Inspired by Steamboat Springs style, we head east considering wearing Stetsons instead of helmets. Cowboy hats on Harleys has been a thing ever since Dennis Hopper made it cool in Easy Rider, back in 1969. It’s truly a fashion statement.

I wrote that just to see if Sarah and Gail were paying attention. Of course we’ve got our helmets on. Safety first.

We’re now heading east on US-40, toward the tiny Town of Walden, about 60 miles away. To get there, we ride over Rabbit Ears Pass, yet another crossing of the Continental Divide.

Walden, population 600, is in the center of a large open valley called North Park. Walden is located just north of the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge, and calls itself the Moose Viewing Capital of Colorado.

Walden was named for Mark Walden, an early postmaster there. The town has a reservoir, but not a pond. Yes, that was an obtuse reference to Walden Pond, inspiration for Henry David Thoreau.

Thoreau’s Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, actually got its name from early colonists who named it after Saffron Walden in Essex, England. Glad you asked?

***

In Walden, Colorado, we begin riding the Cache la Poudre Scenic Byway, which runs 101 miles along the Cache la Poudre River, from Walden to Fort Collins. We’ll be doing most of that ride today, stopping short of Fort Collins, home to Colorado State University, the state’s fifth-largest city.

The Cache la Poudre Scenic Byway crosses between the Never Summer and Medicine Bow Mountains. The Never Summer Mountains have 17 named peaks, many of them named after cloud types, such as Mount Cirrus, Mount Nimbus, Mount Stratus and Mount Cumulus.

The Cache la Poudre winds through the piney hills and willow-covered riparian habitat of Colorado State Forest State Park, the mot reliable place in Colorado to see a moose. No wonder Walden is the Moose Viewing Capital of Colorado.

Cache la Poudre is French for “Hide the Powder.” It refers to an incident in the 1820s when French trappers, caught by a snowstorm, were forced to bury part of their gunpowder along the banks of the river. And now you know.

The Cache la Poudre is popular in the summer for fly fishing, whitewater rafting, tubing, and kayaking. The National Park Service has designated the river as a National Heritage Area, recognizing its contributions to the development of water law in the Western US.

Poudre Canyon Road is an invigorating way to begin the day. The canyon is breathtaking, with hundreds of gentle curves, just enough to keep our focus. Poudre Canyon is considered one of the top motorcycle rides in Northern Colorado.

After riding 72 of the Cache la Poudre’s 101 miles, we turn south on Stove Prairie Road, and begin heading toward Estes Park, tonight’s destination. This road, too, is one of the top motorcycle roads in Northern Colorado. Stove Prairie Road becomes Buckhorn Road, for no apparent reason, but continues its twisty path to Masonville, which has a general store, a post office, and little more.

A few miles south of Masonville, we turn west on US-34, which deposits us, 27 miles later, in Estes Park.

The city is named after Missouri native Joel Estes, who founded the community in 1859, then moved his family there four years later.

Estes Park sits along the Big Thompson River, and adjoins Lake Estes. Its most famous landmark is the historic Stanley Hotel, which opened in 1909. The hotel was built by Freelan Oscar Stanley of Stanley Steamer fame.

The Big Thompson River, on which the hotel sits, is named for English fur trapper David Thompson. He was employed in 1810 by the Northwest Fur Company to explore the Rockies.

We arrive in Estes Park after a ride of 180 mostly spectacular miles, ready for ribs at Smokin’ Dave’s.

It would be hard to imagine a more appropriately named place to eat: Smokin’ Dave’s.

Turns out, not surprisingly, Smokin’ Dave’s delivers on the promise: their ribs make our podium (top three), and are likely to stay there when our Rib Rally ends in a few days.

Now, after 11 consecutive rib meals, here are the updated standings: #1, Slow Groovin (Marble); #2, tie: Serious Texas BBQ (Durango), and Smokin’ Dave’s (Estes Park).

***

Day Eleven Summary: On the lookout for moose, finding the hidden gunpowder in Cache la Poudre Canyon.

Click here to see today’s complete route from Steamboat Springs to Estes Park.

Glad you’re along for the ride.

Vroom, vroom.

***

Today’s Colorado Fun Fact: The first Teddy Bear was invented in Colorado, when the maids at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs crafted the Teddy Bear to give it to a famous visitor – Theodore Roosevelt.

