Sunflower Sunrise

Saturday evening, I went out for a quick ride in the neighboring prairie areas, right after a short rain had cooled things down to the mid 70s in terms of temperatures.  It had been a hot and sunny 93°F kind of a day and it had limited my riding a bit.

I left however too late to get a good picture of the double rainbows that have been appearing lately with each rain fall.  However, on the way home on the county road that leads to Jewell Avenue, I saw two vast patches of farmland just covered with sunflowers!  It's apparently a cash crop of sorts around here and I for one was glad.

The sun was setting as I found the field so the light was all wrong to take pictures then.  I returned to the fields shortly after sunrise on Sunday and got these pictures for your viewing enjoyment.

A seemingly endless sea of sunflowers

Brigitta with sunflowers to the horizon

I then moved Brigitta over to the next field full of sunflowers, positioned her on the corner of the field and got these shots:

An attempt at "artsy"

I hope you liked the shots, it would have been cooler to have permission to position Brigitta amongst the growing sunflowers but the above will do I think.

The rest of the day, I rode my Ural Sidecar Rig Natasha along with my oldest son Patrick, to Victor, CO to check out the working gold mining that's going on there.  I was tipped off as to the mine's existence by fellow Uralista Steffen; more on that ride in my next posting.

Update 10AUG10:  I went back this evening before sunset and setup Brigitta in the same spot as before (mostly), centering her with the setting sunset which was coloring the mountains in nice colors.

The kind of shot I hope to parlay into a magazine cover someday

Shooting into a sunset is really hard with my limited photo shooting skills and antique camera, this is a composite shot of two separate pictures, one optimizing the exposure for the sky, the other for the foreground

This is a single picture, massaged with picnik.com's tools, to bring out the sunset's lights

As I rode home, the sky was lit up in vivid reds, yellows and oranges, at some points it seemed the western sky was on fire.  It was quite a beautiful sunset to ride in, my photos are but vague allusions to the wonderful sunset we Coloradans were fortunate to see today.

Again, a slightly massaged picture to bring out the interplay of the setting sun's lights on the mountains

A closer view of the setting sun, just before it came out of the low lying clouds and became a blinding object once again in the eyes of the commuters. 

A visit from former neighbors

Two weekends ago, I get a call out of the blue from my friend Gary who works for Frontier Airlines.  He and his family used to live in the house next to mine and we'd missed them when they up and moved to Missouri to be near family.

Gary told me he was in town, waiting for a flight back to St. Louis, along with his two kids, Carter his son and his younger daughter Ryan.  I quickly invited them over since they had time to kill before their evening flight as we'd not seen them in quite a while.  I believe the last time I saw Gary was when he came over for a day of riding my motorcycles right about a year ago.  LINK

They show up in this relic from the 80s van with a funky paint scheme and fully decked out interior.  It sure brought back some memories of growing up in the 70s and 80s for me!

The van is owned by a fellow pilot and is used in common by the pilots who share a "crash pad" near Denver International Airport as they all live elsewhere about the country.  DIA is their home airport so they come to Denver to fly their flights.

Ryan, it turns out, had always wanted a ride in a motorcycle sidecar rig!  That day she would be checking off that item from her "bucket list".

We visited with them for a while, shooting the breeze and catching up on each family's doings.  Then, it was time for a short ride for Ms Ryan.

Ryan is one happy looking girl isn't she?

Backing out of the garage

The only way to ride with kids!

After a few circles about the parking lot while Gary shot pictures of us, we headed out of the neighborhood.  It was a pretty short ride, less than a couple of miles tops, but I think Ryan had fun.  She was still all smiles when I brought her safely back home to her dad.

Still smiling in spite of my motorcycle handling skills!

Gary and crew left soon afterwards to ready themselves for their evening flight.  Thanks for visiting and lets not wait another year before doing this again OK?  If you come in Winter and there's snow on the ground, we're talking donuts in the sidecar!

Book Review: Around the World on a Motorcycle

Here's another book review of a book I received from motorbooks.com, a travelogue made by two Hungarian men, during the "epidemic of world travel efforts" in Europe in the late 1920s.  Note, all text in italics are quotes from the book,

Zoltan Sulkowsky and Gyula Bartha are the young men of this story and they're joined in Paris (where they buy the Harley Davidson motorcycle and sidecar that was their steed) by Mimmy, an artist with a similar wanderlust as Zoltan and Gyula.  

