We're having unusually warm weather for March in Colorado. Highs in the 80s. So I thought I'd ask another couple we know to see if they wanted to go for a short motorcycle ride.
The husband, Andrew, said that his wife had gone on short trip to get some personal time. Andrew, in his own version, was going to go on an overnight motorcycle ride up the peak to peak highway. I kind of butted in and said "Are you telling me you're busy or asking me to join you". He replied that I was welcome to join him but his plans were already set and he had a bed and breakfast booked.
I checked with Nan and she told me to go. I thought for a bit longer, then asked Andrew if I could also bring my grandson. He said sure, so I called my grandson Beckham and asked if he'd like to come. I got a resounding YES!!
I checked airbnb and vrbo but but couldn't find a reasonably priced room with 2 beds, so I checked for hotels. The best cheap thing I cold find was a LaQuinta. How ironic that I'm going to be in a LaQuinta for the second time in a week, somewhat out of necessity. The first was in Queenstown New Zealand after my friend Mike tried 30 other hotels and was practically forced into it. The second is me being a major cheapskate and refusing to pay $200 for a single night. This was about $100.
I packed all my gear and loaded it on the bike. Then checked the bike over to see if it was ready. It was. In the morning I should be able to get get on the bike and go.
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| 7:30 am and ready to ride |
I left the house at 7:15 and headed toward Beckham's apartment. I called him first to be sure he was awake, had on good warm clothes and a change of clothes. He was ready when I got there so we crammed his stuff onto the bike. He had to repack and remove stuff twice. Then he put on his helmet, paired his phone to the helmet and we headed for a McDonalds to get some breakfast. Sausage McMuffin with egg for me, McGriddle with ham and eggs for Beckham.
Next we headed for Interquest Parkway and a gas station to top off the tank and could head out as fast as possible. We were 20 minutes early so we stopped by a park to relax for a few minutes, then headed for Andrew's house.
Andrew was ready when we arrived. Andrew and I paired our helmet bluetooth headsets so we could talk but Beckham said he was more than happy not to be included in old man conversations. We were off within a few minutes, then a few minutes later we were back to get Andrews inertia brake light. It flashes even if you are engine braking. He feels allot more comfortable with it. As we pulled up, we saw Megalyn (his wife) was also home. They both covered their eyes and said "I'm not here" in stereo since each was supposed to be off on a solo relaxing journey.
We headed up some roads paralleling the freeway till we got to highway 105. That's a great back road that bypasses Denver and gets us into the foothills of the mountains with a minimum of traffic. 105 is one of my favorites and about 1/3 of my rides wind up either coming or going out 105. Andrew and I compared favorite barns on the road and shared concerns that it's been such a dry winter that we might have major fires all summer.
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| Highway 115 - One of my favorites |
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| More highway 115 |
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| Deer Creek Canyon - weird without green leaves everywhere |
Eventually we turned onto Deer Creek Valley Road that leads way up into the foothills. In the summer this road is almost completely shaded over with leaves, but in the winter all the trees are bare. It was weird to see it so open. But it was still a beautiful ride up to highway 285. Andrew's daughter is building a house in this area and we stopped by to check on the progress. They are living in a small shed with a J-John while they build the garage. Then once the garage is done, they'll live in that while they build the rest of the house. It's a great way to build without incurring allot of extra expense.
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| Andrew at his Daughter's house under construction |
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| Basement Foundation and the elementary school behind it |
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| At Least we aren't in Extreme Fire Danger YET |
We continued heading North up little roads until we finally got dumped out on a dirt road. We were both concerned that we could be on dirt for the entire 30 miles up to I-70 but luckily the dirt didn't last long at all, maybe 2 miles and we found ourselves on one of those picturesque little paved roads winding up small valleys with creeks and million dollar homes all around. It was about as perfect a ride as you could want with plenty of curves to keep you entertained.
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| Kerr Gulch Road North of Kittridge - Awesome bypass for Hwy 74 |
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| Million Dollar homes on Kerr Gulch Road |
By the time we got to the highway, Andrew had opened a pretty good lead on me and our bluetooth was barely working. I heard something about crossing, then it cut out. My GPS was telling me to turn right on the highway, so I did and quickly found myself in a small town with a gas station. I needed a bio break so Beckham and I stopped. My phone rang and it was Andrew. He'd gone left. We decided we'd just meet up in Blackhawk.
10 minutes later Beckham and I were on I-70 headed West to highway 6. We exited but there was no sign of Andrew. He called again and I decided that rather than backtracking 15 miles to Andrew, I'd go on to Central City Parkway, then over the mountain to Blackhawk. It took 2 more calls and me sharing my location with him before we met up on the Peak to Peak highway. It turns out Andrew has his maps set to "Avoid Highways" and I didn't so I kept getting directed onto the freeway. We'll try to keep a bit better contact in the future.