Today’s Rocky Mountain Rib Rally Fun Fact: Tonight, we’re staying in Estes Park. That, by itself, isn’t too interesting. But you may be interested to know the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park was the inspiration behind Stephen King’s infamous horror novel, The Shining.

Today’s Colorado Food Fun Fact: Tomorrow, we’ll be riding through Rocky Mountain National Park, with a peak elevation of 12,183 feet. What to eat and drink at that altitude? According to one website, carbohydrates are the preferred energy source at altitude. Carbs replace depleted muscle glycogen, preventing muscle from being used as energy, and requires less oxygen for metabolism. A high-carb diet can reduce the onset and severity of Acute Mountain Sickness. And, stay hydrated; dehydration at altitude increases the risk of frostbite and worsens the fatigue, impaired judgment and apathy of hypoxia brought on by high altitude.

As we did yesterday, we begin our day by riding east on CO-82, toward Basalt. But today’s ride won’t include fishing, and will be anything but pedestrian.

Today, we’ll cross two high mountain passes, each sitting on the Continental Divide. There’s a reason they call it the Top of the Rockies Scenic Byway.

We roll past El Jebel, then Basalt, and continue east on CO-82, with Aspen in our sights.

Aspen is only 31 miles from our front door. It’s 29 miles to Snowmass, a much larger but (outside of Colorado) less-well-known ski area.

***

Living so close to these ski areas has been life-changing for me. I’ll be self-indulgent for a moment, and share a story about me. And about skiing. Stay with me.

Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, I learned to ski at Squaw Valley, the week after the 1960 Winter Olympics were held there. Skiing held a special place for me; as a kid, it was my escape from real life during the turbulent 1960s.

I loved skiing so much that when it came time to go off to college, my only criteria for a university was proximity to skiing. I chose the University of Utah because, well, they accepted me. And the campus was only 25 miles from Alta.

Classes in the morning, skiing in the afternoon. Nice life, at age 18.

I was a good enough skier that Alta hired me as a ski instructor for its Alf Engen Ski School in the early 1970s. They paid me, but that was beside the point; the point was that I got to share my passion for skiing with others, and I was able to use my gifts as a communicator and teacher to help my students become better skiers.

Then, life and my career intervened.

I skied less and less, and eventually gave up on skiing altogether, donating my ski gear to charities when we lived in Southern California. We thought we’d never ski again, and stopped skiing for good in 2001, after returning from a ski trip to France. That was that. Or so we thought.

Living in the desert was not at all conducive to a snow-oriented life. It was hard to get excited about skiing when it was 80 degrees and sunny every winter day.

Then, in the fall of 2017, we arrived in Carbondale, Colorado, to watch our new home being built. Colorado is one of the most beautiful places on earth, with endless four season possibilities, including snow sports in the winter. But when we decided to move to the Rockies, skiing was never part of the conversation. I thought my skiing days were behind me.

Just to hedge my bets, I bought a seven-day pass at Aspen Snowmass for the 2017-2018 season, curious to see if I’d find a spark.

On January 22, 2018, I had my first ski day in 17 years. I found a spark, and it turned to fire. The passion reignited. I got home that evening, and said to Sarah, “Hey, I can still do this!”

I began to see myself as a recreational skier, perhaps slightly above average, like all the children in Lake Wobegon.

And then, I had a life-altering afternoon on the hill one day in February. I had a “client relations day” on the hill at Snowmass with George, our construction superintendent. George was on his snowboard, me on my rented skis. Days later, George said to Sarah, very loosely paraphrasing – and this is how he talks – “Dude can ski.”

So, with a renewed self-confidence in my skiing after a 17-year hiatus, I decided to participate in an “on-snow” tryout to become a ski instructor at Aspen Snowmass for the 2018-2019 season. On April 4, I joined 11 other hopefuls, most young enough to be my grandchildren, as we all pursued a common dream.

Now the payoff: after a 47-year break from ski instructing, I’ll be teaching again next season. Aspen Snowmass calls it being a “ski pro.” Whatever it’s called, I’m tremendously thankful for the opportunity to follow my passion. Again.

Funny how life comes full circle when you least expect it.

***

We continue our ride on CO-82, rolling past the turnoff to Snowmass, where I’ll be working next year – if you call it work.

