Thursday...to home

We had a beautiful ride across Trail Ridge Road with Tom & Pat on Thursday. They weren’t used to wearing all their leathers after coming from 100 degree heat in Sturgis! We left for Keystone & Sturgis, South Dakota at 5 am on Friday & it took us 7 hours. We had a beautiful ride around Custer Park & Mt. Rushmore. We had our bikes back on the trailer before the rain began. We had heavy rain on our way to Sturgis with many bikes & cars stopped by the side of the road because of the rain. After arriving in Sturgis the rain stopped enough for us to be able to walk Main Street & get some shopping in. Main Street is closed to traffic except for motorcycles and they are parked in 4 rows for many blocks and down every side street. There were BIKES EVERYWHERE!! About midnight (Michigan time) we decided we didn’t care to pitch our tent in the campground we reserved & there were NO hotels with vacancy in the area & the weather forecast called for more thunderstorms we decided to head East until we were tired & find hotel…. We never stopped at a hotel and arrived home Saturday night at 10:00 pm after driving for 22 hours…..

Tom & Pat arrived

We headed South out of Estes Parks on 7 to 72 then West on 70, then back North on 40 then 34 & back through the Rocky Mountains on Trail Ridge Road. The weather was cool highs in the 50’s & it didn’t start the light rain until we got to Trail Ridge Road. It was incredible going on the highest paved road in the US (12,183 feet) many times with no railings & steep drop-offs …in the rain….but we made it back safely!! Tom & Pat arrived in their RV & we’ll take them through Trail Ridge Road tomorrow. They came from Sturgis & will give us lots of pointers on where to go with limited time. We’ll be heading to Sturgis early Friday morning & heading back to Michigan Saturday afternoon.

Happy 25th Birthday Kristie!!

Happy 25th Birthday Kristie!!

Another BEAUTIFUL day in the Mountains!! We went through the beautiful gorge between Estes Park & Loveland and onto the Fort Collins Harley Davidson to get a backrest for Russ. Russ & Dan installed it in the parking lot, then we headed North to Fort Collins. We took Highway 14 west & saw more beautiful scenery. After the leisurely drive we headed to the Budweiser Brewing Company for there tour & taste testing. Dan did a great job as an “Official Taste Tester”. We did get a little light rain that started just before we got back to the Lodge.

Rocky Mountains

Another BEAUTIFUL day in the Mountains!!! We added LOTS of pictures. The beautiful scenery seems unreal even when we’re right there. We’ve learned that Excedrin helps heal High Altitude Sickness and the hydraulic clutch on Dan’s bike has High Altitude Sickness above 10,000. Thankfully his breaks worked GREAT!!!

Colorado Springs

Another beautiful day in the mountains! We left Estes Park for Colorado Springs about a 3 hour drive south to visit Matt, Tammy, Chris, Alex & Mackenzie Narowski. They moved to Colorado Springs in June. We went through Denver & saw the Mile High Stadium. It’s unbelievable the difference in climate. In Estes Park we could see snow in the mountains & the temp was about 50 when we left. Colorado Springs was quite hot with Cactus, it was like a desert. Tomorrow we’ll be heading into the Rocky Mountains. I’m sure there will be lots more pictures……..

Estes Park, Colorado Day 1

We arrived in beautiful Estes Park about 5 pm. The temp is about 80 no humidity. Our room overlooks mountains & the hot tub & pool over look a different range of mountains that has snow on top. We are so spoiled that we're able to connect to the internet with Russ' laptop so we'll be adding pictures ... after we get something to eat...