Day 7 - Pinedale, WY to Boulder, CO

Rode 480 miles, Posted by Bug

Yesterday was perfect, but today…well, it wasn’t yesterday. A synopsis: Chill for 90 minutes, slowly warm for one hour, then bake for two hours; rinse thoroughly and blow dry on high for 20 minutes.

The longer version: We left Pinedale in the morning chill at 8 am today and headed south past some grazing pronghorn antelope towards Rock Springs and Interstate 80, doing the initial 95 miles in about 80 minutes.

Next up: Laramie for lunch and Cheyenne for a break at the Harley dealership. The Harley Davidson Company really prides itself on friendly dealers, so we were taken aback at the surly attitude displayed by the Cheyenne salesmen. PG—I mean Blue—started to sit on a 2008 red and white Screamin’ Eagle, only to be told that before he could sit on the bike he had to sign a contract to buy it. Then, if he didn’t want to make the purchase, they could tear up the paperwork. We were “gone in 60 seconds.”

Interstate 80 East surrendered to Interstate 25 South, and before long we were in Colorado, heading straight towards a massive thunderstorm. In reality, it probably wasn’t any bigger than the ones we get in Florida, but in Colorado, an expansive panorama of 20-30 miles in every direction lets you see whole storms when they hit. And to our west, we could see the huge curtains of rain falling from a beautiful, but intimidating thunderhead.

For a few minutes it appeared that we were going to skirt along the dry eastern edge of the storm, but then big raindrops began to pop-pop-pop on our helmets and windscreens. One thing I found out: Raindrops hurt when they hit your fingers at a Category-One 70 mph. Second, the winds that precede the rain are brutal, especially when they suddenly hit you from the side. In fact, one cold gust—I’m guessing it was at least 50 mph—hit us hard enough to blow us into the other lane.

Within moments we exited and parked under a bridge long enough to don our rain gear, then pulled back onto the highway just in time for the sun to come out. Now fully rubberized, we baked for several more minutes until we were sure no more rain was coming, then exited again to take the rain suits back off.

We finally hit Boulder a little before 5 pm and checked into the Hampton Inn Dolly had booked for us. (She’s saving us at least an hour of hotel hunting every day. Go Mrs. Bug!) Then we were off to supper with Pastors Erich and Leigh Hardy, of the Rock of Frontrange. I’m glad they didn’t call it the Rock of Boulder, which would have been as redundant as “Chai Tea” (chai means tea).

So, there you have Day 7, without pictures because there was nothing to photograph, except wind, which frankly refused to hold still and pose for us. Tomorrow we’ll be 2nd Day Adventists, with a one-hour hop down to Colorado Springs, and lots of time to be lazy.