On The Road, Pt II

The first day of my trip finally was here.  I, of course, waited until the night before I left to pack and ran around like a mad man doing so.  I also didn't sort out what was going to go where until I was about to leave.  Clearly, a boy scout I am not.

I figured since I'm in Denver, I should wear some layers for when it gets cold, so I opted for some shorts under my Triumph riding pants.  In case you're interested (and how could you not be?), I picked up a pair of Triumph's Adventure jeans.  They're tan, which I wanted since everything else is black and I didn't want to roast, and are vented in the shins and thigh.  They are actually quite nice and are the only riding pants I tried which actually fit me.

All that is great but the only real problem is aside from being tan, they're navy blue.  Why?  All the blue does is require me to buy the matching jacket so the colors will match.  When did motorcycling require so much fashion sense?

Anyway, I'm geared up and ready to leave.  I throw my backpack with my computer and other electronics on and grab my saddle bags with everything else.  I'm sweating before I reach the top of the stairs.  Never mind, I'm sure it will be chilly outside.

It's not.  Sweating some more, I load everything on the bike, strap it down and remember I forgot my ear plugs.  Okay, back in the house, grab the earplugs and now it's time to leave.  Wait, I forgot the chain lube.  Back out to the garage, grab the lube and now it's time to leave.  Wait...

After 45 more trips to grab forgotten stuff, it's finally time to leave 30 minutes after I wanted to.  No matter, though, we're on the road beginning an epic quest.

I decided to take I-70 to Route 285 instead of going through town.  I didn't want the hassle of going from redlight to redlight and really just wanted to get going.  Never mind that this route shaved 45 minutes off my entire day.  The bike ran great and really didn't feel the extra weight on the back.

I-70 and 470 were boring slab stuff, though I did see a trailer full of hay tip over.  That was interesting.  The real interesting stuff was when I got on 285.  This would take me nearly through the spine of Colorado and the Rockies.

This was proper Colorado riding: small towns, mountains and valleys.  The scenery was just spectacular.  It was hard to concentrate on the road because my head was always scanning the scenery.  Everywhere I looked there was something gorgeous to see.

The Kenosha Pass takes you up to 10,001 ft and then puts you down in an epic valley between the peaks.  The area is flat and open for miles and miles.  It's almost like being in a giant crater, a mostly-featureless area surrounded by imposing mountain peaks.  There were trees occasionally and a few farms but not much else.  I should also point out that my decision to layer up was a good one.  It was mighty chilly up there early in the morning. 

In Saguache, I made the left-hand bend to stay on 285 and continued on a stretch of road that was flat and straight for miles.  Honestly, look at it on a map.  It's perfectly straight.  The cool thing about this section was that two ridges run right across the road.  Instead of going over the ridges, the engineers cut right through them.  What you end up with, then, is a free geology lesson as you can see the layers of rock under the surface.  I thought that was fantastic. 

As I got to Wolf Creek Pass, something strange started to happen.  The skies got darker and the air became cooler.  Closer to the mountain, this increased until the inevitable happened: rain drops on my visor.  One thing I didn't pack was rain gear, a decision I regretted immediately. 

The run up to the nearly 11,000ft summit of Wolf Creek Pass was pock marked with rain and slow moving vehicles.  Thankfully, the road is wide and I could deal with the lack of excitement of the straight bit with some corner carving action.  It was very dark at the summit; cold, too, and the rain got heavier. 

The trip down was a blast until I got stuck behind an RV, which was a blessing because it was quite wet and there were a few cops out.  As quickly as it appeared, the rain and gray disappeared.  The rest of the trip was clear, sunny and dry. 

Approaching the end of the day, I pulled into Farmington, NM where I would be spending the night.  Initial impressions of the town were good.  I thought I would be in a town similar to the one from Tremors.  There were malls, restaurants and even a Harley dealership.  The thing was I kept passing all these places and I still didn't reach my hotel.  I kept going and going and Farmington got worse and worse.  Finally, as I reached the back end of town, I found my hotel.

The city planners must have designated this place as Hotel Row because that's all that was there.  There were six or so hotels, a gas station and one lonely Mexican restaurant.  You can guess where I ate dinner. 

With the first day behind me, I lugged all my stuff up to my room (no small feat), locked up the bike and headed to the lonely Mexican place.  I had a burrito that weighed probably ten pounds and was greeted with rain as I left.  Hmm, interesting, I thought.  I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

Stay tuned for Part III...