Day up on Rampart

I had the afternoon off, so I did a quick ride up Mt. Herman....did some fire roads, a little single track (wish I would have had a lighter bike) and down Rampart Range Road into Garden of the Gods.

It was a great afternoon....and our days are counting down quickly till the riding will be over until spring.

Notice how much snow was on the Peak today.

Fall Leaf Ride

For the 4th year in a row, Audra and I enjoyed a tour though Colorado on a motorcycle to witness the turning of the leaves. This year was a treat, as we "broke in" our K1200LT....BMW Touring Motorcycle, and we headed to the far western slope....around Ouray and Telluride.

The three maps below depict our three days of riding.

Enjoy the pics and don't miss the video at the end.

Day 1 of the journey. This spin of the wheels took us 11 hours and totaled 400 miles.
Day 2 was another long day, 300 miles and 8 hours. This circle revealed the best leaf colors of the whole trip.
And Day 3, was the ride home. Certainly, we still experienced wonderful views and sights, but this was the easy day of 275 miles.
Day 1, we rode from Falcon to Salida, where we enjoyed an awesome burger at Benson's Tavern and Beer Garden. We highly recommend this place!
After leaving Salida we headed south for the San Luis Valley, up to South Fork and up the canyon to Creede. This is what the country looks like outside of South Fork.
Telluride was a treat. You just can't beat the views.... unless you are in Ouray, and then it is a toss-up. Telluride is probably our favorite Colorado Mountain Town.
Somewhere south of Telluride.
Between Ridgeway and Telluride.
South of Telluride.
Another one south of Telluride.
Another one between Ridgeway and Telluride.
Between Creede and Lake City.
Heading in to Telluride.
Telluride.
Yet another one, south of Telluride.
Dolores, CO. This little town is between Telluride and Durango.
After a great lunch of BBQ in Durango, we headed north on Hwy 550 and rode by the Durango Mountain Resort, AKA..... Purgatory.
Between Durango and Ouray, we topped over three passes. Molas Pass is at 10,899 feet. The other two passes are Coal Bank Pass (10,640) and Red Mountain Pass at (11,018). The views were amazing.
Audra snapped this pic of me, taking in the sights on Molas Pass.
The road down to Silverton.
The Million Dollar Highway, down to Ouray.
Creede, CO. This is a neat little town, tucked into the Colorado Rockies.
Day 3, we awoke to a stunning blanket of snow on the mountains to the south of Montrose..... the mountains we rode a circle around on Day 2.
Day 3 for lunch, we stopped on the side of the road and enjoyed some 'left-over' pizza from the night before.
Our final stop was in Woodland Park, for a coffee. Pikes Peak is in the background.
Yeah, some of the roads are a little hairy, but you just can't beat the sights!!!! This is the road down to Silverton, CO.Another video showing the amazing colors in the San Juan Mountains!

Bryce to Texas for Bible School....TBI

A real tearing of emotions.... Proud of my son, but torn with emotion that he will be a 1,000 miles away in Texas.

Bryce will be attending Texas Bible Institute for the next 9 months.

Bryce wanted to take his bike to Texas, store it with his "Mimi" (Grandmother), so that he could ride it on the weekends.

For 650 miles, we trailered the bike down, but the last 100 miles or so....Bryce wanted to ride his bike. So, we unloaded outside of Abilene and he rode it south of Brownwood.

30,000 miles on the VStrom!!!!

This afternoon, while riding in Black Forest at this point.......


I rolled the VStrom over 30,000 miles. I purchased the bike new in August of 2007. In three years, I have accumulated more miles on my bike than on my 2007 Toyota 4Runner.

Denver Airport on a Bike....

Unfortunately, I get to drive the round trip from Falcon to Denver International, about once a week. This week, I added a little spice for the first time. Yep, I rode the LT.

I know if freaks out a lot of riders, but for me.... there is a lot of enjoyment and fun, riding a bike at night. The fresh air and moon light are welcome after a business trip.

I left DIA at 9pm and the temps were an incredible.... 72 degrees. It was a phenomenal ride home!!!!!

Itty Bitty Motorcycle Trailer

For the past couple of years, I have wanted a little trailer that was specifically designed for motorcycles. This year gave me the excuse to pull the trigger. Bryce is headed to Texas for school this year and he wanted to take his VStrom with him.

This little trailer is perfect for hauling a 600 lb bike....or a couple of dirt bikes on the outside rails. It will be great.

Sunday Ride: Gold Camp and Shelf

Receiving a ride invite from Bob and Candy Garner, Audra and I confirmed without hesitation. We met at 10:30am in downtown Colorado Springs and promptly headed up Gold Camp Road to Cripple Creek. After lunch at Ralf's, we pointed the bikes down Shelf Road to Canyon City and home. It was good to ride and hang with Bob and Candy. They are good people!

Quick Trip to Texas

Taking a part of last weekend, I decided it was time for a visit to hang with Mom. I decided to ride the new bike down.

The visit was wonderful. It was good times with Mom. Great food, great conversation and Jim popped over for a visit as well.

The trip down was 779 miles and the trip back was 783 miles. Long, but fun days on a bike!

The ride down was a little tough. Fromn Amarillo to Brownwood, the temps were over 100 degrees. The hot spot was Post, TX, at 107 degrees.
The bikes temp registered 101 degrees in Abilene.

For most of a day, I worked around the property. Mom's road was washed out, so I used the tractor to fix the road and build up the 'water dump'.
The "four sixes" (6666) is a massive ranch in the Texas panhandle. Briefly I stopped for a rest at a roadside park, named after the ranch.

Really????? Hey kids....here is a playground.....but don't enter because of rattlesnakes!!!!! Only in Texas.