BeastieGirl
Well-known member
I got back yesterday - a day early - because I completely revamped the latter part of my trip plans because of the heat wave. Utah was eliminated, as was Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. With temps forecasted for 110 plus Farenheit I decided to head back north from Albuquerque and travel via Nebraska and Ohio where the temps were in the high 90's, low 100's instead and give myself the 5 full days for travelling, so I could cut down the daily hours I needed to spend on the road. There's a fine line between intrepid and stupid and the older I get, the more careful I am not to cross it. Still in 11 days I did 8,149 kilometers. Below is a link to a few pictures. Unfortunately somehow in transferring I've lost all my pictures from Mt. Evans in Colorado, which is a shame because they included some mountain goats perched on the tourist information building at the summit.
Anyway, Wednesday and Thursday was really nothing to report about. I headed out after work on Wednesday, so got across the border at Sarnia Wednesday night, where I was grilled by the border guard for 15 minutes about where I got my jacket, how long I had been riding, how many miles on my bike - yep - a fellow biker. He did remember to ask me before he let me go where I was going and how long I was staying. Thursday was just taking the Interstates down to Hannibal, Missouri, where I started my trip on U.S. 36, staying in Macon. I really enjoyed riding 36 through Missouri and Kansas. Even though you have to slow down through the occasional small town, its not often and not for long. It was very relaxing, little traffic, no shortage of services and I still ended up in Colorado Friday night. And it wasn't as straight and flat as you might expected, until the western part of Kansas.
Saturday I changed my plans at the last minute and decided to head straight from Wray, Co to Idaho Springs, to ride up Mt. Evans, then carry on I-76 to Glenwood Springs. Again because of the heat, I just needed to shave some saddle time off my day. I posted about Mt. Evans earlier and the lack of guardrails - yikes. And also about Glenwood Canyon - which was really cool.
Sunday I did run Glenwood Canyon going in the other direction, then headed to Leadville so I could travel Independence Pass. This was actually quite backwards, because it took me back north west to Carbondale, and I had to go south on 133 to end up in Ouray, where I was staying. But again, it really didn't matter. Running Glenwood Canyon twice was just fun and it was one of those roads that you need to run in each direction. Independence Pass again feels no need for guardrails on switchbacks with no shoulders - see pix. Honestly, I don't think guardrails would have stopped my bike from going over anyway if I hit one in a corner. High centre of gravity spourt touring bike loaded with luggage - suspect I would have just toppled over. Anyway, no toppling was done, despite the fact that the skies opened up just before the tightest corner on the road. Just slowed down, looked at the road instead of the empty air, clentched butt cheeks really hard and away we went.
Monday, again spent the night in the Ouray KOA and spent the day riding the San Juan Scenic By-way - which includes the "Million Dollar Highway". Again, posted some pix but haven't gotten around to captioning them yet. As impressive as it is in person, after while all the mountains start to look alike in the pictures. I took a "detour" to Cortez and on to Mesa Verde to see the ruins, then hooked back up with the By-way in Dolores.
Tuesday rode the Million Dollar Highway again, because it was on my way in any event, to head to New Mexico where I was staying for two nights. But I didn't ride 550 all the way to Bernalillo, deciding instead to go east on U.S. 160 to 64 and then south on 64. Northern New Mexico was stunning - but got increasing brown and burnt out as I headed south. Abiquiu area was gorgeous and I visited the Ghost Ranch. But hot, hot, hot. Fortunately my KOA cabin was air conditioned.
Thursday I elected not to ride to Amarillo, Texas. Instead I left at 4:00 a.m. in the morning and took I-25 north, so I could log in as many miles as possible while it was cool. For about 2 hours I was actually cold - it felt friggin' wonderful. For another 3 hours I was comfortable. As the heat increased, i switched over to the secondary highways - and stopped in a road side park for a siesta in the shade for the hottest part of the day. Still I made from Bernalillo, NM to Burlington, Colorado, where I stopped because of severe thunderstorm warnings. Parts of the area I had just travelled with got hit with 90 mph winds.
Friday - from Burlington, Co to Lincoln, Nebraska - again a lot of interstate travel and again a 4:00 a.m. start. In Lincoln I got in to get my oil changed and made it an early day - checking into my motel about 4:00 p.m.
Saturday I started out on I-80 again, but since I was making pretty good time, decided to boot off the interstate and go south a little bit to travel on U.S. 34. Again, avoiding the interstate resulted in a lot less stress and not much more time going through the rest of Nebraska and Iowa. Again, an early start to get those early miles in, a little nap in a roadside park and I still ended up just east of Joliet, Illinois for my Saturday night stop.
