Santa Fe and the Last Day on the Road

Our last night on the road was a stop in Santa Fe, NM. I like the historic district with all of the little artsy shops. You find a different breed of person wandering those kinds of areas - lot's of people bent on showing their "Individual Style". It's a nice break from the 'conform or be cast out' crowd found in most of the places I haunt.

We stayed at the Hotel St Francis which is a place I stayed before. The rooms are nice and comfy even though it's a "historic" boutique hotel.

After getting checked in and stuffing the bikes into a parking spot (which amazingly opened up just as we got there) we cleaned up and wandered around looking for place to eat. Eventually we found The San Francisco Street Bar & Grill. The food was very good and the beer wasn't bad either.

The Home Stretch

The last day of the ride is always sort of bittersweet. On the one hand I'm excited to get home and see the wife and dog so I want to get home as soon as I can. But coming to the end of a journey is always like reaching the end of a good book. There is a satisfaction and a sense of completion but I'm always wanting more. I suppose that's what keeps pushing me to get back out the road.

As any rider from this area knows there are three distinct stages to any motorcycle road trip:

1. Getting across Texas to get out
2. Riding all of the fun roads and seeing fun things
3. Getting across Texas to get back home

The goal of the first and last stage is to get through it as fast and painlessly as possible. This was a very painless ride across the state. The only drama was that we caught up with some nice storms just as we reached the Dallas area so the roads were a bit wet but that was a fair trade for a nice quiet day on the road.

Wrapping it up

This was a great trip, one of the best. John was an awesome riding buddy - both a super rider and just a great guy to be around. With plenty of places left to explore I'm looking forward to hitting the road with him again. 

The races were as fun as always and the added bonus of seeing my sister with Pam at my side was a recipe that can't be beat. I'm already planning my ride for next year and hoping to get in more than one!

Colorado Weather Wins This Round

Our plans for the ride after leaving Moab were to head east over to Ouray then south on "The Million Dollar Highway" toward Durango to catch 160 east to Pagosa Springs and down to Santa Fe, NM. Winter sent an early weather system our way to prevent that plan from working out. Heavy snow with freezing conditions in the mountains meant that riding a motorcycle, especially one as big as the K1600, was going to be extremely dangerous. At the last minute we decided to take the easier route down to Cortez, CO then east on 160 from there.

The bikes had a layer of ice on them in the morning so getting everything cleaned up and getting ourselves geared up was the order of the day. I rode to Cortez without my heated jacket plugged in and it wasn't terrible, but it was chilly. There was a dusting of snow still hanging around in the shaded areas all morning. With a couple of trips over mountain passes ahead I took a few minutes while stopped for a cappuccino/gas break in Cortez to dig out the wiring. I plugged in for a nice warm comfortable ride the rest of the way with my heated jacket and glove liners.

Something about Cortez must cause the part of the brain used for driving to deteriorate. Riding a motorcycle is an exercise in avoiding getting tied up in other drivers stupidity. The only two times I had any trouble in this 4000+ mile trip both came in Cortez. First a guy in the gas station nearly nailed me when he hammered the throttle and wheeled around the pump in an apparent attempt to reach 50 mph in the confined parking lot. A lot of noise spinning his tires then stabbing the brakes resulted in very little progress for him and nearly bounced his kid off the dash. Once on the road another guy who had been brake checking me for some unknown reason decided to run me off the road - presumably for having the audacity to pass him to avoid his game playing. While looking directly at me he aggressively merged into me and pushed me off onto the shoulder. Fortunately my bike has an amazing ability to accelerate out of problems like that so I was able to clear some space between me and the POS truck he was driving in about 1/2 second. A couple of seconds later and he was a speck in the rear-view mirror.

Even though we missed out on the high mountain roads further north it was still a treat to ride 160 through southern Colorado. I've been on that road for at least a part of almost every ride out west and I'm still not tired of making it a part of the route. We just don't have those kinds of views here in Texas. We pressed on to Pagosa Springs before stopping at a little place called the "Boulder Coffee Cafe" to reload with another caffeine shot and something to eat. I grabbed a bowl of Tortilla Soup and my "go to" Vanilla Chai Latte...

The soup was exactly what I needed and was amazingly good. But I have to say that the Chai Latte was the best one I've ever had, and I've had a lot! I may have to fabricate a reason to pass this way again.

The rest of the ride down to Santa Fe was smooth with no drama. We took 84 south all the way to Santa Fe and that road is just the right mix of sweepers and elevation changes to fit the K1600 perfect. While we didn't break any records we didn't exactly pay a lot of attention to the speed limits out there either. It was a great way to end the "fun" riding part of the trip.

Moab Here We Come

With the pace officially slowed down this was going to be an easy ride to Moab. I've been there a few times now and there is just something about the place that feels right to me. Our route was a simple one - north up the rest of UT12 to I-70, then east to UT 191 and South to Moab. 

The weather was perfect in Escalante and we got the bikes ready for the day. John is at the far bike in this picture and the other rider was just another adventurer passing through...

My bike in front on my digs for the night...

After packing up we headed back over to "The Outfitters", as the lady running the hotel called it, for breakfast. Another Chai Latte for the road and I was ready to roll.

