Western Tour

Day One: Santa Fe, NM to Montrose, CO

Bambi and I trailered the Feej from Houston to a friends house in Santa Fe. Neither of us were real big on taking two days of rolling the slab in the 100F Texas heat to get to Santa Fe. So into the truck we went and off to New Mexico, taking just one looong day.



Next morning (Saturday), we were packed and ready to go. We went up Highway 501/502 thru Los Alamos. Beautiful country. One new addition to me was a set of guard gates at the entrance to the labs. Haven’t been by there since 1995 so I figure it must be some 9/11 thing. We were going to go up 126 but we’d done it already on a previous trip.

Up the hill towards Los Alamos



Grand Valley



Then on to 550 thru the high plains toward CO.



I had read a brief ride report from OBFJR but with no pics, it didn’t do the route justice. Million Dollar Hwy barely describes it. Bambi and I have ridden in Switzerland a couple of times and this is the first time I’ve seen anything close to there, including Glacier.



Bambi and I were trying to master a new technique in photography. Basically having our “point and shoot” digitals on a neck strap with the camera tucked into an upper pocket of our gear. Took a day or so to get the hang of it but we finally came thru.







The town of Ouray at the northern end of the passes



Continued on to Montrose, just to get in the extra 50-60 miles instead of staying in Ouray. Had I known what a cool, if not a little too quaint, town it is, I think we would have stayed there.

Day One=368 miles

Day Two: Montrose to Torrey, UT

Set out fairly early, headed up Hwy 50 to Grand Junction. Again, beautiful area with huge valleys and grand mesas.



Break time before hitting the superslab



Onto I-70 West, a whole lot of high speed action. Nice to have a Feej for this.

I-70 West





We found a Power Ranger at one of the Overlooks



We dropped down Hwy 6 to 128 as suggested by beemerdons and also saw the 1916 bridge that had mostly burned down.



Indeed, 128 is a roller coaster as it follows the river down to Moab. The road basically follows the river all the way





DON’T YOU PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT SHADE AROUND HERE?????



It was around 96F in the shade but well over 100F in the sun and not a bit of shade to be found ANYWHERE. The only gas station was built into the cliff wall and the only shade was next to the pumps. We stopped across the street at a closed station for a little while because the roof over the pumps was still there. Later on up the road, we were in a gas station where a group of Germans on Hardleys had parked their bikes in the center island while they went inside the store. Could hardly blame them as there WAS NO SHADE ANYWHERE. Double wammy of being German and riding Hardleys, I guess they can do what ever they want. At least they left the outside pumps clear.

Anyway, we went up thru Arches National Monument. A real must see as the road is fairly short and you can see a lot from it.





Found a great hotel in Torry. I had looked it up on the ‘net and it lived up to the advertising. Nice room, and it had a first class restaurant attached. They were also kind enough to let us have vodka tonics to take back to our rooms.



Vodka Tonic anyone?



A tip: get gas whenever you can around these parts. It can be a long way until the next gas, sometimes more than 50 miles and they don’t telll you ‘till it’s too late.

A note on costs. We always do the motel thing. Seems like it’s hard to get a room for less than $80 at any national chain and the mom and pop places, while we really like them, can be pretty hit and miss but generally cost much less. Unfortunately, the chain motels are often the Nightly Torture Chamber with too hard a mattress and loud air conditioning. We call the beds “15 minute beds” because you arm and hip hurt so bad after lying on your side for fifteen minutes that you have to turn over. So it’s back and forth, back and forth all night.

I like to book ahead as there’s nothing worse than putting in a long day’s ride only to find that there are no rooms available in a particular town and you have to ride another 60-100 miles to find the next one. We got spoiled in Europe with the "Ibis" chain that always had a place in "Town Center" and had a bar downstairs. Once the day is done, no more geting back on to go to dinner (with no drinks no less!). We like to end the day with cocktails and wine with dinner so there’s another $80-100. Phew! At least we make up for some of it with the “free” motel breakfast and Subway for lunch.

Day Two=318 miles

The town of Ouray at the northern end of the passes



On the way to NAFO we rode from Silverton to Ouray what a great ride, the view coming into Ouray is really great! Thanks for the reminder.

Day Three: Torrey to Kanab, UT

Started out thru Grand Staircase Escalante. Absolutely a stunner but don’t spend too much time with you eyes off the road ahead. The drop-offs are unforgiving, you’ll only make one mistake once. The pictures don’t really do it justice, go see it yourself.

