Day 22 - Golden, CO to Chadron, NE

Our route today would take us from the foothills of the Front Range to deep in the Nebraska prairie. We wanted to experience the hosts' 8am breakfast so we delayed our planned 7am departure time. We would get to our hotel in Nebraska at late afternoon, but it was worth it. Just two other guests were at the house so we ate in the dining room with them and the owners: the man from Singapore and a man who was in town for an astrology conference. He said he didn't sell as many of his books as he wanted to. We heard a few funny stories about his clients. We think he said his profession is an EEG technician and he's from Atlanta. He was really nice and chatted with Rob about motorcycles. Our hosts, Judy and Dennis, were just the sweetest people. They were married on Valentine's Day in 2010 and look to be in their 70s, but we don't know how they met. They had black and white antique photos of themselves and their families, one was of Dennis' grandfather. Judy is from the Golden area but lived in Florida at some point. Dennis lived in Montana for a time. Our breakfast was a "Judy style" eggs benedict casserole that Judy said she was trying out on us as a new recipe for guests. It was really good and much easier to make than the usual recipe. We also had chicken sausage, fruit, a baked apple cup, and muffins. We were stuffed! 

We said our goodbyes and hit the road at 9:15am, getting in a few last sights of downtown Golden. 

Our route was I70 East out of Golden to I25 North towards Fort Collins. Since we were heading North, we had a view of the distant Front Range for awhile. 

In the past we headed east immediately and sadly had to see the mountains in our mirrors. We continued on I25 into Wyoming where we picked up I80 East. We were in Wyoming for a little over an hour. 

Michele begged Rob to take this route instead to extend our vacation.

Just a few hours outside of Denver the scenery changed dramatically with the road mostly to ourselves.

This train had about 200 cars, with three engines in front and one in the middle. Michele lost count at about 140 cars since the tracks went behind a hill.

We crossed into Nebraska at 11:30am and the scenery picked up.

In Kimball, Nebraska we stopped for fuel and picked up Nebraska 71 North. We took that into Gering and connected with Nebraska 92 West. Michele wanted to make a stop at the Brown Sheep Co. to check out their yarn. It was just off Country Road 16 just a few miles outside Scotts Bluff. Their sheep used to make the wool are not onsite, but the dyeing and spinning mill is. 

They had a few cute roosters and chickens pecking about.

Once done there, we rode into Gering and had lunch at the Subway. Rob was still full from breakfast and didn't eat. We found a shady spot by the post office and library. A man came by and he had a friend who liked Honda motorcycles, and both he and the friend were in the Vietnam War. 

After a quick lunch, we rode back to the Scotts Bluff National Monument. They have a visitor center and a scenic drive. 

Unfortunately we learned no trailers allowed on the drive. Rob told the ranger that we just took it up to Mount Evans so this would be easy. Nope! We went inside and watched the movie of the history of the area, and looked at some of the exhibits, artwork and photos. The formations were ancestral high plains that wind, water and volcanos deposited materials that compacted and eroded 31 million years ago. 

The area was a prairie pathway for 10,000 years for Indians and then white settlers pioneering west. The Pony Express briefly came through this area. 

We'd like to come back sometime to walk about the trails and drive up the scenic road. 

At 3:15 we were done at the monument and continued up Nebraska 71 North to Nebraska 2 West. We've been on Nebraska 2 before, but not this far west, and find it a scenic alternative to the interstate. The open space is somewhat overwhelming. As far as we can see in every direction is grazing land.

We rode past sunflower fields, their heads facing east.

There were more cool formations as we got closer to the end of the day.

At Crawford, we picked up US 20 East into Chadron. We arrived at the Holiday Inn Chadron at 5pm. Rob wanted to enjoy a cocktail tonight, but there weren't a lot of restaurant choices. We walked across the parking lot to Runza, a fast food place that was rated well and was clean inside. 

Our room had this beautiful sunset view of the farmland.

We rode 360 miles today and descended nearly 2000 feet. We are now 4,000 total miles into our trip. We were expecting hotter conditions today but it stayed really nice right up to a few minutes before our arrival tonight, and even then it was only 88 for a high. We were mostly cool and comfortable the whole day ranging from 70 this morning to 83 most of the day. Tomorrow we ride through Nebraska to Grand Island.