We spent that night at the campgrounds - the Chaffee County Fairgrounds, they had plenty of room for our whole rig. We parked away from the campgrounds, but close to everything. There were about 60 people already there Wednesday.The Fairgrounds tent area was grassed and also contained old buildings and machinery - like an outdoor museum. It was interesting with the moto guzzi’s and tents all around.
Thursday morning was spent trying to get Derek a tyre. We unloaded the BMW before lunch. He got considerable teasing about the BMW requiring a whole semi for transportation!
Jim and I went into the historic downtown of Salida and found Billy Bongs Cafe for lunch, then wandered around and found a few bars with character/s. There are several micro breweries and different beer in Colorado - mostly good.
The same weekend was the Vintage Chevrolet Car Club meet in Salida. One street was closed off to display these machines, all pre-1928 Chevy’s. They were beautiful! There was a storm with hail, and we were in a bar beside the antique car display. Many of the owners were in the bar for shelter and I spoke to a couple of them. They are from all over the country.
Salida website: Founded in 1880, Salida was originally a railroad town and gold seekers settled there. Farmers and ranchers made Salida a lasting community. Today the most prominent business in Salida is tourism, consisting of skiing at Monarch ski area, whitewater rafting, kayaking and outfitting., particularly on the Arkansas River. Also countless mountain bikes and hiking trails. Population 5,500, 7036 elevation. Salida means ‘exit’ in Spanish, it is actually an entrance to some of Colorado’s highest country. It is surrounded by a dozen of the state’s 50-plus fourteeners - mountains that are more than 14,000 feet high.
Thursday afternoon Jim and I went up to Monarch Pass. 11,312 feet. A beautiful ride to the crest, but it got quite cold. There was rain on the return, which made it colder and windy. We met a few more guzzi people up there and rode back with them. Monarch Pass crosses the continental divide and offers great views.
Thursday evening we went to the Twisted Cork Restaurant in Salida with Patrick and Regina Hayes (California) and Doug and Maria Easton (Wyoming) - had a lovely meal and conversation.
Friday was a beautiful sunny morning - the Vintage Chevrolet Club display at the Fairgrounds.
They were lined up in amongst the tents and guzzi’s - there were a lot of them.
Mid morning a group rode to Leadville for lunch: Gary and Lori (Missouri), Tom (Arizona), Brian (California) and Jim and I. We all put rain gear on for the trip back.
Leadville: Situated at an elevation of 10,152 feet (3094 m). A former silver mining camp that lies near the headwaters of the Arkansas River. The historic district preserves many sites and structures from the dynamic mining era.
Friday night dinner at the ally was buffalo burgers. There was a large pavillion at the Fairgrounds, so plenty of room for everyone to sit down.
Many more people arrived on Saturday morning - it was warm and sunshine. The rally included a pancake, egg and sausage breakfast. We spent the morning visiting with friends in the campgrounds. I took many photos of the tents and guzzi’s amongst the historic buildings and old machinery. Jim and I went for a ride south over Poncha Pass to Saguache - a western town that time forgot. (The famous cannibal Alfred Packer cooled his heels in Saguache jail.) An interesting, old town.
Route 114 has 16 miles of “the best motorcycle highway in Colorado”. Several local motorcyclists told us that. It was perfect - very little traffic, a smooth, clean road with ascents and descents and a nice mix of tight twisties, then fast sweepers alternating through the canyon. We didn’t see any wildlife.
We stopped at a pull out and took some photos, the canyon scenery was awesome as well! Several riders went past, then turned around and went back over that piece of highway again.
Had lunch in Gunnison (a cattle town), then back to Salida over Monarch Pass.
Saturday evening was the bike judging, awards and dinner (spaghetti) in the Pavillion.
Dennis from California won the People’s Choice Award for his 1973 Eldorado. Dennis had owned it for 30 years and it has been his only transportation. He lives on his property in the mountains near Sacramento, California. The bike is almost considered a ’rat’ bike: water has never been deliberately sprayed on it, the exhaust pipes have been held on by chains for years. The bottom of a plastic soft drink bottle covers the distributor to keep water out. The seat is worn down to the metal. He is an interesting man. He rides that motorbike all over the country.The Award showed how much respect people have for him and his dedication to the brand. Many people had been shining their bikes all day, hoping to win a prize - even they were happy that Dennis won!
We didn’t have late nights at the rally - it got cold and windy, so we retired to the truck before midnight. One night it was so windy several tents were flattened and poles broken.
Sunday a lot of people were packed and left early for their ride home. After many ‘good-byes’, we went for a ride with others to Cottonwood Pass.
Cottonwood Pass crosses the continental divide - nice curves, fast sweepers and a few hairpins, and a great scenic overlook at the top - 12, 126 feet.Travelled back to Buena Vista with Chris and Judy Collins (Wisconsin) for lunch, then they went north, Jim and I went back to Salida.
