Next stop, Salt Lake City...HOME!

Today is Sunday, June 22 and we've been home for two weeks. Everyday, Randy or I remind each other of a memory. We've been laughing a lot about some of our crazy memories and sharing them with our friends.

Leaving Ouray was bittersweet as we were on our way home. In the morning, we enjoyed a dip in one of the hot tubs and hit the road. Unfortunately our departure coincided with the rain. We had fairly good weather on our entire trip and it looked like our last day was going to be a little challenging. Rain and cold weather was in the mountain forecast.


We headed to Ridgeway, a short 10 mile ride, to have breakfast at "Kate's Place" as recommended by Mr. Grumpy Pants. Wonderful suggestion! Randy had biscuits and gravy and I had Lemon Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes. 

 Delicious and what a treat! Everything on the menu sounded incredible and it's all made fresh and with local products.


Unfortunately Randy left his phone at the hotel in Ouray and left me at Kate's to finish up my breakfast and rode back to Ouray to grab his phone.

After breakfast and phone retrieval, we ended up riding through freezing rain, sleet and a little snow and we had to to stop and layer up again. After experiencing the extreme heat of Texas and New Mexico, one would think we'd be happy about cooler weather but we weren't! However, in spite of the bad weather, the ride through the Colorado mountains was gorgeous. 

Watching my GPS I could see that we were approaching the Utah border. Cross the border and seeing the "Welcome to Utah" sign was exciting. It felt good to be in our home State and it was warmer! Look at the beautiful blue sky in our photos, it was picture perfect.

Best sign ever!

From the Utah border, I sent and Instagram and posted our photo on Facebook to let family and friends know we were almost home.

Happy Faces & BIG Smiles

We're so grateful to have so many people, all over the the United States and the world, cheering us on during our journey.

More smiles...we're so close to home!

We were 44 miles from Moab and had about another hour to ride.  Our friends, Russ and Tanna Thompson, rode in from Salt Lake to meet us in Moab.  It was wonderful to see them!

Together, we cruised through Moab and it felt good to ride through a town that we were so familiar with. Riding by Arches National Park was inspirational because it's a beautiful park and we have fond memories of previous visits. 

Unfortunately, typical Moab, it was warm and extremely windy! Our ride to the highway was tough! I hate riding in wind as much as I hate rain. I kept thinking that we started our journey in the wind and now are ending in the wind. I realize that the wind may be a metaphor for our lives. I was reminded of a quote "Sometimes in the winds of change, we find our direction". This is what our coast-to-coast journey was about...finding direction. It's weird how random thoughts pop into my mind when I'm riding. Thoughts that often make sense.

We arrive at Green River to eat at one of our favorite diners, "Ray's Tavern". Ray's tag line is "A place for EVERYONE" which is so true. All types of people, travelers, locals, rafters, hikers, bicyclists, and bikers stop at Ray's.  If you are ever in Green River - STOP and go to Ray's, you won't regret it!



Ray's is an institution and they have the best burgers and fresh french fries! They also serve Bohemian Brewery "Viennese Lager" our favorite beer. Dinner at Ray's was a nice way to wrap up our trip: friends, burgers and good beer!

All  can say is YUM!

Riding home to Salt Lake was brisk! We cruised through Spanish Fork Canyon and I couldn't wait to get to I15, just because it was cold! Riding on the freeway towards our exit was more memorable than usual. Seeing our beautiful Wasatch Mountains was comforting and the majesty of the mountains is breathtaking. These aren't the best pictures but they give you an idea of the magnitude of the range and from our freeways the view is spectacular. I never tire of looking at our fabulous mountains.

Riding up Wasatch Boulevard I was giddy with anticipation of seeing our neighborhood. Driving down our street was exceptional, and as I rode onto our driveway, I let out a huge sigh. Home!

There's no place like home!

We had ridden 9300 miles, visited 20 states, had the opportunity to see the Pacific and the Atlantic Coasts and we had made it home safely. I said a silent prayer of gratitude, jumped off my bike, hugged and kissed Randy.