We pass Buttermilk, home of the Winter X Games, held every January.

And soon, we roll through Aspen, where the average home sales price is now close to $8 million. Per-square-foot prices are in the thousands of dollars. It’s an unreal, obscene real estate market given to vulgar displays of wealth.

Home prices in these parts are stupidly high. The mountains are high, too.

The highest lift at Snowmass goes to 12,510 feet. It’s above the tree line. The highest lift in Colorado is at Breckenridge, topping out at 12,840 feet. Highest in the world: Dagu Glacier in China, where its lift tops rises to 15,890 feet. Dagu is said to be the largest and youngest glacier in the world.

***

We roll out of Aspen, and immediately begin our journey on the Top of the Rockies Scenic Byway. This spectacular roadway takes us across the Continental Divide and within view of Colorado’s two highest peaks, Mount Elbert (14,440 feet) and Mount Massive (14,421 feet).

From Aspen, it’s less than 20 miles to Independence Pass. The pass, at 12,095 feet, is the highest paved crossing of the Continental Divide. Indy Pass, as it’s known, is generally open from Memorial Day to November 1, depending on what kind of a snow year we have. It’s been a very mild snow season, and the pass opened this year on May 23.

Independence Pass gets its name from the village named Independence, which was established on July 4, 1879 – and is now a ghost town four miles west of the pass – on the Aspen side.

Independence grew quickly as miners found gold in the mountains.

Clark Wheeler, an early investor in those mines, funded the construction of a stage road from Independence to Leadville, the first road to cross the pass. It opened in November 1881, with winter already in full swing at the pass.

The toll road charged 25 cents. The tolls, collected at three separate gates, primarily reflected the cost of retaining a large crew of men with snow shovels to keep the road open in wintertime; they were able to keep the road open through its first five winters. When the snow was too deep, sleighs were used instead. During the summer the stages were able to take the switchbacks at full speed, with dogs running in advance to warn other traffic. A typical voyage over the pass required 10–25 hours and five changes of horses.

Today, our passage from Independence to Leadville will take less than an hour, and will involve no changes of Harleys.

The Colorado gold boom turned to silver in the late 1800s, causing Aspen — where we were just an hour ago — to grow like crazy. But by the late 1920s, Aspen’s mining fortunes had reversed, and its population dropped below a thousand. Mines gradually closed down, but the route over the pass remained open. In 1927, the year of the great stock market crash, the state of Colorado replaced the stage road with what eventually became Highway 82 – which we’re riding today over Independence Pass. Most of the old stage route over the pass is still used today.

***

In addition to marking the Continental Divide, Independence Pass is also the crest of the Sawatch Range, the Pitkin-Lake county line, and the boundary between the White River and San Isabel National Forests. And, a darn good place to pull over for photos from a spectacular vista point.

We’ve crossed the Continental Divide several times on this trip, and will do it again later today. Probably not a bad idea to clarify what the Continental Divide is.

It’s a natural boundary line separating the watersheds of the Pacific Ocean from those of the Atlantic Ocean. Technically, a continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent where the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side feeds into a different ocean or sea.

The Continental Divide runs north-south from Alaska to Northwestern South America. In the continental U.S., it follows the crest of the Rocky Mountains. There are thirteen paved mountain crossings of the Continental Divide. During the 2018 Rocky Mountain Rib Rally, we’ll cross seven of them.

***

After our latest Continental Divide photo op, we begin the journey down the mountain toward Twin Lakes, 17 miles east of the pass. Twin Lakes is 9,200 feet high in the San Isabel National Forest, a drop of nearly 3,000 feet from Independence Pass.

Just past Twin Lakes, we turn north on US Highway 24. Thirty minutes later, we arrive in the historic city of Leadville. At 10,152 feet, Leadville is America’s highest incorporated city. It’s a former silver mining town, whose population was nearly 30,000 at the height of the mining boom. Today, the population is closer to 2,700.

Leadville is credited with producing 240 million troy ounces of silver and nearly three million troy ounces of gold. And today, it’s home to the National Mining Museum and Hall of Fame.

We leave Leadville, and set out to bag our second Continental Divide crossing of the day. We’re heading north on US-24, toward Tennessee Pass, elevation 10,424 feet. The pass is named after Tennessee, native state of a group of early mining prospectors in the area near Leadville – and birthplace of Sarah Murr.

