July 20, 2010 12:12 PM PDT
Started out in McCleary Washington (Washington State that is) and was headed to the East Coast stopping in Ft. Collins Colorado to meet up with a friend of mine who was headed from Phoenix to Lebonon Pennsylvania. It started out great until I got to Look Out Pass in Northern Idaho! 35 degrees in a near blinding snowfall! Rode to Missoula Montana and stopped for a bit to warm up and made my way to Bozeman Montana where I had had enough of being cold and stayed the night at a cheap hotel, not bad, bed was clean and slept like a rock... next day I get up waiting for it to be at least 35 degrees. Got on the road and made for Billings Montana... warmed up some... 39 degrees I think, remnants of snow here and there and yes, I was freezing my ass off!
Ended up stopping in Casper Wyoming that day because as I pulled off the Casper exit I slid half way down the exit before I righted myself, called my buddy I was meeting in Ft. Collins and told him that I was calling it a day... 225 miles from my link up with him I settled into a mom and pop hotel/motel place called the Showboat or Riverboat inn... can't remember, but a very nice place and quiet. Again, I slept great got up waited for it to be over 35 degrees. Back on the road and right through Cheyenne... snow was blowing across the road and their of course we're what was left of some pretty major snow drifts from earlier in the year. It was sunny and 36 degrees and as soon as I got out of Wyoming I hit colorado it was in the mid 60's!!! WOOHOO!!! Spring Time weather at last!!!
Met up with my buddy Jim who was at the Ft. Collins Visitor Center and of course his first complaint was how cold it was... well, this coming from a guy who just came up from Phoenix so I just laughed and said "Hey this is the first time I've been over 40 degrees since I left home!
It was a beautiful ride through some of the back roads of north eastern Colorado, then we linked up with I-70 and pretty much made our way through to PA on the way we stopped at my cousin's house in Columbia Missouri (thanks cuz we were tired of paying for hotels) had a fun visit and great weather until we made it to Lebanon.
Needless to stay we made it through 12 states without incident and some good weather after I got out of the Northwestern part of the U.S., I even got to visit some fine places like Gettysburg PA, that place was amazing and awe inspiring! Went past the Hershey Chocolate factory... that's a lot of damn chocolate and I'd live anywhere that smelled like that place... stopped by and visited the York Harley Davidson Factory among other places, made some new friends and just had one of the best spring time rides ever.
The way back was a lot of fun got to stop and see my niece graduate from highschool, connected with some old friends and then made my way home. I try to reconnect every year and by far the motorcycle is the best and most inexpensive way to travel across the country!
