Sunny Sunday Riding with Stewie

Spring may still be a few weeks off but you could swear it had arrived today in the great state of Colorado.

The morning and early afternoon were spent applying weatherproofing stain to the new gate we recently had installed for the back yard.  Now I can easily wheel the trailer onto the back yard, freeing up half a bay in the garage!

Three P.M. arrived and temperatures were in the high 60s (F) and Stewie begged me to take him out for a ride.  How could I say no?

Geared up, though I didn't wear the riding pants, just jeans.  First though, a peek at the snowy conditions we woke to on Saturday, as mentioned before, the snow didn't stick to the roads, mainly on the lawns and such.

Next, we wandered over to the Travois Development, stopping at the overpass stretching over the E-470 super slab on Ireland Street.

Mount Evans was pretty clear in the distance today, 

I of course, didn't have right camera with me.....

Transiting through the Travois development, I turned onto Inspiration Drive and headed east a short distance, turning south onto the ranching neighborhood to the south of Travois, it's name escapes me at the moment.  There's a spot near the junction of Forest Canyon Drive and Sand Creek Road which lends itself well to view of Mount Evans and nearby mountains.

Stewie of the West

I turned north towards home but first spent some time wandering about the grassland hills near the Aurora Reservoir.  Conditions were slight muddy at points but nothing Stewie couldn't handle with only the occasional use of my feet as outriggers.  The only bad thing was that swine are using the land as a dumping ground, a lot of swine by the amount of junk that had been dumped here and there.  Such a shame.

The Front Range Mountains from near the

Blackstone Country Club

After we safely got out of the grasslands and its muddy trails, Stewie and I headed for home using Smoky Hill Road briefly to get to a point west of Southlands Mall.  Then it was back roads all the way home, in great riding conditions; as evidence by the plethora of Harley owners riding about sans helmets or riding gear for that matter.

27 miles worth of exercise for Stewie, and a way for me to "rest" from weatherproofing the gate today.  That particular chore took about five hours.....I must get a paint sprayer for my next task, weatherproofing the small deck next to the kitchen.

Valencia is repaired and for sale.

I got a text message from Darrell S this morning as I worked around the house.  He and his 2014 Patrol, Babe, were at Unique Rides in Fort Collins.  There is an updated "configuration" for his Patrol's Electronics Control Unit (ECU) (still find it hard to imagine a URAL with an ECU) which is supposed to improve performance so Babe was getting it installed by the dealer.

Anyways, the reason Darrell texted me was to tell me he'd seen my 2011 Patrol, Valencia, sitting pretty in the dealer's lot.  She was next to Yoshie, my 2006 Suzuki DL1000 V-Strom/Dauntless Sidecar rig, though neither sported a price tag yet.

I asked Darrell for pictures and this is what he sent along:

Valencia and Yoshie

This post finishes what this previous post started in terms of reporting status on Valencia's condition.  She's got a rebuilt engine, all her other components should be fine.  I am sure she'll be a fun machine for whomever eventually buys her.  I think Randy, of Unique Rides, is planning on separating Yoshie from the Dauntless Sidecar and selling them as separate units if she doesn't sell easily.

I went for a ride today on Brigitta, my '87 R80 BMW Airhead, an 80 mile loop through Parker, Wolfenberger Road to CO105, North to Sedalia and then US85 to County Line Road which took me home.  Sorry, but didn't see a single instance for picture taking, the sun was bright and harsh, washing out what little color there was around here.

Typical Colorado winter day, snow overnight leading to snow-covered lawns but not much sticking to the roads, which is why I was able to ride this afternoon on dry roads.

2014 Patrol delayed

Just got word from Tammy of Unique Rides, they won't be shipping the rig till this coming Monday, 10MAR14.  As I feared, the east coast's winter weather is has screwed up logistics.  Sadness ensues.....

Early March Sunrise

While the east coast is apparently being pummeled by yet another winter storm, we here in Colorado woke to balmy temperatures (mid to high 30sF) and mostly clear skies.  There is some moisture predicted for late this evening but it doesn't sound like its going to be much.

The skies were turning a gorgeous orange/red color in Brigitta's rear view mirrors so I had to stop during my commute into downtown Denver to take these pictures.

 Colorado Sunrise

Mount Evans in the early morning...

Sorry I've not posted much of late, I've been riding my '87 BMW R80, Brigitta to work when I can; caging it in Milli the PT Cruiser when I can't.  As the days lengthened, I would approach and pass the usual picture spots for sunset pictures with the sun too high in the sky; and during the morning ride in, there'd been some light but not enough to take pictures by.....today was pretty good in terms of lighting, don't you think?

Speaking of weather, I hope the current storm hitting the east coast doesn't delay the departure of the 2014 Patrol I ordered.  It's supposed to leave the warehouse in New Jersey today.