A Gorgeous Thursday Sunset

After a long day at work, I think the fates took pity on me and presented me and the rest of the residents of Colorado's Front Range with a gorgeous sunset.

I rode Fiona, my '99 Bural Rig (she's got a BMW R80 engine) to the usual sunset picture spot.  This spot is becoming quite popular now, there were already two cars ahead of me but I was able to snag the usual spot to pose my rig.

Silly cagers, all of them left shortly before the sunset's lighting of the clouds got really nice and intense!

The colors got so gorgeous, two cars stopped to take pictures.  I just kept shooting, ending up with a "plethora" of pictures that required very little post-processing.  It was difficult but I cut the list of pictures to be posted down to these.

 The interesting cloud formations to the south were highlighted

in pink lighting as the yellows changed to reds

 It seemed like the other side of the 

Front Range Mountains were on fire.

 Same angle as above, but using the camera's "sunset mode"

to really bring out the colors

 And then, the skies just turned bright red and orange....

 Same as above, but using camera's sunset mode

the sunset's last bursts of light....

The Buena Vista RV Trip: Day 2: Independence Pass

Sunday, or day Two of our short camping trip to the Buena Vista, Colorado area.

We left before 8:00AM and headed up US24 towards its junction with CO Hwy 82 or Independence Pass Road.  The weather was sunny, not too cold though there was some strong winds as we headed north on US24.

We made it to the small settlement of Twin Lakes and gassed up with the good stuff, 93 Octane Ethanol free gasoline!  Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol liked it, she got like 40 MPG from that tankfull.

 The view as one arrives at Twin Lakes, Colorado

 Descending from the summit of Independence Pass

headed towards Aspen, CO

In Aspen, Martha had arranged for us to meet with Barbara L.  She's the eldest daughter of a good friend of ours and she was Patrick's first baby sitter when she was just 11 years old.  We've known Barbara and her family a very long time you see.

After a nice brunch in Aspen, we said our goodbyes and headed over to the Maroon Bells area for pictures.  Enroute, we stopped at the T-Lazy-7 Ranch where Barbara got married a bit over three years ago.

They've got quite the backdrop for wedding ceremonies eh?

Continuing on to the Maroon Bells, we got one of the last parking spots there after paying our $5 (for motorcycles) fee.  A brief walk got us to the small lake that provides such a nice foreground for pictures of the peaks in the area.

Above, Martha had me pose after I took the

below shot

 A pic of Scarlett and Martha with the peaks of the 

Maroon Bells in the background as we left the park.

Then it was onwards, back towards the summit of Independence Pass.  As is my wont and required by the Ural, no stops on the way up, as it's hard on the clutch.  But once we reached the summit:

 The requisite picture of one's ride by the pass sign

12,095 ft or 3686 meters

As we descended back down the eastern half of the Independence Pass road, I tried to stop where safe for pictures.

 The last mountain peak one sees as one reaches the valley 

floor and starts turning towards Twin Lakes 

Gassing up once again on the good stuff in Twin Lakes' only gas station, we wandered around Dexter Point a bit looking for a spot for a final pic of the area:

 Pictures done, it was a straight shot down US24 towards Buena Vista.  We got back to the campground with no issues and spend the rest of the afternoon processing photos and video that we shot.

No sunset ride for this day, as I typed this, it had just finished hailing on us!  Mostly pea-sized hail though some of the hail was larger than that by a bit!  The impact noise of the hail hitting the roof of the RV made it sound like rocks hitting a plastic roof!  Very loud, we had to shout at times in order to be able to hear each other!

The hail storm didn't last very long and left the campground a slightly muddy mess.

An interesting end to a gorgeous day of riding, visiting and sightseeing!

Here's a video shot by Martha, using her iPhone6

The Buena Vista, CO RV Trip: Day 1

Yesterday found Martha and I driving Umarang (Uma) the URRV towing Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol on a trailer and headed towards the mountain town of Buena Vista, Colorado.

We found us a site to camp out till Tuesday morning at the Arkansas River Rim RV Campground north of Buena Vista by about three miles.  Most of the afternoon, after setting up camp, was spent just relaxing until near sunset time.

We headed out and explored a few venues looking for a likely sunset picture taking spot but didn't have much luck as the sun descended slowly towards the nearby mountains of the Collegiate Peaks.

Finally, as we were headed back to the campground, we spotted some nice golden light shining upon the peaks of Mount Yale and we rode onto a dirt road near the Arrow Point RV camp.

A quick ride up the hill and we found a nice spot to pose Scarlett and Martha as the sun set to the west.

Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park

A late opening for the Trail Ridge Road, aka CO34, which spans the width of the Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP).  It's usually open for the season during Memorial Day Weekend but this time snow levels and late season snow fall delayed things till Wednesday, May 31.

I took the next day, Thursday, the first of June off of work and rode the 2.5 hours to Estes Park which borders the RMNP on the east side.  $20 is the fee one pays to get a day pass.   I went Thursday as I figured the crowds this first weekend after the road's seasonal opening would be maddening.

It wasn't too crowded in the park but at the first few miles, I did wonder as people were stacked up gawking and trying to find parking at the first couple of major overlooks.  Once I got clear of them, it was pretty much smooth going.

 Near the "Rock Cut", one of my favorite stopping

points for pictures within the park

At the first curve after the Alpine Visitor Center

near the road's summit

Usually, I enter the park via the Fall River Road entrance and exit via the Beaver Creek Entrance.  I elected instead to retrace my route and found this nice view of the mountains as one exits the park:

One last view of the mountains.

Another 2.5 hours or so for the ride back.

Almost 400 km (240 miles) ridden and with that some facts have become evident.

Highest temperature 82°F (27.7°C) in Denver, 42°F (5.5°C) at the summit of Trail Ridge Road.

Fiona's "Tractor Seat", which is basically a slab of thick rubber, isn't made for long distance riding in terms of my butt's comfort.  I think I'll have to look into getting a bench seat.

Although I'd moved the seat back before, I still couldn't get the "stretch" for my knees as I can with Scarlett (who has a bench seat on her).  My knees were killing me by the end of the riding.

Of course, it could be that I'm out of shape for long rides too.  

Fiona did great though she did idle a bit low at altitude within the park, no big surprise as we were much higher than normal; a bit over 12000 ft or 3657+ meters.