Back on the bike after a weekend in Denver

We spent the weekend in Denver with our kids, using Lyft to get around instead of our motorcycle.

The first 40 miles today were on busy, congested, Monday-morning Denver traffic highways so we could get out of the city and on our way northwest. Today's destination is Thermopolis, Wyoming, the site of the world's largest mineral hot springs.

The real fun started when we turned onto US Route 40, riding what Butler Motorcycle Maps calls one of the most fun and difficult rides in the country.

Route 40 twists and turns up and over the Continental Divide through Berthoud Pass at 11,307'. The temperature dropped to 42 degrees at one point as we descended down the shady side of the pass.

This wasn't the only pass we climbed, or the only time we crossed the Continental Divide today. Route 40 continued on over Muddy Pass at 8,772' and Rabbit Ears Pass at 9,426', each time crossing the Continental Divide.

Along the way we saw numerous road signs advertising F.M. Light & Sons cowboy outfitters since 1905 in Steamboat, and then the actual store on the main street. The signs are a good reminder that this area was popular long before it became a tourist and ski destination.

Once we rode through the busy traffic in Steamboat Springs, we continued on Route 40 along the Yampa River, a mostly wide and shallow river that flows through the green countryside.

We crossed into Wyoming with wide-open views to the horizon, clear blue skies, and pronghorn antelope munching the grass along the side of the mostly open road with almost no traffic.

We continued on WY 287 North through Sweetwater Station, near where the Oregon/Mormon trail crossed the Sweetwater River during the Mormons westward migration from Illinois in 1846-47. This road is named after Shoshone Chief Washakie who was instrumental in signing important treaties and establishing this trade route.

We stopped at the scenic lookout on the top of the Beaver Rim Escarpment where trappers and traders met in the 1830's to exchange goods. We could see over the Wind River Basin to the Absaroke Mountain Range 120 miles away at the border of Montana and Wyoming.

We wound our way down the escarpment into the Wind River Valley and the Shoshone Reservation. Route 20 is the Wind River Scenic Byway, and scenic doesn't even come close to describing the twisting road that snakes along the river through the steep and rocky gorge.

The scenic byway ends at the town of Thermopolis, our stopping point for the night. It's the first time we've been on the motorcycle in Wyoming, and we loved the changing scenery and roads tailor-made for motorcycles.

Twisties and sweepers through the Rocky Mountains

A long day on the BMW is worth it when we get to ride through hairpin turns and long sweeping turns in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.

We started the second day of our trip in Farmington, NM and quickly crossed into Colorado near Durango. We stayed on US Route 550 heading north, winding and twisting our way on the Million Dollar Highway that runs through Silverton to Ouray.

The 2-lane, narrow road, lack of guardrails, steep drop-offs and jaw-dropping scenery make this one of our favorite rides.

Gold was mined here in the San Juan Mountains with 13 peaks that top 14,000'. This area likes to call itself the "Switzerland of America" because of the steep, forested, and snowy peaks.

Once we passed through Ouray we continued north on Route 550 into Montrose, passing through a wide, green valley along the Uncompahgre River.

In Montrose, we turned east on US Route 50, a ride we've done several times. Route 50 runs along the Gunnison River and the 20-mile long Blue Mesa Reservoir.

We rode through steep, craggy gorges that opened up into wider valleys, and spotted several rafts zooming down the rapidly running river.

We twisted our way up and over Monarch Pass on the Continental Divide in the Sawatch Mountain Range, with panoramic views as we descended down into the valley and along the Arkansas River.

We chose a new route for the final miles north to Denver, starting with 9 North just west of Canon City on the Gold Belt Scenic Byway that runs along the western slope of Pike's Peak where gold was discovered in 1890.

Riding on winding, sweeping, 2-lane paved roads with almost no traffic, we enjoyed views of steep, wooded hills, snowy mountain peaks, and rushing streams.

