Featured Touring Our Annual Tour Of The American Southwest: V.2022

DAY #6: Ouray, Colorado to Durango, Colorado via the Million Dollar Highway (U.S. 550)
72 miles

Today's route is one of our favorite rides. I think today was our 5th trip on the Million Dollar Highway and we've ridden it both from north to south and south to north. Today it was north to south and I think I prefer that direction. It puts the highest pass, Red Mountain, towards the beginning to the days ride along with some of the most technical riding so you're at your freshest when riding those stretches. The weather turned out to be wonderful! We were concerned about cold temperatures and lots of wind but the iPhone "thermometer" read 68ºF in Ouray as we packed up our belongings just before 9:00am.



The first big pass of the three passes on the Million Dollar Highway is Red Mountain Pass. It's the highest of the three but not by much. All three passes are around 11,000 ft. There were a number of 10mph or 15mph posted speed limits on hairpin curves--and those speeds aren't conservative. Those are the actual honest-to-goodness speeds that feel safe. There are precious few guardrails on this road and the reasoning for that is that the snow plows need to be able to push the snow off the road (and into the abyss!) when it snows or when there is an avalanche.

from Google Images


Our first stop was Silverton, a small, former silver mining town that has one road in and one road out. We always have to stop in at the little Harley tee-shirt and gear "satellite" shop to get a Silverton tee-shirt and wander about a bit. Can you guess who rides the beemer?


Silverton's main street


The H-D proprietor. Love that mustache!


After climbing out of Silverton, we ascended about 1,600 ft and stopped at the next big pass, Molas Pass. This is the only one of the three passes that has a parking lot, restrooms, and view areas. The temperature was definitely chillier than back in Ouray but, again, the weather was perfect for a ride like today's. Interestingly, I noticed that the reported altitude on this sign and the altitude reported on Wikipedia for this pass vary a bit.


Photos really don't do this view justice. It's vast and magnificent. And standing on this pass makes me feel small and insignificant....but in a good way if that makes any sense. Sort of how I feel when I'm at the ocean.




We had one final pass to climb, Coal Bank Pass, before starting our decent into the town of Durango. Steve and I love Durango. It's one of our favorite places and is a town we'd consider moving to--other than the real estate prices!

Because we arrived in Durango around noon, we knew we'd be too early to check into our hotel. So Steve suggested through our Senas that we ride directly to Durango Harley-Davidson and then walk over to Serious Texas Barbecue for lunch. Durango H-D is a really nice dealership with a friendly and helpful staff. That's my orange and dark silver Street Glide Special in the bottom right corner of this photo.


I saw this on a woman's long sleeve tee-shirt and just had to buy it. And none of us on the ride had ever seen any count of how many curves the Million Dollar Highway has. Now we know.


Day #6 continued in my next post

 

Day #6 continued:

After parking the bikes we headed over to get some lunch at Serious Texas Barbecue. We hit this place every time we ride into Durango, partly for the great barbecue and partly because the back deck that overlooks the Animas River is so wonderful and inviting!






After filling our bellies we wandered back over to the Harley dealership which is only about a hundred yards away. Durango H-D, like the Tucson dealerships, has very few 2022 models and can't seem to get much of an allotment. But they have a large inventory of really nice used bikes. And they carry Royal Enfield's, too!


While Ron, Russell, and I were looking around the dealership, Steve went to ask the service department if they would check his air and his oil. He came back out to the showroom floor to inform us that he had a big nail in his rear tire! That tire should have 40 psi and it had 34 psi. He's not sure where he picked up the nail or how long he'd had it. But fortunately it didn't affect him on the days ride with 284 turns! Fortunately--and luckily--enough, the dealership had one tire close to the ones he'd just put on. He recently put Michelin Commander 3's on his Street Glide and they had one--just one--Commander 2 that would work on his rear wheel. The service department was very busy but said that they understood his circumstances and that they would have the tire installed and the bike ready to roll by the time the shop was ready to close. And that's when it was done. It was Steve's and my 7th anniversary today. And we spent five hours of it hanging out at Durango H-D! We did get to chat with some of the staff and take a close look at some of the bikes, including these two race bikes back in the service department.




When Ron and Russell each got texts that their rooms were ready, they rode back into the main part of town to check in and relax a bit. They missed the downpour that we got caught in literally 5 minutes before we arrived at the hotel. We have stayed at the Best Western on previous visits to Durango. This time we stayed at an historic (for the U.S.) hotel called The Strater. They had motorcycle only parking behind the building, which was nice, and we could see our bikes from our room which was a bonus.


