07 Ridin' The Rockies HOG Tour - #2

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I participated in the Ridin’ the Rockies HOG Touring Rally that was held June 25-28, 2007. The plan for the week was to spend some time with my cousins before the rally started then take the long way home after the rally. I rode my 2005 833 Sportster from KC to the rally and back home. The following is a ride report of the ride. It is divided in to parts because of the pictures.

Saturday 23 JUN 07
I had set all the clocks on the bike to Mountain Time (I live in Central Time), before I left KC. The only clock I forgot to change was my wristwatch. So this morning when my alarm went off I got up and got ready. The plan was to leave the house by 7:30AM. We had the car loaded and was on the road by 6:30AM. Jackie and Kay are early risers anyway, so it wasn’t until I made a comment that we had hit the schedule of being on the road by 7:30am when they chuckled and informed me that it was 6:30AM.

We stopped for breakfast at I-HOP or Village Inn, I for which, while still in Denver then headed up the little highways to Estes Park. Kay and Jackie spend a lot of weekends in Estes Park and consider a home away from home. They showed me all their favorite spots. The first was an old, small church called the Malo Church. It is part of a retreat for Catholics. The church made of local stone and incorporating the stone hill it resides on, was an awesome stop.

The pope had visited this church on his visit to the US. A plaque commemorating the visit was mounted in the church, it said the following: In loving honor of Pope John Paul II’s spiritual sojourn to the Saint Malo Center on August 13, 1993. When arriving in Denver I lifted up my eyes toward the splendor of the Rocky Mountains whose majesty and power recall that all our help comes from the Lord, who had made heaven and earth. He alone is the rock of our salvation. Pope John Paul II

The church was awesome. The elevation made it difficult for me to breath. I would spend most of the week trying to suck air. By the time we got to Estes, it was around 1PM, we talked about either eating out, or grabbing some sandwiches and going into Rocky Mountain National Park for a picnic. I thought the picnic idea was a grand one so we grabbed some sandwiches from a deli and headed into the park. They knew of a great lunch spot and we enjoyed lunch beside a mountain stream. I think it was about 2:30 when we ate. After eating Jackie showed me the place that the water washed away the side of the mountain when the dam had failed. Estes Park had been flooded by the runoff water. The afternoon was spent tooling around the park and checking out the neat stops K & J knew about.

We did stop at one museum in the park and I got a passport stamp. RMNP has 3 different passport stamps. The east side has the same stamp in 2 locations, at this museum I can’t recall the name of and at the visitors center. TheAlpine center at the top of the pass has a second individual stamp and then the visitors center at the west exit has a third stamp. I thoroughly enjoyed my time visiting the park with my cousins. They knew a lot about the area and it was neat to see the park through their eyes. I was going to be traveling through this area on the HOG tour, but my trip through would be a lot faster and no one would be there to tell me the history of what I was seeing. I also would not get far from the bike when I came through, and we were definitely getting away from the car on this trip. Not that we were doing any hiking or anything, but when all your clothes are strapped on the back of the bike and anyone can make off with it in 3 minutes you have to keep a close eye on it or suffer the consequences.

We stopped at a couple of lakes in the National Park. One was Sprauge Lake. It is totally handicap accessible all the way around it you can push a wheel chair. Jackie says the trail is ‘flat’. I needed flat. We walked about 30 % of the way around the lake. That day there was a wedding going on so the wedding party passed us then about a half hour later the bride and her father, accompanied by the photographer. They were all very nice people. We left the motel about 5:30 so we would have time to eat before the show. There was a restaurant in the same shopping center as the playhouse. Kay and Jackie said it was good and a regular place to eat for them. It was called The Other Side and it was good. Although we were all pretty full from our late lunch we decided we needed to eat. I debated about a hamburger or a grilled cheese sandwich, I had the hamburger. Kay had the grilled cheese. At 7PM we had tickets to ‘The Rocky Mountain Revue’ a local play staring The National Park Players. The show was cute as it portrayed the interpersonal relationships of the staff an old west saloon and its patrons. It was pretty funny. The wait staff was also the actors. Before the show, at intermission and after the show the actors were there serving the patrons. I had a root beer float, as Jackie had planted that seed on how good one sounded. Kay is a sucker for ice cream as long as it is vanilla so she had a
cone. After the play and showers it was off to bed.

Part #1 of the trip can be found here: 07 Ridin' The Rockies HOG Tour - #1

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Photos

Lunch Break
This is us at our picnic area. Kay, me and Jackie

The New Ranger Cars
Wouldn't Lassie like to ride around in this!

Sprauge Lake
Some of the many baby ducks we saw there.

Sprauge Lake
Sitting for break with this as my view. What a life.

Sprauge Lake Wedding
You can see the bride and her father comming up to the wedding group. The wedding was performed on the pier.

Sprauge Lake
Another view across the lake.

Washout
This is where the Estes Park flood waters came from, see where it pushed all the rocks as it came down the mountain?