Tennessee Pass, is also the location for Ski Cooper, one of the oldest ski areas in Colorado. It opened as Cooper Hill Ski Area in 1941. During World War II, Ski Cooper served as the training site for the 10^th Mountain Division. To this day, it continues to host a Memorial Day celebration for the World War II veterans of this division. Ski Cooper is a laid-back ski area, with two chairlifts and a family atmosphere. Season passes for the 2018-2019 season go on sale July 1.

***

From Tennessee Pass / Ski Cooper, it’s about 20 miles on US-24 to the charming mountain Town of Minturn, population 1,000. The town is named for Robert Minturn, who was vice president of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad that founded the town.

Minturn was originally developed as a railroad town in the late 1800s, attracting railroad workers from around the country who settled in Minturn and helped shape the town’s character.

Despite its small size, Minturn claims to have more year-round residents than its resort neighbors, Vail and Beaver Creek, which are both just off of I-70. As we roll through Minturn, we are only about two miles south of I-70.

Today’s destination is Steamboat Springs, 87 miles northeast of Minturn.

***

So, we quickly jump on I-70, heading west for 14 miles, passing Beaver Creek, Avon, and Edwards before exiting I-70 at Wolcott and turning north on CO-131. We’ll be on CO-131 for the next 68 miles, riding through Toponas, Yampa, Phippsburg and Oak Creek on our way to Steamboat Springs.

Tourism Colorado’s official website calls this roadway one of the state’s “Must-ride” routes, noting its nickname: The Steamboat Scream. It’s a must-ride for us, for sure. Couldn’t figure out any other way to get to Steamboat Springs.

Steamboat Springs has its own hot springs, which gave the town its name.

Upon first hearing a chugging sound, early trappers believed that a steamboat was coming down the river. When the trappers saw that there was no steamboat, and that the sound was coming from a hot spring, they decided to name the spring Steamboat Springs.

The image that most often comes to mind of Steamboat Springs is skiers in cowboy hats – a visual made famous by Billy Kidd, Steamboat’s most famous skier, and Olympic silver medalist in 1964. Kidd, who never seems to age, turned 75 this year. He grew up in Vermont, but settled in Steamboat Springs after retiring from ski racing, making skiing in a Stetson stylish. He’s been the Director of Skiing at Steamboat for, well, forever – 48 years. During ski season, skiers and snowboarders can join Kidd for a free, on-mountain clinic (when he’s in town) at 1 PM at the top of the Steamboat gondola. Dude can ski!

Steamboat is legendary in the winter. Summers are awesome, too — offering rodeo, hot-air balloon riding, Gold Medal fly fishing, river rafting, the Strings Music Festival, opera, arts shows, and all sorts of activities to rejuvenate the soul.

Steamboat is where we’ll spend night ten of our Rocky Mountain Rib Rally.

Dinner is at Low Country Kitchen, a southern-themed restaurant. Dinner was great, and the ribs were really good. Dave loved the hush puppies (he’s a bit of a hush puppy connoisseur).

But we discovered something interesting tonight. There are a lot of ways to cook ribs, but the only way to do it right is to smoke them. That’s why our three top rib choices, so far on this trip remain: #1, Slow Groovin (Marble); #2, Serious Texas BBQ (Durango); and #3, Moe’s Original BBQ (Eagle).

It’s not the fault of Low Country Kitchen that they didn’t make our top three list; their ribs were as good as they could possibly be — considering they weren’t cooked in a smoker. And we’d highly recommend eating there when in Steamboat Springs. Try their fried chicken; it looked scrumptious!

***

Day Ten Summary: Life comes full circle.

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

Glad you’re along for the ride.

Vroom, vroom.

***

Today’s Colorado Fun Fact: In Aspen, which we rode through today, you’re encouraged to ski your butt off all winter long. But here’s one thing you can’t do in the winter: be caught throwing snowballs at people or buildings. It’s illegal. Also illegal in Colorado: riding a horse while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. While dandelions are considered the official flower of Carbondale, it’s illegal to let a dandelion grow within the town limits of Pueblo, Colorado.

Today’s Rocky Mountain Rib Rally Fun Fact: Leadville, which we rode through today, is the highest incorporated city in the United States at 10,430 feet elevation. Because there were lots of silver-named towns at the time (ie, Silverton), the founding fathers suggested Leadville instead.

