RFTW Day 4: All fixed and off to see Toto

Today’s post will be just text for now.  The wifi at the hotel is miserable and it’s also rather late.  It seems each day is more full than the previous.  When the folks who’ve made this run say, “it’s not a joy ride, it’s a mission”, they aren’t kidding.

This morning Pops and I started in Eagle Nest, NM at 39 degrees after scraping frozen dew off our bikes, and ended in Goodland Kansas under a tornado watch. It was a very full day which saw us leave before the pack and ride on our own into Pueblo in search of a dealer to look at my bike. The fine Service Department at Rocky Mountain Cycle Plaza took my bike right in to be looked at after I told them the trouble I was having. About an hour later, it was good to go. The problem was related to dirt and gunk collection in the shifter linkage. They took off the floorboard, removed the side cover and cleaned the entire linkage system really well, then lubed it properly. It’s as good as new!

While we waited, we visited Starbucks and just unwound for a few minutes. Ahh, relaxation, it’s not something we do on the Run. While I walked back to check in on the bike, Pops decided to do something every hard core biker is known to do “wink, wink”.  He got a manicure!  I’m not sure what his road name will be now, but I’m pretty sure the guys on the run will come up with something good for this one. Manicure?  Not exactly a biker kind of thing. While I’m absolutely going to give him a hard time, I’m glad he did it. It’s good to take care of yourself on this Run. It’s very difficult.

Highlights of the day.

1. Bike was fixed.
2. Long-time friends, the Nelson’s came to visit us during the lunch stop in Fountain, CO
3. We rode in crazy winds that had us all leaning our bikes way over just to go straight
4. Our host city is under a Tornado warning.

Don’t forget to check out Jean’s blog. Her hotel may have better wifi than mine.  We do have pictures, I’ll upload them to this post when it’s more convenient.

One last thing…  Note item 3 above. We started into the winds as we headed East toward

Image from weather.com

the Colorado/Kansas border. It was pretty windy in Colorado, but true to the image from Weather.com, as soon as we hit the Kansas border things got really crazy.  Please be in prayer for clear skies over the next few days.