Lincoln, Nebraska

Never been to Nebraska, and since I came through Kansas on the way TO the EOTW celebration, I'm thinking that this may be my only shot.  Lincoln is a little out of the way, but hey, it's a chance to see another Big Ten school. On top of that, no one can deny that they've played some pretty good football there, so I wanted to see their stadium.

The ride from Iowa City was horrible. I'm riding straight into a storm-front that runs from New Mexico to Minnesota.  It's not if it's going to rain, but when.  And it's cold and windy.  I was lucky to make it to Lincoln and find a hotel just as the sky opened up.  They got an inch and a half of rain that night, but it was all clear by morning.

The Fall of 1978 was my very first semester at IU, and Nebraska came in and just beat the crap out of us.  Something like 55 to 0.  They had a Heisman caliber running back named I.M. Hipp, and he scored 4 touchdowns that day (and was Nebraska's all-time rushing leader, even though he missed part of his senior year due to injury).

I'd call this the alumni side of the stadium.

This is the student side, and it looks like they are spending a little money to make some more room.  Also known as Memorial Stadium, it currently seats about 86,000.  Capacity will still be less than 100,000 when the construction is done, but they are also building a brand-new basketball stadium.

The amazing part is that Nebraska has sold out every football game since 1962.  That's every single game for 50 years!!  Having 5 national championships has got to help, but either way, this has got to be a fun place to watch a college football game.

This is the Nebraska Union building.  Enough said.

I have to say that the city of Lincoln really is a dump.  Not a single attractive building there.  I had some pretty good bbq, though.  The place had a sign that said it took "three years, two fist-fights, and one kitchen- fire" to perfect the recipe for their bbq sauce.

Heading West - Made it to Iowa City

I gave myself the whole day Monday to recover a bit, and I also got to hang out with a couple local buddies. Left Indy today about noon, and made it all the way to Iowa City. Total distance of about 400 miles - not bad.

Davenport seemed like the most interesting little city along the way, thought I didn't do much but drive through. And who knew that the Mississippi River had locks? Like, 27 of them! From Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, it drops something like 1,400 feet.  That's what I get for stopping and reading the little signs at all of those rest stops and historical markers.

Never been to the University of Iowa. But since it is a Big Ten school, I thought I'd have a look around.

Looks like they've spent a lot of money on their football stadium recently.

This is the basketball stadium. Crazy huh? You enter at the top of the stadium, and the whole thing is below ground-level.

They've got some cool, old buildings - but not as cool as the old buildings at IU. This was the capital building when Iowa was a territory, and when became a state in 1846. It was given to the University in 1847.

They've got a street like our Kirkwood at IU - lots of shops and bars. I asked a group of girls where the best college dinner experience was, and they all said I should go to Short's Burger and Shine, then around the corner to Whitey's for ice cream. And they were both, pretty darned good recommendations.

But, as you can clearly see, the people of Iowa show poor taste in motorcycles.  And, there weren't nearly as many hot coeds running around the Iowa campus as we have in Bloomington.  Overall, though, it seems like this can be pretty fun place. But hey, isn't EVERY university going to be a pretty fun place?

Game Day!!

A hard Friday night leads to a bit of a rough start on Saturday morning.  Well, it's not like we haven't done this before (which reminds me of how much I miss Fridays at The Hopp).  We were lucky that the parade started just across the street from the Union.

What a motley group of old men.  The marching rugby Z-band proceeded to the pitch in an unorganized fashion, but everyone that we met along the way seemed to smile and laugh at us.

Even our effigy of John Errington seems impressed with Joes' saxophone skills.

I was wondering if Dike brought this tuba all the way from Seattle?

I really enjoyed playing in the match – and it’s always nice to score a try!  (the equivalent of a touchdown in football)  When I realized that I was actually going to cross the try-line, I couldn’t remember or think of graceful way to touch the ball down, so I just sort of rolled to the ground.  Did anyone get a picture of that?

The banquet at the Union was a very nice touch, and a great way to start the evening.  Just as we started to eat, though, I got drilled square in the forehead by a dinner roll.  Didn't even see it coming. I mean, it was like Dickey was throwing a fastball at me from 15 feet away. At least we had the good sense not to let it escalate into a full-fledged food fight. 

