June 6 - Hot to Hotter

Total trip mileage is 2579
Today' mileage is 409.
Temp range was 67 - 95

Hi Everyone,

I went down to Roswell to get away from the storms in Oklahoma and Texas. Since I had traveled so far south yesterday, I decided I needed to make some serious easterly mileage to get me closer to my destination.

Therefore, I decided to head to Wichita Falls, TX and spend the night there. It was a long hot day but I arrived and secured a room by about 5:00PM.

There is not much to say about the ride today as it was very straight and flat. Not much variation on that theme, at all. However, I did ride through many small towns that were quaint in their own way. Most of the towns had populations under 1,000 and when I had an occasion to talk with the local folks, they were all very nice and friendly.

I did make some observations on this long segment that I would like to share with you:
The soil in West Texas is red.
98% of the vehicles are pick-up trucks - duh!
98% of the pick-up trucks are white.
98% of the pick-up trucks are either Chevy or Ford.
The Brazos river in Sherman runs red. It looks like a river of blood.
Wichita Falls is a big city.

When the running is straight and flat my mind wanders quite a bit since riding in this manner is mostly automatic. Just keep the speed constant and the wheels on the road.

Tomorrow, I am going to try for a short day and stay in Arkansas. I plan on spending a couple of days riding the Ozark Mountains. I will try real hard to take more pictures and get them up on Picassa.

Take care,

Dave

June 5 - Cold to Hot

Total trip mileage - 2177

Total mileage for this day 352

Temp range 38 - 90 degrees

Hi everyone,

I waited until 11:00AM to depart Chama and it worked out real well. I rode south towards Santa Fe and encountered snow a few times above 7700 feet. Below that level, it was rain and some hail. After I descended below about 6500 feet, it actuall dried out and the road was quite nice going into the desert.

My goal was to get to a warmer place. It was snowing and raining in the mountains so I decided to head far south. Since I couldn't commune with nature in the moutains, I decided to chase aliens in the desert, so off to Roswell!

I lunched in Santa Fe where it was cold and windy. After my repast, I programmed the GPS to get me off the freeway and onto some backroads down to Roswell. It worked pretty well in that I took SR 3 which meandered through a small valley along a river the name of which I cannot remember. Then the road took a sharp right turn and snaked up the side of a canyon and I was on top of a plateau. The road from this point was straight but narrow. The wind was very bad.

I then had to get back on the interstate for the remainder of the trip through the desert. The wind was very, very bad.

I arrived in Roswell about 6:30PM and found a room then had dinner at Applebee's. Roswell is much larger than I would have ever imagined. The town has all the restaurants and hotels/motels you could ever need. I did not see any aliens as I was alseep before it was dark.

The weather was hot and I was happy.

Take care,

Dave

Chama, NM

It's 9:30AM, local time. It is raining hard and snowing! Snowing quite a bit too. It's cold but the snow isn't sticking, yet. I really want to get out of here but I think I'm stuckI and worst yet, have no coffee! I'm going to wait awhile in the hope that it will at least stop snowing. I will head south to Santa Fe and beyond because it is supposed to be dry and warm further south.

One other thing I wanted to mention is in these posts I am not taking time to fix typos or grammar so just deal with it. :)

Take care,

Dave

Day 4 - Colorado, In and Out

The top photo is looking out from Molas Pass, CO. The second photo is the welcoming sign Entering Colorado.

Hi everyone,

Today's total mileage was 375. Total trip mileage to date is 1839.

I left Monticello, UT at about 7:45 this morning and headed due east towards Colorado. My goal for the day was to ride over "The Million Dollar Highway and get to Taos. That was a bit much but keep reading.

After crossing the state line, I turned north so I could get on the north side of the aforementioned highway. I stopped in Norwood, CO for a bite to eat and hit the road after refueling. The winds were very bad today and it was very cloudy but I was spaired the rain.

The Million Dollar Highway starts out of Ouray, CO and summits at 11,104 feet. I have to say, it was a real grind to get up and over this road. I was stuck behind 2 large dump trucks that were crawling over the pass. Add to this, road construction and a horrible road surface. It was not real fun. The end of this section of road is in Silverton, CO. I stopped there to buy water and Gatorade and rest my wrists!

However, the fun does not stop there. Leaving Silverton, I rode over several other passes all of which were over 10,000 feet elevation. I took pictures at Molas Pass and you can view them on Picassa, here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/daveste99/ If this doesn't work for some reason, let me know.

Okay, so to make a long day shorter, I rode into Durango and needed a break. I stripped off all my outer gear, secured it to the bike and walked about town for a little while. I stopped in at a Subway for a quick sandwich. Durango is a good size tourist town. Lot's of shops, stores, restaurants and activities. It was way to busy for me so I hit the road.

