Colorado Cruiser: A Week of Relaxation after 3 months of stress

Sunday Morning, June 1 2014

Long before Kadi's wedding, Nannette and I had scheduled a motorcycle vacation to Pagosa Springs with friends. The trip was to start June 1st, the day after the wedding. The money for the vacation was already spent, so we figured we'd just do the wedding and hope for the best, and the best is what we got. The wedding went great and now it was time for some stress relief.

I woke up at 5:30 and started thinking about maybe packing for the 7 day vacation I was stating today. But as soon a I got dressed, I heard people moving around the house. We still had a house full of people from the wedding plus my mother in a nearby hotel and they'd all be wanting breakfast. So I hurried down stairs and started getting things ready.

I decided that crepes would be the easiest thing to feed a large household, so I prepped the batter. I think crepes work better if you can let the batter rest for a bit before cooking.

About that time I heard my grand daughter Jessie start to cry. She slept in our room last night when all the "younger" crowd went to the movies.

I got Jessie up, changed her, and gave her some cereal to eat. We started watching a movie and did a little more pepping for breakfast. At 7:30 my daughter Klair came up to take Jessie so I could drive to pick up my mother from the hotel she's been staying. She's probably the only sane relative left because she had that time away from all the wedding chaos.

Once we got back, I began cooking the crepes and bacon. Koren and her kids showed up and took over the bacon, Klair cut the fruit, and soon everyone was happily stuffing their faces with fruit and whipped cream stuffed crepes. It was fun to laugh and talk with everyone around the kitchen table. Allot of stories were told about little mishaps and coverups from the wedding, but I won't share those here.

At 9:30 Kadi called to ask what was for breakfast. They both have work this week, so they put the honeymoon off for a few weeks. They can't move into their apartment for another week either, so they have to stay with us, or more correctly, they have to stay with Kyle, Klair, Sean, and Sydnee, because Nan and I will be on vacation.

All of the crepes were gone so I started another batch and we cooked more bacon. We probably should have waited till they arrived because all the extra food was nearly gone by the time they got there. I'm not sure how much they actually got to eat.

After the food was done I finally got serious about packing for my trip. I threw together a few things, my cameras, chargers, cpap machine, laptop, and a few other odds and ends. Nan is staying for the day to help everyone get home, but I had to meet our friends and check into the timeshare.

I kissed my mother goodbye, hopped on the bike, and headed South down the freeway.

Normally I'd avoid the freeway, to ride on back roads, but not today. It was nearly 11:00 by the time I left, and I had over 5 hours to go, so freeways it is.

Freeway riding isn't very fun so there's nothing to report. I grabbed lunch at taco bell in Walsenburg, then tuned East for the 200 mile ride on highway 160 to Pagosa Springs. I expected the weather to really heat up. Let me say that to us Coloradans, 90 is hot, and I don't like riding when it's that hot. John and Angela were riding in 110 degrees, so I should count my blessings, but I'm not gonna.

By 4:00 I was descending Wolf Creek Pass and nearly there. I stopped at my favorite overlook for a break from the riding. I admired the view for a few minutes, then hopped back on the bike for the final 30 miles.

I checked us into the timeshare, met John and Angela, moved our stuff into the room, then headed off to find some dinner.

By 9:30 we were back at the timeshare and I was ready for sleep.

Monday June 2nd

The day started at 5:30 when I just couldn't sleep anymore. I showered, then quietly went out to the living room hoping not to disturb John and Angela, but John was already awake and browsing on his iPad.

I prepped veggies and ham for omelettes, then went out to get a few pictures of the spectacular morning we were having.

By 9:00 we were loading up the bike for a ride to Telluride. Because Nan isn't here yet, we figured we'd do the longest, hardest ride we could think of, and Telluride is it. The road between Pagosa Springs and Durango had allot of traffic and construction. We stopped several times to wait our turn on one lane roads as the temperatures slowly rose from 72 to 85. Did I mention I'm a heat wimp and don't like the temperature to get up near 90?

We stopped in Durango for gas and to stretch our legs a bit. It was about this time that John got his first work call. He's a realtor and one of his house deals was having issues. He spent 30 minutes texting and calling, trying to get the full scoop on what was going on and get his client to understand the issues as well. Finally he said there was nothing more he could do and we continued the ride.

In Mancos, 30 miles West of Durango, we turned North off the highway towards Dolores where we picked up the highway to Telluride. Then we stopped in the town of Rico for a drink, a rest, and for John to spend another 30 minutes on the phone. We did take some picture of the yellow wildflowers (probably weeds) out behind the store. The roads around here are all lined with these pretty yellow flowers.

Farther along the road we came to Lizard Head Pass. Both John and I have stopped here many times, but today we just blew past because it is such a long ride and we're trying to minimize the stops.

The road is fun to ride, and the mountains around us are majestic and stunning. There is still allot of snow on the high peaks, but the snow is starting to get that dirty look as the upper layers melt and the bits of dust and dirt accumulate and turn it all brown. But it's still beautiful.

As we rode the final mile into Telluride, John came over the CB and announced that he had to turn around for a picture. I'm an OK rider, but John is an expert. He whipped his bike right around in the width of the road, but I took the road, and someone's driveway to get turned. Back up the road a few hundred yards was a pullout next to a HUGE field of wild flowers. We whipped around and parked the bikes for some pictures. Several other cars and one big truck also stopped. The truck half blocked the highway and started to cause a big backup right by us before he finally figured out what he was doing and left. It was scary a couple times as cars raced down to road and only at the last second realized there wasn't room to pass him without going into the other lane. Idiot.

After we got our pictures (safely), we continued into Telluride. We cruised the main street a couple times looking for restaurants and parking. Its hard to pick out restaurants because they all have odd names and very little real signage. We eventually settled on Brown Dog Pizza for lunch.

After lunch we walked over to the Gondola for a free ride to the top of the mountain. There were pretty views from the top.

The ride home was much like the ride out, but even fewer stops.

Nannette's sisters, Nola and Nina were coming to stay a couple nights in the timeshare with us, and I had to text them directions. We left a room card hidden nearby and they managed to find the place and get in without trouble.

Nannette was also driving down to meet us today. She took quite a few detours and made the day very fun for herself.

No one else was hungry, so John, Angela, and I left again to get chinese food (and to avoid hauling all the stuff Nan brought up to the room).

We played a few games of ImagineIf, then went to sleep exhausted but happy.

Our Timeshare in Pagosa Springs. An Eagles Loft