Trip started on July 24, 2005.   Pretty uneventful day, other than it was hot.   Of course I ran into a couple of rain showers, that is nothing new for me.   Wouldn't be a trip without a little rain.   Did have a pickup truck pass me, the boy on the passenger side held up a V-Twin magazine to the window as they passed.   That boy is gonna make his Dad proud.   I just know it.   Arrived in Clarendon, Texas and stopped at a Best Western motel, pulled in beside the office and decided I would ride on to Amarillo.   Left Clarendon and got about a mile out of town before I decided it was to hot and too far to Amarillo.   Went back to the Best Western and got the room I should have gotten earlier.   End of Day One  

Day Two  

Make it into Amarillo before it starts raining, cool, just like last year, first two days in the rain.   Finally make it to Raton, New Mexico.   Sky is just a little bit threatening.   Can't put it off any longer so I strike out on I-25 towards Trinidad, Colorado.   Trip up is fine.   The trip down Raton Pass is when the sky falls out.   Lots and lots of heavy rain.   So I've slowed down to about 55, got an 18 wheeler behind me and a huge rock out in the middle of the road.   Not the best conditions for evasive maneuvers, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.   That rock would have taken out the undercarriage of a small car.   Still raining when I get to Trinidad, so I stop to put on leather.   I'm soaked!   Ride to Walsenburg in the rain and turn off on US-160 to Alamosa.   It's during this part of the ride that I decide upon a new career path.   Rainmaker!   Need rain?   Call me and I'll ride my bike out to your area, it's sure to rain.   Sky is really black as I get near Alamosa.   Looks as if I'm about to get flooded out again.   Ride through Alamosa in a light steady rain and get a motel for the night.   End of Day Two.  

Day Three  

Stay on US-160 in order to make the ride up Wolf Creek Pass.   Notice the orange cones in the picture.   Road construction will haunt me the entire trip.   That picture was taken at a rest stop right at the start of the construction zone.   A girl, with a "Slow" sign told me that when I reached the top to go to the very beginning of the line.   Cool!   Got to pass about a 1/2 mile of vehicles.   The flag woman at the top said that the ride over the construction area was going to be dusty and that she takes care of motorcycles.   The lanes are being widened at the top of the pass and what takes place is the construction crew works for a little while then lets the east bound lane through and then lets the west bound lane pass.   Just a 45 minute wait.   A water truck makes a pass before each lane makes their trek through the pass.   Oh great!   Wet gravel.   Turns out its no big deal and before I know it, I'm zipping downhill.   It's a great ride down.   This is at a Scenic Turnout.   Right after I pulled into the turnout, a couple pulled in right behind me.   Smoke just billowing out from the front brakes.   Great thing about that Big Twin engine on my bike, just barely touched the brakes going down.   Just like the song says, Wolf Creek Pass spits you out right into Pagosa Springs.   The ride to Durango was great.   Scenic and nice windy road.   However this was my first introduction to a Construction sign that I would grow to hate.   "Motorcyclists Exercise Extreme Caution".   I would become very familiar with this sign over the next couple weeks.   Everytime I saw the sign there was a flagman and a nice wait.   Nothing like a little time wondering what lay in store.   Usually loose gravel or very loose gravel.   Stay in Durango for the night.   End of Day Three.  

Day Four  

God, I love the sound of a V-Twin when it fires up in the morning...it...it sounds like adventure.   The ride out of Durango on US 550 is good (even pass the Silverton narrow gauge).   It will get much better as I make the ride up to the summit of Coal Bank Pass.   Coal Bank Pass Figure 35 mile per hour speed limit, sharp tight curves, 10 mile per hour switchbacks, awesome ride. Ride ends up in Silverton. Silverton is a nice tourist town.   Level full of Harleys (might have seen one GoldWing, but I could be wrong).   Lots of old buildings turned into souvenier shops and artsy type places.   Did have lunch in a saloon that would have been fun to have had a few beers in.   Alas, these are not the type of roads to drink and drive on.   Silverton   Silverton.   Ride from Silverton leads to Ouray.   This ride is even more awesome.   Narrow roads, tight curves, no shoulders, and sheer cliff at the edge of the pavement.   Eerie feeling looking over the side of the bike at a very sheer drop.   Loved it!   Want to make that ride again.   Ouray, Colorado.   The ride out of Ouray was pretty good, nice sweeping curves.   Spent the night in Delta, Colorado.   End of Day Four.  

