1997 — A Loop Through the Southwest

July arrives and the need to get on the road on two wheels becomes overwhelming. Not wishing to be overwhelmed, John and Ken and Bill headed west on I-70, our first night destination the welcoming home of Christopher and Laurel outside of Fruita. From there we headed south out of Grand Junction, taking CO 141 along the Unaweep Highway, through Gateway and down to Naturita. From there we went west across the southern end of the Monte La Sal range, then down to Monticello, Utah. Quarters for night two.

Now it was Sunday and we crossed back into Colorado at Dove Creek, made our way down to Cortez, and then across to Durango. (Not a lot of clear memories of what we did these days so if you guys can add anything let me know.)

Next we headed down into New Mexico and reached Chama. This was a place Ken had been wanting to visit ever since he and his then-lady friend, Davey, had not stopped there on a bike trip they took a couple years earlier. Chama was nice and had the benefit of a good restaurant with a good Mexican breakfast.

From Chama we pushed on to Taos and hit the big score. We found the El Monte Lodge, which had a large suite with three or four beds, a kitchen, loads of room, and our own private fenced, shaded patio complete with barbecue grill. And it wasn't very expensive. We knew a good thing when we saw it and decided to stay two nights.

On the day between those two nights there was no common interest so we split up. The purple loop on the map shows John and Bill's route; the blue loop shows Ken's route. John and Bill rode the "Low road to Taos" down to Espanola to do some gambling. Along the way they passed through what could easily be imagined to be Mexico. Ken took off on his own on a ride encircling the Wheeler Peak Wilderness, going through Angel Fire, Eagle Nest, Red River, and Questa before looping back to Taos. Arriving back at the lodge he found Bill and John chilling beers and preparing to barbecue the very nice steaks Bill had bought for all of us due to the fact that he had won handily at Espanola.

Leaving Taos we headed to Raton and re-entered Colorado, then jogged west from Trinidad over Cuchara Pass. We passed the town of Cuchara but soon came to a golf course that was more than a little alluring. Quick consultation led to the decision to book a tee time for the next morning and then go back to Cuchara to find a place to spend the night. The town of Cuchara turned out to be a very inviting place and we ate burgers and drank beers on the patio of a friendly place with plenty of dogs to go around. The next morning we played golf.

On north then to La Veta and west over La Veta Pass to Great Sand Dunes National Park for our one night of camping. Next day it was on home, catching the only rain we ran into that week. And another great trip was history.

For reasons I can't explain, the only pictures I seem to have from this trip are several like this one. Where is Bill's bike? Anybody else have any pictures?

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