Day Three: Colorado State HOG Rally and Moab - 3 Day Ride

June 21, 2009
Sunday - Father's Day
Fort Collins, CO

We had rain overnight in Grand Junction, but it was mostly dry when we rose. We had our continental breakfast, loaded the Harley and checked out of the hotel by 8:30 am. It was time to point The Ride toward home. It was Father's Day. I called and tried to catch Dad early but he was out on a breakfast ride with Kenny. Good for him.

I presented Tim with a card and wished him a Happy Father's Day, too. He was feeling a bit frisky this morning. Isn't he always? It was also the Summer Solstice. Summer has officially arrived. OK. It felt good in our shirt sleeves standing around outside the hotel, but we still pulled on our leather jackets. Our ride would take us up along the north rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, around Blue Mesa Reservoir and even further up over Monarch Pass and into the high South Park valley.

I reckon the last day of even a short vacation can be a let down... but we were far from feeling depressed and eager to be on the road. We were taking the long way home and looking forward to every mile of it.

The first part of our ride took us back to the small town of Delta (halfway between Grand Junction and Montrose). Delta is a quaint little town. Many of the buildings are painted with murals. The oil crews that were working the roads on the far end of town Friday when we passed through, were now working in town. YUK! We topped off the tank with gas and headed east. In the past we have driven the south rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison out of Montrose. Today we would ride the north rim of the canyon. Not too far down the road, we ran into construction where they had taken the road down to dirt. !!^$#&^#&^$#!! So, we rode a couple of miles on dirt and loose gravel. After that, the ride was smooth and easy. We rode through tiny farm and ranch communities, past lush green valleys and rolling hills.



Before long though, the road began to climb and we entered black canyon country. There are a good many routes that qualify as oh-my-gawd roads in Colorado. The Million Dollar Highway near Ouray. Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. The Summit Lake Road on Mount Evans. The Peak-to-Peak Highway. Glenwood Canyon. Monarch Pass. Independence Pass. Wolf Creek Pass. Lots more. Riding the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is one of those roads. Because of all the rain this year, everything is green, as green as we've ever seen it. The wildflowers, including sunflowers, wild yarrow, thistle, blue flax and pink summer phlox were blooming profusely along the roadside and in the high meadows. We didn't see deer or other larger wildlife but we saw many ground squirrels scamper across the road and we did see a mountain bluebird and heard it sing a sweet song when we were stopped at a rest area called Hermit's Rest. There we marveled at a lake at the bottom of this part of the canyon... a green lake... Morrow Lake, reflecting all the green of the hillsides. I found out later that there are pontoon boat rides on that lake. Hmmmmm...



We talked to a few people while at the rest stop and offered to take pictures of couples who kindly returned the favor. We stopped again at the bottom of the canyon before riding around Blue Mesa and the 15-20 some-odd miles into the town of Gunnison. We talked to a young man who rode in shortly after we did on a nice little crotch rocket. He was from Denver. He said that was the best road he had ever ridden and then joked that he was waiting on his buddy to catch up. His buddy rode up just as we were leaving. He was on an older Harley Sportster I think. He was also older. I don't know if he was all that much slower or if he just knew how to enjoy a ride.

The next part of our ride took us around Blue Mesa Reservoir. Blue Mesa is Colorado's largest body of water. It's a long, easy beautiful ride. The lake is surrounded by rolling hills and cliffs. And, it is blue - as blue as the sky above it.

By the time we reached Gunnison, we were ready to get off and stretch. We thought we might get brunch and make some calls. We had probably the yukkiest breakfast ever at Sugah's Cafe, A Southern Bistro on Main Street. I'm thinking it is pretty hard to mess up a ham and cheese omelet with green onions - but - ugh! Where to begin? The portions were tiny, the ham tasted more like gristled pastrami and they served it up with a side of cheese grits. How did I miss that when we ordered because I wouldn't have intentionally ordered grits... or was it a surprise? Did I mention the portions were tiny? And over-priced? I guess it's a good thing I didn't care for mine as Tim ate what I didn't. Tim can eat anything. He regretted it later I think. I know I did. I told him I would make it up before the day was out. Before heading out, Tim returned the daughter's Father's Day call while I caught Dad just coming in from his ride.

The next part of our ride home would take us over Monarch Pass and the Continental Divide for the second time in this trip. We love this drive but once again, this is a first time on the motorcycle. Wow! I can' tell you how much fun we were having. The summit of Monarch Pass is 11,312 feet above sea level. Yes, there's still snow on the ground up there. There's a nice Visitor Center with bathrooms, snack foods and a large gift shop. The same as you remember, Mom. Of course, we stopped, walked around, browsed through the curios, watched group after group of bikers ride in and out and took a picture of The Ride against a pristine mountain backdrop.


The ride down the pass on the motorcycle was easy... I think it is easier on the motorcycle than it is in a car. We eventually arrived at Poncha Springs/Salida. We wished we hadn't dined (if that's what you want to call it) in Gunnison. Salida was bustling with people attending some sort of water festival. We rode on as the day was marching by without consulting us... We rode into Fairplay and stopped for a coffee and a coke. We visited with a friendly group of CMA HOG riders who had attended the rally in Montrose also. Fairplay is a small town situated in a high mountain valley. Elevation is about 9950 feet or so. If I remember correctly, it was established as a prospecting town in the late 1850s. A section of the city is called South Park. It is a museum which includes many authentic turn of the century buildings. A ride through the valley is awesome. Mountains tower over the west side while the east is a wide expanse of flat grazing land.

Hwy 285 ambles down a bit and then over Red Hill Pass which is almost 10,000 in elevation. It's an easy road but after Hwy 285 passes through the town of Bailey, near Crow Hill it goes down at a rapid rate with steep grades and sharp curves, eventually leading into the suburbs on the west side of Denver. We chose to ride through Morrison and get a glimpse of Red Rocks, the site of a natural amphitheater. We've attended a couple of concerts there. The experience is amazing. We whipped into an open parking space to rest and stretch. I admit, my butt was flat and my knees were complaining. The storm cloud that chased us from Fairplay in finally caught up with us and it began to rain. We rode a back road that leads to extra parking at Red Rocks and cuts across to Golden, but we ran into tiny hail out of that storm cloud so we sat under an overpass with another biker until it let up. I guess it was about ten minutes.

The rest of the ride in, Hwy 93 through Golden and Boulder was uneventful. We arrived home at 8:03 pm. That's almost 12 hours on the road for a total of 413 miles. We parked the bike, unloaded, said hello to our neighbors, cleaned up and headed out in the Tahoe to find Tim a Father's Day supper. I mean, we had to do something about making up for that awful brunch. Chili's was our choice as it is one of the few restaurants in town that keeps later hours. Fajitas, quesadillas, endless chips and salsa along with a couple of El Presidente margaritas was the perfect end to a near perfect day.

We rode 1168 miles to revisit places we love, places we've never been and found some places we will visit again. We found out what a HOG rally is all about. We met some fun and interesting people along the way, saw some oh-my-gawd sights and realized a sun up to sun down ride is not only fun and exhilarating, now that summer is here, we say it is downright mandatory. I shot 1206 photos and video clips. Oh me! What was I thinking? Ha! I am still editing... this day's photos will post soon.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison
Monarch Pass
Fairplay, CO