48 States- Leg 2

[olivepearlultra]

Jake....hate to inform you, I just got my 120 point....so I hope you enjoyed your ride anyway!!!!

PS....just kidding....look forward to seeing you soon!

 

[RetiredJake]

2009-07-08

My last day in Loveland visiting my sister. It’s been a tough few days. My sister insists on 3 squares a day, healthy to boot. My brother-in-law forced me to drink wine every day. What’s a guy to do?

This is the view I had from the borrowed bedroom, I was really deprived during my visit.

This ridge on the west side of Loveland is called the Devil’s Backbone. Really amazing to look at first hand, with the camera I just could not capture the raw gut feel it creates. Taken from the west side.

This is from the east side.

Walking around old downtown Loveland, I found this stylized elk outside the BPOE lodge. Statues are scattered all over this town, they even have a park dedicated to them that is a fantastic walk.

I took this shot from my sister’s dining room window. We saw elk all that afternoon, walking between the conservation area and the neighbor’s yard.

On my morning walks, I would pass a small herd of horses in a neighbor’s pasture. I finally managed to get a clear shot of this little guy after a couple of days.

We went on a picnic this afternoon. The city of Loveland maintains a park on US 34 west of town on the Big Thompson River. There used to be a hydro electric power station here until a flood in 1976 wiped it out. This is all that remains of the power house.

This is the mountain stream that caused all the damage. Sure looks beautiful now.

I will be heading east across the prairie tomorrow morning, going into NE and stopping at my old home town. Not a lot to see out there, but will surely spot a few things. Weather is expected to be in the 90's, so I will be breaking out the cooliing vest again. Bye for now.

 

[ajjacobs]

Good to see ya had some good, relaxing down time Jake. Glad your back, was going into withdrawal. Ride safe.

AJ

 

[RetiredJake]

Thursday 7/09

I had a wonderful time in Loveland visiting with my sister. I give her a lot of grief, and pick on her unmercifully, but she has always protected her “little brother,” and I love her for it. So it’s time to leave Loveland and head towards my 45th high school reunion. Not sure if my sister is trying to keep me away from the bike, or telling me, “it’s all packed, get on and go.”

I’m heading east on US 34, across the eastern Colorado prairie, realizing that I’m in some fairly flat land again.

My nose was the first to realize that we were passing a fairly large feedlot. While I still maintain that Nebraska has the most and largest feedlots, this one got my attention.

As I headed east from Brush, CO, the trees disappeared and it was rolling prairie. I saw this lone sentinel guarding the highway.

Lest we forget the driving purpose behind this trip, I swung through Otis, Co and captured this shot of the post office.

As I approached Nebraska, this is the cloud cover I was going to ride under. I just knew I was going to get soaked today.

Still being true to my ABC needs, I captured the NE border and Hitchcock County in short order. This was followed by the Arapahoe, NE post office. Bang, bang, bang. State, county and town for NE in the first hour.

In between Hitchcock County and Arapahoe, I drove out from under the clouds. No rain today, but the temperature started rising.

One of the things NE is famous for, besides their incomparable beef, is corn. Without irrigation, the yields would be much smaller than they are. Our choices when I was a kid working on the farm were setting tubes manually or hauling pipe. I would have killed for one of these walker systems back then.

I finally arrived in Minden. This is the little farming community I was raised in through the 10th grade. I rode around town reliving old memories and jogging this feeble mind as I would see something and suddenly remember another episode from my past. I went to the local cemetery where my parents and step-father are buried. They were all taken too soon, and I would give anything to have them back. Not to be, but we can remember and honor them.

Tomorrow it’s off to Superior, NE, the site of my 45th high school reunion. I will probably spend a lot of that time wondering who all the old people are. :bigsmiley20:

 

[RetiredJake]

Friday 7/10

Off to Superior, NE this morning, a short 90 mile run, culminating in a ‘meet and greet’ with people that I have not seen in most cases, for 45 years. Due to conflicting requirements, such as the need to feed my family, I was not able to make any of the previous reunions. Now that I’m retired, I get to do what I want to do, and I have been wanting to do this for a long time.