To get into Denver, we rode the final miles of the day on highways packed with later Friday afternoon traffic. From Denver, you can see the snow-topped Rocky Mountain Peaks that we rode through earlier in the day.

We're spending the weekend in Denver with our kids, and will get back on the BMW on Monday, heading north into Wyoming.

First day on Mike's retirement ride

It's been far too long since we've been on an extended BMW ride, and this trip checks off several boxes:  Mike just retired from AFLAC, we're seeing our kids in Denver, heading to Portland OR so I can run another marathon (state #49!) and stopping to see friends along the way. We're not sure exactly how many days we'll be on the road, which adds to the fun.

We loaded up the BMW and left home at 6:30am to try and beat the heat, which basically worked since the temperature only hit 100 degrees for a minute or two late this afternoon. Thank goodness for overcast skies!

We've seen a wide variety of wildlife on our motorcycle rides, but this is the first time we've seen bighorn sheep in Arizona. They weren't afraid of us at all, waiting patiently while we turned around so we could take photos.

I'm always amazed at the changing scenery when we ride through Arizona:  tall pine forests, wide open pastureland, scrub brush, multicolored rock formations, and even irrigated farmland.

We stopped for lunch in St. John's, the county seat of Apache County along the Little Colorado River. We saw the sign for El Camino's restaurant and were glad we went a couple of blocks out of our way to enjoy the friendly staff, quick service, and great Mexican food.

Our original plan was to ride through the Lukachukai Mountains, down into the Red Valley in New Mexico, and past Shiprock, the 'winged rock' sacred to the Navajo. We turned right when we should have stayed straight, and enjoyed riding through Narbona Pass, which winds through the caldera of an extinct volcano.

At the top of the 8,721' pass the temperature dropped to 77 degrees, and then rose sharply to the high 90's and flirted with 100 degrees as we descended the winding road with 100 mile views across New Mexico. We ended our 442 mile ride 9 hours after we started, spending the night in Farmington, NM.

Tomorrow we head for Colorado and the Rocky Mountains!

Three days through the Mojave and Colorado deserts

What do you do when a bee flies up your motorcycle jacket sleeve and stings your upper arm when you are riding about 80 mph on Interstate 10 in southern California?

Luckily we were heading onto the off-ramp in Indio, CA as I hit Mike on the shoulder, took off my jacket, and started shaking it to get rid of the bee. Mike pulled over to the side of the road, the bee flew away, and we finished up the first day of our 3-day trip.

The day started on a much better note:  clear skies, 60 degrees, and we were off on our first overnight trip on the BMW in over a year.

We wound our way south through the twisties on 89S passing through Skull Valley, Yarnell, and into Congress where the temperature climbed into the high 70's as we descended from 5500' elevation in Prescott to 3000' in Congress. We continued southwest on Arizona 71, turning onto Arizona 60 where we stopped for lunch in Salome.

The highway passes through valleys with craggy, rocky mountains on either side. This time of year the dessert seems to come to life, with bright green leaves on the shrubby bushes, orange-red flowers blooming on the tips of the tall ocotillo, and bunches of yellow flowers periodically lining the
highway.

Eventually we had no choice but to turn onto the 4-lane Interstate 10; there simply aren't any other paved roads that head west. We saw narrow 4-wheeler tracks to the side of the interstate that threaded their way through the mountains or at times paralleled the highway, but otherwise there is nothing but wide-open desert.

We crossed the Colorado River into California, and the landscape changed abruptly from dessert into irrigated green fields. As we continued west away from the river, the desert took over once again, now with stands of palm tree trunks with their tops cut off, a barren and disturbing sight.

In Chiriaco Summit we pulled off the Interstate to visit the General Patton Memorial Museum, located within the WWII Desert Training Center where over 1 million soldiers trained to be prepared for warfare in northern Africa. We wandered through the indoor exhibits and then outside among the tanks and a small chapel.

