Gremlin's Tall Stories

7.30am the alarm rings. I snooze… except I must have turned it off at some point, as Doc rings at 7.45am, handy though, as I need to put my bag in the van. I tell him to come in a couple of minutes, which drags on, so I drop my bag at the van instead. Doc comes by shortly thereafter to collect his gear. I roll over and go back to bed, setting the alarm for 9am.

10am I wake with a start… somewhere along the line I turned the alarm off again… evil brain I tells ya. Missed breakfast now, dammit, I really wanted to stuff my face at the complimentary breakfast. I like free things. Oh well, pack, watch a bit of Night at the Museum 2, load the bike and head off shortly after 11am.

Of course, gas is right at the top of my list… I have 14km left according to the range function. The gas station is 100m away, so no problem. Park the bike, head in to prepay (urgh) and oh… nope, he can’t split my $100 bill…. Oh crap. Other gas stations are around, so I’ll have to see if I can make it. I find the next down a side road, arrive with the bike saying you have 11km left dummy, but the station is OK with the $100 bill.

With 8.825 gallons thrown into the tank, I’m OK for the whole day, plus exploration if I want to, and still be able to do some mileage the following day. Heading out the gas station, I can’t understand why it has a no right turn, and I think fuck it, I have to go that way… no-one will see. As I get onto the road, it’s right by an intersection, and I’m puzzled as hell why I don’t have traffic lights while the other streets do? SHIT! IT’S A ONE WAY STREET… quick U-turn before I stop, no near collisions with cars thank goodness… not sure why the sign didn’t just say “One Way” like most others…

Disaster averted, I loop around until I find the street I need… Karen has gone into lala land deciding on a bunch of new streets, but once I head the way I know I need to, she reverts to the proper route and I depart around 11.45am. It’s slow going out of Fort Collins, which is surprisingly large, but I eventually find the turn off to Estes Park and the Stanley Hotel. Ken has recommended we pay the parking fee and have a look around, but I can’t be bothered, so a quick picture suffices on the road side before the booth, a quick explore to see if I can find some overlooking vantage point, but no success.

Ahead was the Rocky Mountain National Park, and what a beauty she was. I didn’t see the moose that others saw, but the scenery was still stunning, some wildlife spotted and the GPS topped out at a little over 12,300 feet. I would have stopped to take a picture, but there was nowhere to pull over. Check the rest of the pictures for some stunning overlooks of other mountain ranges.

The speeds were frustrating being in a National Park, mostly 35 and 45mph. Slow going, and even slower cars. The temperature remained nice and steady in the mid-20s, except for the top of the pass, which was mid-teens and quite windy.

I had a late lunch stop in Grand Lake, initially stopping at a café, a nice lady advising that if I wanted a sandwich I should go to Cy’s, just down the road. Had a delicious bacon and ham sandwich, full of extras with coleslaw, then went back to the café for their apparently famous ice-cream. Luckily, I resisted the temptation to have two scoops, as one scoop was plenty.

Heading down the other side of the Rocky Mountain National Park, I witnessed the rare sight of 2 bikes and a trike holding up traffic, crawling through corners… You don’t see that too often in NZ.

From Highway 40, I jumped onto I70 briefly, before going on the reasonably new road, Central City Parkway, to Central City. Typically, they had marked the initial park (the fun winding bit) as 35mph, but it was growing late in the day and I was getting annoyed with the limits that made things boring. It almost got me into grief, as I made the mistake of thinking there wouldn’t be any cops on this back road (although I should have guessed, with two lanes each way). Heading up one section at 50mph, now really enjoying the corners, I see a car coming the other way, with bars on the front.

Used to this, I gently jump on the picks, trying not to make the bike pitch too much, making my braking obvious. Sure enough, the radar detector goes off, it’s a cop, and I’m now about 10mph over the limit, I believe their limit of ignoring you. His brake lights are on as I go past, I’m not sure if it’s for me, or just the hill he’s descending. Didn’t see the cop again, but it must have been reasonably close to warranting a chat…

I desperately wish for a gravel road to explore… but nothing comes, as I said though, didn’t see the cop. Central City comes up in less than 10 miles, and it’s a rabbit warren of streets on the sides of mountain ranges. Someone should have told the town planner that it’s easier to build cities in the valley, where it’s flat, but they seemingly didn’t get that particular memo.

Blackhawk is right next to Central City, both experiencing a rebirth of sorts from their gold days through the casino business. I find it sad that the towns now depend on gambling, otherwise they would be gone, but worse, all the history disappearing as well. There are more casinos and hotels than I can count on two hands (never as big as Las Vegas obviously), but there really is little else.

After checking in and finding the BMW a park near the valet area (it’s all valet) I find the room and unpack, changing out of my gear. I find Mark, Gerry and Murray in the hallway, we agree to meet at 7pm for dinner, leaving me about 45 minutes to explore the town. The core of the historic area is too far away, but I get a few photos, find the city hall in use is still the original one from 1864, and that the city isn’t particularly wheelchair friendly, with several tall flights of stairs between terraces.

The casino money has been hard at work however, transforming whole sections and naturally bringing jobs with it. I speak to a local who obviously likes the town being brought back to life with all the money. On the way back to the hotel I find Gary touring the town on his Honda and he gives me a lift back to the Hotel. Two men on a Honda… wooooo.

Gary and Barbara, Mark and Gerry, and I wait at the appointed Corvette for Murray for 10 minutes, but he’s nowhere to be seen, so head off to the buffet for dinner. $17 (+ the infernal tax) gets you all you can eat, mains, desserts, even soft drinks. Very nice selection. Mark observes that he hates going into the bathroom and finding a fat man in there already… except it’s the mirror. We’re just thankful the airlines don’t charge a surcharge based on your weight from one flight to another… at least, they don’t yet.

I have an assortment of meats and salads, and this time (unlike the Banff meal) I have more space for dessert. Murray appears, apologising, saying he had been having a good run, and was $11 up, so kept going before joining us. I accidentally let slip it was my birthday, so Barbara rounds up a candle on a bit of cake and I get happy birthday sung to me from most of our group, who were scattered around the restaurant. Nice, but really guys, unnecessary… Finished off with two slices of a nice cheesecake.

Murray insists that since it’s my birthday, we do some gambling… I try to decline, he insists on the first dollar, so after dinner down to his lucky machine. It swallowed the dollar, giving me 1 bet or whatever per cent. I won a little (about 30 cents) which it ate too. I could see how so many get hooked though, as I could swear the machine would let me have a little now and then just to keep me playing. Fortunately for me, I feel no excitement in pressing a little button time after time seeing shapes scroll on the screen. Give me my bike and some gas any day.

Murray had another go, and put two dollars into the machine. After some play, it had swallowed that too, so he’s $9 up now. After all, the house always wins doesn’t it? On the way out of the casino I find the ATM and after some difficulties, finally withdraw US$1000. Most of my original US$2000 has been spent, holidaying proving slightly more expensive than planned.

Back to the room, Murray comes by to charge his phone, as I’m room sharing with Dave and Kevin (the van driver). Neither of them are around, so I jump in the shower and then settle down to upload some pictures and do some writing on the blog where I’m so far behind.

The guys eventually turn up and go to bed before I, as I continue to write… so tempting to fake an alarm or something… wouldn’t be conducive to good health however…

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2JkZXVTFyMbCM3H79