The Fukawi get Rocky Mountain High!

.... it turns out to be home! 1,389 km 15 hours 20 minutes Set off at 6:42 am arrived 9:00 pm (plus 1 hour time change) Billings wasn't that much of a town - although I did enjoy a nice pork chop last night washed down with some Oregon Pinot Noir.  Thus, when I saw 5:18 am on the clock this morning it didn't pain me to get up, shower, hit the breakfast spot next door and be on my way before 7 am. Perhaps I should have looked at the weather forecast but really, who cares, it's not going to change if I don't like it.  So I set off in a mild drizzle but it soon stopped.  What I wasn't so ready for were the temperatures across Montana.  All morning it was in the mid to low 50's which is pretty cool for late June.   I checked off all the B's (Billings, Bozeman, Butte) and headed for the M's - Missoula.  Had lunch there and a plan began to form in my head.  It was warming up and I was making great time. 'Let's see how things look when I get to Spokane...

933 km. 10 hours 12 minutes. Set off at 5:40 am - finished up at 3:52 pm. Can I just say that being out on the high plains caught between 2 competing thunderstorms is absolutely no place to be on a motorcycle!  Lightning, rain ( not too heavy), crazy wind shear - put paid to any thoughts I had of going on to Bozeman. So downtown Billings overnight it is then on again tomorrow!  May try for Sandpoint Idaho tomorrow night.  Time for a nap!! P.s.  Things I missed today - the Crazy Woman river and the Little Bighorn battleground.

....the scenic way and with a side trip up Pike's Peak to start the day.  This who have been following this blog to date will have noticed there has been no shortage of steep curvy roads. Not least least of which was Mt. Evans - the highest paved road in North America. Well, leave it to us, we found the second highest, and although it was much better maintained it was altogether a colder, windier and generally more unsettling climb. Not least of which, at 14,115 feet above sea level,  is the strange feeling that altitude generates.  Little did we know we could have got there by railway!   Of course here is the shot to prove we made it,   And here is just a sample of the road coming up.    And a scary place to stop!   Safely back down we headed for Hwy 67 north and the journey back to Denver. Now, when not riding keen observers will have noted that we are usually eating and today Deckers provided a lunchtime stop where pretty much all of us had hot...

We decided to change up the planned route today in order to make it a bit shorter.  It started out with the planned hop westward to Salida where Andy and Julian had stopped for a coffee just a week ago. Here  are the two pictures for comparison.      Then a welcome change in leader. Don took over to lead us over to Colorado Springs while Julian enjoyed loafing on the back. A break on the road overlooking a terrific ranching plateau with a snow capped mountain background.    These guys apparently thought the desert vegetation needed some help!   Another stop followed in Florissant at an unexpectedly good restaurant.     Brad relaxing while waiting for the food!   Andy took over the lead and we had been making such great progress we decided to do Pike's Peak this afternoon instead of tomorrow- but the traffic gods just didn't cooperate! The turn wasn't signed and right after the road was torn up for miles!! We gave up and headed ...

This promised to be an exciting day. First a little reading:  http://www.dangerousroads.org/north-america/usa/635-million-dollar-highway-usa.html   That's right, today we rode the Million Dollar Highway. There's a few theories why it is called that, perhaps it originally cost a million dollars a mile, perhaps there is a million dollars of ore in each mile, nobody seems to be sure.  But first we had a date with a man in a parking lot. Brad had a line on an AirHawk seat and a guy offered to sell him one second hand. 'How about $340 said the guy?' I was thinking more like $50-60 said Brad. 'OK said the guy in the blue Jeep, let's call it $60!'  And with that Brad was on his way to posterior happiness.  OK back to the Million Dollar Highway - up we went and in the lovely weather it really wasn't too bad. Our first stop was Silverton - home of the highest Harley store in the world.    Sliverton is a very interesting town. A very open air outdoor jumping off...

..... by way of Telluride.  We left Ridgway - home of the True Grit cafe (the movie was filmed in Ridgway) and Ralph Lauren's ranch - on a clear, blue sky morning and headed a short way down the road to Telluride. What a cool town. Laid back just like you expect it to be.          We had to break Jack out of jail    Then on down Hwy 145 to Dolores - but just to give you an idea of what riding in Colorado is like!   Once again a fantastic motorcycle road. Twists, straights, and scenery all the way. And, at lunch time in Delores, a terrific Mexican cafe.    After lunch it was a short but scenic ride to Durango which almost got derailed when the ignition switch to Brad's bike flew to pieces. Either the motorcycle gods were kind to us or we are actually getting good at fixing these things because, unlike last year in Gallup, we actually got this one back together.  The Harley store in Durango gave us some input on what to do if thi...

This was a fantastic day! By the way, have we discussed weather yet? No? Well, it's been outstanding, although pretty hot! - particularly in the west and as we work south.  On leaving the hotel this morning we enquired about the Colorado National Monument which we had read about. 'A must' said the check out clerk and with that we were off to see it. And it was a must! A 26 mile drive along the canyon rim with views of spectacular rock formations and down into Grand Junction.            It took a while but after completing the rim drive we set off down the road on our day's route.  As soon as we turned onto Hwy 141 it was a great run through the valley floor of increasingly higher and higher canyon walls.  It was super hot and after about 60 plus miles we came to the town of Gateway which has special significance for one of our group.    We gassed up there and learned there was a resort with a restauarant just down the road. Incredib...

I believe I metioned the horrible front desk incompetence that enables Westin to ruin what would otherwise have been a very pleasant stay? Well, they managed to carry that through to the check out process as well. No more about it here, don't want to waste any more time, but there is a hotel chain that seriously needs to rethink it's customer interface. Breakfast at the hotel would have been $30US for the buffet.  We declined and took the elevator down one more floor to Starbucks. Coffee and an egg muffin much more reasonably priced and we were on our way. Once we turned south and west at Carbondale we were treated to a wonderful ride through a scenic canyon with the White River rushing alongside.  Brad chose to add to the already dangerous stream flow!     No really serious climbs today, just a gradual transition from forest and stream to desert. And surprise, surprise a slew of wineries.  It reminded LZB of home. We made a stop in Paonia for a late morning cof...