I finally found a little time so I'm gonna try to do our trip justice with my write-up.
(Of course, this is from my perspective).
I took off early on Saturday morning headed towards Snyder, TX to meet up with Dutch.
When I left San Antonio the weather couldn't have been much more perfect. It was in the low 70s and slightly foggy. Not the type of foggy that gets you soaked, it was just enough to keep it cool. I turned north when I got to Junction, TX. Not much to really look at on the way but I did go through the wind farms. The shear size and number of the windmills is impressive. Definitely worth a picture.
I finally met up with Dutch in Snyder and we headed onto Amarillo to meet up with Rsquared and tulstrom. They had gotten there a few hours earlier and gotten a spot at the KOA. This was my first time staying at a KOA and I must say, it was a nice change from finding a place in the woods. The showers were nice. We all loaded up the next morning and headed down to Palo Duro Canyon. At the time, I didn't even know what Palo Duro Canyon was. A friend told me about it. If you haven't been, I highly recommend it.
From there, we headed north into New Mexico. We did run into a rain shower that dropped the temp down to about 55°. Luckily it didn't last too long and we dried off pretty quick as we rode towards Raton, NM. There wasn't a whole lot there but we did get a pic of the sign.
And then we went straight through to Colorado.
We stayed in Pueblo, CO for the night. Pretty cool, since we had a view of Pikes Peak in the background.
Our first stop on Monday morning was Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. It was kinda busy that day since it was Memorial Day. But, we did a quick ride through just to see the sights before was headed to Pikes Peak.
Apparently people actually have to be told this:
We all had to change our gear a bit before we headed too far up Pikes Peak. Someone said it might be a little cold up there...hmmmm.
We almost made it to the top and found the road was closed. We stopped for about a half hour and waited with high hopes the road was going to open. It was somewhere in the 30s I guess but the windchill was probably around 20 or so. There was a storm coming in so we ended up turning around and heading down. We were only about a 1/2 mile away anyway. Besides, been there, done that (just not on a bike).
Great road on the way up and the way down though. At least it wasn't icy or slick.
When we got to the bottom we stopped to eat at a little cafe. Great Philly sandwiches. It was right at the bottom of the mountain, right before you turn onto Pikes Peak Highway. Of course, it started to rain while we were in there.
We stopped to savor the view somewhere between Colorado Springs and Buena Vista, CO.
This was the view from the mountain as we were coming over the pass headed into Buena Vista.
We turned onto HWY50 west on our way to Gunnison, CO (our destination for the night). Along the way, as we were headed over Monarch Pass, we came across an old abandoned mine. And, of course, we ran into a huge snowstorm. First time I've ever ridden in the snow like that. Unfortunately, we didn't stop for a picture of the snow (which was sticking to our visors by now) because we just wanted to get over the pass before the snow started to stick to the road.
Of course, it did get down into the 20 something degree range. It was interesting to have sheets of ice on the inside of my rainfly of my tent the next morning. Good thing I brought the heavy sleeping bag I guess. Great view the next morning though.
From there, we continued west on 50. The road between Gunnison and Montrose was probably one of the best riding roads in existence. It was amazing. A great mix of lower speed tight twisties and switchbacks combined with some really high speed long sweeping curves headed up, and down, the mountain with great camber. Honestly, I'd love to move there just so I could ride the roads every day. Definitely some amazing views on the way too.
We stayed on 50 and headed north at Montrose to Grand Junction. That's where we lost Rsquared. He got a call from work and had to head back to Houston so he could fly out to California the next week. Sad to lose him there, but the trip carried on.
Out of Grand Junction we decided to head to Vernal, UT. We took HWY139 north towards Dinosaur, CO and got a massive surprise! HWY 139 was amazing! It starts off going through some canyons and then takes a turn to head over the mountain. The road wasn't in the greatest shape, but good enough. Lots of tight twists and turns with some scenic overlooks. The best part? No traffic, well...not much at least.
I do what I want:
Still on 139:
Made it to the Utah line.
Camped out in Vernal, UT for the night and then continued north on HWY191.
