Elbow Room

Remember the Schoolhouse Rock short "Elbow Room"? Well, Western Nebraska and Eastern Colorado still got plenty of it. Lots and lots of expansive beauty full of nothing. No wonder the native americans fought tooth and nail to keep it. Hiway 30 and the Pony Express route led me out of Ogallala, NE towards the Colorado state line. Just as I crossed into CO (now on hiway 138, following the South Platt River) I observed an old yellow biplane zipping around over nearby fields--no more than 100 feet off the ground--and at one point thought I was in North by Northwest when he started flying towards me (the only thing on the road). I think he was just doodling around, practicing his cropdusting. Anyway, I then stumbled into Julesburg and D & J's Cafe. The breakfast special was quite special indeed (I took Dave's advice and went for a biscuits and gravy-laden item...and glad I did!) and just the fortification I needed to head onwards to Sterling. Cruised through towns like Crook, Ovid and Illif, then got to Sterling where I picked up State Hiway 14. And boy oh boy, what a ribbon of road. It takes you through the Pawnee National Grasslands, which are stunning, and as I rounded the curve near Briggsdale there they were--the Rocky Mountains, appearing as shadows off in the distance. By the time I went through Ault I could see the snow in the higher elevations. During a quick rest-my-bum stop in Fort Collins I got a text message from our guy Ryan (who's from Boulder) with a killer through-the-mountains route to Boulder. Kudos to Ryan! It was amazing! Hiway 34 is the Big Thompson Canyon Road that goes up to Estes Park (elev. 7500 or so), then hiway 36 takes you back down a different canyon road and on into Boulder. Met up with Albert at the hotel here and after a few cold ones then an evening of sushi at Haba in the Pearl Street Mall area it was off to lala and dreams of Thursday's Big Run to Sturgis.