Before I left on this trip I posted that I would try to keep up daily here with posts of the trip. Well, I didn't anticipate that the network card was bad in my brand new laptop that I took. So, I couldn't do anything with it. My apologies!
Anyway, this year's trip was different from others I have done. I usually go with just one other bike, normally mine son Mark. I have some riding friends that had never been on a long trip, so I put together a plan for them and went along kinda as a guide. There were going to be 5 bikes this time. One was Mark, my son, Bill and Larry, two running friends of mine and Phil, the owner of a running store here in Arlington. At the last minute, Phil had to cancel because a couple of his employees decided to leave early for college out of town so he was short handed.
So it was just the four of us. My plan always calls on a long ride the first day to get out of Texas. So, Bill and Larry left a day early and rode to Amarillo to split the long ride into two days. So on day one for Mark and I, we met them in Amarillo for lunch and then continued on to Las Vegas, NM.
I'll break the trip down into 3-4 posts and get them up here as quickly as possible. I wont' include all the photos here, but will have them on my website soon, if you care to see them. I'll post the link when I have it completed.
Day 1, 8/7/14, Home (Arlington, TX) to Las Vegas, NM - 567 Miles
Here's the route we rode for the day; long, hot and boring.
Mark and I decided to leave at 6:00AM from a Whataburger nearby where we had a breakfast burrito and some coffee to get us going. So, being anxious as always for motorcycle trip I was up early and ready to go. As you can see, I was ready to leave my house at 4:27AM for the 15 minute ride to the Whataburger where we planned to meet at 5:30. Anxious??, I allowed an hour for the 15 minute ride! This shot of my Zumo also shows that it's 567 miles to my destination.
My wife got up early and took this picture of me just before I left. By the way, she and Bill's wife Debbie will fly to Durango tomorrow where we will pick them up. Then they'll ride with us for the week and fly home the next Friday.
I didn't take many pictures this day because it's just a long, boring, non-scenic ride. The photo below is between Tucumcari and Las Vegas where we are about to gain some elevation where it will be cooler.
Another shot at the same location.
That was the last pic of the day. We were ready to get to Las Vegas and have a cold beer.
I know the feeling of "up-and-at-'em" when it is time for a ride. We share the same attitude of getting out of Texas and to some scenery a.s.a.p. -- usually hitting it hard from Houston to Raton, NM in one day. Anxious to see the ride report and pic's as we are on our "count down" to CO ride 6 weeks from today.
Day 2, 8/8/14, Las Vegas to Pagosa Springs, CO, (via Durango Airport) 346 Miles
Ah, nice and cool in Las Vegas in the morning. I actually had to wear my jacket. A welcomed change to the Texas temps. We were up early because we had to meet our wive's flight at the Durango Airport at 2:30. Here's our route for the day.
We stayed overnight in the Historic Plaza Hotel in downtown Las Vegas. I've stayed in Las Vegas several times before, but had never been downtown. It's pretty neat, lots of restaurants and bars. This is a nice, restored hotel. I'll stay there again.
A brief stop between Las Vegas and Taos for the scenery. It's very cool up there, some would say cold but I'm hot-natured. At one point the Zumo said we were over 11,000 feet.
Another shot from the same stop.
Once through Taos there's several miles on flat high desert to cross before reaching more mountains. This is the bridge that spans the Rio Grande Gorge about 10 miles west of Taos. It's hard to judge, but the gorge is probably close to 1000 feet deep.
Well we made it to Colorado. I don't recommend the route we took. Hwy's 539 and 511 in New Mexico were rougher than a cobb. I guess I had tightened all my fittings correctly as nothing fell off, but I was thinking something would. Those roads are terrible. Anyway from here we're about 20 miles from the Durango airport.
The flight was on time and they had just walked outside the terminal when we arrived. We loaded them up and took off for Pagosa Springs for the night. This is Chimney Rock between Durango and Pagosa.
In Pagosa, we stayed at the Healing Waters Resort near downtown. Nothing special about this place other than its location. After we reach our destination each day, I like to be within walking distance from restaurants since I sometimes get over served on beer and don't want to ride in that case. We stumbled into this place which had very good food and beer. Maybe I should have said we stumbled out of this place.
Today we rode from Pagosa to Ouray the long way through Creede and Lake City. This is a very nice ride on Hwy 149 (I think it's called the Silver Thread Scenic Byway.) This is the route for the day.
Just east of Pagosa Springs we stopped to see a waterfall. This is a highly zoomed photo, it's barely visible to the naked eye from the parking area. There is a hiking trail which goes to the base but we didn't do it.
Just a few miles past the waterfall we crossed Wolf Creek Pass. It's quite a climb up to the pass. This area of Colorado normally gets more snow than any other in the state.
Our next stop was the little town of Creede. This is a neat and interesting little town. Here's all the bikes and people except for me. I ride the Limited, Mark rides the Street Glide and Bill and Larry both ride Road Kings.
After Creede we left for Lake City for lunch. On the way we stopped to see another waterfall. This is called North Clear Creed falls.
After the falls we stopped up the road to see where the Rio Grande river begins. Here's a photo of the head waters. We had been following the Rio Grande since turning onto Hwy 149. It's hard to believe this is the same river that flows along the southern Texas Border, where in places it's barely a trickle and pretty ugly. Up here, it's beautiful.
Our final stop before Ouray was at the Blue Mesa Reservoir Dam. This is looking downstream at the beginning of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.
Since some of our riders were somewhat inexperienced we decided to have an easy day today. So, we rode over to Telluride to look around and have lunch. Then we returned to Ouray, just 99 miles round trip. As the crow flies, Ouray and Telluride are only about 10 miles apart, but to go that route you need to be a mountain goat or a crow. Here's the route.
Here's my wife, Jamie, ready to go. She's not really a "Harley" rider. Check out her motorcycle "boots". Skechers!!
In Ouray we stayed at the Twin Peaks Lodge. It used to be a Best Western and is still well maintained. This is one of my favorite areas, the outside bar.
Here we are in downtown Telluride. We walked around for a while and then rode the Gondola up to Mountain Village, the ski area.
This is looking up Main Street.
Mountain Village is at the top of the mountain. There's lots of stores, condos and restaurants up there. It's a really nice area.
Looking down at Telluride from the Gondola.
We had lunch at a place called the Brown Dog. Excellent pizza, highly recommended.
08-22-2014, 08:22 AM
Ride Report - Colorado for 10 days
My apologies!
We stumbled into this place which had very good food and beer. Maybe I should have said we stumbled out of this place.
