road trip: Spokane, WA to Fort Collins, CO

December 17th:

-wake up at 3:30am and head to Shari's with CB

-get on a plane at some ungodly hour for the flight to Spokane.  Side note:  I really like flying, especially in the morning.  I witnessed one of the greatest sunrises in my memory:  the sun rising over a set of altostratus clouds and I got to watch it seemingly ripple away from the plane.  Think about this image but only seeing it from the air.  Pretty rad.

Once in Spokane it was a matter of meeting my Dad and beginning the journey West and South.  While I'd looked at a map and knew where Colorado was in relation to Washington I never really grasped how far it actually was.  Rather than bore you with all the details of what was a pretty boring drive I'll hit the high points.

about 900 lbs of gear.  We had about 1" of travel

High points of the day:  my Dad decides he's tired of driving and hands it over to me.  While this is perfectly reasonable his choice location was somewhat questionable.  We had dry pavement the entire day and within 2 miles of assuming the driving responsibilities the road promptly turns to ice exactly as we're trying to pass a semi.  Let's just say we both had a little adrenaline pumping after when the van slipped on some ice but the tires hooked up and I continued at a little more cautious pace.  Oh, and then there's the Continental Divide.  Thanks Dad, making me drive the most treacherous part within 5 miles of getting behind the wheel.

Oh, and then just ask dusk I seem something at the top of a little rise, here's my train of thought:

"eh, just a piece of plastic, no big deal"

"ok, maybe a busted up cardboard box"

"holy ****"

-somehow my brain takes over and swerves

turns out it was a ladder laying in the middle of the interstate.  Lucky miss.

Anyway, we made it to Billings without incident.  One observation, there are almost no minivans in Montana.  I'm not exaggerating when I say the vehicle breakdown is probably 55% trucks, 40% SUVs, 4.99% sedans, 0.01% minivans.  No joke.  

you know you're in Montana when...
doesn't quite measure up to Portland beers

typical Montana... 'murika!

December 18th.

Goal of the day:  make it to Fort Collins.  We're most of the way through Montana so it's just a matter of driving across all of Wyoming and we're just about there.  Right?  Not so much.

welcome to Wyoming, there's nothing here

So I'm driving again somewhere outside of Sheridan going over yet another hill and I see a truck off on the shoulder and people by it.  So what do I do?  Move to the left lane like a good driver and watch for people in case someone is trying to wave us down.  Bad choice.  Just as I'm getting ready to pass the truck I hear and feel the front driver-side tire hit something, go under the car and shoot at the back.  When I look in the mirror I see something that looks like this (pic below) sailing about 20 feet in the air.

10 seconds later:  thump, thump, thump.  F***.

center of the tire:  bad

Turns out the truck blew his transmission all over the left lane and I hit the cover or something like that.  Oops.  After 3 hours and the incredible generosity of a stranger we're back on the road.

Side story:  Sam Watson now ranks in the top 10 strangers I know.  This guy is the brand new manager at the Sheridan Firestone store.  When we called him he dropped everything at his store, drove 15 miles out of town to pick us up, drove us back and fixed the tire and then drove us back out to our car.  He fixed something that would have taken us the entire rest of sort out and did it only a matter of hours.  This guy is a model to live after.  He didn't know us, had better things to do and had no reason to but he dropped everything and went and picked up a few strangers to help them out.  We all could take a lesson from this.

Back on the road.  We hit Cheyenne and park next to some restaurant with creepy figurines.  Seriously, I would have been terrified if my parents had taken me here as a child.

The rest is history.  We made it to Fort Collins after dark but we still made the entire trip in 2 days.  There's probably a few more grey hairs on my Dad's head but hey, it was an adventure and if a flat tire's all that happened we can both live with that.  Here's a few pictures of unpacking the car.

the wine cooler.  Lost a total of 3 degrees over 3 days
in sub-zero temperatures

the cooler unsealed

Sorry this post is a little late.  I've been busy riding and working on a certain cycling-related project. Until next time I leave you with this view of where I get to ride for the next few weeks.  WITHOUT FENDERS!!!