I bet most of the kiwis reading the blog have never heard of a National Park called “ The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park?” I am probly right, all the other National Parks get plenty of publicity, not sure why this one doesn’t, the geography is pretty amazing.

Anyway, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is a about 10 miles east of Montrose so this is where we headed first up today, went to the visitor center, did the rim ride and took a few pics at the various overlooks. bees everywhere and Marie got one down her boot and a sting on the ankle, not happy.

Next we drove back out the same way, as you do, and turned east on Route 50, which is a cool road in itself all the way to Colorado Springs but sadly we were not riding all the way there.

Nevertheless, over Cerro Summit, followed closely by Blue Mesa Summit before we turned left onto Route 92.

Now locally, Route 92 is known by Colorado motorcyclists as the Colorado Dragon as it is the closest set of cool Twisties that Colorado has to the actual Tail of the Dragon in North Carolina.

This must be one of Colorado,s best kept motorcycling secrets. I know it was mid week and all and the holiday season is over, but this road was virtually deserted. Awesome, deserted roads make for good riding. Anyone who has not ridden the Colorado 92 between Hotchkiss and Sapinero needs to get there and ride it. What a great road.

Yep, it was a very cool ride of almost 50 kms and it follows the north rim of the Gunnison Canyon for most of that 50 kms so the scenery is breathtaking for that ride as well. A very cool ride. Have I said that already?

After having a bite to eat at Crawford, we rode up to Hotchkiss and turned east on the 133. Again, this section of road is very cool and takes you up and over McLure Pass with outstanding views again. We were in need of a caffeine injection at about this time, so we ducked into a wee village on the eastern side of the McLure Pass called Redstone. What a wee treasure of a find this village is. Population 100 but just gorgeous. Had a coffee there in the General store which was outstanding and made on a coffee machine for a change. Consensus was, Redstone is such a gorgeous wee village we could come back here for a holiday at one of the B and B,s.

Could have stayed in Redstone for hours, but headed east to Carbondale then shot across to *Glenwood Springs for the night since Carbondale was so expensive……. god knows why, nothing special about Carbondale.

Pics to follow, I am in catchup mode having not posted our rides for a couple days.!!!!!!

It’s about 370 Kms give or take, from Moab in Utah back to Montrose in Colorado where we needed to be to start the next series of great rides. Rather than take the most direct route on the interstate in a straight line, we took the scenic route which was anything but direct, but it turned the day into a series of three totally different but absolutely stunning rides. You can see from the REVER app tracking our route that it was anything but direct. I am posting photos of the three separate sections of the ride.

Part One starts right on the edge of Moab at the bridge over the Colorado, here we turn right onto Route 128 toward Castle Valley and the wee village of Cisco. This road is virtually deserted as no one uses it, it is like its own National Park as the road follows the Colorado River through the red rock canyon formed by the river, for about 60 km before then cutting across country, desolate barren country I might add, to link in with the I70 at Cisco. The road surface used to be as rough as guts as we had ridden it twice before but they have recently resurfaced about 40 kms of this route at the Cisco end and it makes for an excellent ride. The pics of the ride through this canyon on Route 128 are pretty obvious.

Part two, starts at the town of Fruita, which we arrived at after exiting Route 128 onto the I70 and blasting about 60 kms out to Fruita. At Fruita we had a quick look through the North Colorado Dinosaur museum, bit of a disappointment to be fair, amateur hour if you know what I mean, but better than no dinosaur museum.

Right on the edge of Fruita is the Colorado National Monument, a fascinating piece of Geology seen from overlooks along a 25 km Twisties piece of road out of Fruita but dropping out the other end at Grand Junction where we had lunch.

Once again, the geology is quite different to Castle Valley so you will spot what is and is not The Colorado national monument as I have posted those after the dinosaur pics.

Part three of the days trip starts after lunch out of Grand Junction. About 50 kms along the I70 again, we exit onto Route 92, the Brand Mesa scenic byway.

It was 39 degrees when we left Grand Junction, when we stopped at the visitor center at the top of the Grand Mesa it was 22 degrees, but of course we were at 10,350’ asl, Beautiful riding conditions. Not only is the Brand Mesa Scenic. Yeah an awesome motorcycle ride but the views from most of the ride are outstanding. It is literally a huge Mesa sticking out of the earth so you have views for miles in every direction.