By now I knew I would not make Taos. It was already 2:00pm and the GPS had my Taos ETA at 7:00PM. I tried to make it anyway. As I was getting somewhat lost on the roads south of Durango, I ended up riding through Pagossa Springs. It looked real quaint with lots of tourist stuff to do. I kept riding and ended up in Chama, NM. The road from Pagossa Springs to Chama was really nice for motorcycling and I arrived at 5:00PM, ready to get off the bike.

I wish I could tell you I have lots of pictures of the mountains, ranch lands, rivers, lakes, etc., but aI don't. The thing is, taking pictures while on a motorcycle ride is difficult. The reason is because usually the best shots are on sections of road where there is no place to pull off. There is either no shoulder or it is gravel or soft dirt with a good slope to it. Plus stopping, getting off the bike, removing at least one glove and taking a picture takes a long time. So, if you are disappointed about the lack of photos, now you know the reason why.

Anyway, I got a nice room outside of Chama and walked to town for dinner. Had a good Mexican dish and here I am, just about ready to go to sleep.

It is very, very windy outside and I think it is from all of the nasty storms to the north of here.

Tomorrow, I am going to take a circuitous route to Taos and rest my body. If I were to drive straight there from here, it is less than 100 miles but I created a nice loop route of about 280 miles so I can see more of New Mexico.

Take care,

Dave

Day 3 - Bryce Canyon and much more

Total trip mileage is 1498.

Today's total miles were about 340

Highest elevation was 9600 + feet

Temperature range was from 51 to 91 degrees

The picture on top is me standing at Rainbow Point in Bryce Canyon at over 9100 feet elevation. The other photo was taken in Capitol Reef NP.

Most of the mileage today was north/south with just a bit of east. Tomorrow I will start heading east by making my way to Colorado and riding the Million Dollar Highway down to Durango. From there I will angle down and east to the night's destination, Taos.

I could write many paragraphs about the ride today but in a nutshell - WOW!!! I cannot put into words the scenery my eyes saw today. It is indescrible and the only way to truly capture the beauty of this area is to see it for yourself. Adding to this is the fact that the roads are made for motorcycle riding. I couldn't decide if I should go fast to enjoy the curves and twists of the roads or to slow down and drink in the awesome geology and colors of the buttes, canyons and moutains. Between the roads and the scenery, it is heaven on earth, especially for a motorcyclist.

You need to get down here. Fly, drive, ride your motorcycle but just get down here. If you've been to Bryce and the other National Parks in the area, you know what I am talking about.

I will be loading all the photos to Picassa and will post the address when they are done loading.

Best wishes,

Dave

Monday - Day 2

Total mileage for the first 2 days is 1118.

I left Mtn. Home, ID this morning at 6:30AM after a good night's sleep. It was clear and sunny when I left town but soon I ran into dense ground fog that really slowed me down and hampered my visibility quite a bit. However, it didn't last long and after crossing the Snake River several times, I eventually crossed the state line, about 3 hours after starting out.

Southeast Idaho is barren! There is nothing there except lots of cattle and I did see some real cowboys herding cattle.

Riding through Ogden and Salt Lake was tedious. Lots of freeway construction and traffic. Once I cleared that it wasn't bad but I was itching to get off the freeway.

After nearly 1000 miles on the Interstate I was able to get onto back roads at Nephi, UT. I headed east then south and meandered through ranch and hill country. It was a much nicer pace and there was no traffic to contend with.

The roads I selected worked out real well because I ended up right at the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park. I was not able to get a room there and had to ride about 8 miles east to a very small town called Tropic. I lucked out and got one of the last rooms in town.

Tomorrow, I am riding back to Bryce Canyon and will go into the park to explore and take pictures. I rode by the outskirts of the park on the way to Tropic and I couldn't believe the rock formations that I saw! I can't wait to get into Bryce and other parks to see these amazing formations.

It will be a much shorter day tomorrow as the roads around here are clogged with tourists, motorhomes, buses, etc. I do not know where I will end up tomororw night but I am not going to wait so long to get a room at the end of the day.

I'll post again when I can.

Dave

Day 1 of my 'round the country trip

I started just before 6:00 AM this morning in dry and cool weather. The ride to Mountain Home, ID was uneventful and long at 550 miles. I did ride over numerous mountain passes and crossed the 45th Parallel where it crosses the Powder River in Oregon.

I arrived in Mountain Home at about 5:00PM (local Mountain time) in the rain. There were severe thunder storms in the nearby mountians but I just got drizzled on. I quickly found a room for the night, unpacked the bike and had dinner.

Tomorrow is another long riding day as I will be riding another 550 miles to Panguitch, UT. This is a small town somewhat close to Bryce Canyon. No pictures today but after tomorrow, I should have a bunch to share.

Dave