Home safely!  Woohoo, we did it!

The GURL and the YLD1 set out to have an amazing adventure and we did it! Best of all, we did it together and created memories that will live with us forever. In spite of everything that we've been through in the last few months, we're so grateful to have had the opportunity to go on this amazing road trip. However, we're not going to think of it as a once-in-a-lifetime journey because this trip is just the beginning of many.

Life is too short to only live once.

Ouray!

Today is Saturday, June 21 and it's the first day of summer.  Wow, time flies!  It's been two weeks since we were in Ouray, Colorado, but my memory of our visit is still vivid.  This was a memorable way to spend our last evening on the road.  Seemed appropriate to end our "coast to coast" journey in the mountains, since we started at the Pacific Ocean.  I love the ocean and Randy's loves the mountains and we've experienced the best of both on this adventure.

After our wild ride on HWY 550, (Saturday, June 7) we arrive in Ouray, Colorado and I'm so happy! Although the mountains were beautiful, I also know ahead of us is a wonderful hotel, complete with hot tubs that are filled with the local hot springs. Heaven!

We stayed at Box Canyon Lodge and Hot Springs which is very nice and only a few blocks from the Historic Downtown. It's biker friendly too! There were a lot of Harley's in Ouray. I'm excited to stay here and I really can't believe that this is our very last night of our trip!






We unpacked the bikes and walked to the Downtown which was only about 10 minutes away. However, I was huffing and puffing, the elevation of 10,000+ and the fact that I hadn't really exercised in six weeks was getting to me!

We ended up at the Ouray Brewing Company and went immediately to the outside deck. Great view and OK beer. We planned on eating there, but decided that it was too expensive. A burger was $12.50 and it only came with potato chips! It's a nice place with a great view but the vibe just wasn't working for us so we moved on.







It was the Stanley Cup finals and we headed over to the Irish Pub as they had great ratings on YELP and a they had a TV. However, the other Ouray Brewery caught our eye and we decided to forgo hockey for a few minutes to grab a quick beer. We ventured into "OurAyle House Brewery" a small brewery with a cabin-like interior.


The owner who is known as "Mr. Grumpy Pants" barely acknowledged our presence. At first I thought "great, another curmudgeon just like the Silverton guy".   I soon learned that the bartender acted like a first-rate jerk, worse than the guy in Silverton.


However, turns out "Hutch", who is proud of his grumpy status, turns out to be a pretty great guy. He's also the owner and he's just like his brewery, quirky, interesting and in a weird way, comfortable.  Maybe it was the beers I had, but I ended up thinking he was OK.  I think too, he likes bikers and we fit that bill perfectly. 

Every person who comes into the Brewery, experiences Hutch's quirky routine. Upon arrival, in a very grumpy-like manner, he points to the beer list on a chalk board, then to the 3 glass sizes, and tells you he only accepts cash. His glass sizes are crazy and they start with "Toddler" which is very small, "His", which is medium and "Hers" which is very large. Funny to watch guys order "Hers"! He does all of this while sitting on a swing, made of climbing apparatus, which glides the length of his bar. Once we experienced his routine, it was fun to watch him put others through the paces.




He only serves beer and after a few "Toddlers" , I needed something more substantial than barley, hops and water. Note, that Randy was enjoying a few "Hers".  Next door is a burger joint named "Maggie's" and what a fabulous find!  Only $10.00 for a 1/2 pound burger and a huge order of fries. I ordered the Serrano Burger and it was delicious! Roasted serranos, cheddar cheese and a hand-formed beef patty. Randy and I spilt the burger which was a perfect compliment to our beers.




The Ourayle House Brewery is fabulous--- you can't take beer out but you can bring in food. Hutch, the curmudgeon, was a hoot! He has a degree in urban planning and one day decided to move to Ouray and open his teeny-tiny brewery and make beer. He was the first brewery in Ouray, until the "other" guys moved in. I think he is Randy's idol. He named it "OurAYLE or Ouray-le -- get it? Clever and quirky, just like Hutch.

