Spring Trip Planning In The Rockies

It's toward the end of April, and hey, it's that time again, isn't it? Time to plan for trips. And I gotta tell you, if you have never ridden in the Rocky Mountains, you're in for a treat. Or let me rephrase that, some riders may actually be in for a shock. The shock of seeing and riding among snow capped mountains, even in the summertime. It is completely amazing. As one of my favorite singers, James Taylor, describes it in one of his songs out there among the mountains on your motorcycle, you may just feel helpless and speechless and breathless. So from Loveland, Colorado, this is Ron Francis with the Peace Love Moto Podcast, and I'm excited to be with you today. I love it. I love the contrast. Even though here in Loveland we did get a dusting of snow just a few days ago, yeah, it's warming up now. And it's time to start planning those longer summer rides. Time to explore and go discover where your newest, quote, favorite roads are gonna be, right? In the corporate world that I left behind recently, I do remember that April was about meeting second quarter budgets and preparing for mid-year reviews. My friends, I don't miss that at all. I really, really don't. But now in this rewired life of mine, warmer weather means moto camping and multi-day rides somewhere west, usually. I don't yet know exactly where I'm gonna go this year for the big trip, but as always, I'm leaning toward going west and north again because I just love it out there. I've gone out to Disneyland in California, ridden out there solo on my motorcycle. I don't know, four or five times. What I'll typically do is just fly a family member out there at the local airport, and we'll get together and spend a couple of days at the at Disneyland Park in California Adventure, and they would fly back and I would ride back. I would typically stop in Las Vegas for the night, sometimes in both directions, just to take in the sights and the craziness out there and get a good night's rest and then ride on home. But uh don't know if I'll do that again this year. Probably not, kind of leaning more toward the northwest again, Northern California, maybe up into Oregon and Washington, maybe into British Columbia. We'll see. We'll see what uh my wife would prefer me to do. But that's kind of my plan for right now. Yes, it's toward the end of April right now, and every day the Rocky Mountain National Park snow crews are way up on Trail Ridge Road at 12,000 feet above sea level. They're fighting through snow drifts trying to get the road open. Some of those snow drifts are 20 to 30 feet high in places. Do you believe that? I told you it's amazing out here. That's right. The high elevation roads in Colorado get a lot of snow, so much so that the higher roads such as that, uh, Trail Ridge and uh Fall River Road, they won't open until July. Yeah, that's right, July. But those extremely high roads are are really the exception. Many of the roads below 10,000 feet above sea level are open now, and it's amazing up there. I was crossing just a couple of mountain passes just recently. Oh yeah, it's amazing. And again, I just reflect on that line from James Taylor's song Gaya, how he just stops, turns around, and looks down the mountain, just helpless and speechless and breathless. That's the way it is up there. He is not only a talented musician, but an accomplished mountaineer and rock climber. Gary takes his inspirations from the Rocky Mountains and turns those into music, just like you're hearing now. Sometimes, I know, it's hard to jump into spring. I know that for many it's been a tough winter season, not only weather-wise, but anxiety from the daily news, for example, maybe job stress, a lot of possibilities. There is something to be said for the wintertime blues. It's real, isn't it? The layers of stress, the routine, the mental snow that accumulates when we aren't out on the road or can't get outside as much as we'd like to, that it takes a toll on you. That's where I'm convinced that our motorcycles, when we can ride, really come to our rescue. We finally have a chance to get out there, spend some time in the outdoors on your machine. When you're out on your bike, it's like, I don't know, you just realize what you've been missing. Because for a little while, while you're out there, all is right with the world. You found that all uh all elusive peace of mind. Yeah, it's it's different for me now, now that I don't have the corporate grind anymore, I'm not having to travel for business as I used to. But I know it's it's kind of the same for all of us, right? It's it's when the weather stabilizes and we can finally get out on the road and physically be out there, it's it's just cleansing, for lack of a better word. And if you've not ridden in the high elevations, like above 10,000 feet, oh man, it's something you'll never forget. The air gets thinner and cooler, even in the middle of the summer. I think too, your focus gets sharper because the clutter, the stressful thoughts you may have started out your day with, will be gone. We'll be gone. Feels like they hadn't been maintained since the 1800s, also. A little rough up there. But I went on to Netherlands and I met up with my great friend Burt Rashbaum, who is the uh guy I interviewed just recently. He's one of the ride operators at the Carousel of Happiness. And we had the nicest visit at a coffee house uh right over there near the carousel. If you've not heard that interview with Burt, you should. It's it's a very good interview from two or three weeks ago. Anyway, out there on those high mountains roads, I gotta tell you, you're you're forced into being absolutely present, absolutely mindful out there, and absolutely, yeah, present. You aren't rewriting the mile that you just covered, and you can't necessarily anticipate the mile ahead. You are exactly where your tires meet the road right now. You are right where you're supposed to be at that moment. Right here, right now. And I think that's what mindfulness is partially about anyway. And that's the peace that we're all looking for, isn't it? These past many years living here in the West, leading tours in the national park and motorcycling through the Rocky Mountains, it's taught me to see things, to see these beautiful spaces with fresh eyes. Every time I go out there, there will be something different. Riding out into the mountains, we keep an eye out for those changes month by month and even day by day. Because you see, Mother Nature changes her mood, changes her colors all the time. And most definitely changes with the seasons. The way the light hits the tundra as it transitions from brown to that first fragile green way up above 10,000 feet. The way the Big Thompson River from Estus Park to here in Loveland starts to roar with the first real snow runoff that's beginning to happen right now. So, my friends, if you're heading up into the Rocky Mountains for a ride this summer, treat yourself to a view and a deep breath that could change your life. Find an amazing view somewhere, they're everywhere, by the way. Just stop. Turn off your bike, take off your helmet, and walk to the mountainside and look down. Just stand there. Look down the mountain into the vast valley below. Who knows? You may see an elk or a bighorn sheep down there, you may even see a bear. Take that first deep, long burning breath of the crisp air of the Rocky Mountains. It's the cleanest thing you'll ever feel all year. It may be a deep breath that will stay with you in your heart and your mind for a long time. And as James Taylor said, you just might find that experience to leave you helpless and speechless and breathless. So we'll close with this. It was in 1873 when John Muir wrote a letter to his sister after experiencing a mountain wilderness for the first time. He said, The mountains are calling, and I must go. My friends, maybe you need to go too. Let me know if you're coming. And if you want to meet up for a ride or a cup of coffee, hey, let's do that. Send me an email. It's at Ron at peacelovemoto.com and we can talk about it. Hey, let me know. Until next time, hey, go for a ride. And I hope to see you out there. Peace.