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Every chance I get I go through Hot Springs, AR as this is one of my favorite towns. Highway 7 north of the Springs is one of the lovliest roads in the country. It doesn't have the awe inspiring majesty of the Rockies, but it doesn't scare you to death with 3,000 ft drop-offs either. Downtown Hot Springs is a swell little town. The neatest change, since the last time I was there, is seeing Pres. Clinton's house just outside of town. |
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I just had to take a sidetrip onto Route 66 before I got out into the desert. The road from Tumcucari, NM to Las Vegas (yes, you're reading it correctly) is phenomenal. The changes in climate is spectacular in that you go from high desert to high prarie in a matter of a few hundred yards. Here's where I was introduced to "Open Range." This would be a reoccuring theme throughout the trip. |
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As I was entering CO there was a nice hail storm on I-25 with 1/2" and up size hail. There are definite advantages to wearing a helmet. The Harley rider behind me probably became a convert. This section of CO is fairly boring in CO terms until you get to the Arkansas River. There are some very nice roads in the area, but it's a bit touristy. Finding a river in CO is the trick for finding the great roads. |
The trip from Salida to Paonia was one of the best rides of the trip. When I woke up the temps were in the high 40's/low 50's. This did not set well with my Florida constitution and those big piles of rock and dirt weren't helping the sun come up. Monarch Pass 12,331 ft. was also a bit of a surprise for a set of sea level lungs. As I tried to get the bike on the center stand for a picture the thing leaned and there was an instant discovery as to the lack of O2 and the bike leaned onto the left cylinder. I had to get a truck driver to help me right it. Wow, I had all the symptoms; light-headedness, trouble breathing and dizziness.After a couple of days and increased red blood cell production things were much better and this same pass was no problem. While I was there, the owner of the restaurant/gift shop showed me pictures of the snow fall this winter and spring. They were still getting snow on the 4th of July! In May, they try to dig out and they can usually only see the roof of their store. This year, it was sometime in June before they could get in. The advantage here is that the flowers bloomed a month later and the variety was intoxicating. |
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The Black Canyon is unbelievable. I used up a lifetime supply of
"Wows" driving along the canyon. Dipping in and out of the Aspen forests while
the views keep getting better and better is a real treat. I met a trucker at one of the
pullouts who takes roads in the area, but never seems to get on this particular scenic
one. He had some time on the way back and was sight-seeing. I'll give him credit in that a
car would be a handful on these roads, let alone a truck. Paonia had a wonderful camping area and there wasn't a sunny spot to be found. With daytime temps approaching 100 this was really important. There were only two showers on the campsite, which would prove to be a 100% more than at Durango. Timing these cleanliness runs was fun. |
| I met a bunch of folks from the Internet BMW group to which I belong. This
was great and the common phrase was, "You don't look like I thought you would."
While at Paonia I checked out as many of the scenic areas that I could, including;
Independence Pass (there was still snow on the ground) and Aspen. The high altitude was
making my poorly jetted carbs work, but in retrospect it wasn't enough to make a change on
the next trip. A fellow I met on a 1994 R100RT and I spent the day making a big loop
around Paonia. It's amazing how little the bikes have changed compared to my '85. One day was spent making a run over Keebler Pass. This is a dirt and gravel roadway more suited to a PD than my RT. As I fought my way through the cows up to the top and over it started to rain. Tell me if this is a suitable combination: dirt and gravel roads, rain and an R80RT? It's amazing how fast you can "short-track" a touring motorcycle off of a mountain when you're sufficiently motivated! |
Some IBMWR "tuffs" at the Top of the Rockies Rally. |
Independence Pass |
Some interesting artwork near Gunnison. |
Going over Keebler Pass |
Sunday morning I left for the southwest corner of Utah. I was interested in making time, so I hopped on I-70 for the long ride across the desert. Once again, the climate changed within a few miles. I'll never get over this. Signs started appearing saying that the next service was 100+ miles away. As I got closer to I-15 I went on reserve at 134 miles. That's what I get for pulling 85+ mph across the desert. So, I start looking for a gas station that doesn't exist and promptly ran out of fuel on I-15 south. A trucker took me down to a gas station (8 miles away) and I bummed a ride back up to the bike with fuel. This was totally my fault as I could have planned a fuel stop better.
