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Adventure Lite 2019 – Give ‘Em Hail

Joined
Sep 11, 2006
Messages
2,531
Reaction score
93
Location
Houston, TX
First Name
Kory
Last Name
Burleson
Prologue

The idea of this year’s trip began riding through Kansas last year in 108 degree heat. The Trippin’ Connies era had come to an end with dad riding his new F6B. It was his most comfortable ride to date, so why not switch it up and make it more difficult. In reality, the change was due to the heat. We were in Kansas riding through extreme heat with another full day before we would reach home. Spending a day and a half to two days on the bikes just trying to get somewhere was getting a bit stale. We’d done it for 10 years in a row, I’ve got nothing more to prove by riding the bike out of the driveway to the destination.

Finishing off Trippin’ Connies 10 last year, while riding in the heat and Dallas traffic, I came up with the idea of going lighter and adding a bit of dirt. At the end of 2017 I had acquired a Kawasaki Versys-X 300. My thought was to trailer bikes to Colorado, see a couple places I haven’t seen, and dip a toe in the Adventure riding waters. Dad ended up adding a Versys-X 300 to his stable at the end of 2018. The plan was beginning to align.

We opened it up to the family, to see if anyone else had interest in going. My brother had interest, but was in the middle of building a house, so buying a bike wasn’t going to be an option. Dad offered up his Suzuki V-Strom 1k for him to ride. My uncle also had interest in going, but didn’t have a bike that would work for the trip. He had thoughts of getting the newly updated Honda CB500X, but the dealership wasn’t sure it would arrive in time for the trip. He ended up coming over and riding my 300, and purchased one the same day.

Heading into the trip, all three of the Versys had between 500-600 miles on them. Colorado would be a proper break-in.
 
Day -1: 05/31/2019

One of these days I’m going to have someone else plan a motorcycle trip, and I just go along for the ride. Until that day happens, I’ll keep planning everything. The other 3 going on the trip only knew what towns we’d be staying in and the general areas I planned to go. I did leave the truck and trailer preparation up to my dad and uncle. We’d be using dad’s truck and my uncle’s trailer.


This year’s trip was planned to be a little earlier in the year to better fit with my wife and I’s work schedules. It would also be shorter this year, 9 days total, since I spent 2 weeks vacation on a European trip earlier in the year with my wife and our friends. The plan was to spend day 1 trailering, in the air condition, from Houston to Castle Rock, CO. We’d spend 3 days riding out of Castle Rock during the day and sampling the local brews in the evenings. Day 5 we’d trailer over to Montrose, CO and have a short ride that day. Then another 3 days riding loops out of Montrose, CO and sampling the local brews in the evenings. Day 9 would be spent trailering from Montrose, CO back to Houston, in the air condition.


On Friday, 5/31/2019, all the bikes were loaded and in my driveway, ready to leave early the next morning.
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You got me...:popcorn:
 
humm, those are sure pretty bikes. I wonder how the plastics faired in CO? When I lived there, the term "break in" had a certain connotation, usually implying a reduction in the bike's cosmetics. Heck I "broke in" my collar bone and my KTM lc4 on the same ride only 5 miles down the trail from my house :-)
 
Day 1: 06/01/2019


Everyone met at my house at 4 in the morning to quickly get our trash cans loaded up and hit the road. Yep, trash cans. My uncle came up with the brilliant idea of 3 trash cans for us load our gear into. Brute to the rescue. Dad was able to use his truck box, but with 4 of us in the cab, we needed storage space for helmets, jackets, boots, etc.


My brother, Brett, drove the first leg to Vernon, TX. I took over for the second leg to Raton, NM, and then Brett finished it off to Castle Rock, CO. A cool 15 hours later we were checking into the Best Western in Castle Rock, CO.


Brett shot a bunch of video throughout the entire trip. I’m hoping to one day see something come of it.
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Once we got settled and unloaded at the hotel, we were starving so we walked over to Rockyard Brewing Co. I had read the service there was pretty bad, but it was within walking distance, so we tried it. Unfortunately the reviews were spot-on. We were close to walking out and figuring something else out, but someone finally came to take our order. The beer was ok, and the food was fine, but the service put a damper on it.
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After dinner it was back to the hotel to get some rest.
 
