The next morning we were up early again. Marks thermometer indicated 50 degrees in his tent but could only manage a whopping 38 degrees outside. Good sleeping weather.

We got around, had our muffins, packed up and hit the road again. It was so fun each day as we knew it wouldn’t be a day of long traveling like on a road trip but rather a day of touring the mountains stopping when we want staying as long as we want with no regard for a schedule.

We continued on 24 south through Buena Vista then veered east and traversed Trout Creek Pass @ 9,346 ft then Wilkerson Pass @ 9,507 ft then Ute Pass @ 9,165 ft before passing through Woodland Park then to Cascade where we would say Hello to Pikes Peak. We made our way to the entrance where the nice Forest Ranger guy gave us the standard motorcycle warning that 11 miles of the 19 mile ride to the top of Pikes Peak was gravel. We knew that from our research but it was one of those things that had to be done.

Within a couple miles of leaving the gate we passed by "Santa’s Summer Workshop". The childhood memories swept through me again as we rode by and I looked upon the brilliant colors of the red and green painted workshop with its candy cane fences and Alpine decor. This was another stop for me years earlier on our big Colorado vacation.

Well its a good thing we earned the bragging rights of riding up Pikes Peak because when we got there between the haze in the air and some smoke from nearby forest fires there wasn’t much to see. Walking around up there was sort of eerie (and cold) and I suspect a lot like the moon. There were matching brown rocks all around to match the brown dirt, a sign, the cog train and the souvenir shop. After a short time of walking around Mark and I both noticed that a dark cloudbank was moving toward us. We decided it was time to make a break. Within 10 minutes of leaving the summit we could not see it anymore through the dark clouds. We stayed dry but I don’t think the people on top did.

After making our way down Pikes Peak we pulled into the first car wash we came across and washed our bikes and slapped the dust out of our clothes.

We got back on 24 and rode to Manitou Springs and on to Colorado Springs where we turned south on 115 toward Canon City. It was a beautiful day, like every day had been, with the temperature cool and pleasant. As we neared Canon City it began to warm and warm and warm. A bank thermometer in Canon City tattle tailed that it was 96 degrees. Ahh, just like home.

We rode westward on 50 with our next stop, The Royal Gorge. The Royal Gorge is spanned by one of the world’s highest suspension bridges of over 1,000 ft. We looked forward to seeing this spectacle and riding our motorcycles across it. We pulled off the highway and rode the 4 miles to the bridge. Expecting to emerge from a corner and have this awe inspiring view of the bridge appear before us, we were robbed by the sight of a typical tourist trap looking amusement park complete with high fences all around the entrance to block our view. Further investigations would reveal that they thought we would pay $17 a piece to see and ride across their bridge. They were wrong.

We mounted back up and rode the 4 miles back to the highway and continued on till we began to see white water river rafting expeditions. That was on our agenda anyway as the next attraction but we thought we would be back in Salida or Buena Vista to do that. Well this place looked pretty good so we checked it out and made our reservations for the next morning. We were really looking forward to white water rafting.

We hopped our bikes once more and rolled on down highway 50 through some of the best riding we have had with nice high speed sweeping turns and smooth roads and no switchbacks. By high speed I mean 50 to 60 mph. That is high speed after traversing Pikes Peak and other such roads. We snaked through the valley for miles side by side with the Arkansas River till we saw just what we were looking for, a beautiful campground right on the edge of the river. We checked in and set up our tents right on the edge of the water. Man, it was so NICE! For geographical clarity I should mention we were near Coto Paxi.

Now bear in mind that the Arkansas River is not like the Arkansas as it passes through Oklahoma. Its headwaters are near Leadville and it is a beautiful clear blue river as it makes its way across Colorado. In fact it is the Arkansas River that we were scheduled to white water on the next morning.

We took our showers and did some laundry since it was still sunny out in the late afternoon. It was nice to get in to camp and set up and eat and relax and do a few other things after being on the bike all day. The evening was beautiful and after eating at a near by burger grill we cleaned up the bikes and just sat by the river in our lawn chairs and talked for a couple hours enjoying our new home and watching the river ripple by.

We were up early again the next day since we had to be at the rafting outfit by 9:00 a.m. and we had a 12 mile ride back to it. We arrived there on time and began our check in by getting our gear together such as helmets, vests and shoes. While waiting for the bus to take us to our launching spot we struck up a conversation with a group of Mexicans that were there for the raft trip also. They too were on a bike trip. There were about 15 of them and maybe 10 bikes. They had a few GoldWings, a couple Harley’s, a couple Yamaha V-Stars and the like. They were really nice and we enjoyed visiting with them about their trip and bikes and such. Most of them were from the Dallas area and a couple were up from Mexico traveling with them. Apparently most of them were related and some were neighbors and friends. They were all part of a church group and they even had their pastor along.

We finally boarded our bus and traveled to our launching point on the Arkansas River where we would spend about 5 hours exploring the canyon walls and rapids of the river. Mark and I were in front of our raft with a man and his son behind us then a girl who was getting qualified to be a guide and of course our guide, who was from New Zealand. He was pretty fun hearted and so between him Mark and I we provided the humor and excitement for our raft. The others were real quiet.

After shoving off and floating along in the calm waters our guide explained all the commands to us. He talked about how to paddle, how to back paddle, when to stop, when to move around and different things. He went into the bit about falling out and what to do. First you try to get back in. Next you try and get to shore. Then he explained how to swim and/or float through the rapids solo if you can’t make it back in or to the shore. Blah Blah Blah…  I figured it was just one of those things like listening to a flight attendant about what to do in a crash.

We got to our first set of rapids and it got kind of hairy just like you see in the movies. We were bouncing around and water was splashing up all over the place and our guide was barking orders at us. We made it through OK but not without a few scary moments. We pulled to the side in some calm water for a bit to wait for the other rafts in our group. As they went through the rapids they bounced around so much that one of our Mexican friends fell out. I felt a bit scared for him but helpless too watching him bounce through the rapids and I couldn’t do anything about it. Then the second raft came through and it upended and two more guys flew out. I watched helplessly as they bounced through the rapids and floated by. Mark and I gave each other a meaningful look and no words were necessary because we knew what was on each other’s minds. We were getting nervous. Did we bite off more than we could chew? This was only our first set of rapids. The next raft struggled but made it OK. The rafts that the men fell out of were now in the calm water and were able to retrieve their lost personnel. We continued on and did OK for the rest of the trip. We got better and better each set of rapids so it got more fun than stressful after a bit. We went down through the Royal Gorge canyon and looked up at the bridge we elected not to ride across some 1000 feet above us.

We finally completed our river journey and boarded our bus again to take us back to the shop where we began and turned our gear in. We visited with the Mexicans some more before wishing them well and saying our good-byes and hopping our bikes and back tracking west on 50 to Salida then north on 24. Just north of Granite we peeled off on highway 82 headed for Aspen via Independence Pass.

We began our ascent of Independence Pass and the Continental Divide by again winding through the trees on some of the most beautiful smooth roads with nice sweeping turns and pullouts to take in the scenery. The air got cooler and cooler as we climbed to the summit of 12,095 ft. We pulled off at the summit for pictures and to walk around the trail that takes you out to the edge of the mountains for some spectacular views. Again being above the tree line was a bit eerie as you could see so far and so far down.