Down the other side into Delta and then on to Montrose we were back up to about 37 degrees by the time we got to Montrose.

Another totally awesome days riding in Utah and Colorado. More of the same to come Tommorrow.

Moab is a two night stay, we did 433 kms to get here so didn’t get here till after 7.00 pm yesterday, today was a day of looking around what there is to see around Moab. First stop was out to Dead Horse Point, to my mind, a better view than the Grand Canyon so a must see if visiting Moab. Don,t let anyone tell you Arches National Park is the best scenery, Dead Horse point kicks some serious arse in that regard. First pics below are at Dead Horse Point.

Couple miles away around the corner is Canyonlands National Park and another couple of cool overlooks, but the Grand View point at Canyonlands cannot beat Dead Horse Point. Check them both out though, best scenery in Utah.

Mark and Tracey headed off after that to look at Arches as they had not been there before. Red and I decided to have a wee ride down the Shafer Canyon road opposite the visitor center at Canyonlands. Fair to say this would be the hairiest road I have ever ridden, but it has to be done while we,re there eh.

By the time we got back to Moab it was 2.30 and 40 degrees so apart from the swimming pool and a bud light there was not much motivation to be outside anytime soon. Rest of the afternoon off.

Big day today, 433 kms, left Durango about 9.00 am and immediately got held up at the scene of a head on accident on the 550 just north of town, so it took about 45 mins to head back to town and take the bypass the Police had set up. Worth the wee delay of course, the section of the 550 between Durango and Ouray is called the “ Million dollar Highway” mainly due to the cost of construction and the gold mining country it negotiates. From Durango you climb over both the Coal Bank and Molas passes before dropping into Silverton. Molas Pass tops out around 10,340’ asl. This is some of the most stunning scenery in the USA I reckon, massive big country, remnants of snow still clinging to the tops not far from the road, outdoor adventure companies everywhere, from 4wd to mountain biking to side by sides. This country is so big it is hard to show just from a few pics bu t what a stunning ride. This is the third time we have ridden this road, love it every time.

Coffee at Silverton, a colourful wee town, only the Main Street is sealed, all the side streets are gravel, the first town pics below are Silverton.

LeAving Silverton there is more of the same to get over Red Mountain Pass and Down In to Ouray, that second town pic of a slightly bigger town is Ouray. The pics of the Twisties and switchbacks are dropping from Red Mountain Pass down into Ouray. Lunch in Ouray.

Leaving Ouray, we hooked across to duck back into Telluride down low, then took the Gondola put to the Mountain village up high, which was flat to the boards with downhill mountain bikers making the most of the summer and the outstanding MTB park in the Mountain village.

Back Down the Gondola and on the bikes and out through Placerville the next 40 odd kms were through the San Miguel Canyon, funnily enough following the San Miguel river……… ya never would have guessed that would you.

Climbing out of the canyon a bit later, through Naturita we hooked a left on Route 90, headed up through Bedrock and along to Moab.

A big day, but awesome riding and totally awesome scenery. I don’t even need to tell Colorado or out of state riders about the million dollar highway as everyone knows about it, everyone has ridden it.

Ride it again, what a cool part of the world.

It’s a 200 km ride from Durango, out to Mesa Verde and back. Mark and Tracey have not seen this before so we headed out so they could compare the Pueblo cave dwelling monument we had seen at Bandelier, with Mesa verde. Needless to say, as you can see from the pics posted, this is a fantastic archaeological site and I never tire of seeing it. No comparison really, waaay more advanced you would think, than the Bandelier pics we posted a couple days back. Although it looks way more advanced and sophisticated than the dwellings at Bandelier, funnily enough Mesa Verde was inhabited circa 850 ad but had been abandoned by 1300 ad at the latest , history tells us the Pueblo Indians ran out of food and water supplies so headed south to team up with rellies in New Mexico and Arizona. Therefore the more primitive accommodation at Bandelier, it would seem, post dates Mesa verde by a couple hundred years. There ya go eh?

