The eastern plains of Colorado do not do subtle. The sky is enormous, the horizon dead flat, and on summer afternoons thunderheads build into towers that can drop hail the size of golf balls within minutes. This stop lies on the South Platte river, near Fort Morgan, a farming and ranching town on I-76 whose grain elevators are the tallest things for miles.
Fort Morgan began as an army post on the Overland Trail in the 1860s, protecting stagecoaches and wagon trains on their way to Denver. Its most famous son, the bandleader Glenn Miller, grew up here and graduated from the local high school, and the town holds a festival in his honour. The countryside around is sugar beet, corn, cattle feedlots and irrigated fields, with cottonwoods marking the line of the river.
Jackson Lake State Park, north-west of town, is a reservoir in the middle of the prairie, with sandy beaches and a swimming area in summer. On a hot day, it is a welcome break, and the lake attracts pelicans, herons and ducks. The Pawnee National Grassland, further north, is shortgrass prairie with buttes, pronghorn and prairie dogs, and it feels like the old West.
Riding here is all about distance. The roads are long and straight, and the wind can be brutal, blowing across the plains with nothing to stop it. Crosswinds and gusts from passing trucks can push you around, so keep a firm grip and a steady line. Watch for deer and pronghorn at dawn and dusk.
Fort Morgan has fuel, motels and diners strung along the old main street and the interstate exits. Out here the rule is simple: never pass a pump with less than half a tank, because the next town may be fifty miles away and the wind will have been drinking your fuel all afternoon.