Coming in from Utah, via Grand Junction where a new GPS was taken on board, we entered the great state of Colorado. I understand why John Denver wrote "Rocky Mountain High" You can catch the YouTube Video Here It's setting a great stage to read the rest of this report, just let it run in the background. :)

Going through Vail, and past Breckenridge, leaving Aspen by the wayside, which was almost painful, I70 is a breathtaking piece of highway, carved into the mountains. Flanked by multi million dollar homes, it's tough to focus on the road. All you want to do is either slow down to get some more of the scenery or stop every few hundred yards, because some new stunning architectural feature provided by Mother Nature has come into your view.
Just like Highway 12 in Utah, I must come back here with nothing but dedicated time on my hands to document, photograph and film the backcountry roads, which are just asking to be ridden.
The new camera was mounted on the fairing and has taken hundreds of images, many with backgrounds of the great stage that the Rocky Mountains provide.
While we were cruising in the midst of other stunned drivers, I can only imagine how annoyed the locals must be when everyone else is just crawling through their front yards.
Be that as it may, we encountered the inevitable yet again; Rain. Not much of it, yet enough to provide some stunning effects as the rain clouds hung like drapes over selected mountain ridges and and visually broke the sky into pieces of blue, gray and sheets of rain.
Unfortunately, our way towards Cheyenne, WY lead us around Denver. Not that there's anything wrong with Denver, quite on the contrary, the city provides incredible backdrops with the mountains, but we hit Denver at sunset.
The sheets of rain were illuminated by the setting sun, and much like John Denver sings; "...I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky The shadow from the starlight is softer than a lullabye..." it is a stunning visual to look at the peaks from a distance. The closes mainstream visual I can reference are some of the amazing backdrop images from "Lord of the Rings".
Once past Denver, the ride turned rather quiet and calm. A few constructions along the way and hundred some miles later we arrived in Cheyenne, WY. Dinner at Wendys, since Outback closes at 10pm! and we were off towards Doubglas, WY, but decided to call it a night in Wheatland.
The last remaining bastion to overcome, experience and thrillingly enojoy are....the Black Hills of South Dakota! That's today's recipe to fight boredom, take images and carve some curves.
If possible, images will be shot along the way, before we get onto the home stretch of about 300 miles.
Comparatively, the last 300 miles will be a test of endurance and iPod abilities as the scenery isn't quite
spectacular under normal circumstances. But, having ridden mountains, canyons, switchbacks, valleys, along raging rivers and having seen fire in the sky, North Dakota is fighting a tough battle to compete with images.
Don't get me wrong, this is not a diss on ND, but some wonders of nature just cannot be rivaled or overcome.

The final ride report will follow tomorrow and then it's back to "business as usual", longing to get more miles, meet more riders, see more mountains, valleys, canyons... Simply to get more...adrenaline.

MJ