The first person we met 
when we arrived at the rally was our friend Dean from NZ, returning from the ice machine so we trotted
up to his room and had a drink with he and Lynne. Just as well we had a couple under our belts (well me anyway) as when we went to our room we discovered that someone was already in there. Marty went to reception to sort it out while I stood guard over our gear. The long and the short of it was that we got upgraded at no cost to a room with a shower, 2 double beds and the all important coffee machine. We didn’t get a bed each as 4 of our kiwi mates found themselves in a similar room and they didn’t fancy top and tailing so we very generously offered a bed. So we had Andy stay with us for the rally and had coffee in bed every morning as he was always up first.
The rally was held in Idaho Springs Colorado in the heart of the Rockies. The organizers had arranged some fantastic rides over the days of the rally.
On day one a bike display and judging had been arranged in the nearby town of Central City so just before lunch we rode there with Dean and Lynne on their hired Harley. We were given a 'goodies bag' which included a couple of vouchers for the local casinos. After wandering the street looking at the bikes on display we popped into a bar for lunch. Our pizza was cooked by the Mayor who was also judging the bikes. He cooks a mean pizza. It didn’t take long for us to blow our casino credits, so after one final look at the bikes we headed out in search of Horny sheep. No luck and the weather looked dicey so we headed back to camp via the liquor store as there wasn’t a bar on 
site each night. There was a bar and nibbles this night as there was a book launch being held. Jerry Hatfield the author and the subject of the book was Rollie Free so the room was packed. We were unaware that you couldn’t bring alcohol into the area and our glass of wine caused quite an upset as we had broken Federal Law and were told that the Camp was at risk of being shut down and losing their liquor license. We apologized but it seemed our cards were marked. We confined further drinking to Lynne and Dean's room which became the nightly meeting place for the kiwis.’
Day two saw us take a 200 mile loop route through the Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park.
The roads and scenery were 
awesome. Again we were riding with Lynne and Dean, with Dean really putting the Harley through its paces especially on the corners where I’m sure he was trying to remove every bit of chrome on the exhaust pipe.
We got to see a small herd of Elk as we drove through the park. They are a magnificent animal. We stopped at Beaver Meadows but didn’t see any Beavers but heard that there had been a moose sighting their earlier in the morning. It wasn’t our day.
We stopped at the Alpine Visitors Centre and staggered up to the top of the mountain. 11796 feet. 
The altitude made it a bit of a struggle but we all made it, returned to the café in the centre and celebrated with chilli dogs.
We cruised our way down to Beaver Meadow Info centre and got chatting to a ranger who told us all about the mountain lion activity in the area and showed us a newspaper clipping of a couple of weeks previous that told the story of a family in a nearby town who’d been leaving their doors
open 
due to the heat and an opportunist mountain lion wandered in killed and dragged off their 60lb Labrador dog. It even took it over the 6 foot high fence. A few days later the mountain lion met the same fate as the dog. We asked about Beaver and he told us where we could go to see a Beaver Lodge. If we wanted to see the beaver we would have to be there about 7.30pm which wasn't possible but we decided to go and take a look anyway. What a great work in progress. Trees had been chopped down, one had been dropped the wrong way and the leaves which the beaver stores in his lodge for winter food were out of reach. We were all fascinated by it all and secretly hoped the beaver would pop up but no such luck.
Back at camp Terry Prince had suffered a real blow. He’d started up the Vincent outfit he had built to race on the Salt next week and it had spat the dummy so there was a flurry of activity as they pulled the engine down to determine the damage and start the rebuild. That kept the boys busy so Lynn and I supped wine and watched and old classic movie on the telly.
Day three and we are off to conquer Mount Evans. A narrow twisting road took us 14300 feet above sea level.
We saw Mountain goats and Horny Sheep at the summit. There was a small climb to the very top. A sign warns of the dangers of Altitude sickness, 
something that has to be taken seriously. Marty started the trek to the top but about ¼ of the 
way up he began to feel a bit light headed so I continued up with fellow kiwi Frank Platt. Lynne brought up the rear. Once there the views were spectacular and we felt like we were on top of the world. In fact wee were only ½ way up Everest.
