Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 09:20:19 -0600 (MDT) From: "P. BENSON" X-Sender: pbenson@dante To: Ronald Ray Carlson Cc: "'Cash, Kelly'" Subject: Re: GTS - New Mexico & Colorado Mime-Version: 1.0 On Thu, 17 Apr 1997, Ronald Ray Carlson wrote: > I second Phil Benson's affection for some of the areas roads. Great riding > and great scenery. I've only been that way once and am determined to go > back. > > Starting at home (Portland, OR area), I rode out of...... snip ...Grand Junction, CO, then SE on Hwy 50 to Delta. At Delta I turned East on > Hwy 92 (I had that beautiful road virtually to myself), then toward Gunnison, CO. > About 8 miles before Gunnison, I headed South on Hwy 149 (another of the > ten best roads in the West), through Lake City to Creede, CO. That road > crosses the Continental Divide. I met some great people in Creede, stayed in > a B&B in this old mining town, sort of turning artsy. I have just got to comment on the above. Yes! Yes, yes, yes! It's a wonderful area. Trivia--I grew up in Gunnison as a little kid, and think it was just one great little town. Anymore I couldn't take the cold though. HW92--the north side of the Black Canyon. Wonderful, and not much traffic, as you said. You maybe shoulda stayed in Gunnison for the night, and done the little jaunt up to Crested Butte, but, hey, you did OK. HW149 to Creede--this is one of my favorite roads. I left it off my note to Ray since he's not going that way, but Slumgullion Pass is truly wonderful. Creede turning artsy? Yep, but in a good way. One of my "extracurricular" activities is singing with a local opera company (bit parts only), and one of the student members of the company graduated a couple of years ago and went to the little theatre in Creede to work for the summer. Neat place. > On my return, catching parts of Route 66, I rode another of the "ten best" > from Raton, NM, through Cimarron to Taos, then on to Albuquerque, NM. Yep again. I seem to usually go the freeway through there to save time, but the "mountainous" route is clearly preferred. Check out the Turquois Trail, in my other note. > Donna joined me on the final two weeks, first enjoying three nights with good > friends in Albuquerque. Heading West, we bumped up at Gallup, NM, 7 miles, > then West on Hwy 264 (Stop and the little trailer cafe run by some Indians), > to Tuba City and on to Flagstaff. > > We picked up Route 66 at Seligman, visited with the Delgadillo brothers, > stopped at Bob's shack for refreshments, then through Oatman (stop and > get a picture of yourself among the donkeys), to Laughlin, NV for a change > of pace (good food, good room and cheap too). > > We left Laughlin at 5:30 am, wanting to beat the heat of the Barstow desert. > We enjoyed burgers and beer at 1:00 pm that day, in Paso Robles, CA. I've done the above going to Laguna Seca for the AMA races, but it's been about three or four years now. The earlier schedule doesn't fit my work (I teach at NM St U), so I've not done that one for a while. > Do I love those roads? Do I love my GTS? What does it sound like? Don't we all?! And I can't think of roads that are better suited to the great qualities of this bike. What a match! > Kelly and Phil, if either of you get to the Portland, OR area, we would enjoy > meeting you. We live a few miles outside of Vancouver, WA, about 20 miles > from downtown Portland. > Ron, it's not impossible that I'll make it up that way. One of my good friends and riding partners moved away from here a couple of years ago to get his MS in MEch Engrg at MIT, and is now in the "final moments" of degree completion. He's got a job offer with Intel, and is going this weekend to check out the community. I suspect he's about to be a new resident of Portland OR, so I'll likely be up that way. I'll forward on to you the earlier message. And, BTW, these messages are getting to be waaaaay too distracting!