Link to book on motorbooks.com

The idea to ride around the world is born on a park bench in Milan after fruitless efforts to find "real work" there.  Influenced by some of the varying clientele in the local Hungarian Club/ Mr Rosenfield's little pub, the germ of the idea came about due to:  The club was also the favorite meeting place of a curious, bohemian caste of young men who took nothing in life seriously, a special breed of globetrotters.  They wandered from country to country, city to city, or simply the streets of Milan and made their money by selling their own photographs and samples of their correspondence.

Their travels start in Paris and make it down to Africa, riding west to east along the top end of that continent and end up in Egypt as a trio.  At this point however, they return to Hungary by way of Turkey due to logistics and travel restrictions and to drop off Mimmy who was ailing from sickness and couldn't continue traveling with them.

scanned photo from the book

The pair of adventurers continue onward, now with a German Sheperd for company through the subcontinent of India, alas their poor dog, Hadji,  does not make it past India and they're forced to continue on without it into the far east.

There are not a lot of pictures illustrating their travels, in fact, it was not till about this point in the book that I realized their sidecar was now mounted "English style" with it running on the tug's left side.  To make up for it though, Zoltan is very descriptive in his written descriptions of their rides through the varying countries, the encounters with people along the way and their observations of life in each country.  I found it quite interesting to compare their impressions of the political/social/cultural life in each country and compare it against what I've learned or know of the same.

Australia is the next stop after the Indian subcontinent and here they spent quite a portion of the book going on about the "sameness" of Australian homes and towns, the sometimes unbearable attitude exhibited by the Aussies that their country was the best, or that their particular city was the greatest.  Oh, and they managed to ride through the continent without once seeing a kangaroo apparently!

 photo scanned from book

Another ongoing theme is there seeking out and getting acquainted with fellow Hungarians as they ride about the world, seemingly never failing to find one or two and sometimes many expatriates.  Along with seeking fellow countrymen, they also kept their eyes open for wild game to hunt!  Their prize animal ended up being a large tiger in Java which they shot at night by aiming at the reflections of its eyes in the light of their motorcycle's headlight.

Their travels through the rest of Asia become vignettes of their glimpses into each culture they ride through.  They survive and encounter with bandits in China, admire Korean cleanliness, visit Siam while it was still named Siam and finally undergo "slight disappointment" in Japan.

 photo scanned from book

photo scanned from book

Japan is their last Asian country, from there it's a long boat ride to the United States which they travel through at the beginning of the Great Depression.  Their views and observations of life during the Depression and during the Prohibition Era were quite enlightening to me as a history major.  Still, they ride through most of the car-navigable portions of the US, seeing the major sights and cities but all in the space of a few pages in the book.

Mexico came and went across a few pages, the notable mentions being terrible roads and learning to survive on tortillas and beans.  The sight of their motorcycle always drew crowds as it was the first one the rural Mexicans had apparently seen.  They later elect to visit Cuba and after overcoming some border control "issues", manage to ride around Cuba during its heydays as a hot tourist destination for Americans and others.

They bypassed the Central American countries by taking a boat from Cuba to Panama.  Just as well I think since this was way before the concept of the Pan-American Highway was even thought of!  It's not exactly great roadways today, it would have been a pure slogging struggle for them during the early 1930s!

Our hardy pair and their dog spent quite a few days touring the Panama Canal and the surrounding areas.  They apparently were not impressed with the deportment of US soldiers and sailors in the local Panamanian towns when off duty.  Zoltan does go into a couple of pages worth of details on how ships are transported through the canal, so if you've ever wondered.....

Ongoing wars during the early thirties between South American countries dictated their entry point into the South American continent, and traveling south without the modern aid of GPS or heck, accurate maps would prove quite the challenge.  There were apparently, no national roadways, no national maps and the local folks did not wander far from their homes. Roads were basically trails to be negotiated via donkey or horse, not cars!

 photo scanned from book

They finish off their ride through six continents, 68 countries and over 170,000 Kilometers in a period of eight years.  Their final days speeding their way homeward to Hungary, racking up the last few European countries along the way.  Theirs was truly an epic journey, done in a long bygone era where the present resources and comforts available to modern world riders did not exist.

 photo scanned from book

A very nice read for Harley Davidson owners to take pride on, for world rider wannabes like me to ponder on, for travelogue fans with a historical bent to learn on, a book just about for anyone with a lust for travel down paths least traveled or on modes unusual.

