Aspen Tour ‘22: Day 1

Ang and I decided it was time for an adventure so we’re off to Aspen on our bikes for a 5 day trip but not before a stop at Walmart for a spare tube for her bike and some sunscreen to help protect our aging skin (too late). We were headed up to Vail Pass via Copper on the Ten Mile Trail shortly after 9AM for a 60’ish mile ride to Eagle for the night.  In case you’re wondering, Angela and her eBike ‘Babe-e’ volunteered to carry both of our panniers while I’ll manage the odds and ends with my handle bar bag and rear rack bag on my faithful Surly Disk Trucker (without a name). 

We planned this trip about a month ago hoping to capture the changing of the aspens but a mild and wet summer seems to have them in mostly summer colors still.  

However the willows and meadow grasses climbing up Vail Pass have all turned yellow, orange and brown so hopefully the aspens won’t be too far behind. 

Bravo to CDOT for maintaining the Rec-path while they rebuild I-70 for about 10 miles west of Vail Pass.  It’s a major undertaking and we had 6 different flag people managing bike and construction traffic.  Kudos CDOT because if not for you sparing the Rec-path we would not have been able to make this trip!

However they didn’t leave a lot of space as you can see east bound traffic lumbering up I-70 just feet away from Ang while construction traffic is working on the left side of the Jersey barriers.  Usually we can bomb down this stretch but we rode our brakes for the best part of 6 miles.  

With most of the hard work behind us and in the heat of the afternoon and just 10 miles to get to our hotel in Eagle we stopped at one of our favorite spots on this route along the Eagle River for some shade. 

And then we were entertained by Chester who loved to fetch a tennis balll out of the river endlessly. We however had to push on. 

Ang and I are pretty much evenly matched with her ebike in ‘eco’ mode or not on at all but sometimes she likes to show what she could do when she goes into boost mode and flashes by me.  She uses her battery power sparingly, mostly on climbs (or sometimes into the strong headwinds we faced most of the day) and after 60 miles and almost 3,000 ft of climbing she still had over half of her battery left when we got to the motel. 

Nearing Eagle we see a few more trees starting to turn.  We got to our motel around 3:15, rested, showered and wondered a few blocks for a nice dinner to-go from a place called Pickles and had a nice evening leading to crashing hard for the night.  

I took this picture in black and white by accident. While it doesn’t show any fall colors I still thought it was pretty cool.  

Day 8: Good Bye Italy

Saturday morning the Piratis march their gear off the Saint Michele and into Procida to catch our ferries off the island to Naples.  Dan has two ferries to catch as he’s meeting Connie and Marlena in Amalfi. 

Good bye Saint Michele!

Symbolically this sign at a little cafe says it all as Amos strolls by, good bye Mediterranean sailing (and beer), hello cruel world. 

But not before James and I have a cappacino.  

Our taxi from the port at Naples looked like a clown car when we climbed out at our hotels. 

Steve booked himself, Jimmy and I a room near the sea but for a moment it seemed like we were entering Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Even I had to duck to get through the green door. 

Jimmy and I go on a 4 mile walk-about of Napoli and had a wonderful time.  

Of course we had to have gelato!

This bar holds nothing back in its name: WELCOME!!

A full moon rises over the Gulf of Napoli. 

And the Piratis minus Dan have one more Italian dinner alfresco in the warm, late summer evening.  

And Dan had a nice evening too, with Connie!

Day 7: Ischia to Procida-The Final Passage

After a pretty restful night excepting for a little storm that kicked up around 5:45 we had our usual breakfast on the boat and started a fairly short and relaxing sail back to our home marina in Procida.  The winds and sea were calm once again.  

It’s not all relaxing though.  We have some chores to take care of like throwing our little brown bags full of our used TP into open waters.  This helps reduce the risk of stopping up a fragile waste water system but offers the side benefit of getting to know your “business” very well.  Tonight the bags “ sleep with the fishes”!

We lay over for lunch in a little bay close to our marina and enjoy the beautiful day as evidenced by the relaxed posture or Amos and Steve. 

Amos takes  a little dip as does Wiltsch, Danno and myself.  

If you look carefully you can see a little guy up against the cliffs. That’s Dan who snorkeled all the way in to explore and look for Indian arrow heads?

Amos gives commands to Steve as he hauls up the anchor. This is the only time we can give commands to Steve and he still does not listen!

Heading back to Procida Steve steer's a course along some of the same cliffs Dan investigated, carved out over eons into jagged and unexpected shapes. 

For 290e we top off our diesel and dinghy’s gas can.  Not too bad for all the motoring we had to do this week, less than several of our wonderful Italian meals we’ve had.  

We get a little help from Luigi back at the marina backing into another stern docking situation.  And Mario on the skiff helps  push our stern in as we slide into the pontoon for our last overnight on the boat. 

Sun sets as we sit in the cockpit finishing off the last of our Italian cheeses, ham and wine and reflect on our day and begin to think about our travels ahead, either home or a perhaps a little longer visit of Italia.  

The very nice and tolerant owner of our favorite restaurant near our dock once again  serves us with pride and patience.  We may have a language barrier but it’s overcome by his and his families desire to take care of us. 


And once again we say good night Procida!  Tomorrow we begin our separate journeys to our home or wherever else we may be headed.  It’s been quite a trip this week.  What lies ahead for the Pirates? Time and fate will tell.