Sunday, August 26, 2012
Day 10 Sunday August 26th – Amarillo to Dallas, TX.
Well, this was the last day of this year’s trip. Normally the drive back from Amarillo would be very boring, but I decided to take a trip down memory lane and to see something new. The new was Palo Duro Canyon. All the time I have lived in Texas, I have never been there, so I decided to go today. Left Amarillo and if was sunny and 66 degrees but soon ran into a fog bank a few miles south of town. It was foggy for about 30 miles. Check out the picture of the exit to Palo Duro Canyon. As you can see, I still have not seen it!!!
I also decided to take a longer route and go by my grandparent’s old house in Hamlin Texas where with the exception of a few differences; it was like a time warp. The street is still gravel, the house looks the same, the neighbors houses still look the same. I then took the old highways of Texas 83 and 180 before they built the interstates. These highways take you through all the smaller once thriving communities of Anson, Albany, Breckenridge (where my grandparents are buried) Palo Pinto, Mineral Wells (where the old Baker Hotel stands 14 stories above the city) and Weatherford. This was a time before people wanted to zip on by via the interstate system. There is a lot of cotton up there still and the crops are starting to flower. It was a long day, but very enjoyable and brought back a lot of great memories. Drove 468 miles today for a total of 3271 miles this year.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Day 9 Saturday August 25th - Denver, CO to Amarillo, TX.
Today was my last day with Rod and Brook. We got up and took a back road from Denver to Monument, CO (near Colorado Springs) to have breakfast at Rosie’s Diner. We saw a really cool barn (see pic), had a nice breakfast and said our goodbyes. This old man on his cruiser kept up with them on their sport bikes…oh, that’s right, I was leading most of the way!!!! It was fun riding with them over that past week and we had a lot of experiences!!! After leaving Colorado Springs and heading east, I did not see a lot to report about. Eastern Colorado is a lot like the Pan Handle of Texas…a few tumbleweeds is about it. Drove 478 miles today for a total of 2804.
Going to head to Palo Duro Canyon tomorrow on the way home. I will also be driving through the town that my grandmother and grandfather lived in.
Day 8 Friday August 24th - Hot Sulphur Springs to Denver, CO.
It was about 48 degrees when we headed out this morning. We bundled up as we knew that it was going to get colder as we headed over the pass in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was overcast to start, but cleared as we neared the park. That last time I was here was in 1985 and I was looking forward to the drive. It was as beautiful as I remembered. This is a high road for vehicles. We passed over 12,090 ft/ 3685 at the highest point. You are above the tree line as they can no longer grow due to the lack of oxygen at this altitude (trees stop growing between 10,000-11,000 ft). Instead, you see Alpine Tundra. It is very delicate and grows at a rate of 1-3 inches every 100 years!!! It also produces its own soil to grow in. It was not as cold or windy as it normally is. The temp was about 50 and the winds were fairly calm. We came down to Estes Park and stopped by the Stanley Hotel (where they filmed the Shining) and had a late lunch before our drive through Big Thompson Canyon. We ended the day having dinner at “The Fort” a very nice restaurant in western Denver near Red Rocks. Drove 195 miles today for a total of 2327 miles.
Friday, August 24, 2012
No blog today, check tomorrow!!!
Spending my last evening with my good friends and great riding buddies, Rod and Brook.
Day 7 Thursday August 23rd - Vernal, UT to Hot Sulphur Springs, CO.
This morning, we headed out to Dinosaur National Park which is about 15 miles from Vernal, UT. It was a very small, but cool exhibition. You park at the visitor center and take a shuttle about a mile up to an indoor exhibit. It is about the length of a football field and just full of dinosaur bones. I asked the park ranger how many bones were in the wall. He said that 1500 remain after over 5000 were excavated. They were not discovering anything new and decided to preserve the remaining bones for us tourist. We then headed to Steamboat Springs for a late lunch. The drive up to this point was beautiful, in the mid 70’s. While having lunch, we heard thunder. It looked OK outside, so we shopped a bit in downtown Steamboat Springs. We decided to head out and drive the last 65 miles to Hot Sulphur Springs. We went ahead and put on our wet gear…it was a good thing that we did. In about 5 miles as we went over Rabbit Ears pass (9426 feet/ 2873 m), it went from 80 degrees to 48 with rain, sleet and hail for about 20 miles. Probably one of the most miserable rides I have ever been on. However, it was worse for my friend Brook. She discovered what she thought was waterproof pants, were not. She was soaked and frozen when we arrived in Hot Sulpher Springs. But note where we are staying, there are 23 natural hot sulphur baths and Rod, Brook and I soaked until we were noodles. Drove 245 miles today for a total of 2132 miles.
Day 6 Wednesday August 22nd - Moab, UT to Vernal, UT.
We got up and headed back out to Arches Nat’l Park to catch some morning shots. It was mostly cloudy, but we did get some good pics. It was also much cooler 75 degrees versus 100 yesterday afternoon. We spent a couple of hours walking around and exploring the park. Headed back into Moab to pack the bikes and check out of the Gonzo Inn. If you ever stay in Moab, check this place out, it was very nice. Stopped for a quick breakfast then headed up to Deadhorse Point State Park. This place was very cool. It’s another example of the erosion that the Colorado River has done in the Southwest USA. Once we got our pictures and started heading up to Vernal, it was 3:00 PM and raining!!! We drove in and out of the rain for about 3 hours. The last third of the trip was very nice over a 9110 ft (2772 m) mountain pass down into a valley along Hwy 191. Not sure if the preceding rain enhanced the already wonderful smells, but it brought out a very strong aroma of sage and juniper. It was so sweet smelling, I wish that I could have bottled it!!! Some of the aspens were already changing colors up in the higher elevations. We also had to slow down for cows on the road. It is an open range area and you have to watch out for cows as well as deer, elk, pronghorns, etc. Drove 310 miles today for a total of 1887 miles.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Day 5 Tuesday August 21st - Fruita, CO to Moab, UT.
