Another stop, another GPS point - this time at an Atmospheric Phenomenon Research Facility west of Denver. |
Not too far down the road, we picked up Louisville for three more IBE points. |
After working our way up past Fort Collins and hitting the back roads once again, we made what was quite possibly the single most important stop on our entire trip: Taco Johns! At the behest of my slightly looney husband, I actually paid $5 to download a set of custom POIs (Points of Interest) to the Zumo; when we were within 30 miles of a Taco Johns, Zumo would let us know. (I even modified it to show a little picture of a dancing taco on the map at the location of the Taco Johns. Hey, I readily admit it - I'm a little looney too.) We had to pass up the first Taco Johns we saw due to poor planning (we had eaten breakfast just outside the 30 mile alert radius), but this time we were on it like... well, like hicks on a taco burger. Ain't nothin' wrong with that. |
Mike actually just walked in the room right now while I was creating this portion of the site and said, "Mmmmmmm... Taco Johns. I miss you Taco Burger." Obsessed, that man is. Completely obsessed. |
Following a hearty breakfast of Taco Burgers and Potatoes Ole, we cruised on to hit another GPS point. The road leading to the point followed a river for about 2 1/2 hours, and we could have easily been right here at home riding along the Kern River. Needless to say, it was just beautiful. The GPS point itself was a little lacking, however - an empty meadow 8 miles up a slippery-slick dirt road, thanks to a full day of intermittent sprinkles. Hmmm... Could have passed on that, but hey - three points is three points. Besides, we've ridden worse. |
Oh, was I just complaining about a little dirt road just now? Well, Zumo seemed to be on a roll because despite the fact that I had specifically asked it not to route us on dirt roads, it kept insisting that we travel on dirt roads. (I guess it just wanted to test it's level of impact resistance.) Finally, after a few hours of Zumo calling us pansies and threatening to tell all our friends, we agreed to take one of the dirt roads. Ultimately, we were glad we took to road less travelled; the surface was fairly well maintained, but the views were outstanding. Even the rain looked amazing across the sweeping valleys. There was also quite a bit of wildlife - deer, hawks, voles. I guess it goes to show you, Zumo really does know what he's talking about. |
Back on asphalt, it was only a short ride to reach IBE point Grand Lake, Colorado. With the drizzly day and heavy rains elsewhere in the state, the ride was even graced with several pretty little waterfalls. Boy, not a bad ride for a rainy day! |
Continuing our journey through Colorado, we made our way to the next GPS waypoint - the grave of Buffalo Bill. We've been dodging the worst of the bad weather for most of this trip, but every once in a while it reminded us that it wasn't too far off. After scooting under a mean-looking storm on the way up, we came out from the museum to find that a little bit of the rain had stuck around for us. We had hoped to visit some of Mike's family in the area, but with all the weather-related itinerary modifications, we were running a bit behind schedule and couldn't catch them while we were passing through. Oh, well - there's always next time! (And since we LOVE riding in Colorado, there certainly will be a next time.) |