Day 14: Colorado

In the morning I felt refreshed. Either my fatigue from the night before was just exhaustion or I had actually an infection of sorts. No matter - breakfast and coffee and packing and I was on the road again.

I decided to skip Rock Mountain National Park because it was too far north in the state, and continued west to Durango and the San Juan mountains. This way I'd get some riding done in Colorado without spending the time crisscrossing the state. I'd be home on Saturday, instead of Sunday, and would have time to take the backroads most of the way.

Getting to Durango wasn't very memorable. The elevation stayed high, above 7500 feet, and the roads, hwy 160 and 151, had a lot of construction. I think I spent about an hour in construction delays getting to Durango. Just outside of Durango I found Becky's Café and ordered up some Granola and Nut Pancakes. Interesting combination ... I should try to make my own someday, perhaps with whole wheat pancakes instead.Durango is in a dry, very warm, part of the state. There's lots of traffic there too, so I was glad to have gotten through it and continued on my way north on Hwy 550, the so-called Million Dollar Highway. Well, let me tell you, if they spent a million bucks on this road, they got ripped off. Sure, the scenery is awesome as it climbs through the mountains, and over several 10,000+ feet mountain passes, but the road quality is rather poor. The pavement is potholed and tar-snaked, requiring more attention be paid to the road and less to the scenery. Too bad, because the scenery was breathtaking!
The VFR's performance was now suffering from three issues. It had always run slightly lean at sea level, due to government regulations and the exhaust system I haven't properly repacked. The higher altitude, and the thinner air, multiplied that effect. Finally, the weight of the camping gear, not only changing the center of gravity because I'm carrying it so high, is degrading performance too. The net result is that I need to keep the RPM's above 7000 for any significant acceleration to occur. It feels like I'm missing about 30% of the motor. This makes it difficult to pass cars, especially since hwy 550 has quite a bit of it.
After Ouray I took 62 to 145 and headed towards Telluride. Somehow, in Ouray, I managed to avoid a speed trap. Entering towns I usually slow to the limit and stay there. This time was no different, and quickly saw a member of the local constabulatory sitting there. On the other side of town was his compatriot, who pulled over the two vehicles in front of me. Whew.
The road to Telluride was very nice. Less traffic and smooth pavement with continued awesome views of snowcapped mountains entertained me the whole way. Telluride itself is nestled at the base of the mountains and is, for a lack of a better word, beautiful. The streets were lined with all those little cute shops women go nuts over. And for some reason there were a lot of teenagers here. All I wanted was a cup of coffee, and it took two passes down main street before I found one. While the coffee was good, the shop it reeked of anti-establishment liberalism. Every book on display denounced President Bush on some way. This felt more like California than Colorado.

Back on the road again, 145 to Dolores was wonderful, although the speed limits were a bit retarded. It's the old "set the statutory limit 5mph higher than the recommended speed" crap. Oregon has it's own retardedness - while we have high legal speeds in slow corners, our speeds on interstates never exceed 65 and local roads, even in the deserts, don't exceed 55mph. But the riding is good, no question about that.

The only downfall is that Colorado has a bug problem. Every time I stop to get gas, I need to clean my helmet visor. It's sort of irritating.About 15 miles north of Dolores I found a great little campsite - for $15 I got a secluded site right on the river, showers, pay-phone and fresh drinking water. I slept like a baby, despite the 8000 foot elevation and 45F lows.