This area of Utah is called The Grand Staircase...

The name comes from the geology of the region which is essentially a massive structure of sedimentary rock layers dominating the southern half of Utah. These layers were described as forming a giant staircase stepping up from the Grand Canyon with each "edge" being defined by a set of named cliffs. The views in this area are simply spectacular so I'll let the pictures do the talking (note that full size versions of all the pictures in this blog can be found at the link to the left)...

We passed though some more areas where the trees had taken on their Fall colors and there were some spectacular views. We passed so many amazing photo opportunities and there were people with cameras pulled over in taking advantage of those rare chances to capture nature at it's best. Being on large road bikes we were actually a little more limited in our choices because there were very few places to pull off the road without being into the tall grass or loose gravel. I did manage to grab a few memories along the way...

Moving further north was passed into the more mountainous regions where more huge rock formations are found, as well as free range cattle...

John managed to part the herd with a blast of that Steibel horn...

Sorry fella but we have places to go...

Visible in that picture of John cutting a path between the cows you can see some rain in our future. As we approached the weather the temperature dropped and we stopped to get into rain gear...

The ride up to I-70 was windy, REALLY windy, and we were heading straight into the teeth of that wind. We stopped for a break in Green River and several drivers from Wyoming warned us about heavy blowing snow up north and that we were in for a bad time on the road to Moab. After warming up and heading out we found things were not quite so dire. It was still chilly and bit damp but riding with a 40 mph tailwind made the trip down UT 191 comparatively relaxing. 

We reached Moab in mid-afternoon which gave us plenty of time to do some recharging. John headed over a local laundry to clean some clothes and I headed over to a place called Rio. A coworker of mine has been after me for a couple of years to stop in there and say hi to a friend of his who owns the place. Rio is a decent little sports bar just off the main drag in Moab. The owner wasn't in but he apparently knew I was coming by and had the bartender give me a 4-pack of a local IPA that was pretty good.

We ate dinner at Eddie McStiff's that night. The service and food are typical Moab, laid back and friendly. It seems like everyone in the place was personal friends with everyone on the staff! The walk back was comical since it was pitch black and raining - and we got lost! Thankfully our cell phones told us we were only a block or so past our tiny hotel so a trudge back in the rain and I was home for the night.

I can't say our hotel was exactly 5-star quality but it was clean and the girl at the desk was super friendly - like everyone around here - so for the money I suppose I can't complain about Kokopelli Lodge. Not exactly the color scheme I would have gone for but I slept good so that's all that mattered...

Vegas to Escalante Utah

This is the part of the trip where having all of the parks closed was going to be the most painful. The original plan was to ride through Zion and Bryce Canyon and load up on some nice pic's. Closing the parks meant that we could ride "through" Zion but stopping and taking pictures was specifically forbidden. Bryce was flat out closed and there was no way to even pass through.

We managed to nab a few posed shots just outside the gate to Zion...

What is wrong with this picture?

I get the whole 'the parks are closed because we don't have any money' thing, I really do. But how exactly does letting someone pull over at a wide spot in the road to take a picture cost anything to provide? It's not like they normally have a ranger posted at every place where someone might take a picture to lend you a hand. Yet here they went out of their way to PREVENT you from stopping. It makes no sense - which sadly, since we're talking about government thinking, actually does make sense.

How much does it cost them to leave this "parking area" open I wonder?

An even sadder part - the park rangers were out trolling for speeders. I guess when they were deciding what was "important" the gathering of revenue from visitors took precedent over actually, you know, taking care of visitors.

Still an amazing place to "visit"

Since I had to shoot while on the move most of my pic's are pretty similar but better than nothing. The roads in Zion are chip-seal and the rock is native to the area giving them a signature red color.

Natural sculpting...

A blind shot over my shoulder of John taking in the scenery...

Even while moving the whole time Zion is still a spectacular place to see. The massiveness of the rock formations doesn't really come through in pictures but in person it's quite humbling.

The rest of the ride wasn't a photo-friendly but Utah has some of the best motorcycle roads anywhere - smooth, scenic, twisty and just plain fun.  Since we skipped the parks we had extra time to kill on the way to Escalante so we added a loop though the Dixie National Forest. That loop took us west on 14, north on 148 towards Brain Head then back east on 143 to Panguitch. The views were awesome and the weather up there was pretty brisk with some good winds to make it a tad cool. The fall leaves were in full force at elevation which is not something I expected. 

From Panguitch we just hopped down to UT12 and east to Escalante, again arriving just before dark.  The original plan was to stay cabins at the Escalante Outfitters but they were booked so we opted for The Cowboy Country Inn just down the street. For the price it was very decent place to stay and if you're in Escalante I would recommend it. The amenities are pretty slim but the room was warm and the bed was one of the most comfortable I've ever found in a hotel. The rooms are each named and mine was called "The Antler Room" being decorated in a deer/elk theme...

Once situated we headed over to Escalante Outfitters for a bite to eat. I've eaten there on previous trips and it's one of those tiny places where the food is actually very good.

A calzone and salad...

A Polygamy Porter, a Utah original. Love the motto at the bottom! Good beer too...

... and a Chai Latte afterwards to warm my chilly bones before bed...