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No Country for old Mooses

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For the rest of the trip the roads were either to good, or the weather to bad to taken anymore photo's

Day 6 - the day that makes the whole ride worthwhile. N0 photos as I spent the day riding!!!

Pulled out of Moab early as I had no plans to explore the area on the big girl with all my shuff and was still focused on the goals I had in mind for Eastern Colorado

Turn left and then Right onto 90 - kinda ho hum until you hit 145 and then 62, which dumps you onto 550 just north of Quray, although I did have to put on the rainsuit outside Naturita...then had to get gas. Poor planning on my part as my wallet was still in my back pocket:nod

550 to Durango, the million dollar highway is fabulous.

160 to Pagosa Springs and then over to South Fork to 145 and finally remove the rain suit for the rest of the day

145 is a great road, very light traffic and lots of nice sweepers...and home of Slumgullion pass and pop out just West of Gunnison

Since the weather is good I decide to make a long day of it, pick up 50 and cross over Monarch pass toward Salida in perpetration of tomorrows push, where I pick up a cheap hotel room for the night at the corner of 285 and 50
 
It seams the weather has had a bit of a hate on for all three of us (Bill, you and I) this year. Just got back yestersay from playing in the same general location and have never had the weather play such a big part in messing with my trip before. Heck it still beat being at the office.
 
145 between US 50 and Creede is one of my favorite rides. There is rarely any traffic to speak of and the road is just great! I like to stop at Poker Alice's for lunch in Lake City.

141 from Naturita up through Gateway to Grand Junction is also one of my favorite rides. When I first rode it, Gateway was a ghost town. Now it has become some kind of big resort!

That stretch of 62 between 141 and Ridgeway is also nice because of the great views of the San Juans to the South. Somewhere I have a great panorama shot of the whole range when they were really decked out with snow.
 
Tourmeister said:
141 from Naturita up through Gateway to Grand Junction is also one of my favorite rides. When I first rode it, Gateway was a ghost town. Now it has become some kind of big resort!
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Nah - that road sucks. Why would anyone want to waste their time on a stretch of highway like this?

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Day 7 - road to suckage

The day begins early, really early....

Wake up in the room about 2am as I feel something walk across my back. I'm instantly awake swatting at the invader and leap from the bed. I can neither confirm or deny I yelped like a little girl

Got up, turned on the light to look for little bodies.......and find a little black spider TA. I didn't look to close but are there black widows in Salida?

Now I hate spiders, I mean I really hate them so I returned to a uneasy rest, of course there might have been a sip or 2 of Irish to calm my nerves - purely for medicinal purposes of course

Rise again about 6:30 to prep for my next leg to do Pikes Peak - and turn on the weather channel. Holy crap eastern Colorado blew up with rain and the weather channel shows wet all the way back to Durango

A look out the door shows heavily pregnant clouds due east, which makes me sad

With a heavy sigh I head south toward Taos and arrive...in rain and head to Las Vegas NM via 518 which is a nice twisty road, even in the, you guessed it...heavy rain. Going thru Sipapu (Westfest 2007) I see the field we camped in back then is now condo's....well the world keeps spinning doesn't it

Now I always like the ride 104 from Las Vegas to Tucumcari and camp at the corp of Engineers lake - boring and lonely with one short nice section coming down the escarpment about 1/2 way, but I'm worried that the road below might be waterlogged
so I head down I25 and head SE on 84 to Santa Rose.

I was toying with camping at Palo Duro but the wind from the east was I bad I stayed on 84 and overnighted in the town of Littlefied - Home of Waylin Jennings....
 
Day 8 - road home

Not much to say - long hot ride thru West Texas, got home to Pearland (South suburb of Houston) about 6:30pm that evening

Total 4200 miles for the trip - 8 days, 2 less then planned due to moisture in the SW

If I'd kept to plan I'd have been in NE Colorado when the really really rains came - I really feel bad for all those people who lost everything when all that happened to me was to be mildly inconvenienced

Thanks all for reading
 
jhansen said:
Very nice. How did the Goose handle the heavy rain and slick roads?
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The bike is very stable in the wet and in high winds. The stock scorpions are stickier then the Anakee III's I've got on now.

It's also nice that it comes with switchable ABS and traction control

All in all I'm very happy with the bike - 22k miles in 14 months with only some minor issues
 
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