Cody to Fort Collins

The drive from Cody to Fort Collins went well. Since we got out of camp so easily yesterday, we decided to give ourselves a bit more sleeping time. We were on the road by 6:40, and arrived into Fort Collins around 2:00PM. Winds on the drive were attention getting, but the scenery was beautiful.

Here are some of the shots along the way. The campsite sure does seem like one we should try on the next trip.

Once we got the campsite squared away, we decided to explore Fort Collins proper. The University Center for the Arts was our first stop, because they had a garden that needed exploring. And with the iconic soup can, how could we pass that up. The flowers were lovely, even in the 91 degree heat.

We found this fun bicycle that was available for rent, but we decided it was too warm to consider it. The bike paths in the area look like great fun to explore, so hopefully we'll be doing that soon!


Then it was off to Old Town to find out what we could see. The statuary in town was cute and imaginative.

Turns out Fort Collins has 21 breweries. While we didn't eat at a brewery, we found a lovely ale house where I had a vanilla porter, and Paula had a mule. Over appetizers and several games of Quirkle, we enjoyed their air conditioning thoroughly.

It's off to Rocky Mountain Recumbents tomorrow. Pls keep your fingers crossed for us!

Heart Mountain Relocation Center

On Saturday we traveled from Great Falls, Montana to Cody, Wyoming. We're working to get to Fort Collins where Rocky Mountain Recumbents is located. We're hoping they'll be able to repair my trike with the parts that Stefan of HP Velotechnik, is shipping from Germany.

We did such a good job of packing and organizing the campsite that we were on the road by 5:40 AM. This put us into Cody around noontime which was grand. We got our campsite squared away, and then tried to do some tourist shopping.  You see, Cody is a special place for me. Back in 1989 I attended WingDing (yearly GoldWing Motorcycle event) with Wade and Pam in Billings, Montana. Paula flew into the Cody, Wyoming Airport to join us. This was our second date, and a five thousand mile motorcycle camping trip at that! (Of course we'd known each other for many years before that, but had just begun dating.) I'd say it was a successful trip, as we're still together 18+ years later.  :-)

The tourist shopping didn't find anything I couldn't live without, so we went out to see the Heart Mountain Relocation Center outside of town. This was a sobering activity that profiled the internment of our Japanese Americans during World War II. We were told that potential organizers like professors, doctors, lawyers, teachers were interned in Tulare, California while over 14,000 others were shipped to Heart Mountain. Made us fearful that our current out-of-whack politics might take us down a similar path. Hopefully we've learned a little bit from history. May we learn more!

When we returned to town we had dinner at the Hotel Irma. This was the hotel I cooled my heels in, waiting for Paula to arrive so many years ago. It's a nifty place that supposedly Buffalo Bill helped establish in 1902. The bar, tin ceiling, and decor show it's got some history behind it.

Tomorrow its on to Fort Collins. More later...

More puttering along the Rivers Edge Trail

While we relax and await the shipment of parts to fix my HP Velotechnik S-Pedelec, we continue to putter around the campground, and along the Rivers Edge Trail.

Thought we'd share some of the sculptures that are along the trail, and ask you to name them.  Here's the first:

This one is located very near the Mighty Mo Brewing Company.

This one is along the trail. Paula's family has offered "Fishalo", "Fishofalo", "Falophish". What about "Bisphin"?  Can you do better?

Then we've seen this table that is has a clear top, as well as the sculptures that follow. We wondered if there is a welding school in the area, as the style is not familiar to us.

After a short ride this morning, this afternoon has been dubbed a laundry day. Tomorrow we'll check out the local museums. On Sunday we head for Cody, Wyoming. This will put us within striking distance of Fort Collins where we'll meet Rachel of Rocky Mountain Recumbents, with all the gear that Stefan has shipped to us to repair my trike. Keep your fingers crossed everyone...

River's Edge Trail in Great Falls, Montana

We settled into the KOA in Great Falls because we were worried about reservations around the July 4th holiday.  The showers were a welcomed relief!

This KOA is delightful. We're in an area for car and motorcycle campers. Each site has lots of greenery and privacy, unlike many KOAs we've been to.  Fireworks started early due to a Canadian celebration, but we'll survive.

First up for the evening was to check out the local brewery called, The Mighty Mo Brewing Company. They typically have a Scotch Ale on tap that we were anxious to try, but they were out, so we tried a Coco Stout, and a summer wheat ale that were quite good. They were doing a fundraiser so $1 from each of our pints went to River City Harvest Community Gardens.

Next we did more trike motor connections cleaning, and more trials of various configurations. Again no change. Darn!  But there is still great scenery to see. Soooo, we took as much off my trike as we could, traded saddles between trikes and the Mighty Paula pedalled it unassisted, and I rode her's carrying all our gear.

We found the local bike shop, the Knicker Biker. We loved their closed sign, so needed a photo.

Once they opened they supplied us with a trail map and advised us where to ride. The River's Edge Trail was the selection. It hosts several falls, and a power plant. The weather said only 20% chance of rain, but it caught us. Temps have been cool the entire time, but after this ride we immediately headed to a coffee shop for warm lattes.

Here's Paula's Go-Pro video of the day. https://gopro.com/v/ngdNlv0D6mkp
Then check out these photos. Running water always attracts me.

This is a part of the Lewis & Clark Trail. Paula knows the way!

Anybody know what this plant is?

Or what this is?

Warm lattes with a Montanoceratops!