After a much-needed shower, we cleaned up and set out to meet our riding buddies and two other Tucson friends for dinner. Our friends, Kelly & Dena, who were on last year's June MC trip, had driven Kelly's Jeep to Durango that day. Dena isn't riding anymore and Kelly didn't want to do the ride without her even though she encouraged him to. So they decided to meet us in Durango for dinner and then breakfast the following morning then drive over to Moab, Utah to do some off-roading. Although we'd have loved to have them on the ride again this year, it was great to see them and a nice compromise. They reported that they had a blast "jeeping".

While we were extremely grateful that Durango H-D had a tire and that we knew about it before tomorrow's ride through Navajo land (with no services for miles around), we were also disappointed to have little time to just hang out in Durango. It's a super cool town with lots to see on main street including shops, galleries, saloons, and restaurants. There were two teams of horses taking passengers for an "old-fashioned" ride along the main drag. Here's one of them......


Kelly & Dena scouted out a good place for dinner, which these days for Dena in particular includes being outdoors because of Covid and having a menu with plant-based menu options. They made a great choice. I loved the ambience and quirkiness of the patio. And in addition to plant-based menu options, I was happy to see (and order) a couple of great IPA's and a massive bowl of mac & cheese.






Day #6 continued in my next post

 

Day #6 continued

I neglected to take a picture of my mac & cheese unfortunately. It's some of the best--and most--I've ever had! Russell bet me that I wouldn't finish it and when he did I thought he'd probably be correct. Nope. I ate the whole thing.






The weather was delightful for us desert dwellers and we got a little rain off and on all evening.


The other team of horses waiting to take tourists for a ride


A little kitsch outside The Strater Hotel's saloon


I love murals and saw this one in an alley near where our motorcycles were parked overnight.


The mural on the building wall depicts the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Narrow Gauge Railroad and the train ran right behind our hotel room!


More info from Wikipedia:

The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, often abbreviated as the D&SNG, is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge heritage railroad that operates on 45.2 mi (72.7 km) of track between Durango and Silverton, in the U.S. state of Colorado. The railway is a federally-designated National Historic Landmark and was also designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1968.[3]

The route was originally opened in 1882 by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad(D&RGW) to transport silver and gold ore mined from the San Juan Mountains. The line was an extension of the D&RG 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge line from Antonito, Coloradoto Durango. The last train to operate into Durango from the east was on December 6, 1968. The states of New Mexico and Colorado purchased 64 miles of track between Antonito and Chama, New Mexico in 1970, which is operated today as the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad (C&TSRR). Trackage between Chama and Durango was removed by 1971.

The line from Durango to Silverton has run continuously since 1881, although it is now a tourist and heritage line hauling passengers, and is one of the few places in the U.S. which has seen continuous use of steam locomotives. In March 1981, the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) sold the line and the D&SNG was formed.[4] Today, the D&SNG, along with the C&TSRR, are the only two remaining parts of the former D&RGW narrow-gauge network. The railroad has a total of nine narrow-gauge steam locomotives (eight of which are operational) and soon-to-be eleven narrow-gauge diesel locomotives, six of which were acquired within the last three years, on its current roster.

Some rolling-stock dates back to the 1880s. Trains operate from Durango to the Cascade Wye in the winter months and Durango–Silverton during the summer months. Durango depot was built in January, 1882 and has been preserved in its original form.[4]

Breakfast at The Lone Spur Cafe before heading out on the bikes--and in the Jeep.


Day #7 Continued Tomorrow (or Soon)

 

@Markus
Thanks, Marcus! Yes, it does seem like we find adventures and adventures find us when we do motorcycle trips. But you're right, we could do without an adventure like the nail in the rear tire. Fortunately all went well with that and we were in the right place at the right time.

Thank you for the congratulations on our anniversary! I think we will probably always remember our seventh anniversary as the one we spent in Durango at the Harley dealership while Steve's rear tire was being replaced.

 

DAY #7: Durango, Colorado to Winslow, Arizona
287 miles

Todays route took us through vast stretches of "wide open spaces" in the form of the Navajo Reservation and Petrified Forest National Park. Steve had us leaving Durango via a small country road that was new to all four of us and it was beautiful, meandering through wooded stretches interspersed with farms and farmland, dotted with a few small towns. After we reached the town of Farmington, however, we left most every form of "civilization" as we turned onto a road that took us onto and through Navajo land. For a nearly two hour stretch, we saw a handful of cars, two hogans, and perhaps a dozen horses. That was it. We were very grateful that Steve got his rear tire sorted yesterday at the Durango H-D dealership!

This was the most remote part of our entire trip and I found myself listening to music via my Sena and iPhone some of the time. But most of the time I soaked in the big skies and massive empty acres thinking about how the U.S. government had "negotiated" (ha) for a whole tribe to live in such a desolate place. I say "desolate" but there was also an amazing beauty to this place and a very spiritual feel as I rode along with my head in my helmet and my thoughts to myself.