As you can see from the REVER app pic, the ride up the Mesa into the National Park is a great ride in itself, twisting and winding its way up to some fantastic vista from up along the tops.

i love Colorado

I mentioned in the last post that the bloke that wrote the best motorcycle rides in the Rockies, rates Taos to Chama as his fav ride. When we rode this route in 2016 we did it in the opposite direction, I.e. Chama to Taos and I have to say I was a wee bit indifferent after earlier riding some awesome country in Colorado.

This time however, we rode it in that direction, I.e. Taos to Chama. This is a very cool ride. I have posted a pic or two of the bridge over the Rio Grande and then a straight As an arrow road, this is Taos to Tres Piedras. It is the section of route 64 from Tres Piadras to Tierra Amarilla after this, let’s say about 85 kms, that is the cream of this trip. This piece of road is one of New Mexico’s best kept secrets for motorcyclists, let’s keep it that way. Now New Mexico and Colorado riders will be familiar with this piece of road, but let me advise out of state riders or tourist riders like us, this is a must do ride, if you can ride it from the Taos end, for some reason the scenery is just awesome riding it in that direction. leaving Tres Piedras you ride through a mix of prairie and forested land as you slowly climb to the summit at Yellowjacket Pass, the temperature dropping commensurate with the altitude till you top out at just under 10,000’. We have posted a pic of the scenery from the summit as well.

Winding down the other side toward Tierra Amarilla, the scenery is outstanding, the road surface not so outstanding. As this road was so deserted, I didn’t have much to do except admire the scenery so I collated some stats for you. I know our loyal blog followers have a thirst for statistics. On this 85 km section of mountain riding we met 8 cars, 3 motor homes and 1 truck travelling in the opposite direction to us, 1 car and one motor home travelling in the same direction as us, zero motorcycles. This is not much traffic in an 85 km section of road, so we pretty much had route 64 to ourselves, neat eh?

re caffienating and refueling followed, continued to Pagosa Springs and then on to Durango, good riding but nothing like that run over the mountain. All in all a good days riding, as expected riding from New Mexico into Colorado.

Day fifty dawned fine and clear and a small selection of our group opted for an 0600 jog along this lovely pathway overlooking the canyon at Los Alamos, funnily enough it was called the canyon overlook pathway. Off we go , I lasted almost 40 mins and I use the term jog loosely, there was a fair bit of walking, I was puffing and wheezing like an out of condition overweight grandfather. When I got back and I did some googling and realised we were at 6000’ asl and thus I had been altitude training. Not only that, it was pointed out to me by those close to me that in fact I was an out of condition overweight grandfather and that is why I was puffing and wheezing like one, as well as the issue of altitude. OK , so that was the start of the day.

We headed off in shorts and tee shirt at 0745 to go to the Bandelier National Monument, posted a few pics of that, real interesting place steeped in history, Pueblo Indian history dating from about 1130 AD to circa 1600.

Destination today was Taos, a wee town in Northern NM about the size of Stratford but sitting at 6900’ asl. Couple reasons to go to Taos, firstly the High road to Taos scenic byway is one of my favourite rides, done it before and love it. Wanted to get a couple bits and pieces from a weaving shop in Chimayo as well. There is a low road to Taos and the High road, the high road is and was a stunning ride as expected. Secondly, the bloke that wrote the best motorcycle rides in the Rockies, suggests at the end of his book that his fav ride in the Rockies is Taos to Chama, which we ride on the way to Durango, another ride we did in 2016 as well.

Room wasn,t ready when we got to Taos so we had a graze down in the village, overnight in Taos and off to Durango tomorrow. Awesome part of the world. Pics below are some of Bandelier and then some typical scenery shots of the high road to Taos scenic byway.

After spending a night in the very cool New Mexico town of Santa Fe and having a very. Nice dinner out up in the Plaza, we got on the bikes for the very short days ride of 59 kms to ride up to Los Alamos. Couple reasons for such a short day. Originally we had planned a two night stay in Santa Fe, being Sunday night and Monday night so we could get the bikes serviced and new tires at the BMW/Triumph dealership in Santa Fe. Earlier emails however revealed they were closed on Mondays, which is why we had the work done a week or so earlier in New Orleans.

Secondly, there is some cool stuff to see in Los Alamos, so rather than two nights in Santa Fe, we did the short ride to Los Alamos instead. The day we rode in, we took Mark and Tracey for the ride up the Mountain to see the Valles Caldera, in my mind one of New Mexico’s must see attractions. basically a massive volcanic crater formed a million years ago by a series of eruptions and now a huge grass prairie. Also the ride up there from Los Alamos is a very cool ride.

