I can remember when I was younger riding on the back of my big brothers motorcycle thinking someday I will have my own. As I grew up I got into a lot of different activities and put riding on a motorcycle on the back burner until I met my husband. After I graduated I starting working in the cash office for the local Montgomery Wards and this handsome guy would bring in money that he had gotten from delivering COD’s. After he settled up with the paperwork, payments and such he would park the delivery truck and I would hear him ride off on his motorcycle and of course I was intrigued. To make a long story short we started dating which meant that I was once again riding on the back of a motorcycle and just like my brothers bike the seat on his chopper was very small and not very comfortable.
After we were married, we decided to take a trip out to Colorado to go tubing down the Colorado River. Luckily his Dad had an extra bike that was more of a road bike then my husbands chopper so my bottom was happy. I was really looking forward to this because I had never taken a trip like this before. Not only was it going to be my first trip riding a motorcycle all the way, first time camping, first time that I would be in Colorado but also my first time to go tubing down a river. I couldn’t wait to get going on this adventure. We were going with his parents and some friends so that would make the trip even more fun going with a group.
Finally the big day arrived and we could head out. It looked like the weather was going to cooperate giving us nice sunny day with even the weather man predicting clear skies. Wrong! About 3 hours into the trip things started to change. I noticed that it was getting a little cloudier and that the wind was picking up but no big deal it wasn’t raining. Then the weather made a drastic change for the worse with the wind really picking up and it started pouring. Much to my disappointment I realized that my rain suit had a major leak in it. If I had only known what was ahead of us on this trip I may have turned around but I was assured by everyone when we had stopped under a bridge to get a break from the storm that things would get better. They were right and it did about an hour before we stopped to camp the sun came out.
When we got up the next morning we fixed breakfast over the campfire and started to pack up hoping everything had dried out. The sun was coming up, not a cloud in the sky and once again I thought we were going to have a nice day for riding. Wrong again. This time we didn’t have the wind but we definitely ran right into another hard rain storm. I had taken good old Duck Tape, the wonderful fix all and patched my rain suit but once again it leaked and I was soaked to the bone by the time we stopped at our next campground for the night. I must mention that once again the sun came out about an hour before we stopped.
Sadly this was the beginning of a pattern for the rest of the trip. Everyday we would wake up to dry weather and end up riding right into some type of nasty weather with the worse day being on our way back home. Before I fill you in on the good stuff I wanted to mention that going down the Colorado River in May with it flowing so fast because of the spring thaw was awesome. Cold and wet but very exciting and a trip I would recommend it to anyone with a sense of adventure. Now for the trip home. I considered myself a reasonable person and I looked at the law of averages and consider that we had 5 days in a row of rain or sleet that we would be do for some sun in the remaining 4 days of our trip. I hate to say this but once again I was wrong. To get back to the Midwest from Colorado you have to cross a Mountain Range which can be beautiful when it’s not snowing, yes snowing. It was just light flurry’s when we started up the mountain, but when we got about half way up the mountain it changed to a heavy snow. In fact it was snowing so hard that we ended up having to follow a snow plow through the pass. Not fun! I’m sure the people we met and the gentleman running the snow plow thought we were nuts and we probably were. Needless to say we all made it home safe and sound, but we never had one complete day of sun. We ended up having rain, sleet or snow everyday and every night it would clear off when we would get near the campground but it’s a trip I will cherish and never forget. I also learned from this trip to check my rain suit and pack an extra Duct Tape before we leave town because you never know what you may run into.
I was the only rookie on that trip and most of our friends and family figured that I would never take another motorcycle trip again but this time they were wrong. Now I am fortunate enough to be riding my own and we take 2 or 3 long trips a year and for us it’s the only way to see this beautiful country that we are blessed with.
Lanette Herrmann is co-founder of SomethingandMore. She has a true love of all types of different crafts, but also enjoys taking motorcycle trips with her husband. They are lucky enough to both own their own bike and think nothing of putting on between 4000 and 6000 miles on one of their trips. One of her goals is to ride in every state, even Alaska. Although she loves to ride and craft, her greatest love is her family, especially your grandson.