Day 2: 06/02/2019 – Cañon City Loop – 258 Miles


GOOGLE MAP LINK


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We were up and at it pretty early, had some breakfast and then took some time trying to figure out how many layers of clothes were going to be required. The overnight low was 46 degrees, but it was supposed to warm up to 75. Layer and peel would be happening all week.


Before gearing up, I took quick individual shots. Here’s my brother, Brett...
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Here’s Dad wondering what we’re about to get into...
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Here’s my Uncle Randy…
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And then Brett took one of me…
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After these pictures we spent about 10 minutes trying to get dad, Brett, and I’s Sena headsets synced up. On the verge of giving up and trying to figure it out later they started working. I came ill-prepared with no gas in the tank, so we had to stop by the Loaf ‘N Jug before we could get started. Once we finally got going we headed out of town on US85 where we took CO67 out of Sedalia. I wasn’t even expecting it, but CO67 is a blast as it heads towards the mountains. It was a quick eye-opener with the Versys-X 300. I’m either used to the Concours 14’s power, or just poking around on the flat lands of Houston with the Versys. The first twisty incline of CO67 had me laughing inside my helmet. This bike was going to take some getting used to, but I was looking forward to it. Keep the revs high and the throttle pinned.


We broke off onto W Pine Creek Road and got our first taste of dirt. The stock Versys-X tires were quickly exposed. I was almost immediately wishing I had swapped them out for a 50/50 type of tire prior to the trip. Too late now, all I could do was get used to the feeling of constant movement under the bike. Back on the pavement of N Platte River Road we turned South and shortly after I pulled over for a little stop to discuss initial thoughts.
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Back on the road we continued South, joining back up with CO67. A little further South and out of Deckers, we took Deckers Rd. to NFSR 211. It was a nice mix of a dirt backroad with scenery. Somewhere along there we stopped for a break.
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We eventually ran into Tarryall Rd. and took it down to US24. I had a missed call from my wife, so we stopped there while I had service. I was looking to get an update on my oldest daughter’s softball game.
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After that quick check-in, we headed for Elevenmile Canyon Reservoir. We looped around the lake and then rode out to one of the outlooks for a closer view. The mosquitoes were fiercely swarming, and you can actually see them in the pictures below. To the South, and opposite the lake, we were looking back at a lightning storm that we were most likely headed into.
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We geared up for rain there and continued South to CO9, skirting the storm seen above and just getting a bit of rain. CO9 was a treat with great sweeping turns and reaching US50 left me wanting more. We rode US50 into Canon City, riding Skyline Dr. I’ve heard of it forever, and made it a point to finally check it out on this trip. We stopped once to enjoy the view.
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Finishing off Skyline Dr. we rode into town and quickly topped off on gas. We then made our way over to Phantom Canyon Rd to head back North. Somewhere along there we stopped to gear up again for rain as it looked like we were headed for another storm.
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As we continued North we did hit the rain before we got to Victor. It quickly got nasty when we got into town and turned into hail. We road around the town with a bit of urgency due to the hail and wicked lightning. We settled for what seemed to be a town park with a pavilion. We hopped the fence and took shelter under the pavilion. There’s something different about lightning and thunder in the mountains. It’s pretty creepy if you ask me. With the storm, and at well over 9k feet, the temperature had dropped dramatically, making the 45 minute wait feel even longer.
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I had planned to add in a little more dirt as we headed back to the hotel, but with the unanticipated delay, we talked about it and decided to just take pavement back to the hotel. From Victor we took CO67 all the way back to Sedalia, and then US85 back to Castle Rock, arriving back at the hotel at around 6 pm.


After getting the bikes and ourselves sorted, we jumped in the truck and headed down to 105 West Brewing Company, just a short 3 mile drive down I-25 one exit south of the Best Western. We all really enjoyed everything about the place. This was our kind of brewery. Smallish, large selection of good beers, with rotating food trucks. There aren’t many local breweries around Houston that have sour beers, so it was nice seeing a variety on the board at 105. They were all good. The food truck for this night was B-Man BBQ. Dad and I both got pulled pork nachos, pictured below. They had to have each weighed 5 lbs. They were delicious and we plowed through them, absolutely stuffing ourselves. Dad ended up getting the worst of it and had a bad night sleep because he was so stuffed!
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Subscribed.
Y'all love yourselves some Kawasaki! 900cc's of Versys in three bikes - I love it!
 
