Today saw the most dramatic changes of scenery imaginable. We started out in Guymon, and rode about 100 miles of pavement, finding our way through the Oklahoma panhandle to the New Mexico border, catching back up with the trail near Mexhoma. The barren landscape stretched for miles. While riding down the road I could look out and see 50 miles in every direction. Stand up on the pegs and I could see for 100 miles.
As we rode through New Mexico the scenery changed bit by bit. First, mesquite trees appeared. Then we found ourselves surrounded by mesas, the grass gradually became greener, and the GPS started to show elevation over 6000 feet. Deer became elk and ducks turned into turkeys.
We climbed up switchbacks as we crossed into Colorado, and suddenly found ourselves surrounded by green pastures and the road was lined on both sides by wild sunflowers. We made it to Trinidad in the early afternoon and decided to try to make it to La Veda so that we could make tomorrow's ride to Salida more easily.
On the way to La Veda, Rick had his first close call, running off the road and nearly losing control of the bike several times before finally making it back on the road. All in all, Rick road extremely well today. For someone that's never done this type of riding before, he's doing extremely well.
In La Veda, we found lodging at La Veda Inn. It's a little on the expensive side, but they're pretty much the only game in town, and the accomodations are quite nice. As it turns out, the proprieter, Scott, also rides and is the proud owner of a 950 Adventure.
All in all, its turning out to be a great trip and I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.
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