Day Five  

Left out of Delta, rode through Grand Junction, then caught I-70 to Rifle.   The weather reports for Colorado are not good.   Helps in my decision to go ahead and head towards Utah.   I'll do more of Colorado later in the trip.   I catch Colorado-13 at Rifle and head towards Meeker.   At Meeker, I pick up Colorado-64.   Pretty good ride.   Beware!   Some of the curves aren't marked right.   A couple times I went into a 55 mph curve way to hot.   You don't want to be bleeding off speed midway through a curve.   At Dinosaur caught US-40 into Vernal, Utah.   Used to work out of Vernal in the mid 70's, so was curious how it had (or had not) changed.   Dreary boom town back when I knew it.   It has changed.   Nice town.   I did manage to get a room in the Dinosaur Inn that I had stayed in a few times when I worked in Utah.   Best Western has renovated it, nice place to stay now.   This whole area is a fossil hunters paradise.   Decided to visit the Museum of Natural History.   Only a couple blocks down from where I was staying.   Talked to one of the Curators.   Told her I had visited the museum 30 years ago and was curious how it had changed.   She told me that they had only moved into the new building a year ago.   Dropped by Beers Harley Davidson to buy a t-shirt.   Only had one HD in the showroom and that was a V-Rod.   Mostly ATV's and a few Rice bikes.   End of Day Five.  

Day Six  

Ride US-191 out of Vernal towards Flaming Gorge Resevoir.   Drove it 30 years ago in a pickup, the ride is much better on a bike.   In fact, everything is better on a Harley.   Saw more game on the road today than I would see the entire trip.   One really close encounter with a deer as I rounded a sharp curve, he was right on the edge of the road.   We looked each other in the eye and he blinked.   He decided to run up the hill rather than cross the road.   If he had crossed the road, we would have been up close and personal.   Once I got out of deer country there was livestock to contend with.   Catchword was "stay alert".   Rode west of the resevoir and ended up in Green River, Wyoming.   Stopped to gas up and as I was getting ready to leave a couple rode up on an anniversary Springer.   I commented on what a great year 03 was for Harleys.   He mentioned that he had 53k on his bike.   Obviously I couldn't miss the chance to enlighten him about the 55k I had on mine.   I was the first person that he had met that had more miles on an 03 than him.   I noted that he was the first person I had met that was even close to me in mileage.   Cool!   Ride I-80 west.   Evanston, Wyoming is another town that has really cleaned itself up since the last time I was there.   Nothing stays the same.   Very hot in Ogden, Utah.   Needed to visit the cemetary.   That brought back some memories.   Most of them bad, but thats another story.   Then it was north to Pocatello, Idaho.   At the motel, the clerk said something about a biker discount for the room.   I never question a discount, so didn't think much about it.   Nice bar in the motel, just nothing going on in it.   Typical!   End of Day Six.  

Day Seven  

It's Saturday, and there is a bike rally in town.   Several people have asked if I was going.   At first I wasn't.   Wanted to put some miles on the bike.   Checked out of the motel and got about 20 miles out of town towards Idaho Falls before I decided to turn back and check out the rally.   Checked back into the motel with the biker rate.   Rode to the Harley shop for an oil change and drooled over an Ultra Classic Electra Glide.   The rally is a POW/MIA Awareness Rally.   Lots of bikes, lots of local people there in cars.   Great rally!   Beer was a dollar.   Bike games are taken seriously here.   Big Dog Chopper that threw its drive belt during the drag races.   Guess the most awesome part of the rally was the Field of Honor honoring all the troops that have died in Iraq.   A name was on each cross.   The crosses were to be removed on Monday.   Really glad I stayed the extra day.   End of Day Seven.  

Day Eight  

Raining when I get up.   Wait for the storm to pass.   It's heading north, same direction that I want to travel.   Skies are finally clear in Pocatello, but dark towards Idaho Falls.   By the time I reach Blackfoot on I-15 its getting cold and the skies are really black so I pull into a parking lot to change into leather.   Just as I got ready to leave a couple nice streaks of lightening convinced me that maybe it was time for an Egg McMuffin and some McCoffee at McDonalds.   A good decision on my part, the bottom fell out of those rain clouds.   Stuck around for about 2 hours until the rain let up.   That's a long time to nurse a cup of coffee.   Ride I-15 all the way to Butte, Montana.   Would have been a pretty good ride if I hadn't been getting rained on and dodging rain showers all day.   To the lady in the motel bar, it was great.   End of Day Eight.  

Day Nine  

Day gets started off right.   I'm riding out of town when my low fuel light comes on.   Forgot to gas up.   So its back to Butte to fill up.   Would have been iffy about finding gas before my tank ran dry if I hadn't returned.   The trip to Great Falls is a tremendous ride.   Superslabs can be good rides.   Catch US-89 out of Black Eagle and ride that road all the way to Browning.   Turn off on US-2 at Browning and make a great ride towards Glacier National Park.   Didn't go through the park, its getting late and rain clouds are threatening again.   The clouds are gathering where I'm headed, not where I've been.   Naturally!   This is really great country.   Its tremendous on a bike, might be the same from the inside of a cage, but I just don't see how.   Can't find a motel room in Evergreen, but do manage to find a room in Kalispell.   This sign just struck me as different.   These "Stop & Robs" are all over the place.   Still brought a laugh everytime I saw one.   Picture is taken from my motel window. End of Day Nine.  

Day Ten  

Ride out of Kalispell on US-93.   Just out of Somers looks like a truck is going to run a stop sign.   I lock up the brakes.   Luckily, he did stop.   Sure gets the adrenaline flowing though.   This whole area is resort country. Huge resevoir here.   Pretty good ride into Missoula.   Search for about an hour for the Harley shop.   Can't find it and decide to start making miles again.   Get out onto I-90 west and the very next exit sits the Harley shop.   They had moved it.   Another t-shirt and I'm on my way.   Last year I rode I-90 going east, this time I'm headed west.   A great superslab in either direction.   Rode into Coeur d'Alene and stopped at the Best Western to see if they had rooms.   Yep, they did, non-smoking, $145 a night.   Hoping I could do better than that, rode over to the same motel that I had stayed at last year.   Had rooms at 1/2 the price.   Not a big decision to make, stayed there.   End of Day Ten.  

Day Eleven  

Take US-95 out of Coeur d'Alene.   Pretty good ride.   Lots of construction.   Lots of those motorcycles beware signs.   Overall I've probably lost a whole day because of road construction.   Lewiston, Idaho.   At Grangerville I had to stop and make a decision on where to ride next.   Either stay on US-95 and go over Whitebird Pass or cut back northeast.   While I'm making my decision a couple guys on Screaming Eagles pull in.   They are from San Diego.   Bikes are spotless.   They clean them up each night.   Awesome!   I've got bugs that I've carried all the way from Texas.   I decide to catch Idaho-13 and pick up US-12.   US-12 runs most of the way through a river valley.   Probably my favorite ride of the trip.   Sixty mph speed limit, mostly 50-55 mph curves.   Lots of curves, as soon as I come out of one there is another one coming up, its great.   Loved the sign that said "Next Services 67 miles".   My apologies to the gas station where I topped off my tank with a little over a gallon of gas.   Saw my only moose of the trip here also.   Spent the night in Lolo, Montana.   End of Day Eleven.  

Day Twelve  

Take US-93 out of Lolo.   Good ride but I was hoping for more.   The cursed flagman sign (9 out of 10 times it means gravel).   At Challis, Idaho I have to make a decision to either stay on 93 or catch Idaho-75 to Sun Valley.   I probably made the wrong decision by staying on 93.   Long and fairly boring ride.   Oh well!   I had a 50-50 chance of getting it right.   I ride on into Blackfoot and end up in Pocatello at the same motel with the biker rate still in effect.   The bar is a little more lively this time around and I get lucky.   End of Day Twelve.  

Day Thirteen  

I'm back on I-15 headed south today.   Pick up US-30 headed east through Lava Hot Springs.   Stay with 30 all the way to Little America on I-80 and head east to Creston Junction, Wyoming.   Turn south again on Wyoming-789 which turns into Colorado-13.   End up in Craig, Colorado for the night.   End of Day Thirteen.  

Day Fourteen  

Today is going to turn into one long, frustrating day.   I just don't know it yet.   Leave Craig and ride US-40 to Steamboat Springs.   Stop there to pick up some souvenier t-shirts for my daughter, daughter-in-law, and grandkids.   I had already had a conversation about my dau-in-laws views on having a Harley t-shirt for a souvenier.   "If he gets me one of those, I'll get him a Shamu t-shirt from Sea-World."   Nuff said!   I had called ahead from Craig to see about getting a motel room in Steamboat.   Couldn't find one.   No big deal.   Somewhere around Kremmling I pull over at a turnout to take a break.   Overlooking a resevoir and there are people camping below.   A couple down below jump on a 4 wheeler and head up the road (in a spray of gravel) to the top where their car is parked.   He drops her off at the car and she walks over to where I'm parked and wants to know if I want to come down and have a cold beer with them.   She is attractive, late 30's to early 40's and older than the guy she rode up with.   I look at her, look at the gravel road they just rode up on and decline.   I beat myself up for the next two hours.   Anyway, I catch I-70 at Dillon and head west.   Another great superslab.   It's raining as I get into Vail, so it seems like a good time to stop and get gas.   I'm standing under the awning of the "Stop and Rob" after filling up and a woman asks if I'm going to Sturgis.   I tell her that I'm not doing Sturgis this year.   She is getting ready to drive there and meet her husband who has already ridden his bike up there.   The club they belong to owns some land at Sturgis and they camp out for a week.   She mentions that her husband is a 1%'r.   Guess she felt it was important that I know that.   I turn off I-70 at Glenwood Springs and catch Colorado-82.   I stop at Basalt and see about getting a room, the only thing available is a non-smoking and I turn it down.   Will turn out to be a big mistake.

