What we did on our summer vacation

[KYpondman]

I'm avidly following each installment.
Thanks,
Claude

[Sagebrush]

Tuesday May 21st found us on the road to Durango, CO. This route consists mostly of US-84 until you get to Pagosa Springs when you take US-160 the rest of the way. US-84 is a very scenic drive US-160 not so much.











The further north went and the closer to Colorado the more prevalent snow capped peaks became.





We stopped at the visitors center in Chama, NM to avail ourselves of the picnic tables. While we were setting up this young man stopped in and at an adjacent table pulled a sandwich from his pocket and began eating his lunch. Turns out he's a machinist at the Los Alomos Labs and was on his way to Pagosa Springs to do some fly fishing. He was riding his modified '58 Harley pan head that he customized himself. It was a hardtail with a springer front end and a hard mounted seat. When he left that bike was just bouncing and him along with it on the uneven pavement of the parking lot. I guess you've got to be young.



When we arrived in Durango we stayed at the General Palmer Hotel a turn of the last century establishment. One unique feature, among many, is the oldest elevator in Colorado. It will hold only two people and the doors operate manually. Unfortunately the bellhop didn't tell us that, he had us get in, closed the doors behind and us sent us to our floor while he waited in the lobby with our luggage. We got to our floor and while we were trying to figure out how to get out of the darn thing the elevator was called back to the first floor. Terrie shot out of it like she was on fire and refused to ride in it the rest of our stay. Overall though our stay at the General Palmer was excellent.



This day, mostly a travel day, gets a .................



The next morning was the big train ride on the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge RR. The train depot is located right next to the General Palmer so all we had to do was our hotel and just a stroll of 75 yards or so we were at the depot. A big convenience when your on bikes.

So, allllll abooooooooooooard!







Our car, we were in the last seats on the last car on right hand side. That's why all the upcoming pictures of the train will be on right hand curves.



Settling in.

















These guys followed us the entire trip. Most of the time they were out of site. One of their tasks is to put out any fires that may ignite from any hot cinders from the locomotive.









We get to Silverton in time for lunch at the Handlebars Food & Saloon recommended to us by a Durango motorcycle policeman. His recommendation was spot on.



After lunch we explored Silverton, which doesn't take much time as its a pretty small town.





After two hours of food and shopping it was time to say good by to Silverton and return to Durango.







We had to stop for water three times, twice on the way up to Silverton and once on the way back.



Whenever we stopped the conductor would station himself at the rear of the train in order to flag down any traffic in order to avoid a collision.







We arrived back in Durango after 7 hour train ride with a two hour lunch break, tired but happy.

This day definitely gets a ..............



Coming up, the Million Dollar Highway, Arkansas river valley & Pikes Peak.

[Whiskerfish]

That had to be a great change of pace from riding all day every day!!

[Sagebrush]

Well, this was the one day we were completely off the bikes but when we were in Albuquerque we didn't ride over 50 miles total that whole day and when we got to Santa Fe it was about 1pm and we didn't get back on the bikes until around 10am the next morning. We've found from hard experience that you have to build days into your schedule where you don't ride at all or very little.

[Oldewing]

Just great Dean, love the train.

[Brant]

Looks like a great time.

[ericheath]

Looks awesome! I guess I'll have to head south if I want to see summer.

[Roady]

Beautiful scenery and great roads. I love the train trip.

As Dad used to say, "Look out there and all you can see is miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles."

[Neil]

Some very nice pictures .... have been building a new theme for my computer from your photos. Thanks for the ride along.

[Lefty]

I retired to live in SW Colorado 10 years ago. Our home on a mountain ridge 7 miles from the train station overlooks a large lake and we can see 50 miles to the east back toward Pagosa Springs. My recommendations for motorcyclists headed here depends on your budget. The General Palmer or the Strater both beautiful hotels built in the late 1850. Or mid range up College Street and left to the Rochestor or Leland House both owned by the same enlightened folks. Two more blocks gets you to Steamworks Brewery. We most often eat there. There are dozens of high end restaurants Ken and Sues is tops in my book. On a tighter budget? (i am these days) You should consider the Hometown Hostel which was recently built and offers very comfortable accomodations for $22 per night per person and a fantastic full kitchen inside and bbq outside. Since I movd here Starbucks and Coldstone have located as close to,the train station as they could. I believe Starbucks made 10 the numbermof coffee shops in town. The Honda dealer and the Harley dealer are on 160/550 about 1 mile south of the train station. Walmart and Home depot are another mile further. Ska brewery and Durango Brewing Co are not downtown but if you are a micro brew hound you'll find them. I like the locally brewed and bottled Zuberfizz root beer and cream sodas.

