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Published: October 11th 2019
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Day 17 Page to Cortez This was going to be a transit section and as we had dropped our bikes at the dealer yesterday early afternoon, we were hopeful of getting away mid morning. We phoned the dealer around 9am who said the bikes would be ready in around an hour. We taxied to the shop but in the event they were not ready until around 12.15. We were on the road early afternoon so still ahead of our original schedule.
Pavement all the way this afternoon as we were transiting between the end of the AZ BDR & the start of the New Mexico route. Whilst not too exciting riding it was still great scenery. Leaving Page on Route 98 heading south on highish plains (2000m elevation) we rode through scrubby desert type country that still appeared to be commercially farmed - albeit sparsely. We turned onto route 160 & stopped at a roadhouse at 4 corners where AZ, UT, CO, & NM all meet.We had actually stopped here last year coming the other way. Chatted to a local Indian guy who said he really liked our “horses” – actually also a motorcyclist as he said he has
an older Harley. We still had some time confusion as our GPS seemed at variance with what time we thought it was. Ian & I had been having some issues with our GPS losing satellite connections intermittently for a few days. Checking into our motel in Cortez I phoned Garmin who were very helpful & told me to turn off the Russian network Glonass which seemed to fixed the problem. They read off two networks one American & one Russian. I think this is probably a Russian conspiracy to confuse travelers & everyone else prior to next year’s presidential elections!
Dinner at a Chinese restaurant with superb food however they served red antifreeze & claimed it was burgundy. Given the temperatures we were about to face this may have been fortuitous. 360kms today despite a lunchtime start.
Day 17 Cortez to Antonito We thought Alaska was cold - this morning leaving town it was 4.7 degrees C. We togged up - I had 7 layers on, I felt & looked like the Michelin man, however it worked as I didn't feel cold at all except for my hands even with silk liners in my gloves.
We had planned to go through Johnson Canyon Rd which we did last year coming the other way. This Canyon is through an area which has spectacular towering rocks. We had to start via Manco Canyon but after about 25kms there were some indigenous people stopped on the side of the road who waved us down. They told us that this road was across Indian land owned by the Utes which is a sub tribe of the Navejo Nation. After some friendly discussion we offered to go back - we felt it was probably unwise to mention that we had been through last year & even though we had parked our bikes in a circle during the discussions we felt they may have had the upper hand. We had traveled back around 15kms when we were waved down by another Injun who was running a tour & who told us the same but in a much heavier manner. Normally they seize & search was what he told us but this time he was prepared to let us through as were going out of their sacred land. We wondered why there had been no signs advising of this & after checking on the interweb we thought this was maybe a scam to protect their tour businesses as it says " you can camp & rent cabins in this canyon"
After missing this great route that we don't want to admit to having traveled previously, we were on seal the rest of the way, passing many nodding jennies pumping oil & small natural gas installations. We went through two areas which someone "needs to make great again". In all fairness plenty is being spent on infrastructure as there were major roadworks going on. However people seemed to be living in mobile homes a.k.a trailer parks & most businesses were shuttered up. Right in the middle of these areas was a town called Farmington which seemed to be thriving along with dozens of churches. Not sure if the churches are there to help or perhaps adding to the problems through their tithing systems? Continuing to head for Antonito our next stop, was Dulce a small settlement where we stopped for gas. In the shop we met an Indian guy who belonged to a sub group of the Apache Nation. Apache lands he told us stretch out to Denver & all the way south to the Mexican border. He was very friendly & gave us a good deal of information about his people. They were relocated off their ancestral land once, then a second time looked imminent when oil & gas were discovered in their new location. In a better position & smarter they refused to move & negotiated royalties for their tribe. He told us this has been very good for the community as the royalties are spent on health & education and they have started a commercial elk farm – a good story.
We continued to Chuma a small settlement in New Mexico (our first foray into NM on this trip) The stunning scenery is hard to describe but definitely some of the most scenic on our journey so far. As we climbed out of Chuma the golden yellow colours of fall, interspersed with evergreens made a postcard type sight. When we arrived at the summit of this pass at around 3150m we saw the steam train we had planned to ride tomorrow. It was back down to 4 degrees after being around 13 to 14 degrees most of the day. We then arrived at Antonio (now back in Colorado) to discover I had screwed up & booked the Steam Train Hotel for November. Oh dear I have a feeling I am off any accommodation booking duties in future. Luckily they could accommodate us for tonight but the ride train ride for tomorrow is off as there is no accommodation anywhere for the second night. 420 cold kms today & the temperature early tomorrow morning is predicted to be -12 degrees C! Someone needs to tell the Donald to change his byline to "Make America Warm Again"
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