After 23 days on the road, I’m ready to be home.

With any luck, I’ll be in Carbondale by tonight, sleeping in a familiar bed.

One final breakfast on the road, and I’m on my way. The Peace Tree Juice Café was so good last night I’m giving it a re-run this morning.

***

US Highway 491 is the road east out of Monticello. In 17 miles, I cross from Utah into Colorado. Doesn’t look any different, but feels really good. Just that much closer to home.

At the junction of Colorado Highway 141, I turn north. I’ll be on this road for the next 56 miles, through Slick Rock and on to Naturita – Spanish for little nature.

Just east of Naturita, I turn onto Colorado Highway 145, which takes me to Norwood, 15 miles away. Norwood sits on a mesa at 7,000 feet, with vistas ringed by the La Sal Mountains to the west, the Uncompahgre Plateau to the north, the San Juan Mountains to the east, and Lone Cone Peak to the south.

Norwood, which sits in the San Miguel River Canyon, is named for Norwood, Missouri – the native home of a first settler.

Leaving Norwood, I ride along the San Miguel River until reaching Leopard Creek Canyon, 17 miles away. Here, I turn north, away from the river, onto Colorado Highway 62. Twenty minutes later, I roll into the town of Ridgway.

Ridgway began as a railroad town, serving the nearby mining towns of Telluride and Ouray. Railroads and ranching have always been part of the Ridgway story. The town is named for Denver and Rio Grande railroad superintendent Robert Ridgway, who established Ridgway in 1891. Today, there’s a Ridgeway Railroad Museum at the southwest corner of US Highway 550 and Colorado Highway 62.

Ridgway went through some tough times beginning with the collapse of the silver market in 1893, the demise of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad in the 1950s, and the controversial plan by the US Bureau of Reclamation to construct a large dam that would inundate the town. In this case, inundate means burying the town in water.

The town’s people persevered, and Ridgway made a comeback. The dam was built elsewhere. And, the 1960s filming of two prominent Hollywood productions, How the West was Won, and True Grit, brought recognition to the community.

Ridgway sits at the junction of Colorado Highway 62, which brought me here, and US Highway 550 – which will bring me ever closer to home.

I ride past Ridgway Reservoir and Ridgway State Park on the way to Montrose, 26 miles away.

I’ve been to Montrose a dozen or more times, but remember little about it other than this: Dave hates the place. He intensely dislikes all the stoplights. He says nuts to Montrose for making him sit on his overheating Harley for what seems like forever at red lights. He detests the way Montrose ruins the rhythm of a ride that’s gone so well for the last bunch of beautiful miles, then you sit in traffic for 30 minutes.

Last summer, after an interminably long journey down Main Street, with a stop at pretty much every signal, Dave called me on our helmet-mounted intercom system. He wanted me to know he plans to have his ashes spread at one of those signals – just to spite Montrose.

I think he’s kidding.

The city of 19,000 has every imaginable food franchise along its busy main street – Highway 550 – including (from south to north) Applebees, Chili’s, Papa Murphy’s, McDonalds, Sonic Drive-in, Denny’s, Starbucks, Wendys, Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell, Dairy Queen, Little Caesar’s, Subway, Burger King, Wienerschnitzel, and Long John Silver’s. What a slice of Americana!

Homesick for Montrose, Dave?

***

From Dave’s All-American city, I continue north, through the corn town of Olathe, home of the Olathe Sweet Corn Festival, held every August. This year, the two-day event begins on August 3 – this Saturday – when you can see country music star Craig Campbell.

He’s sure to perform his hit single, “See You Try,” the story of a relationship that stays flirty and fun even after years of marriage. Campbell didn’t write the song, but says he instantly gravitated to it because of its personal connection to his own experiences with his wife, Mindy Ellis.

Campbell will be headlining the music lineup at the Sweet Corn Festival. This year is the 28^th anniversary of the festival, a celebration of the town’s role as king of sweet corn.

Olathe brings me to Delta, built as a trading post for early settlers and the Ute people. Go Utes!

The town is named because of its location on the delta where the Uncompahgre River flows into the Gunnison River.

In Delta, I turn east on Colorado Highway 92 and ride along the northern edge of the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area – 62,844 acres of protected lands that include whitewater boating and world-class gold medal trout fishing.

***

It’s about 20 miles to the town of Hotchkiss, named after local pioneer Enos Hotchkiss. From here, I have a pretty good idea how to make it home.

I turn north on Colorado Highway 133, roll through the slumping coal towns of Bowie and Somerset, and ride along the North Fork of the Gunnison River. For several beautiful miles, I follow the outlines of Paonia Reservoir and Paonia State Park.

In 16 miles, I arrive at 8,770-foot McClure Pass. It’s one of the steepest paved roads in Colorado, requiring drivers – and riders like me – to climb an eight percent grade. The last time I rode over McClure pass, in August 2018, was with my favorite passenger, Brittany Kühn.

From the pass, the road descends steeply toward the town of Marble, summer home of Slow Groovin’, named last summer as the Best BBQ Ribs in Colorado. Who made that pronouncement? Dave and I did, after sampling ribs at 12 BBQ joints all over the state on our 2018 Rocky Mountain Rib Rally.

Pretty awesome that the best ribs around are right in my backyard.

I say right in my backyard, because it’s exactly 28 miles from Slow Groovin’ to our front door in Carbondale.

***

Highway 133 takes me past the turnoff to Marble on Gunnison County Road 3, and I continue north toward home. I pass the charming town of Redstone, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Redstone was established in the late 19^thcentury by industrialist John Cleveland Osgood as part of a coal mining enterprise. Today, with a population of 130, Redstone’s economy is built around tourism.

A dominant feature in town is the Redstone Castle, a recently-reopened 42-room Tudor-style mansion. Redstone sits on the Crystal River, which I follow for the remaining 16 miles to Carbondale.

Two hundred sixty-eight miles from this morning’s start in Monticello, I’m home.

***

The last three weeks on the road have been more fun than humans should be allowed to have.

Along with Dave, Scott, John, Jim and Randy – I rode 5,517.9 miles, visited six national parks, had one country fried steak breakfast and four fish-and-chips dinners.

We crossed high mountain passes, still covered in snow – and rode through searing desert heat. We sailed on ferries through gorgeous archipelagos and across international borders.

We saw volcanoes, lighthouses galore, and learned why some towns are just plain funny. We rode over the world’s most famous bridge, several of the world’s best motorcycle roads, and became positively poetic among the Redwoods.

Twenty-four Canadian Fun Facts later, we learned a lot about Canada, eh.

This year’s blog ran more than 35,000 words – what publishers would place somewhere between a short story and novella.

If, by some miracle, you learned something in the consumption of my daily blog posts over the past 23 days, you’re welcome.

Until next year …

Vroom, vroom.

***

Day Twenty-Three Summary: I’m home!

Click here to see today’s complete route from Monticello to Carbondale.

I’m home, eh?

Vroom, vroom.

***

Today’s Canada Fun Fact, eh?  The license plate for cars, motorbikes and snowmobiles in Nunavut was once in the shape of a polar bear. Its license plates today feature a polar bear, inuksuk, three sets of northern lights and 25 stars.