This is the third time Marie and I have been up to the Valles Caldera area, it is such a scenic part of NM and the native vegetation up here is massive Ponderosa Pine forests which are a treasure to the eye for sure. Up in Valle Grande the forests are still in good nick, so have posted a couple pics to show you, but sadly the forests on the hillsides beside the awesome twisties climb up the mountain from Los Alamos has been devastated by fire sometime since we were here last in 2016, but has started regenerating already so all good.

Also on the agenda was the Bradbury Science Museum, rated as a top attraction if you are interested in the nuclear discoveries and history involved in the “ atomic city “ as many businesses in the town use to market the town!!!!!!Murphys law again,

Also we wanted to take the troops down to the Bandelier National Monument which is good to see from a history and archaeology point of view. Not big miles in terms of riding, but lots to see and a gorgeous part of the world.

Its a tad over 1200 kilometers from Springdale, Arkansas to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I mention these two locations as Some good rides end in Arkansas and the remaining good rides start again in New Mexico, we have three days of pretty boring interstate to traverse in the middle to get into the Southern Rockies. Hence I am going to lump this boring stuff over three days into one blog post, fair enuff eh?

Leaving Springdale this morning, we were loading the bikes out the front and a couple came out and started chatting to us, a little older than ourselves, he was a pastor for a church in Missouri. We learnt he was from Michigan originally and his good wife hailed from Louisiana.

After chatting for 5 or more mins, the pastors wife learnt we were from New Zealand. A look of surprise came over her face, shock almost, and she then stated “ Goodness you speak very good English if you come from New Zealand”

This is fair dinkum, I shit you not, we told her we went to night school specially to learn American before we came over, hence we were able to communicate with the locals so well. The pastors wife was impressed. We bade our fairwells and hopped astride our sickles.

So we Mount the bikes about 0900 amid the sound of thunder and there was rain threatening to the North of SPringdale, we did not don our wet Weather apparel as sky’s were clear to the west and we were heading directly west. It was about 130 kms to Tulsa, Oklahoma, we were right on the cusp of the wet weather the whole way but miraculously did not ride into the rain, humidity was low and the temps stayed mid twenties, nice riding on the 412 west.

At Tulsa, we dropped in elevation and the temp went back up to 30 as did the humidity as we veered left on the I44/Route 66.

Old Route 66 is actually fully functional and complete between Tulsa and Oklahoma, but we stayed on the I44 just to make better time and arrived in Oklahoma City about check in time so all good. There was a servo right next door to enable us to uplift some suitable rehydration material and a Tandorri takeaway there as well to ensure a curry was on the menu for tea.

I hope that curry stays put tomorrow is all I can say, shall we say the state of the Tandorri takeaway gave us some suspicions as to whether or not the chicken was chicken if you catch my drift. Fingers crossed………pray for us.

I’ll add to this blog after tomorrow’s ride to Amarillo, Texas which has a couple scheduled stops for entertainment purposes and to keep as from falling asleep during 420 kilometers in a straight line………..

Pause for a breath here as a couple of days have Passed……………

Back again and having a catch up, we are in Santa Fe now and we have completed that 1200 odd kilometers since leaving Springdale. Despite being three days of tedious interstate, turned out to be an interesting three days with plenty to relieve the boredom.

Oklahoma city was nothing to rave about although we did have a nice Thai meal down the road from the Hotel, headed west in warm temps the next day but with strong winds which made the day hard work.

First stop was about 100 kms down the road in Clinton, Oklahoma where we stopped at a Route 66 museum, Ho hum, pretty average but it had to be done, posted a couple pics of it, the ones with the yellow truck and the Chevy Nova convertible.

Next pics are of the old Route 66 ( former) ghost town of Texola, right on the State line Oklahoma/Texas.

Now in 2012 when Marie and I came through here with Kieran and Cam, doing Route 66, the place was a ghost town, not a soul there, we took some cool pics of tumbledown houses and the like. This time, oh my god, hardly a ghost town, big new water tower, a brand new huge church built in the middle of town, population of 15 people now, and the local mayor/ sheriff is a lady called Marcel. Marcel runs a wee cafe in Texola right beside the old run down servo. The house across the road that had the roof collapsed in a V in 2012 is now fully restored and has a new roof. The pics we got in 2012 will be collectible now!!!!!

