2018 April: Florida - California - Florida in 26 days

Walked around taking photos the morning I left.

Beautiful mountains in the distance.



The bath house. Extremely clean bathrooms.



My cabin. No electricity. But Scott rigged up an extension cord for my CPAP machine. He had a wood stove for heat but I didn't need it.



One final photo before I left for Cortez, Colorado.

A couple of notes about 3 Step Hideaway. A stay here is worth every penny. Scott says that Garmin has picked up 3 Step Hideaway and correctly gps routes to the ranch now. In fact I just used Garmin to route me to Cortez and took a quicker route to Dove Creek than I took going in. Scott has a barn with tools that can fix motorcycles. We even talked about welding my side case frame. He also has gas should you need it. I had a great time there and give it five motorcycle thumbs up.

Off to Cortez, Colorado. I got to Pleasant View and Hovenweep was about 30 miles one way on a right hand turn. I'm thinking 60 miles plus exploration. Just couldn't get my bike to turn. I said to myself, "since I must come back to catch up on my rain checks in Utah, what's one more?" I continued to my motel. ( ) About $50 bucks a night ... $190 a week. Sort of reminded me of the movie, The Florida Project. The staff was extra nice. The room was clean. The bed comfortable. The shower hot. Park right outside the door. They cater to motorcycles. Plus some interesting characters. Plenty of sun bleached old cars here. Anyways, I step outside my room and they have plastic molded lawn chairs. My next door neighbors are sitting in theirs smoking pot. (Legal in Colorado). Two pot-heads from Long Beach, CA in Colorado on a pot vacation. They were Anglo Cheech and Chong. Stoned but very funny. You know me ... I'll talk to a fence post ... and even though I don't do pot, it doesn't bother me. Anyways, we had a fun conversation. They kept trying to get me to do pot with them. We walked next door and did dinner together. Still have never done pot.

I was constantly warned about bad weather over the passes on the San Juan Skyway and Million Dollar Highway. So I decided to push Mesa Verde National Park to the next morning instead.

Here is a photo of my CPAP Machine. I took the full sized machine with me.



On an earlier trip I found a hotel provided extension cord with 2 110 outlets and 4 USB ports. So I searched it on Google and ordered one from Amazon. Very handy.



You could tell this motel caters to motorcycles.

I start in the morning headed towards Mesa Verde National Park and Durango. After snow in Bryce I was concerned about the San Juan Skyway and the Million Dollar Highway with their high passes. Just as I was heading out of Cortez I felt this strong tug on my handle bars. Rita wanted to give the San Juan Skyway a go. She turned left on CO-145 to Delores instead of Mesa Verde. No guts, no glory.



Onward to Rico. I left with my hot weather mesh riding jacket on. When I go to Rico I found a gas station and changed into cold weather clothes. I put on a smartwool shirt, my blue riding jacket from Alaska and a down liner. On my legs I put on my smartwool tights and topped my legs with my rain pants. Snow flurries at the top of the pass but the road was clear. Pressed on past the Ophir turn off to the gas station at the Telluride turn off. So far clearer than I expected. Turns out even the snowpack this year was poor.

Pressed on to Ridgway where the San Juan Skyway intersects with US-550 (The Million Dollar Highway).



Speed limit 25 on US-550 and the sheriff had a car pulled over. Another deputy was following me. Don't you hate that!

The pass had snow. Some ponds were still frozen. And I was snowed upon (flurries mostly).





Over the pass and into Silverton. Sleepy little town this time of year. That picks up when the train from Durango starts running.





Had lunch at the Coffee Bear Silverton.

Leaving Silverton.



Just out of town the road was blocked by a herd of bighorn sheep on the road. I had the feeling they were licking salt off the road. I stop and waited and waited and waited. They looked back at me like, "I ain't afraid of no V-Strom!" I tried the horn. But it's pretty puny. No affect.

I turned off US-550 at Durango.




Headed for the Alpine Inn in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. ( http://www.alpineinnofpagosasprings.com/ ) Owned and operated by a European couple. Sparkling clean and orderly. Had great conversations with John the owner. This is a great hotel to stop at in Pagosa Springs.

I liked the Alpine Inn in Pagosa Springs but crashed instead of going to the hot springs to soak. Another time. Next morning I am pointed south to Santa Rosa, NM.



I was looking for some good mexican food or in this case New Mexican food. In Espanola, New Mexico I found La Cocina Restaurant. Had a great conversation with a retired school secretary who was selling Turquoise Jewelry outside the place. Linda waited on my table. Wonderful lady. She suggested some wonderful food. http://www.lacocinanewmexico.com/



Then off in search of the Turquoise Trail.

My first stop was at Los Cerrillos, NM. This old town was used as the backdrop for the movie, "Young Guns". A sun faded sign commemorates the event. Across the way is Mary's Bar. Mary was quite a character who ran the bar until her death. Her granddaughter is said to be running it now.

Cerrillos is a step back in time. Dirt streets and many places are as they were built a hundred years ago.

Next stop on the Turquoise Trail is Madrid. Madrid is a formerly abandoned coal town that had new life breathed into it by the art community. Goes right down either side of NM-14. Madrid was used as a backdrop for the motorcycle classic (?) Wild Hogs. Part of the set still stands and is used by a t-shirt shop: Maggie's Diner. Okay. Okay. I bought a t-shirt. They had my size.

More of Maggie's Diner.

Mary, the clerk, said I could call her and she would ship anything I wanted with a phone call and a credit card. Oh man ... there was this neon clock .....

A selfie the hard way.

Shadows are getting long but I think I can squeeze in a run to the top of Sandia Crest, the two mile high mountain that overlooks Albuquerque. The road is 13.5 miles to the top. What a ride. Ya ... Hooo!!!!!

http://www.dangerousroads.org/north-america/usa/4034-sandia-crest.html

I put the hurts on the throttle to make Santa Rosa before dark. The winds were picking up as well. Santa Rosa's claim to fame is being on the Old Route 66. https://www.newmexico.org/places-to-go/regions-cities/northeast/santa-rosa/

Oh my goodness ... holy shit batman ... the 45 mph cross winds were back.



So I look to the right side and its there. I wasn't thinking of it. I hit the breaks firmly. The Cadillac Ranch. A bunch of old Caddies buried nose down in the dirt. Again, I was afraid to dismount for fear the bike would blow over. Ugly. ugly crosswinds.


As I was going down I-40 I was nearly knocked off my bike at about 70 mph by a large tumbleweed. Tumbleweeds were flying by perpendicular to the road at about 45 mph. No shit. The main stem was about a half inch in diameter. I did an emergency stop. The weed was jammed in my gear shifter and kickstand. I had to stop, wrestle with the main stem and pull pieces out to shift gears. I took this photo at the hotel in Amarillo and pieces were still there.

From where I was staying in Amarillo going to Palo Duro Canyon would add about 100 miles to my trip. I was tired from fighting crosswinds the day before. Plus with the mountains behind me I was looking at a flat ride home. So I decided to save Palo Duro for another time. Next morning I headed straight for Hillsboro, TX ... little did I know I was headed for hell. Fort Worth roads were all under construction and i entered an angry, slow moving parking lot Just the kind I loath. At least the hotel in Hillsboro was nice. From Hillsboro I had an uneventful ride to Lafayette for the night. Then straight down the interstate to Pensacola. Happy to be home after 6,140 miles and 26 nights on the road.

Great ride report.
Time to start planning the next adventure.

Sent from my SM-N920W8 using Tapatalk