June 27 2006

Departed Salida @8:30am and made our way to Fairplay via Hwys 50,291,24 and 285. Stopped for coffee at the Fairplay Hotel, a neat old west type of hotel and then on to Hwy 9 over Hoosier Pass, through Breckenridge and over Swan Mountain arriving Summit County @ 12 noon, our starting point. Ride over!
Spent the rest of the afternoon loading bikes and baggage in to trailer for our drive to Connecticut. Next ride will be June 2008 British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado.

June 26 2006

Left Durango @8:00am headed north on HWY 550 the "Million Dollar Highway" to Silverton a unique and authentic mining/cowboy town via Coal Bank Pass and on to Ouray. The scenery between Durango and Silverton was once again awesome and became even more so between Silverton and Montrose where the road took many twists and turns and factor in some steep grades, rock cliffs, no guard rails, Red Mountain Pass and that gives you a pucker factor (at times) of 10.We stopped for a beer at the Golden Nugget (doesn't every western town have one?) in Ouray and headed to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison N.P. Once there we headed down to the bottom of the canyon, another pucker ride down and back up a 16% grade. Beautiful though, both top and bottom views. Now we are ready to spend the night in the town of Gunnison because we are starting to get some ice cold rain...wrong! They are having some sort of @#^*&#bike tour going through and there is not a @#^& 'room to be had! The closest room around is in Salida 65 miles to the east. Well off we go and while crossing over Monarch Pass, more ice cold rain! We are getting too old for this. Pulled in to the Days Inn Salida, nice place, nice people run it and went over to the Windmill for dinner, excellent restaurant.

June 25 2006

Departed Kayenta AZ @ 8:00 AM for Monument Valley and the Four Corners and our desination for the day, Durango CO. Once again beautiful scenery, pleasant riding conditions and the comfort zone improved as we proceeded to the northwest.

The sight of spectacular scenery and the unkempt homesites of the Navajo gives one a sense of conflict. It also gives credence to Dee Brown's tome "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" and our dismal treatment of the American Indian. The drive through this beautiful area is free but the Navajo Nation charges $5 at the visitor center and $3 at the Four Corners. After leaving this area we stopped at Goosenecks S.P. which affords a great view of the San Juan River. The river meanders through the canyon for 5 miles covering 1 linear mile. Stopped at the Four Corners Monument, put our feet in to four states at once, had our pictures taken and pushed on stopping for lunch at Blondies' in Cortez (very good) and on to Durango arriving @ 4:00 PM. Checked in to the Best Western and rode over to the Diamond Belle Saloon for cocktails. Didn't stay there though, bartender was inept and could not handle the crowd so after waiting 15 minutes and no drink we left. Found a neat place called Joel's Pub, nice atmosphere and friendly bartender. Hi Carol! Durango was OK but a little too yuppified however.

June 24 2006

We left Williams @7:00 AM and arrived at Grand Canyon N.P. @ 8:30AM.

We toured the park for about 5 hours. What can you say? The views were spectacular and the colors changed by the hour. Pictures do not do the Canyon justice. We exited the park via the east entrance through the Painted Desert enroute to Tuba City where we stopped for lunch. Once again the the temps became very hot in the low desert. We sighted some wild horses atop Black Mesa on HWY 160 near Kayenta where we would stop for the night. The scenery today ranged from 'moonscape' to red hues in the desert to rolling tree clotted hills reminiscent of Black Hills of South Dakota. Each day in this part of the country is spectacular in it's own way.

June 23 2006

We left Laughlin @ 7:00am stopped for breakfast at the Black Bear Cafe (excellent) in Bullhead City and proceede south on AZ Route 95 to Route 66 at Topock and east to Oatman a neat old west mining town with wild burros roaming the street. The route to and east of Oatman is very scenic and loaded with many switchbacks and hairpin turns. It is truly amazing to me that this is the same road that the 'Okies' and the fictional Joad family used to migrate west during the Great Depression.We passed through such towns as Hackberry ( a dump!)Truxton where we stopped at the Frontier Motel and Restaurant an old preserved Route 66 icon, on to Peach Springs and Seligman where we stopped for a beer at the Black Cat Saloon another biker bar. They all seem the same.We arrived in Williams and checked in at the Days Inn and rode down to Rod's Steak House for dinner which was excellent. In the morning we will visit the Grand Canyon.

June 22 2006

We left the Ramada Inn Barstow @ 7:00am and traveled Route 66 from Daggett to Newberry Springs where we opted to get on I-40 to Ludlow because the road was in a state of major disrepair. From Ludlow we rode the old road to Essex stopping at Amboy the home of Roy's Cafe and Motel an icon on the old Route 66 days. We spoke with the caretaker and he said that construction is in it's early stages to restore the restaurant and motel to it's former glory. On to Needles, temperatures were ranging 110 - 118 degrees and Needles seemed to be the hottest. We stopped at the Red Dog Saloon (typical biker bar) for a beer and then to the Hungry Bear for lunch (good). After lunch we headed up the River Road to Laughlin a mini Las Vegas type gambling town (not impressed). Stopped at the America Legion Post 60 for couple of beers and checked in to the Colorado Belle/ Edgewater Hotel and Casino for the night.

June 21 2006

We departed Beatty NV @ 6:00am outfitted in leather jackets and gloves which we shed by 7:00am as we descended in to Death Valley. We stopped for coffee at the Furnace Creek General Store and on to Badwater Basin (282 feet below sea level) where we met up with the TV crew for the Weather Channel who were there because of the projected (128 degrees!) record or near record high temperatures today.It was 8:00am and 92 degrees already.We then pushed on to Shoshone CA and down to Baker and the Mojave Desert to Newberry Springs where we had lunch at the Bagdad Cafe on old Route 66 the setting of a movie of the same name starring Jack Palance. After lunch we rode on to Barstow where we arrived hot, tired and dirty and checked in to the Barstow Ramada Inn. After a few drinks and dinner (awful) at Vick's Sports Bar we turned in for the night. The next leg of our trip is to ride old Route 66 to the Grand Canyon with a detour to Laughlin NV.