We ended up spending the evening there and loving it! If you visit Ouray...go to Ourayle House Brewery, have a beer then go next door to Maggie's, order a burger, bring it back and order another beer. You will have a great time!

Arriving back at our hotel we are anticipating a wonderful soak in one of the six hot tubs. Well, unfortunately we also encountered a group of very rude people, who were hogging the tubs. There were 3 levels of tubs, slightly warm, warm and hot. Those in the lower levels, laughed at us when we arrived and said "good luck in finding a spot" and then told us to go the the very top. So we did.  It was empty because it was really hot almost too hot to enjoy.  But we did!  A good, quick soak.  



The next morning, enjoying the middle level tub, I read a sign that says "Please share the tubs and limit your time to 15 minutes per soak". Obviously the people who were enjoying the tubs the night before couldn't read otherwise I'm sure they would have shared the tub with us or others. Either that or they were just extremely rude.  Probably both!  The thing I've learned in life, is we all need to remember what we learned in Kindergarten: share and be nice. Those rude people obviously can't read, and maybe didn't learn anything in Kindergarten!

What I learned from our Ouray adventure... visit the hot tubs early in the afternoon and again in the morning. After your early evening soak, walk downtown and enjoy the fresh air and historic mining town ambiance. Then hit the Ourayle House Brewery for a beer, Maggie's for a yummy burger and just stay put hanging out with Hutch. I can guarantee you'll have great beer and a fabulous burger. You'll need to take your chances on Hutch; you might catch him in a good grumpy mood or you might get him in a bad grumpy mood. Either way it will be an experience!

Ouray was a fabulous find! Historic downtown, hiking, fishing, biking, hot tubs and if you're into rock climbing - this is the place. In the winter it's the ice climbing capital of the world! Amazing place! If it wasn't so cold in the winter, this might be a great place to live.

Good Times: Our Friend's Homecoming!

Randy and I are off on a quick trip to our cabin at Strawberry Reservoir, preparing it for summer. Taking off for six-weeks, our home and cabin maintenance has been delayed a little. But as we all know, housework will wait when the road is calling!

Our cabin, "Sparrow's Nest"is on the Soldier Creek side of Strawberry Reservoir which is about 45 minutes east of Heber City. It sits high above the lake at an elevation of 8100 feet. We love this place; our views are fabulous and we love coming here to decompress and relieve stress. We have incredible sunsets, but
last night we experienced the most amazing sunset we've ever seen in up at our cabin. Truly spectacular.



One of the reasons we're happy to be home is to reconnect with our Salt Lake City friends.

Early last week we had breakfast at Carl's Cafe to see our good friend Lisa and give her a hug. Lisa's the owner and cook at the Cafe. If you haven't been there, you need to make a point to go! I can't believe we didn't take a photo! But I'm re-sharing the photo from our send off - Lisa is standing in front of me and here's a picture of her Cafe. (Carl's Cafe, Cottonwood Heights on Fort Union)


Then, last weekend Randy cruised out to the Lander Beer Festival, in Wyoming, with Richard and Blake. Yes, he went on a weekend road trip the week we came home. He'd actually been planning this since June 2013 and the weekend just happened to coincide with our return home. I really loved our trip, but I needed to just stay off the bike for a little while. (I'm ready to go somewhere now.) The boys had a great time but they were missing Ed who was out on his own Harley adventure.


On Tuesday night, June 17, our friends Ed and Stephanie came home from a 12-day motorcycle trip that took them through Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California and Nevada. On their way home, it's tradition to stop at the Bohemian Brewery and we decided to meet them and welcome them home. All day they had been avoiding a major rain and snowstorm, and they were frozen when they arrived! The look a little like "aliens"don't they? Especially Ed!


We ran into Lisa at the Brewery and it was fun to see her again and enjoy more hugs. Also joining us at the Bohemian was Richard and Patty.


I'm so glad I went, as I hadn't seen Ed, Stephanie or Patty since we left on our trip and we had a blast, laughing, catching up and sharing stories. Even though it was a short evening, it was so good to see them. These women are fabulous!

