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Vital Signs: 8 (mostly) Hoosiers Meet Up & Ride Colorado [pic heavy]


Indy Dave

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Disclaimer and Intro:

 

What follows is what I hope will be a entertaining thread that will highlight our recent trip to Colorado and introduce the board to what I hope will be some new members. For many years I'd been trying to get together a long ride with several of the characters on this trip for a significant ride. I say significant because it had become a sort of habit for many of us Indy based guys to ride to MI for a week or long weekends and to get together to ride somewhat regularly. With 5 of us, someone would invariably have conflicts, so the composition of riders was always in flux. None the less, the 5 of us came to credit 'Clean Living' for our good fortune of riding with friends and this was a phase often uttered that led to smiles and raised glasses.

 

Other times, the phrase was for the amusement of others (as well as ourselves). For example, a year or so ago, Jerry (you'll meet him shortly) and I were on a trip to Michigan and left Glen Arbor and rode up to Good Hart, MI one morning. We had seen standing water in yards and other evidence of storms, but we had dry roads and clear weather all the way up. We'd probably had a late-ish night and early morning, so neither of us had shaven and we both had a clear case of helmet head when we arrived in Good Hart. We dismounted at the General Store and were stretching and an elderly lady comes out of the store and stops – looking at us in amazement (I'm used to woman stopping at staring at me, but this was new to Jerry). She remarked that some bikers just left who were soaked to the bone and yet we were bone dry - “where on earth did you come from, next door?” When she learned that we'd come from Glen Arbor, she was beside herself that we didn't get a drop of rain. She began to walk to her car and Jerry told her that it was “on account of our 'clean living' that we didn't get wet”. She briefly paused and squinting her eyes, quickly looked us over and proclaimed quite sarcastically “I'm sure”. . . . .

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If I Could Wave My Magic Wand . . .

 

Riding to Michigan was one thing, I was interested in finding new adventures further away from home – after all, that's why I bought an RT. While the Clean Living Hoosiers got together to ride mostly intrastate, two brothers – one in L.A. and the other in Indy - started bi yearly (originally) or so riding adventures. They would fly into a state and rent bikes and ride for a week. Once they did the first trip, everyone else wanted to go! As the years went by, the scheduling conflicts seemed constant and I concluded our 'Big Ride' would never happen. For one reason or another, the stars never seemed to align for many of us to take a Big Ride together. That belief led me to transition from a member and sporadic poster on BMWST to event attender. Like many who've had their eyes opened once they do their first event and meet so many great people – I wished I'd done it years ago!

 

This is a tale of West Coast meets Hoosiers with China and the East Coast mixed in for good measure. This is a tale of very old friends meeting friends of friends for the first time and riding for a week together. This is a tale of new friendships. This is the tale of two new BMW owners. This is a tale that had a very shaky near non-start and the tale of a ride that ended dramatically early for one of us and a tale of a tow vehicle that quit.

 

More than anything - except perhaps Clean Living - this is a tale about 2 brothers who were gracious enough to bring us all together.

 

 

Brothers Jerry and Joe, (GS Joe)

 

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EDIT: Please note I've avoided using the word "story" so far. I don't want readers to confuse our tale with anything that resembled the abysmal and non-riding, farcical movie "a story worth telling' because . . . it wasn't.

 

 

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Disclaimer #2. I promise this will be pic heavy. This trip was many, many years in the making and the fact that it even came together is something like the 17th wonder of the World (or whatever number we're up to now). The back story events are as much of the story tale as the event itself.

 

Grand Designs

 

Joe and Jerry have the kind of relationship most people wish they had with their sibling, so when Joe abandoned Indiana and headed West to L.A after college to find fame, fortune and family, The Force stayed strong with these two. During the meanwhile, I'd given up riding while in college after an off and never planned to look back. GS Joe and Jerry [and Don – pictured below] continued to ride and Jerry finally upgraded after 10 years or more and bought a Honda 1300ST. That's significant because Jerry strongly encouraged me to buy his old bike. For a $1. I had no idea how much I missed riding. A year later, that led to the RT and BMWST.

 

A new bike will make you smile!

 

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Signal Transmitted – Message Received

 

With kids getting older, the brothers found time to take 'biking retreats' – just the two of them. The first trip was on rented Glodwings and once word got out, the next thing they knew all their friends – even non riders – wanted to go. This was a problem – they both had several friends who rode and were looking for opportunities; as well as friends who didn't ride, but who thought a long trip was the way to learn. With so much interest, the next year they did a 'retreat', the group size was strictly limited to 4 total. One knucklehead (and non rider) who wouldn't take no for answer wedged his way into that trip and promptly crashed pretty good on a rented Harley. Fortunately, the 5th rider was the only one to buy bike insurance – and he needed it, along with a trip to the ER. When the 5th rider went home to his wife, she dutifully reminded him that 'she told he was not a rider and had told him so before hand' and something about a 'midlife crisis' – whatever that is. :wave:

 

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If the retreats were to continue to include more than the brothers - there could be no more exceptions to the ride parameters – one close call is one too many. So out of a pool of 12 or so riding buddies, there was room for 2. First come, first served. A group of 4 riders was easy to mange on the road and made accommodations simple. The first (and last) time someone pressured their way into the retreat, bad things happened. The retreats continued and the rest of us respected the boundaries when others committed before us.

 

Jerry and GS Joe

 

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One Little Victory

 

 

Late this Winter, Don – having grown tired of scraping his Harley chasing the rest of us - bought a New RT and the Hoosier Riders were busy thinking about riding. The brothers were thinking of a Colorado Trip and many of us must have committed at the same time. The group size went from 4 to 6, to 7 and then 8. And the Trip was a go!

 

The Hoosier group held regular planning sessions, the last being held at a classy establishment called Twin Peaks. We felt, given our destination, this would be a good omen to prepare us for the stunning views and peaks we would experience while in Colorado. The night was to finish off by taking in 'A Story Worth Telling', which we thought would be appropriate given our trip. At least the trip to Twin Peaks didn't disappoint.

 

 

still smiling about the new bike, no doubt

 

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As plans and reservations were made and routes considered, we all prepared for the trip. Jerry – the brother from Indiana – is a masterful planner of all things Summer. I've never known anyone to pack as much adventure into a Summer as Jerry. This Summer was no different. He planned a 8 day fishing trip to the northern reaches of Canada – so far up in fact, he would have no running water/electricity or cell service. He would be out of contact, returning only for 3 days before he and I were to begin our ride to Colorado.

 

A couple of days before he was to leave for Canada, a wrench got thrown into the machinery :cry: :

 

 

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DISTANT EARLY WARNING

 

In the very early stages of the Colorado Trip planing stages, the Hoosier Clan decided that we needed more than just planning meetings at local craft brew establishments. We needed a SHAKE DOWN RIDE – overnight if possible! After all, Don had a new RT to train. (EricInIndy had dropped his Triumph Speed 3 the night before START, breaking off his clutch lever. No matter, he bravely rode his Triumph Bonneville to START, much to the amusement of the GS riders in attendance). So Eric was also anxious to get the quick Triumph back out. Except the part didn't come in. So the Bonneville was back in service again this weekend. One weekend worked for 4 of the 5 of us and a plan was set. Eric would lead us on his secret route to Madison, IN and then we would head back up to Story, IN and finally to the Nashville area where Don has a cabin where we'd take shelter for the night.