Once down we followed more great Rocky Mountain Roads ending up at Bear Creek Park where a BBQ lunch was held followed by the launching of the Amanda. A 1950’s style jet ski made by Vincent but which never took off. The fact that it sank on debut may have had something to do with that. Owen and Ivan both had a ride. It eventually succumbed to over use and the last rider had to paddle himself back to the wharf.
Last day of the rally saw us have a very leisurely start as the train ride we’d booked wasn’t till 1.30pm. It wasn’t quite what I’d expected the
main thing being 
that I thought it was a steam 
train but it was diesel and the Georgetown loop was the name of the line not the route but it was still a pleasant ride.
The rally dinner and presentation was held in town so
Andy ferried us all down in his car. Marty and I both won raffle prizes, the others weren’t so lucky. The band was great and we stayed till the end as did Marty D. Andy ferried us all home.
A big thank you must go to the organizers. They did a fantastic job. Everyone enjoyed the rally and said it was the best one ever.
We had (no make that I had) collected and bought a little too much so I had to ask friends from LA to take a couple of bags of stuff back to LA for us. Books and T shirts incase you were wondering.
We said our goodbyes and headed off with Lynn and Dean for one last ride up the Rockies to the little Indian restaurant we had found for a farewell lunch. We plotted our route back to the Harley shop in Denver which seemed quite
straight forward but we let Dean take the lead and it 
all turned to custard. At one lost stop I got the binoculars out to read the highway sign so the boys could pinpoint our position on the map. Off again, lost again, regroup in a McDonald’s car park have a cool drink, ring the Harley shop to say we are on the way and back onto the freeway. I told Marty to take the lead but he said no Dean knew where we had to go now but a few miles down the freeway he missed the turnoff and rode off into the distance. We arrived at the Harley shop and had a wee wait for them to backtrack and turn up. They were quite relieved to get there.
Before we knew it their taxi arrived and they were being whisked away to their motel and we were back on the freeway heading for Marty’s cousins place in suburban Denver. We had no trouble finding it and enjoyed a lovely evening with Gerry, Marnie and baby Ava. Not to mention a meal of yummy spareribs cooked by Gerry.
Tomorrow we head for Utah. Our Colorado experience has come to an end. I have to say the Rockies are awesome even without snow.
when we arrived at the rally was our friend Dean from NZ, returning from the ice machine so we trotted
up to his room and had a drink with he and Lynne. Just as well we had a couple under our belts (well me anyway) as when we went to our room we discovered that someone was already in there. Marty went to reception to sort it out while I stood guard over our gear. The long and the short of it was that we got upgraded at no cost to a room with a shower, 2 double beds and the all important coffee machine. We didn’t get a bed each as 4 of our kiwi mates found themselves in a similar room and they didn’t fancy top and tailing so we very generously offered a bed. So we had Andy stay with us for the rally and had coffee in bed every morning as he was always up first.The rally was held in Idaho Springs Colorado in the heart of the Rockies. The organizers had arranged some fantastic rides over the days of the rally.
On day one a bike display and judging had been arranged in the nearby town of Central City so just before lunch we rode there with Dean and Lynne on their hired Harley. We were given a 'goodies bag' which included a couple of vouchers for the local casinos. After wandering the street looking at the bikes on display we popped into a bar for lunch. Our pizza was cooked by the Mayor who was also judging the bikes. He cooks a mean pizza. It didn’t take long for us to blow our casino credits, so after one final look at the bikes we headed out in search of Horny sheep. No luck and the weather looked dicey so we headed back to camp via the liquor store as there wasn’t a bar on 
site each night. There was a bar and nibbles this night as there was a book launch being held. Jerry Hatfield the author and the subject of the book was Rollie Free so the room was packed. We were unaware that you couldn’t bring alcohol into the area and our glass of wine caused quite an upset as we had broken Federal Law and were told that the Camp was at risk of being shut down and losing their liquor license. We apologized but it seemed our cards were marked. We confined further drinking to Lynne and Dean's room which became the nightly meeting place for the kiwis.’Day two saw us take a 200 mile loop route through the Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park.
The roads and scenery were 
awesome. Again we were riding with Lynne and Dean, with Dean really putting the Harley through its paces especially on the corners where I’m sure he was trying to remove every bit of chrome on the exhaust pipe.