The winds picked up again today and we rode along with the prediction and threat of riding in a rainstorm. We stopped for gas in Gallup, New Mexico, which sits on I-40, a major east-west interstate. Interstate 40 is what is now old Route 66 although there are still original stretches of Route 66 that still exist. Although Gallup is considered a small city with a population of about 21,000, this sight greeted us just up the hill from our gas pumps. I wonder if these city sheep were counted in the population census?


When we stopped in Gallup, we realized that we'd be in three states on our ride today--Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona!


Our final destination today was Winslow, Arizona. We did a group ride to Winslow last October and wanted to return there because we had enjoyed it so much. But the last leg of todays ride was one of our most challenging on this years tour with all of it on the interstate in very high crosswinds. About half the vehicles on the road were 18-wheeler trucks and, just to top it off, it started pouring rain about 30 miles from Winslow. Actually that last challenge was a bit of a relief for me because I'd donned my rain jacket about 100 miles ago back at the gas station in Gallup and it was HOT!!! A definite miscalculation on my part. With the sky black with clouds and lighting not far off, Steve pulled off the highway on an exit ramp so that he and our two riding buddies could put on their rain gear. While they did that I downed big gulps of ice water from my thermos. Steve's timing was perfect; just as we reentered the highway, the rain came down with a vengeance and with it came much cooler temperatures. Because I'd been roasting for the past hour and a half, I've never quite been so happy to ride in the rain.

When we pulled into Winslow the rain was reduced to a few sprinkles. Our buddy, Ron, was using the satnav on his BMW to locate our hotel and we later teased him about the circuitous route we took to get there asking, "Were we on a residential home tour of Winslow??" Let's just say it wasn't the most direct or efficient route...but it did get us there.

As we did last October, we stayed at the venerable La Posada Hotel which is gorgeous, with equally gorgeous grounds.


First on the agenda after checking in and changing our clothes was to walk into town (a whole two blocks away) and find a beer and a snack. I'd seen Relic Road last time we were in Winslow but we didn't stop in. So this time around we did. Lovely local beers and a huge basket of french fries (aka chips). This is clearly a stop for motorcyclists that are riding Route 66. Today we heard several accents among the dozen or so riders that stopped nearby




.
Yep, we were "standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona" just like the Eagles sang about in "Taking It Easy". And there is a red flatbed Ford parked on the curb next to the park, too.




The intersection next to the sign above is busy with tourists, many of them motorcyclists, who are driving this stretch of Old Route 66 just off Interstate--40.


Day #7 continued in my next post

 

Day #7 continued





Another fun little novelty at the Route 66 intersection



And speaking of motorcycles, our next stop was the Motor Palace, a place we discovered when we were in Winslow last fall. The Motor Palace is owned by a wonderful couple, Lori and Brian. When we finalized our June trip plans for this year and knew we'd be in Winslow on our last night, I e-mailed Lori to see if they'd be in town and willing to join us for dinner. Yep! They were and they did! When we wandered down the street to the Motor Palace, there they were, "sitting on a bench in Winslow, Arizona and such a fine sight to see." That's Lori's '46 Ford pickup, her "daily driver" as she calls it.


They'd changed the mercantile part of their building a bit since we'd last seen it. There are fewer items overall and fewer older or vintage things. And they have decided to try to sell some of their large motorcycle collection (around 40 or 50-ish I think) one at a time by displaying them in the center of the store. This one is an older H-D Dyna model. Lori said they can only sell so many bikes annually, however, and it it's over a particular number they have to have a dealer license. But Brian used be in the motorcycle dealership business and really has no interest in going down that path again. Here was the current offering......


One of the many cool displays in the mercantile


But the true "treasure" at the Motor Palace is the room at the very back of the property where the motorcycles live...along with vintage motorcycle leathers, helmets, parts, and posters! And Brian has great stories to go along with all of it.


That's Brian with the long white hair and his 1996 (I think) Fat Boy. I have a soft spot in my heart for Harley Fat Boys as many of you know.


And a few more of the assorted motorcycles in the "secret" back room of the Motor Palace....




Day #7 continued in my next post

 

Day #7 continued





Steve had made reservations at The Turquoise Room, the wonderful restaurant in La Posada. Lori and Brian met up with the four of us for dinner and we had a great time sharing more stories and adventures with each other. Our friend, Larry, who had planned to be on this trip but had to turn back (no) thanks to heat stroke, hadn't been on our Winslow trip last October so he has yet to be charmed by Lori and Brian and their Motor Palace. So we'll just "have" to go back again.

The Turquoise Room Bar has been completely changed since our last visit. Here's a before and after comparison.