We got to chatting with Marcel, she has shot 5 rattlers in the last year and has one skinned and up on the wall, 18 rattles she tells us, means 18 years old. Marie asked if she had her own gun, Marcel’s said guns, plural, and yup, you guessed it, Marie wanted to see said guns, hence the pic with Marie posing with Marcel and her Smith and Wesson 38.

Chatted for a while with Marcel, this lady is a legend.

Right, day three on the road. Might mention here that our three days getting from Springdale to Santa Fe, is a similar distance in a straight line as riding across the Nullabor in Aussie, but waaaaaay different. Just a bit of useless trivia for you to soak up, since you have no doubt read our blog on the Nullabor road trip couple Easter’s back.

West of Amarillo, our first stop of course was the Cadillac graveyard, a must do on that section of road. There we were chatting to a couple from Austin, Texas who had just got back from a two week holiday in NZ, both islands, loved it, good to catch up with them.

Heading west from Amarillo, the Texans have filled the landscape with wind farms and there a propellers for Africa. They may as well I suppose, unlike the fertile cattle farm lands west of Oklahoma City, the land west of Amarillo is pretty desolate , no green grass and good for shag all except wind farms I guess. I am biased, I hate the bloody things they are a blot on the landscape.

A wee bit further down the road, we were just a minute or two behind a truck that had a brake/ shredded tire fire, setting the grass on the roadside on fire as well as his truck. We pulled in a few Km’s further along at Adrian , Texas , as the Police and fire tenders were screaming east to the scene…………for the midway photo shoot and a coffee and when we re entered the I-40 we had the entire west bound two lanes to ourselves for miles, clearly the truck fire had closed the westbound I-40.

Next stop after Adrian, Texas was Tucumcari to show the troops what a cool town it would have been in the Route 66 hey day but how desolate it is now. Stopped for a bite there as well.

Another hundy Kms Down the road we did the compulsory stop at the Route 66 car museum in Santa Rosa where they even have cars for sale, That gave us another break for half an hour before heading west for the last 100 kms to Clines Corner where we left the I40 to head north up the 285 toward Santa Fe.

Arriving in Santa Fe, into the pool for a swim then Uber,d up town to have a look around the plaza and had a great meal and a couple drinks at an upstairs authentic New Mexico cuisine out for to complete the day.

1240 kms from Springdale to Santa Fe over three days……. had been expecting tedium and boredom on the I-40, but turned out to be an interesting three days and the riding was all good, apart from the wind issue on Day two. Won,t miss those bloody trucks hounding us on the interstate though, playing stupid little cat and mouse and boxing in games. Those rigs are dead to us now though, along with some of their meat head psychopath drivers ( note some were polite and drove like a normal truck driver would) we have some great rides ahead of us over the next 3-4 weeks, keep an eye on the blog.

Has anyone made a psycho movie about interstate truckers? There is certainly a wealth of suitable material out there that could be gathered to put together such a movie………..the mind boggles. Red, Mark and myself could just about write a book on the last 1200 kms and I am confident it would be a best seller. Just saying…………

Route 7, Arkansas scenic byway continues to impress, consensus is we really like Arkansas for motorcycling, seems every road is made for two wheels. Heading north from Russellville we climbed steadily up into the Ozarks, only to about 1000’ asl but it dropped the temp to the mid twenties all the way to Jasper, about 110 Kms north.

Coffee at Jasper, that first town shot is the wee village of Jasper. We then headed west on the 74 up and over Mt Sherman toward Ponca, took the 21 up to the wee village of Kingston. That second town shot with the square in the middle is Kingston, maybe we use the word town loosely. the pic of us on the seat outside Grandpa’s is also in Kingston.

Lunch at Granny’s in Huntsville before heading into our accommodation at Springdale. What. A great days riding with plenty of twisting, ups and downs and a couple signs to make us smile that state “ twists and turns for 43 miles, drive carefully”, just the signs a motorcyclist likes to see on a nice sunny day in backblocks Arkansas.

great day.