We missed seeing Jayme and Blake at the Bohemian, but luckily we'd already had a chance to see them earlier.

We have lots more Utah friends to catch up with and I'm excited to see all of them!

I've learned a lot of things on this crazy adventure of ours, but the one thing I've realized, is that we are lucky to have great friends all over the country and even luckier to have many wonderful friends right here at home.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Strawberry Reservoir, Utah

HWY 550 in Colorado...know as the Million Dollar Highway

Today is June 18, and all day yesterday,  it was pouring down rain and even snowed!  I'm so glad that we didn't have to ride in rain like we've experienced here at home. It's always nice to be inside during a thunderstorm!

Writing about Durango, Silverton, Ouray and the Million Dollar Highway makes me smile! I've said it before in previous blog posts, I really can't believe how many interesting and cool things we experienced and saw all on one day.  We've been to 20 states and the journey from Taos, new Mexico was memorable!  Between everything in New Mexico until we reach our destination, Ouray the entire day was a wild ride!

After New Mexico and Pagosa Springs, our ride to Ouray took us through Durango and Silverton both fun towns that we've visited before. We're riding on HWY 550, known as the Million Dollar Highway which connects Silverton and Ouray and named because of how much it cost to build, and  Colorado State has  been tracking the costs since 1883 when construction began.  I'm sure they 've spent billions on this highway by now!

Yes, the roads are curvy!

Durango is a fun town with a great downtown, lots of restaurants and lots of outdoor activities. It's also a ski town with a ski resort that used to be called Purgatory. We make a quick stop for gas and head to Silverton.




Years ago, I was on HWY 550 both in a car and as a passenger on Randy's bike. I'm a little nervous about another mountain road and I question him about he complexity of the road. He tells me it's fine, that it's just like the roads in New Mexico. I don't really remember the road quite the way Randy describes, and when I come upon my first hairpin curve, I know I'm in for a wild ride. Although a nervous, I'm not too worried about the Million Dollar Highway especially since I've slayed the Tail of the Dragon in North Carolina. 

Well, I am here to tell you, that the Tail of the Dragon is nothing compared to the Million Dollar Highway, which is famous for 25 miles of narrow, cliff-hugging roads, with high elevations, sharp hairpin turns, steep roads, sheer cliffs, and no guard rails. My fear of heights kicks in and I hug the yellow lines, focus forward and try not to think about the sheer cliff I'm riding by. I don't stop to take any pictures (I know you're not surprised) and I barely look at the spectacular views but I found a few pictures online that are breathtakingly gorgeous and will give you an idea of my wild ride.

Check out the car and trailer...vintage!

Silverton Train - very cool experience!

Silverton is a quaint, historic miner and train town with lots of shops and restaurants. It's also the stop for the Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad that began in the late 1800's to haul silver and gold ore. Shortly afterwards, it started passenger travel too because of the great views and it's been continuously operating since it opened. Starting outside Durango, the train ride takes you back in time, to what the miners experienced. On other visits, to Silverton, we've ridden the train a couple of times and it's worth it!


I'm thrilled that I make it to Silverton and in desperate need of a quick break. We soon discover that road to Ouray is closed at Red Mountain Pass and learn that it is only open from 12:30-1:30 pm and from 6:30 pm-8:30 am daily because of a rock slide.

In January 2014 there was a huge rock slide on Red Mountain Pass and the road had to be completely closed for over a month for repairs. In Feburary, CDOT temporarily opened it as a one-lane road. The slide was so bad that it's going to take them awhile to make it a two-lane road and they are working on it daily.

January 2014 Rock Slide

Look closely...on the far right is a red bike with sidecar!

So we end up in Silverton, with a couple hours to kill. Which we did at the Handlebars Restaurant and Saloon. It's a western bar and quirky place with a curmudgeon of an owner/bartender, not worth my time writing about. Beers were cold and the bar was comfortable. There are lots of us hanging out waiting for the road to open.

