Pic Heavy Ride Report - MS to Bella Coola & Back 11,000 Miles Heat, Hail & Bears

[DK Custom Products]

I'm being a bit selfish here but I'm not looking forward to you and Mary arriving home and finishing this trip. I have looked forward to ALL your posts and have totally enjoyed each an every one of them. I'm so envious!! Looking forward to the day that I can just take off and see some of the natural beauty that North America has to offer.

With that said, I wish you continued safe travels and good weather for the remainder of your trip.

Thank you, glad you're enjoying it.

It really is amazing how much beauty and great roads there are in NA.

+1 Kevin a big thank you

Couldn't agree more!ThumbUpThumbUp

Thanks guys!

I gotta admit ... I had a blast riding with Kevin and Mary ... great people ... If you get the chance to ride with them, do it .. but make sure at least some of the time your behind them ... just so you get a feel for what Mary does to get her great pics ... LOL ... it's truly entertaining.

We had a great time, as you know, we left big chunks out of the ride, so much to see where you are!

In 80,000+ miles of riding a Tri-Glide, we've only ridden with three other Trikes, ever!

Trent and Barbara in Idaho, and you in Colorado. Absolute blast is right!

You're killing me here, where's the rest of the ride?

Have been busy with a family medical emergency this last week. (NOT motorcycle related) Should be able to pick back up today. Several more days of great riding before getting back home.

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Conclusion of our time in Grand Junction with Fuzzy-

We are back in the heat!!! Between here and Grand Junction the temps bounced between 102 and 106. Crazy. But we had lots of water.

This canyon was amazing...

Riding thru it was fun...

...inspiring, HUGE & ....

..and breathtaking in it's beauty.

I don't know how many miles it was...

...but it was not short. Definitely on the list to ride again-when it's NOT SO HOT. lol

Getting near the end...

...of this amazing curving canyon road.

We follow Alan onto the interstate, beside the Colorado River.

Looking to the side of the interstate...amazing views!

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Ride with Fuzzy continued-

You would think being right next to the Colorado River would be cool. NOT lol

Amazing views everywhere we look.

Making our way back to Grand Junction...

...thinking about how cool it was up on the Grand Mesa.

:laugh:

But the views down here are something else!

Looking back-

Back in Grand Junction, we had one stop to make before the Motel...

...

In the last leg, Alan had lost his hat on the interstate, and we wanted to get a few items for the DK Team, so we stopped at the HD Dealership. They also are a BMW Dealership.

After Alan dropped us at the Motel, we were going to get together later for dinner...but we were all too pooped out. Just stayed in and ate in the room. Wow! What a day!

After a good nights sleep, and still digesting all the we saw yesterday, we decided no riding today.

We did do a few errands around town...

...in the cool of the day (only 100*).

We spent the rest of the day talking. Bikes, Trikes, God, Country, and a hundred other topics, the time just flew. It was one of the most relaxing & interesting days of the trip so far.

If you ever get a chance to spend some time with Alan (FuzzyWuzHe), I hope you hit it off as well as we did with him. Super Good People!

Tomorrow we head for Durango, via some back roads to the Million Dollar Highway, courtesy of directions from Alan.

Kevin

 

[kybigmac]

Thx for my ride fix I was having withdrawals!

 

[DK Custom Products]

Thx for my ride fix I was having withdrawals!

More coming!

 

[DK Custom Products]

Day 31 - Headed for Durango-

After a couple of days of riding and visiting with Alan, we are packing up, and heading out.

Yep, that's a bunch of water, will probably all be gone by the time we go thru the first tank of gas.

Alan gave me a route to Ouray,that he says will be cooler, and much more fun & picturesque than the direct route. I'm punching in the waypoints on the GPS before heading out.

We had just a bit of interstate before taking an off-ramp to get on the back road route to Ouray. His route is taking us to Gateway, then thru Naturita, then Ridgeway and on to Ouray. From there we are taking the 550/Million dollar highway to Durango.

Can't tell from here, but the next 93 miles are going to be some of the best we've ever traveled!

Just starting out, and looking like fun!

Can you tell...this road is going to be nice and winding, along with some very scenic views!

Amazing....

...HUGE sights, everywhere we look.

We're very early on, & I can already tell, this is turning into one of those perfect riding days!

It is difficult for me to verbalize what a day like today is....

Perfect road - combo of good surface, sweepers, winding and some tight curves too...

Hardly any other vehicles on the road....

Mind-blowing scenery....

Good weather-warm but not uncomfortable...

Perfect running bike...

Riding with my bride...

Well...I tried. This is one of "those" days!

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

31 Road to Durango continued.

Oh yeah, I'm liking this road!

The TG laughs at 30 mph, more like 55-60 is where she's comfortable in this sweeper.

It is a lot of fun when a long sweeper is immediately followed by nicely banked triple S curves.

View to the side...

...View ahead...

...and we're just barely started! Fuzzy sure gave us a great route to ride!!!

To the right...

...To the left...

...In front of us...

...and behind us. We're surrounded by an amazing world!

Mary took 792 pics today. We traveled less than 275 miles. It's gonna take at least another 40 pics to just scratch the surface.

Will be continued soon.