Multiple Grand Staircase pictures







Oh Boy!!



Don't get behind the motorhomes!



Cows and Hogs



By this time Bambi had mastered the skill of using the digital on the back of the bike and so proceeded to rapidly fill up the SIM card. No more “you’re wasting film”! Although it necessitated a stop or two along the road to down load the pics and clear the camera.



This was either in Escalante or Henrieville. The Hardley guys in the photo above had stopped too (we got the shade) and proceeded to take off all their protective gear and don their do-rags and chaps. I guess they felt safe now that they had cleared the steep drop-offs.

Off to Cedar Breaks and Bryce Canyon

Gratutious Bryce Canyon Pics









One thing to note about Bryce, most of the scenic vistas are from overlooks where you generally have to stop the bike and walk a few steps. The potential problem here is the multiple stops and starts of the bike in a very short period of time. Make sure you’re battery is up to the job.

Met a guy named “Bob” on a Hardley just outside of Bryce at lunch. He pulled up just as I was going into the diner so I made some room for him in the parking slot. We got to talking after lunch and swapped road routes. He told me about the run up the hill on Hwy 14 out of Cedar City. Steep, twisty, look straight up and see overhanging cliffs. I think it was the one I asked about in “Trying to find two roads” as suggested by charismaticmegafauna Clicky. One mystery down, one to go. I sent him back thru Escalante and Hwy 128 out of Moab. He was going back to Virginia via Hwy 50. Hope he had a good ride!

Cedar Breaks





OhBoyOhBoyOhBoy!!!!!



Some interesting lava flows around Cedar Breaks.



Best Western motel in Kanab (Pics next post)

Another “torture night” with the “white noise generator” humming away in the corner. Have you ever noticed how the curtains hang over the cooling air outlet just far enough such that the airflow is almost stopped? So the thing sits there and hums away without any effective cooling of the room, just recirculating the air next to the window. Just great. However, dinner was excellent at the restaurant next door, I highly recommend it. Again, a bit pricy but good.

Day Three=244 miles (almost a CBA ride)

NICE! Thanks for sharing!

Great pictures!

Had to take a "work break" but FORWARD!!

Day Four: Kanab to Monticello, UT (actually Cortez CO)

The resturant next to the motel, can't remember the name but you can't miss it.



The BW



Out of Kanab and heading for Alt 89 via Jacobs Lake





We passed thru a big forrest with a campground (Jacob’s Lake?) at the top…..Hmmmmm…A short time later, we started heading down a long, twisty hill towards the Vermillion Cliffs. Again, they too were stunning.









Then we made it to Marble Canyon Bridge and stopped for the gratuitous photos.

Marble Canyon (Complete with Trading Post)



Colorado River from the Old Bridge (I actually drove over it before there was a New Bridge)





WAIT! Question #2 SOLVED. Only it was East to West when I did it 25 years ago but it was indeed the right place!!! Damn, now I can sleep again!

Now off across the high desert to Page, AZ.



As we were coming down the hill into Page, the brown stripe in the air from the power plant emissions was unmistakable. You can see the smoke stacks to the right. Too bad to have to screw up this beautiful area with such obvious pollution.



However, we did find a grocery store to buy a bottle of wine for Monticello that evening (dry town, including the resturants. Yeech). And time for another quick download of the cameras



The road from Page to Kayenta was straight and HOT. HOT HOT HOT. Did I mention it was HOT? I think less than 100F but still bad.





A quick aside here. Not trying to do any Hardley bashing though. What we could never get was how these folks can ride in shirt sleeves and tank tops in this kind of heat. It must be like a blow dryer on “high” blowing on your arms. The chicks we saw had nicely broiled skin, not unlike the broiled chickens you see rolling around on the rotissery in the grocery store. They’ll probably look 60 when they’re only 35. We were happy to be in full gear in this frying pan, my ‘Stitch providing the only shade for miles around. Did I mention you people have NO SHADE around here??? The other thing we noticed on the trip was the vastly higher percentage of Hardleys verses other bikes. We saw a few BMW GS’s, a couple of Feejers, a K12GT, and some small stuff but mostly Hardleys. What a marketing effort. And were they having problems (lack of power) when we got over about 7000 feet. I just reved the Feej about 1000 RPM higher than I usually do and zoomed on. I don’t get it.

