Weld County, Colorado, is big. I took a ride around in it (and outside it, too) today. I needed to go to Fort Morgan to pick up some med samples from my doctor out there. She has put me on Victoza, and injectable drug that has kept my HgA1C (that stands for Hemoblobin A1C, an average blood sugar level that is one of the best ways to monitor Type 2 diabetes) at a level where she wants it. Victoza has worked well but it's expensive. I get to the coverage gap in my Medicare drug coverage in August or September and during that time I would spend $1400 for a renewal. But my doc loves me and saves Victoza samples for me when she gets them. Needing to pick up the samples gave me an excuse for a ride. As if I needed one!
I left home and headed northeast, riding up through farm and ranch country that is getting filled up with piplelines, pump stations, and directional wells that are being fracked to keep our fossil fuel coming. It's also a route that leads into the Pawnee Grasslands where it's easy to imagine the Pawnee riding their horses tracking the buffalo. There are three or four little communities, most with no businesses, all with no gasoline.
Remember, I just got a new fuel pump. The fuel gauge is a part of the fuel pump. After I had ridden by Briggsdale on CO-14, where there is a gas station, I realized that was going to be cutting it close in getting to Pine Bluffs, WY, on I-80. From Briggsdale to I-80 is 40 miles and there ain't no gas anywhere along that stretch. I slowed down when I was still about 20 miles from the truck stop on 80. When I got to 80, I was about 6/10 of a mile from the truck stop the road under the interstate and the service road leading to the truck stop was closed. By then my fuel gauge was pointing to the bottom left corner of the "E," below the red arc. I was still 20 miles from Pine Bluffs. There was another truck stop about 10 miles west of me, but I had realized that I didn't know if the new fuel gauge had the same calibration as my old one. So, I waited while six huge buildings that were obviously very heavy came down the hill, turned right onto the service road and then poked their way west. I was there for about 25 minutes waiting to get to the truck stop, which squeezed me on time to get to my doc's office before it closed. As it turns out, I probably would have made it to Pine Bluffs. I had ridden 280 miles on the tank and only needed 4.756 gallons to fill it.
That calculated to 59.1 mpg, which wasn't too bad since I'd done a bit of high-speed riding testing the new pump. It was the first time the bike had gotten over 80mph since the "choked" running had started in October of '17. I managed to exceed that by 20+ mph and the bike was still accelerating slowly.
After getting gas and back on to I-80 eastbound, I rethought my intention to take US-30 from Pine Bluffs to Kimball, NE, and just stayed on the interstate till I reached NE-71 and headed south. The first 20 or so miles is rolling hills, followed by 10 miles of very flat land and then, just before the Colorado border where you get back into Weld County on CO-71, the hills start again. Along with the hills, you start getting nuclear missile country. Francis E Warren AFB in Cheyenne is one of the bases where our 450 Minuteman III missiles are stored and maintained. The other two bases are Malmstrom AFB, Great Falls, MT, and Minot AFB, Minot AFB. There are silos along 71 in Nebraska and WY, and along other highways in both states. Back in '96, we were driving with friends and went by one of the silos I passed today. It happened to be Memorial Day and it felt a little strange, on a national highway, to see the covers of the silo open, knowing that there were 3 170-kiloton warheads down that hole. It was stranger still when the HUMVEE guarding the site tracked us with quad-50s as we drove past.
I left Weld County when I drove into Morgan County a 38-mile square chunk carved out of the eastern edge of Weld County, made it to my doctor's office and then drove 57 miles back home. For the day, it was 245 miles in very nice weather. Next week, I'll go west into the mountains.
My Spot track if you're interested: https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1b6205bac4ed58b661&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes
I left home and headed northeast, riding up through farm and ranch country that is getting filled up with piplelines, pump stations, and directional wells that are being fracked to keep our fossil fuel coming. It's also a route that leads into the Pawnee Grasslands where it's easy to imagine the Pawnee riding their horses tracking the buffalo. There are three or four little communities, most with no businesses, all with no gasoline.
Remember, I just got a new fuel pump. The fuel gauge is a part of the fuel pump. After I had ridden by Briggsdale on CO-14, where there is a gas station, I realized that was going to be cutting it close in getting to Pine Bluffs, WY, on I-80. From Briggsdale to I-80 is 40 miles and there ain't no gas anywhere along that stretch. I slowed down when I was still about 20 miles from the truck stop on 80. When I got to 80, I was about 6/10 of a mile from the truck stop the road under the interstate and the service road leading to the truck stop was closed. By then my fuel gauge was pointing to the bottom left corner of the "E," below the red arc. I was still 20 miles from Pine Bluffs. There was another truck stop about 10 miles west of me, but I had realized that I didn't know if the new fuel gauge had the same calibration as my old one. So, I waited while six huge buildings that were obviously very heavy came down the hill, turned right onto the service road and then poked their way west. I was there for about 25 minutes waiting to get to the truck stop, which squeezed me on time to get to my doc's office before it closed. As it turns out, I probably would have made it to Pine Bluffs. I had ridden 280 miles on the tank and only needed 4.756 gallons to fill it.
That calculated to 59.1 mpg, which wasn't too bad since I'd done a bit of high-speed riding testing the new pump. It was the first time the bike had gotten over 80mph since the "choked" running had started in October of '17. I managed to exceed that by 20+ mph and the bike was still accelerating slowly.After getting gas and back on to I-80 eastbound, I rethought my intention to take US-30 from Pine Bluffs to Kimball, NE, and just stayed on the interstate till I reached NE-71 and headed south. The first 20 or so miles is rolling hills, followed by 10 miles of very flat land and then, just before the Colorado border where you get back into Weld County on CO-71, the hills start again. Along with the hills, you start getting nuclear missile country. Francis E Warren AFB in Cheyenne is one of the bases where our 450 Minuteman III missiles are stored and maintained. The other two bases are Malmstrom AFB, Great Falls, MT, and Minot AFB, Minot AFB. There are silos along 71 in Nebraska and WY, and along other highways in both states. Back in '96, we were driving with friends and went by one of the silos I passed today. It happened to be Memorial Day and it felt a little strange, on a national highway, to see the covers of the silo open, knowing that there were 3 170-kiloton warheads down that hole. It was stranger still when the HUMVEE guarding the site tracked us with quad-50s as we drove past.
I left Weld County when I drove into Morgan County a 38-mile square chunk carved out of the eastern edge of Weld County, made it to my doctor's office and then drove 57 miles back home. For the day, it was 245 miles in very nice weather. Next week, I'll go west into the mountains.
My Spot track if you're interested: https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1b6205bac4ed58b661&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes
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