Day 6 (Mon 6/22)

Stan headed back to Albuquerque via Brush, CO

• 71S to 350W
• 350W to I25 (Trinidad)
• I25 to Albuquerque, NM

Once you get east of Denver, Colorado flattens out to lots and lots of farmland.  The ride to Brush, CO from the Denver, CO area is about 60 miles, so it really took Stan out of his way, however, the ride from Brush, CO to US50 was flat, totally unpopulated, which was nice for making good time.  There is a little jog at US50, but it's pretty easy to figure it out in getting to US350W.  On US350W, you'll pass a military installation – Ft Carson on the left, but you are pretty much in the middle of nowhere until you get to Trinidad.  Unfortunately, because of time constraints, I25 travel was inevitable, but it wasn't too bad.

Total Mileage for the trip: 1563

Mark stayed on for a couple more days of hiking and then headed home to the Salt Lake City, UT area.

Day 5 (Sun 6/21)

Estes Park to 7S for a hike at Longs Peak.  Longs Peak starts about 9700 feet and Stan is out of breath at the start.  Mark had compassion and doesn't insist on going to Crater Lake.

From Longs Peak, headed to Estes Park via 36 – called our families (Father's Day and all), had lunch at Claire's on the Park (food was okay), and then get some ice cream.

Then we head up 34 to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) and to Bear Lake – awesome spot!

Then from Bear Lake, back to our campsite.

Day 4 (Sat 6/20)

Leadville, CO to Kremmling, CO (about 71 miles)

• 24W to 91N
• 91N to I70E
• I70E to 9N (Exit 205)
• 9N to Kremmling

Our stop in Kremmling, Colorado was unintentional.  We came upon a parade in Kremmling which prevented us from getting to 40E.  After some belligerent treament from a local police officer and a Colorado State Trooper who were directing traffic (why a state trooper was directing traffic is beyond us), we parked at a convenience store/gas station (Short Stop Gas Station) to get our bearings and try to figure a way to get back to 40E via an alternate route. 

Without paying enough attention to the incline of the parking lot, Mark set down his bike and it dropped, right side down.  We rushed over to pick it back up again – another biker also gave us a hand too and got it back up.  However, the damage was done – the right Step Holder (the part that supports the right front foot peg was busted into 3 pieces.  We called all around town to see if any motorcycle shops had a replacement part and no such luck.  Then we start calling around as far as Denver and still no success.  We prayed for peace of mind and for a solution to present itself. 

Mark went over to a local hardware store on Stan's bike to buy some JB Weld to see if we could fix it ourselves.  While at the hardware store, Mark picked up a business card of a local welder in town.  Mark got back with the JB Weld to the convenience store where we were stranded and immediately started trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again – no success.  Stan called the local welder (Ken Young) and left a voice mail for him.  After about 45 minutes, we got a call back from Ken and he met us were we were.  We gave Ken the busted part and he took it back to his shop to work his magic.

We had some time on our hands so we walked over to a local food joint and got some grub, all the while praying that Ken could fix the part.  They kicked us out of the restaurant because they were closing and we went over to a little place called the Quarter Circle Saloon and just hung out, talking to the locals.  We finally got a call from Ken, told him where we were and he met us at the Quarter Circle.  We bought him a cold beverage and hung out for bit more.  Ken is a great guy and if you need some welding done while in Kremmling, he's your man (970-531-2314). 

Back on our way after 5 hours… Thank God we weren't stranded in Kremmling, Colorado.

Day 3 (Fri 6/19)

Crawford State Park to Hotchkiss, CO via 92W (about 12 miles)

Hotchkiss, CO to Carbondale, CO via 133N (about 66 miles).

We ate at a little pizzaria called "The Roaring Fork" – good food.  Carbondale was a nice town – actually, it felt like a college town

Carbondale, CO to Leadville, CO via 82E and then to 24W (about 89 miles)

Along this route, we travelled through Aspen, Colorado – a little 'touristy', but beautiful nonetheless.  From Aspen, we travelled along Independance Pass where we crossed the Continental Divide.  The ride up to the Continental Divide (12063 ft.) was beautiful because of the twists and turns.  The road narrows at some places where it becomes essentially a one-way road, so proceed with caution.  Also, we stopped a couple of times to take in the gorgeous views.  At the Continental Divide, we took some photographic evidence, threw some snowballs and moved on toward Leadville, Colorado (passing an area called Twin Lakes – Mark had camped there before).

In Leadville we stopped into a little coffee/gourmet cookie place called the Ugly Cookie Company located on a main drag called Harrison street and rested for a while.  While sitting at the table, we read a little of the local literature, finished our snack food and left for some more substantial fare.  We spied the Golden Burro Restaurant were Stan got the chicken-fried steak and Mark got a cheese steak.  The food was pretty good at the Golden Burro, but was really interesting was the menu itself, which was chocked full of interesting history about the little mining town of Leadville.

It was getting late and we decided to head back to the Twin Lakes Recreation Area to bunk down for the night (Twin Lakes Recreation Area).  This was a very nice camp site if you are look for a good place to stay.

Day 2 (Thu 6/18)

Cortez, CO to Durango, CO, via 160E (about 54 miles) 

Durango, CO to Ouray, CO, via 550N (About 70 miles) 

This route is notably referred to as the Million Dollar Highway and a beautiful ride. After arriving in Ouray, CO (we also stopped briefly in Silverton as well), we stopped at the "The Bistro at Billy Goat Gruff's" tavern for some bratwurst and beer; then a long refreshing swim in the "Ouray Hot Springs Pool." Stan didn't have an extra pair of shorts (packed light for the trip), so he had to buy some at the local "V &S Variety Store" (great little shop – had a little bit of everything crammed in that little store).

Ouray, CO to Montrose, CO, via 550N (about 36 miles).

About the Motorcycle Tour

For those of you who have been dreaming of an incredible motorcycle tour, you cannot go wrong following the course we recently took. There was seemingly a limitless supply of beauty and nature to feast our eyes on – God is amazing indeed!

Mark and Stan had been dreaming of a motorcycle tour-style ride for months and our families allowed us to venture out over Father's Day weekend. Our only real requirement is that we ride through some awesome territory, which in this part of the country (Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah), it's hard to escape it.

This motorcycle trip was our maiden voyage as a team. From an itinerary perspective, the only events that we set were the meeting place (Cortez, CO at the Wal-Mart) and the departure date – We had to get back to real-life and rescue our wives from the kid/s ). Everything else in the middle was fluid – the routes we took, the places we stayed – we were totally living at a moment-by-moment pace.

Packing for the trip was a little challenging for Stan, having never done a motorcycle tour before, however, we both shared notes as to what was good to bring and how we could best pack it in (see article "How to Pack for a Motorcycle Tour"). Since we had virtually the same bikes (Kawasaki Concours – Stan has a 2001 and Mark has a 1999), it was easy to make apples-to-apples comparisons.

Day 1 (Wed 6/17)

The Meeting spot was Cortez, CO at the Wal-Mart (Stan came from Albuquerque, NM and Mark from Salt Lake City Utah). After a little shopping for water and a tent tarp for Mark, we headed out to find a camp site since it was about 7pm. We began to head over to the Mesa Verde National Park to look for a campsite, when Mark remembered that a friend of his has a 5-acre lot next to the park. So, he called his friend and got permission to stay, and that's were we camped. We heated up some water and partook of some Wal-Mart freeze dried fare.