Ha! I left Ft. Stockton, TX before 6:00am
when I was on the Epic Ride.
And I left Greeley at 5:30am (no picture though) when I left here to ride to Spokane to trade Dudley for Horse.
OK, Phil - I stand corrected. You DID do 2 early starts.
But today I whipped out again. It got up to 92 yesterday and with high humidity. The campground was very well kept and quiet UNTIL about 4 PM when it came to life with lots of yelling and loud music well into the night. So between the heat and noise I had a pretty uncomfortable neight. The campground had showers so I went to take a cold shower before bed time. And just like Spearfish when I got to the shower I had to go back to my camp and get quarters to run the shower(Spearfish campers can relate). Removing clothing before showering was like peeling off tape. Still 88 and humid after sunset.
By morning the temp was down to 78 but still humid. I was on the bike at 5:30 with plans to ride a loop while it was cool(er). Riding out it was a bit dark and foggy and my mirrors and windscreen were all foggy as well. I stopped for a coffee and while drinking my coffee I checked the weather forecast - it was "same as yesterday". So I scratched my ride south and pointed the bike north. I rode all backroads for a couple hours before stopping for breakfast. Temps ranged from 74 on top down to 68 in the bottoms. About 8 hours later I was home and the highest temp I saw was 76. Weekend traffic was a little nuts though until I got about half way home.
I stumbled on to an "American Veterans Memorial" on my. I spent about a half hour reading all the monument stones and signs. It was kind of special for me. But then as the tourists poured in there were people sitting on the monument stones eating Big Macs and walking their dogs in the lawn area. I left in disgust, but once back on the road my disgust turned inward for not confronting the people about "respect". I don't think that will happen again.
So I never saw the Mississippi (except from an overlook), but I followed a lot of other rivers.
