Left home near Dallas 16July about 7PM headed out solo to escape the brutal Texas heat. My Fat Bob was carrying a leather barrel bag and a Tbags Lonestar bag, tho for this trip the top roll bag in the photos was not used. Some tools, tire inflators, rain gear, light cold gear, spare helmet visors and a SPOT GPS tracker were in the barrel bag. Clothes and the etcetera stuff in the Lonestar bag. Boy howdy, the Lonestar bag is fantastic for interstate cruising. Plenty of room, expandable, lots of zippered pockets for all sorts of odds and ends. It also has a self-contained rain cover that pulls out of the top and neatly covers the entire bag in the event of big rain encounter.


Anywho, headed out on Highway 287, north and westbound out of Fort Worth across north Texas toward Amarillo. Uneventful ride except for the 100 degree heat. Scattered thunderstorms to the north around Wichita Falls moderated the temps somewhat into the 90's and all was well to sundown just after passing thru WF toward Vernon TX. A major squall line headed my way with a big time gust front signaling a downpour approaching. Stopped under an overpass and suited up, covered the bags and headed into the deluge thru Vernon. Lasted all of about 10-15 minutes then just light occaisonal drops for the rest of the miles to Amarillo, pulling in around midnight and about 350 miles from home. What a superb road bike is the Fat Bob, sure footed, stable (even in 50+mph crosswinds and wind driven rain). The headlights are powerful, especially for stock units, and illuminate the road with authority, fine for 70-75mph nightime riding. What a blast to churn away the miles on one of the MoCo's splendid Dynas. Though emergency decel power was never needed on the entire 2,000 some mile round trip, I like having the extra braking energy available with the Fat Bob's two front disc rotors and it's big contact goofy fat front tire.
Recently fitted on my bike is a Superbrace front fork stabilizer...


I have had it on the bike for over 3,000 miles now and can highly recommend this piece of kit for Dyna bikes at least. It really DOES positively affect the forks stability over rough asphalt or gravel roads. It does keep the machine more settled on rain grooved superslab. It even settles the bike somewhat better on highspeed sweepers. I would say 60+mph curves where that speed is enough to nearly drag my mid mounted footpegs. My bike handled low speed, tight twisties with aplomb this past April at The Dragon and it was not fitted with the Superbrace then. Again, it has been most noticeable for me on "tightening" the ride on rough roads, raingrooves and sweepers.
To be continued....

 

So, the 2nd morning rode from Amarillo thru Dumas & Dalhart then continuing northwest into New Mexico thru Clayton and Raton. Joined Interstate 25 northbound to the Promised land .... COLORADO !!!! At Walsenburg took a jog on Hwy 69 thru the San Luis Valley and Westcliffe Co under clear blue skies and cool air (low 80's). I like to ride Hwy 69 along the Sangre de Cristos since they are so visually stunning, being the longest straightest mountain range on the planet. Joined Hwy 50 at the Colorado river and Cotopaxi, then down river but avoiding Pueblo (not anywhere close to a favorite town) by going north on Hwy 115 near Canon City and Penrose on into Colorado Springs. Met up with my mom who was saying in Manitou, which is nestled at the base of Pikes Peak at a place called the Town & Country.....

We were there for our annual family reunion, meeting up with my cousin Jim...notice the Harley t-shirt and I think HD shades.....

Jim has a cool and really sweet, I think it is an Ultra Classic, so of course we had to go for a ride. About 125 miles worth of country riding north and east of the Black forest, away from the gargantuan traffic mess of C. Springs, where we encountered very light non-traffic even on a spectacular clear, cool Saturday afternoon. Though I like riding solo, it IS fun to ride with a cousin and go out for a very enjoyable 2 Harley ride, following the local guy who knows where to ride


2B cont'd...

 

Man when i rode up that way up by the oklahoma pan handle they had tons of cattle all hearded up. Looked like a dust storm from a miles away. Oh the stench was bad.

 

Last year, took the old Santa Fe trail from Pueblo to Dodge City, Kansas.... in Kansas the smell of the zillions of head of cattle was pungent to say the least.
Got some pics last week of a herd of Buffalo in the San Juan Valley and a small herd of Antelope west of Walsenburg, CO........

 

Great story....I think the Fat Bob is one of the neatest looking Harley's.

Hey, too bad you don't like Pueblo. I live here (by choice) and after having lived in several other parts of Colorado, have found that its a rather progressive city with a lot more than one see's on the highway. Those who've moved here often are surprised by what they've found here.

 

Pueblo may not be my favorite Colorado city, but it is WAY WAY better than probably 80 % of Texas towns. I like Texas, lived here 18 years now, but for instance, unlike my bride, I don't think Dallas is the center of the universe.

Anyhow, in Manitou, fun, eclectic and full of hippy leftover flower children; I had to stop at Patsy's for chocolate covered popcorn...

then get some Manitou Springs Mineral water from the miracle water Indian..

before heading up Serpentine road to the Cave of the Winds. That road is really terrific with probably 8 really tight (much tighter than 129 the Dragon) and pretty steep..

 

Nice! Im leaving from Denton friday and doing the same route as you

Hows the weather been? Rainy?

 

Just encountered some scattered thunderstorms and their associated rain across north Texas in the evenings, and the typical summer late afternoon thunderstorms in the Rockies. Otherwise mostly clear, cool to warm and light breezes in Colorado. The typical blistering brutal nuclear hell-fire afternoon heat of Texas summers, relieved only by an extraordinary summer cold front or the microbursts near thunderstorms.

Time to head home on the 22nd, but one final morning ride around Colorado Springs famed Garden of the Gods...

What is this below... SMOG over Colorado Springs, years ago that was confined to Denver, and even longer ago the steel mills of Pueblo. I suppose C. Springs has grown into a megalopolis.

 

Before heading out of town, stopped at Pikes Peak HD to pick up the obligatory t shirts. They sure have a pretty signature graphic of Pikes Peak and the Harley Eagle.
Back thru the "Garden" then once more thru Manitou and northwest bound on Highway 24 climbing towards Woodland Park then turning mostly west to Buena Vista. An array of beautiful vistas on the way to BV, here is one on one of the lonnnggg straights....

On reaching Buena Vista, turned north with Highway 24 to parallel the Arkansas river for a run to Twin Lakes and then up to the top of Independence Pass. So much colorful wild western American history in this area. For instance, in the months after the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone Arizona in 1881, the Earps and Doc Holliday went their separate ways. Holliday headed for Colorado. It is known that he arrived in Leadville, Colorado in 1884 arriving there by stagecoach from Salida Colorado. That stage road can still be seen today along the Arkansas river above the railroad grade. The photo below shows some remnants of the old stage line. The railroad was there by 1880, but served mainly the mining operations of Leadville. The road can barely be seen above the railroad to the right of the center of the photo.


Road north on Hwy 24 until the Hwy 82 cutoff to Twin Lakes and Independence Pass, the 2nd highest paved pass in Colorado.
But first, needed to fuel up in Twin Lakes...

Then up and back down, no ned to go over and on into Aspen as I ned to get back home......





My finger got in the way on a couple of the photos. It was a bit of a juggling act pulling out my iPhone to snap all the photos of this trip while underway.
(Interesting sidenote; I discovered that the iPhone attaches a GPS coordinate tag to each photo data block, which shows up on the photobucket data list, with an underlying link to maps.google.com)




The blue shirted girl on the right above, commented how cool my bike was and that she would like to ride down to Aspen on the back of it. She probably said that cause she knew there was no room for her with the bag on the seat.

 

Nice pics dude, way to show off the state. Reminds me I need to get out more this summer and go off roading!