Going with what @Jeff S says, are y’all liking the 300’s or wishing for the 650’s?
 
Subscribed.
Y'all love yourselves some Kawasaki! 900cc's of Versys in three bikes - I love it!

I guess you can call me a fanboy. :D

Going with what @Jeff S says, are y’all liking the 300’s or wishing for the 650’s?

I dig the 300. It really is a fun bike and a refreshing change of pace from riding bigger bikes. Dad was drooling over every DR 650 we saw on the trip, but he also has buyer's remorse on every purchase he makes. :lol: I'm not exactly sure what Brett's final impressions were of the Versys from the time he did get to put on it. His impression may be a bit skewed from jumping right off the V-Strom. As for Randy, you'll see what he ended up doing after the trip.


8-)
 
Three little Versys 😍😍!! Looking forward to the rest of the trip.
 
Day 3: 06/03/2019 – Pikes Peak Loop – 176 Miles


GOOGLE MAP LINK


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During breakfast we were debating on which of the two routes to take. By looking at the forecast, which let’s be honest, they mean nothing, it looked like the better day to make a run down to Pikes Peak would be today. It was decided, that was the way we would head.


Randy decided to try out his soft hand guards after battling cold hands yesterday.
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A little prior day dirtiness…
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We took off and headed out of town on W Wolfensberger Rd. Then it was W Pine Cliff Ave to Jackson Creek Rd to NFSR 507 to get to S Rampart Range Rd. It was unexpected, because Jackson Creek Rd was short, but it was awesome. A mile or two down S Rampart Range Rd we passed what looked to be a nice view, so we turned back and took a break.
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Rampart Range Rd was good fun. I probably enjoyed it a bit more than the others since they were sucking in dust and I was in the clear. That’s what happens though when no one else wants to lead. We cruised along at a good pace only stopping again on the road where there was a nice view of Pikes Peak in the distance. Randy went in search of a better view around the next corner. I’m partial to the spot we stopped.
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Rampart Range Rd finishes off in the Garden of the Gods area. I didn’t even realize that was there, so we didn’t stop and look around any. We rode into town and stopped to to top off the bikes and recharge our energy. There was some interesting people watching at this station.
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We used US 24 to get to Pikes Peak Toll Rd. The line at the toll booth wasn’t too bad, but to expedite the process I paid for us all and would just get the money back later. Much faster than 4 of us paying individually. Almost immediately as we started to climb, it started to rain. We found a spot to pull over and put on our rain gear. Temperatures started dropping drastically, it started to rain harder, and then the hail came. We just kept climbing, there weren’t may other options at that point. Three of us screamed up the mountain and the other just lugged it. This day they were strict on who they allowed all the way to the top, and we were not one of the chosen ones. We were forced to pull over and park at about the 16 mile marker.
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For the final 3 miles, we had to use a shuttle. We parked the bikes and then headed over and were immediately put on a shuttle van. We got right on and sat in the first two benches. Once we got settled with our gear, helmets, and tank bags, the shuttle driver asked us to move to the back. We were all thinking “REALLY?!!?!?” Dad gave a loud sigh and the guy got pissy and said there was an old lady that needed to get on. Dad responded with “Well, I’m an old man!” We grabbed all our our stuff and moved to the back.
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Pretty sure that due to the exchange Dad had with the driver, he made it his mission to make it an uncomfortable trip to the top. We were being slung back and forth. Brett was doing everything he could to not puke on the 3 mile ride. The top is under construction and the guy took the whoops section extra fast and we were bouncing all over the place. We were thankful to make it out of the van. Once out, we immediately went over to the sign to have someone take our picture. Brett still looks like it’s going to puke.
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As soon as we got into the store, which felt scorching hot compared to outside, I started feeling sick. The altitude along with the extreme change in temp from outside to inside got me. I was light-headed and had to sit down to collect myself. Once I felt a bit better I gathered and purchased my goodies to bring back home. We went out back to walk around and see if we could find a view through the crazy weather.
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By the time we headed back down Brett and I were feeling better and we lucked out with the shuttle van for the return trip. Tasha was the complete opposite of the guy on the way up. She gave us information and facts on the way back to our bikes and answered any questions we had. And we got to sit up front. Ha!
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Once back at the bikes we headed back down the mountain and turned off on Pikes Peak Toll Rd and towards South Catamount Reservoir. The plan was to take backroads to Woodland Park, but we ran into a closed and locked gate by North Catamount Reservoir. We turned around and pulled over to figure out how we wanted to proceed.
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Our two main options were to head to I-25 and slab it back or once again take CO 67 back to Castle Rock. CO 67 won out. It’s nothing special, but it sure beats interstate and it’s a fun road to ride on the 300s. We took a break at the Bridge Crossing Picnic Area along the South Platte River.
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Dad’s boots are starting to look a little rough.
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We made it back to the hotel a little after 5 pm and I got to have some fun talking to my babies.
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We cleaned up and headed to BURLY Brewing Company, which was once again just a 3 mile ride in the truck down I-25. BURLY was another hit with us. A large selection of good tasting beer and a cool pace in general. With the awesome logo and similarity to our last name, we bought a bunch of merch. The food truck of the night was Mac and Noodles and the green chili bowl had some kick. We somehow ended up going down a Dwight Yoakum - “Fast as You” rabbit hole, don’t ask me how.
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Day 4: 06/04/2019 – Guanella Pass Loop – 184 Miles


