Day 18 - Cortez to Raton, NM

We woke up to a chilly morning. Temps were in the mid 40's. We had breakfast, packed the bikes, and then said good-bye to Diane. She was heading west back to Phoenix while we headed east towards Raton, NM (our day's destination).

About 40 miles from Cortez, Tom keyed up the CB and said he had a TPMS warning on his rear tire. It was reading 13psi and dropping rapidly (normal pressure is over 28psi). Rob slowed and started looking for a safe pull off. Fortunately within 1 mile there was a nice large paved pull off so we all pulled over so Tom could investigate what was going on. We placed Tom's bike up on the center stand and began rotating the rear tire and sure enough, in between the tread blocks was a screw. Mike gave Tom some pliers so he could pull the screw out. Turns out the screw was a 3" long deck screw!

  

Rob pulled out his tire repair kit and Tom was able to plug the tire, air it back up, and we were on our way in about 30 minutes.

We continued on our way along US160 east to Pagosa Springs where we jumped on US84 south into New Mexico. 

From there we took US64 east into Taos. We made a quick stop at the Rio Grand Gorge Bridge for some quick pics.

  

 

We met up with Tom's nephew, Mark and his girl friend Dale (sp?). We had a great lunch and Tom and Mark were able to catch up and reminisce.

We pushed on to our final destination of the day Raton.

Today's roads were again very scenic with big vistas, mountains, canyons, and grassy plains. We even saw some buffalo and what appeared to us to be some kind of antelope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow we continue are eastward travels to Kansas.

Day 17 - Boulder City to Cortez, CO

We planned to get an early start today due to the very full itinerary. The plan was to leave at 7am but breakfast at the Boulder Dam Hotel started at 6:30 so we decided to leave at 7:15am to give us time to enjoy the breakfast.

After breakfast was done and Tom and Mike joined us, we made the short trek over to the Hoover Dam to take a quick look at the structure. Although we were unable to take the tour, we thought we could at least get a few pics.

 

 

 

Rob and Michele were amazed at how rough the terrain was at the dam. This makes the accomplishment of those workers all the more impressive. We will come back at another time and hopefully be able to spend more time at the dam and take a tour.

We continued south along 93 to I-40 East.

We took I-40 a short distance to Historic Route 66.

We then followed Route 66 until it connected back to I-40. We saw lots of motorcycles on Route 66. One group in front of us looked like they were were visiting the US on a motorcycle tour. They were all riding Harley Davidson motorcycles with HD gear and having a great time.


We took I-40 to AZ64 North into the Grand Canyon NP for our lunch at the historic El Tovar lodge. We arrived around 1:15pm. The park was very busy and parking near the rim was non-existent. We found a lot with space about half a mile away and walked over to the lodge. Lunch was very good. It is always nice to take in the decor of the El Tovar Lodge.

After lunch we continued along AZ64 along the south rim and down into the painted desert.

 

 

 

We then took US89 North to US160 East. The scenery along US160 was very pretty.

As the day stretched on, it became apparent that we would not be able to stop at Four Corners. Four Corners closed at 7:45pm (sundown) and our ETA was about 8:30pm.

We finished the last hour of todays ride in the dark, arriving at the hotel at 9:15pm. Temps also cooled down rather quickly from the low 70's to the mid 50's. The stretch of road during sunset was beautiful. Rob said that the landscape and rose colored sky was like riding in a painting.

 

After we arrived at the hotel, Diane, Mike, Rob, and Michele walked over to Classic Denny's Diner for a late night dinner. Today's ride was long but we saw tons of awesome scenery.

Tomorrow we head for New Mexico.

Day 16 - Death Valley to Boulder City

Another great scenery day! Death Valley is the hottest, driest and lowest National Park in the U.S. Rob wisely had us on the bikes at 6am (all a bit bleary eyed, we must admit) before sunrise to both beat the heat as much as possible and to see the sunrise at the Mesquite Sand Dunes in Death Valley.

  

 We walked around the dunes in the morning light and looked at the various footprints and vegetation.

 

 

 

 

 

Can you name the creatures that made these foot prints?

 

 

 

 

There are white deposits in the dune valleys that we later learned are likely talc. It felt soap-like.

Around 8am we headed back to fuel up, check out of the hotel and visit the visitor's center. The guy who runs the gift shop never showed so no Death Valley t-shirts for us.

Onward, we headed towards Artist's Drive, which is a very curvy and hilly scenic drive through the rock formations.

By 9am it was already 90 degrees. We drove awhile towards Badwater which is the lowest point in the U.S. at about 280 feet below sea level. The salt flat went out as far as the eye could see to the mountain range. 

 

 

 

Onward again, Rob discovered the reservoir cover to his brake fluid, which also held his Go-Pro and GPS mount, was coming loose due to the heavily rutted road. He held on to it for 20 minutes, while driving, until he could find a safe area to pull off the road and tighten the screws. Easier said than done as most pull offs in the park are cambered gravel, not at all conducive to three heavy motorcycles pulling trailers.

Our next destination was lunch, and it took us about two hours to finish riding through the park and cross over into Nevada. The elevation increased just as we were getting really hot, so it was a thankful relief.

We're wondering why California has NO welcome signs at the state lines. Do they not want visitors? Clearly, not a friendly state.

Lunch was in Pahrump, Nevada, which had Welcome signs all over. It was a much larger town than we had seen in awhile. Lunch was at Mom's Diner, which was decorated with all sorts of random stuff. At lunch, Rob texted with our friend, Diane, who previously lived in VA and rode with us on our SCRC rides. She lives north of Phoenix now. She and Rob coordinated the trip timing so she could ride with us later today, stay overnight, and ride into Grand Canyon with us tomorrow. Our plan was to meet her at Red Rock Canyon. Mike suggested we take a detour there on the way to Vegas.

Also, we discovered this morning that Hoover Dam has been closed since Thursday due to an elevator malfunction! So no Hoover Dam tours for us. Maybe we can do a drive by tomorrow.

We got to Red Rock Canyon early and did one loop around the scenic drive. Along the way we saw the Scooter Tour! About ten people were riding Vespas with a chase van behind them. They were all smiling.

Diane was waiting for us when we finished. We walked through the visitor's center and then rode the scenic loop again with her and stopped for group photos. The canyon colors were gorgeous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

After the drive, we all rode into Las Vegas.

 

 

Tom and Mike split off to stay overnight with Julie and Hui Bok so they could catch their early morning flights home. We sadly had to say goodbye to these great ladies who were such fun companions on our adventure.

Rob, Diane and Michele drove the remainder of the strip, which was crazy and hot, and made our way to Boulder City to our historic Boulder Dam Hotel. We had a nice dinner at The Dillinger less than a block away, relaxed and caught up with Diane.

Tomorrow we have a big itinerary on our way to Cortez, Colorado!