No Age Limit - Piaggio MP3

Day 10 - Laramie, WY to Fort Collins, CO

After a late arrival in Laramie on Saturday night, as a result of spending several hours with the PBS documentary crew,  we had a drink, managed to stay awake while eating, made it back to the motel and did our blog update in the morning…which resulted in a late start today.

Bob & I typically camp when touring, and the MP3’s back seat is ideal for a bag with all necessary camping gear. Prior to the tour we made the decision to bag the camping so that time would be available for the blog and the media events. It was a tough choice. since camping brings us closer to the environment and intensifies the feeling of having a self-contained world. No one said our 15 minutes of fame would be easy.

Despite our late start from Laramie, we stopped at the Wyoming Territorial Prison Historic Site. Built in 1872, it housed many of the west’s bad guys, including Butch Cassidy.

Even Butch knew how to behave — he was released early for good behavior.

The Lincoln Highway climbs to its highest point on I-80 ten miles east of Laramie — an elevation of 8,640 feet. Our MP3s ate up the climb to the summit. Marchello & Sophia were never winded & enjoyed passing slower moving vehicles. Travelers have crossed the summit in this area since the last half of the 19th century.

A 13 1/2 foot bronze bust sits majestically on a pillar (See picture up top - ED). It’s the only monument to Lincoln along the highway. It’s also the largest bronze head in the US. It was great to see Abe and let him know about our journey. There’s also a monument to Henry B. Joy, the first president of the Lincoln Highway, who realized the dream of a continuous highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific — a highway that links California Bob to New York Buddy.

We met Kelly & Barbara Green at the summit; they own BBQ Bob’s in Loveland, CO. Kelly urged us to place the bikes at the foot of the monument and took some terrific photos of us:

We then backtracked to the Alternate Lincoln Highway, Route 287, heading to Steve Eddin’s Piaggio dealership in Ft. Collins, CO. He has a reception for us tomorrow AM.

On the way to Steve’s we met Gary Waterhouse, who runs the antique shop at Tie Siding, WY. Gary was taken with our mission and invited us into a closed section of the store to proudly show us an authentic Lincoln Highway sign riddled with bullet holes. A great find.

Between the Lincoln Highway and the MP3 we continue to be welcomed by people everywhere. It’s a terrific benefit of touring America’s  highway on our three wheelers.

Buddy out

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