Of course, rugby players like to sing.  Here's just one of the guys "serenading" the night's newly elected Rugby Queen. Yep, real picture. And you gotta love the Elks Lodge – or even better, drinking ALL of the beer at the Elks Lodge.

The chicks just seem to dig you when you've scored a try.

Partying like a rock star, the view from the VIP section with Mark.   

Again, the chicks just seem to dig you when you've scored a try!

A group of 15 or 20 of us kind of made another parade walking back to Union at 3:30 am.  Got re-settled, then went out to the Waffle House again for breakfast - same table, same waitress.  And she did not seem all that happy to see us again.  About the time we were finishing, I heard this beeping sound - the alarm on my watch going off at my usual 6:30 am wake-up time.

Good times!!

Bloomington, Finally

I rode down to Brown County, then met a buddy at The Ordinary in Nashville, IN for a quiet beer.  That put me in a great mood for cruising into Bloomington.  For all of us that went to school here, there is simply no better place in the world to be.  We checked into the Union, then went for a walk and re-lived a bunch of great stories.  I love the old part of campus – had most of my classes there the first semester of my freshman year.

I also lived out on "the extension" and liked to hang out at the bell tower, it was always quiet there.  A buddy and I climbed it one night, and we were able to get into the control room and play the bells.  Well, it was more like “clanging” the bells. It's a carillon, with a keyboard. So, it’s like playing a piano – but I never took any piano lessons.

Of course, we dominated the space at Nick’s.  What a great place to catch up with everyone!  After closing time, it was off to the Waffle House.  

Bud Tour

I've been a Bud drinker for more than 30 years, so I figured that I ought to see where they make the stuff.

Interesting history here.  Mr. Anheuser was a candle and soap salesman that came from Germany by way of Cincinnati.  He had no experience with beer, but bought an operating brewery from a guy that was going through some hard times.  There were about 50 breweries just in St. Louis, and most of the product was consumed locally.  Rankings were important, and Budweiser was ranked about 29th of the 50 (the brewery guide said that they just made up the name - it sounded German, but was easy to pronounce).  They added rice to the process, and within a couple of weeks, Bud became the top ranked beer in St. Louis.

Augustus Busch worked for a company that supplied the Bud plant.  He met Mr. Anheuser and then married his daughter.

One thing I liked about St. Louis, is that they have some really cool brick buildings.  Buildings that you couldn't afford to make today.  And the brewery has a bunch of them.

This is inside the original Clydesdale stables.  These horses are probably the best cared-for animals in the world.

The original brew-house.  The tour guide said that this is the 2nd most photographed landmark in St. Louis, behind only the Gateway Arch.

Had my two free beers at the end of the tour, then headed on up to Indy.

Moving Day

Today is Moving Day! It's over 800 miles to Indy, and I've got to make some serious distance today so that I don't have to kill myself getting home for my Thursday evening dinner with Mom and brother Steve.

Seems like I'm always getting a late start because I keep waking up in a new time zone, and it's always an hour later than I think.  Anyway, I was on the road at 11:00.  I've decided to just slab-it across on I-70 (meaning highway travel) because it will save some time.  Nothing to really see here anyway.

I'd been making some good time, and around Abilene, I figured that I could probably squeeze in one tourist event.  So, it was going to be either the Eisenhower Library or the Budweiser Brewery.  I could do the Library today, but if I got close to St. Louis tonight, I could do the brewery tour first thing on Thursday morning.

Well, this is a rugby tour, so I decided to go for St. Louis.  Ended up doing just short of 600 miles today, and stopped 30 miles west of St. Louis.

Colorado Springs, Denver, and Over to Colby, KS

I planned on knocking out a lot of miles today because I need to be in Indy on Thursday night for dinner with  my Mom and my brother Steve. Steve is leaving for Florida on Friday, so this is the only chance that I'm going to have to get to see him on this trip. I was going to stop in Denver to see a good buddy, but considered cancelling and taking a more direct route east.

Then, I got a message that one of my Houston RFC buddies passed away yesterday.  Dave was an amazing athlete, and an incredible person. If you knew a quarter of his stories, you would be certain that cancer should be afraid of him. A couple of weeks ago, I did learn that he had a terminal case of mesothelioma, but they thought that he had 12 to 16 months. Now, he's gone, and the world just became a much less fun place.