We got to see a small herd of Elk as we drove through the park. They are a magnificent animal. We stopped at Beaver Meadows but didn’t see any Beavers but heard that there had been a moose sighting their earlier in the morning. It wasn’t our day.
We stopped at the Alpine Visitors Centre and staggered up to the top of the mountain. 11796 feet. 
The altitude made it a bit of a struggle but we all made it, returned to the café in the centre and celebrated with chilli dogs.We cruised our way down to Beaver Meadow Info centre and got chatting to a ranger who told us all about the mountain lion activity in the area and showed us a newspaper clipping of a couple of weeks previous that told the story of a family in a nearby town who’d been leaving their doors
open 
due to the heat and an opportunist mountain lion wandered in killed and dragged off their 60lb Labrador dog. It even took it over the 6 foot high fence. A few days later the mountain lion met the same fate as the dog. We asked about Beaver and he told us where we could go to see a Beaver Lodge. If we wanted to see the beaver we would have to be there about 7.30pm which wasn't possible but we decided to go and take a look anyway. What a great work in progress. Trees had been chopped down, one had been dropped the wrong way and the leaves which the beaver stores in his lodge for winter food were out of reach. We were all fascinated by it all and secretly hoped the beaver would pop up but no such luck.
Back at camp Terry Prince had suffered a real blow. He’d started up the Vincent outfit he had built to race on the Salt next week and it had spat the dummy so there was a flurry of activity as they pulled the engine down to determine the damage and start the rebuild. That kept the boys busy so Lynn and I supped wine and watched and old classic movie on the telly.Day three and we are off to conquer Mount Evans. A narrow twisting road took us 14300 feet above sea level.
We saw Mountain goats and Horny Sheep at the summit. There was a small climb to the very top. A sign warns of the dangers of Altitude sickness, 
something that has to be taken seriously. Marty started the trek to the top but about ¼ of the 
way up he began to feel a bit light headed so I continued up with fellow kiwi Frank Platt. Lynne brought up the rear. Once there the views were spectacular and we felt like we were on top of the world. In fact wee were only ½ way up Everest.
Once down we followed more great Rocky Mountain Roads ending up at Bear Creek Park where a BBQ lunch was held followed by the launching of the Amanda. A 1950’s style jet ski made by Vincent but which never took off. The fact that it sank on debut may have had something to do with that. Owen and Ivan both had a ride. It eventually succumbed to over use and the last rider had to paddle himself back to the wharf.Last day of the rally saw us have a very leisurely start as the train ride we’d booked wasn’t till 1.30pm. It wasn’t quite what I’d expected the
main thing being 
that I thought it was a steam 
train but it was diesel and the Georgetown loop was the name of the line not the route but it was still a pleasant ride.The rally dinner and presentation was held in town so
Andy ferried us all down in his car. Marty and I both won raffle prizes, the others weren’t so lucky. The band was great and we stayed till the end as did Marty D. Andy ferried us all home.A big thank you must go to the organizers. They did a fantastic job. Everyone enjoyed the rally and said it was the best one ever.
We had (no make that I had) collected and bought a little too much so I had to ask friends from LA to take a couple of bags of stuff back to LA for us. Books and T shirts incase you were wondering.
We said our goodbyes and headed off with Lynn and Dean for one last ride up the Rockies to the little Indian restaurant we had found for a farewell lunch. We plotted our route back to the Harley shop in Denver which seemed quite
straight forward but we let Dean take the lead and it 
all turned to custard. At one lost stop I got the binoculars out to read the highway sign so the boys could pinpoint our position on the map. Off again, lost again, regroup in a McDonald’s car park have a cool drink, ring the Harley shop to say we are on the way and back onto the freeway. I told Marty to take the lead but he said no Dean knew where we had to go now but a few miles down the freeway he missed the turnoff and rode off into the distance. We arrived at the Harley shop and had a wee wait for them to backtrack and turn up. They were quite relieved to get there.
Before we knew it their taxi arrived and they were being whisked away to their motel and we were back on the freeway heading for Marty’s cousins place in suburban Denver. We had no trouble finding it and enjoyed a lovely evening with Gerry, Marnie and baby Ava. Not to mention a meal of yummy spareribs cooked by Gerry.Tomorrow we head for Utah. Our Colorado experience has come to an end. I have to say the Rockies are awesome even without snow.
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