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Days 10, 11, 12:
Denver stuff.
Day 13:
We left Denver with on an overcast morning taking 285 with the goal of getting to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. It was pretty hot in the city but soon we had to pull over to put our jackets on as we went further into the mountains:
I hadn't been in proper mountains in a long time and shortly after we came around the corner to an enormous view and had to pull over to take some pictures and yell at each other. It felt a lot bigger than it looks in this picture:
This was maybe our best riding day so far, especially in terms of the views and diversity of scenery. I got a headache from the altitude which I nursed with coffee at a gas stop while Bobby and Ric got what looked like pretty awesome taco's from a food truck. Leaving 285 we took Rt 17 south towards the Sand Dunes park. It was an extremely long and extremely straight road, which we have nothing like in the Northeast, which never seemed to end. Unfortunately, this UFO watch tower was closed:
and about somewhere between 15 and 50 miles later we got absolutely poured on as we limped into Alamosa, CO.
Trying to beat the storm:
We stopped at the local brewery which was a lot more lively than I expected - I think Alamosa is a college town - where we sat drenched and had a couple beers and split some chips and guacamole. Eventually the rain settled down and we got some food at the grocery store and headed towards the park. From Rt. 17, the Sand Dunes look quite close. But if I remember correctly it was about 25 miles down another long, distance deceiving, straight road. We got to the park around dusk where the sign said "All Campgrounds Full" and so went back several miles to a privately owned campsite on the side of the opposing mountain where we gathered what wood we could find and had hot dogs for dinner.
Day 14 (1/2):
We woke up, made some oatmeal for breakfast, and broke down camp before heading back to the National Park to check out the Sand Dunes:
While talking back to our bikes in the parking lot of the visitor center, we all turned to look at the vintage-sounding motorcycle coming around the bend and ended up meeting Eli who was riding his 70's goldwing around the country to hit all the lower 48 states (pictures here: https://www.instagram.com/oldwing_eli/). We chatted for a bit about our traps and exchanged information before heading to the dunes themselves. Eli ended up getting home to NY state about a week before we did and rode through all lower 48 states in I think around 2 1/2 months.
Leaving the State Park we backtracked the long straight road to Alamosa, where Ric headed back to Denver and Me and Bobby, and our GS's, set off towards Grand Mesa National park.
Denver stuff.
Day 13:
We left Denver with on an overcast morning taking 285 with the goal of getting to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. It was pretty hot in the city but soon we had to pull over to put our jackets on as we went further into the mountains:
I hadn't been in proper mountains in a long time and shortly after we came around the corner to an enormous view and had to pull over to take some pictures and yell at each other. It felt a lot bigger than it looks in this picture:
This was maybe our best riding day so far, especially in terms of the views and diversity of scenery. I got a headache from the altitude which I nursed with coffee at a gas stop while Bobby and Ric got what looked like pretty awesome taco's from a food truck. Leaving 285 we took Rt 17 south towards the Sand Dunes park. It was an extremely long and extremely straight road, which we have nothing like in the Northeast, which never seemed to end. Unfortunately, this UFO watch tower was closed:
and about somewhere between 15 and 50 miles later we got absolutely poured on as we limped into Alamosa, CO.
Trying to beat the storm:
We stopped at the local brewery which was a lot more lively than I expected - I think Alamosa is a college town - where we sat drenched and had a couple beers and split some chips and guacamole. Eventually the rain settled down and we got some food at the grocery store and headed towards the park. From Rt. 17, the Sand Dunes look quite close. But if I remember correctly it was about 25 miles down another long, distance deceiving, straight road. We got to the park around dusk where the sign said "All Campgrounds Full" and so went back several miles to a privately owned campsite on the side of the opposing mountain where we gathered what wood we could find and had hot dogs for dinner.
Day 14 (1/2):
We woke up, made some oatmeal for breakfast, and broke down camp before heading back to the National Park to check out the Sand Dunes:
While talking back to our bikes in the parking lot of the visitor center, we all turned to look at the vintage-sounding motorcycle coming around the bend and ended up meeting Eli who was riding his 70's goldwing around the country to hit all the lower 48 states (pictures here: https://www.instagram.com/oldwing_eli/). We chatted for a bit about our traps and exchanged information before heading to the dunes themselves. Eli ended up getting home to NY state about a week before we did and rode through all lower 48 states in I think around 2 1/2 months.
Leaving the State Park we backtracked the long straight road to Alamosa, where Ric headed back to Denver and Me and Bobby, and our GS's, set off towards Grand Mesa National park.
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