Today’s Colorado Food Fun Fact: We rode through Aspen today, where one of life’s great culinary indulgences can be found – at the Ajax Tavern, part of the Little Nell Hotel. The tavern and hotel are both owned by the Aspen Ski Company (SkiCo), my soon-to-be employer. At the Ajax Tavern, treat yourself to a tasty, and expensive-but-worth-it snack: Ajax Truffle Fries (gluten free, $17). Pairs well with almost anything: Snowden Cabernet, $32 a glass; a Belvedere Mule, $16; or a Breckenridge Brewery Avalanche Amber, $8. For a real celebration, try their Louis Roederer Cristal champagne (2006), $1,485 a bottle. Hey, welcome to Aspen!

Today, we combine gold medal riding with Gold Medal trout fishing.

The gold medal riding begins in the Town of Basalt, about halfway from Carbondale to Aspen on CO-82.

In Basalt, we turn off CO-82, and onto Fryingpan Road, named for the river that has Gold Medal trout fishing. In fact, Gold Medal trout fishing can be found in both of Basalt’s rivers: the Fryingpan and the Roaring Fork. Basalt is the only town in America with two certified Gold Medal fishing waters.

The Fryingpan, particularly the section below the Ruedi Reservoir, produces trout as heavy as 10 pounds. Serious fishermen (like Dave) can fish the Fryingpan, and the Roaring Fork, all year round.

Yes, it can be cold in December, but suck it up, people. This is world-class fly fishing, and the majority of big fish are caught during winter months.

***

Colorado has 6,000 miles of fishable rivers and streams, as well as 2,000 lakes and reservoirs that offer fishing experiences for every angler and every season. The Roaring Fork Valley, where we live, has more than 40 miles of catch-and-release Gold Medal waters on the Fryingpan and Roaring Fork Rivers.

Earning Gold Medal status is no simple accomplishment. The Gold Medal designation is the highest ranking for top quality fishing for wild trout that a fishery can achieve in Colorado. The Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife identifies Gold Medal waters, based on rivers, streams and lakes providing the necessary water quality and habitat to support healthy populations of large trout.

Numerically speaking, Gold Medal waters must be able to produce 60 pounds of trout per acre, and at least 12 trout more than 14 inches long, per acre. That’s a lot of math, and a ton of awesome fishing.

The Gold Medal waters on the Fryingpan River are from the Ruedi Dam, downstream to the confluence with the Roaring Fork River, about 14 miles in all.

The Roaring Fork River has about 22 miles of Gold Medal waters, from Basalt to Glenwood Springs, offering a great mix of wading and floating water.

***

We follow Fryingpan Road, along the Fryingpan River, all the way to the Ruedi Reservoir, where the Gold Medal waters begin.

At the Ruedi Reservoir, we continue riding along the Fryingpan Road until it turns to dirt. Followers of this blog know what that means: time to turn around and head back to Carbondale.

Today’s ride is only about 100 miles, but it includes world-class fishing and world-class riding.

What could be better?

On our way back into Carbondale from fishing, we stop at Marble Distilling. It’s a good transition from the life of an outdoorsman to the life of a gourmand.

Tonight, we’re having ribs in Carbondale. On Main Street. In a very unlikely spot. Curious?

***

Day Nine Summary: Gold Medal waters. Gold Medal roads. Life’s good!

Click here to see today’s complete route from Carbondale to Ruedi Reservoir and back to Carbondale.

Glad you’re along for the ride.

Vroom, vroom.

***

Today’s Colorado Fun Fact: There are at least seven major rivers whose headwaters begin in Colorado, with the Continental Divide directing each river’s course. On the east side of the Continental Divide, the Rio Grande, the North Platte, the South Platte, the Arkansas, the Cache la Poudre and the Republican rivers all flow toward the Atlantic Ocean. On the west side of the Continental Divide, the Colorado River flows toward the Pacific Ocean.

Today’s Rocky Mountain Rib Rally Fun Fact: The Ruedi Reservoir, which we rode by today, is the home of the Aspen Yacht Club. The Yacht Club has no electricity, no running water, and no cell phone service – so members can fully enjoy sailing during summer months. There are about 80 members of the Aspen Yacht Club.

