Day 5 : Westminster, Colorado to WaKeeney, Kansas

325 Miles

I woke up Tuesday morning to the smell of a pancake breakfast. This was a special day in the Hill house: it was Adam's third birthday!

Griffin and Adam kept me sufficiently entertained by rehearsing the results of previous birthday activities. I was shown duplicate sets of Star Wars figures although and I should say that we were all in agreement that a person can never have too many Star Wars toys. In this situation, “more” undeniably equals “better.” We played as mom and dad prepared the special birthday breakfast which included a pancake shaped like the number 3. Breakfast conversation with the boys bounced randomly from subject to subject including but certainly not limited to superhero costumes, bike riding, my kids in Oregon, Star Wars, Lego construction, and Chuck E. Cheese.

Pictures were taken of the birthday boy and the special pancake, and then it was time to pack up and get ready to go. The night before, Blake had graciously provided a large piece of cardboard so that the motorcycle could be parked in the garage without leaving an oily mess on the floor. Kim packed me a great lunch, and before long I was on the road. I stopped at a nearby motor sports shop to pick up extra oil, and then it was east on Interstate 70 toward Kansas.

I was not alone in surviving the Rocky Mountains. It turns out the seasonal record snow storm in the western states turned into a severe rain storm east of the Continental Divide. Just before for the state line, water began to fall from the sky. When you are riding down the interstate at 75 miles per hour with no windows or roof, there is no such thing as a light rain. My water resistant motorcycle jacket (designed in the precipitous Portland, Oregon) resisted water like a sponge. In no time I was soaked to the bone. I pulled off the highway at a small gas station in Burlington, tanked up, borrowed a couple of garbage bags (for creating a poor man’s rain suit), and returned to the road.

Interstate 70 is essentially a straight line across the Midwest, so it seems to be a favorite of long-haul trucks. When the road is soaked, 18 wheels can brew their own brand of storm under and around those trailers, which makes it impossible to ride behind or beside a truck. In the time it takes to pass, there’s about 1 full second when the water stands in the air like a solid wall. Truth be told, it’s thrilling moment to ride but with the sheer number of trucks on the road, it takes a toll.

I took one more break at a service station in Colby, and I finally gave up early in WaKeeney, Kansas at the first hotel with a clothes dryer. 4 hours and $6.00 in quarters later, I crashed.