Hwood, Smokey and I headed west last week for some much needed R&R (riding and rockin!). Five days of riding the canyon roads and rockin' out was the perfect way to unwind after a very trying winter.
To kick it off, we headed south to Des Moines to catch 1/2 of our favorite band, the Supersuckers, playing some small Hopkins-ish bar on a Wednesday nite. Eddie Spaghetti and Metal Marty rocked our asses in an intimate accoustic show, allowing us to call out song after song until the wee hours of the night. Once the show ended, we jumped back into the car for the all-night drive to Boulder, Colorado. My super husband, Jay, got us almost all the way through Nebraska while I slept, allowing me to rest and prep for the final drive into town. You can only imagine how disappointed we were to drive into a snow storm on our spring vaca.... oi! Luckily, Colorado knows how to melt it all off before lunchtime.
Our buddy Pike was ready and waiting for us when we pulled into his drive with the Scamp in tow, and we started our stay in Boulder with some tasty grub with Pike and his girl. We spent our day hiking with Smokey, updating our 1960-ish Scamp, and made sure to get some quality riding in. With only a couple hours of sleep under our belts in the last 36 hours, we kept the first ride low-key, staying in the foothills at a medium pace.
Come the next morning, though, we took on the mountains. Hwood and I took to the bikes early and headed into the mountains, off to check out Left Hand Canyon and see how far we could go. Little did I know that we missed the turn Jay had planned on, and we found ourselves climbing for 20 miles into a small mining town. The temps were near freezing by the time we found a handful of locals filling water jugs at a spring, and stopped to ask for the fastest route back... "go back the way you came".... not what we wanted to hear. Lucky for us, they had some old newspapers that we could stuff our jerseys with before our 10 mile decent back to the missed turn. It was SO COLD! There's nothing like descending like a madman when you can't feel your hands around your bars.
Once we were able to make it back to town and thaw out, we continued to relax and update the Scamp. Out with the old yellow trim tape and curtains. Hello to white trim, black curtains, and zebra print couch! Bitch please! Now we just have to replace the old yellow carpet and we'll be set.
Come the next morning my legs were toast. We had planned on another epic ride, but after the hour spent climbing our first pass, I new I wasn't ready for a mountain-century. So, we kept it chill and rode into Jackson. The sun was warm on our backs and it was a beautiful pass to ride.
Other than riding in the beautiful 60's & Sunny afternoons, we made sure to get out on the town and experience the local excitement. Pike took us up into the mountains for some crazy ass 4-wheeling. We climbed and passed through a number of mining towns along the way, slowly moving along and checking out the scenery as the temperatures dropped. Little did this fear-of-heights-chica know that the descent back to earth was via a dirt road only as wide as the Blazer with stunning views of the cliff edge outside the window. I can't wait to check out the videos Jay took - especially since I spent most of the descent with my head on the back seat of the Blazer as the two boys marveled at the view.
Come Sunday evening, what better way could we begin to close out our trip but with dinner and a show in Denver. The four of us loaded up the cruck, bound for Casa Bonita, a restaurant Jay hadn't been too since he was just a little tike in the 70's. It was like a Vegas theme restaurant... people everywhere, mariachis, a mini show every fifteen minutes.... oh yeah, and friggin cliff divers in the middle of the restaurant! It was awesome!
Once we filled our bellies, we headed out on the town to catch Eddie Spaghetti and Metal Marty again in Denver! The show was even better than it was in Des Moines. Not to mention, Eddie put us on the list and got us in for free! When we were in Des Moines, we had told him about our road trip and plan to catch him on our return, and he was super awesome to get us in - thanks, Eddie!!!
After the show, we curled up for a final night in the Scamp to prep for the long drive home. We battled a headwind for 15 hours, driving through all hours of the day and night to limp home and fall into bed utterly exhausted. Although it's great to be home, I already miss the sunshine. Why did we have to come home to snow?? WTF?
Anyways - awesome trip, fabulous riding, and amazing friends! Thanks to Pike, Melina, Eddie, Marty, Smokey, and the Scamp who made this trip awesome!!!!
Ready for summer,
Kristy Kreme