We headed into downtown Fruita to get pics with Chicken and Rocky with a sculpture of Mike the Headless Chicken (http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/) and to have breakfast. Colorado was identified as the “most fit” state in the United States and you can tell. The place we stopped for breakfast had a very healthy menu, but it was good!!! We then headed towards Moab, UT. It was only 144 miles, but the first 104 miles was the most boring part of the trip. It looks like a wasteland until you get about 40 miles from Moab and then it looks like another world. The road drops into a canyon that follows the Colorado River and has massive red cliffs on both sides for much of the way. We rolled into Moab about lunch and had a great lunch at the Peace Café. We checked into the hotel (very nice Gonzo Inn) and unloaded the bags before heading up to Arches National Park. It was beautiful as always, but the temperature was a notch below the surface of the sun!!! We toured around for a few hours before heading back into Moab for the evening. We will go back in the morning for some sunrise shots. Drove 144 miles today for a total of 1577 miles.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Colorado Trip Day 5 – Durango to Fruita (near Grand Junction, CO)
Day 5!!! What happened to the other days??? Well, it’s time to get caught up.
Day 1 Thursday August 16th – Dallas to Amarillo, TX. Worked a half day today before heading out on the road. Met Sean and Brian at Sean’s house. We hit the road about 2:15. It looked like it was going to rain and that we would drive through it, so we put on our rain gear…it never rained. It was an unseasonably cool day for August, but we didn’t complain. Temp stayed in the low 80’s. We stopped by the Big Texan to eat and no, I did not take the 72 oz steak challenge. Drove 368 miles today.
Day 2 Friday August 17th – Amarillo, TX. to Colorado Springs. Another day of not seeing much (if you have been to the panhandle of Texas or eastern Colorado, you know what I am talking about). Started off cool this morning about 65 degrees. Heard thunder during the night, but not a drop of rain. Took a different route this time. We went all the way up Hwy 287 to Lamar, CO, then west to Pueblo and up to Colorado Springs. Even though it started cool, it warmed up to the low 90’s. We met my friends Rod and Brook from Denver and now the whole group it ready to go. Drove 396 miles today for a total of 764 miles.
Day 3 Saturday August 18th – Colorado Springs to Durango, CO. This was a great day, but long. We knew that going into it. Started off taking the COG Railway trip to the top of Pikes Peak at 14,110 ft (4,302 m for my “down under” family) on a 3 hour round trip. It was a beautiful ride on the train. It was clear and calm at the peak. It is unusual for it to not be windy up there. There was also a running race up one of the trails from Manitou Springs to the top. It was hard for this “flatlander” to even walk up there much less run!!! By the time we got off the mountain and had lunch, it was after 2:00 PM before we headed to Durango which was about 6 hours of driving, not including stops. We rolled into Durango, had dinner downtown, then headed to the rental house we had for 2 nights. It was gorgeous, nestled back into a hillside (see picture of the front yard). By the time we got settled in, it was midnight. Drove 318 miles today for a total of 1084 miles.
Day 4 Sunday August 19th – Durango to Mesa Verde, CO and back. Today was a short riding day, but a long day overall. We got started a bit later than I like and went to breakfast at a popular Durango place. We waited almost an hour to be seated and then spent almost an hour having breakfast. We didn’t hit the road until about 11:30 to head out to Mesa Verde. It was only 50 miles out to the park and we stopped to see a bear on the way. We didn’t get any good pictures, but got within about 20 feet of it (it was on the other side of a fence, but I was ready to run, remember, they will catch the slowest one and that wasn’t going to be me!!! Mesa Verde is awesome. It is full of old Indian Cliff Dwellings. We took 2 of the paid tours with Park Rangers. Both tours were small (12 people versus the normal 50-60). That was nice since we had more time to explore and ask the Ranger questions about the people and the dwellings. The park is huge. It was only 50 miles from Durango to Mesa Verde, but we drove 60 miles within the park from one cliff dwelling to the other. After about 5 hours of tours and driving within the park, we headed back to Durango. Drove 160 miles today for a total of 1244 miles.
Day 5 Monday August 20th (Finally!!!!)– Durango to Fruita, CO. Fruita is just west of Grand Junction and is just a “wide spot in the road” as they say. Today was a beautiful drive even though it was overcast and threatened to rain the first half of the day. Started out about 50 degrees and got up to 95 by the time we reached Fruita. The 50’s and 60’s were in the mountains. We went up the “Million Dollar Highway” today which is a stretch from Silverton to Ouray, CO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_550). It is an amazing and beautiful stretch of road. We went over three mountain passes (Coal Bank Pass, elevation 10,640 ft/3,240 m, Molas Pass, elevation 10,970 ft/3,340 m and Red Mountain Pass, elevation 11,018 ft/3,358 m. We stopped in Ouray which advertises itself as the “Switzerland of America”. We had lunch as a group, then Sean and Brian headed back south to get back to Texas while Rod, Brook and myself headed north to continue our trip. Drove 189 miles today for a total of 1433 miles.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Hello from Colorado.
Have lots to post but it's late. Will start tomorrow night so look on Tuesday!!!
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