When most people think of NE, they think of a flat state, covered with corn and feed lots. I have been gone for so long that I too am guilty of thinking that way. The last couple of days, riding from the western border to the south central part of the state, my knowledge of the great variety this state provides has been renewed. There are flat fields, but there are also rolling hills, small canyons, trees, a lot more trees than I remembered.

I stopped in Red Cloud for a visit at the Willa Cather museum. Willa Cather was an American author, grew up in NE, and wrote mainly of the frontier life on the Great Plains. I had not been back there since some of my classmates volunteered a Saturday to cleanup one of the facilities. Alas, the museum was closed. You had to contact them and arrange a tour and I did not have enough time for that.

On to Superior, roam around the town for a couple of hours, trying to refresh this old mind. Swing by the meeting place for this evening and run into one of my best friends from school. This was going to be a better time than I thought. Talked with Mike a few minutes, then continued my roam with a promise to return early to reminisce.

Erv was on stage to make his famous ‘Cream Can Chowder.’ This stuff was great. Now when I get home I have to try to duplicate it.

Met the old girlfriend and a lot of other classmates. Entertainment was provided by Roger.

We will have a dinner tomorrow night, then I’m heading to Kansas City to capture the HD factory for my ABC’s, then a beeline home.

 

[RetiredJake]

Saturday 7/11

I did not post anything for Saturday, 7/11. The day was spent riding around my old hometown, talking to old classmates, and going to a dinner that evening. Met the high school sweetheart, realized she was great, but my wife is still my soul mate. Very interesting and fun for me, boring as all get out for the rest of you.

Things I did learn, were that nothing stays the same, your true friends will always welcome you back, and hometowns are a lot smaller than you remember.

Sunday 7/12

I woke up about 0430 to the sound of thunder, the flash of lightning, and the pounding of heavy rain. Just what I needed to finish off my trip, or in today’s case, my voyage.

I loaded the bike in a light rain, donned my rain suit and headed south to Kansas, the last state on my ABC’s list. :Banane44:

I continued south on KS 14 to US 36. Heading west across the top of KS, I was reminded again of the stereotypes we frequently have. KS is not a flat Wheatfield as many believe. The north east section at least is rolling hills with crops in the flat spots, and pastureland pretty much covering the rest. Peppered with small farming communities, it has a beauty of it’s own.

I chased the storm that went through Superior in the early morning hours, all day long. Sometimes catching up and getting soaked, sometimes moving from one cell to another and actually seeing the sun for a few minutes. But, in all cases, the roads were sloppy wet. This is a picture looking east as I was again catching up to the storm.

I made it to Kansas City, MO about noontime. Captured a picture of the HD Assembly Plant for my ABC's, then headed for I-70.

There are not many pictures for this last day. I was tired, wanted to get home to the wife and dogs, and wanted to sleep in my own bed. I made a hard run after KC, crossing MO on I-70, catching I-64, I-57 and finally I-24 as I crossed southern IL. I stopped for gas north of Paducah, KY, and talked to a guy returning from the Big Easy. I then decided to make a run for the last couple of hours despite nightfall. Onto I-24 and a beeline across KY and into TN just after 2200. As I was getting my bag off the bike, the rain started again. A perfect ending to a wet day. :newsmile07:

Home after 27 days. The total trip was 8,366.5 miles, with a run of 763 wet, sloppy miles for the final day.

Tired, but one happy guy. This has been a great trip. I have seen parts of the US that had eluded me for the first 62 years, met people with a love of life, battled the elements occasionally, marveled at the beauty of this country. It does not matter where you go, there is something to see, something to do, and new friends to make. Get out there, do it while you can.

Thanks to all who have followed my trip, and best wishes to you on yours. I may continue this for the final leg, sometime in September. Keep the rubber side down. :cheers

 

[sharpscuba]

Great post Jake! I am glad that you made it home safe and sound. What a wonderful trip. I really lived it through your post's and hope that one day I will be able to do the same. Now go and kiss the wife , relax, and get ready for the next one.

 

[ajjacobs]

Great adventure Jake. Thanks for taking us along.

AJ

 

[martin14]

Good to hear you made it home.

Great pics, thanks for sharing them with us.

 

[Trek]

Welcome home Jake,

Thanks for taking us along.