Grapefruit hail, weddings, big cracks in the ground, etc....

10 days ago, I left for Denver right after work. The trip started by stopping at the Honda shop to leave the keys to the Goldwing for them to pick up and repair while I was gone, followed by a quick stop at the gas station to top off, before heading to my regular stopping point when I leave town in early evening.

For once, the winds were actually at my back, instead of pushing me back. I watched the MFD happily climb up into first the low 50's, and then mid, and finally settling on 57.9 mpg by the time I came to the town of Childress, TX. A few miles past this town, I pulled into one of the brand new rest areas along 287 that have wifi hotspots installed in them. They have weather and traffic available on demand as well. A quick check of the weather revealed tornado warnings for the Amarillo area, and due south. I guess this was to be the end of my "good fortune" weatherwise - I had to head right in that direction.

Daylight was still good enough to see the storm clouds to the north of me, they looked VERY impressive, as most supercell storms do. As I continued to the north, northwest, the storms did not appear to be moving off, so I shut off the XM, and went to local radio. I then began to get nervous. Talk was all over about a tornado on the ground near the airport there, as well as reports of GRAPEFRUIT sized hail punching through peoples roofs. :crazyeyes: With daylight quickly fading the storm clouds quickly dissolved into a black starless mass that I was rapidly approaching. Of course good sense did not intervene, and make me find a nice sheltered place to call it a night. I watched the clouds as I got closer. By then, all that showed them was the near constant lightning within the storm, showing what looked like fast cloud rotation - now I'm getting nervous, but no longer have the option of stopping. I push onward, and drive into what can only be described as a lake being picked up, and dropped on top of me. The road disappears instantaneously, and rain blows sideways all around. Thankfully, two big trucks pulled off the road, created enough of a windbreak to allow me to see the solid white line marking the right shoulder. I pulled off immediately. Rain whipped by me sideways, and the car was shaken violently by the winds. I sat here for about 10 minutes, unable to see anything beyond the bedlam outside. As things began to let up slightly, I could see a line of vehicles passing to my left, and joined that little convoy, pushing northward, and out of the storm, at the blazing pace of 15mph. Once out, uprooted trees could be seen scattered about, and the radio continued to chatter about new storms brewing, and widespread damage in the area.

Once in Amarillo, I stopped at the Flying J truck stop, to pick up a bite to eat, but the "quick grab" swill is gone, and I'm in no mood to sit and wait an hour just to get a drink in their resturaunt. The fuel guage is still sitting at two bars under full, so I forego a fuel stop as originally planned, grab a bag of chips and a coke, and move on, dodging ripped up shell station awnings from across the street, and inadvertently driving over the remains of a billboard. I make it to Dumas - well short of my planned stopping point, before being just plain too tired to drive any further, thanks to the storm, and delays in getting out of town.

Up bright and early the next morning, I continued towards Denver. By now, the drive is decidedly uphill, and the MFD gradually clicks off the mileage, down to the mid 40's towards Raton, NM. Driving over the pass, the car announces the need to be refueled, so I make the stop at Trinidad, CO. I pumped 11.3 gallons of fuel into the tank, travelling 533.3 miles. The MFD showed 50mpg, and the calculator came up with 47.2.

Pulling out of Trinidad, I cruised up towards Denver. The weather was once again nice and cool, enough so that I never needed to run the A/C. Pulling up to my folks house, I looked at the MFD, very happy with what it showed - 60.5 mpg!! :mrgreen:

The rest of the week was spent assisting with the final preperations of my youngest brother's wedding, as well as running a handful of errands.

Saturday was to be the big day for my youngest brother. We spent the day setting up the place in preperation for the evenings events. Once started, I had the role of Best Man. All I can say is, that it is an experience that I would not have traded off for anything. My brother, and his new wife looked absolutely stunning in front of the crowd. I do hope that all turns out well for them.

I also had the opportunity to meet some of her family. One of them is from Minnesota, and drives a 2004 Prius - which he drove to the wedding. We did talk briefly about fuel mileage, and I was shocked to find that I had bested his figures by 15 mpg!!! Of course, I told him about Priuschat, so hopefully, he'll find his way here one of these days.

Sunday was supposed to be a trip to Cortez, and Mesa Verde National Park to see the Indian ruins. My mother woke up sick, so this trip had to be cancelled. The day became a day to be lazy, and recover from the stress if the day before. We ended up watching the Stepford Wives remake in the theaters. It was fair - a good way to kill an afternoon, but not exactly recommendable either.

Monday became a "plan C" for a day trip. I call it plan "C" as the original one was to take the Durango to Silverton railroad trip, but was booked up. Mesa Verde became plan "B". We all load up and head to the Royal Gorge. There, we spent the afternoon roaming around, and I became more familliar with my newly acquired Olympus C755 digital camera - purchased originally because this whole trip was supposed to be my first motorcycle road trip. I had been taking pictures with it before and after the wedding, as well as took some pictures of some horses boarded nearby, but these were the first to work with my desired type of photography - nature and scenery.

We took the incline rail to the bottom of the canyon, where I took a ton of pictures of the river, a passing train, the canyon walls, the incline railway, and the bridge 1,053 feet above us. A ride back to the top and we took numerous pictures of the bridge, and the surrounding scenery. My mother wanted to ride the merry-go-round, so I played with the action setting on the camera while she rode - with less than desirable results, depsite being on a tripod. Oh well - that wasn't what I bought it for anyway. Rain then started to move in, so we loaded back up and headed for Colorado Springs. Here we closed off our little day trip with a meal at Guiseppe's Italian Resturaunt, and an hour drive home to call it a night. Due to my mother's pain problems, the Prius "stayed home" on this trip, and we took their Saturn VUE. Fuel mileage from it from this trip was 26 mpg - not bad for a V6 with an AWD drivetrain, and slushbox automatic.

As Tuesday was supposed to be a day on the road from the previous plans, it became a "what to do" day. That "what to do" became a trip to the Butterfly Pavillion in Broomfield. All I have to say here is, if you have the opportunity, go there. The place is awesome. My father and I got to hold "Rosie" the tarantula, and we spent the better part of the afternoon photgraphing (or attempting to photograph) butterflies. After we left, we stopped at a couple of Costco's (definitely NOT my idea of fun), and finally made it home.

Wednesday was travel day. I decided to take the "eastern" toute home, in the effort to keep the fuel mileage numbers as high as possible by avoiding the mountain travel. My second fuel stop of the entire trip came at Boise City, OK. Here I pumped 11.6 gallons of gas after travelling 598.3 miles. The computer happily reported 55.6 mpg, while the calculator gave a much more conservative 51.6. The weather was still blessing me with low to mid 60's, allowing me to keep the A/C off. The rest of the drive home was graciously uneventful, with me only requiring the A/C briefly between Vernon, and Wichita Falls, TX. I pulled into the driveway at 2030 Wednesday evening, to notice that the Goldwing was never picked up as promised, and with the MFD showing 52.9 mpg.

One more busy trip is now done, leaving me with the need to take another vacation, so that I can recover from this one. :mrgreen: