Independence Ride - Day 1

July 2, 2009
Fort Collins, CO

This is the beginning of a great Colorado weekend (that's four days of freedom). We intended to get out of Fort Collins by, at least 4 am, but that didn't happen. The alarm did not go off for undetermined reasons... and in retrospect, we were not all that unhappy about it. Ha! We were on the road by 5:30 am, hoping we'd miss the bulk of the morning commute on I-25 through Denver and Colorado Springs as we headed due south. Fortunately, the road-gods saw us through both cities with minimal headaches and soon we were riding through the plains of southern Colorado with the sun rising fast and the temps warming to comfortable.

The first stop was breakfast at the Southwest Grill on Hwy 50 west in Pueblo. We were hungry after riding straight through with no stops from Fort Collins. I had biscuits and gravy with hash browns. Tim had the special which was three meats, eggs and hash browns. Add several cups of coffee and juice, and we were pleasantly plump. The prices were reasonable, the staff friendly and attentive and the food was good. The decor was older, cafe style with vivid blue vinyl booths and a cozy bar up front (we settled on a booth near the windows) and lots of tables in the main dining area. The local working crowd (mostly male) was gathering in steel-toe, plaid shirt, cowboy hat clusters. We did not remember this restaurant, but our numerous stops in Pueblo are usually for gas, maybe a meal at The Cracker Barrel and occasionally a stroll through The Outpost Harley-Davidson Dealership - all just off the interstate. We will remember it in the future.

We were sitting at a stop light in Pueblo, on our way out of town when I glanced over at a pickup in the lane to our right. An older gentleman was admiring The Ride I think. When he glanced up, I took notice of the cap he was wearing... it said WWII Veteran. I caught the man's eye and tapped my head and then pointed to his cap... Is that you? I asked? He just nodded. So I said very clearly, I want to thank you for your service sir. Tim added, Yes Sir! The man nodded and smiled. Then the light changed and we were off with a wave, flags flapping behind us. Tim says the man teared up some when I said that... well, I'm not ashamed to admit -- so did I. What a great way to start Independence Day weekend - by thanking a VET!

We had a loose idea of how we wanted this day's ride to go, so we filled up with gas and continued south on I-25 to Walsenburg where we stopped on the west end to stretch our legs. Tim also wanted to make a call. After speaking with Mom during the gas stop in Pueblo, I learned that they had a call from Red River Harley-Davidson about the Road King Dad (Ted) has been looking at for a couple of weeks. Tim called from the roadside to see if they had any news. Mom says - not yet...

We've driven this part of Colorado many times, but curiously have never made the trip to see the Great Sand Dunes National Park that sits at the southern base of the the Sangre de Cristo mountains. We decided today was the day to correct that omission and headed west on Hwy 160 over LaVeta Pass (elevation 9413) and through the beautiful San Luis Valley. The San Luis Valley is the world's largest alpine valley. The average altitude is 7,500 feet. A few miles past the small, historical town of Fort Garland is the road (Hwy 150) north to the sand dunes. It is about 16 miles to the Visitor Center which offers a great view of Blanca Peak on one side and sprawling sage land on the other. The wildflowers, primarily sunflowers and goldenrod were blooming alongside the road in yellow abundance. The dunes are visible a few miles out. These are the tallest dunes in North America. They looked like sprawling mountains of camel colored velvet.

Upon arrival at the Visitor Center (the park fee is $3 per person), we quickly shed our jackets and explored the interior displays and browsed the souvenir section. The collection of books about the area was extensive. This is my favorite thing about visitor center stores. Tim went in search of coffee but came up empty-handed. On the veranda of the visitor center we could see the dunes and the trails leading to them. Now, the edge of the dunes were probably a good quarter to half mile away, if that close. The people on the dunes were tiny flea-size specks. I don't think so. Call me crazy, but this is not a hike I would consider in motorcycle boots. We satisfied ourselves with photos (thank goodness for an optical zoom) from the veranda and enjoyed roaming around the immediate area, reading the signage and returned to the visitor center. It was a good stretch of the legs.

Before long, we were back on The Ride and headed west toward Alamosa in search of fuel before turning toward San Luis and New Mexico. San Luis was on our we'd-like-to-see list but we knew it was small and not likely to have much of a selection in fuel. We roamed up and down the main drag in busy Alamosa, before settling on a gas station. We made it a gas and ice cream stop. Tim doesn't like to backtrack , so we checked the map and found another road to San Luis. A few miles south of Alamosa on Hwy 285, we turned east onto Hwy 142 which took us through the small town of Manassa, the birthplace of Jack Dempsey (the boxer). There's a Jack Dempsey museum there (and very little else) but it wasn't open. We had the 30 mile road into San Luis almost to ourselves and enjoyed the ride when we didn't have our eyes on the clouds ahead.

We stayed dry through the valley ride and arrived shortly in San Luis, which as I suspected was such a small town, they didn't have much to offer in the way of food, lodging or fuel. San Luis, I thought is the oldest town in Colorado, established in 1851. I learned that while it is the oldest surviving settlement in Colorado, it was not the first. We drove the main drag a couple of times and looked at some of the older structures. The Visitor Center was closed. Well, it was a weekday... We stopped to stretch our legs and once again haul out the map. We wanted to be certain the road we were taking was the one leading to Taos, New Mexico.

After riding about 18 miles south on Hwy 159 (CO)/Hwy 522 (NM), we crossed the border into New Mexico. The road into Taos was high and cool and scenic. We enjoyed every mile of it. Of course, Taos is a busy tourist area and Main Street was jam-pack with tourists and vehicles. It took a few minutes to run the length of the shops and other tourist attractions. Here we spied our first Oxygen Bar - no, we don't get it. Breathing comes fairly natural to us I think so we don't get why you need to pay someone to do it... hahaha! We figure if you want your air to smell like a an orange, you should probably sniff an orange. What say you? Anyway, we admired the shops and galleries, adobe buildings, sculptures and other art along the way as we traveled straight through to the other end of town where we found a hotel that fit our budget with what looked like a couple of restaurants within walking distance.

We checked in, parked The Ride just outside the entry to the lobby and only a few feet from our window. Perfect! We freshened up and walked a short distance to a Mexican Food restaurant called Tequila's. We arrived in time for happy hour margaritas... yum! The restaurant was decorated in typical southwest style, with lovely tile floors, very neat, very clean. The service was great, the well margaritas were tasty, the real margaritas (after happy hour) were outstanding, the food was delicious, well-prepared and plentiful. Tim had chicken fajitas. I had a spicy shrimp dish. YUM! The whole dining experience was very, very nice.

Just as we were crossing the parking lot from Tequila's, I got a call from Mom. Dad bought the Road King and would pick it up tomorrow. Wow! We were all excited about that. Mom said he wouldn't know where to ride first - I said - point it west - we'll meet you in Raton. Ha!

We rode 472 really fun miles today. We called it a night early and slept well.

San Luis Valley info
Great Sand Dunes National Park
Jack Dempsey Museum and Park - Manassa, CO
About Taos, New Mexico