Note: If you end up getting this book in part due to this review, let the folks at motorbooks.com know will you?

Uraling to the top of Pikes Peak - finally

Natasha, my Ural Sportsman sidecar rig and I, had attempted three times to ride to the top of Pikes Peak together.  The first time was back in November of last year, and we ended up being stopped a bit after mile marker 16 of the 19 miles to the top! 

The second time I tried, the sign at the toll station said that the road was only open to mile marker 13, I didn't even ride up.

Today was the third attempt, and as they say, third time's a charm.  Or course, being the middle of summer helps too in terms of no snow blocking the road to the top!

I left home around 7:50 AM and it was at 9:42 AM that I got through the toll booth and did a check-in with my loving wife before heading up the 19 miles to the top of the mountain.  Traffic was light on the Pikes Peak Highway and road conditions were good, even on the dirt portions of the road since it had apparently rained pretty hard the night before, so no dust.  Plenty of gravel and sand washed down from the sides of the mountain though, but being on three wheel, no big deal for Natasha.

Crystal Lake Reservoir, that's Pikes Peak in the background

Click here for a picture of Brigitta, my 1987 R80 Beemer at Crystal Lake back in March of '09

As you can see from the first picture above, the top of Pikes Peak was shrouded in clouds today.  I took it as a good omen since it's kind of barren up there above the timberline when there's no snow, the clouds would add a foggy effect to the shots.

I hit the "cloud line" shortly after I crossed above the timberline.  

This was the view just before the 12000 foot marker.

Being inside the clouds, you couldn't see the valley below or the surrounding terrain

One of my favorite spots to photograph, the Boulder Pile, as I call it.

Click here for a picture of Natasha back in November of 2009

Click here for a pano picture of Brigitta back in March of '09

Looking down from the Boulder Pile

click here for a picture of Brigitta from same location but in March of '09

Leaving the clouds below me, at the first hairpin turn

Click here for a pano shot of Natasha in same spot, back in November of last year

An attempt at an artsy shot

Next to the Bottomless Pit, the clouds crash into the mountainside and roll up like volcanic gases

A closer view of Natasha with the clouds boiling up from below hiding the rocks behind her

Here's a shot of Brigitta in same spot, March of '09

That straight line you see is the Cog Railroad line from Manitou Springs up to the top of Pikes Peak

It had always been snow-covered before so I'd not seen it.

There were a lot of cars and tourists up on the top of the mountain, not sure what they were taking pictures of besides themselves as the clouds were thick on top.  I managed to squeeze Natasha in between two cars for this shot of the summit sign:

Natasha at the peak, finally.

There really was not much to see up on top, what with the clouds and all so I started heading down the mountain.  I must say, the cars seemed more aggressive on the way down and I found myself pulling over a lot to let them get by.  Or, perhaps they had no idea how to put their car in lower gear and were burning up their brakes!

I stopped at this spot being graded for hikers and parking, that had a view of the Crystal Lake Reservoir.

Nearing the Boulder Pile, I always stop for this shot.

Here's a shot of Brigitta in near the same spot, back in March of '09

Here's a pano shot of Natasha as she nears the Bottomless Pit area

As I stood next to Natasha in the spot above, waiting for a line of cages to clear the shot, one of them paused and took a picture of me of all things!  I waved, they smiled and yelled "Nice Bike!"

A pano shot of the hairpin before the Boulder Pile

Here's a shot of Natasha in November of '09, quite a difference eh?

Pikes Peak, check!

On the way home, instead of retracing my route on CO83 to Parker, I swung east of Colorado Springs on US24 and took the road north to the small town of Elbert.  I wanted to get a look at the green prairies and lush wooded areas of the eastern portion of the Front Range.

The ride home was without incident and in very light traffic.  Got home a little bit before 4PM, perhaps 200 miles of riding in about 7 and 1/2 hrs of saddle time, a good ride.