Relax

Gallatin Gateway, MT
Edited: Talked to him some more, so I updated parts of this to be more accurate.
And today, I relax.

I'm currently sitting outside in a hammock a little ways south of Bozeman Montana, listening to a small stream.  I just spent an hour in a hot tub 10 feet away, watching TV.  I cannot express how completely and utterly relaxing this is.  I was going to go to Bozeman tonight, but I think that's going to wait until tomorrow.  Tonight, I do nothing.

Surprises

Layton, UT

I was all ready to write a post about Salt Lake City, and what happens when I visit a city with no particular plans just to say I've been there.  It was going to be about how I wander and see the usual tourist sites and am disappointed with what I end up doing.  And then this morning I ended up stumbling across a really good time, so that post is going to have to wait.

After I woke up, packed up my tent, and hiked down the gigantic hill I camped on top of last night, I went to a brewpub called Squatters this morning to get some food and try their beer.

How The West Was Won

Pocatello, ID

"So... why did you decide to come to Idaho Falls? Because you asked if there was anything interesting to do here, and there really isn't."

I've been pleasantly surprised with the last week or so, and I'm looking forward to the next week.  I did not expect that I would enjoy this portion of the trip as much as I have, and it's making me sad that I have deadlines to make and can't spend as much time as I want here. Here's why.

Fool Me Once

Cody, WY

You'd think I'd have learned my lesson about altitude.  Then again, I didn't really know I was heading into high altitude until I started seeing some snow on the ground.  Then there was a lot of snow.  Then there were no patches of ground without snow.. It got cold pretty quick.  Driving down a road with 8 ft of snow on either side, the sun going down, not sure if I'll make it to lower elevation before it gets dark, no phone signal.

Breathing Hard

Casper, WY again

So my detour through Colorado has come to an end, and I'm back in Casper.  My motorcycle is currently in the shop getting an oil change that might take until the end of the day, so I'm going to be good friends with the employees at the Starbucks down the street by the end of the day.

After I left Denver Sunday morning, I headed into the mountains.  It was raining on and off, but when it wasn't, blue skies and sunshine made the day pretty nice and kept it from getting too cold (even if I did have to wear my rainsuit most of the time I was riding).  I rode highway 34 through Rocky Mountain National Park  which goes through the mountains and Estes Park.  At one point I stopped at a parking lot with an overlook to take some pictures, and I was at an elevation of around 12,000 ft above sea level.

Winter Wonderland

Grand Lake, CO

Well.  File this under "Oops."

So apparently I should have checked the weather before camping.

Barely Breathing

Fort Collins, CO

I'm glad I made the side trip to Colorado. I wasn't planning on it originally, as my original plan had me staying pretty far north of Colorado when heading out west.  Then again, my original map was optimized for (a) shorter distances, and (b) fewer "destinations" while still getting the general idea, since Google Maps only lets you do 25 destinations.

But since I was going to be in Casper, and it's not too far from there to get to the Denver area, I decided to make a side trip.  And it has definitely been worth it.