 

When Saturday arrived, we were greeted by cool temps and travel advisories issued due to high winds – gusting to 60mph - and concerned spouses. This was the one weekend that worked, so we rode on - we were on a mission! The ride was challenging with the high wind gusts, dodging downed limbs in the roads and debris blowing and flying at us from all angles. In other words, we had a blast!

 

Pretty Maids all in a Row - Madison, IN

 

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Jerry even switched bikes with Eric for part of the ride – while Eric was enjoying the power of the Honda 1300ST, Jerry fell in love with the lightweight Bonneville. Something later events might suggest the ST took personally.

 

All was not well, however. As we got closer to Don's cabin, we noticed a significant increase in storm damage and all the houses we were passing were dark. Next thing we knew, the road ahead was closed due to large pine tree felled by the wind, taking out a power transformer with it.

 

 

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The big tree in question had knocked out the power for the lake area around Don's house. And the offending tree just happened to be Don's! We had an eventful evening!

 

 

At least we had plenty of wood to make up for the power loss. With the interstate shut down and wives concerned, Don's cabin and fireplace was just the oasis we needed.

 

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EDIT:

 

Looking back at the eventful ride and events of the day, we relived the dodging of all things flying through the air, of cars drifting into our lanes by the gusty wind, of Don's newfound Bravado on the RT and that the tree fell away from houses and people.

 

With raised glasses, we toasted to clean living and were even more anxious for The Big Ride.

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MISSION

 

The plan was to meet in Gunnison on Saturday. We'd stay in Gunnison for 3 nights, then our hotel was too full to accommodate our group for the next two nights. We could, however, leave vehicles and trailers if we were coming back. So we planned to head to Durango for one night and then Grand Junction the next, returning for 2 more nights in Gunnison.

 

Scheduling demanded that there would be 4 groups of travelers all departing at different intervals. GS Joe and Steve K would trailer their bikes from L.A. It seemed they would have the easiest time of it and the safe money was on them to be first to arrive in Gunnison and grab first dibs on the best room.

 

Steve K (1150RS) and GS Joe (1150 GS)

 

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Don and his 16 RT

 

p><p> Readers will note that Don

 

p><p> Scott (AKA 6th gear) Would leave Friday at 4pm with another rider who was headed to Laremie, WY. They

 

 

p><p> Jerry and Yours Truly would leave early Wed and take 3 days to ride to Gunnison. Or 4 days. We didn

 

 

:clap:

 

 

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Out. Stomach virus. Fever. Body aches.

 

Unrideable. :mad:

 

You all have a great time.

 

MB>

 

I know my writing skills leave a lot to be desired and my editing skills suck even worse, but I had no idea my prose was this bad!

 

I hope you feel better quickly and I'm sorry you'll miss the UN. I see the UN threads have been updated on your status. Speedy recovery!

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LIMBO

 

While lighting, led's and illumination are popular topics on the board here, apparently in Indiana, it's quite legal to pull not just one, but two ammonia trailers WITHOUT any kind of lights on them at all. No tail lights, no brake lights and certainly no turn signals. Oh, I forgot the part about pulling out in front of oncoming traffic and driving 15 mph. While our Hero had the pulling out ahead of him covered, the late, non signaled turn led to impact.

 

Jerry's right shoulder left a good size dent in the pickup, but lucky for the truck - he didn't flex or the truck-bed would have been demolished. Fortunately, the bike and rider were able to gingerly ride back home and Jerry made a new best friend from the Sheriff's department because he had been ATGATT – even more worth noting because in this Deputy's experience, a rare occurrence when responding to bike accidents.

 

The Rush was on to get an estimate and insurance adjuster to look at the bike. With so little time, how could enough information be gathered to make a bike decision before Jerry went dark for a week in Canada? Scott and Eric both offered their extra bikes just in case. A visit to the local BMW dealer found that they had 2 RT's, with one already half way out the door. Would there be a RT available when he returned from drinking Maple Syrup and fishing and more importantly, would have some answers about his Honda? Would his Honda be totaled? If not, could it get repaired in time? How could he know to a certainty? Would the Canadian fish fall for bait from a foreigner; and one with a bike trip planned but no bike no less? And what about Mary Lou?

 

The questions seemed endless. With so much uncertainty, a last minute leap of of faith was required. Phone calls were made in route to the Great White North and the last floor model RT was secured for our truck denting Hero. With the dealership closed on Sunday and Monday, that meant the deal had to get done on Tuesday, bike picked up and prepped for our 5am departure the next morning.

 

Patiently waiting to meet its new owner.

 

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Everyone should have 4 bikes, right Eric?!

 

i], Jerry going down by unlighted trailers and Eric

 

It wouldn't be the last time we considered the notion once the trip began.

 

PRESTO

 

Our local hero made it back from Canada and had a very eventful Tuesday, but managed to get the bike picked up and home. Some late night Givi instruction deciphering was in order to get the top case mount on the new RT.

 

Connect Bolt C, diagram 4, appendix 7 to . . .

 

p><p> A trip to Eric

 

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Like the story Dave, keep it coming.

 

Mike Cassidy

 

Hey Mike - Appreciate the feedback! Thanks. :)

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AFTERIMAGE

 

 

Returning from The Northern Lights County, Jerry was informed that his bike was, in fact, totaled. One has to wonder if the indignity suffered by the Honda when it's companion and owner lavishly heaped praise on the Triumph Bonneville some weeks earlier didn't break it's spirit - leading to it being distraught and distracted in times of need.

 

Jerry and the ST went back quite a long way, and in a way, the ST was responsible for me getting back into riding. As such, my RT and Jerry's ST were the very best of friends. They accumulated many, many miles together – all the while complimenting each other and neither were envious nor prone to showing off to the other. Like a good riding partner, they got on famously.

 

A moment of silence for the stricken Honda 1300ST while we remember her in happier times:

 

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:thumbsup: [/b]

 

:wave: [/b]

 

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My distraught RT mourns in solitude the loss of a best friend. :cry:

 

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Goodnight, Sweet Princess.

 

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:thumbsup: Great story. Keep it coming!

 

Then I got distracted on Armyguys great story!! Great thread :thumbsup::lurk:

 

I'm working on the update . . . :lurk:

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Headlong Flight

 

With so few hours until departure, sleep should have come easily. Logistically, it made sense to depart from Jerry's, so I was crashing down the in the deep, dark, cave-like basement – which should have been perfect for a deep slumber. Sleep, however, did not come easily. This was the eve of a trip that was 6 or 7 years in the making. What had I forgotten to pack? Would my newly rebuilt drive-shaft make the trip? Did I forget to tighten something critical when I installed it? My mind began to rehearse all the scenarios it could muster of things that could go wrong, trying to solve each one.

 

Jerry, Joe, Don and I had known each other since the early 80's. Time and Distance had allowed us to drift apart in varying degrees and riding had brought us back together. Could we ride together for a week and not drive each other crazy? Could Jerry and I be together for 2 weeks and not kill each other? Would we all be content to 'ride our own ride' - because as any seasoned rider knows - many situations will present themselves when riding with others that could will encourage one to use poor judgment and take risks one typically wouldn't. These thoughts and more circled in that vast space between my ears. And then one other: I had to take a leak! By now, my eyes had adjusted as much as the could to the dungeon, but that cave like basement was so dark I couldn't find the bathroom! With our departure time closing in, I decided I could hold it. More thoughts . . . Maybe I should buy a NASA suit? :rofl:

 

 

 

A heatwave was gripping the Midwest and forecasts called for much higher than average temps for the 3-4 days we planned to take to get to Gunnision. We also had some severe weather popping up randomly for next 2 days. Hoping to beat the heat and random storm cells, we planned depart at 5am Wed morning.

