June 8 2025 Day 3

June 8, 2025 – Aspen CO – Day 3

 

I find myself at the Aspen Public House and am having another de Ju Vue moment. Middle of the afternoon and there doesn’t seem to be too many tourists here, but all the young crowd that works this town during the summer months. I have no idea if they do both winter and summer months, but Sunday afternoon must be there day out to the bars and maybe they get those perks the young workers in Banff and Vancouver last year seemed to be living. Probably more Banff now that I think about it cuz that’s where I did all of my partying with the local workers. Ok, I know I haven’t gotten around to posting my 2024 stories, but once out there you can check it out and may feel a little de Ju Vue.

 

I had myself a great time last night as what the young crowd seems to hover toward, dive bars. As I wrote yesterday, I figured I’d make a return trip since I saw it walking by so had to return to the scene of the crime. After my writing from yesterday I made my way back to the hostel to drop off my laptop since I didn’t want to carry it with me for the night and I’m glad I did because I got to meet the owner of the Mexican food truck that parked in front of me for the night. I asked if he could keep an eye on my bike and he was sure to oblige. He said they would be there until 3 in the morning, so I felt better about leaving my camping gear on the bike for the night. 

 

Down to the Garage bar and I really did have a great time at the bar. Downtown Denver was a lot of fun last night and it did seem more people in the dive bar than some of the other bars in the area except for the dance clubs close to the hostels. I did want to check them out, but for $20 entry and another young crowd, I’m probably past those dancing days. I did have a few tacos from the food truck watching over my bike and they were great for a late-night drunk snack.

 

Ok, so now how about today. There were only 3 of us in the 6-bed male hostel room and one of the guys did get up in the middle of the night to leave, so only me and another still in the room this morning, it was a really nice hostel and very comfortable that I would definitely stay there again. With only 156 miles and over 3 hours to ride today I took my time and got some well-deserved sleep before getting the bike packed for the day. It was an easy pack and now all I had to do was shower before I hit the road. I did have few admirers of the bike that if I would’ve waited before packing it, maybe I could’ve given them a ride. Yea, the foreign younger women at the hostel probably not use to seeing a biker traveling thru.

 

It was pretty chilly in Denver this morning, so I did decide to put on my chaps and my warmer riding cloths and even while riding out of Denver I had thought about pulling over a few times to put on my really warm riding gear, a hat, gloves and another jacket, but kept pressing on. I thought I might need the warmer cloths since I’m sure Independence Pass was going to be cold, and I did get confirmation from the guy at the front desk at the hostel that the pass was open on both sides. Well, it did turn out that I didn’t need the warner gear after all because the further west I started the get the sun was out and it turned out to be a nice warmer ride than it otherwise could’ve been. Some fun roads to ride through the mountains and I think I got some pretty good video with my GoPro of the riding and definitely of Independence pass, both on the way up and back down. Too bad I can’t share that with this blog. Traffic not bad at all since it was a Sunday that I was able to cruise pretty well. No 90 mile an hour riding with the curves and climbs as well as descents but was able to hit it hard which is always fun riding. 

 

My directions seemed to be working well for me even though it didn’t quite start out that way this morning, My directions thru the Harley app on my bike was loaded and even though I started out parked in front of the hostel the directions took me around the block before confirming that I had hit my started point after passing the hostel again. If that turned out to be the only deal with the directions, I think I can handle that and for the rest of the way the directions were right on. I made pretty good time to my turnoff from the freeway to head toward Independence Pass and there were plenty o signs letting me know the pass was open and only the larger vehicles are restricted. I did make a stop in Leadville when I saw a sign for an old saloon and captured some pictures and wanted to walk thru to take some pictures, but the hostess said I would have to come back after 5 or at least order a drink or food to enter. Never heard of something like that so no tour even though I guess I could’ve had myself a nonalcoholic drink. 

 

I did think about getting gas, but once again, as with many other trips on my bikes they seem to like the higher elevations that I seemed to have plenty of gas to get me to the pass and Aspen that I did skip the gas stop. It did have me thinking about it a few times on the way to the pass, but no almost running out of gas today like I almost did yesterday. The ride to the pass was great, a little chilly, but the roads were fun, and I didn’t have anyone in front of me that I could hit the corners hard, the only way to ride. The pass was pretty cool to visit again and once I got my pictures in front of the sign, I did spend some time walking the loop that even though there was still snow on the path, at least something that I should do since I have all the time in the world today. I had a bit of a battle with the walk, so I’ll blame it on the altitude cuz I did feel gassed after the walk. 

 

From there about a 20-mile ride to Aspen and once again no one in front of me that I could hit the corners hard. I did feel the pickup following me was pushing me a bit, but I know they didn’t have any interest in passing me because I’m cruising. It was short ride to Aspen and when I did stop for gas, my odometer for my trip since the last stop was already around 200 miles and I haven’t gotten that kind of mileage with this bike with the pumped-up engine that I’m running. The hostel was easy to find, and I was early for happy hour which started at 4:30 but decided to take a show to clean up and hit the bars early, that’s how I ended up here at the Aspen Public House. Oh, and once here and before I started to write today’s adventure I was talking to another guy traveling thru from San Diego who is flying back home and he had grown up in Chicago, lived in the cities for a while before ending up in California. Kind of like that Wad that I met in North Platte that has kind of lived a little everywhere. 

 

I do have to mention that the hostel in Aspen is nice, I have my own room, but it happened to be on the third floor with no elevators that carrying my heavy pack up the stairs was a bit of work. I am fortunate that my little room is right across from the men’s bathroom and it is a nice bathroom and was good for a shower once the water finally heated up. 

 

Ok, this place was only a 5 block walk from the hostel, and I did try their crab cake for a little something to eat that now I’ll have to decide what I want for dinner and make another trip to another bar or something to see a little more of Aspen. Oh, and I did spend a little more time repacking at the hostel since now I have dirty clothes to deal with and time to start on my next pair of jeans. The fortunate thing is I’ve been riding with a jacket every day, that my shirt didn’t get too dirty from the riding.

 

Tomorrow Durango and I’m hoping the rain stays away. I got lucky with the last few days for the kind of weather Colorado has been getting so let’s hope it lasts for me. Time to enjoy the Aspen bars. 

 

Amendment, now sitting in Steak House No. 316 with Nick from Australia and Aadil from NY having a bar steak. The No. 316 served at the bar, and it is a great steak. The guy before who told me about at least getting the steak sandwich was right and it was a great steak. So, Nick quite his job in Sydney Australia and is doing some travel in the states and Aadil joined him for part of the trip. They happen to be staying at the same hostel as me, the St Moritz Lodge so I have someone to help me with directions. They are kind of heading in the same direction as me so let’s see whether we meet up again or not. Am having a great time with these guys, the beers are good, and the bar steak was amazing.