South Park: More than a cartoon

South Park, besides being a TV and movie cartoon, is a real place.
It's actually a geographic feature, rather than a Colorado town. There are three "parks" in the Colorado Rocky Mountains - North, Middle and South.
The "parks" are broad valleys - many miles across - bordered by mountain ranges that make up the Rocky Mountain chain.
South Park is a spectacular basin at 9,000 feet above sea level - an expanse of grass and ranches and horses and cattle and buffalo through which the South Platte River meanders.
Tim and I went for a 100-mile loop ride this afternoon, gassing up at Fairplay and heading northeast on U.S. 285, over Red Hill Pass and past Como to the little crossroads community of Jefferson. There, we turned east on Tarryall Road - a narrow blacktop track that winds alongside ranches and pastures populated by hundreds of horses and their foals. The road leaves the open range of South Park and plunges down small canyons cut by streams and adorned by outcroppings of granite. The posted speed limit for most of Tarryall Road is 40 mph, which is a very good idea considering it's riddled with potholes. The Park County Highway Department makes a game attempt to keep the holes patched, but it's a losing battle.
The road winds around what used to be the shoreline of Tarryall Reservoir. Once a popular recreational facility with boat ramps and picnic and toilet facilities, Tarryall Reservoir has been reduced to a pond by the ongoing drought and the greedy demands of Denver and other Front Range communities that gobbled up the high country water rights before people up here were numerous and alert enough to protest.
The road curves south and Ts into U.S. 24. From there, it's only a few miles up and over 9,500-foot Wilkerson Pass. We took a break at the Wilkerson Pass Visitor Center to admire the view of South Park and the 14,000-foot peaks that ring it. To the east, Pike's Peak stood out in sharp relief in the late afternoon sun.
As we descended into the park, we could see U.S. 24 stretching out like a silver ribbon the 10 miles to Hartsel.
Just west of Hartsel, we picked up Colo. 9, which took us back to Fairplay. We pulled in to the Shell station at the south end of town and I noticed my trip meter had registered exactly 100 miles since we gassed at a station just up the road.
I topped off my tank in anticipation of tomorrow morning's departure for Spokane.
As I write this entry at 8:20 p.m., my laundry is done, the bike is fueled and my course is charted.
I leave early tomorrow for Spokane, via Twin Falls, Idaho.
The plan is to take U.S. 40 to Ogden, Utah, where I pick up the interstate north to Idaho and Twin Falls. Thursday, it's up through the Palouse to Spokane and the BMW national rally.
Tim's trip planning software shows it would actually be shorter and faster to go back down to Denver and take the interstate north through Wyoming and Montana, coming into Spokane by way of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Maybe so, but my gut feeling is that I'll have less likelihood of rain and cold if I take the long way.
My friend Sean Franklin, who runs Cyclegadgets.com, will be among the rally vendors. He has set up an internet cafe at some previous rallies. If he does that in Spokane, I'll update the blog. Otherwise, I'll check in from Portland.
While I've thoroughly enjoyed Tim and Linda's hospitality, my mind is already on the road north and west. I'll be up by 5 and on the road by 6 in anticipation of what promises to be a 700-mile day.