Day three brought us through Rocky Mountain National Park, which was a spectacular place to visit, with over 75 miles of windy mountain roads and fantastic views. The ride was 337 total miles.

The ride brought us into Wyoming and through some great looking forests which included Buffalo Pass, total ride was about 230 miles, of which about 50 were in dirt.

A little billionaire bungalow on the WY/CO border

Rick joined us yesterday, we met up with him in Glenwood Springs, and we took a dirt road along a river on the way to Steamboat Springs. Bob flew in today, and we are heading out on a ride to Wyoming as soon as Rick finishes playing a heads up game of poker.

Colorado Ride

Mark and Steve will start off on Sunday, July 11 and head off to Colorado. Rick and Bob will be arriving on Tuesday and Wednesday. We expect to ride for 4-5 days through the Colorado mountains, and we are looking forward to a fair amount of off-road riding!

CO Trip Wrap up - 6/28

Well the last two days of riding back to SoCal where a little warm!

 

On Saturday AM we rode through some rain storms over the Red Rocks and Navajo Country near the 4-corners areas.  The rain and clouds provided some additional needed coolness and provided for dramatic photos of Monument National Park and we also got to have a look at Bob’s former residence and clinic from the time he spent working with the Navajo back in a previous life.  It was great to have such a good guide to show us this AWSOME area.

 

The further West we got, the more the clouds dissipated and the hotter it got.  We rode the old Route 66 from Seligman to Kingman and then Bob went to visit relatives in the Parker area for a few hours and then motored the rest of the way home that evening (for a nice 600+ mile day in intense heat).

 

Rick and I were a little more sensible in that we decided to call it quits after about 350 miles and we rode into Laughlin at about 3PM with my bike’s thermometer showing 118 degrees and Rick’s showing 116 degrees.  Not sure which was right – but let’s just say it was HOT!!!!

 

After cooling down and showering, Rick and I headed to the poker room for a little R&R.  We decided to get into the $100 tournament at 7:00 PM at the local Casino and we agreed to a 70/30 split should either of us end up in the money (which is the top 10 players out of about 60).  I went out mid way in the tourney – so I decided I needed to cheer Rick on to the WINNERS CIRCLE.  Well her certainly did not need my help as he was playing GREAT – and he TOOK DOWN FIRST PLACE for roughly $1,500.  It was great to watch and to of course take my cut to add to my future poker fund.  Thanks for sharing Rick and CONGRATULATIONS.

 

Anyhow, Rick and I got up Sunday at 5:00 AM to get on the road and try to beat some of the heat.  The sun was just rising and it was already 86 in Laughlin.  By the time we got to Desert Center at about 8:30, it was already 108 degrees.  We rode in 100+ temps for the next hour and a half until we got to Hemet where it started cooling a little bit.  By the time we got back home – the local temps were a cool 95 degrees.

 

Anyhow – it was a great trip with a great group and I sure hope to do South Western CO and a lot of other future trips with these guys + one Amigo that was missing on this trip due to prior family commitments – Mark Jones – our comrade that was injured on our Arctic Circle trip last summer – but who is doing fine and now has a new bike we need to abuse.

 

Thanks for reading along.

 

Steve

 

 

Gunnison Coloradoo to Monument Valley Utah

Another great ride, with a small disappointment because of heavy rain over all the passes in the San Juan mountains. By the time we got to  Pagosa Springs we were soaked to the skin. We sent to a laundramat and dried out our clothes, and continued. Durango has grown a lot since I was last there. From there on it was beautiful. We visited Monument Valley which brought back some great memories from the time I spent there as a dental student about 35 years ago.

Tomorrow we should get to the river or maybe on home depending on how I feel …until then..

Another great Monument Valley shot

 

Monument Valley with Sun hitting just one monument!

 

Friday June 26th

Well the day started off in nice – but cool weather and we took highway 149 South since none of us had been on it.  It was AWESOME for the first hour or so until it started raining!  It did not rain quite as hard as it did on us yesterday, but this rain was very steady and we rode in it for probably 2-3 hours.  For the most part it was OK, but going over some of the passes, the temps would drop to the 45 degree range and when you were pretty much already soaked, it got just a bit chilly.  This is an area we absolutely have to come back to so we can see it in better weather conditions.

 

After about 4 hours of riding (most of it in rain), we rolled in to Pagosa Springs and the next thing I know, Rick is pulling into a strip mall area.  I could not figure out what he was doing until he pulled up in front of Laundry mat and said he had to dry his clothes as he was soaked to skin and freezing.  It seemed like a good plan so we all went in and shed most of the clothes into the large industrial driers (see photo).  

 

About ½ way through Rick’s dry cycle we look into his dryer and money ($5’s, $10’s, $20’s and $100’s) are flying everywhere.  It looked like one of those games where you get in a booth and try to grab as much as you can.  Apparently his wallet was in there and was now emptied in the drier.