GOOGLE MAP LINK


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The original plan for the final day in Castle Rock was foiled before it even started. I had planned to do a loop that incorporated a ride to the top of Mt. Evans. It should have been opened at the end of May but winter still hadn’t ended. The road still had too much snow. We talked it over and decided to ride the planned route, just without the run to the top of Mt. Evans. It was a bummer, but there was nothing we could do about it.


Once again we started off getting to CO 67. We were starting to get really comfortable on this road and it’s a fun run up the mountain to wake up in the morning. This time we took W Pine Creek Road and turned north on N Platte River Rd. We stopped for a break and Randy headed back a mile or two to use a roadside facility.
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Next up was S Foxton Rd, which we took to US 285 to get to HWY 73. It was fairly congested all the way to Evergreen. From there we took a left on HWY 74. We passed a golf course and I angered a golfer taking a swing. We eventually turned onto Witter Gulch Rd which had about 14 switchbacks in a row that we climbed. After that we made our way to Squaw Pass Rd/CO 103 and that took us to the start of Mt. Evans road.
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The road to the top was closed today, but at least we were all able to ride it together 8 years ago, a chilly ride up the mountain we’ll never forget. We had a little time to kill so we went to the Echo Lake Lodge next door and roamed around the store. It was a cool little place.
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Leaving the store we continued on CO 103 to I-70. We headed West to Georgetown and exited to get to Guanella Pass Rd. Heading South out of town we climbed up and stopped for the view of the city below.
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We continued South and could see the weather turning almost immediately in front of us. A few miles later we pulled over to put our rain gear on.
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While we were stopped here, an interesting character pulled up on an incredible BMW.
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This was our first time on Guanella Pass Rd so I had no idea what to expect. I thoroughly enjoyed it, outside of the sleet and light hail at the pass. We spent a little time at the trailhead taking in the scenery and weather.
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Brett had a little fun in the snow.



From there we continued South until we hit US 285 and then headed East, riding in and out of rain. At Conifer we finally broke out of the rain as we started on Pleasant Park Rd. We didn’t take another break until W Deer Creek Canyon Rd, and by that time we were all ready.
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From there we looped under Chatfield Lake and headed back to Castle Rock on US 85. Back at the hotel we loaded up the bikes for travel in the morning and then discussed what to do for the night. It was the last night in Castle Rock and we enjoyed both BURLY and 105 W Brewing. The later was set to have a Cajun food truck, so we decided to go to BURLY and hang out for a bit, then go over to 105 W Brewing to eat there. Sounded like a plan, off to BURLY we went.
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We made the 0.8 mile trip over to 105 W Brewing only to find out that the cajun food truck had mechanical problems and wouldn’t be showing. We were already there, so we hung out for a bit. It was a good thing for Brett because he had what he called the best beer of his life. It happened to be called Deez Nuts, a hazelnut and peanut butter ale. Brett and I had camera discussions, as we do all the time, so most of the photos below are from playing and testing focus settings in a difficult environment.
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Since there was no food, we headed back over to BURLY where we could once again eat the B-Man BBQ food truck. I couldn’t keep myself away from those delicious pulled pork nachos. Once we got back to BURLY it was packed, but we were able to snag the last table. It was trivia night, which we were too late to participate in, but it sure did entertain us the rest of the night. A guy at the table next to us noticed my camera. He had a D750, if I remember correctly, and took our picture, then sent it to me seconds later via text.
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Always entertaining ride reports from Kory. I really enjoy the photos, you have knack for capturing the moment.