We started North on highway 119. The temperature had started to rise as we approached noon, but 119 climbs pretty quick and the temperature never got above 74. It was perfect riding.
I've been using my 360 camera to get pictures and videos but not to long it quit working and I didn't know why. Turns out I'd left it recording video with the lens cap on and all the battery had run out. DOH!!! Not the first time I've done that.
I asked Andrew to stop a few times to get some pictures with my phone but mostly we just kept riding and going OOOOO AAAAHHH WOOOOOWWW. There was plenty of snow on the peaks around us but the roads were dry and clear of sand. Perfect. We'd also risen up into the evergreen area so we again had plenty of green all around us. We went through some small towns and eventually got to Nederland. I almost always stop here for one reason or another. This time we needed gas and lunch.
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| Great Views |
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| Snow Capped 14'ers ahead |
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| Closer |
We went to an Indian buffet. Andrew wasn't impressed with the buffet so he got lamb curry and naan. Beckham and I did the buffet. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great. It was worth the $15. I especially liked the sweet potato curry, the saag, and the chicken curry. We spent a good amount of time here relaxing because we were all getting stiff from the ride.
Once it was time to go we headed toward Estes Park, another 40 miles North. The wind was picking up but the temperature wasn't climbing. It stayed in the low 70s and felt great. I had charged my camera a bit over lunch so I got a few pictures and again, asked Andrew to stop for a few phone photos.
We stopped at one scenic overlook and I staged a group shot with trees and snow covered peaks behind us. I was really hoping the wind wouldn't blow my tripod and phone over but it stayed.
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| Our group I SWEAR I'm not posing for a cave painting. That's just the armor in the jacket sticking out |
We were really in the tops of the mountains now. Snow covered peaks everywhere. If I stopped for every beautiful view we saw, we'd be here all day so we settled for every 10th or so.
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| One last photo of some mountains |
Finally we dropped down off the hills and into the valley that holds Estes Park. We didn't go into town, just turned right to skirt the lake and take the little bypass to Loveland Canyon. I don't know if that's really the name, but that's where it led us. There was allot of traffic both ways. Toward the bottom it becomes sheer rock walls up both sides and a creek at the bottom. It winds back and forth but the road is wide and comfortable. I took tons of pictures and some video but the camera seemed to get into a non-360 mode so I couldn't frame them. I'll have to figure that out and fix it.
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| Loveland Canyon |
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| They must have chiseled this road right out of the rock face |
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| Exiting the canyon felt like driving out into a desert |
By the time we left the canyon we'd dropped a long way down and the temperature had risen high into the 80s. It was hot and uncomfortable (quiet all you Arizonans laughing at me).
It was only 5 miles to my hotel and we said goodbye to Andrew. He has his own b&b for the night.
We checked into the LaQuinta, turned the temperature down to 68 and basked in the air conditioned goodness. I started uploading photos and processing my 360 photos.
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| Our Hotel room - pretty nice for a LaQuinta |
Beckham will be working at Yellowstone this summer so this trip is a bit of guy time before he leaves. He also has a 10 year old phone, so his Mom (my daughter) gave him one of her old ones and he spent the time migrating everything over to the newish one. But we couldn't get the new phone to make calls. I looked up a T-Mobile store and we hopped on the bike to go figure out what was wrong.
The girls said the e-sim had transferred but the old phone's sim was still the primarhy. She changed and all was good. Then we noticed that next door was Panda Express. That sounded perfect for dinner so we grabbed some and headed back to the hotel.
We ate dinner, I blogged, then went to sit in the hot tub. More blogging and now it's time get some rest
DAY 2 - Repeat day 1 in reverse
Woke up at 6:00 am when the alarm clock set by the previous occupant of the room went off.
DANG IT!!
I got up and started adding pictures to yesterday's blog. At some point I went downstairs to check on the breakfast but it wouldn't open until 7:00. I don't know if I've ever been in a hotel that waits till 7 to open. So I went back to blogging.
At 7:10 I went back down. Breakfast had the typical waffles, eggs, sausage, biscuits, and gravy. It was ok and it saved the time of going out to get breakfast.
We met Andrew at a gas station near Loveland Canyon. Our plan is to ride backwards of yesterday's ride. Andrew said his B&B was great. It was owned and run by a lady in her 70s. She was Swedish and had travelled many places throughout her life. Her home was filled with mementos of her travels.
At 9:00 and headed back up the canyon. The temperature was in the low 50s and we were all wearing extra warm gear. There was allot of traffic which kept us driving slow. Riding up the canyon rather than down made the creek beside us much more obvious. The water was tumbling over rocks and looked very inviting. There were allot of people fishing and I don't remember that from last night. Of course it's Saturday so people have more time. Some areas were packed with cars and the creek had people all along the edges and even some people wading in the middle to fly fish. It must be good fishing if so many people are here.
