Day 5

And why wasn't day five written on day five, you ask? Well, because it was a long day! Over 400 miles! We got into camp around 6:30 local time... Here goes:

Windmills, stockyards and amber fields of grain were today's theme. Our first stop was Lamar, CO. After two days of riding in Colorado, we still hadn't found the Colorado wedding present! The folks at the visitor center were fabulous! After giving us a bit of background information, pointing out the restrooms, and offering us every map they had, they sent us to a store across the street. They did not have what we were looking for but they were very friendly and called the store next door and THEY had something that would get the job done. I think Lamar is full of friendly people... and windmills! This is where windmills are made and if you want to talk about crazy structures, look at a windmill wing. The first time we'd seen them was in Beatty, NV. There was one per truck and they are GINORMOUS! At the Lamar Visitor Center, they have one wing on display. Yep- it's huge! They also have photos of someone cleaning a windmill- I mean repelling into the windmill- we are talking MASSIVE! After this stop, we saw two patches of windmills; large groups of them all moving at once- they are SO cool to watch. We also saw a couple of loners- they look small all alone off in the distance.

Ahhh- stockyards- from Colorado into Kansas we have seen at least ten stockyards. WHOA! That's alot of beef! And PHEW! That's alot of smell! Sometimes we'd smell first and look around for the stockyard. Other times we'd see it first and the wind would be on our side and we couldn't smell it at all.

Oh, and the wind- bringing the smell from the cattle trucks. THAT is a smell! And the wind from those trucks made riding a bit of a challenge. We think it must be all those ventilation holes. I started to duck behind my windshield and that seemed to help.

Amber (and green) fields seem to roll all over the place here. It's really amazing to see them and the machines that turn it all into food. As we moved through the state we went from desert to humidity and from flat to rolling hills- outstanding!

Finally, our journey ends in Salinas, KS. We get our tent site and take Kew for a walk to McDonald's for dinner. We head to the truck stop for beer which they do not have. But we are directed down the street to the liquor store- perfect! From there to our site we are both looking up at the sky and not saying anything. We start setting up the tent and a KOA gal tells us there is a storm with hail on it's way. We should batten down the hatches. We are on motorcycles! There is no room for us to pack hatches to batten down! It may miss us, she tells us... then asks if we'd like to stay in the unrented cabin. For free! AND she helps us take everything over there in her golf cart! WE LOVE HER!

We get settled in as the rain begins. We head into it to cool off. We back up the bikes and watch and listen as the hail falls. We are SO thankful we are not in a tent.

This is SheNayNay in our site La Junta CO. She flipped around to watch over us in the middle of the night. (If anyone knows how to flip a picture on this site, please let me know!)

This is our cabin in Salinas, KS.

This is Gosh working on homework in the cabin.

Oh, and if you are wondering why there aren't more pictures, it's because the camera died... you'll just have to make the trip yourself...