WOW! What another great ride. Glad to see the wonders of the west.

 

In the 80's we lived 20 miles west of Vail. Wanted to move to Grand Junction because we knew people there into Harleys and hot rods, and because it was kind of a banana belt. Back then, you could find a place on the edge of town with a few acres, house and barn for about 35,ooo. The local dealer was McDonalds. Then there was the Triple Tree Bar a few miles east in Clifton. One of these years I'll ride through there again. The only thing I'm sure of is it ain't the same.

 

I never did well in the heat, and 12 years in Arizona only made it worse. Too bad you didn't have the weather I had today, leather weather when my daughter and I took a cruise over in Wisconsin. Not many days like this left this year, up here. Direction you're headed, should cool off pretty soon. Hope so, sure it's no fun for Mary when the heat makes her sick.

 

The sights are amazing!


Yep, it's changed!




Yeah, we are used to the heat, being from Mississippi. We have months every year where it is in the 90's most everyday. But it is a combination of going over 100, AND being dry heat that just sucks the moisture out of your body.

In Mississippi it is humid...which almost everyone says is worse...and it may be just standing around. But when we're riding in 95* heat and 90% humidity, it is far more comfortable than 95* and no humidity.

Don't know the science behind it, but I think that in the dry heat your sweat, which cools you down, is gone before it can do any cooling...whereas in the humidity, you're not every really dry, but that is what helps cool you down.

 

Man did I ever get to the party late! I wish I'd seen this thread back when you were in Az. The intersection of I-8 and I-10 is about 6 mies from where we live!

Great ride reports as always! One of these days if you happen to swing through Casa Grande again, maybe we can meet up.

Riding in the hot dry desert does take some getting used to... And suffering heatstroke is a serious risk. A couple years ago the Kyle Petty Charity Ride came through from San Diego... One of the riders suffered loss of consciousness when they dropped down from the mountains into the desert floor. The heat nailed her PDQ.

Be careful you two!

 

Glad you found it! Not sure when we'll be back that way...won't be too many years, got a lot of family in San Diego.

Yeah, the heat was not fun, I was fine...did not prefer it, but I was drinking at least a litre of water 30-45 minutes. Mary is a trooper, but it is quite a bit hotter in back on a TG than up front.

 

A couple of days in Grand Junction, visiting and riding with Alan, aka Fuzzy.


Last night we met Fuzzy, Alan, and went down the road for dinner. Had a great time visiting, closed the place down. Great food, Great conversation, & A/C for Mary.


Went out to the parking lot, our two Tri-Glides were the only vehicles there. Yes, there are two TG's in the pic below....shows you the benefit of a light color at night time.









This morning we see someone had scraped against my rear fender in the Motel parking lot. Does not look good, but will see if it buffs out.









So...Today was a BIG day! Fuzzy took us to the Colorado National Monument, then to the Grand Mesa, then to the HD Dealership, then back to the Super 8, our home away from home.

Mary took over 650 pics, and most of them are spectacular. It's going to take a few days to whittle it down to 60 or 80 of the best.

Here's the first installment-


Following Alan out of Grand Junction.








It is not long before we are at the entrance to the Colorado National Monument.









Since he knows I like the twistys, and knows I can't take a wrong turn (only one road), he tells me to get up front.









This is gonna be fun!










Oh yeah, after the long straight road yesterday, in crazy heat, it is nice to be climbing into cooler temps via some really great curvy road!









An off camber long sharp curve ahead...just my kind of fun.









But, very quickly I find myself torn....I like to ride hard into the curves...but the sights dictate a slower pace to fully appreciate this amazing place.









I decide to take a much more leisurely pace, enjoying all the sights. Every now and then I speed up for a curve, but mostly we lollygagged along, trying to take it all in.

At this point you can see a bit of the fun road, and we are just barely started!






More in next post.

 

Colorado National Monument continued...



WOW! Everywhere we look...









...the sights are amazing!










Just breathtaking!










As we climb, Mary takes a pic of Alan coming up the hill in this enchanted place.









This looks strange, not sure where the road it going...










...ah, a tunnel. That's a lot of rock!









Looks like a massive amount of work cutting thru here!









Looking back at Fuzzy, the tunnel, and where we've come. This place defies words.









Another tunnel, much shorter, much rougher.









A look at just a bit of the road we've traveled so far. Wow!







Next installment coming soon.

 

great pics. ride safely fearless

 

When I moved to AZ, first day at work was around 110. Windshield off, short sleeve shirt, no gloves. It hurt!. Put the windshield back on when I got home, wore helmet, long sleeve shirt, leather gloves. No mesh stuff back then, just had to endure the slow bake to work, NO long rides in those temps. Air felt like that opening the oven door blast, painful on exposed skin. In the summer, worst days I gave up and took the cage to work. Had to take the thermostat out of that so it wouldn't overheat in 115+. Lotta folks thought a car wouldn't work without one. They weren't mechanics.