Road Trip #3, Day 1 - Destination Utah by sundown

July 2, 2011
Colorado, USA

Road Trip #3, Day 1 (Part 1) - Riding west across Colorado on I-70 and Glenwood Canyon

Monticello, Utah -- We rolled out of Fort Collins, CO this morning about 6 am for our four (OK - probably five) day Independence Day ride/road trip. It had rained last night and was humid and misty (foggy) in the low lying areas. It was only slightly chilly but the idea was to ride across Colorado on I-70. We rode out in leathers, knowing it would get colder, once we cleared Denver. Our destination? Someplace hot and dry where we can break a sweat on a ride. Utah! (I said break a sweat Texas - not melt.)

First stop was for breakfast in Idaho Springs. Marion's of the Rockies was calling our name. Breakfast is always good at Marion's, we never have to wait to be seated, the meals are reasonably priced, and we like the coffee. This is where the locals eat.

Well fortified, we were ready to ride west through the Eisenhower Tunnel. We've been through the tunnel at this time of year and darn near froze to death (I mean, the coffee froze in the thermos). Today, we were thinking we might could have ridden in denim rather than leather jackets, not comfortably though. The ride on I-70 is always scenic with old mining structures, snow-capped mountains, rushing creeks and rivers, falls created from the snow run-off, crystal blue lakes and lush, green valleys. The water is running high (near flood levels) in all of Colorado's rivers, creeks and streams this year. The lakes are full. Then, there is the beauty of the ride through Glenwood Canyon - 12.5 miles of Oh My Gawd scenery following the Colorado River (running as high as we've ever seen it). Some of the canyon walls framing the road rise to over 1300 feet.

Glenwood Canyon on I-70 Colorado - 12.5 miles of OMG highway

We stopped on the far end of busy Glenwood Springs for gas and a cup of coffee and came out of our jackets. After the canyon, the landscape becomes rugged and more desert-like although with all the moisture it was greener in some places than we remembered or expected. Near Palisade/Grand Junction you break into mesa country but the valleys in between the canyons are known as Colorado's wine country. The area is also home to the Colorado National Monument, the Grand Mesa and Mount Garfield. We like this area and try to get over to the western slope at least a couple of times during the year.

Today we would skip a visit to Grand Junction and resist the temptation to finally visit the Grand Mesa (something on our gotta ride list). We rode through Palisade on Hwy 50 to Hwy 141, a road a friend said we must travel someday. OK. Today is that day.

What follows is a slide show of the first part of our ride today including I-70 and Glenwood Canyon (93 photos):

Link to this slide show

Road Trip #3, Day 1 (Part 2) - Riding Hwy 141, CO through Unaweep Canyon to Monticello, UT

Like I said, a friend from Grand Junction suggested we ride State Highway 141 in Colorado. Hwy 141 runs north/south on the extreme western border of the state, rambling through Unaweep Canyon between Whitewater and Gateway, CO. This segment of the road is designated as the Unaweep Tabeguache (pr. tab-uh-wash) Scenic Byway. Unaweep Canyon is a geologically unique canyon that cuts across the Uncompahgre Plateau in western Colorado. It is unique because two creeks, East Creek and West Creek, flow out of opposite ends of the canyon, separated by the almost imperceptible Unaweep Divide. The Unaweep Divide, elevation 7,008 feet, is near mile marker 135 on SH 141. From Gateway to Naturita the road winds through the Dolores Canyon. About halfway between Naturita and Dove Creek the road travels through Gypsum Gap.

OK, now that the particulars are out of the way, let me just say - WOW! Photos will not do this ride justice! We picked Hwy 141 up a few miles south of Palisade near Whitewater and traveled the entire length of it (about 160 miles) to near Dove Creek, CO where we turned west and travelled Hwy 491 into Monticello, UT.

We stopped for a stretch at the Cool Stop Soda Shop and Cafe in tiny Gateway, CO. It was filled with what appeared to be a crotch rocket club, although there were a couple of other Harleys on the lot. The woman behind the grill was working hard to fill their orders. It's a nice little place, very clean. All we wanted was something cool to drink and a nice, very young girl took and filled our order for three (Tim had two) root beers. We sat at the soda fountain for quite a while talking about all we had seen so far on this great ride. The thermometer on The Ride indicated the ambient temp around the bike was 100 degrees. Just south of Gateway sits Gateway Canyons Resort and the entrance to John Brown Canyon which looked like paradise for off-roaders. A quick look at the map showed us we were maybe a third of the way along on Highway 141. No, that was not a problem. We were eager to see what more lay along the way on this ride.

Sitting at the base of Thimble Rock are the ruins of a house -- In 1914, Lawrence K. Driggs, a lawyer from New York, began construction on this building. When finished four years later, it had 7 or 8 rooms. There are conflicting reports about whether or not he actually occupied the house. One story is that his wife did not like the "wild west" and would not live here. Another is that they left when World War I began to work in munitions. A local couple who spent the first year of their marriage in the house said it had beautiful chandeliers and handcarved stone mantles on the two fireplaces. The arch over the entryway was supposed to have been designed to match the arch in the thimble rock behind the house." (from the historical marker)

Scenic Dolores Canyon Hwy 141 - CO

Here's a video of Scenic Hwy 141: 2011-07-02 Hwy 141

Hwy 141 Colorado

Photos of the second part of today's great ride along Colorado State Highway 141, including Unaweep Canyon, Dolores Canyon and Gypsum Gap (129 photos - 129! you say - dealwith it - I took about half of them out):

By the time we rolled into the Monticello Inn in Monticello, UT, we were ready for a burger, BEER, bath and a bed. Our room was clean, nice and cozy and with Tim at the a/c controls -- before long it was also cool. The owner of the motel was very friendly and knowledgeable about the area. We found a burger at the MD Ranch Cookhouse (recommended by the owner of our motel). She said 6 but it was more like 8 blocks away from our motel. Burgers were OK, nothing special. Service was sort of lackadaisical and our young waitress a bit slllooowwwww. She had to check before informing us there was no liquor license, therefore there was No beer. About this time, we remembered - oh yeah - we're in Utah. The liquor laws are funky in this state - be prepared and always have a plan B that is, B for beer. Not to be deterred, Tim found beer at the convenience store on the way back to the motel. We stopped along the way to pay our respects at the Veterans Memorial in a park not far from our motel.

We had WIFI at the motel, but no phone service anywhere (much to the aggravation of the teenage girls staying a few doors down). We sat outside our room until dark, mostly watching the teenagers desperately wander the parking lot, phones held high in the air in the hope of catching a signal. Twilight lasts a long time on this side of the Rockies. I zipped off an email to the Folks and downloaded the photos from the day to the laptop. After watching a few minutes of a movie, we called it a day.

Today's ride was 501 miles. We had no idea we had traveled that far until Tim checked the tripometer. What a great ride through beautiful canyon country on almost deserted roads.