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Monday I headed out bright and early for Bryce Canyon. Due to repaving, over half the park was closed, but the best parts were still open. The morning was spent hiking the trails to the lookouts. The saddest part of the day came with the realization that only foreign tourist would make the effort to hike the trails while we soft Americans huddled near the parking lots. There were many German tourists and even those in their 70's were making the hikes. As in the case of Hot Springs, Bryce has always been my favorite National Park and I go there every chance I get. |
| After a lunch break I drove through Zion. By this time in the day the rest
of the tourists were out and traffic started to be a problem. It started to get
unbelievable hot. Thank heaven for my CamelBack. Zion was also very impressive and I used
a lot of film. On Tuesday, I headed back to Montrose, CO on the most awe inspiring roads of the trip. Perhaps the biggest change since the last time I was in the area was the fact that the desert was turning green. There was a lot of farming going on in places that had no business being farms. The water situation in this part of the country will get really tight in the next couple of years, but nobody seems to be worried yet. Amazing. |
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The opening in the middle of the picture is a view from the road which travels inside the mountain. |
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The nice thing about back roads out in the desert is that you can see for miles when you come over a rise. In fact, Bryce claims to have the cleanest air in the US. This leads to speeds over 100 and rapidly chewed up miles. This area along Utah 12, 24, 95 and through Capitol Reef National Park is outstanding and is a MUST SEE if you haven't been out this way. To put things in perspective, at one point I was 100 miles from the real Las Vegas and about 440 miles from LA. |
| Back in Colorado I made a morning run from Montrose to Durango. This was my favorite part of the Rockies in that it had a "Sound of Music" quality to them. I arrived at the rally a day early to volunteer at the registration booth and almost got a campsite in the shade. About 40 people out of 6,000 got a campsite in the shade. The heat was miserable. I was in no hurry to do more riding so I worked registration all day. Mike Grey and I did take a trip to Mesa Verde to see the cliff dwellings one day. We took the Balcony House tour which involved a lot of climbing and crawling. It was great and very interesting. If you have the opportunity you've got to try an Indian Taco and, as Mike Grey and I discovered, don't order soda refills. |
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Most of the rest of the time was spent socializing and spending money. I did get the oil changed on the bike which led to my only breakdown. San Jose BMW was there doing service work. When I got the bike back from them a previously perfectly running RT was only running on one cylinder. Yes, I was hot. It was bad enough that they were charging $54 for an oil/filter change, but to do this. Suspiciously, one of the spark plug wires had gone bad (Yeah, right) and the $54 turned into $138. It's a long walk back to FLA and the short hairs they were holding onto were beginning to hurt. Can you say SUCKER? |
| The ride home was uneventful until I hit the home state. Coincidentally, Hurricane Erin was moving through the Tampa area as I was entering north Florida. This made for some very interesting driving and an impromptu test of the Canyon jacket's waterproof features. All in all, things could have been much worse and I could not find any damage in this part of the state. We were lucky (much luckier than the folks in the panhandle.) Hey, the last time the bike was washed was in Paonia anyway. |  |
Cadillac Ranch |
So, this was a great trip and I met a lot of the folks I've been corresponding with. I'm ready to go again. One change I'll make next time is that I'll stay in motels for the whole trip. Camping was more fun 20 years ago and having 6" between your tent and your snoring neighbors (Ira, just kidding) is for the birds. Earplugs were more useful at night than during the day on the bike. The variety of cycles was unbelievable. Perhaps the most interesting was the guy who threw a Mazda rotary engine into his hack. You may have seen this in a magazine. It sports auto tires, 250+ hp, the shell of a K engine (non-functional) in the frame and many, many other first class features. This thing is a real giant killer. He is selling it for $25,000. Now, where was my checkbook? The Buell, R27's, custom trailers and many other bikes were a treat. It turns out that there were very few R80RT's though. I wonder why? Enough already, that's the trip in a very big nutshell.
Greg (begging forgiveness for any poor spelinK/grammar)
