Wichita Kansas to Broomfield Colorado
Since Rita harassed me about leaving at 8:30 yesterday, I decided to hit the road early just to be annoying. I got myself packed up and grabbed some breakfast from the "continental breakfast". There were only sugar based cereals (well and Total but eyuk!). The waffles were weird tasting as was the OJ but what are you going to do?
By 6am I was on the road heading north. I stll had a nice little tailwind but dreaded the left turn on 70 since I'd be fighting a right blowing wind. After hooking around Salina and getting on 70, I could feel a little of the wind I'd be fully experiencing as I got farther away from the blocking trees. Oh Joy.
Rita called around Salina and we chatted for a bit. Being able to talk to Rita on the cell really made the trip better. Knowing that she was available and could check weather, hotels and whatnot really helped keep me sane.
Fortunately it wasn't all that chilly since my left Gerbing's glove still wasn't working. The gauntlets still kept the wind out of the sleeves. I'll have to look into getting gauntletted gloves for regular riding. As I approached Hays the land became flatter and the wind became unobstructed. The nice thing about heading west with the wind coming from the south is that passing semi's weren't near as much fun. The wind was constant with just a little turbulance.
The cool thing was that the wind stopped starting in Colby and it was pretty calm until I reached Burlington. After I got back on the road, the wind started coming from the north. It was almost like I was in a class -1 tornado. Really wide and slow.
I began anticipating getting home, however I needed to get some Honda Cleaner from Sun so as I got to 88th, I exited and headed over to the dealer. I went inside and picked up a refill bottle and headed back to the bike. While I was putting it in the saddlebags, a guy stepped over and we started to chat.
He was admiring the bike and then said that he'd heard you could take bikes like mine on long trips. He asked if I'd been on a longer trip on my bike. "Well," I said, "I'm just returning from 6,000 miles and 11 days on the road including a days ride in northern Arkansas and a day riding at Deal's Gap." It was just so funny that I was just getting home and he asked about long trips.
We further discussed trips and Rita's bike as well as my planned trip to Alaska. We shook hands and I hit the road to go home.
I got back on 25, headed north to 136th, west to Zuni, south to 128th and into the neighborhood. As I got to the house, she opened the garage, I rolled in, shut off the bike and was home.