Day 38. Salida, Colorado.Another off-road adventure. After a quick stop at McDonald's for breakfast (the first of the trip), we headed down the scenic Route 68 to Cripple Creek. We then had a choice. Either 18 miles back the way we came or carry on down a dotted road on the map. Unfortunately we didn't have the key so didn't know what the dots meant. However, we decided to give it a go anyway. Turns out the dots indicate a gravel track. The track went on f...

Day 37. Cascade (Colorado Springs), Colorado.It was an early start today to ensure that we could climb the Pike's Peak Highway before the crowds. The plan worked and we had an unencumbered run to the summit. 19 miles and 8000' of climbing later we had completed the task. In some cases there were drop offs of thousands of feet at the side of the road with no crash barriers. The trick seemed to be not to focus on the view to the side! At over 14000' the altitude di...

Day 36. Cascade (Colorado Springs), Colorado.Travelled 200 miles north-east today to Colorado Springs, via the 160 and I25. Then joined the 165 through the mountains, which was a great, twisty motorcycling road. The scenery here was more alpine than the arid Spanish-like mountains of New Mexico. Stopped halfway to visit Bishop's Castle, a very unusual and scary building. Neither of us was brave enough to climb to the very top via the rickety iron stairway. Th...

Day 35. Alamosa, Colorado.Once again struck by the friendliness and helpfulness of many of the people we have met on our trip. Many people want to know where are bikes are from and where we've been / are going to. This morning's conversation was similar, but we were then offered a military badge saying 'Thanks from the Commander'. It was given to the man by his son who was in the military, and would give you access to a US commander anywhere if you got in trou...