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Published: September 6th 2010
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State Line
In the centre of the bridge, lucky no traffic. Here I am in Moab, Utah, still with temperatures over the 100 deg f.
I got away from Neosho, in Missouri, around 7.00am hoping to make it to Trinidad in Colorado. Well that ment riding all the way across Kansas in one day, plus another 150km into Colorado. I was up to the challenge with all my clothes dried out from my dumping the day before.
When I got about three quarters of the way across Kansas, I was aware that the wind had picked up somewhat and dark clouds began to form. Well they were not rain clouds, it was a DUST storm.
The wind picked up into a howling gale, man, I have been in some winds in the Patagonia, but I was literally picked up and moved across the centre line, seeing my rev counter leap up a thousand revs at the same time, all this time I am at about a 30 deg angle, hiding as best I can behind the wind screen. This was an extremely physical part of my ride.
Somewhere during this marathon ride, I ran upon a couple of bikers on the side of the road, it turns out that this guy
Mauricio
Going no where Mauricio, has a flat tyre on his BIG Honda (Harley Photocopy) and he had no gear to fix it. I got my trusty, Best Rest Air Pump out, hooked it up, but of course he had ridden on the flat tyre and broken the bead. Then I looked at the tyre and there was NO TREAD on it, it was showing the canvas....
Well by now a couple of local yokes had pulled up in their pick up trucks, so it was all hands to this big Mother onto the back of a truck to transport the bike back to the town about 25 kms away, believe it or not, but there was a bike shop there, and a second hand tyre that fitted his bike and two hours later, he was on his way again
By the time I reached the Colorado line, I was pretty buggered, so made a run for Springfield. I got there 6.15pm, with the intention of camping, but the only place here to camp was at an RV Park, there was only dirt, old trailer homes, a couple of drunks and as I entered the driveway, a snake slithered into some scrubbery, so moving
on to a very basic motel in the town was a good option. 869 kms was my biggest riding day. Imagine the Pony Express getting across Kansas in one day !!
The next day was also a big one for me, 776 km to Ridgway Hot Springs, via Trinidad, Salida, Gunnirson and Montrose. I arrived at Ridgway and there was not even room for my little tent, so moved on towards Ouray and found a really good KOA camp ground, pitched my tent and cooked and ate my dinner before dark.
I did a swop with Phil in Austin, Texas for his shorter Thermo Rest, but I had to blow the bloody thing up about 3 times during the night, I will blow it up tomorrow and put it in the swimming pool to see where the problem is.
Today, was my 'day off' in Moab, so what do you do on your day off, you go for just a little ride, 155km.
When Raewyn and I were here with Radar and Su in 1996, we went out to Dead Horse Point and Canyon Lands State Park. While there I saw this goat track, meandering down into
Mauricio's Tyre
Who needs tread anyway? the bottom of the canyon, to the Colorado River, I started down on my Harley Dresser, and after Raewyn poking me in the ribs, demanding to get off, I aborted the silly move.....BUT, I said then, that one day I would like to ride down there, so here I am, 14 years later, fulfilling that dream.....Enjoy the photos.
I have had a great day today.....Notice that Dead Horse point has not changed since we were here in '96.
I got to ride the road down into the canyon, YEAH !! A bit scary on my own though, I could not afford the slightest mistake.
In the photo of me standing on the rock overlooking the Colorado River, I look a bit scary, well the next photo shows the rock I was standing on and I only had 10 seconds to get there and make sure I never slipped on the loose rock getting there, otherwise I may not have been in the picture..Ha Ha.
Having a ball,
I just missed Keith, Bryan and Tony by one day, they rode out of Moab, the day I rode in. String, Bugsy and Dave are now in Eureka, Nevada. Everyone is
At least he is still smiling
Thanks to a local, he gets mobile really enjoying the riding and the challenges.
Until next time, take care
Cheers,
Rosco
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peter
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Hi Ross Thank you for your blog i really enjoy Keep well and dirve safely Regards Peter