At 6:00 pm we venture out and make it to Red Mountain Pass arriving right as the road was opening, promptly at 6:30 pm. We then ride very slowly in bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way to Ouray, which is about 20 miles away. 

We come to the slide area and it's truly a narrow, one-lane road with a sheer cliff drop-off and although there are lots of motor-homes on the road, the road doesn't look wide enough for a car let alone a huge bus! I would be terrified to be closed in one of those on this itty-bitty road. I ride as close to the mountain as I can, terrified of the sheer cliff directly to my left.

Here's a photo from the Ouray News of where we rode. Take away the equipment and that's what we rode on, except it was one-lane! According to the newspaper and townspeople, both lanes were supposed to open on June 12. After riding on it and seeing the traffic lights, they will probably open it to just one-lane, and alternate traffic. It looks like they'll need to do more work on the retaining walls to get it fully functional. All the work CDOT did is pretty impressive and those workers must not have any fear of heights!

We eventually ease into Ouray, and I'm so happy to get off my bike and simply enjoy our last night in what looks like an amazing historical mountain town.

This trip has pushed me out of my comfort zone in more ways than you can even begin to imagine. I've ridden on roads that I normally would have avoided at all costs.

However, I've discovered it that I'm stronger and braver than I ever thought I was. My riding confidence and skills are better than ever. Will I willingly ride on the Million Dollar Highway again?  I'd like to say no, but if I'm ever going back to Durango or Pagosa Springs, I probably will have to.  At least, I know I can do it!

Welcome to Colorado!

Yes, today is June 17 and I'm still writing about Saturday, June 7th!  I can't believe that one day can be filled with so much to see! As much as we've loved seeing America on this trip, we love the inter-mountain West!
We're excited to arrive in Colorado on Saturday afternoon to start riding our Rocky Mountains! A little piece of home for us to enjoy. Utah is about 24 hours away! Hard to imagine we're so close to home after 6 weeks on the road. 

We arrive in Pagosa Springs, Colorado a touristy area that has lots of hot springs and hotels, restaurants, art galleries, and shopping. We're only there for a quick bite to eat and we stop at a restaurant that offers us a great view of the river and the Pagosa Springs Resort. 

Hot springs, river, pools and lots of sunshine and warmth! Looks like a fun place to hang out and everyone lounging by the river, looks happy and relaxed.

After our brisk morning, the warm weather feels great!

The photo with the rock behind us is part of the hot springs and is covered with minerals from the springs. It also has that very strong sulfur smell! 

We've always enjoyed the hot springs in Steamboat Springs and we're excited to discover another hot springs community! 

We've never been to Pagosa Springs and decide that it looks like a great place to hang out for a weekend. With the San Juan Mountains close by we realize that there's more to the area than just the town. Great fishing and hiking are close by along with Durango and Mesa Verde National Park. 

Can't wait to visit Pagosa Springs and hang out in the hot springs! After 6 weeks of riding I need a hot tub!

Funny, how we had to go all the way across America to find a great vacation spot so close to home! 

Thinking about our next stop Ouray another hot springs destination!

New Mexico, Land of Enchantment

Leaving the Taos area, we ride across the Tusas Mountain Range through a couple of National Forests and beautiful mountain lands. After extremely hot weather, we suddenly find ourselves in what feels like freezing cold weather. After 100°+ weather, the drop in temperature catches us by surprise. We're so cold that we need to pull off and layer up. When we stop, there's about 10 other bikers doing the same thing. 

After our incredible Earthship experience, we come upon several ranches made up of very old trailers, dilapidated mobile homes and shacks and it's looks as it people are living in extreme poverty. Quite the contrast to the Earthship community. One very run-down ranch, has an arched entry gate and hanging from the arch is a mannequin with a rope around it's neck. There's a sign that says "we do things the old way".  A strong message for us to continue moving on!

