Colorado Cruiser: Solo Riding Colorado and Utah

On Wednesday August 15th we dropped Klair off at Adams State College in Alamosa Colorado.

After we lugged all her stuff up to her 3rd floor dorm room and paid her tuition, Nannette got in the van to drive back home, and I hopped on my Honda VTX 1300R motorcycle for another ride around Colorado and Utah.

Since I was already half way down the state, it only made sense to head for Blanding to visit my Grandmother and Aunts. The ride was beautiful with nice temperatures, clouds and storms all around me, but only a couple of short sprinkles right on me.

I took my Aunt's advice and turned off the main road at Mancos and rode up through Dolores to cut off about 20 miles of road. The shortcut was a very nice road and almost no traffic.

We had a nice evening chatting at Grandma's house, and a great night's sleep in the basement. I did have to rig up a fan because the windows don't open, but I felt great and refreshed when I got up.

Thursday August 16th

The ride North to Moab went by quick and I got lucky again and caught the tail end of traffic through a 10 mile section of 1 lane road. The road between Monticello and Moab will be much nicer once they finish all of the construction.

My first stop was Dead Horse Point State Park. This is a point off of a plateau that is connected to the main plateau by a very narrow strip of land. It overlooks a large loop of the Colorado River.

The Island in the Sky portion of Canyonlands is right next to Dead Horse, but by the time I got there, temperatures were well up into the 90s so I was sweating pretty bad. I looked through the visitor center then rode about 5 miles in. Then I turned around and headed out again.

I stopped in Greenriver for lunch and gas, and made it to Price by 3:30. I went to my Aunt's home by sheer luck. I took the way that I remember going as a young man with my brothers. You go out the backside of the Smith's grocery store parking lot, then drive until you have to turn, then go till you recognize their house. I couldn't believe I made it.

At 5:00 people started showing up and the grill got turned on. Lisa, Jae and all their kids, and LaNelle and her kids, and a couple of Holly's kids were there. We had burgers, corn and watermelon.

Friday August 17th

At 8:00am my friend Mike called. He was checking into a local hotel, so LaNelle and I rode my motorcycle over to show him how to get back to my Aunt's house. We sat talking till 11:30. The mine disaster in Huntington was a large part of the conversation.

Mike and I had breakfast the next morning, but first we had to drive all over town to find something that was open at 7:30am. Price doesn't seem to have anything resembling a rush hour, and the only place we found was JBs.

At 8:00 Mike headed back up to Provo for work, and I headed back South. There had been a big accident on I-70 a few days earlier and the freeway had been closed at the Colorado border, but the road was open so I gassed up in Greenriver and headed East towards Grand Junction. I got off in Fruita to get a burger then continued up the road to the Colorado National Monument. There is a $7.00 fee to enter the park but I have a year national park pass. The climb to the top of the mesa was really fun and beautiful.

I rode to the visitor center and ate at the picnic tables. The view was great, the weather was cool, and the burger was cold but it was a great meal. After lunch I continued riding through the monument. The road was windey and filled with stops and great views out across Grand Junction to the far mountains. It's nice being on a motorcycle because I could just pull real close to the view and just sit on the bike.

The drop back out the other side of the monument was also great. Lots of twists and turns. It puts you out on the back side of Grand Junction so I didn't have to drive back up the way I'd come.

From Grand Junction I rode up I-70 to Glenwood Springs. I stopped at Wendy's for a frosty (I'm a real he-man biker) and called my wife. Then I rode up highway 82 to Aspen. I stopped and found a restauraunt by the fountain to sit and watch the people walk by. I had a plate of garlic steamed mussles and a diet coke. It was interesting watching all the beautiful people walking past. I'm not sure what's in the water up there, but every third woman was pregnant.

After the mussles I continued up highway 82 towards Independence Pass. I got sprinkled on a couple of times but they were quick. The road narrows to 1 lane a couple of times. It climbs up to 12,000 feet at the top. It was really threatening to rain so I took a quick picture and started down the other side. Just after I got down the rain really hit. I didn't see anywhere to get shelter and I was drinched from head to toe in seconds so I didn't bother stopping and putting on rain gear.

I rode for 15 miles until the rain stopped, then another 15 miles into Leadville. I planned to get a hotel room in Leadville but all 3 hotels I saw had "No Vacancy" signs out. So I continued North back up to I-70 and East to Breckenridge. I dried out quite a bit, but I was chilled to the bone by the time I got to Frisco. The first place I saw was the Frisco Lodge and I could see a hot tub in the back, so I stopped there.

My room was small and there was only common bathrooms, but it was only $49. I changed into my swim suit and went to the hot tub. It took me 5 minutes to get in because the water felt like it was boiling hot to my freezing cold hands. I sat in it for 30 minutes till I was totally thawed out.

Saturday August 18th

The breakfast in the hotel had eggs, waffles, fresh fruit, and home made muffins. The muffins were really great.

I headed over to Silverthorne then North up highway 9 to Kremmling. I turned East toward Granby then on toward the Rocky Mountain National Park. I got about 15 miles into the park and was just starting the climb when the rain began. I got cold going over Independence Pass with only rain on the back side. This pass was much higher, longer, and rain starting at the beginning so I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and turned around.

I went back to Granby and turned South. As I got near Winter Park the traffic came to a stand still. It turned out that there was a HUGE motorcycle ralley for Veterans in Winter Park. I didn't stop because I don't really enjoy big crowds like that. As I left Winter Park I started passing motorcycle groups heading to the ralley. There was a probably a thousand or more motorcycles already in Winter Park, and I passed at least another 500 on the way out.

I enjoyed the climb up Berthound pass, but the parking lot at the top of the pass was crowded with bikes so I didn't stop for a picture.

I stopped in Empire just before I-70 to get some lunch. There were several bikers in the restauraunt and we chatted about what all was going on in town, and as I suspected, their main theme was all the beer.

I finished lunch and headed East on I-70. As I left Idaho Springs I saw the exit for Central City. It's a big 4 lane road heading up the hill and I've never been on it, so I decided on the spur of the moment to ride that way. The road is very nice and stays 4 lanes all the way up to Central City which I'd never heard of. There were some big casinos and hotels. I rode highway 119 and 6 into Golden, then stuck to the freeway the rest of the way home.

The road up past wolf creek