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Day 1 - Saturday, June 28, 2003 Sylmar, CA to Winter Park, CO 1,038 miles for the day, 1,038 miles traveled so far. 13:30 in the saddle, 15:40 total time home to check-in. Average speed while riding was 76.9 mph. No parks visited this day Daily Journal: Left at 1:55 in the morning, PDT. I had the windbreaker on over the Phoenix jacket. It worked fine in the 60 degree temperature. To make sure I had over 1,000 miles, I went through Mojave instead of Victorville. Daybreak occurred when I hit Baker. I shed the windbreaker and switched to the tinted shield. Then I continued on I-15 through Las Vegas, the Virgin River gorge (I love that stretch of freeway), crossing into Utah and Mountain time, St. George (it was 95-100 degrees through most of Utah), Beaver, then onto I-70. I hadn't ever been on this stretch of I-70 before so this was unexplored territory. The first part seemed like monument valley in AZ, but with trees. Gas at Salina. This is a must, because the next gas in 108 miles east! Before I knew it, I was in Colorado. I got some water to top off the Camelbak. A drawback of the mesh jacket - my skin was getting dry and I was drinking quite a bit of water (I went through 2-3 liters that day). I was used to the non-mesh jacket and sealing it up to keep moisture in. East of Grand Junction, the highway goes through several canyons as it follows the Colorado river upstream. The first, east of Palisade, had some nice twists, but that was nothing like what was to come. a bit over 50 miles further, the road and river and railroad goes through a narrow gorge (Glenwood Canyon) where the west bound lanes are on a bridge, partially over the eastbound lanes. And at least one tunnel. What a ride. I weaved my way through the traffic, keeping a good pace. At the top, the Colorado river splits off northward, and I-70 follows the Eagle River up to Vail. I got gas in Vail. Just past Vail, the clouds looked threatening, and I even saw some lightning in the distance. I pulled off the highway to put on the rain cover and my windbreaker because it was cooling off a bit. I also attempted to put the rain cover onto the expedition bag, but couldn't. I had the bag too full. And the extra bag attached was full of maps! Actually, for a light rain this cover is not needed, the main fabric of the bag is fairly water repellent, and all this extra cover does is provide a second layer of repellent fabric. Oh well, too bad I didn't try the rain cover out before I left on the trip. I knew it would probably work after I lost some of the maps and tourbooks and magazines that I brought for reading in the evenings. As it turned out, I skirted around any rain that was falling. I-70 goes through the continental divide instead of over it. The old road, US-6 crosses the divide via Loveland Pass, but I-70 uses the Eisenhower Tunnel instead. The twin bores are about 1.7 miles long. They are at just over 11,000' in elevation. An average of 30-35,000 vehicles a day pass through the tunnels. Loveland Pass is around 12,000' asl. I got off of I-70 at Georgetown, and then went north on US-40 over Berthoud Pass (11,300' asl), back over the continental divide to the west side. This pass was originally the stage coach route. The railroad crosses the divide via the Moffat Tunnel, a 6.2 mile tunnel at the 9,000' level. The western portal is right in Winter Park. I got some gas, went to the Super 8, and talked the nice girl behind the counter to sign my witness forms (it was 6:35pm MDT). I then needed to adjust the chain, since it was new and this was the first 1,000 miles on it. Then it was off to find some grub. I settled for BBQ at Smokey Moes. They had some great beer from Fat Tire Brewery on tap, and served it in a mug which held a liter of beer. A prefect ending to the day. After I got back to the room, I finished up my notes for the day, gathered up all of my gas receipts, IBA trip log and witness form, and put them in a SASE that I had prepared the week before. I wasn't going to take any chances with my receipts for another Saddlesore, so I mailed them to my home the next morning. The beer must have done me some good. I usually don't sleep well at altitude, but this night I slept very well. Map: |
