Helmut's coast to coast trip....kind of....Part6

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Helmut's coast to coast trip....kind of....Part6

Postby helmut » Thu Nov 04, 2010 10:53 pm

Thanks for the friendly comments I received so far.

And the story continues.......

Sept-30th
From Delta I continued on Rt550 South towards Silverton. I had lunch there, watched the steam railway pulling in and out, and then continued to Durango. The sights on this ride were absolutely beautiful, a few clouds with brilliant sunshine and glowing fall colors. Once reaching Durango, the Aspen and Evergreen trees were replaced again by deserty looking shrubs.
I took Rt160 East, little rolling hills and then reached Pagosa Springs, getting ready to ride over Wolf Creek Pass. Here I was blessed with one of the most stunning views of this journey. Words can't describe it, and the attached picture won't do justice.
 
After Wolf Creek Pass I continued to descend on Rt160 East thru Pagosa and after South Fork the desert look took over again. In Del Norte I ended up in a "Seedy Inn". Though I did meet two brothers there, some very interesting characters, and we ended up drinking quite some beers outside, chatting and telling jokes, having a good time, whilst watching various somewhat questionable activities in the "Seedy Inn" parking lot.


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Oct-1st
From Del Norte I continued East on Rt160 towards I25. According to a Harley roadmap this is a scenic drive, but it wasn't all that great. The goal was to reach Colorado Springs, to get a new back tire for my black beauty. Around 4pm I was on the road again, hitting West again on Rt24. As it was time to seek shelter for the night, my Garmin (Vermin) GPS once more suggested various motels, which no longer existed. So I ended up riding a chilling 50 miles thru the night, at 9500 feet, until reaching Buena Vista. Ten miles before Buena Vista, a group of cars came the other way, and some guy in the middle decided to pass the cars in front, maybe 100 yards in front of me. I hit the brakes and pulled hard to the right, with a tad of (new tire induced) fishtailing, making the much needed room for the passing idiot. Rejuvenated by some adrenaline, I then reached Buena Vista and took the first motel at hand. Nice, fairly clean and the cheapest in town, as I was told by Rudi, the friendly carpenter, my next door neighbor. And yes, Rudi was right.


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Oct-2nd
In Buena Vista I found a Yamaha dealer which supplied me with an oil pan and a rag to change my oil filter and after that I took Rt24N and then went on Rt82E into Aspen. I grabbed a sandwich and hit into the Maroon Bells National Park. The road into the park is only 10 miles, and the last 5 miles provided exquisite views with coloring of late fall Aspen trees and a sparkling lake on top. I hang around for a while and ate my sandwich, then hit back down to Aspen and continued on Rt82 until I reached I70 in Glenwood Springs.
Not expecting much from riding I70 East, I was surprised that it followed the Colorado River in a smaller very nice canyon. The highway construction was rather wild, with tunnels and the West-bound section often raised on concrete stilts. Numerous white water rafts went down the river and after 20 miles of this the canyon opened up to more open and arid landscapes for a while until ascending into Avon and Vail.
After Vail there was a huge backup on I70 due to a RV being on fire. I slowly scooted by most cars on the very left side, it's called the special "motorcycle lane". The stuck car drivers enjoyed my endeavor so much, that many honked their horn in order to greet me. Eventually the mess cleared up and around Dillon I left I70E in favor of a detour ob Rt6 over Loveland Pass. The temperatures and winds at the peak of this pass were certainly not exactly love inducing, but rather shrinkage inducing, if anything. And the clouds up over the peaks made for some good sights.
After rejoining I70E I ended up in Idaho Springs, a somewhat depressed little city, for this night.



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Oct-3rd
The forecast called for some rain soon and the skies were already pretty cloudy in the morning, but the weather forecast for the East was favorable so I decided to leave the Colorado mountains and hit on I-70E. Going past Denver some stiff wind set in and the temperatures dropped enough to put on another layer of clothing. And then the ride thru endless farmlands. In Flaggler I talked to a guy, who said that the whole town is basically owned by the farming Co-op. I ended up in Russel, KN were I was lucky enough to find an open bar owned by a young couple. After 2 beers and some talk I left for the local motel.
 
Oct-4th
The morning started of cold and the winds were picking up again good, blowing from the side at 30mph with gusts of 50mph. What appeared as a slight ground fog at times, was actually the top soil blowing away from the fields. In Salina, I took I135S and now had the winds head on, not fun without a wind shield but better than side winds.
A sign on the road touted a motorcycle museum, and since it was just a 12 mile detour I went for it and ended up in Marquette, where "Stan the Man" Engdahl started a motorcycle collection, now owned by the city, but still being run by his surviving wife. It was quite a collection I must say, several rooms featured street bikes, motocross/enduro and scooter/moped relics from past times. I spent well over an hour there, marveling and talking to Mrs. Engdahl, which was not an easy feat since her hearing is not good and my accent did not make things easier.
http://www.ksmotorcyclemuseum.org/
Refreshed with the sights of gone by times I continued South East, taking various back roads at times. Slowly and almost unnoticeably the landscape featured green grass again, without signs of irrigation and when I ended up in Neosho, KN, where the Ozarks forest kind of begins, and I was glad to see real trees again.
 

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Oct-5th
From Neosho I hit southwest into Arkansol and within 70 miles I was in twisty heaven. Gee, I almost forgot about them twisties. So far I logged 10.600 miles on this trip, but, pertaining to riding, this was the most fun day of the whole trip. With the fully loaded bike I gently started to work off the chicken strips on the new back tire until I ended up in Mountain View for this night. It is 180 miles from Neosho, where I started, but the days ride logged 350 miles and it felt so good again to have a sustained swinging rhythm thru the bends.. Rt123 was especially fun. By the way, the Ozarks are nice to look at as well. It was also noteworthy more people were friendly waving at me, as was the case in other places.
I elected to stay in the well kept Dogwood Motel for a modest $40. Sam, the owner is a very nice and literate guy and we had a good long talk over some glasses of wine.



Oct-6th

In the morning I did a tad more horsing around the Ozarks and then started hitting East. Descending from the hills I entered very flat farming lands, mostly huge fields of soy beans. Combines were still running at places but most fields were harvested already. On quite a number of the harvested fields the farmers burnt the stomps and gigantic smoke plumes were visible in all directions. I mostly rode thru farming back roads trying to score lunch in some of the smaller settlements along the way. But he only food places were to be found along the main roads, and were mostly fast food joints in gas stations. The actual settlements were in disarray, worse than I've seen in the Western states, and there was not s a single business left anywhere.

By some accident I ended up in Florence, AL when night had already set in. I was tired and stayed in the Economy Inn, which turned out to be the Little India of Florence. Mr, Patel,the owner, is also known as an independent film maker. Mr. Patel only deals with his customers thru a security window. Maybe this is because someone got assaulted some days earlier in his parking lot with a bottle of Worchestershire sauce. Overall, the sounds and sights reminded me of India, which I had visited some 20 years ago. Blarrring radios and TVs, holes in the bed sheets, the way past their prime toilet seats, the gentle pastel blue the place was painted with, the Indian students leaving for school early in the morning and the elderly Indian lady in the parking lot, brushing her teeth and spitting out the white froth onto the lawn. But there was also the seedy urban American element in it, which was somewhat less enjoyable than them frolicking Indians.

 

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hellebauer who?
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helmut
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Re: Helmut's coast to coast trip....kind of....Part6

Postby gastone » Fri Nov 12, 2010 11:41 am

Helmut,

I've been following your rr. Looks like a fantastic trip. Thanks for the photo-documentation and stories.
Garrett

2007 G650xChallenge
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