 

The new bike would require a 600 mile service – a distance that fit nicely if we made our way through Kansas City. An appointment for service at was made at Eagle Motors – a BMW and Triumph dealer - for Thursday afternoon. That would allow us a leisurely ride to Quincy, IL on Wednesday, then make KC on an easy ride Thursday.

 

You may find it hard to believe that despite all of the Team Hoosier off-site pre-planning meetings and conferences, travel routes were only discussed in general terms. Our knowledge of local micro breweries was satisfyingly enlarged, so we had accomplished something meaningful with all of the summits. Since we had to go through KC for service, it was generally left to Jerry to propose the route out to Gunnision. Not that we wouldn't discuss or alter the route – the whole point of taking several days out was to be flexible and leave room for impulsive and spontaneous decisions and changes in direction. Returning to Indiana, we'd take the same approach. We generally accepted that that ride out would probably be pretty uneventful and mostly straight and flat.

 

Breaking in the new bike meant the engine revs needed to be varied constantly without revving the engine too high. This was quite entertaining to watch. :wave: My RT didn't know what to think of it's new and improved sibling who would disappear and reappear randomly and certainly had no sense of interval. As we made our way East through Indiana, a small but heavy thunderstorm cell was making its way towards us. Seeing the lightning in the distance, we picked up the pace and made for the intersection of SR 28 and US 231, hoping to find shelter. There we found a gas station that had been divided into two, with the other side hosting a very low budget diner. Breakfast was fair – the non dairy creamer was bad – have you ever seen that before? We waited out the storm and had some nice conversations with the older clientele that came through.

 

The excitement to finally be on the trip even made the food seem better!

 

p><p> Back on the road, we made a hydration stop in Havana, IL at a Thortons. The clerk asked where we were headed and it so happened that Quincy, IL is where she grew up. We had a nice conversation until more customers arrived and we went out to clean our helmets. A few minutes later she came out and took a smoke break. We chatted some more and she told us that her parents ran a pub in Quincy and if we

 

LAKESIDE PARK

 

Arriving in Quincy, the original plan had been to just explore the town and try to get down by the river to check it out. Once we arrived, it was so hot that the stop and go and low air flow of exploring proved to be too challenging and we headed straight towards the water. We stumbled upon a Park overlooking the river. We parked along the overlook and as we were getting our helmets and jackets off, a guy comes over from a bucket truck and offered us a ice cold bottle of water, “Sure” we responded and he went back to the truck and got a second water out of the cooler in the bed. He knew we'd been roasting in our gear.

 

p><p> [b]Checking the

 

:dopeslap:

 

He gave us a history of the town and of industry present and past. He was angry about the Army Core of Engineers plan to let the silt build up in the Mississippi river finger area the park overlooked. That area had been his recreation hub for his entire life, and he was slowly watching it die. He was so passionate, it seemed a piece of him was drying up along with the area. The guy was a great ambassador for Quincy, yet you could tell he also wanted to get out and see more. Retirement wasn't too far away for him and maybe the 'chains that bind' can be broken and he'll break loose and see more. He told us of the one hotel that was updated and recommended about 6 restaurants. He knew of the pub the clerk told us about – but with each restaurant or pub he mentioned, he also provided directions. We couldn't possibly remember any of them. We had enough trouble remembering the directions to the hotel! As the guy walked back to his truck he said in all sincerity - “You High Rollers have a good trip!” We would laugh at that description the rest of the trip.

 

 

Once checked in at the Quality Inn, we quickly poured Vodka on the rocks and hit the pool! Once cooled down and refreshments finished, it was time to eat. We were tired and mixed up about all the places our Ambassador suggested, so we just walked across the street to a BBQ joint and . . . . pigged out. :thumbsup: Simple is good.

 

 

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We stopped at the bikes to get something outside the hotel and someone asked us where we were headed. As we talked, another guy comes up and listens. The original guy was suggesting a road to ride tomorrow when the lurker spoke up. “If you're on those bikes” he said pointing, “let me tell you how you want to leave tomorrow – you won't want to visit this area and not ride this road”. :thumbsup: He began to give us a different route and the original guy walked away. Once we had the route down, we chatted a bit more. Turns out the guy works for . . wait for it . . The Army Core of Engineers. So we mentioned the conversation we'd had a few hours ago. Frustrated, the Engineer replied that what people didn't understand is that the Core didn't have the funding to dredge(?) or do whatever it is that's needed to be done to the area of concern. He felt quite badly about it and said it wasn't for a lack of desire or want, but funding.

 

Over-stuffed and worn out, we retired and made plans for the next day. It was going to be hot again, so we would leave early. I used google maps to make our routes for the next day, still not totally comfortable with custom route planning with the my new Garmin.

 

Lastly – the day had been better than we expected. In taking extra time to get to Gunnison, we'd hope to meet local folks and get a view into their world and gain a greater awareness/perspective outside of the small pool we normally swim in back in Indiana. Mission accomplished. We'd had a great first day despite the heat and straight & flat roads.

 

Life was good, so was the ride and we were excited to see what the next day might bring. Turns out, we were not to be disappointed!

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Nothin' left on those bones

 

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TOM SAWYER

 

We were up early and so was the moist heat. The most recent suggested route was to take 57 South to Hannible, MO, [A town that is all about Mark Twain] then run 79 down to Louisiana, MO. That would take us further south than we needed to go, but we had the time to spare. And the road would wind along the river with plenty of elevation changes and overlooks. Indeed, a great road to start off the day!

 

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From there, we were going to head over to Moberly and then to KC, taking 154 to 24. The best riding was now behind us for the day. Having peaked early, we lamented that the rest of the trip would be very hot and mundane. We were right about the heat.

 

I quickly learned that Google decides what way you really meant you wanted to go, despite customizing the route just the way you want it - and it reverts back to whatever route it thinks is best for you. :P:S:mad:

 

Edited by workin them angels
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SIGNALS GET CROSSED

 

We started West on 154 from Louisiana, MO and it was getting hot already. We'd made probably one too many overlook stops. As we came into Moberly, was that a sign for 24 I just passed? Isn't that the road we want? Hmm. . . If the sign was for 24, it must have been for 24 East, because the trusty Google maps has us continuing on straight. And our arrival time is better than we thought! I'm sure my custom Google maps route is correct, Right?

 

Did I mention it's hot?! I see what the Garmin has to say while we discuss the situation as we continue to ride South. With the Garmin, I confirm what we knew, we were not on the 'custom' the route we wanted, and if we kept on heading South, soon we'd be on I 70. As in the Interstate - WHICH WAS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN on this trip. Man it's hot! Do we really want to turn around and back track in this heat?

 

We decided that we just needed to explore, and head in the general direction of Kansas City – taking roads as we pleased. We took the very next road to the right.

 

RIDE LIKE THE WIND

 

We unknowingly stumbled upon a incredible, challenging road with blind, elevating turns and tight sweepers and lightly decreasing radius curves. A road we had mostly to ourselves. When we would meet oncoming traffic, it seemed to always be in a challenging area - which made for all the more fun! This road was so perfect, it took me the rest of the day to convince Jerry I hadn't planned the detour all along so I cold surprise him with this awesome road. Remember – we thought we'd put the days best riding behind us already.

