Saturday 15th September 2012 Colby – Ft. Collins Colorado – Laramie Wyoming – Layton Utah 758 miles

Saturday 15th September 2012  Colby – Ft. Collins Colorado – Laramie Wyoming – Layton Utah 758 miles

Hmm, I thought you were going to Jackson Wyoming, and maybe ride through Yellowstone, head for Montana and ride I90 home?.. Well, I had lost track of time, and suddenly realized it was Saturday, a weekend no less. Jackson and Yellowstone are popular tourist areas, so I had Mission Control Google for lodgings (OK so I don’t have a smart phone), and see if there were any vacancies. No room at the inn was the reply, not even for over $200 a night. I had Googled other towns en route last evening, one being Rawlings which was 250 miles from Jackson. I actually passed through there at 1:30PM, so that was out. Allied to the fact that the weather forecast for Jackson was in the 30s tomorrow morning ( that is Gerbing and balaclava weather – I have neither with me), I decided to just carry on for home. I had ridden that area of Wyoming, including Yellowstone Park, a few years ago so it was no big deal to bypass it.

So back to to-day. It was a clear, but a very cold morning, definitely Gerbing weather, so I bundled up and headed out just after 7AM. The sun rose about 7:30, and I had a ringside seat through my rear view mirrors as I headed west on I70 towards Colorado. I gained the Mountain Time Zone hour after about 30 minutes, so I really had an early start. Traffic was light until near Denver, and I took the toll road to bypass the city to I25 and Fort Collins. I realized once I was on it, it is an E toll road, you pay by transponder or number plate (they photo it). It is difficult to see my state name under the tour pack, even the border guards have to ask or get out of their booth to see it, so it will be interesting to see how I get billed. I then picked up US287 to head for Laramie Wyoming and the I80W. That was a more interesting road, some red rocks instead of brown scenery. One interesting thing I wished I had gone back to photo, there was a shack and a monster sign saying “Fireworks, open year round”. It was open, and in the middle of nowhere, I mean nowhere. At least if the place blew up it wouldn’t do any other damage. I had stayed in Laramie on the way east nearly 5 weeks ago, and as I gassed up, still no Alan Ladd. That town is at over 7000 feet, you wouldn’t know it if the sign didn’t tell you. It was here that after an executive discussion with Mission Control, I decided that instead of turning north on US287 at Rawlings I would just keep rolling on I80 towards Salt Lake City.

I had travelled I80 going east, and nothing had changed since then. It was still brown and barren, with little traffic, and a few major lane closures for road works. One good thing, I could freewheel with cruise control, and let the bike stretch its legs. I took a couple of photos of the scenery, and this is for a few hundred miles. Imagine a few hundred years ago, when the prairies stretched hundreds of miles east to west, and north to south from Alberta,  Saskatchewan,  and Manitoba, south through Montana, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas. An enormous area of grasses, winds and very few trees. Unreal.

A view of I80 in Wyoming  - the same for hundreds of miles. Take away the hills and you have western Kansas and eastern Colorado.

So it was into Utah, and a change of scenery, red rocks and more hills, out of the prairies.

I took I84 to bypass Salt Lake City, and head north, eventually to Boise Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Tomorrow will be another day of riding the slab, I have done this trip a few times, and will most likely bed in eastern Washington before arriving home on Monday.