Road Trip 2009 Day 4

I was a little confused with the time this morning and got a later than planned start, but my day would have been a much different had I left when planned.

First order of business was breakfast. I headed west on U.S. 160 out of Durango. Being this close to Mancos, I couldn't not go to Ted's Taco. The Frybread Breakfast sandwich with egg's, sausage, cheese, onions and of course green chile was excellent. You just can't go wrong with Ted's Taco.

While eating I met Colin a fellow BMW rider from New Mexico. He was having Tires installed on his GS at Basin Motorcycle Works, just across the street from Ted's. I followed Colin to Basin Motorcycle Works to see if they might have a speedo cable for my bike. Not only did they have the proper cable they had the bike in the service bay replacing it in no time.

From Mancos I went in search if ghost towns. There were a couple places along CO 145, That I was looking for, but they were either not ghost towns (people living there) or it was raining to hard to get the cameras out. Ophir looked like the best place for photos but it was raining quite hard there. In fact it rained on me just about the whole time I was on CO145. I did see a biker down on the road, one of the few dry parts, no telling what happened, the bike was laying on it's side and police and ems were around the rider and passenger, I hope in the end they were able to walk away with only minor injuries.

I took CO 62 to Ridgeway and then head south on U.S. 550. Ouray just shows up out of nowhere, and if you didn't see the small specks moving back and forth on the canyon wall, you would think it was a dead end. 550 is just one switchback after another as it climbs the mountain out of Ouray.

Not long after leaving Ouray I zipped past a very small sign pointing to Ironton, I caught a glimpse of something and made a U-turn and saw the sign. It's amazing to see the buildings just sitting there. I only took photos and left only foot prints.

Leaving Ironton, U.S. 550 climbed Red Mountain pass then dropped down into Silverton. Continuing south I went over Molas pass and Coal Bank pass. U.S. 550 continues to go back and forth until you are about 30 miles from Durango then it straitens out, the temperature also rises as you drop below 7500 feet.

Any photo's I might post from this loop can not do the real thing justice. The roads are great motorcycle roads, but they do have a lot of traffic, and the highway department doesn't know what guardrails are. Looking over the edge of the road can give you a bad case of vertigo if you aren't careful. I look forward to riding it again, but maybe with out all the rain.

After getting back to the motel I wiped some of the stink off and took the bus to Serious Texas BAR-B-Q and following Colin's advice ordered the Texas Taco, a flour tortilla filled with beef brisket, onions, jalapenos, and cheesy fried potato's. I also got the Buttermilk lemon pie. I went to bed very full and happy.

See you on the road.
GAW

Road Trip 2009 Highlights