 

We began to pick up the pace a bit. Not too much – remember Jerry is on a new bike and he hasn't had a chance to train it yet. This is the first time he's been able to explore what's so special about Beemers.

 

I'm just out of sight on some of the curves, and trying to help, I begin to narrate the curves – both of us having a blast. “This curve tightens up a little; some light gravel on the center line, etc.” Note to self and others: This does not a help the rider following. I stop the play by play. Except when there's gravel.

 

ADRENALINE SURGE

 

We find a rhythm and an even quicker pace! We cannot believe this road we're on. Maybe Google Maps isn't so bad after all! [yes it is] Winding and twisting and leaning we go, up and down and around. The Mechanical Music of Machine and Man is broken suddenly over the helmet intercom by my excited laughing. I'd just quickly crested a fairly quickly rising left curve – steep enough that you can't tell which way the road goes until you peak the hill. There was no road sign to indicate a direction change – but studying the way the curve opens up ever so slightly at the crest of the incline, I knew there was a good chance a quick change in direction was in store once over the peak of the hill.

 

LAUGHING OUT LOUD WITH FEAR AND HOPE

 

Cresting the top of the road, sure enough, the road changes direction the right – just like a good roller-coaster! A deep adrenaline fueled laugh travels over the intercom airways as I lean right and twist the right handle.

 

Simply unbelievable!

 

Our road T's and we turn left and roll through Harrisburg, MO - a two block town with one stop sign. We both noted a very old looking general store as we passed through town. That's just the kind of place this trip is about. We turn around just outside of town (one block later!) and go inside C & S Grocery.

 

Mrs C & S grocery in the red shirt.

 

p><p> The General Store is nearly 200 years old  now and in it

 

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We were on our way again and we credited Clean Living for our good fortune in meeting such interesting and friendly people over the last 2 days. Time was short till the service appointment in KC and the heat was ….. hot.

 

 

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I TURN MY FACE TO THE SUN

 

Our ride to Eagle BMW Triumph was nice enough – we stayed on rural roads as long as we could and Mr C & S grocer's roads were nice. When we arrived at Eagle, we were overheated. The slow pace of the city traffic was baking us. Traffic lights, slow speeds and the heat sink you encounter in urban areas were taking a toll. A couple of hours to relax in a air conditioned store filled with bikes, gear and gadgets was just what we needed. Jerry really enjoyed the cool running boxer engine compared to the furnace he use to ride.

 

We met this guy in the middle of nowhere. He'd always wanted to take a bike trip like we were, but it never happened.

 

:clap:

 

We found Don's twin brother in the back corner of the showroom.

 

 

:thumbsup: - we rode to our home for the night in Olathe and hit the pool with refreshments. Emails and texts had been flying around all day as the rest of the group made final departure plans. We found it hard to believe that our photos with drinks in hand in the pool were not joyfully received by the others.[sorry, once bite, twice shy, so not posted here. Besides, I don't want to be redundant) Speaking of PORK, for dinner we walked across the parking lot to another BBQ place and discussed plans for the next day. We had three possible destinations – Dodge City, Garden City or Lamar. We'd just see how bad the heat got and decide on the roll tomorrow. This was going to be the hottest day so far, with temps expected to hit 100.

 

Checking In Parking Zone?!

 

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******** INTERMISSION*********

 

 

We Interrupt this thread to go camping for the weekend. Jerry and I apparently are suffering from Withdrawal Symptoms and Mrs. WTA and I will be camping with Jerry's family this weekend.

 

Stay Tuned - The best is yet to come! To help pass the weekend, I'll give a glimpse into nest week:

 

Members of our group DID have encounters with Law Enforcement Officers while In Colorado. Pick a number between 1 and 10 as to how many roadside encounters were experienced in total. And yes, one involved the rider known as "6th" gear. But this is not how he got his nickname, although given the nature of his offense, it fits quite nicely in that instance as well.

 

Feel free to share your guess or keep to yourself.

 

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"Feel free to share your guess or keep to yourself."

 

I'm guessing 10 and hope to hear the story of each. But officer.....

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I apologize for the lengthy intermission. We returned from camping and headed out again Wed for Land O Lakes, WI. I hope to post an update later today if suitable bandwidth is secured.

 

No worries, I'll recount the encounters with various LEO's - a couple are particularly amusing. The number of personal encounters is thankfully less than 10, but certainly could have been that or more.

 

Free popcorn refills. :lurk::lurk: :lurk:

Edited by workin them angels
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I apologize for the lengthy intermission. We returned from camping and headed out again Wed for Land O Lakes, WI. I hope to post an update later today if suitable bandwidth is secured.

 

Dave - Enjoying your ride report and look forward to hearing more about your ride. :thumbsup:

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Thanks for following along Bob. One more installment before the real fun begins. See you at FART.

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HOLD YOUR FIRE

 

Friday's ride was a scorcher! We rode a couple of hours and wandered into Lola KS for breakfast. Lola advertises that it has the largest [city hall] town square in America – they have two blocks vs your plain old average one block for the rest of us. After making a ceremonial lap around the two block town square – we grew concerned that with the extra block we might run out of fuel or get lost - we found a small cafe and ordered a nice breakfast. Back outside, we'd parked at the far end of the block, in front of a old fashioned barber shop with the striped pole. While we were getting geared up, a guy pulls up and tries the door to the barber shop. Locked. He'd just drove in to town for his hair cut. We got to talking, he's a wheat farmer and he wasn't thrilled about the storms that had cropped up here and there over the last few days. He needs a few days of heat and wind to dry his crop so he can cut his wheat. We remarked that everything had seemed dry to our eyes. He said that the corn and other crop farmers wanted and needed rain. So what constituted 'good' weather deepened upon your crop. Or choice of transportation. We credited Clean Living with having missed the storms the prior day.

 

 

Temperatures did indeed soar above 100 and Dodge City was as far as we were going to go. As Chemistry Major Jerry (“Mr Wizard”) explains:

 

"Windchill Factor can be in effect when outside temps are below your body temp. Conversely, when outside temps exceed your body temperature, it's not called windchill anymore, it's called convection oven!"

 

 

So we'd been riding around in a enormous oven all afternoon. Jerry had taken the roll of Chief Hotel Negotiator on the trip, and when we'd get near town, he'd find acceptable accommodations and then squeeze them for a great rate. Not today. We pulled into the first modern looking hotel. That should have given me a clue how dehydrated Jerry was. Once Jerry got off his bike, he was visibly wobbly from the heat. Good thing we stopped. This hotel – with a empty parking lot – was booked up. But they had a 'sister' hotel on the other side of town. The desk clerk looked up their best rate and had them save a room for us. Once through town, we got checked in and went through our post check-in routine - with equal parts Vodka and water and spending much longer in the pool.

 

 

Once recovered, we explored. At some point, it looks like someone tried to capitalize on the Gunsmoke connection with Dodge City and recreate a historic Dodge Western Main Street from long ago. Ironically perhaps, that section of street is pretty much empty, deserted and run down – much like an old western town from days gone by might be. While I remember watching the TV show as a kid, I really preferred the radio version of “Gunsmoke” much better, with William Conrad as Marshal Dillon. Until recently, you could hear it on Sirius/XM till they eliminated the station. When they dropped the old time radio shows and the book channel, I dropped them.

 

Dusty with his new friend

 

:wave:

 

Dodge City Beef Special

 

p><p> Our bar stool neighbor was proud of Dodge and he, like the guy from Quincy, hadn

 

We left after dinner and washed two days worth of bugs off the bikes and went to bed early. Saturday was going to be another hot day and we wanted to make good time. We knew we'd get some good riding in past mid-day, and we hoped that would drive us through the heat. We set our alarms for 4am.

