rhorbelt

Quick Trip out West… RoadGliding…

Quick Trip out West… RoadGliding…

We normally take several months in the summer to visit Colorado, to get away from the heat !!

However, due to the current situation (It Sucks), we just went for a few weeks, but luckily, we still managed to have a great time.

On our way to Copper Mtn, we stopped in Dodge City, a good place to stop because it has the only open Casino in western Kansas !

It would have been more fun if we had won !!.

Next Day we drove to Copper Mountain in Colorado and stayed there for a

week. We love this area, with Breckenridge, Keystone, Vail and Lake Dillon so close, there are a million cool outdoor things to do, and believe me, we took advantage of as many of them as we could.

During our stay, our new Electric bikes were

the most fun. You really gotta try out one of these. They are really cool !!

We were able to go farther and up hills that we would never be able to do without walking the bikes.

You still get exercise, but with the electric assist, you can enjoy the ride instead of killing yourself. Pretty Freakin Cool !!

Along with biking, we did a lot of hiking, and kayaking. Kayaking on

Lake Dillon was a bunch of fun. So we are going to have to buy a couple of kayaks for our next trip.

Hiking is free, but Kayaks are really expensive to rent !!

After a great week in Copper Mountain, we left for Durango for a few days. Did some serious shopping and drove the Million Dollar Parkway to Silverton and Ouray.

Last stop was Moab, Utah.

Colorado was nice and cool but Moab was really hot. One day while we were in Canyonlands National Park, it hit 117 degrees Fahrenheit.

Hot Hot Hot !!!

Luckily our hotel had a really nice pool

We were able to Tube down the Colorado river, which flows thru some of the

coolest red canyons you’ve ever seen.

The next day we went Off Road in Canyonlands National Park, on the White

Rim Trail. It’s a 100 mile road that wanders through the Park.

To ride the whole route. It will take at least 2 to 3 days, so we will be doing some camping next time we come.

We will be sure to try this in the fall or spring when it’s not 117 degrees.

Well it looks like we gotta get back home.

Since the world is going crazy, it seems like a good time to get things done around the house.

Gonna get our kitchen redone. Trying for a 60’s vibe.

We usually go to Sturgis in August, we first met there 10 years ago!

We probably won’t make it there this year.

You know Why !

We will celebrate somewhere

We’ll let you know !!

Later … RoadGliding…

To Sturgis and Beyond…

Hope 2019 has been a good year for all.

At the end of this past summer, we went back to Sturgis and also visited some really Cool National Parks in Utah.
We also got to spend the night in Monument Valley.
Pretty Sweet !

Monument Valley is where many Classic John Wayne westerns were filmed.
Including my favorite The Searchers.

Arches and Canyonlands are located around Moab, Utah and they are Spectacular !
Especially Canyonlands !

Later, we also went down to Marco Island in Southern Florida. Then we hit New Orleans on our way back.

We had a great time and took some really cool pictures.

I hope to get some more great shots on our upcoming trip to Hawaii.
We will be on Oahu and Maui.

It’s during whale season and we hope to get up close and personal with Moby Dick !

Later… RoadGliding …

Summer 19… Off Roading in Colorado…

Finally had a chance to try out my new truck on some really Cool Mountain trails.

Kinda started out on an easy trail up around Breckenridge,Co.

Bald Mountain Trail is rated Moderate but it was pretty easy trail.
We had several switchbacks but nothing to challenging.
There were several hikers and one guy that had rode a mountain bike up to the top and was riding back down !!

I am not sure how anyone could ride a bike up that trail at 12,000 + ft !!! Amazing !!
He was followed by his wife who had run up the trail and was also headed back down !
Amazing !!

The next trail was rated as easy, but we found out that it should have been rated as moderate.
Hagerman Pass Road is out of Leadville, Co. and it was an fun and challenging road, with a beautiful lake and some great views
We where having guests visit and my wife and I rode a few miles up the pass just to make sure it would not be too much for them.

And it looked pretty easy.

RIGHT !!!

Well when we finally took our friends up the trail we were surprised to see how much more difficult the trail became after we passed our turn around.
Very rocky and steep with some places I had to get out of the truck to get the right approach.

We did finally reach the summit and were greeted with some outstanding views.
We also parked by a motorcycle that was sitting there with with no one in site.
I wondered how anyone could ride a motorcycle up and down such a rocky and steep trail.
Before we left, we were passed by 3 motorcycles that had come up from the other side and were headed back down.
Incredible !!

At the bottom of the trail we talked with the owner of the motorcycle who was sitting in a jeep with a broken ankle that he suffered riding down.

Riding up and down these mountain trail is hard enough in a 4×4. I really do not see how these guys do it on motorcycles without getting hurt in the process.

His friend hitched a ride up and rode the motorcycle back down.

