NAFO 5 - Day Trips and the Million Dollar Highway

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stose85

Well-known member
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Apr 4, 2016
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Location
Oklahoma
Jessica and I decided that we wanted to attempt a long day ride on Friday the 29th or Saturday the 30th. After arriving at NAFO late on Thursday night, the next day run was out of the question for me (my butt hurt
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). We stuck around Montrose for most of the day Friday hitting a couple of back roads and enjoying the Museum of the Mountain West. Jessica I always try to visit museums while we are on vacation; our little tradition.

We did have one "Oh Sh%^" moment when I hit some sand or other unknown debris in the middle of a posted 30mph curve. I felt the front tire kick out and my handlebars when full tilt to the right. I immediately shifted my weight back and carefully pulled the bars in the opposite direction. We did end up on the wrong side of the roadway, but I was paying attention enough to know there were no cars coming. If there were, I'm sure we would have ended up on our side. We had a nice lunch at the horsefly brewery and headed back to the motel for some much needed hot tub/pool time.

For all your toothache needs!

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The museum had an extension collection of artifacts from 1830-1940. Something like 500,000 items were on display.

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On Saturday we woke up bright and early. We grabbed the hotel breakfast special and headed out the door at about 6am mountain time. I did check the weather before leaving the room, and by all accounts we were supposed to have a repeat of Friday's forecast. Sunny skies all the way around and temperatures from 70-95* depending on the location. I brought along my full mesh jacket and gloves and wore a pair of jeans. Jessica had enough sense to keep on her waterproof jacket, but also wore jeans for this trip.

The ride down to Ouray was pretty uneventful. We did have a doe and her fawn peer at us from across the road. I quickly realized why the posted limits were 60mph (in the daytime) and 55mph (at night). Oklahoma deer tend to shy away from busy roads and you mostly see them at sunup and sundown. Colorado deer act like they own the place, and blast across the road just whenever the hell they feel like it.
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The video starts just before we enter into the Ouray city limits and ends just after Silverton Colorado. The weather started out great, but as you will find out we almost immediately came across a giant rainbow across the sky. As Jessica was noting how "pretty" it looked, I was cursing under my breath that I didn't prepare very well for what was about to happen. I had no clue how bad it was really going to get. We made our way through Silverton and continued south towards Durango Colorado, where we fueled up the bike. Did anyone else notice how many Marijuana shops there are in Durango? Its the new liquor store of the west.

The Million Dollar Highway which stretches from Ouray to Silverton Colorado on state highway 550. In the video we were headed southbound.

On a side note, I know that my lines were terrible and at times it appeared that the bike could have stood still as I was riding so slow. I was, as my wife Jessica said, "terrified" of driving this road (and others on this particular day). I did find that on our departure back to Oklahoma I was able to move throughout the corners at a much quicker pace and Jessica noted how smooth the ride was.



We picked up Hwy 160 eastbound on the other side of Durango, on our way to Pagosa Springs (where my wife lived for a short time as a child). We stopped by her childhood home, which was HUGE! We had a little miscommunication on where to park, as the road leading up to the house was gravel. I made the mistake of thinking that there was a road that led down from the top. Once at the top, I realized I was wrong and I had to gingerly back the bike up a gravel hill and make my way back down. Everything turned out alright, but I was also praying the entire time not to dump the bike. There was a street half way up the hill called "steep street" and they weren't kidding. I could hear the back tire start to lose traction as we made our way up. Coming down was just as exciting.

After we visited with the current residents, we went back through Pagosa and stopped at the Malt Shoppe. Decent food, and even better malts. So after lunch it was just after 1pm. I knew we needed to make a choice as to whether or not we wanted to continue to Hwy 149 or turn back and go the way we came. It was looking mighty dark in the direction of Durango and from what most of you said that day, there was rain a comin'. We made up our mind to head towards 149.

Up to this point we had made our way across Red Mountain Pass, Molas Pass, and Coal Bank Pass heading towards Durango. The temperatures ranged from 49F* and sprinkles, to 90F* and sunny in Pagosa Springs.

As we headed east the skies started to get dark and upon turning north on SH149, I knew we were in for some trouble. I kept looking at the cars coming from the north hoping that no one would have their wipers on. I was out of luck. It started to rain outside of Creede Colorado and really picked up from there. I knew I had made a mistake when the rain soaked through my mesh jack, into my t-shirt. It would have not been quite as bad if the temperatures through Slumgullion Pass and the Spring Creek Pass hadn't dipped to 49F* again. Here I was thinking that I was going to die of hypothermia on the 30th day of July after spending the day before in nearly triple digit temperatures (lessons learned).

Needless to say it was a LONG and COLD ride back to Highway 50. The views were fantastic and it would have been an amazing time had I not left my rain gear sitting comfy in my hotel room. On a positive note the Angel GT "A" Spec tires handled very nice in the rain, even when it was cascading across several sections of the highway. By the time we made it to Powderhorn our clothes were starting to dry out and the temperatures had climbed back into the high 80's.

Even though the GoPro is water resistant I'm glad I didn't take a chance and try to film our entire trip up 149. You probably wouldn't have been able to hear anything over my teeth chattering sound anyways haha.

 
I had a couple of screen shots up but the formatting wouldn't go through on a post. More to come soon. The Gopro was mounted on the nose just below the windshield.

 
Well damn. I just realized that I have ridden past that museum several times and never even considered stopping. I regret that now.

Thanks for the excellent photos.

 
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