Casper Wyoming.
We are up early, it's 46 degrees and dry, hot dog!!!no rain. We plan our route, 220 to 487 to 287, two lane all the way to Colorado. It is a great morning, route 220 follows the North Platte river for miles. We turn south on 487 "The sand massacre trail" The scenery is incredible , we see antelope and rock cliffs and tall bluffs, its an amazing site. We come to route 77, that was not part of the plan, but the road looks to good to pass up. A Two lane that winds it's way upward,,oh yeah,,that looks like a great road , we make the right turn and up we go. Route 77 runs through open range country (translation,,livestock crossing the road, oh yeah,,cattle)
Back on 487 we come to the town of Medicine bow Wy. population 267 . We stop for a coffee break and a visit to the Medicine Bow Museum. The ride today is great, we roll through Rock river and on to Bosler. Bosler Wy looks like a ghost town, we stop for a picture at a long closed store front and are on our way. We arrive in Laramie low on fuel, and hungry. A short stop for lunch and fuel and we are on our way to Colorado. The ride from Laramie to the state line is awful, the highest winds we have encountered yet.
Crossing into Colorado we have our eyes set on The Rocky mountain national park. My goal, to ride the Rockies and take a picture on the Continental divide. We arrive at the park late in the day, around 4pm. The smart thing to do would be get a room and ride tomorrow, not us, that would be too easy. The Rockies are beautiful, but snow capped and cold at the top. A two lane with no guardrail make the ascent a bit scary. We stop several times for pictures. I saw a sign saying we were 2 miles above sea level. The wind was making it hard to ride in a straight line, and did I mention it was cold,,thought so. We make it to the Alpine visitor station and chat with a few locals, they inform us of how little daylight we have left and we should keep moving or we would be on the mountain after dark. (that would be bad,,real bad) We continue on, about 5 miles down the road we find the Continental divide, stop for a picture and head down the mountain.
We come to the town of Grand Lake, its getting dark so we get a room for the night. It has been a great day and I am in the mood to celebrate. We strike off on foot to a nearby bar for a cold one. While there we chat with the locals and enjoy the evening, I ended up going dancing with the barmaid, A cute 28 year old named Tara. We danced the night away, back at the hotel around 4:30 am. I know I am going to pay for the late evening.