The last trail was one we partially ran in my jeep last year..
It’s called Mosquito Pass and it runs from Fairplay, Co to Leadville.
This one is labeled as Moderate and it definitly meets that criteria.

Over 13,000 ft, a rocky, twisting, challenging trail with old mining ruins and terrific views along the route.
It is a tough and fun ride, miles of skinny mountain road with rock walls on one side and a cliff on the other.

Very cool and a little scary.
Especially when someone is coming the other way !!

My Ram Truck performed like a champ. It ran up and down these trails with ease. Really looking forward to more challenges.

Next Stop… Sturgis…

Later… RoadGliding…

RoadGliding…Summer 19… Great Ride to an Old Friend…

RoadGliding…Summer 19…
Great Ride to an Old Friend…

We had a fantastic ride to Salida. Even though it was really hot on the last hour or so.
98 degrees Fahrenheit !
Whew… That was a scorcher !!!!

Finally we pull into our hotel and kick back for a few.

This hotel was modeled after something you would see on Route 66.
Small mom and pop joint with an old Studebaker parked out front of the Office. Along with 2 old gas pumps that were really electric chargers.
Pretty Cool !
And to top it off they had a old time Neon Sign out front, just like you were riding on Route 66.

After we washed off the road dust, I contqcted my friend and we set off for downtown Salida to check out some of the cool shops in thier Art Distirct.

The Arkansas river runs along the north end of the town and there is a great restaurant that sits right on the bank.

What’s really neat about is that the current there is really fast and there are alot of people rafting, boogie boarding, and paddle boarding.
Right next to were we were eating !

It was really great seeing my friend again.

We haven’t seen each other in over 30 years. We went to the same elementary school and later traveled around together for many years with a band.
After the band broke up we lost touch until we reconnected on Facebook.

I am looking forward to doing some offroading with my new truck. Gonna start easy and work up to some really difficult trails

Can’t wait till our Sturgis trip begins.
Should be riding for two weeks on our bkes
Really looking forward to it

There is a lot of great rides going to and around Sturgis !
Check out my Website https://roadgliding.com/
for more cool Rides

Later… Roadgliding…

RoadGliding…Summer 19… We made It…

RoadGliding…Summer 19…
We made It…

Well we can officially forget about last summers problems driving up to Copper Mtn.

My new truck hauled our trailer and motorcycles up the Rockies with no problem at all !!!
I even had to slow down going up to the Eisenhower Tunnelat the continental divide.
Pretty Sweet !

It has taken a few days to get moved into our condo and to acclimate to living over 9000 ft.
Although it takes a while to get right, once you do, it feels great.

We are spending the first few days checking out the places around Copper Mtn that we really enjoy.
Like Frisco, Breckenridge, Dillon, and Vail.

We will be riding our motorcycles to Salida, Co. A really cool Artsy Town not too far from Copper Mtn.
Although it’s not too far, the ride is fantastic.

Also, going to meet a friend there that I haven’t seen in over 40 years.
Can’t wait.

Later…RoadGliding…

RoadGliding… Summer of 19…

RoadGliding…Summer of 19…

We are really looking forward to going back to Colorado this summer.

The weather in June can still be a little cool, so we decided to start a little later this year.
Going a little later than usual. Staying for July, August ,and September.

Hope to be able to do a lot of off roading with our new truck.

We bought a new truck because of the trouble we had last year with our Jeep.
So I purchased a Dodge Ram1500 4×4 Rebel.
It has the power to tow our Motorcycle trailer and it is also a very capable Off Roader.
So I am really excited to see how this baby performs !!

We also plan to go back to Sturgis in August. But we also have plans to camp out in Monument Valley, go to Vegas, and hit the Arches National Park in Utah.

Before we go to Colorado, we had a chance to visit Chicago. The really cool part is that we went by train !! Been a long time since I had been on a train and never in the US.
Chicago is a really cool city with some great art and architecture. We had a chance to see a show at the 2nd City.
It was Hilarious !!

Just a couple of more days and it’s off to Colorado !!

Later RoadGliding…

Walkabout 18…The Trips End

Now that Christmas is over and winter has set in.
It would be a good time to look back at WalkAbout 18 !

Glad to be home for the holidays.

Now that Christmas is over and winter has set in.
It would be a good time to look back at WalkAbout 18 !

First of all, it was an amazing trip with many great spots that were just plain cool!
They were just as different as they were beautiful and it is hard to decide which was the best.
However, our time in Bora Bora with the over the water bungalow was just too sweet. The water colors and the amazing scenery, along with the how well we were treated at the resort. Just blew us away !!!

So, if you are ever want trip to paradise…

Like I said before, all the places we visited were totally different and that was the case with New Zealand and Australia.
The grass covered rolling hills and the snow covered mountain vistas of New Zea

land were sic !! Along with the Glaciers and the Fiords, New Zealand was as spectacular as advertised ! Truly a beautiful country !