--gotta think about work, and this certainly sounds like more fun! On the other hand, in mid-May I'm outa here with two VFR friends for a short tour of CO. Can hardly wait! Phil P.S. Ron, if my friend takes the job, I'll let you know if you want. He'd like tips on good dealerships, etc. He's "bikeless" (the woes of an advanced degree) and ready to buy. His last bike was a 750 Katana, he's an excellent rider, with a straight head on his shoulders. Also is an interesting guy, is Argentine, grew up in Latin America and the Middle East (Israel), and is a pleasant guy, to put it mildly. One of those folks I'm happy to loan a bike to when he's back and wants to go riding. ------------------------------------ Now, Kelly, do you really want to take 66 out in east NM? I mean, I don't wanna say bad things about my own state, but.......eastern New Mexico? Remember, Roswell has three (count 'em) UFO museums. I'd consider a drop to the south from the ABQ/Santa Fe area, along the river, and with some entertaining side trips into the hills. But, your call. And, when we get closer to travel time I'll see if I can hook up with part of this route. ------------------------------------ P.S. If you are gonna do the 66 east from ABQ routine, if you have time, take the "Turquois Trail" to Santa Fe and then drop back south to 66. The Turquois Trail is hiway 14, get off the freeway east of ABQ at Tijeras. Nice little road. As interstates go, I-25 from Santa Fe to Las Vegas is OK, especially the western part. Maybe get off at somewhere before Vegas. I-25 from Vegas to the CO line is a, uh, what shall I say, a "revenue enhancement device" for local govts through the use of, uh, let's say "vigorous traffic safety enhancement" or traffic fines. Just in case. -------------------------------------- First, if you want to go north, head up toward Woodland Park (HW 24). Will likely have traffic. At Woodland Park you can get off on HW 67 (which I've done on my GTS--great road). If you have time, at this point in the journey I'd think seriously about getting further into the mountains. You can take the road up north to the Ft. Collins area (via Black Hawk/Nederland/Allens Park) but the best roads are more west, and to some degree, south (wrong way to Wyoming). BTW, some of this area is reviewed in the new issue of Rider magazine. First point--is C Springs due to a place to leave the trailer with friends or something? If not, you may want to start in Pueblo. Pueblo is not a great town, but roads from there are more interesting. HW 285 from Poncha Springs to Leadville is great, for a non-twisty ride. It heads up along the Arkansas River, through a nice little valley, and the views are spectacular. The Collegiate Peaks are a whole string of 14k ft plus mountains--really nice viewing. Just south of Leadville there's a turnoff to the west for HW 82--take it. This is the most Bavarian you're gonna get without a plane ride. Independence Pass goes up to over 12k ft, and is WONDERFUL. On the east side there's a town called Twin Lakes, that used to have a good German restaurant on the north side of the street. I hate to recommend food when I've not eaten in a place for a few years, but......try it. I'll likely be there in a month or so from now, and can give an update at that time. Now's the tough call. From the summit of Indpendence Pass, do you head back to Leadville? My solution? I'd not do the Arkansas valley, but would go west from Poncha Sprgs, over Monarch Pass to Gunnison (I lived there years ago), HW50 to Delta, back on HW92and 133 to Carbondale, west on 82 through Aspen and over Independence Pass from west to east. Looking at a map will make it obvious that this is the REALLY SLOW way to get from Poncha Springs to Leadville, but hey, you didn't say you were in a hurry, now did you? In northern Colorado, it's probably worth going over Trail Ridge Road. I have a difficultty with this, since I learned to love this road in the 1960s when traffic was light. Any more, it's a nightmare with tourists, especially in summer months. But the road (HW 34) does go above the trees and into the tundra, the views are spectacular, and it's worth doing. Hope these ideas help. And, if you'd like other suggestions, I can add to this easily. Colorado is where I grew up, and I still think it's the world's best moto-roads IN THE SUMMER. I guess that's why God gave us snowmobiles. :) Enjoy! Phil P.S. Wyoming? HW 130, Laramie to Walcott, takes you through the Medicine Bow range and is worth the ride. Best part of Wyoming is mostly the north and west areas. The flat spots? Can you say windy? HW 287 from Ft Collins CO to Laramie is a nice enough ride. Or, go to Laramie viw the Steamboat Sprng area, including Rabbit Ears Pass.