Fall 2005 Motorcycle Trip
San Juan Motorcycle Trip  Sept 11-14, 2005

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 My motorcycle friend, Jackie, and I had planned a motorcycle ride through the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado and the four corners area of southeast Utah back in the spring.  Our trip was scheduled and set, but then a late season snow storm came through and shut us down.

 We finally rescheduled the ride for September and had a great outing. 

Jackie and Joe in Monument Valley

Sept. 11, 2005             430 miles

We left Green River , Wyoming after Christine served us a great breakfast.  We rode down through Flaming Gorge and into Vernal, Utah .  We jogged east on U.S. 40 to Rangely, CO before dropping south on scenic route 139 over Douglas Pass.  We continued south through Grand Junction and Montrose before reaching the quaint mountain towns of Ridgeway and Ouray.  These lead into the heart of the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado .  We crossed over 11,008’ Red Mountain Pass and 10,910’ Molas Divide on US 550 before descending into Durango .  We picked out a motel here for the next two nights and settled in.

Sept. 12, 2005             460 miles

We got a reasonable start after breakfast this morning and traveled with lighter loads.  We rode east on US 160 over Wolf Creek Pass (10,850’) before turning north along the headwaters of the Rio Grande on route 149.  This led us over Spring Creek Pass (10,901’) and Slumgullion Pass (11,361’) before descending into Gunnison .  We turned back west and retraced yesterday’s route from Montrose to Ridgeway.  Today, however we continued around the west side from Ridgeway to visit Telluride.  We hope to attend the annual Bluegrass Festival there next year and were checking the area out today.  We made it back into Durango as night fell, exhausted.

Sept. 13, 2005             600 miles

We rose early for the long drive back home today.  Jackie needed to be back for work tomorrow.  We headed southwest into Utah to drive through Monument Valley .  We stopped at Goosenecks State Park and posed in front of Mexican Hat before cruising north to Moab .  We briefly explored Arches National Park before continuing north through Price to Duchesne.  Jackie and I stopped for dinner and went separate ways from here.  He took U.S. 40 west to Park City and I headed back toward Vernal.  It was late and I was tired so I stopped for the night in Roosevelt, UT.

 I returned home via Flaming Gorge.