My final tip: Riding the train both ways was for me boring. I'd rcommend you take the bus back or have someone from Durango pick you up. Ride carefully on the mountain roads. Deer,elk and bear, I nearly hit a mountain sheep a big ram, near Ouray. Stop in "you-ray" for the hot springs, there is a state park before you enter town from the south and Orvis Hot Springs just past Ouray.

Sorry if I jacked your thread Sagebrush. Your photos are top notch. Local joke the reason there are so many hair salons in Durango is that the women from Houston and Phoenix who come with their husbands to escape the heat down south get there hair done then ride in the open car to Silverton. It is windy and coal smoke gets in your hair and on your clothes in the open cars. So the next morning the beautician is saying "How nice to see you again."

[Sagebrush]

Well Thursday May 23rd found us back on the road on our way to Colorado Springs. Essentially another travel day but what a travel day! First north on US-550 (Million Dollar Highway) to Montrose where we turned west on US 50 through the Arkansas river valley to its junction with CO-115 to Colorado Springs.

The first part of 550 parallels the D&SNGRR tracks but soon enough they diverge and it takes it own route to Silverton. Its not long before we approach and hit Molas Pass elevation 10,899 ft.

















After revisiting Silverton to get some outdoor artwork that we spotted at an artists shop the day before (we had to call him in order to open his shop for us) we continued north on US-550 from Silverton.













We leave the mountains for a while at Ouray. Looking back at the way we came from the hot springs and the southern end of town.



After turning right on US-50 at Montrose we decided to detour and make a quick visit to an old friend the Black Canyon of the Gunnison to use the picnic tables for lunch. After lunch Terrie walked down to the overlook behind the visitors center for a picture or two.





What she saw from the overlook.



We didn't have time to explore the entire rim drive in the park so we headed back out to join up with US-50 again. This is the view you get when leaving the park. The mountains we just came through on 550.



US 50 is a very scenic drive in its own right. It crosses another mountain chain at Monarch Pass elevation 11,312 ft. And yes that is a very deep snow and ice bank in the foreground of the pictures.





The east side of the pass forms the headwaters of the Arkansas river. Here is the river once we descended from the mountains.



This day was a very pleasant day that was odd in the fact that the longer the day went on and the further ease we went the colder it got. The warmest it got for us was 70 degrees just after descending Monarch Pass and when we arrived at the hotel in Co Springs at around 4:30pm the temperature was in the 40's.

However this was a great day and it rates a ..................



Coming up Pike's Peak.

[Whiskerfish]

Fantastic!! Had to be sad to see the mountains in the rear view mirrors!!

[KYpondman]

Fantastic pics and narration!
Claude

[Roady]

What a great day, the Rockys are so beautiful.

[Sagebrush]

Last installment. It feels like its taken as long to format and post these pictures as it did to ride out west and take them. On our last "vacation" day, one devoted to site seeing and not crossing half the continent to get home we traveled to the top of Pikes Peak. We took the cog railway, mostly because we weren't sure if the road to the top was paved all the way (it is) and because we only had one day to view it and the railway runs in all weather so we figured it was a safer bet than attempting to ride the bikes all the way.

I'll just post pics of the amazing view from the top.





Somewhere in the chain of mountains on the horizon is Monarch Pass, the one we rode through the day before.











Yes that is Kansas on the horizon. The view from above 14,000 feet stretches to 180 miles.



Well that's it. It took us four days to get home. We detoured from our original track that would have taken us to Springfield, IL for two nights and a day so we could have immersed ourselves in Abraham Lincoln country. However as luck would have it Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois were
experiencing heavy thunderstorms with damaging hail so we elected to leave I-70 at Lawrence, KS and skirt southeast through MO and cross the river at Cape Giradeau to Paducah, Nashville then home. We pretty much were anxious to get home so we didn't do any site seeing or picture taking once we left Colorado Springs except for the one we took of Claude (Kypondman) when we stopped in for a short visit and an impromptu lunch on his patio.