I decided to write this on the plane to and from Seattle yesterday.
Let me know if you like it or where ready to shoot yourself in the head with boredom. I'm not an accomplished writer like some of you.
On Friday morning I remembered the Ignacio Bike rally is this labor day weekend. Since I was looking for something to do and always love riding in Colorado, not to mention getting away from the triple digit heat here in So Cal, it was a no brainier. At 5 pm I was heading up the Cajon pass wondering how hot the ride was going to be through the high desert. I had about a 275 mile ride to Kingman, Arizona where route 40 starts to go up hill towards Flagstaff and sheds the desert heat. I was lucky that it rained for about the first 25 miles before Barstow. Summer storms loomed ominously around the rest of the drive with some beautiful but scary lightening shows all the way past the town of Needles. Needles, CA is one of those towns when you wonder why or how people can live there. It is in a low lying area of the South end of the Mojave desert where the temperature that night at 8:30pm was still around 115F. Those of you who know, riding in this temp feels like you are standing next to a barn fire with your fists up. You wonder why the hairs on your knuckles haven’t burned off. It physically hurts.
Relief at last as I past Kingman, AZ. The scenery starts to get nice again. Heading up hill on the 40 feels like I was flying towards the stars. The night sky is now clear again.
I threw my tent down at the KOA in Seligman, AZ. It had rained just before I got there and I had to pitch my tent in the mud. This mud was of a hard texture and I felt lucky when it didn’t stick to the tent the next morning. Seligman is in a higher but arid area on an off shoot of the old route 66. A few trinket shops and old diners. Not much else around except the freight trains and Coyotes. It rained that night and I’ll never forget the sound of the alpha male howling and the chorus of what sounded like 100 coyotes sounding back. This happened twice that I heard that night. It’s kind of a hi pitched dog howl and barks. Both scary and beautiful to listen too.
After my eggs and coffee at Westside Lilo’s Cafe I was off to Colorado by way of Monument Valley, Four corners, to New Mexico. I decided I wanted to take the 511 north to Ignacio from New Mexico. I was a bit disappointed by the 64 in New Mexico (one of the highlighted scenic routes in the Hog atlas ) but the 511 (which isn’t one of the highlighted routes) was defiantly worth it. Beautiful canyon ride albeit populated with houses. Ending as the road traverses up Navajo Dam a large earthen dam. Makes you wonder why people would build their homes below it. Above the dam was Navajo Lake and a great high curvy wooded road from there into Ignacio, CO.
Ignacio is a small town and the rally was not one that’ll need to go to again and actually after spending about 1 hour their I never went back to Ignacio the rest of the weekend. After all, it’s the journey not the destination. One interesting note; most of the people at the rally where Indians from the area. These folks never let go of the mullet look. And I mean the Joe Dirt type with their hair down their backs. Maybe it’s coming back and I’m behind the times again. I’m sure that’s what it is.
I had to go through Durango all the way to Cortez before I was able to find a place to stay that night. Not a bad ride and was lucky for it since Cortez is in a valley that is somewhat warmer than Durango. It can get cold at night in Colorado and don’t forget, I’m in a cheap summer tent. I found another great KOA. Lots of bikers for neighbors too.
I went back to Durango on Sunday. What a great town. Very clean and nice to walk up and down the streets. Check out 3rd street and see the great Victorian houses. I was really interested in seeing the narrow gage train used for traveling around the tight bends in the mountains. Built in the late 1800s there is a great station, and Museum in Durango. You can ride this train all the way to Silverton. It’s about 55 miles away in and out of the canyons and mountains like it did in the old silver mining days. I decided to ride up route 550 to Silverton instead of taking the train. There are two mountain passes this way with the last one looking over the small town of Silverton nestled in a small valley in these great mountains. Silverton has a main street that is the only paved street in the town. It is a great destination. After lunch in Silverton I rode up to Ridgeway then back to Cortez on beautiful route 145. All this was breathtaking views and perfect biking road even with the last 20 miles or so of cold rain.
Well Monday is here and I had to head back the 700 miles home. The first 300 miles to Flagstaff was a brilliant morning ride back through monument valley and beautiful northern Arizona. My dilemma, as with the beginning of the trip, was what time to go through the 275 miles of 120F desert. Unfortunately it was only 1:00pm when I was well past Flagstaff. It was too early to wait for the sun to go down so I decided that sometimes, as with the rain, you just have to tough it out. Luckily the bike was running great at 83 mph. And for some reason it was not giving me the usually, bucket-of-bolts rattle it used to when running in temperatures above 90. Must be the rebuild and spark timing I adjusted about a month ago. Even when passing a line of trucks and the temperature feels like 150F the bike didn’t seem to complain. The only reason to stop was to cool me down not the bike. I stopped in Needles to gas up and drink two bottles of water, stopped 80 miles away in Ludlow to drink 2 more bottles of water and pour one over my head, gassed up and rode the rest of the way non stop. With all the stops it took 6.5 hours to go the last 275 miles. That desert is brutal, but, well worth it for the time in Colorado.
I'll post some pics in my gallery.
T