 

The rest of the Indiana group had all hit the road by the time we got into Dodge City. With our decision to leave so early to beat the heat, plans to meet up with Don and EricInIndy along the way were abandoned. Heat had also changed 6th gear's (Scott's) plans and he opted for a shorter ride than he originally planned for Friday.

 

Blast off for Eric and Don

 

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p><p> Before hitting the sack, we hung our wet swim trunks on a tree outside our room. We noted the similarity of the guys from Quincy and Dodge City - proud - but at the same time feeling they had to be apologetic for their towns; contrasted with the C&S General Store couple from a truly small town who seemed fulfilled and content in every way. This was the kind of diversity we were looking for, even if we couldn

 

We went to bed exhausted and excited for the last leg, cooler temps, great roads and great friends all coming together with their own travel experiences to share. Little did we know, Saturday would also bring an unexpected delay for the "A" team.

 

 

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Our fearless leader, GS Joe (The A-Team) was leaving Saturday from LA. This is Joe and Steve's tale, as told by The Man, The Myth, The Legend - GS Joe himself:

 

Fury Road – Los Angeles, CA to Gunnison, CO

 

My friend Steve is a satellite engineer and I (GS Joe) am an architect, so together we have always contended that we would look good doing things right*. Turns out, that wasn't the case trailering our bikes out to from California to Colorado.  Neither of us owned a trailer, so we decided to rent a “tank” (U-haul) to transport our bikes.  I did the load calculations, which was our first mistake.  Why was the architect calculating anything?  He should be picking out cool looking tie-downs, right?  Our 6 cylinder Honda Pilot was enlisted to pull the heavy U-haul and bikes.

 

The barge Trailer the two brainiac's would be dragging to CO.

 

b][i][This is particularly true for GS Joe. GS

 

 

Hand to waist, elbow slightly bent. See more examples as the week progresses. :wave:

 

 

p><p> Our route from LA would take us through St. George, UT, which is about 120 miles NE of Las Vegas.  Prior to St George the scenery from LA is pretty disagreeable.  A good friend of mine from Salt Lake City, David Vialpando, had always boasted about the beautiful drive from LA to SLC.  Prior to St. George, Davey couldn

 

If you ever make this trip yourself, be sure you Fill up in Salina, UT.  Let me say that again.  FILL UP IN SALINA, UT!!!  “Why?” you might ask? Simple - because there are no services between Salina and the Gas-N-Go in Green River, UT, which is a distance of 106 miles. Not knowing this, we happily sailed right through Salina with seemingly not a care in the world. There is a gas station named “Randy’s Services” 12 miles off of Hwy70 and about 50 west of Salina, but by the time you figure that out it will likely be too late to make it there, as was it was for us once we started searching for fuel. We didn't really start to get concerned about gas until we had about a quarter tank left. We hadn't seen any fueling options for some time, so by the time we started using our technology to locate a gas station, we had passed Randy’s.  By then, we were roughly equidistant between Randy’s and the Gas-N-Go in Green River.  So we did what all true pioneers would do, forge forward.

 

Isn't this where the Lunar Module landed?

 

gallon climbing these inclines.  Our first GPS readings were 40 miles to gas and our Honda Pilot telling us we had a range of 60 miles - cool – we really did have everything under control, what were we worrying about?!  Hey, we had to be good to go - after all we had a satellite engineer on-board, right? I mean, it

 

As we continued on, we watched in disbelief as our Pilot's miles to empty range readings slowly dropped below our miles to a gas station.  With 30 miles to our exit, our range indicator reading was only 19.  It was 100 degrees out here on the moon and we were pulling the heaviest trailer known to man and our Pilot was drinking like a kid celebrating their 21st birthday.  Rather than run out of gas half way up or down a mountain (that wouldn't look good, to say nothing of dangerous), we decided to stop at the Salt Wash Scenic View pull off and call AAA to send out some gas. 

 

One Long (but scenic) Pit Stop

 

p><p> If we were going to run out of gas, at least it wouldn

 

Waiter?!? (no pun intended . . .)

 

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I love it when a plan comes together.

 

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Meanwhile, back in Dodge City . . .

 

CARRIED AWAY ON A WAVE OF MUSIC DOWN A DESERT ROAD

 

 

 

We awoke about midnight to a massive lightning strike nearby. We'd seen that intense storm cells were popping up here and there, but when we went to bed, it looked like we were going to miss them. I went out and collected our swim trunks that had been blown down by the wind and fell soundly back to sleep.

 

By the time we left just before 4:30, the rain had stopped and we were excited to roll off before dawn. Even riding West, there's something magical about seeing the world come alive along with the slowly rising sun. We saw lightning way off in the distance in different directions and with the first hint of dawn, it began to rain. We stopped at the next town and geared up. We'd used up several of our Clean Living tokens to miss the storms the previous two days and this seemed as good a time as any to get wet. Once through the rain (but still seeing lots of lightning off to the North), we had an opportunity to pick up the pace in the desolate areas - hitting triple digits briefly a few times. The road was long, empty and straight.

 

All to ourselves

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Is that a bent elbow . . .

 

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Once into Colorado, the road was still long and straight. We stopped in La Junta for breakfast.

 

Across from our cafe

 

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Looks nice and cool up there

 

p><p> We

 

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The grinning started again as we made our way back down the mountain and made our final approach to Gunnison. We quickly found the ABC Motel – our base camp - and discovered we were the first to arrive! Clean Living scores again! It turned out that 2 of our block of four rooms were on the ground floor – despite having requested 4 ground level rooms. Since GS Joe had made the reservations in advance and put the deposits on his card, we felt that he should get one of the ground floor rooms. Jerry advised the very accommodating owners that they should hold the other ground floor room for our fearless leader – Joe. We also warned them that the characters coming in behind us might try all kinds of shenanigans to bushwhack their way into the remaining ground floor room. We took the other ground floor room, hey - first dibs and all! We arrived before check in time, but fortunately for us, the hustling, busty, tank top wearing housekeeper from Poland had just finished our room (more about her later). We had about 2 hours before the first of the rest would arrive, so we showered and settled in with a well deserved beverage while we relaxed waiting for the others to arrive.

 

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p><p> We can

 

While we were clean and cool, the rest of the group were rolling off their own millage sets and for the first time in three days, it was nice to have our roles reversed. We relaxed while they were out on the hot pavement. And that was fine by us. :lurk:

Edited by workin them angels
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TIME AND MOTION

 

Before we knew it, Eric (ericInIndy) and Don pulled up, anxious to get out of the cage. They unloaded their bikes and checked into their second floor room. Within minutes, they were itching to get out on two wheels. We decided that another run up Monarch Pass was in order. After trying to reach 6th gear to get his ETA without success, we suited up and hit the road. For no particular reason, I was leading the way up the pass. Eric had gone to START this year, but had to ride his backup bike, which is not much of a twisty road bike – and had it not been for the rainy nights at START, I'm sure Eric would have started a major forest fire with the trails of sparks his Triumph Bonneville produced in the corners. Now on the Speed 3 and restless from a long drive in the van, Eric came sweeping around on the inside of a left curve heading up the pass, and with all of us minding the the steep drop-off on our right, we followed the new leader. Later in the week, it would be me grinding the feelers on the RT chasing Eric – much to his satisfaction. This was going to be a great week!

