Summer Solstice Sunset

Ah, the first official day of Summer and the heat we experienced here in the Colorado Front Range left us in no doubt that it was indeed Summer.

Both the day before Summer Solstice and the day of, the temperatures almost broke 100 degrees Fahrenheit and records were broken.

The day did end in quite a nice sunset though, in spite of the imbecile who joined us at the spot where more and more people have joined me in picturing the sunset.
The imbecile in question, decided to share his taste in music, with the rest of us....annoying us all.  Luckily, he didn't stay long.  He departed to annoy other people before the sunset's lighting got really good.  Imbecile.

The usual spot for sunset pictures is becoming too popular and crowded, there's even another imbecile flying a drone overhead at times, adding the drone's annoying buzzing sounds to the ambience.

I wonder if one can buy a drone controller signal jammer?

Last Day of Spring Sunset

I used the title Summer's Eve Sunset on Facebook to originally post these pictures, then I was reminded of the feminine hygiene trademark.  Doh.

It was a record breaking day yesterday in terms of temperatures.  99°F (37..2°C)!   Definitely a scorcher, but it did produce nice cloud formations and lighting conditions for this Spring season's last sunset:

As you can see, Fiona my '99 Ural Patrol with the '84 R80 Beemer engine is back on the road.  I received the replacement Final Drive mounting studs yesterday and replaced the two outer studs, leaving the two inner studs for the next time I have the final drive unmounted from the swingarm.

I also replaced the engine oil/gearbox oil on Fiona and Scarlett's engine oil.  It was a bit early for both but the oil was looking dirty and this way I can now use their respective odometers to schedule future maintenance.

Fathers Day Uraling on Mount Evans

Spent most of the day Uraling with Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol Sidecar Rig on North America's highest paved road, CO Hwy 5 or the Mount Evans Road.

Once can reach the parking lot at the summit, which lies at 14,420 feet or a bit over 4340 meters above sea level.  A fair altitude yoCou might say, but less than three hours away by Ural, there's also the road up Pikes Peak: America's Mountain.

You can drive all the way to the summit of Pikes Peak as well, and I've done so with all my motorcycles over the years.

Conditions were very crowded at Mount Evans, I attributed it to it's recent opening for the season and the fact there'd been a foot race on the mountain that morning; the race had closed the road to motored traffic until 11AM.

Got there at 12:30 after a 10AM departure from home.  Once I got clear of the usual congestation at the fee station, it wasn't too bad in terms of crowds and cagers.  Note:  If you tell the attendant you're just going up to the summit and back down without "stopping", you don't have to pay the entrance fee.  It's a Colorado Highway you see; now if you park at the summit or use any of the fee areas, then yes you have to pay.

I turned around just short of the summit (been there before many times) as I could see if was just jammed with cagers and crowds.  Here's the pictures I took as Scarlett and I made our way back down, usually stopping at the apex of the several hairpin turns.

 

 Approaching Summit Lake

 Summit Lake

Published: Sidecar Traveller #32

For the second time now, Martin Franitza, publisher of the magazine "Sidecar Traveller", a Germany based publication has used my photo in his latest edition.

He asked to use one of the photos taken during the April trip to Moab, Utah where fellow Uralisti and other sidecar riders had a bunch of fun riding the trails.

Here's a link to the specific day's riding:  LINK

Here's the picture selected by Martin:

Here's how it appears immediately after one turns open the cover of the magazine:

source: Gespannfahrer-Shop / Sidecar-Shop

On page 68, there's a blurb about myself and the photo:

source: Gespannfahrer-Shop / Sidecar-Shop

You can order the magazine here:  Gespannfahrer-Shop

Finally, here's the cover page for issue number 32:

source: Gespannfahrer-Shop / Sidecar-Shop

My thanks to Martin for using my photo in his publication.

Here's the last time one of my rigs was published in Martin's publication:  LINK