 

After drying off,  the skies were breaking up and we hit a local subway and hopped back on the bikes.  The scenery was great again and we rode to Kayenta (gateway to Monument valley) hitting yet some more rain on the way - and picked up a room at the Holiday Inn and then Bob rode us out to Monument valley as the sun was setting.  It was beautiful as well.  He showed us where he worked during his 3 month stay here.

 

We dined at  Burger King and them came back to the room to hang out.

 

Steve

Denver to Gunnison, Colorado

Terrific day!!! Irv picked  me up at the airport and gave me a lift back to their house and I got on the road. Hooked up with Steve and Rick in Fairplay, CO and almost right away we were in a spectacular lightning storm, with rain and hail that came with such volume the water/hail was inches deep on the highway I could hardly ride or see. The views over the passes and through the country were spectacular.

Hopefully, we will have reasonable weather tomorrow. Our goal is to get to Flagstaff. It was great to ride with  the guys again.

 

 

 

 

June 25, 2009 - Bob Bringsthe rain!

Rick and I left Leadville this AM about 7:00 and wanted to do Mosquito pass at over 12,000 feet, but it was still closed with snow, so we went a little south and did Weston pass at about 11,000 feet.  All in all Rick and did 3 off road passes prior to heading to Fairview to meet up with Bob.

 

About the time Bob showed up, it started raining, but not too bad.  We started South to Gunnison, but about 30 minutes into our ride we hit REALLY BAD rain and HAIL.  We got totally soaked and pelted with bean sized hail for about 15 – 20 minutes.  It really HURT not to mention the temps were in the 50 degree range, so a little cool too.

 

We got into the Holiday Inn in Gunnison and hit the hot tub to warm up.  While in the hot tub we learned that Michael Jackson died today (along with Farah Fawcett) – I guess we are getting old.  We went about 5 miles down the road for a steak dinner and when we came out it was raining again, so we rode back in the rain and soaked even more gear.

 

No real pictures from today, but a great ride.

 

They are calling for rain here tomorrow as well – but we likely won’t be riding in it too long as it will heat up and dry out as we head south.

 

Steve

Talk about the long and winding road!

 

June 23, 2009 recap

WOW – WOW – WOW.

 

I now have new ride that is in my top 3 I have done so far.  New Zealand’s Mount Cook and surrounding areas is one, The Glacier Highway near Jasper in British Columbia is one and NOW – the ride from Hurricane, UT to Blanding, UT via Zion, Bryce and Lake Powell Ferry at BullFrog.  Of this 400 miles, the ride to Bullfrog was a highlight for sure with about 25 miles of gravel and some real canyons and switchbacks forever.  Lots and lots of redrock (some photos attached) and even some cliff dwellings along the way.

 

We had a great lunch at a little café in the middle of nowhere and then took off on the road to Bullfrog so that we could make the ferry in time as it only runs every other hour.  We wanted to catch the 3:00 and we rolled in at what we thought was about 2:15 – well, we forgot to change our watches from CA time so we actually rolled in at 3:15 and just missed it.  So we went and found a shady spot overlooking the lake.  I stripped down and went for a swim and then went back to our little picnic area and took a nap on the picnic table.

 

We caught the 5:00 Ferry and arrived across the lake about 5:35 and then motored about 90 miles to where we found an older hotel to spend the night.  We are setting in one of two restaurants in town (a suedo steak house with one waitress for 30 people – and NO BEER as it is a dry town).  I don’t often want a beer but after the warm dry ride today – a beer would sure taste GREAT!

 

Overall, the temps were a little cooler today running mainly in the mid 90’s and only touching 100 a couple of times.  Still warm, but since we were at about 7000 feet most of the day – it was much nicer than yesterday.

 

I have attached some photos and hope they show up OK.

 

Steve

 

Nap time while waiting for the 5:00 Ferry

 

This Ferry was a little warmer than our last one (in the Arctic Circle)

 

June 24,2009

Today’s ride took us from Blanding, UT to Leadville, CO by way of some great paved and unpaved roads through the Colorado mountains.  Temps ranged today from about 92 in Eastern UT to a low of 49 degrees at Cottonwood pass at an elevation of just over 19,200 feet and raining.

 

We ate lunch in Crested Butte at Café Ginger (Thai food) which was pretty good – but I am hungry again.  At least Leadville should have decent food and a BEER!

 

While I was showering and typing this up, Rick was playing online poker and peat the same guy 5 games in a row!  At 2$/game- Rick has almost paid for his trip.

 

About 200 miles of our ride today was dirt (but pretty easy dirt) and the last 20 miles was in a cold rain, so it was good to get to hotel.

 

That’s it for now.

 

Steve

Here was todays route which covered a couple hundred miles of great dirt

This Hotel in Hurricane as Motorcycle Garages

 

A TRUE Shoe Tree

I always wanted a picture of this tree outside of Amboy on the old route 66.