Denver to Casper

Lucy and Ethel started their day with a 6:00AM trip to the Denver airport .  They had an on time flight and a safe drive home.  KC and I had a fantastic time with the girls during the past 5 days...a ton of laughs.  Our wives are the best of friends and the four of us have great fun on these trips.  We'll miss you ladies!!!

KC and I returned to the hotel for a quick breakfast and repack, then drove to the storage area where we had parked the trailer and bikes.  We pulled the trailer out so we could unload the bikes and immediately had a problem...KC's battery (on a 2014 GS) was DEAD.  Nada, zilch, nothing.  Mind you, it's 7:30 AM on a Sunday morning.  Fuck me...where in hell are we going to find a battery for a BMW motorcycle?  KC was about to go vertical and so, in my most soothing indoor voice,  I began reassuring him that we could find a battery or maybe a charge.

I suggested we find an Auto Zone and, lo and behold, there was one about 5 miles away.  And they were open.  We followed my iPhone's directions to the store and the young man behind the counter looked up the 1200GS battery spec's and found that they had the battery in stock.  In-freaking-stock.

St. Columbanus, the patron saint for motorcyclists, was open for business and in 10 minutes we were on our way back to the scene of the crime.   After a bit of confusion about how to reassemble things, we had the battery installed and....VOILA...the GS sprang to life.

Crisis averted, we began loading the bikes and repacking our Wolfman Duffle bags and by 10:30AM, our Sena 20S bluetooth intercoms were paired, we were through the secured gate and quickly entered I70 West headed for Casper, WY. 

This was our first use of the intercom system and it was an epiphany of sorts.  Riding down an interstate highway at 80MPH, I was struck with how clear the intercom voice quality was.  The range is always limited to line of sight...but with a clear shot Sena claims 2,000 meters or so.  I'm not sure I'm buying that one, but the range is adequate for our needs.  We immediately found them useful for confirming directions and advising each other of road hazards.  When there was nothing to say,  a one second tap of the dial switched me to bluetooth music from my iPhone and that worked great as well.

Around Ft. Collins,  KC and I became separated and using the Sena 20S intercoms we easily reconnected and never missed a beat.  IMHO, the Sena 20S's were the Most Useful Farkle for the trip.  I'd have to say that I am now a convert.  And, thanks to Mike Miller,  I have become a streaming music fan.  It works consistently and the audio quality is good.  I do think that there are some user interface issues that I'd like to resolve...but when the units worked they were impressive.

Casper is nearly 300 miles from Denver, so we had a serious ride ahead of us...I25 North to Fort Collins, then Highway 287 North to the Wyoming border, through Laramie, WY.  In Laramie we stopped for a gas (DAMNED good thing we did so) and a burger at Cherries Grill, operated by an older guy and his son, a teacher at the local high school.  I thought it was sweet to hear the older guy brag about what a good cook his son was.  I'll admit, it was a tasty burger.   I do love me a tasty burger.

By now the temps were in the low 90's and motion was the only possible solution for anyone wearing an Aerostich suit and full coverage helmet.  Anything under 40MPH and I was sweating like a field hand.

As we pressed northward, the eastern Wyoming landscape became increasingly desolate and the stretch from Laramie to Rock River and Medicine Bow...I'd call it "high plains"... was as deserted and barren as any place I've ever been in the continental US.  If you are looking on a map, its called "Shirley Basin" and it lies just west of the Laramie Mountains.  There were very few homes or ranch gates, no power lines, no phone lines and zero Starbucks.  There was a rail line along the western side of the road and the mile long trains were one of the few signs of human activity in this hot and windy basin.

Wyoming is loaded with two roadside structures...windmills and snow fences.  From this one may infer that Wyoming is a windy place.  My experience bears this out....it blew constantly while we were here.  From Fort Collins to Casper it was howling.  In the middle of one 75MPH left hand sweeper I was leaned into the turn when the gust hit me from the left side and completely straightened me up, which began shooting me straight at the curb.  I corrected in time to avert a life insurance claim, but KC said he could hear my sphincter slam shut through the Bluetooth intercom.

KC had suggested that we filled up our gas tanks in Laramie.  I thought it was unnecessary, but as it turns out it saved our asses (OK-my ass)...BIG TIME.  My fuel alert came on just as we turned onto Highway 220, warning me that I had enough fuel for 45 miles.  I arrived in Casper with my gauge reading "beyond E"... I had maybe a half gallon worth of gas left.  It was 150 miles from Laramie to Casper and we had not passed a single gas station.  In fact, I don't think we passed ANYTHING requiring electricity.  It was a very close call and if we hadn't gassed up in Laramie I'd have run out of gas, no doubt about it.  Lesson learned...when you are headed out of a Wyoming town, make sure the damn gas tank is full.

The other trick that I mastered was filling the tank as full as the center stand angle will permit.  Beyond the auto-gas-pump-click-turn-off, I was getting up to an additional 3/4 gallon added fuel...that extends my range by 30-35 miles.  Could be a very big deal at some point.

Casper is one of the cities I rode my bicycle through in my 2007 transcontinental ride and we spent one of our five rest days here.  Mike Miller and I drove a rented car to the Walmart for supplies and we were unable to turn off the windshield wipers during the entire drive...under bright blue skies.  Dorks.

My impression then was that it was a grubby town without much character.  This time I'm a bit more favorably incline...in part because of the deeply green and rich looking North Platte River that runs through town...it appears to be a seriously good trout stream, a good sized river to boot and I would love to spend a couple days in a drift boat exploring it.

Maybe next time.