Which meant Sunday I just hightailed it for home. By that time I was pretty acclimatized to the heat but I was glad to have the extra day available if I needed it.
If you've made it this far - or just skipped through the novel - below is the link for the pix.
http://photobucket.com/2012trippix
Anyway, Wednesday and Thursday was really nothing to report about. I headed out after work on Wednesday, so got across the border at Sarnia Wednesday night, where I was grilled by the border guard for 15 minutes about where I got my jacket, how long I had been riding, how many miles on my bike - yep - a fellow biker. He did remember to ask me before he let me go where I was going and how long I was staying. Thursday was just taking the Interstates down to Hannibal, Missouri, where I started my trip on U.S. 36, staying in Macon. I really enjoyed riding 36 through Missouri and Kansas. Even though you have to slow down through the occasional small town, its not often and not for long. It was very relaxing, little traffic, no shortage of services and I still ended up in Colorado Friday night. And it wasn't as straight and flat as you might expected, until the western part of Kansas.
Saturday I changed my plans at the last minute and decided to head straight from Wray, Co to Idaho Springs, to ride up Mt. Evans, then carry on I-76 to Glenwood Springs. Again because of the heat, I just needed to shave some saddle time off my day. I posted about Mt. Evans earlier and the lack of guardrails - yikes. And also about Glenwood Canyon - which was really cool.
Sunday I did run Glenwood Canyon going in the other direction, then headed to Leadville so I could travel Independence Pass. This was actually quite backwards, because it took me back north west to Carbondale, and I had to go south on 133 to end up in Ouray, where I was staying. But again, it really didn't matter. Running Glenwood Canyon twice was just fun and it was one of those roads that you need to run in each direction. Independence Pass again feels no need for guardrails on switchbacks with no shoulders - see pix. Honestly, I don't think guardrails would have stopped my bike from going over anyway if I hit one in a corner. High centre of gravity spourt touring bike loaded with luggage - suspect I would have just toppled over. Anyway, no toppling was done, despite the fact that the skies opened up just before the tightest corner on the road. Just slowed down, looked at the road instead of the empty air, clentched butt cheeks really hard and away we went.
Monday, again spent the night in the Ouray KOA and spent the day riding the San Juan Scenic By-way - which includes the "Million Dollar Highway". Again, posted some pix but haven't gotten around to captioning them yet. As impressive as it is in person, after while all the mountains start to look alike in the pictures. I took a "detour" to Cortez and on to Mesa Verde to see the ruins, then hooked back up with the By-way in Dolores.
Tuesday rode the Million Dollar Highway again, because it was on my way in any event, to head to New Mexico where I was staying for two nights. But I didn't ride 550 all the way to Bernalillo, deciding instead to go east on U.S. 160 to 64 and then south on 64. Northern New Mexico was stunning - but got increasing brown and burnt out as I headed south. Abiquiu area was gorgeous and I visited the Ghost Ranch. But hot, hot, hot. Fortunately my KOA cabin was air conditioned.
Thursday I elected not to ride to Amarillo, Texas. Instead I left at 4:00 a.m. in the morning and took I-25 north, so I could log in as many miles as possible while it was cool. For about 2 hours I was actually cold - it felt friggin' wonderful. For another 3 hours I was comfortable. As the heat increased, i switched over to the secondary highways - and stopped in a road side park for a siesta in the shade for the hottest part of the day. Still I made from Bernalillo, NM to Burlington, Colorado, where I stopped because of severe thunderstorm warnings. Parts of the area I had just travelled with got hit with 90 mph winds.
Friday - from Burlington, Co to Lincoln, Nebraska - again a lot of interstate travel and again a 4:00 a.m. start. In Lincoln I got in to get my oil changed and made it an early day - checking into my motel about 4:00 p.m.
Saturday I started out on I-80 again, but since I was making pretty good time, decided to boot off the interstate and go south a little bit to travel on U.S. 34. Again, avoiding the interstate resulted in a lot less stress and not much more time going through the rest of Nebraska and Iowa. Again, an early start to get those early miles in, a little nap in a roadside park and I still ended up just east of Joliet, Illinois for my Saturday night stop.
Which meant Sunday I just hightailed it for home. By that time I was pretty acclimatized to the heat but I was glad to have the extra day available if I needed it.
If you've made it this far - or just skipped through the novel - below is the link for the pix.
http://photobucket.com/2012trippix
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