After lunch at the Subway in Kayenta (actually found some SHADE),



we headed north east toward Monument Valley. It was actually a little anti-climatic. Isn’t there a dirt road that runs thru the reservation that actually goes right thru the middle of it? It was the road Clint Eastwood used in “Eiger Sanction” to elude and eventually dispose of the ghey guy. Is it still there?



Well, because of the high transit speed on 98 and 160, we arrived in Monticello at about 2:30 PM. OK, so now what? Dry town, one bottle of wine…..Fcuk it, we’re off to Cortez. Had the Best Western in Monticello book us a room in Cortez and off we went.

Apparently there is a major migration pattern in SW CO. Maybe something for some of you (You know who you are)





Southwestern CO is really interesting. With all the farm land and rolling hills, it reminded us of eastern France and the valleys of Switzerland. Really beautiful. Luckily we had booked ahead as the motel was full by the early evening. Nice swim in the pool, couple of cups (the motel plastic kind, real romantic right?) of wine, I was even able to get another bottle across the street at the LIQUOR STORE. What a novel concept. Ordered in pizza that evening from the Pizza Hut down the street. This is often a good solution to finding food for the evening without getting back on the bike. Also gave us a break from the expensive dinners.

Also while there, another Movie Pirate with his broiled chick girlfriend rode up. They looked at us like the Power Rangers we were but did exchange some smiles and brief pleasantries. The next morning I was in my ghey outfit, loading up the bike, and he came out on the upper balcony to make a cell call and saw me. Me in my stylish BMW boots, LDR spandex shorts, and my Nike wicking shirt! Oh the horror of it all! But he and his Broiled Chick(en) gilrfriend came down later in their matching orange shirts and matching do-rags so the casual observer might think they look silly too. I can see where there’s a bit of a difference in philosophies.

Day Four=411 miles

Great pictures and report....thanks for sharing....

OK, last lap, then a gear report

Day Five: Cortez to Santa Fe

We were originally going to go back down 550 but, after studying the map for a while, Bambi pointed out we could go up 145 to 62, sort of the back side of the first day out. Again, beautiful mountains.

Some shots of 145 first, the really pretty area in SW CO I mentioned earilier









Back on 550





Back thru Ouray





On the way back down 550 from Ouray, it started to rain off and on. Just enough to really shit up the road so it was slow going. Don't know if you can see it but there's some sort of sheen on the rain slick road surface.

Yikes!!!!





About halfway down, we came upon an accident. It appeared that a flatbed 18 wheeler was going thru one of those 15 MPH 180 degree turns and the trailer skidded out, dropping whatever machine was on top of it, and sending the trailer over the far edge. The cab appears to have been dragged backwards by the trailer until it hooked on the road berm. Of course, the saddle tanks were crunched and diesel was leaking across the freshly rained on road. With Cdogman’s misadventure fresh in my mind, I straightened up and successfully crossed the mess at about 5 MPH. Sorry, no pics as I was rather busy and Bambi was just sitting tight.

The rest of the way down the hill wasn’t much better as it looked like some truck had been leaking something all the way down.

Thru Pagosa Springs and Chama for the ride home. We had gotten ahead of the storm but it was hot on our heels





This part of CO/NM is beautiful rolling hills and farm land





However, it did have it's fair share of bugs





Uneventful but pleasant ride back down to Santa Fe.

Excellent adventure, a little less than 2000 miles in five days. The Feej is an excellent ride, never skipped a beat and ran flawlessly in the higher elevations. Exceeded my expectations for high altitude performance.

Bambi was comfortable all the time on the back, we were averaging 400+ miles/day which is a little more than we're used to.

Temps ranged from about 52F at the higher elevations and about 98F in AZ. Pretty much comfy in our gear all the time.

Didn't add up our expences (probably don't want to).

Mileage and gear report to follow.

BD

Beautiful ride. Thanks for the report. And no, you don't want to add it up. Just trust that it was worth it.

Thanks for sharing the ride!

--G

Thanks for sharing, hopefully I'll be out there soon on my trip. All these ride reports got me dreaming so much I'm want to see it for myself!

Very nice ride report! Say hi to the Missus.

Thanks for sharing.

Awesome report! Thanks for sharing.

Great report Jeff. Looks like y'all had a good time. :good:

Give Jackie a hug for me....

Fantastic report and pics. I personally am very partial to riding in CO and 550 from Durango to Ouray is one of my favorites. Thanks for the memories. I would agree that 550 is not a road you want to ride agressively if it is wet.

We did some of that route on our vacation last year. Thanks for the reminder. :good: