend is traveling from Denver to Austin (or somewhere else in dumb, old Texas). We laughed and mocked him for being so brave to endure such nice weather conditions on the super-slab. For the 10 hours it takes to get there.
Here's the gal
These blurry photos are really making me want to sell something and pick up a nice camera like Taylor has. Why ruin your memories because of some slop?
When the restaurant closed we went to a bar/coffee shop and sat around a while longer talking. At 1 AM I noticed Cody and Mariam both yawning. They said they weren't bored but very tired after long days. I was bummed to have to leave and maybe someday when I stop staying up until 4 AM every night then it won't be so bad.
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