A little further west we reached our destination for the night: Indio in the Coachella Valley in the southern California section of the Colorado Desert. According to our Garmin, the elevation was 12' above sea level - no wonder it was in the mid-90's! Even though it's in the desert, due to irrigation there are bright green fields of watermelon, cantaloupe, peppers and eggplant.

The next day we rode into the Joshua Tree National Park, where the Mojave and Colorado deserts meet. Joshua trees, which are actually a type of yucca and not a tree, only grow in the Mojave desert between 2000' and 6000' elevation.

Nearly 558,000 acres of the national park are designated as a wilderness, and we could look for miles across the desert to the mountains without seeing any roads or buildings.

We rode through the park to Keys View where we looked over the Coachella Valley and the San Andreas Fault where the North American and Pacific tectonic plates meet.

Keys View is at 5185' elevation, and as we wound our way north and down through the park, ending up in the town of Twentynine Palms at 2000' the temperature rose from the high 60's to the mid 90's. According to the legends, gold miners in the 1850's named this area after 29 palm trees that grew around the oasis.

From Twentynine Palms we followed Route 62 east, passing a sign at the edge of town that stated "no services for 100 miles" as we rode through the Mojave desert, passing a few abandoned houses scattered along the side of the road.

100 hot and dusty miles later, we crossed the Colorado River into Arizona at the town of Parker, and headed north on Route 95 into Lake Havasu City, our final destination for the day. Lake Havasu was formed by the Parker Dam on the Colorado River in the 1930's to supply water to southern California.

We had about 45 minutes once we checked into the hotel before we left on a 3 hour sunset cruise on the lake, motoring into secluded coves, spotting a coyote along the rocks that line the lake, and watching the sunset.

The last day of our trip we followed Route 95 north to a short ride on Interstate 40 east, then south on Route 93 through the Big Sandy Valley. We passed by the tiny town of Wikieup, a Mojave word for shelter or home. Just south of Wikieup we turned east on Route 97, a 2-lane blacktop road that winds and twists for a few miles through numerous washes and hills, making the road seem like a gentle roller coaster.

We're getting close to home when we reach Hillside and retrace our route from two days ago back to Prescott. Most of this trip was spent in the Colorado and Mojave deserts with a constantly changing landscape depending on elevation and water sources both natural and man-made. At some points the sand along the road reminded me of roads along Lake Michigan in northwest Indiana; we saw several types of cactus and yucca with some blooming in vivid pink, red or yellow flowers; rocky granite boulders pushed up out of the earth by volcanic activity centuries ago; and always the mountains all around us.

 As we unpacked the BMW, we started talking about our next motorcycle trip. We won't let another year go by before we head out again.

Too long off the bike

It's been far too long since we've been out on the bike. Blame it on work, weather, other types of travel, more work. This month we've gone out for two short rides, and now we're planning a longer trip this summer.

Two weeks ago we rode to Cottonwood for lunch, choosing to ride twisty, climbing 89A through Jerome and then twisting our way down into Cottonwood. Cottonwood is about 2000' lower elevation than Prescott, so it's warmer here. The Old Town main street is lined with wineries, restaurants, bars, art galleries and funky local shops, making it fun to walk along the street and peek in the store windows. We sat outside at Bocce which has fantastic pizza, sandwiches and salads and watched the people walk by as we ate our lunch.

Today we headed south on Iron Springs Road and Yavapai County 10 through Skull Valley.

We can tell Spring is coming from the bright green new leaves on the cottonwood trees. Today we didn't stop for lunch, instead continuing on 89 north toward Prescott, enjoying another twisty, climbing ride. The slower cars in front of us politely pulled to the side so we could pass, and we returned the favor for a group of 6 Harleys with Washington state plates following us. We came up behind them once we hit the stoplights in downtown Prescott, and waved as they continued north on 89.

We ended the ride with an ice cream cone, talking about a longer trip this summer to Colorado on our way to Oregon and a weekend trip in early April to Lake Havasu. We're going to make up for lost time!