June 7 2025 Day Two

June 7, 2025 – Denver CO – Day 2

 

Sitting at Pints pub in Denver listening to the music going on for the Chalk festival going on this weekend. I might as well have a few pints and some food while I write about today’s adventure. I did wakeup early and figured even though it’ll be a short ride to Denver, just over 3 hours I didn’t wait until my 11 o’clock deadline to checkout so got myself some breakfast and took my time getting ready. It was a great stay, and I did have fun last night and did see some others from the hotel at the bar last night that there was one couple that mentioned to me this morning that they were from Minneapolis. They did ask if I was from Saint Paul and like a dummy I asked, how did you know? I guess it was a giveaway with the St Paul Harley shirt I was wearing. The right shirt for the first day. They were on their way home and told me the arches was the place they came from and worth visiting. Now that they mentioned that and even though I did see it some 19 years ago, it just might fit in on this trip from Zion to Salt Lalk City. We’ll see whether I choose that place to go or Las Vegas since I might have an extra day to burn before my hostel stay in Salt Lake City.

 

My bike had my map to get me to the Denver hostel, but I did decided I might as well visit one of the Harley shops around Denver on my way that I tried to find one on my bike to add to my trip but for some reason my map wasn’t working and wasn’t showing any shops, it kept telling me Empty when I tried to find a Harley shop. Not sure what was going on but eventually at a gas stop got it figured out even though it was the John Elway Harley Davidson dealer. I don’t like the guy since I was at the Packer Denver Superbowl XXXII when he single handed lee beat the Pack. Oh well, not hard feelings that I might as well see what is going on. More on that later. 

 

Back to cruising speed in no time and like I mentioned before, only half an hour from the time zone change that I’ll have all day to blow. Well, I almost put myself in a hole cuz ˆwasn’t watching my mileage and miles to a gas stop that my low fuel lights were on asking me if I wanted to find a gas station nearby. Wouldn’t you know it that the gas station it was showing me closest just happened to be out of the range that my bike was telling me I had left to go before empty. Ok, under desperation and getting closer and closer to running out of gas, I did take an exit for a small town to see if I could find someone to help me top off to get to where the gas is. I did burn a little extra riding thru the dirt road town, but did see a couple with their kids outside and stopped to ask for gas. The wife did say while the husband was looking for the gas can that the station was about 7 miles up the road, but I told her I wasn’t sure that I’d make it that any extra would help. Well, gas can find, but empty since the kids had already used up that last of the gas in the lawn mower. The couple was super helpful. They offered for me to leave my bike there while he went to get some gas, but I said I might as well follow him to the gas station taking the chance of maybe making it before I ran out. Ok, which do you think happened? I did make it, and the guy was really helpful about the whole thing, and to top it off the guy pumping gas next to me knew him, you know these small towns that I did have another guy calling me brother and telling me to watch out for guys like him, the guys with the big trucks. 

Ok, remember I did say one of the gas stops I was checking out adding a stop at a Harley shop, guess it was a good thing I did it there because as I was checking out my updated map the guy with the big truck came out and told me that my card hadn’t gone thru when I pumped the gas. Apparently, the attendant just approved the pump figuring out that I’d come in and pay and I would’ve totally not known and left with free gas. That’s not me so I did apologize and paid my bill.

 

Back on the road with my Harley Shop stop and even though it looked a bit out of the way, an early start with a time change that I have all day to spend. Once off the freeway I did follow another biker going to same way and even though the shop was about 50 miles out, I thought I’d do the right thing by following him cuz it could be just where he was going. That didn’t last long cuz he wasn’t going as fast as I wanted that after getting passed, I decided it was time to ditch him and get my spot in line with the fast vehicles back. It was tough find the shop and not really anything worth the extra miles, but they were serving hotdogs and snacks that today I get lunch. A lot of people at the shop, but the ride for the day had already taken off that I was on my own. Not that I would’ve road with them, but oh well. 

 

Next stop downtown Denver for the hostel and looking at the map it didn’t look like too far to go to get there. Well, today I drove an extra 66 some miles before I did a uturn and got on the right course to where I really wanted to be. Apparently, my map had an added stop somewhere closer to North Platte that it was taking me to before I realized my error. I quickly deleted the other stop, but like I said now another 66 miles to get there. 

 

Oh, on the way to the Harley shop I did finally see the mountains in the distance that it was pretty cool to see them and all the snow still hanging around. I hit it hard again to make up my time, but the timing was pretty good cuz I couldn’t check in until after 2 anyway. It was a nice ride, other than the out of the way and thank goodness it was a Saturday and not too much going on downtown Denver that I’d have to worry about the traffic. I found my way to the hostel fairly easily and my time was pretty good cuz I got a front row spot on the street where I only have to pay for a couple of hours of parking before it’s free and being right in front of the building the staff can keep an eye on the bike. I did still have to strip it down, unpack the camping gear and such, but right out front, with a bonus of of room right next to the elevator with a lower bunk, I scored big today.

 

The staff is super helpful, and I felt so much better getting a shower in and getting ready to spend my day in Denver that I found the Chalk Festival just down the street. Time to have a drink and I found a stand that was serving Dale’s beer, the official USA curling beer that I asked if my name matches do I get a free one? Well, he did only charge me for one and gave me two, that I’ll take it. Did some walking around trying to figure out what I wanted to eat and the guy at the hostel suggested this place that my salad with Salmon was awesome. I did see some places I think I’ll be visiting tonight such as the garage bar just around the corner from the hostel. I won’t be bringing this laptop there, so you’ll have to wait to hear about it. Ok, you’ll probably get all of these posts at the s