Did you talk to the character on the BMW?
 
Always entertaining ride reports from Kory. I really enjoy the photos, you have knack for capturing the moment.

Did you talk to the character on the BMW?

Thank you!

Dad and Randy talked to him, I'm not sure if they actually got anything out of him. That's the only downside to riding with earplugs. When we're just taking a quick break, I leave my helmet on and generally avoid talking to people because I can't hear them without taking off my helmet and removing my earplugs. Although sometimes I'm able to listen in on the conversation through the headsets. Not in this case, he was a low talker.
 
Day 5: 06/05/2019 – Black Canyon National Park Exploring – 53 Miles


GOOGLE MAP LINK


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Today we moved base camp from Castle Rock to Montrose. After breakfast at the hotel we hit the road, trailering the bikes for five and a half hours. We arrived in Montrose at the Red Arrow & Suites about an hour prior to check-in. I went in to ask if we could go ahead and get into our room but we had to wait about 30 minutes. During that time, we unloaded the bikes and figured out what we wanted to do with the trailer and truck. The Tripadvisor reviews of the hotel were pretty good, but I was extremely disappointed in the room. It wasn’t even up to motel standards and was basically downright gross. We wouldn’t be spending much time in the room, and that’s the only reason we didn’t spend time trying to figure out somewhere else to stay. Note dad scratching his head looking at the place.
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We got everything loaded in the room and then it was time to take an afternoon ride and explore the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We headed back down US 50 to CO 347, which took us right into the park. After paying our entrance fees, we took a right on E Portal Rd. It’s a nice ride and takes you down into the canyon and along the river. We stopped as we started to enter the canyon for a look around.
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Google maps shows that the road goes all the way to the dam. It does, but it is closed off to the public.
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We rode back to the East Portal Campground area to see if there were any other roads to explore, but there were not. We stayed there for a few minutes and listened to the rush of the river in the canyon.
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We rode back out of the canyon and got to the Rim Drive Rd. Along there we spent some time stopping at a few of the overlooks off the road, the first of which was Pulpit Rock Overlook. There were a variety of views here, so we walked around for a while.
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The next overlook we stopped at was the Painted Wall View.
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While I was changing the lens on my camera, I somehow took a selfie on my cell phone. I actually like it though.
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We rode the Rim Drive Rd until it ended, then turned around and headed for the Visitor Center to collect some souvenirs. The weather was threatening so there were no more stops. As we came out of the Visitor Center it was sprinkling, but we got out of the park just in time. We headed back to the hotel, finishing off the 53 mile ride.


Back at the hotel we cleaned up and headed down to the Horsefly Brewing Company for a long night of entertainment. Dad and I lucked on this place two years ago and it happened to be open mic night. This year, I planned to go here on open mic night. Donny Morales runs it and boy is he a talented musician.
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Jason Pridmore started it off with his dog. It wasn’t Jason Pridmore, both Dad and I thought he sure did look like him.
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I haven’t had food that wasn’t good here, and the beer is solid.
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As for the performers, this guy played several newer rock songs.
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This couple we couldn’t wait to hear, just to see what they sounded like. They were highly entertaining, and not bad. They sang all original songs.
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Later on the guy to the right came on with Donny, and they made a good and entertaining combo. He was making up lyrics on the spot and pretty funny.
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But the star of the night, and I’m assuming ever Wednesday night, was Donny Morales. He can play the guitar and harmonica, and he’s got a great sining voice.


I forgot to mention that we noticed a screw in one of the truck’s tire when we got out at the Horsefly. This had dad freaking out for the next couple of days. For the moment, the plan was to just monitor the tire pressure within the truck’s gauges.
 