Kevin

 

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Yep ... 141 from Grand Junction to Gateway then Naturita is a ride I do regularly ... never get tired of it. Gateway has a car museum that has 20 Million in cars there ... that's pretty amazing when you consider it's a town of about 500 or so. The owner of the museum also owns discovery channel and a large chunk of the canyon around Gateway.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Yep ... 141 from Grand Junction to Gateway then Naturita is a ride I do regularly ... never get tired of it. Gateway has a car museum that has 20 Million in cars there ... that's pretty amazing when you consider it's a town of about 500 or so. The owner of the museum also owns discovery channel and a large chunk of the canyon around Gateway.

No Doubt! What a great route you gave us! ThumbUp

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Ride to Durango continued.

Well, I am cutting out big chunks of the ride, but still am looking at 60 or more pics before arriving in Durango. Hope y'all don't mind...just so many good pics to choose from. I'm just posting a small fraction.

Everywhere we look, we are amazed...

...the road is great...

...the views are great...

...and the curves are seemingly endless!

There is very little traffic on the road...hardly any at all, but we did see this motorcycle enjoying the curves too!

A different perspective.

This road is a blast!

Another shot out to the side.

These curves with the high grass right on the side were some of the ones I was most cautious with. Never know what it is hiding. Dawn, at our shop, was riding passenger a couple of years ago, a rabbit ran out, hit her leg and bounced up into her lap! She had to literally throw it off her lap...this all happened at about 60 mph.

Curve after curve.

Followed this river off and on through the entire canyon...rarely was it this close to the road.

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Ride to Durango continued.



Looking back.

Heading into some tight canyon walls and curves!

This is a bit different...

...I wouldn't say claustrophobic, but both sides are quite close relative to what is has been.

Mary's view when she's not out to the side.

Looking back as we...

...come out more into some open space.

Little did we know when we took the turn, off the interstate, towards Naturita, what a scenic and fun road this was going to be. Definitely one I want to ride again!

Dunno if you can see in this pic, how the road just flows, in curve after curve, along the edge. Huge beautiful country!

More coming soon.

Kevin

 

[Papa Zook]

Beautiful country and as always great pictures from Mary!

 

[FuzzyWuzHe]

And I get to call it my back yard ... ... Anyone passing through, let me know ... I can tell ya all the good rides here.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Beautiful country and as always great pictures from Mary!

Ditto that. ThumbUp

And I get to call it my back yard ... ... Anyone passing through, let me know ... I can tell ya all the good rides here.

Yep, he steered us right! Great guy to meet too!

Kevin

 

[DK Custom Products]

Ride to Durango continued.


We're starting to come out of the canyon we've been riding in...

...but there are still curves as far as I can see.

We stopped at this gas station/car wash in Naturita. Bunch of bikes there. We're at 5400 feet elevation, and this is the warmest it's been today. 98*

Filled the tank, hydrated a bit, talked to some of the guys coming and going...none had been on the canyon route we just finished.

Leaving out of Naturita, we had a long flat pass to the mountains in the right side of this pic.

We are now in the foothills of the mountains from the previous pic, starting to climb.

A lot closer to the Million Dollar Highway now!

We're now on the 550 (MDH), making our way toward Ouray.

Climbing the last little bit before coming into Ouray. Beautiful country.

There are a lot of bikes, parked everywhere in Ouray. We have plenty of gas, and I've got ants in my pants to get on the Million Dollar Highway that I've heard so much about.

We passed thru town slowly.

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Ride to Durango Continued.

Climbing out of Ouray we see these signs...they were not kidding.

Soon after, we see this sign...it can only mean fun road ahead!

I like curves plenty, tunnels, not so much. But this is a short one.

Soon after we come to a scenic stop where there are a few waterfalls. Pic of an old Sporty and a dirty Trike.

This is a panoramic shot that Mary took of me taking a pic of a waterfall.

The pic I was taking of the waterfall while Mary was taking the panoramic.

After taking a bunch of pics of all the waterfalls, reading the amazing history of the Million Dollar Highway, & talking to an Amish guy about how he would not have taken his horses on the road...he figured they would get too spooked by the edges with the drop-offs and no rails....we sat in some shade and had our lunch.

Back on our way.

Yeah, the edge really looked like that. Sheer drop-off...notice that I am in the left part of my lane. lol

Looking behind us....I don't know how far she was leaning out to take this pic...but it looks scary to me!

Beautiful country....

...and super fun roads!

More coming soon.

 

[consitter]

Man, I love this stuff.

It's gonna end soon.

 

[nova]

i just want to say as a newbie to this site and a future triker, i really have enjoyed your travels. i started reading this last week before i even signed up to this site. i hope that i enjoy my trike as much as you seem to be.

thanks for the great words and even greater pictures.ThumbUp

 

[55il]

DK, This has been more fun to read than any book I have read ina long time. This should be on DirecTV’sTravel Channel……. Thank you DJ

 

[Zammy]

This has been more fun to read than any book I have read in a long time. This should be on DirecTV’s Travel Channel……. Thank you DJ

Ditto for sure, an absolutely wonderful ride along journey, I can't say thank you enough Kevin & Mary