GoPro | Peaches Prattlings

{September 2, 2026} Day 8: 369.7 Miles, 7.5 Hours, 2 States, 1 National Forest, 1 State Park, 6 Cities, 1 Amazing Pass

Day 8 started about 7am, load the bikes at 730a, breakfast right down the road at the Pony Expresso! Do you love it!? It was a drive through/walk up coffee/breakfast place with a sign on the door that says “STOP, Employees Only, try our walk up window to the right”…guess where the guys tried to go? VGT earlier for his first cup of coffee, next DJH when we walked up to get some food.

Did I mention that VGT is a bit of a coffee snob? Yeah, and he didn’t sleep that much on the trip, so…there were many mornings he would be up early and go in search of coffee, sometimes happy, sometimes not so much. So, we got breakfast, chatted about our upcoming ride, so excited, we’re going to ride Beartooth Pass!

Oh! I think I mentioned yesterday that it was also the Riveton Rendezvous Balloon Rally weekend, well, it definitely did not disappoint! I wish we could have stayed and watched, but we did get to see a few hot air balloons as we were loading up. I’m not 100% sure what this was, but it looked like a turtle with, I don’t know, 20 legs! lol

Now we’re off! The GoPro was aimed and ready to go, finally getting the hang of controling it while riding! There are tricks to it, especially controlling it with your phone. First, when you put a new battery in, if it takes a battery, is to turn it on, so it talks to the phone, if you don’t, then sometimes they don’t talk, and when you’re riding, not fun!

We rode Hwy789, which reminds me of the bad dad joke “Why was 6 afraid?” “Because 7 8 9!” Say it out loud, you’ll get it! HA HA. Here are a few videos to enjoy the scenery! 30 seconds 4.5 minutes

The hard part, with the scenery as amazing as it is/was, limited battery and SD card space, you have to pick and choose what you’re going to take pictures and video of. PSM and I always had 2 batteries constantly charging in our saddle bags, they went fast!

Eventually, we entered Shoshone National Forest, just look at it! wow! Then we were on US Route 212, a section known as Beartooth Pass or Highway, in Montana and Wyoming between Red Lodge and the NE Entrance of Yellowstone National Park. It is 68.3 miles and is comprised of steep zigzags and switchbacks, you may remember us talking about them a few days ago, they are hairpin turns and wonderful! The first time I did Beartooth Pass was in 2023 when we did our first 3 week trip, and I did it without a helmet, no, I am not a fan of going without a helmet, it definitely wasn’t intentional! After that experience, I totally get why some people choose not to wear a helmet, but I promise, I am not one of them!

The half-way point of Beartooth Pass is Top of the World Store, it’s also a vacation rental destination. This is a biker’s hangout if you ever saw one! You have every type of bike, rider, skill, everyone just hanging out, sharing stories, a drink, food, enjoying the camaraderie, kindship, and common interests. The store has all the good touristy items you’re looking for; patches, stickers, magnets, tshirts, and all the other branded stuff you might want! You heard that, patches and magnets, who’s in heaven? You guessed it!

After a brief stop, purchase, and bathroom break, we were off again! The sky, the road, the view, there is nothing like it! And…it’s July and there is still snow on the mountain, I hope you can see it in some of the pics and videos! We stopped at at Quad Creek Scenic Overlook to marvel at Mother Nature and three green MGs pulled up, what are the odds?!

Here are a few more videos of our ride: 5.2 Minutes, 11:51 Minutes. I’m working on creating a YouTube channel that can host all our videos, I’ll share when it’s up!

We came down off Beartooth Pass into Red Lodge, MT, yes, somewhere along we crossed into Montana and I missed my Google Maps State screenshot, and stopped at the Red Box Car for lunch. It’s a 100-year-old boxcar! They have burgers, fries, salads, ice cream. It’s a 1903 Box Car from the Rocky Fork Line that ran from Laurel, MT to Red Lodge, MT. 1903, how fitting, Harley Davidson started in 1903! It was right next to a stream, so peaceful!

The, back on the bikes to Livingston, MT, we were staying at the Comfort Inn Bozeman. The funny thing…it’s called Comfort Inn Bozeman, but it’s in Livingston, MT, go figure! We settled in, then headed down to the pool for a dip, then tried to get an Uber to one of the restaurants I found, but it turned out there were a few weddings in town and we wouldn’t be able to get an Uber or taxi for hours, so…we walked across the road to Big Sky Thai and what a treat that was!

There was only one other person in the restaurant, I have a feeling everyone was at one of the weddings! But…while we were there, several people came in for to-go orders, a good sign. Our server was great and her helper, the son of the owners, a charming and spirited 8 year old who charmed DJH! And the rest of us, of course! He was so excited to take our order, but jumping all over the place, it was great!