Today’s Colorado Food Fun Fact: We rode through Basalt on our way to Ruedi Reservoir today. Best food in Basalt: Heather’s Savory Pies and Tapas Bar (according to TripAdvisor), and Free Range Kitchen & Wine Bar (per Yelp). Just sayin …

Today is a health food day. That means everything we consume does something for our health.

The day begins at the W Cafe in Gunnison, one of the highest-rated restaurants in town.

We end our two-night stay in Gunnison by heading east on US-50, riding into the Gunnison National Forest.

For miles, we see little except mountains and trees. This is, after all, Colorado.

Forty-four miles from Gunnison, we arrive at the Monarch Mountain ski area, which is located at Monarch Pass, elevation 10,790 feet – on the Continental Divide. The ski area originally opened in 1939 with one rope tow, powered by a Chevy engine.

Unlike many ski resorts that boom in the summer, Monarch Mountain is shut down this time of year. But you can buy your 2018-2019 season pass now for $20, if you’re under 6 or over 69. For the rest of you, come to Carbondale and ski Aspen Snowmass; it’s easier to get to, and you’re more likely to stay with us.

Continuing east on US-50, we arrive at Poncha Springs, 20 minutes from Monarch Mountain. Poncha Springs, population 737, sits at the intersection of US-50 and US-285.

The small Town of Poncha Springs once held huge significance for an early Colorado explorer: Lt. Zebulon Pike (for whom Pikes Peak is named). In the winter of 1806, Pike and his party hunkered down here until the snows passed. The town commemorates Pike’s respite from exploration with a historical marker.

Poncha Springs is named for its hot springs. But discovery of the hot springs is not universally agreed upon. Some historians believe Lt. Pike discovered the hot springs in 1806. Others credit frontiersman Kit Carson with discovering it in 1832.

For years, the springs were a tourist attraction. But they closed in 1935 when the nearby city of Salida had the water piped to a pool in Salida. Eventually, the Poncha hot springs were capped with cement, and Salida now owns the hot waters from Poncha Springs.

***

In Poncha Springs, we turn north on US-285 toward Nathrop and Johnson Village, riding along the southernmost of the Collegiate Peaks.

The Town of Nathrop was once a popular railroad stop in the 1800s, where visitors seeking to soak their bones in the natural hot springs found respite. Today, you can still dip into geothermal waters at the Mount Princeton Hot Springs Resort and soothe away what ails you.

Mount Princeton is, of course, one of the Collegiate Peaks, a small group of fourteeners (14,000-foot mountains) that tower above the Upper Arkansas River Valley in the Rockies.

Most lists of fourteeners show 58 of them. Some lists have as few as 52, or as many as 74. The 74 figure includes 15 unnamed peaks. If you’re confused, read this for some clarity.

***

The five Collegiate Peaks are so named because several of the mountains are named for prominent universities. Four are Ivy League schools, and one isn’t in the US at all, but is generally ranked as the best university in the world: Oxford.

Here are the Collegiate Peaks:

• Mount Harvard, 14,421 (third-highest of the 14ers)
• Mount Princeton 14,204
• Mount Yale 14,202
• Mount Oxford 14,160
• Mount Columbia 14,079

As you might expect, there are stories associated with naming each of the Collegiate Peaks.

The naming tradition began in 1869 when members of the first Harvard Mining School class named 14,420-foot Mount Harvard after their institution while on expedition with Josiah Dwight Whitney, professor of geology at Harvard.

The same group named the adjacent peak, Mount Yale after Whitney’s alma mater. The class was in Colorado that year to identify the highest point in the contiguous United States and to debunk rumors of an 18,000-foot peak in the Rocky Mountains.

The first recorded ascent of Mount Princeton was in 1877 by William Libbey, professor of physical geography at Princeton University. There was once a tradition between the alumni of Yale and Princeton to pile rocks on the top of their namesake mountains to ensure each’s mountain was taller; there is only a two-foot difference in height between the two mountains.

14,073-foot Mount Columbia was given its name by climber Roger Wolcott Toll in 1916. Toll had attended Denver University and Columbia University and went on to have a noteworthy career with the National Park Service.

The last of the Collegiate Peaks to receive a scholarly name was 14,153-foot Mount Oxford, which, in 1931, was named by Rhodes scholar John L. Jerome Hart, a Denver lawyer and climber who had spent a year at Oxford University.