 

Let's get this show on the road

 

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Lebanon, KS - the Geographical Center of the US

 

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We all converged back at the ABC and Jerry – as he had for Don and Eric – rehearsed the room situation with 6th gear. Like I said, it'd been a long day for 6th , and he must have been a little fatigued, because he emerged from the hotel office and let himself into GS Joe's ground floor room. Jerry reminded the Eagle Scout of the 12 Scouting Laws – Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful . . Scott cut him off. “Oh, you were serious about that room being Joe's?!?” Room keys were exchanged and Scott set off for a well deserved shower, fulfilling another of the 12 Scouting Laws – Cleanliness.

 

With the Clean Living Hoosiers together again, we began to share the events of our respective journeys in the parking lot while we waited to Steve E and the LA duo to arrive. Steve E had flown into Denver (from China) the day before and spent a day getting acquainted with his rented camhead. Soon, he rolled in and it was time to think about dinner.

 

 

Don and Jerry

 

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Trying to pair Sena's :dopeslap:

 

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It was about this time that we found out that The Smarties had run out of gas and would not be joining us for dinner. Wait – this was our fearless leader?! We obviously had a few things to teach him about Clean Living.

 

We found a nice place for dinner and the owner was nice enough to pose with us for the photo (posted in the previous post)– this AFTER she said she had the perfect table for us, and led us to the most remote area of the restaurant. It was perfect for a reunion of old friends. We had all finally come together for a great week of riding and there was a sense of relief, excitement and anticipation as we shared stories. We raised our glasses to Clean Living. When the bill came, we tried to get 6th gear to cover the entire tab by reciting the 12 Scouting Laws again – but thinking quickly, 6th gear interrupted and jumped ahead to 'Thrifty', the 9th Scouting Law, and we each got our own tab.

 

GS Joe and Steve finally arrived sometime well after midnight and we had all long since retired. It was a anticlimactic arrival for the heroes, but we hoped the ground floor room would be some consolation.

Edited by workin them angels
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Trying to pair Sena's :dopeslap:

 

You're going to need more beer! ;)

 

We never did discover the correct beer ratio for Sena intercom pairing, try as we might. On the bright side however, this led to Scott's new nickname - 6th gear - on our first Colorado group ride together. This is a very funny story, and the first time I shared it, I couldn't get the words out I kept laughing so hard. I only hope I can somehow convey some that hilarity through the keyboard.

 

This will be covered in the next installment - late tonight or tomorrow.

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At least two beers for every pair, right??????? :grin:

 

Absolute Bare Minimum! That's just to get started! :/

 

GREAT tale, wonderful pictures, keep at it ! :-)

 

Thanks Francis! I'm slowly making progress. We had a fairly eventful Sunday (our first ride day as a group) and it's taking me a little longer than I'd hoped to get the next post out. :S:S:dopeslap:

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Trying to pair Sena's :dopeslap:

 

You're going to need more beer! ;)

 

We never did discover the correct beer ratio for Sena intercom pairing, try as we might.

 

I thought we at least had the beer part covered! :clap:

 

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TEST FOR ECHO

 

The entire ABC Motel awoke early Sunday as two Harley riders fired up their ‘Loud Pipe’ Specials. After what seemed like a protracted warm up time – complete with mild revving - they finally roared off. A little more dozing in and out and Jerry and I were up, along with the other Clean Living Hoosiers.

 

Maybe they should add “No loud Pipes”

 

p><p> We tried to pair the Sena

 

TURN UP THE MUSIC AND SMILE

 

I like my tunes and have several ride mixes. Not all songs have the same output level, so that - and a desire to crank up certain songs - can cause one to have the music turned up louder than one would want the intercom, or more importantly, that LOUD INTERCOM TONE! Now Sena claims that you can set the intercom level and the annoying 'alert' tone level separate from your music level, so the intercom conversations and the alert tone would remain static, despite changing volume setting for your music. Despite many, many attempts, I could never achieve this – although others did. This meant that many times that damn alert tone would come across way too loud. I’m pretty sure Nigel Tufnel helped design these because the tone would come in “ One Louder!” as if turned up to eleven whenever someone would join in or out.

But I digress. . . .

 

We’d planned a optional, light ride for the day, knowing everyone would be exhausted to varying degrees from the trip out. This would allow for a leisurely start and finish to the day and give all of us time to explore the surroundings. The Braniac’s were deservedly snoozing, so we rode to wash bug guts off our bikes. Soon enough, everyone was up and the remaining two bikes were unloaded. The CA crew wanted a restful morning, so 6 of us would head out on the ride and Joe and Steve would leave later and ride straight to Creed and it was possible we'd all meet up there. Some of us wondered if they wanted a late start so they could get a glimpse of the housekeeper. ;)

 

Ready to ride

 

:dopeslap:

 

After a scenic stop

 

 

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IMG_0312.jpg[/img]

 

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IMG_0308.jpg[/img]

 

 

 

We headed off again and Jerry and Don were exploring their bikes a bit. After a few nice curves, one of the new RT owners asked what gear I was I using I the corners. A few curves later, the question was asked again, more in relation to RPMs, engine braking and powering out of curves – the new owners wanting to get a handle on the boxer motor. I said something like 'some were 2nd gear corners and some were 3rd' and adding that higher revs were your friend with the boxer. Scott chimes in that he's been 6th gear and x rpms (a low number); simultaneously, we hear a engine accelerating hard (and shifting up) through the intercom – it's Scott! More talk between the boxer riders about gears and high revs being good and Scott chimes back in that he's in 6th gear and doesn't change gears. I roll into the next curve hard and fast – winding out second and banging third. We all hear Scott's engine rev hard and upshift! He doesn't know that his Sena is transmitting his engine noise clearly to the rest of us, almost as if his engine had its own mic. Throughout the rest of the ride, we continue to hear his engine whine, rev and shift. Jerry and I could hardly contain ourselves on the intercom, laughing intermittently as we would hear clearly the Triumph labor just as hard as the BMWs. Scott didn't why we were laughing – which made it all the more funny as we listened to him repeatedly flog his bike. I guess they call that brand rivalry. We called it hilarious! :wave::rofl:

 

Arriving in Lake City, we saw 2 or 3 deer in town snacking beside a cabin. We ate at the Chillin' Internet Cafe – which has great food and variety.

 

 

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p><p> The Chillin

 

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Ernie and Eric didn't have intercoms – so they had no idea what had been transpiring. As we sat waiting for our food, I began to try to tell the 6th gear story. And I couldn't stop laughing long enough to get a sentence out. I couldn't get four words out before the memory of hearing Scott's engine loud and clear winding out and shifting would start me uncontrollably laughing again. From then on, Scott was known as 6th gear! And truth be told, 6th gear does ride fast. More than once I've been riding along at a decent pace when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, 6th gear roars by at the speed of sound. So the name fits in more ways than one, and it wouldn't be much longer before he cemented his name with another kind of encounter.

 

 

Leaving Lake City, 6th gear and Don went on ahead.

 

6th gear discussing gear selection no doubt

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IMG_2631.jpg[/img]

 

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GS Joe and Steve - Still no bent elbow. .

 

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With GS and Steve heading back the way they came, we stopped at The Oasis Restaurant in Saguache and waited for Don and 6th gear. The Oasis was nice and frigid inside and had a mix of American and Mexican food.