About twenty people stayed at the campgrounds Sunday night. We went to Moonlight Pizza in Salida with John and Bev (Oklahoma), Jerry (Kentucky), and Tom (Pennsylvania).
Monday morning we planned a ride to Bishop Castle, Dennis came along as well. Before we left the campgrounds Dennis noticed his bike’s generator was a bit loose, so he got a piece of wood out of the wood pile and stuck it in to hold it in place.
The ride covers some great, lightly travelled roads - from the Arkansas River canyon up to the beautiful Wet Mountain Valley - a lush, high valley with the Wet Mountains on one side and a range on the other - nice curves and long views. A little further offers a stretch of “textbook twisties“ and it works it way down off the range. Follow the Arkansas River again - more sweepers, tight turns and rock cliffs.
Bishop Castle is quite an experience. The lifetime project of one determined man.
From Internet: Bishop Castle is a one-man construction project by Jim Bishop. At the age of 15, he assumed ownership of a 2.5 acre (10,000 sq. m) plot of land outside Pueblo, Colorado. Construction on the castle did not begin until 1971, when Bishop began construction on a large cistern, which he decided to surround with rocks. Several neighbors noted that the structure looked something like a castle. Bishop took this into consideration and soon began building his castle. Construction on the castle continues today with the addition of a ballroom, a dragon shaped furnace, a chapel, and several complete fireplaces.Jim Bishop was working on the moat while we visited. He is full of conspiracy theories, government corruption, etc. We were told NOT to engage in a conversation with him. Unfortunately, it was unavoidable and he left us a little startled by his theories!
Wildlife... ?? We almost hit a deer! Two walked on to the highway - one stopped in our lane, one stopped in the other lane in front of a semi truck. Jim was able to stop, but the truck locked up his brakes and left rubber down the highway. Both deer bolted.
We stopped in Florence for lunch, then said ‘good-bye’ to Dennis. He was packed up and looking for a camp spot near there. We loaded the bike on the truck and left the campgrounds - the last ones to leave.
We stopped in Colorado Springs and loaded a Honda Rebel 250 motorcycle. Louise and her husband, Randy rode from Michigan (Randy on a moto guzzi) and an oil seal blew and she lost the oil. We had lined up to load in Denver the next Wednesday going to Pennsylvania and said we could pick up the Honda and drop it to them near Michigan - they would drive to meet us near the highway.
Tuesday morning, Jim called in to make sure all was OK to load. After several calls it was realized that the shipper wanted a van not a flatbed, so we lost that load! There is nothing much coming out of Denver, certainly nothing that pays anything - but we knew that when the rally was scheduled for there.
We found an LTL (less than truckload) in Denver - a large utility/generator trailer going to Florida and we loaded it Tuesday afternoon. It paid well for taking up one third of the trailer. We took a gamble on finding something to go with it.
Our friend, Richard from Rockhampton has been in the USA for three months travelling on his Suzuki Vstrom. We missed him while he was in Florida and also when he was in Buffalo. We finally caught up in Denver on Tuesday afternoon.We had drinks and dinner and Richard got a motel room across the street, so we saw him the next morning before he headed into the Rocky Mountains. Richard has a website, so we have been keeping track of his adventures via his blog. We met Richard last year in Western Australia when we travelled Australia and he has visited us twice in Chinchilla. We would have liked to go for a ride with him - but impossible at this time. Good to have Aussie company again!
Wednesday, we drove to Amarillo, Texas. Thursday morning we loaded a backhoe for Georgia. Two LTL’s at least made it a paying load. Louise’s Honda is now going to Florida, instead of Michigan...
It was a HOT trip across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, down to Albany, Georgia. We arrived in Albany Saturday afternoon. The area around Albany had been explored on the motorbike a few years ago, so we had no destination in mind and did not unload the motorbike.
Sunday we bobtailed to a Flea Market in Albany and filled in a few hours, then worked around the truck and trailer.
Delivered the backhoe Monday morning, then to Pompano Beach, Florida to deliver the trailer Tuesday morning. On our way back to Daytona Beach we stopped at Port Canaveral and picked up our TWIC cards that we applied for last time we were at the house (end of April).
Arrived at the house in Daytona Beach at 5pm. Almost ten weeks since we were last there.
We had ten days off between North Dakota and Colorado, so did not want to spend much time at Daytona Beach right now. Did what we had to do and got a load out again. Had two days at the house - I didn’t even get the mail opened, so had to bring a bag full with me! Jim had to renew his drivers licence, and the TWIC cards were important. One afternoon we spent an hour on the boardwalk to appreciated the ocean and beach.
