Today was kind of wierd

As soon as I woke up this morning I went out to check on Envy. It had rained all night and most of the hard earned dirt and mud was washed off of her. That and it looked like the skies were about to open up again. Not looking forward to riding in the rain, I kind of dragged my feet and didn't get on the road until about 10:30. Thankfully the sky turned blue while I waited.
I finally got packed up and got going. Considering it rained all night I plotted a course to Trinidad on highways. Somehow the course I plotted in Garmin Basecamp was totally different once I loaded it on my GPS. It took me right up along the Oklahoma border then west along the Colorado border. Along the way I saw a bunch of antelope and deer. I had a waypoint for Long Canyon road which is where I would cross the trail. Before I even got there the road, which I thought was a highway, turned to dirt. When I got to Long Canyon I'd been shown that there weren't any mud concerns so I got on the TAT. And oh what a ride. First were some long sweeping roads then there was a fork. It looks like a friendly local noticed a bunch of lost motorcyclists and put up a "biker route" arrow showing the way. That way went up what's best described as a goat trail up the side of a hill. But the view was worth it.


If you zoom in on the picture the trail I rode in on is in the left valley. The bit of road at the far left is the trail up the hill.
Unfortunately when I got to the top things started getting boring. Long straight stretches of high speed roads. I cruised at 40 to 45mph the whole way in to Trinidad. The most interesting things were the pissed off cows that didn't like a motorcycle riding through their turf. After I grabbed lunch at the Trinidad Diner (not very good) I got on the trail again. And guess what? More long straight roads that took me way out in the boonies.


This is where riding the trail alone gets a little concerning. I was riding roads that maybe see two vehicles on a heavy traffic day. That and hiking out would take a long time. If I break down out here, I'm toast.
The trail took me right up to the I25 that runs to Pueblo. I had used my last 20 on lunch and the waitress said there's a BofA in Pueblo. So, on to the interstate. The I25 is the fastest interstate I've been on. The speed limit is 75, including trucks. Not fun as I was grinding away at 65-70. That's when I jumped onto the frontage road I posted earlier. That didn't last long though as it soon turned away from the interstate and into dirt. Not just dirt, but dirt covered with dirt clods. There be cows here. And I found them. Particularly a very large cow that decided to nap in the road. Not being one to disturb a nap I slowed way down and was going to go through the grass around it. Bad idea. Turns out that the ground under the grass hadn't dried out from the rain and was deep slick mud. I think the cows were laughing as I worked to get Envy unstuck from the muck. And it got worse from there. Mud hole after mud hole. One took a lot of effort to get through and left a lot of mud on Envy and a eight inch deep rut. Then I was finally back on the 25 on the way to Pueblo.
Pulling in to Pueblo the only thing I knew about the city was that it's where all the TV commercials mentioned when I was a kid. Turns out it's a total armpit. Granted I've seen a very small bit of it. But what I've seen doesn't make me want to see more.