We continue on, riding over over Jawbone Mountain on our way to Chama and it's a beautiful blue-sky day.   We're riding on Highway 64 a gorgeous road, complete wonderful vistas, curves that are sweeping wide and I'm sure because of the high elevation, it's closed in the winter. The speed limit is 50 and I get into a good groove keeping up with Randy. There are virtually no cars on the road and we see a few ranches and cabins as we ride along the Rio Brazos river. The road went up to an elevation of about 10,000 feet, creating a brisk and a wonderful ride! 

At the top of the mountain, we stop at the Brazos Cliff Overlook to warm up and take a photo. The view is amazing and hard to capture the beauty with my camera. The air is cool but the sun feels good.

We continue to Chama and across Chromo Mountain crossing the Continental Divide at an elevation of 7800. On this trip we've crossed the Continental Divide as far south as the Mexico border and on other trips, as far north as Montana. Even though it doesn't traverse Utah, it feels like a little piece of home because we've crossed it so many times on our previous travels.

New Mexico turned out to be a great surprise! Riding through the flat lands of Arizona, Texas and Southern New Mexico we were expecting more of the same as we went north. 

After leaving Roswell and all way to the Northern New Mexico border, we enjoyed great scenic highways and byways with rolling hills, curves and incredibly high elevations with huge pine trees. We also loved the contrast of the gorgeous high desert landscapes against the mountains that were along most of our route.

New Mexico's motto is "Land of Enchantment" and we found New Mexico to be a wonderful place to visit.

I'll say it again, we'll be back to ride New Mexico!

Earthships? What the heck are those?

I'm enjoying this writing today's blog post because on Saturday June 7,  Randy and I were stunned to see this community.

After leaving the Rio Grande River Gorge we cruised by lots of unusual structures that look like castles. 

The landscape was dotted with buildings that had solar panels, turrets, spires, and other unusual architectural elements many with only the rooftop above the ground. It was as if the whole house was buried underneath. There was a entire community of these unusual houses with about 50 homes in all. 

I liked the turret & archway made with recycled glass bottles

As I ride, I'm imagining that kings, queens and trolls must live in these underground castles. I also wonder if this an "Area 51" type of place and perhaps our alien visitors from Roswell have built a community right outside Taos. 

After what we've seen on our journey, nothing would surprise me!   

Returning home, I did some research and found out that this  community of homes are called "Earthships".  I think this sounds a little alien-like and fits my comments about Area 51.

I learn that Earthships, are built mostly underground, are eco-friendly, energy efficient, built with recycled materials and off-the-grid. They are the brainchild of Michael Reynolds and it's a movement that is popular all over the world often referred to as "Biotecture".  As I suspected,  these homes aren't for aliens, they are for real people who believe in sustainable living and are really practicing what they believe.  Very cool!

One of the very first houses we see has a couple of large glass domes and it looks like the Biosphere house that's in Arizona.  I'm referring to the one where people lived inside in a controlled environment, making their own oxygen, growing their own food and never coming out.  We didn't stop to take photos, but we should have especially of the Biosphere looking house.

We think this is the Biosphere looking house

Online, I found a few photos  of the the ones we saw. I'm so fascinated by these homes that I've included several pictures in this post. 

The Earthship Community also has a visitor's center for tours which makes me even sorrier that we didn't stop to check it out. There's lots of info online at www.earthship.com

I also found several Earthship's available for nightly rentals at around $200-350 a night, sleeping 6-8 people.   

The Earthship rentals are decorated nicely,  have sun-rooms, lots of bedrooms, full kitchens, living rooms, indoor hot tubs and some even had WI-FI. Not completely off-the-grid but close.  They look no different than a high-end condo or bed & breakfast. 

Stained glass arch from recycled bottles
You'd have to drink a lot of beer & wine to do this!

I think it would be fun to experience an Earthship home, live underground and off-the-grid for a night or two, especially if they have wi-fi! 

When we return to Taos, Earthship will be on our agenda.  I'm wondering if we should give up our regular house and try Earthship living? Randy's a great handyman and I think this might a good project for him. Especially if we build an Earthship that looks like a castle, I'll be a queen for sure!  

Recycled tires creating walls