Thursday afternoon we loaded Joe’s moto guzzi eldorado that he left at our place Bike Week. We had two motorcycles on the trailer and ours behind the cab...Loaded two crates in Jacksonville on Friday going to Lakefield, Ontario. Had room for more freight. Found some pallets in Charleston, South Carolina going to Albany, New York. We loaded and tarped them by 3.30pm.
New truck rules for Canada being enforced from 1 July - all trucks have to be limited to 65 miles per hour. We took it to a Detroit Diesel shop and the truck computer was governed NOT to go faster than 65 miles per hour (105 kms).
We are looking at Canadian loads as our niche during the freight shortage. From 1 June all people travelling to Canada require passports and now the speed limiter - has eliminated a lot of truck drivers eligible to run Canada.
We were headed north through Florence, so called the South Carolina Casey’s Friday evening and lined them up to meet us Saturday morning at a Shoney’s Restaurant near a truckstop for breakfast.
Belinda had to work, so she stopped for ten minutes on her way to work. We had a two hour breakfast with Uncle Pat and met Jim’s cousin’s Corinna (36) and Brian (32) - so much to talk about! Brian rode his HD there, so we checked that out. Corinna is divorced and has Brianna (8) and Brian (4), she lives near Greenville, SC and Brian is single and lives in Florence.
They talked us into staying the day, and we could swing a day off this weekend - after getting the truck’s oil changed. There was a family gathering for three birthdays: Brian's, Belinda's brother and Belinda's mum. We spent a few hours at Pat and Belinda’s home, looking at old photos and more talk and information on Joseph Sr (Pat‘s father/Jim‘s grandfather).The party was at Belinda’s brother, Bryant’s and there were about 40 people there. Pat was tickled to have his family at the party - he introduced Jim to everyone as his nephew!
They are a motorcycling family! Three Harley Davidson tourer’s and Belinda's chopper in the garage. Everyone was very nice and welcoming. Great food as well. The house has four horse stables in the same building as the house. A very unusual house!
We left Florence early Sunday morning and spent that night 100 kms from our destination near Albany, New York.
Monday 13 July we delivered the first LTL shipment, then to Attica (near Buffalo) and unloaded Joe’s moto guzzi and Louise’s Honda at Joe and Michele’s. (Randy and Louise drove from Michigan the next day and picked up the Honda and their camping gear.)
While there, Jim checked out his ‘new’ 1976 Moto Guzzi Convert he bought on Craigslist last month - a diamond in the rough. He is hoping to combine the two Converts. Only time (and money) will decide that outcome!
We delivered the second LTL in Lakefield, Ontario (north east of Toronto) on Tuesday, then hurried over to Cambridge (west of Toronto) and loaded gear parts for an oversize load.
Delivered to a Georgia Power Nuclear Station in Juliette, Georgia on Thursday afternoon.
Loaded roofing material the next morning north of Atlanta going to Long Island, New York.
On the way we stopped at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and spent time with Jim’s relatives there. Got in Saturday at noon. Jim’s nephew, Jeff knows people with a cement works close by - we can park the whole rig there on a weekend.
Saturday afternoon, 13 year old Patrick had a baseball game, so we watched that. Had a cook out that evening with Jeff, Lori, Andrew and Patrick, Jim’s niece Eileen, Jim, Danny, David and Veronica and Jim’s brother in law, George. A fun time. It was Danny’s 11th birthday on 4 July and Lori had a yellow M&M ice cream cake for him.
We stayed with night with George as he is on his own and has room. That way we don’t kick a kid out of their room.
Sunday we went to Jim’s favourite beer store, Tanzo‘s. He can easily spend an hour there wandering down the aisle’s before making his selection. Found a “Toohey’s” shelf, but they were sold out! We found “Watermelon Ale”, but did not want to buy a whole carton just to try it.Sunday afternoon was spent around Jeff and Lori’s backyard and pool. Eileen’s family came back for pizza that evening.
We got up very early Monday morning and got over to Long Island and unloaded at a roofing supply company. We set up the next load for Tuesday morning in Philadelphia.
Loaded a large coolant system and delivered it early Wednesday afternoon at a nuclear power plant in Baxley, Georgia (Savannah area). We were four hours from Daytona Beach...
Had a look for a reload, but decided to head to the house for a four day weekend and organise a load for Monday.
Jim worked on the Moto Guzzi Eldorado in the garage - it is getting closer to running.
Friday afternoon we rode to New Smyrna Beach and met Ron, Gina, Tim and Helena for dinner at Peanuts Bar.
That was fun - also a tornado hit Port Orange while we were there! We watched it rolling! It touched down several times between New Smyrna and Daytona Beach, a short distance from where the rig is parked. It was all over with by the time we rode back to Daytona Beach. Considerable home damage to several neighbourhoods, but only one injury.
Several water spouts to the north of Daytona Beach as well.
Saturday we went for a couple of bike rides and pub stops - to get away from our projects at the house.
It was hot and humid in Florida!
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