So, I decided that I would go to Denver to see my buddy, and that I'd take my time today and just do whatever I felt like doing.

Leaving Colorado Springs, I noticed the B-52 on static display at the Air Force Academy.  I had passed the exit, but decided to turn around and see if I could go in and have a look.  At the gate, they told me that I needed to wear a helmet and full-fingered gloves (even though you don't need a helmet in Colorado).  I had the gear with me, so it wasn't a problem.

It is a big plane, but it's not as big as I thought it would be. It actually looks kind of skinny when you see it up close and personal. But, it does weight about 85 tons.  And this is one of only two B-52's that actually shot down a Russian MiG during the Vietnam War.

Had a good visit with my buddy in Denver, and then made it over to Cody, KS for the night.  A total of about 300 miles.

Mesa Verde, then to Colorado Springs

Also in the Four Corners area is the Mesa Verde National Park.  The top of this large mesa is at an elevation of about 7,000 feet, and a Pueblo Indian population lived here from about the year 500 until around 1200 or 1300.  This is Cliff Palace, which is the largest of several cliff dwellings, and has about 150 rooms.  They were all built around the year 1100, so they were only used for about 100 years.

They figure that the Pueblo population was probably several thousand people, and most actually lived up on top of the mesa, not here.  The cliff dwellings were mostly ceremonial spots.  About 100 people lived here permanently, and another 200 would be here for a period of a couple of weeks at a time for tribal and clan ceremonies.  Then, those 200 or so would go back on top to resume their normal activities, and another 200 would rotate in.

The place was abandoned for unknown reasons, and was unoccupied for about 700 years until it was re-discovered by some cowboys in the late 1800's.  These structures are about 75% original and 25% re-constructed.

The road that runs through park at the top of the mesa has beautiful curves and views.

From here, I'm off to Colorado Springs to spend the night with my brother and his family. Should have been an easy ride, but this is the kind of stuff I was riding through, or trying not to ride through. There's a bright piece of a rainbow in the middle-left part of the picture.  And believe it or not, there's a mountain behind the rain-storm.  When I got to the other side of it, there was a full double rainbow. I didn't stop to take a picture because, well, it was raining.

Telluride and Durango

The focus of the rally is a 4 to 5-hour loop that has some of the best motorcycle roads and scenery that you could ever imagine.

Telluride is a pretty cool little town at the end of a box canyon with a waterfall.  It's at 12,000 feet of elevation, kind of isolated, and there's only one way in and out.  Seems that the locals like it that way.

You could take a thousand pictures along the route, and they would all be keepers.

Durango, with a population of 17,000, is the largest city in the area.

Four Corners

I exited the Grand Canyon from the east, and took Hwy 89 north, then Hwy 160 east towards the Four Corners monument where Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico all come together.  The entire area is essentially populated by native Indian tribes, and there is some really freaky scenery along the route.  Lots of odd canyons, rocks, and mesas with crazy colors.

I found this interesting road-side memorial along the way.

Standing in 4 states at the same time.  One foot is in Utah and Arizona, the other in Colorado and New Mexico.  You can't do that every day.  Interestingly, the monument appears to be on Navajo  land.

When I searched for information about the Four Corners monument, info on the Four Corners Bike Rally also came up, and it just happens to be held on Labor Day weekend.  The event is spread across the cities of Durango, Ignacio, and Mancos, which are relatively close by, and each event in these cities has its own characteristics.

The people that own the Sugar Pine Ranch just outside of Mancos have been hosting a "traditional" biker event for many years.  It's a working ranch for 360 days of the year, but a biker's playground for the other 5.  Tent camping is free, minors have to leave the grounds by 6:00 pm, and there is live music and other entertainment events every night.

 

The music for Saturday night was provided by two cover-bands.  One did Fleetwood Mac, and the other did Bob Seger.  Both were surprisingly good.

Not really sure what's going on here.  It was taking place on the other side of the tent and there were a lot of people in the way, so I couldn't see anything.  There was lots of cheering from the crowd, though.

All was good, except that you always get the few knuckle-heads that have to wind-up their bikes at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. And after a good 6 or 8 hours of drinking, the big group of people that were all a bunch of friends earlier start getting a little cranky and start a big fight.  Always interesting, though.