Colorado Rocky Mountain Road Trip 6-20-15

June 20th -

Up and ready to head out by about 8am.
We found a meeting room to have our first devotion and prayer for this trip.
















The decorator came out in me...couldn't resist taking a picture of these totally ugly vertical blinds in the hotel.
Man, I think they need to update, don't you!






Anyway back to the devotion.
Doug was first up, and he had a video of the Minions....and the word I got out of today is "Love".





The weather is a little cool this morning, and it makes for a very nice ride first thing.
As we make our way through Dalhart, Texas, we stop at a signal light.

Angel the Goldwing is carrying Harley part!  

When we start up again, we pass a chrome medium size box looking thing, and Chuck says he thinks it is a part off a Harley.
We are next to last bike this morning, so we turn around and go back.




Lynn & Keith follow.
Sure enough, by the time we make it back to the intersection, the chrome box has moved a little closer to the edge of the street.
I get off and pick it up.

Replacing the part!!!

Sure enough, it is a chrome oil cooler cover, and we are pretty sure we know who's bike is now missing one!
The other 3 bikes have no idea they lost 2 of their members, so we make a bee line to catch up with them.
A few miles out of town, they are on the side of the road....wondering what happened.
I had texted Diana to tell her we would catch up, but they weren't able to contact our leaders Doug & Twana.
All good, and we are back together, we ride to Clayton, NM to get gas and a potty.
Chuck walks over to Doug, and looks at his bike, and asked if he was missing something....sure enough, he was.
We have that missing part!!!!
Gas stop was good, but was too early for the Dairy Queen to be open, so we go on down to the Love's Country store to use their rest rooms.




This place was a mad house....
A couple of buses have pulled up and there are boy scouts all over the place.
Glad we got there when we did, or we would have had a very long wait.
The buses had parked really close to the bikes, and when it was time for us to head out, it made it difficult for Doug to pull out.
He was making his way very carefully, and when he was clear, he proceeded out, until the boy scout person stepped in front of him.
Not cool for sure.
Doug was able to keep the bike upright, but we really thought he had clipped the boy scout person!
I am not sure what this person thought that loud noise was that was coming towards him but I can assure you that he wasn't paying attention.

Volcano in the background...who knew!!!

Back on the road there were several perfect photo ops for the bikes.
This is the longest slowest road you will ever ride on.




I text Lynn to tell her that I got her picture by the volcano!!!









Our next stop is Trinidad, Colorado.

The "Rock" Stars!  

We stop for gas again, and the talk of lunch begins.
There is a Mexican restaurant, and it is agreed that we will just eat there.
Tequila's Mexican Restaurant was a nice place to stop.
They seemed happy to see us!
We were happy to see them, and chowed down.
This was the first place that our rocks were brought out and got their pictures taken.
Remember Lizzy, well, she has 4 other friends on this trip.
Meet Star, Curly Sue, River and Caitlin.
I think people think we are crazy when we get the girls out, but that is OK.
We girls have a lot of fun with our "rocks".

Lunch is over, and it is time to make our way to South Fork, Colorado.

Gold dome school

As we drive through Trinidad I got a quick shot of their school....seems it has a gold dome like our bank in OKC.
The afternoon ride was beautiful.















Great to see the snow cap mountain in the distance.
We enter the San Isabel National Forest, and enjoyed the green grass and the water we see along the way.
There were several areas that the yellow flowers were covering the fields.
The snow fence messed with my shot, but you get the idea.
We stop in Fort Garland for gas and a little break.





















Lynn & Carla had to walk over to the vendors selling "rock pipes".  LOL

















The day is fairly warm, and as we make our way towards Monte Vista, the clouds begin forming.
It is a much needed break from the glaring sun.
Of course the dust storm that we encountered was not so exciting.
The winds blew as we go through the main street of town.
Then the dust hit...WOW!!!!!
Glad that only lasted a few minutes.










We make it to South Fork around 6:00pm.
Our rooms are ready and we are ready to get off the bikes for awhile.
Ute Bluff Lodge is a really cool place...well, but they don't have air conditioners in the rooms!
What!!! No air....really!

The lodge has a tee pee on the property, so what better place for a picture!
Settled in, it is time to eat!
The Old Firehouse Restaurant is the place we will eat tonight.
Outside seating was available, so we do just that.
We are even entertained by a guy and his guitar this evening.
Our rocks even got their picture taken by the guy....I am sure that was a first for him.

Back at the lodge, we wanted to sit outside, but the mosquitoes were too bad, so we went to their club house and sat and talked.
Great day of riding, and great day with friends.
Lets go to those non air conditioned rooms and get some sleep...for tomorrow we ride!
Good night John Boy