The sun was behind us casting pretty harsh light. I tried to take a few pictures by they were all low contrast, hazy, and had no depth so I quit trying. I just enjoyed the ride and the views around me.
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| People fishing along Loveland Canyon |
When we got to Estes Park we stopped by the lake to take a few pictures and to try to fix our bluetooth headsets. We've had problems all yesterday and this morning with the connection breaking and being hard to re-establish. My headset is paired to both Beckham and Andrew so we wondered if I should remove Beckham's since he doesn't want in on the conversation anyway. After a bit of fiddling with the phone app, I couldn't find a way to remove just Beckham so we continued without solving it. It was already warming so we all took of any extra layers and continued North.
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| Looking North toward Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park |
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| Behind us was a Hotel I've stayed in several times on Motorcycle Rides |
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| A wider view of the lake and the causeway crossing it |
5 miles North of Estes, we stopped at a lake to get pictures and use the facilities. Then another few miles North of that we stopped at a little church beside the road. It sits on a small rise and look really unique. I remember seeing it every time we've gone past but I've never stopped before. Andrew pulled over and said he wanted to go in. I was a bit pessimistic that it would be worth a stop but I was so wrong. It's a catholic church and there were many cars parked in the lot. Andrew went up and I kind of sat there, then felt silly so I went up as well. It was really nice inside. I didn't take any pictures because it just felt like it would be disrespectful, but I did take a picture of the stained glass window. It was a beautiful little church, maybe sits 40.
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| Lily Lake above Estes Park |
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St Catherine's Chapel on the Rock Beckham by the Chapel |
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| View from the Chapel Parking Lot |
We continued North toward Nederland. We were following GPS directions and suddenly found our selves descending out to the greater Denver area and the temperature climbed quickly to 84 degrees. Neither Andrew or I know what happened, but somehow Google decided that the easiest way for us to go the 30 miles to Nederland was to drive 25 miles North East to Lyons, then 20 miles South to Boulder, then another 15 miles East out to Nederland. What a ridiculous route. It was a horrible part of the ride with tons of traffic the whole way.
Once we got back to Nederland we stopped for gas, drinks, and a bathroom break. Then back on the road. Luckily the temperature dropped back into the low 70s so the last part of the Peak to Peak highway we once again a fun ride. Once we passed Blackhawk we followed highway 6 to I-70. We paralleled it for a while then crossed under it and began weaving our way through small towns continuing South. Eventually we neared highway 285.
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| Yes, we drove 40 along most of the highway .... we certainly did |
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| Highway South of Nederland. A creek with large patches of ice and 74 degrees |
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| Downtown Blackhawk and many casinos |
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| Highway 6 near I-70 |
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| Tunnel on Highway 6 |
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| Beckham and I in the tunnel |
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| Heading out of the tunnel |
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| Meandering roads around Indian Hills |
We didn't trust the GPS any more which led to another small mistake. The GPS told us to turn left but we knew we had to go right. It turned out the left turn was a big clover leaf and would have taken us the right direction but instead we went straight and got forced onto highway 285 toward Denver and HEAT. We got back off as soon as we could but he damage was done. We didn't want to backtrack 20 miles so we planned another route to the freeway 470 and took that for 20 miles and got back off below Deer Creek Canyon. The temperature rose steadily until it was 94 degrees. How the heck is it this hot in the middle of March?
We drove around Chatfield Reservoir but stopped because we were all sweating and out of water. We parked in some shade and bout ice cold water at a gas station. Both Beckham and I were hungry but Andrew said he didn't feel at all like eating. It was about 2:30. There was another hour of riding to get home so we waved goodbye and Andrew headed for home. Beckham and I rode over to a small strip mall. There was an Asian Bistro and a Mexican Restaurant, we went for mexican.
Rosa's Mexican Kitchen was really good. We got 2 cans of soda, 4 tacos, chips, and salsa for $24. It absolutely hit the spot, especially the salt on the chips. My shrimp taco was better than the beef taco but even that was great. It was a perfect place and time to recovery.
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| Lunch at Rosa's |
Continuing our journey we zig zagged across to highway 85, then South to Sidalia, and South again down highway 105. Luckily as we went south the temperature actually started to drop. Just a few miles south of Sidalia it was down to 84 and actually felt really nice. It stayed in the low 80s all the way down to Palmer Lake, Manitou, and even down I-25 to Beckham's apartment. Beckham took his things and gave me a big hug then I headed for my own home.
I didn't make note of the mileage when I left so I can't say how far this ride was but Google said it was 220 miles each way, not including the 50 mile detour to Boulder, so roughly 500 miles.