The food was really good, again, another great meal, we’re on a roll! After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to chill, then crash. Tomorrow, we’re heading to Yellowstone and guess who’s meeting us there?! PSM! YES!

Day 8: July 18 Relive

Day 8: 369.7 Miles, 7.5 Hours, Hot air balloons, Twists, turns, and switchbacks! Tomorrow…Yellowstone!

{August 29, 2026} Day 5: 176.2 Miles, 8.5 Hours, 1 National Forest, GoodBye Durango, Hello Silverton, Million Dollar Highway, Hola Ouray, At Last…Grand Junction!

It is Day 5, we are in Durango, Colorado, at the Junction Hotel & Hostel, our clothes are 98% dry, a little chilly putting them on, but…it’s going to be warm today, so they will dry as we ride, works for me! We were excited to get on the road, but sad to be losing MB. We assembled at the bikes and convinced MB to join us for breakfast, you know where… The Durango Diner, of course! We had to, DJH woke up “The Cure, The Cure, The Cure”!

I ordered an Uber, off to the Durango Diner. What a cute place! They have been Durango’s hometown diner for over 60 years! They have a long counter and about tables, and it’s very narrow. We took the last 4 spots at the counter and DJH and VGT ordered, what else, The Cure, “Hashbrowns topped with melted american cheese, your choice of bacon, ham or sausage, and two eggs. All stacked and smothered in our Durango Diner Green Chile Sauce.” That’s the classic/original, you can get it 5 different ways, whatever takes your fancy.

MB and I ordered something different. One of my favorite breakfasts is huevos rancheros, I ordered it from the ‘lite’ menu options, which I didn’t realize I had, it was ok, but not enough. Luckily…we would be back in Durango in 4 weeks and I would be able to get something better, and…PSM would be with us, so he wouldn’t have to miss out. It really was a great place for breakfast, did not disappoint on atmosphere, service, and charm!

Back to the hotel, MB took the Uber to the airport, we checked out of the hotel, got on the bikes and took off. Just a note…until Day 7, all photos of the scenery are taken with my phone, then I got to use DJH’s GoPro, they will get much better! We headed out of Durango on US Route 550, lots of twists and turns, here’s an example of a video with my phone, you’ll see what I mean! DJH and I had done US Route 550 in 2023, it hasn’t lost its charm! I know VGT agreed, we could ride it over and over, I’m sure we will again!

The halfway point, and start of Million Dollar Highway is Silverton, Colorado, home of Silverton Harley-Davidson, their claim to fame, The World’s Highest Harley Store, at 9,318FT! The woman who runs the store, Kathy, remembered us, maybe it was the hair, or she has a really good memory! It was nice catching up with her, she is from South [I hope I got that one right!] Carolina and spends her summers here in Silverton. Ruby was her new pup, unfortunately the sweet pup she had the last time had gone over the rainbow bridge. Ruby was worn out! They had gone for a walk and she jumped in a stream and had a good long doggie paddle, she was wiped out!

Back on the bikes and it is time to ride the Million Dollar Highway! It’s 25 miles that runs from Silverton to Ouray. It was constructed in the late 19th century as a wagon trail. Today, it is a scenic byway winding through the San Juan Mountains, starting in Silverton, the highway climbs up and over Red Mountain Pass, reaching an elevation of 11,000FT! The road narrows and winds, has shart curves, and steep drop-offs, it can be challenging for any driver, and then heading down towards Ouray, you have switchbacks, which make up Million Dollary Highway!

If you look at the Frequently Asked Questions at the bottom of the page, you’ll find out why it’s called the Million Dollar Highway, and as it says, it all depends on who you ask! One of the questions, which I just discovered and had to chuckle…”Is it dangerous?” It is one of the most dangerous roads in the United States, I can understand that, especially since there’s no guardrail, riding in one direction can be nerve wracking! The reason there are no guardrails? In the winter, they plow the snow off the side of the highway, that makes sense! Yeah, tell that to PSM and his dislike of heights!

Part of US Route 550/Million Dollar Highway was through the Uncompahgre National Forest, we stopped for some pictures at Bear Creek Falls. DJH is getting so much better! One of the things I rib him about is not stopping enough to take photos! This was stunning! The pics just don’t do it justice. And no, DJH and I did not dress alike intentionally! He’s had that flannel for years and I got mine, happens to be the same color, that I got at Hills City Harley Davidson in 2023. I have to tell you, I la la la love this flannel! It goes with me almost everywhere, and it’s definitely on every bike trip, it’s a great layer or could be a light cover. I digress. This stop, along with the views along the route, were breath taking!

We wound our way along Million Dollar Highway to Ouray, the Outdoor Recreation Capital of Colorado, situated at 7,800FT above sea level and surrounded by 12,000-13,000FT peaks, dramatic cliffs, cascading waterfalls, and scenic mountain valleys that create some amazing and breathtaking landscapes. It also turns out this year is the 150th anniversary of Ouray, lucky us!

We stopped at the Ouray House Brewery the sign outside said Grumpy Pants Brewery, loving that! The guys had cold bevereages, and I had a pb&j, I was hungry! Remember my lighter side huevos rancheros! This was just the pick me up I needed! We were also a wee bit toasty, it got up to 101 out there!

Back on the bikes, we wound our way to the Grand Vista Hotel in Grand Junction, CO. We were happy to be there! And…lucky too, VGT was having some issues with the computer on his bike, so…off to Teddy Morse’s Grand Junction Powersports the guys went to have them look at his bike and I went to change into a bathing suit. I have to say, there were some very nice pools at some of the hotels, with really pretty murals on the walls. I’ll have to share some pics of all of them in another post!

When they got back, VGT went to relax, DJH and I went to the pool for a nice relaxing dip and a relaxing soak in the hot tub. After cooling off and feeling refreshed, we went back to take showers and meet VGT for some dinner. We went to Oliver’s Restaurant & Bar for dinner and we were in for a treat! They had really good Indian food! We all got a different curry and it was delicious! Happily, for me, it wasn’t too spicy! I don’t always have luck with Indian food, this was yummy!

The nice part of dining in the hotel restaurant, we don’t have to get on the bikes, take an Uber, or even leave the building, just go back up to our rooms! Tomorrow is going to be a late, casual start, we need to wait on VGT’s bike to be ready to pick up, here’s hoping it’s something they can fix so we can be on our way!

Day 5: 176.2 Miles, 101 Degrees, 8.5 Hours…. tomorrow… Loveland!

{January 31, 2024} St Thomas Day 5: Do it all Snorkel

Sounds like a fine offer, ok we will! Let’s Do It…All! Snorkel!

The days started beautifully with a beautiful sunrise, not setting an alarm, yeah, I’d say beautiful! We had our next snorkel trip booked for 1pm, so we decided to head down to Charlotte Amalie first thing, to see what we could see and we saw!

We were looking for a place for breakfast, specifically at the moment, some decaf coffee for PSM, someone recommended the Parley Cafe and when we found it, we were very glad we did! It was cozy, bright, tropical, everything it should be, and…smelling y u m! We got tea and coffee and two home made pastries, oh yeah!

I texted my dad and my sister, who were in London at the time, what are the odds, I’m on an island in the Caribbean and in the cafe I walked in to, Paddington Bear is on the tv and they’re in London, maybe close to Paddington station!

After a light breakfast, we walked around Charlotte Amalie, a few more people, still not crowded, but the shops were open, the nice thing, not crazy busy since there weren’t any cruise ships in this morning. As with all our trips, we always look for a motorcycle dealership to get a t-shirt. The Harley Davidson dealership, which was a store, was closed, but their merchandise was being sold right around the corner, of course we had to go!

We picked up a shirt or two, I got a magnet and a sticker, and we both got water bottles and some stickers for the bottles so we could bring water with us wherever we went. We have a serious metal water bottle collection, but….we buy them where we travel, it’s a great memento of our trip and they usually have the logo of where we’ve been. I’ll show you our collection some time! Oh brother! We walked around, enjoyed the sights and sounds and then headed back towards Red Hook, we had a boat to catch!

We made our way to Red Hook to Ocean Surfari where we booked the Do it all Snorkel trip! We checked in, got our tickets, and waited for the go-ahead to head to the boat. And now it’s time! We got down to the dock, relinquished our shoes, handed in our tickets, and boarded the boat, the Reef Safari. We got the lowdown from the captain and first mates and we were off! They offered water, soft drinks, juice, no alcohol until we did our first snorkel, so they could tell what type of swimmers we were like and if we were different after a drink! ha ha. They had these cool cups that turned blue if the drink was cold! yes, we took a few, they said we could!

We headed over to Cruz Bay on St John pick some folks up, Ocean Surfari has locations on both islands, then it was off to our first stop. We geared up and got ready to jump in the water. It’s funny, you never know what the temperature of the water is going to be when you jump in, even if you were just in the water earlier, or know that the water is perfect where you are. But nothing to fear, jumped in and ahhhhh… the water was perfect temperature, it was clear in some places, cloudy in others, but just being in the water is enough for me!

I love my GoPro, but I don’t know if I get the most out of it! [I have a GoPro saga for you in another post!]. But I’m so happy not to have to deal with or worry about using my phone under water, no matter how waterproof my waterproof case is!

Back on the boat, off to the next location. We get about 45 minutes to an hour in the water in each place, not too shabby! PSM and I swim together, separate, come back together, swim, point things out to each other, just explore and love being in the water! There weren’t a lot of fish, it was mostly coral, but the coral was stunning, I’m just happy being around Mother Nature and Trident, what more can I say!

Back on the boat, the rum punch and painkillers were flowing as we headed back towards St John, but first…lunch at Pizza Pi VI in Christmas Cove of Great St. James. This was a floating pizza restaurant and it was great! You can see they have seating tied off the boat and we were stopped and the pizza was delivered to the boat! We had plain cheese and pepperoni and the pizza was pretty good! Yes, I ate it, when in Rome and all!

After lunch, we made our way back to St John to drop folks off, then back to St Thomas as the sun was setting, it was so beautiful, we had rain on one side and sunshine on the other, a very rare occurance indeed. The sun took her time setting and it was so worth it, the captain played music and told stories about the area.

One of the things I love about island life is the holidays, people light up their palm trees and boats, just imagine being on the water, after dark and people have their boats trimmed in different holiday lights, what could be better to put you in the holiday spirit?!

All in all, a great day, what more could you ask for? And now…I’m going to go to bed and dream about the ocean, pizza, coral, fish, boats. Mmmmm night!

{January 24, 2021} Hello Breck…What a Day!

Today was my last day of skiing and I decided on Breckenridge and I was not disappointed. To be honest, like Keystone, I have never been disappointed in skiing at Breckenridge.

It was 25 when I left Golden and 23 when I got to Breckenridge, but crisp and clear, so not terrible. You can tell that it snowed over the last few days, you could see snow on some of the mountains as I drove. Breckenridge was looking good! I found a parking lot and started to get set up for my day. The nice thing was that there was no snow in the parking lot where I parked, so I could step on the ground to get my boots on without fear of wet feet! Yeah!

I struggled, not as much as yesterday, but struggled buckling my boots. Funny enough, one of the women in the jeep that pulled in next to me was having the same issues. Oh boy, as much as it sucks, it’s nice to know someone else is experiencing the same thing! We chatted for a minute and then I was off and running, well, not running, there is no running in ski boots, at least not for me!

I took the gondola up to the first level and got off and went to stand in the very long lift line. The line went a little up the hill, so I trudged up with everyone else and inched my way down with everyone else, finally deciding to put my skis on when I got to flat land, I watched a lot of people standing sideways inching towards the flat spots. Up and up and up we went.

The slopes were wide open and smooth, there was some ice in a few places, they haven’t had a lot of snow over the past few months, but it didn’t get in the way. The ice wasn’t like East Coast ice, that was a plus. The music was on shuffle, never knowing what was coming up next. I swished and swished and swished, even a few straightaways. One of the runs I even shouted “I’m so happy!” and I was. It was such a great feeling!

I took a video of me swishing and swooshing down the hill, I completely forgot my GoPro, duh. One of these days I’ll get it set up and remember to take it with me, grrr. Let’s just say…my hand was mighty cold after 2 minutes and 33 seconds!

Eventually, I made it to the bottom, I can’t tell you how many runs I completed, but it was great, it even started snowing at some point, from the top of the mountain, it seemed as if there was low visibility, but it cleared up as you make your way down, still snowing, but easy to navigate. At the bottom, I used the facilities, had some lunch and decided it was time to go.

Part of me wanted to keep going because it’s my last day in Denver, but my body was telling me something else. Heart vs body, hmmm…body wins! I picked up my skis and headed to the gondola and headed back down to the bottom and towards the shuttle back to the parking lot.

It seems that a lot of people had the same idea, the same people I was ‘getting ready’ with at the car were at their cars to get disassembled, so to speak, at the same time, what are the odds? Granted, if you live in Denver and know you can ski many, many, many days during the season, even if you have to drive 2 hours, it’s worth it to go for just a few hours. It was the same for us when we lived in Hawai’i and would go snorkeling or to the beach, just to go to the beach, we’d go for one to two hours and go home, fair point.

Got ready to drive, headed out, got on the highway and then…what was supposed to be an hour and a half drive…red lights, no movement. I was already on the road about 45 minutes, maybe an hour and I looked at GPS, because of an accident on the highway, the delay was 1 hour and 4 minutes, really? It took me two solid hours to get back to the hotel. I was done! On with the pj’s! Figure out food and talk to you.

Tomorrow is my 12 hour drive back to PSM and two fur babies! And I’m already trying to figure out when I can come back to Denver to get some more skiing in before the end of the season. Hmmm… Despite the traffic, a great day, thank you Breck! Overall, three great days of skiing, fabulous visits with friends and a fabulous trip. Thank you Keystone, Breckenridge, Denver, and Colorado, I heart you!

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