Day 10: Bent's Old Fort

It took us nine days of riding, but now we are truly "out west".  After today's ride we will reach our biggest challenge yet, the Rocky Mountains which makes the mountains back home look like mere hills.  Even taking a route that keeps us at lower elevations, we are still going to be climbing over 10,000' to make it over some of the passes.  The bikes have been running great so far, so I just hope it continues as we head up the mountains.

Right after crossing the state line, we rode across large sections of highway which were covered with swarms of yellow butterflies.  I assume they were just warming themselves on the blacktop, but they were reluctant to move and we found ourselves plowing through a storm of yellow.  Soon our bikes were covered with yellow smears and crumpled insect bodies adding a little bit of color to the dust and grime accumulated over the last 1,500 miles.

Although I could have just opened my visor and had a mouthful of butterflies, we decided to break for lunch in the town of La Junta.  The first restaurant we came to was Boss Hogg's Restaurant and Saloon which of course brought back childhood memories of watching "The Dukes of Hazzard".  I kept my eye out for a white convertible Cadillac or a orange Dodge Charger, but the parking lot was just full of SUVs.  Even without Daisy serving us lunch, the food was pretty good and after downing a couple of BBQ sandwiches it was time to get back on the road.

Just northeast of town we stopped at another famous landmark on the Santa Fe Trail called Bent's Old Fort.  It was opened 100 years before my bike was built in 1833 by the Bent brothers and was originally designed as a trading post, not a military installation.  The Bent's became very successful, using their Fort as a center for trade with the local Indian tribes, frontiersmen and settlers traveling west.  In it's day, it was the tallest US structure west of the Mississippi River.

The fort was restored in the 1970's using original drawings made during a survey of the property by the US Army in the 1830's.  The Park Service outdid themselves with the reconstruction, which also included furnishing all the rooms just as they would have been during the fort's operation.  I was pleasantly surprised that we were allowed to wander around the Fort, including the upper levels, without being tied to a guide or forced behind safety chains.  Besides the Fort, there was also an Indian camp and a trappers camp a short hike away on the banks of the Arkansas River.

We spent a couple hours at Bent's Old Fort before heading west again to Walsenburg and ultimately to Lanthrop State Park for the night.  This was the first campground were we've encountered pay showers.  Unlike a pay car wash, these showers did not have a timer or a beeper to let you know when your time was almost up.  So that meant I ended up walking back to the tent with a head full of soap.  Everything else was top notch and even though our campsite looked like the perfect habitat for the Crotalus atrox.  Luckily I didn't even hear a single rattle during our stay.

Another 240+ miles in the rear view mirror today.

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