We decided to take a turn off onto 44w (or north, not sure) off of 191 which took us through the mountains to the west around Flaming Gorge. We found a road that spurred off of 44 called "The Geologic Loop". Since we hadn't been there, we decided to go ahead and take it. Great choice! Might have been the most amazing sights on the trip so far. Single lane road the whole way. It was tight and twisty but not much traffic. Took us down through some amazing canyon roads. Eventually turning into gravel and at the end...no road at all. They were working on it and had completely torn the 1/4 mile of road up. Great adventure though.
We were really close to the Wyoming boarder at this point. You know...there sure isn't much in SW Wyoming. Looks a lot like west Texas really. Had to get an obligatory picture though. Ended up with the sign, an old decrepit house, and snow fences.
Did end up finding some amazing view up an old gravel road, at the top of a really big hill with lots of ruts. Again, just happened to see the road and take it.
Did I mention we didn't really have a plan on where we were going? We just kinda looked at a map and tried to set a goal for each day. No real agenda. Worked out quite well.
After that; into Idaho!
Where we entered into bear country!
Camped you in Montpelier, UT for the night. Just more of a stopover than anything really. We just need to break up the miles before hitting up Jackson Hole, WY the next day.
It really was a beautiful area though. Great campsite.
This was a neat little spectacle to come across.
Finally made it to Jackson, WY the next day and stopped for lunch. Great little town. Expensive, but really unique.
The Grand Tetons were our ultimate goal...we made it!
The Tetons were magnificent! Pictures can't do them justice. They're massive. Most mountains I see, I want to climb. But, the Tetons look like they want to kill you.
This was on top of Signal Mountain on the edge of the Teton National Forest and Yellowstone.
We did find a herd of elk out there.
And a herd of bison.
Got back to Jackson late that afternoon and had dinner at the Snake River Grill. Ok, it's a bit expensive but it might actually be the most amazing food I've ever had. I had the bison tenderloins on a bed of seared romain lettuce with a peanut crusted mozzarella wedge with a house made sauce. Simply amazing!
From there, the next morning we headed back south. tulstrom and I headed back down 191 into Vernal, hoping to make Steamboat Springs, CO for the night and Dutch headed east on I80 (he wanted to head home because of the all the storms here and his wife was alone). This was some of the scenery along 191 just before we crossed back into Utah.
In Utah, we went through Flaming Gorge on the eastern side and came across the lake. They were letting water out of the jets. Apparently, it only happens once a year and we caught it just at that time. Simply amazing how much water was passing through there.
We turned onto 40E out of Vernal. They were repaving the road somewhere around the UT/CO border. We didn't get stuck for too long. That stretch of 40 is almost completely devoid of anything interesting. But, we did find people transported cows through there.
We made it to Steamboat and the KOA there is in an amazing location. You've got Steamboat Ski Resort in the background with a river running right through the middle. The snowcaps were still melting so the river was up pretty high. It was even starting to flood part of the campgrounds. The river was beautiful though.
After leaving Steamboat Springs, tulstrom and I parted ways. From there I was by myself. Alone and unafraid. He headed south to South Fork, CO to visit a friend and headed to Aurora to do the same. Did get some good pics coming over the pass at Steamboat though.
I stayed on 40E and went through Winter Park. I had lots of time to kill so I found a dirt road a friend had told me about and took off toward the top of the mountain. Dirt all the way, with some snow and potholes, but an amazing view.
From there, I headed south through the Arapaho National Forest and over the mountain just south of Winter Park. I still had a lot of time left before I could get to my friend's house so I went over the pass, turned around, came back, and did it again. The mountain roads were amazing!
The next morning I headed back home. Took I70 east for a ways then hit up 40E/87S to 287S. I did find a neat picture in front of a VFW. Other than it, it was 943 miles absolutely nothing. Very depressing after being in such beautiful country for the last week.
Oklahoma:
Texas:
Windshield after the trip:
So, it was an epic trip! Met some amazing people along the way. Saw some stuff that I had only seen in books before. For me, it totaled 10 days, over 14,000ft in elevation, 7 states, and 3,652.9 miles from my driveway back to my driveway. Can't wait for the next trip. Maybe the next one will be out east to the Smokey Mountains when the leaves change. We'll see.