Before (there were three or four tables behind where I was standing when I took this pic)



After


The restaurant


My dinner was delicious! I had short ribs but not the usual kind. These were bison short ribs which Lori recommended them to me. I'm glad I listened to her!


La Posada's hotel lobby and gift shop. More gifts than you could gift in a lifetime!


To be continued--and concluded--tomorrow with Day #8

 

What did you think of "Dark Winds", @Vulpes? We've seen the trailers for that show and it appeals to me.

Yes, the scenery and skies on the reservation are vast and spectacular. I've met a number of Navajo individuals over time having lived in Arizona just over 30 years now. I worked closely with several Navajo women when I was a graduate research assistant some years ago. And more recently I worked with educators in Tuba City, Arizona. The district I worked in at the time had part educational practices we had going at the time. Although my overall sample size is small, as with your experience, all of the Navajo educators with whom I worked were very kind, calm, grounded, and spiritual.

It was interesting to stay at the Cameron Trading Post on our June trip last year. Cameron is on the Navajo reservation about half an hour north of Flagstaff, AZ. Covid protocols in place on the reservation were followed extremely carefully because the Native American populations in the West were particularly hard hit by Covid as some of the tribes, including Navajo, have numerous pre-existing health issues. But, unlike many other areas in the United States, the sort of "tone" with which those requirements were made known and enforced was very civil--kind, gentle, yet firm.

 

Mr. Sandi and I watched the first two episodes of "Dark Winds" this evening, @Vulpes, and I was delighted when I realized that the show is based on Tony Hillerman's mystery novel series. I've read all of them! But I read them long, long ago and only really remember how much I liked them but not too many of the details. Anyway, suffice it to say that we're hooked! Thanks for turning us on to a new series. Oh, yes, and when I originally read the books, I hadn't been to the Navajo reservation or Monument Valley or Gallup, New Mexico or Flagstaff or all those places that are in the TV show. So it's really cool to be watching the show and seeing and hearing about places that I've seen in person!

 

DAY #8: Winslow, Arizona to Tucson, Arizona...and home!
280 miles

Our route back home on the last day of our trip was not too far afield from our first days route seven days ago. Both routes are ones we've done numerous times...and we enjoy them every time!


We awoke in Winslow to a beautiful day for a motorcycle ride. The wind symbols on our iPhone weather apps wasn't the most welcome sight but by now we were pretty used to it. We had noted the prediction of another windy day the night before but decided we were unwilling to give up one of the delicious breakfasts at The Turquoise Room. Or to get up at the crack of dawn to beat the wind!



Breakfast was delicious and we were glad we opted to take our time getting back on the bikes. It was worth it!

My breakfast of scrambled eggs mixed with cheese and veggies along with my mixed fruit mug.


And Steve's polenta, eggs, and sautéed veggies breakfast...



After breakfast I went out to the back of the property which abut the train tracks. La Posada was originally built as a way station for people traveling by train. The seven tracks are still extremely active--mostly with freight trains but the U.S. passenger trains, Amtrak, also stops here.


There's a really lovely sitting area where Amtrak passengers can await their train or meet those who are meeting them when they disembark. I like to sit out here and hear--and feel--the rumble of the trains as they go by.


We finished packing up the bikes and headed south out of Winslow around 9:00am for the final leg of a wonderful trip.


After a beautiful ride through the Coconino and the Tonto National Forests (and seeing two elk!!), we stopped for gas in Payson, Steve pointed to Ron and said, "That's Ron's favorite position--staring at all of his technology on his bike". So I just had to snap a pic of him because Steve was right. We saw Ron doing this more times than we could count over the past week.


Our ride home for smooth sailing and, although I felt sad that our trip was over, I have to admit it felt good to be home to our dog and our house. I had accidentally zeroed out my trip odometer mid-way through our trip so here's our total trip mileage on Steve's motorcycle gauge. 1,707


Although we'd kept the bikes pretty clean throughout the week, we had ridden in a rainstorm on the stretch from Gallup, New Mexico to Winslow, Arizona so the bikes were pretty filthy. So our first day back included unpacking, laundry, and washing motorcycles! The "price" of a fabulous week of riding! Thanks to those of you who have followed along and read about our travels and adventures.

 

Thanks, @Mrs Visor! I'm catching up on the whole forum right now, so I'm sorry for my slow response to your post. Yeah, that cat was HUGE! And she looked even bigger in person. Hope you've been doing well and getting out on your Striple. I'm sure I've missed some of your reports but, as I said, I'm in the process of catching up on about a month's worth of forum activity. I think I need to pour myself a nice dram of Irish Whiskey and settle in to a cozy spot on the couch with my laptop on my lap. Please give my best to @Helmut Visor!