Tex-New-Rado 5-25-13 Day 4

Breakfast was as good as the room.  We had eggs, but they weren't from the chickens we saw last night.  We are riding to Monte Vista, Colorado today, as we have reservations at the Movie Manor for this evening. 





Our ride today with take us over the Red Mountain Pass and the Million Dollar Highway.  Chuck and I have ridden this stretch of the highway several times.  Diana & Chris has been with us as well.  We have ridden it in the rain, and even got some snow.  Looks like today will be a picture perfect ride for us. 








We had a perfect ride on Hwy 550, and make our usual stop in Silverton.  We had noticed a couple of signs along the way through Ouray saying to expect some delays.  As we get off the bike a motorcycle highway patron was talking with some people, and Chris and he started talking.  Come to find out, there is going to be a very looonnnggg delay.

 There is a bicycle ride today from Durango to Silverton and they have completely closed that side of the highway down until they are finished with it.  It will be around 1pm when it re-opens and we are informed that he will be leading the pack of cars and bikes over the mountain at a 30 mile per hour pace.  He suggested if we didn't want to wait that we go back to Ridgeway and go around the mountain towards Telluride.

Group discussion and decision was pretty much a no brainer.  We are going to go to "plan B".  This plan will add a few extra miles (roughly 200 miles) to the ride but at least we aren't sitting idol for 3 hours. 

Back on the bike, the line of cars are already starting to form.  Think we have made a good decision. I can't imagine how many cars and motorcycles will be in that line to go through the pass.

We make a pit stop at Ridgeway, and the ladies at the gas station were saying how they just didn't understand how a bike ride could close down a highway for that long.  It is the only highway over the mountain. 




We make a stop in the little town of Deloris, Colorado for lunch.  It is a little Pizza & Sub shop.  We sit outside and the river runs right behind the newly outdoor deck they have built.  We even saw a girl in a canoe come by as well as a couple of large rafts.  Very nice relaxing lunch.  Diana & I had salads, and they were really good. 











Glad we stopped for lunch in Deloris, as it would have been a lot busier in Durango.  We are stopping at the Harley shop in Durango as Allen wants to get a new filter for his bike.  The dealership isn't very busy when we pulled up, but by the time we leave, there are quite a few bikes there.  Allen changes his filter and we are off again.












Our next breath taking ride was over Wolf Creek Pass.  It was a surprise for us.  Wasn't aware that we would be going over another pass.  Don't know why this comes as a surprise to us, as we ARE in the mountains....LOL  Chuck & I are talking with Diana & Chris as we ride the area.  Chris informs us that he thinks there is a song about this pass.  Oh no, is he going to sing it!!!!  Yep, I think he is...Diana Googles the information as to how high the pass is.  There are no signs to tell us. Google says it is 10,857 feet.  What a delightful ride! 

We make it to the Best Western Movie Manor  around 5:30 pm I think.  This place is in the town Monte Vista, Colorado.  Chuck had found this on the Internet and sounded really cool.  The rooms at the motel face the drive-in theatre, and you can watch the movie from your own room, in bed if you choose.  What an interesting idea.  The rooms were sold out by the time Allen & Doreen got their reservation, so we will just have everyone in our room tonight to watch Iron Man 3. 



As we park and get unloaded, another group of bikes have pulled in.  They are very friendly folks.  The are from Abiline, Texas.  They were here for the weekend and riding the area as well.  There is a restaurant in front of the motel and we are going to eat there this evening.  No, it isn't Mediterranean food....just down home cooking.  Promise!!!! 

We place our order and we are talking about the Wolf Creek Pass and Allen starts singing the Wolf Creek Pass song.  Chris chimed in as well.  Allen found it on his phone and we got to hear it first hand.  Cracked me up!!! Our food was good this evening, and the entertainment from Allen & Chris were unforgettable.  :)   As we get up to pay, the group of people we had talked to earlier were up in line to pay.  We all make a lot of small talk and head back to the rooms so we can go to the concession stand and get our pop corn before the movie starts.  It is supposed to start somewhere around 8:15-8:45. 

Back in the room the movie starts.  We all came up with some great ideas for the motel.  They should have an area for the people that stay the night to sit outside if they want.  I guess we could have driven the bike out to a speaker and sat outside, but it was a bit cool.  The rooms have stereo systems piped into the rooms and the sound was quite good.  Would love to say that we all watched the complete movie, but Doreen was the first party pooper.  We were all very tired from our ride today.  Everyone went to their appropriate room and sacked out.  Guess we are all party poopers.  :)  Chuck & I finished watching the movie in bed, but I have to say, the full moon sure messed with the screen.  The moon was like a bright light bulb hanging over the screen.  Made the movie really hard to see.  Chuck says if we ever come back, we need to make sure there isn't a full moon.  LOL

The whole idea of a drive in movie that you can watch in your very own motel room is so great.  I hope if you are ever even somewhat near the area you can stop and cross this one off your bucket list.  I didn't realize it was on mine, but I am so glad that our travel director (Chuck) found this.  It was really a cool place to visit.

Time to get some shut eye....our "easy" not many miles day turned into a lot more of a ride than we expected.  That's OK, we enjoyed every 409 miles we rode.  :)