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Day
1 -- Blanding, Utah to Ouray, Colorado ---
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On
Sept. 2nd, on our way home from a trip to visit family and friends in
Oregon and California, we bought a Suzuki 650 V-Strom in Flagstaff,
AZ just a couple blocks from Dottie's son Chris's house. I'd been
looking for one from Colorado to California on craigslist and
happened to find a really nice one in Flagstaff. Chris was a great
help and supplied me with a helmet, jacket and gloves, and I rode it
home from Flagstaff (250 miles) on Saturday the 3rd of Sept. after we
had spent the night with friends there.
Once
home, I rode it some and then took a new motorcycle license driving
test as my current license was only for bikes up to 250cc. With the
test out of the way, we planned our first trip and decided on
Colorado's San Juan Mountains anticipating fall colors.
We
left Blanding on Sunday the 18th of September with a 4 day trip
planned. The first leg of the trip was from Blanding, UT to Ouray,
CO. with our first stop in Monticello, UT, 20 miles north of
Blanding, for gas. Not too long after that we entered Colorado and...
....
made our first stop ....
.....
overlooking the the Dolores River valley.
After
a short stop at the view area, we crossed the Dolores River and some
miles further climbed onto the mesa top where Norwood, CO is located.
We took a short walk along main street and had a couple nice
sandwiches at the local Clark's supermarket there from their deli
department.
Shortly
after leaving Norwood and the high mesa, we dropped down Norwood Hill
(shown above) and ...
....crossed
the San Miguel River at the bottom of the gorge.
The
road ....
....
follows the river in the direction of Telluride to the east. Before
reaching Telluride we turned ...
...
northeast onto Highway 62 which took us to Ridgway. There were
beautiful stands of aspen along this stretch of highway; a preview of
many more to come.
8
We
also started to get our first great views of the San Juan Mountains
soaring above the aspen slopes.
Upon
entering Ridgway we hit Highway 550, turned south on it and .....
.....
proceeded on to Ouray 10 1/2 miles ...
....
up the valley.
We
had reservations at the Hot Springs Inn which ....
....
is on the west side of the highway entering Ouray from the north and
is very close to the public hot springs. We were happy with our room
there as besides the door on the parking lot side of the room .....
.....
there was also another door at the other end of the room that led to
a small private porch overlooking the Uncompahgre River just a few
feet away. We rested for a short time, reflecting on the really
enjoyable ride over on the motorcycle and the 360 degree views that
one is treated to on a bike vs. traveling by car.
After
removing the packs from the bike we rode a short distance to the
north-end of town to Box Caňon
Falls.
It
is a short walk into the box canyon where you will find the main
falls at ....
...
the end in a slot in the rock where it is hard to actually see the
falls in their entirety. Still the roar from them is deafening, and
....
......the
rapids below them leading out of the box canyon made the short hike
well worth while.
Next
up was a nice light dinner at O'Brien's Pub and Grill in the center
of town and then back to our room. We were tired but very happy at
the end of a great day together.
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NOTE:
All of the pictures on this page and the following pages were taken
by Dottie except for a couple and some were taken while we were
moving. The bike gives you a 360 degree view.
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