 

 

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Back together again, we started back for Gunnison. 6th gear was leading for a while and then dropped back. This was unusual, because true to his name, he seems most comfortable up front. I was bringing up the rear and Scott dropped back behind me and then slowly fell back further. We were in a 60mph zone in a valley. Jerry was leading and bumped it up to 75 – 80ish. [bTW - 114 has some great sweepers along a river closer to Gunnison - just out of the range of this photo.]

 

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Up ahead, I see a road perpendicular to and terminating at our highway (CO 114). I was probably a quarter mile back from the group, and 6th gear was not in my mirrors. I thought I saw a car at the intersection, so I had slowed down a good ways back. There was a large gap between me and the rest of the group and I could not understand why the car didn't pull out once the group passed the car on the T-road. Sure enough, I see as I pass it's Officer Friendly! :wave:

 

He lazily pulls out behind me, but he is going below the speed limit. I try 6th gear on the intercom to warn him, but no one is in range. I try to call 6th gear, but there's no cell service. The cop is going slow enough below the speed limit behind me that I'm pulling away and sure he knows I'm with the group ahead and need to catch up. I pick it up to a couple over and get a decent gap. Once over a hill, I twist the loud handle and I was off like a prom dress. I'm quite sure the officer went slowly to allow me to slip away so I could catch up. I catch the group and after another 5 minutes or so Eric and I stop to make sure 6th gear is still coming. We wait. And we wait. The LEO doesn't come by either. We decide to head back. After a few miles, we meet up with 6th gear coming towards us.

 

Apparently, 6th comes up behind the officer and couldn't understand how we got in front of the patrol cruiser (he must not have seen the T road). The officer was rolling along at 5 over the limit when 6th gear catches him. Scott decides that we must have all passed the cop, so like a Donkey Eating a Waffle, 6th pulls out AND PASSES the officer!!

 

You read that correctly. :rofl:

 

And as sure as you're reading this, he gets blue lighted. A law officer can only take so much – Jerry says he went by the officer at 75 – and now a rider has the audacity to pass him!? That's over the line! He does his checks and comes back with a business card and gives it to 6th . He tells 6th gear his fine would be $175 if he'd written him a ticket. But here's my business card instead. And off 6th gear went on his way . . . . .

 

With everyone back at the ABC Motel,

 

(The offending Harley's would wake us again the next morning.)

 

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As we walk the streets of Crested Butte - 6th gear takes control and makes a reservation for 8 at someplace 'that had good reviews' on his phone (Elk Ave Prime). They forgot to mention it was $$$$. When in Rome. . .

 

Brothers Jerry and Joe both ordered the 8oz Filet. Soon, the waitress comes back – they are sold out of the 8oz Filet, would they care for the 6oz instead? A 6oz is not going to be enough for The Boggie Boys – these two can eat like teenagers and still keep their girly figure, so they ask if they can get 3 x 6oz Filets for the price of 2 8oz?! Amazingly enough, the owner comes over and says he'll do it! Dinner was the first time we were all together for any length of time and we all got acquainted and were the last customers to leave. One topic that led to plenty of speculation was 6th gear's incident with the Highway Man and why he was spared a ticket and given a business card instead. This would not be the last time that topic came up.

 

 

We had a nice (but expensive) meal and a chilly ride back to the ABC. All things considered, it was hard to imagine how the day could have gone any better. Dinner was the first real chance we all had time to get to know one another. The restaurant had an extensive menu and it was hard to decide what to order (except for Jerry and joe). Those with unusual dinners offered samples - just as you might do with your own family at home.

 

Not surprisingly, we didn't feel so warm and fuzzy about the Harley couple who would wake us up early again the next morning.

Edited by workin them angels
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A RISING SUMMER SUN

 

We'd hoped that once we arrived in Colorado, the heat wave we experienced on the way out would dissipate and the temperatures would become more favorable for riding (in areas other than the mountain tops). But the heat wave continued and was expected to last all of this week across much of the US. Knowing today would be a scorcher when we weren't at elevation, our fearless leader, GS Joe, felt that due to the high temps, we might reconsider our earlier pre-arrival decision not to ride dirt. We had 2 guys with new bikes who were new to the brand, and Steve was on a rented Hexhead. While all three are very competent riders, they were still learning their bikes. With this in mind, initially we'd decided as a group not to ride any dirt. Our route today would take us through Buena Vista to Independence Pass, through Aspen to Carbondale to Crested Butte. But with the high temps expected, the thought was to take CO 12 – a well packed dirt road and shave some time and add some adventure on the way to Crested Butte.

 

Todays Route

 

 

 

We were also going to try to ride in two groups to keep things simpler and safer. Today would offer plenty of winding, twisting roads, but also some long miles at lower elevations with intense heat and we expected a fair amount of traffic. Heavy traffic and prolonged high heat can lead to poor judgment – which made riding in groups all the wiser.

 

But first we had to start our day by being awoken to the matched pair of Harleys doing their thing. At least it would be for the last time.

 

Arriving in Buena Vista, the first group discovered Jan's, so we all converged there for breakfast just as the heat was picking up – perfect timing. The food was decent, ample and Jan seemed to be somewhat of a local celebrity.

 

The Bikes were thirsty too.

 

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He ate it all!

 

p><p> The heat and traffic had picked up, but once outside of Buena Vista,  the snow caped mountains in the distance had a cooling effect, mentally if nothing else. We couldn

 

 

 

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Watch your speed . . .

 

p><p> We reached this pull off about halfway up Independence Pass that offered a great look back at the way we

 

 

 

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Independence Pass was today's reconfirmation (as if we needed any) that Joe and Jerry had picked a great location to bring us all together to ride. It wasn't cold up there, but it was comfortable; and so gorgeous it made you forget you have any worries at all in the world. It's one of those views that you wish you could experience with all your family and friends together at the same time. And maybe even those you don't care for as much. It's a view that somehow restores you faith (oddly) in the Goodness Of Humanity and World Peace seems possible. Chuck Norris is rumored to tear up here.

 

 

 

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My favorite

 

;)

 

 

 

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The heat is testing patience. A few of us go off to shop, bank or do our own thing. Group texts eventually go out that it's time to roll.

 

 

 

 

p><p> The walk back to the bikes heats us all up again, but the bikes haven

 

 

 

Some shade along the way

 

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The dirt road was a non issue and offered views and shade at times. We pulled off about half way through in a nice shady area. Someone mentioned the massive forests of Birch trees. 6th gear informed us that the forests were in fact Aspen trees and that they all shared a common root system. Impressed, we all did a collective Hmm.

 

 

 

Aspen Trees

 

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..... we needed to find a place to hydrate and refresh ourselves. Jerry asked a couple sitting at an outside cafe where they would suggest. The Eldo was the response. As we walked away, 6th gear, our resident techie, we busy on his phone and the hippie types dressed him down. “Put your phone away, talk to a human!” “Look someone in the eye”. We could still hear them a half block away admonishing the techie. But, they were right about The Eldo!

 

 

 

Edited by workin them angels
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False Alarm - This isn't an update - I've added some photos to the last couple of posts and I must have exceeded the max number of photos per post becasue photos stopped presenting, so I had to make this last part a new post so the photos would display.

 

 

We camped out on the second floor patio overlooking the street.

 

 

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p><p> The Eldo set the standard for house margaritas – with real lime juice. Every other Margarita sampled elsewhere was a disappointment. And the Buffalo Wrap was the best I

 

Heading the speed warning the owners of the ABC Motel had given us the day before, we welcomed a cool and easy ride back in the incredibly starry night back to Gunnison - the perfect ending to a long day. We'd enjoyed our second visit to Crested Butte and we hoped to return, if nothing else to put to rest a budding Ping Pong rivalry.

