Born to be Mild Tour, with the parents

[Hayduke]

My parents rode out from Union, MO, on their Goldwing. This year they also brought their friends, Bill and Bev, who ride a Goldwing trike.
http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23982460-M.jpg

On June first, we all left on a three day Southwestern Colorado tour, which I named the Born to be Mild tour. Here's my Mom with her commemorative T-shirt-http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23982461-M.jpg

First stop, photo op's at the top of Monarch-
http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23982463-M.jpg

One of the best roads in the state is hwy 92, which runs along the north side of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. The ST loves this road, with long sweepers, tight swithchbacks, and incredible views. In the intercom, I could hear Tami giggling from the back seat as we carved the turns. Of course, we had to stop and wait for the 'Wings every once in a while. Here are the girls at one of the viewpoints-
http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23982464-M.jpg

The parents pulling in to a rest stop-
http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23982466-M.jpg

From the Black Canyon, we road over to Colorado National Monument, outside of Grand Junction, to camp for the night. The road through the Monument is another must do. Here's a pic of the trike coming up the incredible switchbacks into the monument-
http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23982468-M.jpg

This is one of the sweetest roads around. Tami and I got up early the next day to go blast this road before the traffic got bad. Again, she was laughing as the pegs nearly scraped. My wife is so cool.
http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23983273-M.jpg

The weather was unsettled, but the sunset at camp that night was gorgeous-
http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23983274-M.jpg

The gang watching the sunset-
http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23983275-M.jpg

[Hayduke]

The next day, we rode SW out of Grand Junction, on another great road. Highway 141 goes through the Uncompahgre Plateau, through some deserted country. 96 miles with no services. And no traffic. Long sweepers and long views are the rule here.-
http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23983276-M.jpg

http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23982469-M.jpg

http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23983277-M.jpg

From there, we headed through Ouray, and over the Million Dollar Highway to Durango. The ST from the 'Wing, nearing Ouray-
http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23983279-M.jpg

Hwy. 550, coming out of Ouray-
http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23983280-M.jpg

http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23983283-M.jpg

The ST on top of Molas Pass-
http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23982471-M.jpg

We spent the night that night in Durango, and took our time walking around town the next morning. That afternoon, we headed for Wolf Creek Pass, looking forward to more beautiful views. Not to be. We stopped for a minute to see the waterfall on the west side of the pass, but a storm was fast approaching.
http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23982472-M-1.jpg

Here's where things started going wrong, or got interesting I should say. In a hurry to beat the storm, we started getting sloppy. Bill started backing out of a parking space, and in a rush, didn't pay attention and jackknifed his trailer (on the trike). Oh well, a couple of busted lights. Then my dad dropped his bike. His big heavy, fully loaded Goldwing. With Mom on back. No good. Finally, we got going, and the rain started. Going higher, it turned to sleet, then hail, then snow. With no shoulder to stop on. Lightening began striking everywhere, and still no shelter, so we kept going. Now there was an inch or so of snow on the ground. The ST was dead stable, and we kept going, slowly and smoothly as possible (although we did pass a couple of frightened looking families in SUVs). At the top, I threw snowballs off my lap at the cars parked there with their flashers on. Sorry no pics, I was a little busy. Here are the bikes on the east side after getting out of the storm.-
http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23982474-M.jpg

Down the road, we stopped at South Fork for some coffee to warm up. As we sat there, we saw another storm coming in, so we bolted, trying to outrun it. Again, no luck. Crossing the San Luis Valley, dust storms began blowing. I could tell that one was going to intersect the road, and thought I could beat it, but it passed us, and I was doing 75mph. Another wall of dust was coming, and I could see a huge dust devil, picking up tumbleweeds, pieces of old carpet, and lumber, swirling them into the air and approaching the road from the south. I sped up to about 95 and beat that one before it crossed the road. The other bikes waited. When does a dust devil become a tornado, anyway? The other bikes slowed to let it pass. Another wall of dust caught us, dropping visibility down to a few yards. When we reached Center, we went into a gas station for some shelter, and the workers thought we were crazy, but we were giddy with adreneline. They said power lines were down all over the valley. Here's a pic, of course after the worst had passed.-
http://hayduke.smugmug.com/photos/23983272-M.jpg

From there it was an uneventful hour and a half back home to Salida, besides the crosswinds, and the sleet on Poncha Pass. Home and a cold beer never looked so good.

What a trip. One we will never forget.

[Killtimer]

Wow. :bow1: Great looking roads.

[Ken]

What a great ride report! Awesome pictures. Born to Be Mild - ROFL. Thanks for sharing - looks like a good time was had by all. :)

[Putt]

I said it before, I'll say it again,
I hope you guys/gals in the mountain states (or within a
few hours riding time) really appreciate your good
fortune... Me and the wife have spent the last
20 years or so vacationing in Colorado/Utah/Wyoming/Washington/Oregon/California
both on a bike and in a cage... Have not got tired of it yet....

Hay, pix from Molas a couple of weeks earlier, just a little different angle...


Putt....

[sherob]

Those are some awesome pics and a great story... you may re-think the name of your ride next time... :D

Thanks for sharing!

[JourneyMan]

Good report Hayduke - Looks like a great trip for the time invested! Mountains, desert, red rock canyon country, good roads and little traffic make for great touring on the western slope. I enjoyed some of the same roads a few weeks ago on the 4-corners weekend.

Here's my shot of Treasure Falls at the western base of Wolf Creek Pass. Not as clear as yours as the sun was coming up behind the falls.

Dale

[Carl_T]

Wow, thank you! :bow1: