Sunday June 13, Mountain Home AR to Dyersburg TN
Thinking that it might be a little cooler, no matter how small, I decided to go North a bit and check out some local roads in Missouri. I left Mountain Home on AR 101 to pick up MO 142. It was a nice enough ride, but nothing special to write home about. Not many twists in these parts, but lots of vertical ups and downs as the road, not cut and filled, goes over the ridge tops. Lots of very green trees, but not much relief from the high temperature.
Even as far North from the mouth if the Mississippi River as we are, as the Eastern edge of Missouri is approached, big-argi is the name of the game. Lots of flat land and lots of straight roads. When MO 142 starts too far North, I take US 67 back down into Arkansas to get to a bridge over the river. At Kennett, home of Sheryl Crow, I get US 412 for a ride over the river. Still very hot in these parts.
Not much to write home about today.
Wednesday June 9, Salida CO to Clayton NM
Ok, I guess I haven’t completely made the turn away from continuing the road trip. From here in Salida I could make a right turn and go West over Monarch Pass ( 11,312 ft ) or I can head down the road South.
I head South.
If you’ll check your maps you’ll see lots of very straight roads in South Central Colorado. Very long and very straight. Yep, those are my roads out of Colorado. The objective for today is to endure these and hit US 64 in Eagle Nest, New Mexico.
I will say that the views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range from these roads are wonderful and help the time pass while the miles rack up. In particular, South out of Salida on US 285 and the first miles on CO 17 are excellent, as straight-road riding goes. The view of the mountains across the valley floor are impressive. Especially when the floor is green due to ranching / farming.
All too soon, tho, the objective becomes to simply make it through this little rough spot so you can get to the good stuff. Thoughts of exploration on this trip and previous trips help make it through.
By way of US 160, CO 159, NM 522, and NM 38 through Red River, I make it to US 64 and Eagle Nest.
I stop in Eagle Nest because I know that I have arrived at the last canyon. By the time I get to Cimarron, only 21 miles away, I will be on The Great Flats Barrier. I suspect it will not be a pleasant crossing of The Barrier; many miles of very bad road.
I chat with a guy working on some flower beds near the bench that I’m resting on. Turns out he retired two years ago and that many of his retirement plans have fallen through like so many plans for so many others. It’s a common theme these days. He owned / operated the little gift shop ( aka tourist’s trap ) across the parking lot. For 34 !! years. Before that he was in retailing for 20 years. The guy has worked for 54 years !! And been retired for two. He says they made a good living with the little shop, in this very small town, with a very short High Season. He says you have to be careful with what you buy and how much you pay for it, but making a good living can easily be done. I don’t completely understand how it’s possible, but apparently it’s done all the time. The two shops across the street are up for sale, he says, but the debt service on 900,000 bucks might be a little heavy.
He re-enforces the fact that I have reached the last canyon. And notes that it is indeed a beautiful canyon.
So off I go. On US 64. And it is beautiful.
At Cimarron I pick up NM 58 into Springer and then US 56 / 412 to Clayton. As I suspected, it is not a pleasant ride; straight road, hot air, sun beating down, very big cross-wind.
Sometimes the journey is less pleasant. Almost all the time, tho, the journey is most excellent.
Tuesday June 8, Estes Park CO to Salida CO
Heading home. The mess on Wall Street has made me uncomfortable for too many weeks now. The market has been up only for one week and down for like five weeks. I fell for the sucker Bull Rally, again, and I expect next year will be worse than this. I’m heading home to save up a few bucks for shorter, more focused moto road trips.
It’s been a good journey and I’ve seen lots of new sights and met several interesting people. It has also been good to have made it back to some places that I have not explored for many years.
I left Estes Park on US 34, the Big Thompson Canyon route, always a good ride. The frost objective road for today is the part of CO 72 that I missed when I went to Boulder few days ago. At Longmont I took CO 66 West to get CO 7 at Lyons. Lyons appears to be attempting to become a Yuppie-like place at this important intersection. I stopped at the local food market / deli to get a snack and coffee for brunch and pack a sandwich to eat at the side of the road later in the day. And re-stocked my supply of chilled Starbuck’s products to sip when I stop to let the joy sink in.
CO 7 goes up a canyon from Lyons, much like CO 119 down into Boulder. This canyon is not quite as tight as the Boulder ride, and it’s a very pleasant putt-putt up the stream to the intersection with CO 72. Apparently there has been mining all over these mountains down through Central City and Black Hawk. Ward is an interesting example. A very off-the-grid kind of rugged and rough place high in the mountains.
Soon I’m back to CO 119 at Eldora and heading back toward Central City, the old-mining-now-gaming town. These old roads just West of the Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont, Boulder, Denver axis are located in some of the more spectacular country side. I suspect that CO 72 into Denver is another good ride. The road-surface quality is varied, but generally not bad.
This time I decide to check out Black Hawk. What the gaming opportunities have done to this place is amazing. The old road, replaced by the Central City Parkway, goes through Black Hawk. When the gaming industry decided to develop in Black Hawk, the narrow canyon was simply too narrow. So, the walls of the canyon were blasted out to make room for the mega-size gaming establishments. Triple ugly. There’s no land for large parking areas in these canyons, so the industry builds large multiple-level parking garages adjacent to the main casino buildings. Shuttle buses run between the various gaming locations and up to Central City.
Not wanting to take the Big Road US 285 again, I head West to Dillion to get CO 9 over Hoosier Pass ( 11, 541 ft ) and ride down to Fairplay. And then putt-putt on into Salida for the night. The huge valleys surrounded by mountains always provide amazing sights.
Sunday June 6, Walden CO to Estes Park CO
The objective today is to ride Lost Trail Pass in Rocky Mountain National Park to get to Estes Park. I take CO 125 out of Walden heading South to Granby to pick up US 34. It’s another nice ride with the high mountains way across the valley and pleasant little Willow Creek Pass ( 9,621 ft ) along the way.
The ride over Lost Trail is a little messy with lots of traffic and road construction on both sides of the pass. The road surface is actually a little dangerous what with stones and pot holes and grooved asphalt. Plus all the traffic. Nonetheless, RMNP is a beauty. Took lots of photos and have already sent some electric versions out by way of electrons. Several of the pull outs for viewing were packed with tourists, so I skipped a few.
I’m going to park here for two days.
Saturday June 12, Bentonville AR to Mountain Home AR
Yesterday I rode into Bentonville on OK 20 / AR 72 to make a stop by the motorcycle store to get new tires. Had a nice visit and didn’t buy any necessary accessorizes. Chatted about the wonderful world of motorcycles; the machines and the journeys.
Today I left on AR 303 out of Rogers to roam around in the Ozark Mountains. I can’t reproduce the route because I wandered so much. The roads rode include AR 21, 23, 16, 7, 14, and maybe others. Just putt-putted around kind of Eastward.
Continues to be very un-pleasantly hot.
Friday June 11, Tonkawa OK to Bentonville AR
Continued the journey on US 60. From Pawhuska into Missouri and Arkansas is not so bad. At least the streams and rivers have actual water in them. Sometimes I think Texas and Oklahoma must be Native-American words that mean, No water in the rivers.
Portage, by the way, is French for, Get out and carry the boat around the rocks.
Thursday June 10, Clayton NM to Tonkawa OK
Very straight roads, huge ranches, mega-argi, Sun beating down, big cross-wind, and as late afternoon approaches, hot way beyond comfortable. Rode mostly US 64 and US 60 straight across the panhandle and into the heart of Oklahoma.
Another 360 miles of journey-as-destination. It takes all kinds of journeys. They make different destinations.
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