 

 

Don't ask . . .

 

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Edited by workin them angels
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THE POINT OF THE NEEDLE MOVING BACK AND FORTH

 

It was time to pull up anchor at the ABC for two nights and head to Durango, CO. It was nice to wake-up on your own terms and without loud pipes. That's not to say there weren't other disturbances in the room that caught the attention of at least one or, more often, two senses. As this has been on going, I'm not sure either of us really noticed anymore – BUT - it was nice to walk outside the room into fresh air this morning and see three deer lazily crossing the street with the mountain in the background.

 

 

p><p>  With record temps continuing all week, GS Joe convened The Council Of Riders on Monday, expressing the notion that we might be better served by staying both nights in Durango - instead of heading up to Fruita, CO for one night as had been our plan. It was left to Jerry to extend the rooms for another night, a feat he was able to accomplish, but not without some effort. We packed up what we

 

 

OK, this is from the wrong day. But you get the idea . .(it's hard to find a good layout editor these days) ;)

 

p><p>  I mentioned earlier that the owners of the ABC are originally from Poland and they have been running the motel for a couple of decades. This year, they had a young blond woman working as a housekeeper. She always wore a tank top and was in the habit of hustling along, jogging from one room to wherever she was headed next.  We were sure she was auditioning for the Polish Bride Program. We didn

 

We started off in two groups and the first group was going to pick a spot for breakfast once they were in Montrose, and let the rest of us know where and how to get there.

 

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In Montrose, we ran into construction and road closures. A couple of us stopped and accessed The Google while we heated up in the sun. Back the other way we went to cut through a neighborhood. Opps. That road closes too. We head back and one rider sees a sign for 550N and follows it. We wade through construction and find our meeting place – The Daily Bread and Cafe. The others arrive shortly thereafter. Although it's warm, we eat outside and have a lighthearted visit.

 

 

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SECOND NATURE

 

Leaving Montrose, you get to business pretty quickly and we had a nice ride with great roads and views. The Million Dollar Highway doesn't disappoint!

 

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p><p> We came to the top of a peak and traffic was stopped in both directions for road construction. They were doing 20 minute road closures. After about 15 minutes, GS seeks - and gets - permission to go to the front of the line of cars! The workers let us move past everyone, so we wounld

 

 

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Edited by workin them angels
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ENTHUSIASM SPREADS

 

We took advantage of the open road and picked up our pace as we wound around and up and down over and over again. We all found a groove and enjoyed the road. We approached Silverton, and GS Joe decided to peal off to get gas, and would catch up to us later. In doing so, GS was apparently optimistic in what he considered the appropriate speed and he caught the attention of San Juan County Sheriff Bruce Conrad. After some document checking and conversation, Sheriff Conrad gave GS Joe a . . . . Business Card! Maybe Joe was picking up on the finer aspects of Clean Living after all. We'll revisit the business card(s) later – we're not done yet with speed enforcement.

 

You can read about the interesting Sheriff here. LINK

 

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Don pulled off and took these. **Notice how many vehicles are on or over the center line!**

 

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p><p> The couple with the infant in the back didn

 

The guys took matters in their own hands and had passed whenever they could. Confronted with his blatant hypocrisy (considerate and share the road indeed!), he drove off. I found out later that at one point, the driver actually moved over to the left from his lane to threaten / discourage / CRASH / KILL passing on the left, and ended up getting passed on both sides at once. That's probably when a stone got kicked up. Learning this part, it was remarkable how calm Ernie and Jerry were. I would have been livid.

 

As the man says:

Thank your stars you're not that way

Turn your back and walk away

Don't even pause and ask them why

Turn around and say goodbye.”

 

 

GS Joe caught up to us at the filling station and filled us in on his LEO adventure. With fueled bikes, we rode to our home for the next 2 nights – The Durango Downtown Inn.

 

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Our ground floor rooms had the Amimas River adjacient to our parking area and Don enthusiastically led a more reluctant group to wade into the Freakin' FRIGIDLY COLD River Waters. Returning to the rooms, their voices all seemed a bit higher. :wave:

 

 

Exploring the city on foot, we had dinner on the patio at the Carver Brewing Company. The food was fine, and the margaritas were ok, but didn't live up to the standard of Crested Butte.

 

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:mad:

 

 

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We headed back and played a Euchre Tournament in the parking lot. Yours Truly and Jerry lost in quick order, but the tourney went into the early morning until security made us move inside.

 

 

 

Just one more chair . .

 

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Edited by workin them angels
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That 550 is something else huh... Colorado and that area in particular is the backdrop for most of my motorcycling dreams! :thumbsup:

 

You guys looked like you had a blast! :clap:

 

 

Pat

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Pat – 550 is something else!! Many of us went back and rode a good part of it again in the rain! Next time I hope to have some time to spend in the towns on 550 and learn their histories and chat with the townsfolk. 550 and CO 92 are both highlights road-wise for me. The views on 550 can't be beat and it has great riding. CO 92 has views of a different sort, but still breathtaking. 92 has less traffic – or did when we rode it – and Eric and I picked up the pace quite a bit and by that measure that ride/road stands out.

 

Bud – Thanks for taking the time to read – I've put together a small book here – that's not what I'd originally intended. I've tried to fall back to fewer words and more pictures. I'm envious of your upcoming ride and know you'll enjoy it 100%. Sigh . . Why does it have to be so far away? How long will you be there?

 

EDIT: I intended to say CO92 - not CO90. Made the changes.

 

Edited by workin them angels
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MOMENTS CAUGHT IN FLIGHT

 

Although there's more attention from LEO's to come, we're done receiving business cards.

 

We had now collected 2 Business Cards and 0 tickets. Speculation about the intent simmered during dinner and Euchre. Why Business Cards? None of us had ever received a card from an officer - it was always a warning or citation. The two Sheriff’s certainly were not looking for our business, or were they? Both Sheriff’s had mentioned they were saving us $175 by not writing us a ticket. Puzzling to say the least. Thoughts of larceny circled the table. Were we supposed to make a donation instead of paying the ticket?

 

Perhaps the business cards were just a result of clean living!? :rofl:

 

Mystery Solved. GS Joe’s nephew is a cop in Colorado Springs and was visiting GS Joe for dinner a week after our trip. GS Joe relayed the business card story to his nephew.

 

The Nephew explained that extending business cards is part of standard policy in CO. If a police officer “makes contact” with someone they are required to leave their contact information with that person. So, if you get a ticket, you don’t get a card because the officers information is on the ticket. If you get a warning - business card. Awesome for us, and great press for local Chamber of Commerce. :beer:

 

 

FEEDBACK

 

I mis-remembered some details about the story involving the couple in their new car with a infant in the back – where the driver would floor the car – an econo box - in passing zones and areas where bikes could pass, then slam on the brakes to make the curves. The 5 behind me had eventually passed, leaving 2 riders behind the car. Their opportunity to pass finally came when they got to the bottom of the mountain - the road opened up with a lane of unused/dirty asphalt between the opposing lanes of traffic – much like a left turning lane for both directions. There was also a turn lane on the right. This is where the car got split by the bikes passing. :revit: When I originally heard the story, I had a mental image of the situation unfolding on the mountain – not realizing it had just happened down the road from the filling station and on a wide stretch of road.

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