RIDING THE WEST

RIDING THE WEST THROUGH IDAHO, OREGON, WASHINGTON, BRITISH COLUMBIA, ALBERTA and MONTANA

Leaving early from my little piece of the planet (Wyoming) June 13th on my Harley Davidson 1200 Sportster Low was exciting. I planned for months for this trip and was nervous to see the rain fall all that week. The morning I left it was very gray skies and rain looked imminent. I was so glad that I purchased the heat demons for my grips the previous month. When I turned my ignition at 7:00 A.M the temperature was hovering around 40 degrees and as all of us who live in this climate know, that isn't a good sign when we have mountains to ride. Temperatures drop drastically in mountains, especially with rain fall. As Interstate 80 led me west, clouds gained in density until they opened up only thirty minutes into my ride.

As the rain came down furiously my heart thundered in my chest, I couldn't see much. I knew that it wouldn't let up anytime soon because the thunder storms that we have been having the previous week were terrible soakers, so I stayed on my throttle and set my goal to Rawlins. The rain began building on the roads and I couldn't believe the potholes near Elk Mountain. This is Interstate-80, It goes from California to New York City, there should not be these giant holes in the road and yet here they were. Trying to navigate that and the torrential down pour was difficult to say the least but navigate I did.

With new GPS and being able to communicate with the other member of my two man group (I purchased a new communication device for our helmets to allow us to talk to one another, it can also hook up to our I-PODS. I was able to listen to my music.) This trip was less stressful then it could have been. However with the rain falling as hard as it was and the temperature dropping now to 37 degrees, I was stressed and freezing. The heated grips took the edge off but not the complete chill. My riding partner, my husband Chip was covered completely with thick riding gloves but said that he couldn't feel his hands by the time we got into Rawlins, Wyoming. This is usually a one and a half hour ride. On June 13th 2010 it was nearly a three hour ride.

To Be Continued........