For some reason I'm not able to get my GIFs to automatically show on the page, thus I have just linked them. When I use the IMG tags, it gives an error "X". :shrug:
 
Day 6: 06/06/2019 – Million Dollar Not-So-Loopy – 264 Miles


GOOGLE MAP LINK



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I had looked up a couple tire shops in town and one showed to be open until 6:30 pm. The plan was for Dad to take in in after the day’s ride. The display in the truck was showing it was 5 lbs lower than the others in the morning.


I’ll just say it up front, today’s ride was a bust, but it was still fun. We started out heading east on US 50. The ride to Cimarron is an absolute blast on the 300s. It’s a twisty uphill for about 5 miles straight and we’re full throttle the entire time. You have to keep the momentum or else you drop back from the pack and have to regain it somehow. The phrase “wringing the necks” came up and stuck when referring to climbing long uphills on the 300s. I must admit, there is something to be said about riding a bike that you can, and at times have to, literally use every bit of power from the engine. It brings a smile to my face.


We turned south on Cimarron Rd. It didn’t take long before we got into some beautiful scenery.
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The road turns into County Road 858. There’s an awesome section where the road goes straight through a forest of aspens. I had to pull over for some shots.
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Following the GPS we turned onto County Road 860. The hope was to take it to County Road 8, ride Owl Creek Pass, and end up on US 550. But as soon as we started on 860, we began dodging small patches of snow. Maybe a mile and a half up the road we came to a big section of snow covering the road, but there was a small patch of mud on the side allowing us to slowly get around and not go for a ride down the side of the mountain. But around the next turn there was no avoiding it. Snow covered the road from side to side. I stopped as we tried to figure out what we wanted to do. Dad lost patience and decided to give it a go. Here’s how that went…
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It was a no-go, and it was only going to get worse as Brett walked around the corner and confirmed. We took a good break and tried to figure out what to do.
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Of course no one had phone service, and I couldn’t figure out an alternative with zooming in and out on the GPS. We turned around and headed back to 858, seeing if we could continue there. We quickly ran into trouble there, avoiding a pretty good snow patch just to run into another. Randy decided he’d show us how to get through the 20 foot patch of snow. Here’s how that went…
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He jammed his “boys” on the tank and instantly regretted that decision. Also, it wouldn’t have mattered if we got through that section because I confirmed once we got home that 858 dead-ended about 1,000 ft from where we stopped.
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We had passed a couple that was camping with a GS so we went back to ask them if they were aware of any alternatives. They confirmed there was no passable way to US 550 without going all the way back around.
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It was still early in the day, so we did just that, backtracked to US 50 and headed back to Montrose, where we filled up.
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Dad and Brett swapped bikes so Brett could experience the Versys-X. We headed south on US 550 for some fun.
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South of Ouray we stopped for a break.
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And another stop at a popular spot just north of Red Mountain Pass.
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The next time we pulled over was at a little waterfall so dad could plug in his Sena. He’s not a fan of being “tethered” to the bike with the charging cord.
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Somewhere along US 550 I slowed down and pulled over as I spotted a moose on the side of the road, but it’s head was basically at road level due to the drop-off at the edge of the road. It wasn’t full grown, but it was the first time I’ve been that close to one. It was young, but it was still huge. It also wasn’t a fan of the exhaust on the V-Strom, so it trotted off pretty quickly.


We took US550 south and turned off on Purgatory Blvd to get to County Road 578. I was hoping to cross over to to CO 145. 578 Started off with a handful of switchbacks that had some loose and sandy corners. I was poking and holding up everyone, but what can you do. Once we cleared those we cruised along at a good pace and were enjoying the road until we ran into the crossing of Hermosa Creek. It stopped us dead in our tracks. We walked into the creek and most of it looked doable, but there was one section that was too deep for us to try to cross and the water was moving quick there.
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When we were about to turn around a guy pulled up in his F-150 to check it out. He said he’s never seen the creek this high. Go figure.
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The only option was to turn around. At this point in the day we were a decent distance from the hotel, so we would just head straight back there. Bummer we had to ride back up US 550. Ha!