Next stop is Aspen, pull into the first motel and I see immediately that it might be out of my price range.   Three women are outside in evening dresses.   Its getting late and it is looking like rain.   Won't hurt to find out, room is going on plastic anyaway.   As I walk into the lobby, a woman about 25ish in an evening dress that is showing tons of cleavage says, "I want a ride on your bike".   My reply is "If I get a room you have a ride".   She says I can have her room.   There are no vacancies.   I ask her about her room.   Unfortunately that really wasn't an option to begin with.   She wants a ride to Basalt.   Reluctantly I tell her I'm headed south and I need to find a place to stay.   Aspen has no room in the Inn.   Everything is full.   Mary and Joseph wouldn't have been able to find a place either.   Just as I start up Independence Pass it starts raining.   The only luck i'm having today is bad luck.   Independence Pass could have been a great ride.   If only it was DRY!   Sheer cliffs, tight hairpin turns, a lot of the curves are banked the wrong way, and the pavement is wet.   Its a slow scary ride to the top.   Mostly dry going down the other side.   Buena Vista has no rooms.   Salida has no rooms.   It's about 9:30 p.m. when I reach Alamosa.   Finally find a room at the Grizzly Inn.   This is not a four star hotel.   Surprisingly, its clean.   And cheap.   I'm exhausted.   This was a lot further than I had planned on traveling today.   End of Day Fourteen.  

Day Fifteen  

I find out that if your not the first to take a shower at the Grizzly Inn, you will not have hot water.   Guess the room price doesn't include hot water.   So its decision time on where to go.   I had wanted to ride to Gunnison.   That was before the motel fiasco.   I don't want to backtrack back to Salida.   I'm a bit disgusted about finding rooms here.   Ok!   So, I bid a fond fairwell to Colorado and its monsoons and I'm headed to Raton, New Mexico.   It's dry going up and back down into Raton.   Much nicer than the trip a couple of weeks ago.   I'll admit that I'm a little depressed about ending the trip and heading home at this point.   My way of dealing with depression is to ride somewhere.   So I call a hotel in Eagles Nest to see if they have rooms.   Yes!   They want my right arm for it though.   Not an option.   Taos has no vacancies.   Ok, I'm heading home and my depression is worse.   There is a storm moving in so its a no brainer to decide to spend the night in Dalhart, Texas.   Figure that a 6 pack will help my depression.   It does.   Of course watching the bike get wet and me staying dry didn't hurt any either.   Anyway, the path is now clear.   I'll ride to San Angelo, spend the night, then down throught the hill country into Uvalde, and finally end up in Corpus Christi.   I'm cheered up and I have a plan. End of Day Fifteen.  

Day Sixteen  

I love the sound of that 88B firing up in the morning.   Makes me think of a primeval beast waking up after a long sleep and getting ready to terrorize frightened villagers.   I ride to Big Spring which is one long boring ride.   It's close to 90 miles from Big Spring to San Angelo.   Sky looks bad but I think I can beat the rain.   The plan is to be in San Angelo tonight.   I don't know what made me think I would make it.   About 40 miles from San Angelo it starts raining.   Thirty Five miles from San Angelo I'm on the shoulder of the road waiting for the rain to let up.   It's raining hard.   Thirty miles from San Angelo I'm at a rest stop waiting for the rain to let up, its raining hard.   The attendant offers to let me pull the bike up under the awning.   Hell, its been getting soaked for an hour or so already, why bother.   Rain lets up to a heavy sprinkle.   Sky is clearing back towards Big Spring, but still looks terrible in the direction of San Angelo.   I'm cold, wet, and I'll try to make San Angelo again in the morning.   Ride back to Big Spring for the night.   End of Day Sixteen.  

Day Seventeen  

Radar shows rain in San Angelo and the hill country.   It's time to head home.   It was a good plan, it's just not going work out.   Catch I-20 and start east.   Sky does not look good towards Abilene.   My one little prayer is only asking that the rain wait until I get through Abilene.   The prayer goes unanswered and the rain doesn't wait.   Jeez, no wonder I'm not religious.   I spend about 45 minutes in a church parking lot.   Is that irony or what?   Just outside of Abilene, I wait out another rainstorm at a rest stop.   Can't tell you how many times in the last two days I've heard "Nice day for a ride".   I act like it is the first time I've heard it though and tell them the weather is perfect for a ride.   Storm passes in about an hour and its a dry ride on into Stephenville.   End of Trip.  

Summary  

Great trip, 5200 miles.   It was over before I knew it.   Right now I'm thinking about next year.   The current plan is to ride the "Mother Road", Route 66.   Thats always subject to change.   Ride Safe.  

First Law of Travel:  

No matter how many rooms there are in the motel, the fellow who starts up his Harley at five o'clock in the morning is always parked under your window.