We only got to see the east coast of Australia. We only had

2 weeks and Australia is very large, so we hit the some of the more iconic areas.
Sydney harbor with the famous Opera House, Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road.

Then on to Brisbane, where we got to see some Kangaroos and Koala Bears.
Also, we got to spend the night on the Great Barrier reef !
Something we would really like to do is go back to Australia and do some more snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. It was amazing.

We hope you enjoyed following our adventures at RoadGliding and are looking forward to sharing our next trip with you.

Later….RoadGliding

Walkabout 18…The Long Flight Home…

We had a great adventure on our Walkabout but unfortunately, all things must come to an end.

We had a great adventure on our Walkabout but unfortunately, all things must come to an end.
Bora Bora, New Zealand, and Australia were all amazing and we were so grateful that we could experience it.

On our return flight, the plane’s seating was 3,3,and 3 which means that we would have to sit next to somebody !
Sooo… we came up with a plan that we hoped would work.
We would get seats at the bulkhead for some legroom. Then we booked the two aisle seats in hopes that someone would not book the middle seat.

Sounded like a great plan.

At least we thought so…

As we boarded the plane we could not wait to get to our seats to see if our great plan would work.

Yeah Right !!

When we rounded the bulkhead we were met by a gentleman sitting right in the middle seat.

Okay, we thought, we’ll just ask him if would like the aisle seat and with the bulkhead seats we still had a lot of legroom. Not so Bad.

Yeah Right !!

This was going to be a long flight,13 hrs, and with the in flight entertainment we had plenty of movies to watch and I also had a book to read. Should be an easy ride.

Yeah Right !!

After a couple of hours on the plane and dinner, our traveling companion got a suitcase down from storage and informed us that he was going to set up his

“C-Pac” machine so he could get some sleep.
Then he requested a bassonet holder to be attached to the bulkhead to hold his device.

This really made the trip very uncomfortable.

The bassonet holder was positioned in the middle of our three seats and really restricted our space.
The funny thing about this, was that he really did not get a whole lot of sleep during the flight.
His machine only served to irritate his fellow passengers.

We promised ourselves after the flight, that we would never book a long flight that did not have 2 seats by themselves.

We finally landed in LA, but we still had another 3 hour flight to get back to KC and home.

We had a awesome trip but we were really ready to get back to our own beds.

It was a long trek and lots of great memories. The experience and the 3,000+ pictures I took will take alot of time to sort out !.

Later…. RoadGliding

Walkabout 18…Back to Brisbane…

We landed back in Brisbane and immediately drove back to the hotel. Hit a great Roof Top Happy Hour and then rested for our trip to the Gold Coast.

The next morning, we got up kinda early. Then headed south out of Brisbane for the beautiful beaches of the Gold Coast.

The Gold Coast is a metroplitan area known for its long sandy beaches, surfing, cool inland canals and beautiful highrise condos. And the area was exactly as advertised.

The beaches were golden and the water was a intense green. The waves were looking pretty good and there were several surfers really cutting them up.

The coast was lined with tall gleaming highrise condos. We were able to go to the top of one and get some great views of the entire Gold Coast.

On the way back to Brisbane, we took an cool inland route around Tamborine Mtn. That offered some amazing views.

The Gold Coast was a very beauitful and a great way to end our stay in Brisbane.

Sadly, we will be flying back to Sydney for one more night in Australia.

Later…RoadGliding…

WalkAbout 18… A Flight to the Lady…

We woke up early and drove north from Brisbane.
Our destination is a small airport, where we will catch our plane to Lady Elliot Island.
Lady Elliot is a coral cay on the southern edge of the Great Barrier Reef.
This island very small and just manages to fit a Light house, a small eco resort with a landing field on it.
The flight was smooth but Wow, the landing on the grass airstrip was pretty harrowing.
But we made it down in one piece. Wheww !!
We unloaded our gear into our hut and proceeded to have an excellent day of snorkleling along the reef that surrounded the island.
It was the beginning of nesting season for many varieties of seabirds. The island was swarming with thousands of them.
We thought there was alot but people told us that it was just the beginning and many more would show up in the next week or so.
Glad we arrived when we did.
At the end of the day we enjoyed a few drinks and an extrordinary sunset.
It was a beautiful evening with a full moon. With the amazing full moon and the seabirds flying all over. It made for a unforgettable surreal experience.
We snorkeled the amazing reefs in the next morning and flew back to Brisbane in the afternoon.
The take off was another harrowing adventure with plane lifting off the ground right as the strip dead ended into the ocean.
This beautiful and fun experience on the Great Barrier Reef just wetted our appetite for more… We will definitely be back !!!