We cruised back out of 578 and I stopped at one point to get some riding pictures of them. Dad actually lead heading back to US 550 and I got to experience the dust they’ve been dealing with for days now.
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On the way down we passed Molas Pass and it looked incredible with snow everywhere and the surrounding mountains. I wanted to stop, but in the interest of time we didn’t. Well, I told everyone I was stopping there on the way back, and we did. It’s an incredible spot.
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Dad’s boots were getting real rough… and hungry.
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We got back to the hotel a little before 6 and dad decided to take the truck to one of the tire shops that Google showed was open until 6:30. When he got there a few minutes after 6 they were already closed, but one of the guys did attempt to help him. He pulled the screw out and with soap on it they could see a slight leak, but it wasn’t much. They left it at that and dad came back to the hotel. Oddly enough, we tested it back at the hotel and never did see anything leaking out of it. The tire monitor didn’t show any difference in pressure for the remainder of the trip, so we lucked out there.


The other brewery in Montrose is Two Rascals Brewing Company. We headed there for dinner, only to find out that their own food truck was in Delta for a festival. We hung out there for a bit and sampled the beer.
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For food we headed back to Horsefly and got to listen to some more music. I forgot the guy’s name, but he was solid. There was a bit of chill to the night’s air.
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Day 7: 06/07/2019 – Black Canyon & Grand Mesa Loop – 267 Miles


GOOGLE MAP LINK


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I forgot to mention, the Red Arrow Inn & Suites was a pretty bad experience with the room, but the only beacon of light was the breakfast. There’s a lady that cooks fresh eggs every morning, any way you want them. That was a positive, and good start to the day.


Once we hit the road we rang the necks of the 300s as we headed east out of town. By this point it became a game of me setting the pace to Cimarron and seeing who could keep up, outside of whomever was riding the V-Strom. The first stop was at the Blue Mesa dam after turning onto CO 92.
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CO 92 is always a must for me if I’m in the area. To get a good view of the canyon though, you have to pull over and walk out to the edge. We stopped at our favorite spot along the road to do just that.
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We took CO 92 to Black Canyon Rd, which we took into the National Park to view the opposite side of the canyon we were looking at just two days prior. We stopped at two of the overlooks, the first being Big Island View. The great part about this side of the park is that you practically have it to yourself.
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When we were leaving Randy noticed some mountain lion tracks. Good luck spotting them in this photo.
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The second overlook we checked out was Kneeling Camel View. It was great just listening to the rush of the river way down below.
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From there we back-tracked out of the park and back to CO 92. We then took Crawford Rd to cut across to CO 133. We rode that east to County Road 12 where we planned to take it to Crested Butte via Kebler Pass. When we turned onto County Road 12 we were all in need of a break, so I found a spot to pull over. While there, we noticed the board said the road was closed 4 miles ahead. No! Someone eventually drove by and we flagged them down only to have them confirm there was no way through. They said even if we could make it through, there was way to much snow to get all the way to Crested Butte. Bummer!
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We still had half the day left so we decided to make a run up to Grand Mesa and then loop back to Montrose. So back down CO 133 we went to CO 92 and then north on CO 65. As we climbed it got cooler and cooler, and more and more snow appeared. We stopped for a close look at Ward Creek Reservoir, it was almost completely still iced over.
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Then it was a short ride to the Grand Mesa Visitor Center for some souvenirs. While we were enjoying the warmth of the center, we were talking to the ranger. He said last winter they had something like 30 inches of snow. This year it was almost 130 inches. When we were coming out of the visitor center a van full of Colorado Rockies prospects (I want to say from the Dominican Republic) were walking in and most of them seeing snow for the first time.
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As we were gearing up to leave it began raining and snowing.
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We continued to climb in the rain, trying to get to the top of the mesa. Luckily we broke the rain and found a good spot to pull over to turn around.
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A guy on a Beemer pulled up and talked to dad for a bit. He used to live in the Houston area.
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We turned around and retreated down the Grand Mesa for some gas in Cedaredge.
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From there we took the quickest way back to Montrose via US 50. The plan for the night was to go back to 2 Rascals to see if the food truck was back, and if not, figure out something else. Turns out, the food truck was still gone, so we discussed what to do over a couple of beers.
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The consensus was to walk over to Colorado Boy for some pizza. On our way, we checked out a car show in town that was ending.
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Colorado Boy was actually a microbrewery along with a pizzeria.
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We walked back to the truck at 2 Rascals and it looked to cool at dusk not to take a picture of it.
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