Monarch Pass, CO.

Day 17 Monday, May 3, 2010

First of all I want to wish C.E. and Bev a happy 11th Anniversary! Thanks Bev for letting C.E. come out and play with us. I'm sure that he will make it up to you when he gets back home. If not, let us know. We will take care of him.

Jan and I got up late because we knew that we weren't going to leave early. We were going to wait until Monarch Pass thawed out. When we woke up, the temperature at Monarch Pass was 17 degrees. It was 31 degrees outside at the hotel. We were up at 7 AM, got dressed and packed. We went to the breakfast room and Chuck and C.E. were already having breakfast. Ken and Bruce joined us later. As we were having breakfast, we were discussing the day's plans. We decided that since we were waiting for it to warm up, those of us who needed to could go and do laundry. All of us but Bruce packed our Motors and headed to the laundromat. Chuck was leading and we didn't get two blocks away when a doe (a deer, a female deer...) ran across the street from our right to our left. We were in the middle of downtown! We were pretty close to it when it ran across the street. This is a first for us. We have never had a deer run in front of us in any city that we have been. I'm sorry that I didn't have my camera out and ready. We got to the laundromat without any other incident. As we were doing our laundry, a young female pulled into the parking lot, saw our Motors, and "burned rubber" driving away! What was she trying to tell us? We aren't scary looking. Think about it. Think of C.E., Jan, Ken, Me, Chuck...well, I can understand her leaving quickly, especially if she saw Chuck! We finished our laundry and went back to the hotel. We packed the Motors and checked out. We left at 10:43 AM.

Chuck led us west on US 50. The mountains surrounding the city were snow capped. It was partially cloudy and the scenery was breathtaking. It was 48 degrees. We rode and started up Monarch Pass. We knew that it was going to be very cold so we dressed for it. We all had on warm clothes and some of the guys had on their rain gear to help out with the wind. I could have typed that the rain gear helped break wind, like a wind breaker, but I didn't. Anyway... We rode up the mountain. There were patches of snow at the beginning and then there was snow on both sides of us. The temperature dropped to 28 degrees at the top! The road was dry and some parts had some sand. The wind was gusting and we got dusted with snow. The higher we went, the harder it was for all of us to breathe. A couple of us were getting light-headed because of the altitude. At 11:08 AM we reached the summit after riding 26.8 miles. We parked our Motors next to the sign. We took several pictures and a picture of all of us with the sign. Chuck, Ken and Bruce took the opportunity to attack Jan with snowballs. They were paying him back for what he did to them last night. We were in the hot tub and the water level was low. Someone was complaining about the water level and Jan turned on a nearby hose and squirted them with cold water. Fortunately for me, I was already out. C.E. was in the room. He didn't join us last night. Back to the snow ball attack, Chuck had given me a sign to move so that I would not be collateral damage. Monarch Crest had a small gift shop and restaurant near the Sign. We went in and did a little shopping. We soon left at 11:36 AM.

Chuck led us down the Pass and the lower we got, the warmer it was. As we descended the Pass, the road became better. It was curvy and twistie. We still didn't want to go fast. It was posted at 40 mph and I think that we hit the limit once or twice. We stayed below the limit. It would be a much better ride if it was dry and no sand on the road. We finally hit an area on the road where the speed limit increased to 65 mph. This scenery was awesome. After riding 43.4 miles, we stopped at a Subway in Gunnison, CO. at 12:18 PM. As we were entering the city, there was a small SUV stopped by the side of the road. As we neared the SUV, we realized that it was a Colorado State Trooper. We were a little above the limit and I kept an eye on the Trooper as we passed. After we were all past the Trooper, he pulled out and followed us until we turned into the Subway. He continued on. I don't know whether he was keeping an eye on us or he was done with paperwork and resuming his patrol. It doesn't matter, he didn't stop us. We had a good break and lunch. It was 48 degrees when we arrived at the Subway and all of the guys took off their rain pants and a lot of their warm riding gear. We left at 1:08 PM.

Chuck was still leading, but not for very long. His gas tank was running low and we needed to stop soon. Not only did we need to stop soon to get gas for Chuck, we needed to take a break from lunch soon also, before we started to take naps on the Motors. After riding 66.4 miles, we stopped at a gas station in Montrose, CO at 2:14 PM. Many years ago, soon after God made this world we live in, Ken worked as a Colorado State Trooper and lived in Montrose. We have endured many hours of Ken telling us his war stories of when he was a Trooper. Actually, Ken worked as a Colorado State Trooper for 8 1/2 years before he was hired by Phoenix. The stories that Ken tells, actually, are interesting and sometime funny. We never get tired of listening to them. (Yeah, right!) We left at 2:46 PM with Jan in the lead.

Jan was leading and we were headed to Grand Junction. I had discussed with Chuck and Jan that I wanted to stop at a Batteries, Plus in Grand Junction. I had put the address on my navigation system and told Jan that I would lead when we got into the city. When we got into the city, I took the lead. We needed to make a quick lane change and we all made the lane change and onto the exit except for Bruce. We went a couple of miles when Chuck got a hold of me on the CB. Chuck told me that we needed to find a place to stop because we had lost Bruce. I thought that Chuck liked Bruce, and he waited a couple of miles to tell be to stop? I pulled over and we decided to go on to the Batteries, Plus and hopefully, Bruce would find us there. I made a u-turn and as we were back on the freeway going east, we saw Bruce going west, like a bat out of hell. We saw him, he didn't see us. We pulled over again and Chuck told us that he would wait there for Bruce and we all could go on. I told Chuck that I would go on to Batteries, Plus and wait for them there. Jan and I left. We got to Batteries, Plus and I called Chuck on the cell. Chuck told me that Bruce had called him and told him that he was at the turn off for Batteries, Plus. Chuck and the guys rode to where Bruce was. He was about 1/4 mile away from Jan and me. We went into the store and found that they were out of stock of the battery that I wanted. Jan and I rode to were Bruce was and waited there for the rest of the guys. We all were reunited then we rode a few blocks and stopped at a Wendy's for a break and a Frostie to celebrate the return of Bruce. We left at 4:58 PM.

As we left Wendy's, Jan took us onto I-70/US 50. The posed speed limit was 75 mph. We were doing 80 mph and making good time. We rode for 102.9 miles and finally got into the town of Green River, UT at 6:19 PM. We stopped at the Comfort Inn and I entered to "make the deal." I did and the rest came inside and we all checked in. We unloaded our Motors and put our bags in our rooms. We rode about 1 1/2 miles away to a restaurant that came highly recommended by the hotel clerk and others. The restaurant was, "Ray's Tavern." I is very popular and had great food. We enjoyed the food and drinks. We met some a man who was retired from Fullerton, CA P.D. We talked with him for a while. We also met a couple who were riding a Harley with trailer. They were from Lexington, KY. We spoke with them for a while also. They were also staying at the same place we are staying at. We returned to the Comfort Inn where we parked our Motors and tucked them in for the night.

Today we left later than normal, but we still rode for 311 miles. We almost met a deer up close and personal. We went up Monarch Pass, at 11,312 feet. It was cold and hard to breathe, but it was still fun. Tomorrow we hope to get out of Utah and into Nevada. We shall see. So, until tomorrow...