2005 — Quick Loop to Jackson on Trip 2

John and Randy and Johnathon had taken a trip to California earlier this summer but that didn't fit into the plans or options that the rest of us had to work with. So we did the obvious thing: We took a second trip.

There were four of us on this one. Ken, Bill, and Dennis left from Denver and John came on his own from Montrose (blue on the map). The meeting point was Riverside, WY, where we originally hoped to get one of the cabins John and Bill and Ken had stayed at the first time we came through here. Unfortunately, those were all booked up by a large group so we took accommodations in the apartment-style building on the other side of the road. Not a big deal, or so we thought at the time.

So the three rode up through the Poudre to North Park and on to Riverside. We signed in and walked out just as John came rolling up. It was time to get down to some serious relaxation. Let's head for the Mangy Moose--not a long journey, as it was right next door.

It got to be a very popular place, as the Moose was a stop for a poker run that day and the place was soon swarming with bikers. Everyone sat around and drank and had a great time and large quantities of beer were consumed. We got to talking and partying with some locals, and Bill found a local lady who appeared quite drawn to him. She wanted to go for a ride so off they went, but along the way they spotted a guy who didn't look friendly. "Oh, oh, that's my ex-husband," she told him. So he dropped her off and made a possibly well-advised exit. Then he came back to bar and told us about the incredible cloud of gnats or mosquitos or whatever that he ran into in the course of all this.

It was a big party night but we eventually headed to bed. Not so a lot of the other folks, and some especially obnoxious revelers kept us all awake most of the night. This may have been the worst night we've spent on any of these trips.

In the morning we took off for Jackson, which, by our route, was about 350 hot miles. This was just a day of blasting across the state and by the time we got there any plans anyone may have had for a hot night in Jackson were replaced by a desire to just get some sleep. Standing out in the parking lot, incidentally, we did see a bunch of parasailers doing their thing, and those are apparently the only photos from the whole trip. One of those photos is below.

Parasailers in Jackson We headed south from Jackson through the Star Valley, stopping of course for ice cream and cheese curds. The plan this day was to go as far as Lyman, right off I-80 in southern Wyoming, but when we got there we couldn't find any place to stay. So we pressed on to Manila, at the south end of the Flaming Gorge. There were accommodations available there, and Ken's knee was hurting big time, so he was all for staying there. John, however, perhaps not realizing how much pain Ken was in, pushed to keep going, to Vernal, so he would have an easy day's ride home the next day. Ken objected loudly but was outvoted. So we went to Vernal.

Come morning we saddled up and headed east. At Dinosaur John turned off toward Montrose and at Steamboat Springs Bill and Ken bid good-bye to Dennis, who also wanted to get home. The two of them stayed the night in Steamboat.

One more morning and off we went for Denver. Pulling off for gas in Kremmling, Ken saw that Bill had snagged a bird. Bill had seen it swoop in toward the front of his bike but didn't see it emerge on the other side. That's because it didn't.

Extracting it was not easy, either, because it was right in the spot where the hinge to Bill's side stand swung out. Extended, the side stand actually trapped the bird in place, so Ken held the bike up while Bill dug the oozing, by this time very disgusting, bird out. Nothing else of any significance happened on the way home so that wrapped this trip.

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