Rocky mountain trip cut short.

Dragger · 08-14-2004, 12:38 PM

Some friends and I, 3 others, had planned a long trip from Tulsa to Glacier National Park and back while riding some of the best roads we could find along the way. I was going on my 1000RR, the other guys were on an '03 R1, 02 R6 and 04 FJR

Well I was not able to complete the trip. I was forced to return to Tulsa on the 3rd day due to problems with the house my girlfriend and I are buying.

The first day was ok, about 100 miles of rain and wet roads to Enid OK, but then after that it was ok to Raton NM. We planned on making Taos but with a storm was coming from that direction so we headed for the motel 6. The first day was 500 miles.

The second day we left Raton and headed west and then north into Colorado. the ride up hwy 550 was good, incredible scenery. Dylan and myself did pass a motorcycle cop north of Silverton that was on the side of the road with someone that he had stopped. The only bad thing was that we were passing a goldwing, we sort off eased up and went on by, no reason to act guilty. The speed limit on this section of road was 25 mph and I guess needed to be, the road is very curvy, high drop offs and no guard rails. We made it to Montrose when I got the news from my girlfriend that I needed to head back to Tulsa. we all rode over to Gunnison CO and stayed the night. We had a nice ride on hwy 50, Dylan enjoyed passing some trucks in a curve at better than 70 - 90. It was all legal, the road was marked for passing in turns since you could see around most of them. This section of the road runs along blue mesa lake, nice ride. Tis turned out to be another 500 mile day.

Friday morning I headed east on hwy 50 at 9:00 am and they headed back west and north. Sure sucked to split up mid trip but somethings you can not control what happens. I made it all the way back to tulsa by 12:30am, Friday night/saturday morning. All total it was 780 miles from Gunnison back to Tulsa, pretty good for 15 1/2 hours of riding.

Hard to tell where they might be but it sure would be nice to still be riding with them.

Oh, birds suck. Them bastards seemed to be trying to hit me the whole trip. I finally killed one north of Ouray, CO. I saw it out of the corner of my eye and ducked some just at the right time, it hit me right in the center of the helmet just above the top of the visor. It was a strange thud and jolt but everything was cool. It was funny to see the feathers and other bird parts on the top of my helmet when we stopped in Montrose.

l'timbré · 08-14-2004, 6:00 PM

Antinomianist · 08-15-2004, 11:59 PM

Bird stikes are interesting. Glad to hear you enjoyed CO. That is my home state but I have never own a motorcycle while living there, but look forward too one day. The Gunnison area is definetly a beautiful area, with some fun loving folks there, ie Western State (aka Wasted U.) and Crested Butte Ski area w/ naked spring skiing!

PHARMER954 · 08-16-2004, 1:07 AM

I was on those exact roads when we did our Colorado trip in June. Very scenic and curvy

. The people are very nice to talk to especially when they find out you are on a motorcycle trip. Going east out of Gunnison on hwy 50, we were following another rider on a harley. He going 85 (constitently) and sometimes dragging parts in the corners. Then we decided to pass him on an uphill corner flexing the sportbike muscle a little

. Brings back memories. We do this every year, maybe next year we can get together for a ride in Colorado? Funny about the birds, we never had bird problems.

deez · 08-16-2004, 1:12 AM

They are just flying rats, don't worry about it

fumbducker · 08-16-2004, 1:37 AM

"Thank you Everyone for the encouraging words. My name is Boo-boo and I am ScootRs' wife.
Scootr was traveling down a deserted country road when he "flushed" a Buzzard (vulture) that was enjoying his meal not more than 3' from the shoulder of the road the Vulture Broadsided ScootR as he went by @ about 50 mph.
Scootr didn't see it comming. He lay on the side of the road for an hour, lost 5 liters of blood and had a ruptured spleen. He suffered several contusions of the Frontal Lobe, is having a problem with his short term memory due to the blow to his head, but the Doctors said that he will be fine it will just take time. One thing for sure is the gear saved his life! Thank you for the well wishes, I will print this and Take it to him tomorrow, I think this might be just what he needed to lift his spirits!
And Shadow......Your the GREATEST Thank you!
Boo-boo. "

If you want to read the whole thread...
Flying rats

J

Sorry your trip ended but at least you had the opportunity to ride part of it.

J