Day 4 - Rocky Mountain and T-Shirt Prices High

Day 4 and we have only covered four states.  At this rate we won't make Maine until November.  Which might not be so bad because based on the sites seen today we wouldn't mind spending a little more time in this magnificent place.  Today was the ride through Rocky Mountain National Park, a place so unreal, with such majestic views that it cannot be comprehended without seeing it in person.

Ron's Bike was the Highest Harley in the U.S. at the Time of This Photo

At an elevation of 12,183 feet, Highway 34 is the highest road in the U.S.  It is literally breathtaking as Kenny discovered when he made a little pitstop.  Climbing up the hill from an improvised restroom, he nearly had to be resuscitated. 

Kenny Recovers After Having Left His Mark

Along with taking one's breath away the elevation also seems to affect certain peoples' brains in certain ways, especially those who work there for great lengths of time.  While stopped near a spot where road work was taking place, one construction worker wandered over to us and asked if we would like to see his impersonation of a sad catfish.  Now who could resist an offer like that?  Of course we did, and this is the result. 

Sad Catfish at 12,000 Feet

What is it, exactly that attracts these people to us?  We laughed politely, thanked him and mercifully, the traffic backup was over and we were able to escape the sad catfish.

One of the activities that Harley riders seem to love to engage in on road trips is collecting T-shirts from the local Harley-Davidson dealers.  It's not quite clear what the attraction is.  Whether it's a "hey, look where I've been" thing or a memory for the purchaser is not totally known by riders.  Showing off the fact that you traveled to Victorville, CA and picked up a shirt is not held in real high regard by many so it must be something else. 

Harley certainly is aware of this desire, and they are not shy about taking full advantage of the  demand, charging anywhere from $32 to $50 for a shirt.  Like many of you who are reading this, we too are guilty of this odd pursuit.  One of us, however, had a little problem justifying paying that much for what he referred to as a "ridiculously overpriced" shirt.  (This same man, mind you, has a 2800 square foot devoted only to his motorcycles.)  Perhaps justification of overpricing can be argued in the case of some unique shirts picked up by fellow Road Glider and Shark Week attendee, Q-Hog. It seems that Q,who sometimes finds himself in Dubai with nothing better to do than shop for ridiculously overpriced shirts, will sometimes pick up some "Harley of Dubai" T-shirts, which go for a tad more than $32.  How much is not clear, but what is clear is that anything more than a dollar is probably too much.  You see, one such shirt proved to have a little too much strength in the elastic collar - so much strength if fact, that when placed over the owners head, the elastic collar was stronger that the shirt material itself....to the point where the entire shirt tore out just below the collar leaving the subject with a very loose fitting shirt around the body and an attractive matching cloth halo lying on the top of his head.  Perhaps that's a tactic used by Dubai residents to remain cool. 

But we digress.  Back to the subject at hand, Troy had refused to purchase a shirt at the Durango dealer, and he was equally offended by the prices charged by the Silverton dealer (who sells plenty of shirts, but no motorcycles).  As we found ourselves exiting Rocky Mountain National Park, once again accompanied by lightning and thunder and drenching rain, we decided to head toward Thunder Mountain Harley in Loveland, CO.  After all we were subjected to thunder and mountains so it  seemed only right to commemorate the occasion.  Troy was determined to get a reasonably priced shirt at this location.  We walked in, proceeded directly to the T-shirt location and found plenty of.......ridiculously overpriced shirts.  Most of them, in fact, were priced at $38 plus tax, which is an extraordinary 9% in Colorado.  While the rest of us snapped up T-shirts like vacuum cleaners, Troy let out an audible groan and resigned himself to ending this trip with no shirts to show for it.  However, as we dawdled and gawked at the new bikes and all of the people that had stopped by on the way to Sturgis, we saw signs of weakness.  Troy stealthily made his way back to the T-shirt shop, looked again at the prices, then shook his head again and walked away.........for a minute, until turning back and finally succumbing.  He made us all note that he was in fact knuckling under and purchasing a ridiculously overpriced T-shirt, but the pain was all too obvious.  We hope that it doesn't cause too much duress should he ever actually don that shirt.  Secretly we all celebrated.

After the painful purchase it was time for Troy and companion to part ways with us.  They were not able to take the time to go to Maine, and thus chose to turn around and head back to St. George.  We said a sad goodbye, packed our own ridiculously overpriced T-shirts and headed eastward to find a room for the night.....which is another story that has too much content to reveal at this point, because it is late and we will be departing in a mere five hours.  More on the Oreo Crew's accommodations in our next edition. 

Thanks to all who are enjoying our exploits and who are providing us with comments.  The expedition continues......