Interested in naming a mountain? There are a lot of unnamed mountains just jonesing for a name. The Domestic Names Committee of the US Board on Geographic Names is in charge of mountain naming. Here’s how you have your voice heard, and mountain named.

Having a hard time finding just the right name? Try this.

***

We are now riding north on US-285, the aptly named Collegiate Peaks Scenic Byway.

Buena Vista, which is just off the Scenic Byway, is a good place to stop for gas, and clean the windshields.

In Johnson Village, US-285 veers right, taking us northward toward the Town of Fairplay, which sits at 9,953 feet – making it the fifth-highest incorporated place in Colorado.

Fairplay, a town of about 700, began as a gold mining settlement in 1859, during the early days of the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush. The town was named by settlers who were upset by the generous mining claims given to the earliest prospectors, and promised a more equitable system for its residents. Thus, Fairplay.

The big deal every year in Fairplay is the Burro Days festival, held on the last weekend of July. Burro Days celebrates the town’s mining heritage. The main feature of the festival is a 29-mile burro race from downtown Fairplay to the 13,000-foot summit of Mosquito Pass. First prize at one time was an ounce of gold; today, it’s $1,000.

***

Our next point of interest is 11,542-foot Hoosier Pass, so we turn north on CO-9 for the 11-mile ride to the pass. Hoosier Pass rises gradually on the southern side and drops steeply on the northern side. Its maximum grade is eight percent, just like McClure Pass, which we’ve ridden several times over the past week.

Hoosier Pass sits on the Continental Divide at the northern end of the Mosquito Range. It’s is the highest point on the TransAmerica Trail, a transcontinental bicycle route that stretches from Yorktown, Virginia to Astoria, Oregon.

The Hoosier name comes from the state of Indiana, which is nicknamed the “Hoosier State.” Many Colorado pioneers apparently came from Indiana. What would a father from Indiana be called? Wait for it … Hoosier Daddy!

***

As we follow CO-9 northward, we continue toward the ski resort of Breckenridge, just 12 miles away. We roll past the turnoff to a trailhead for Quandary Peak, considered the “easiest” of Colorado’s 14ers to summit. “Easiest” is in quotes because it’s hard to imagine getting to the top of any fourteener being an easy task.

Interestingly, while Quandary Peak has the “easiest” descriptor attached to it, it’s also one of the most dangerous of the fourteeners, with a relatively high accident rate. The dangerous nature of Quandary Peak is likely the result of its popularity, easy year-round access, and its variety of routes to the summit. Apparently, many of those who get in trouble on Quandary Peak are likely underestimating the risks associated with climbing it.

The six-mile hike to Quandary Peak has a 3,320 foot elevation gain, ending at the 14,265-foot summit. The final section of the trail climbs 1,100 feet over eight-tenths of a mile. Uff-da!

At 14,265 feet Quandary ranks as the 13th-highest peak in Colorado. According to 14ers.com, the peak’s name comes from a group of miners who were unable to identify a mineral sample found on its slopes in the 1860s. The group was in a “quandary” over the exact nature of the mineral, and ended up naming the mountain from where the mineral originated.

***

We press on for the few remaining miles to Breckenridge, a town and ski resort located at the base of the Tenmile Range, part of the Rockies. Breckenridge sits at 9,600 feet, along the Blue River – a beautiful setting for the town of about 5,000 residents.

Breckenridge was created in 1859, named after John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, the 14^th Vice President of the United States. Town fathers hoped to flatter the government and get a post office. Their plan worked. It became the first post office between the Continental Divide and Salt Lake City.

One of the must-sees in Breckenridge is the Breckenridge Brewery & Pub. So, we  grabbed a prime parking spot, went in, and cooled off.

In the winter, the ski resort is the hub of the community. It’s owned and operated by Vail Resorts. Skiing goes all the way up to the top of Breckenridge, at 12,840 feet, the highest lift in North America. Known to Coloradans as “Breck,” it claims to be the first ski area to allow snowboarding.

In the summer, Breckenridge hosts the National Repertory Orchestra and the Breckenridge Music Institute. There’s much to do here in the summer: mountain biking, geocaching, ziplining, hiking, tubing, fly fishing, golfing, even skiing (on July 4^th). The possibilities are endless.

Breckenridge was the filming location of the 1989 comedy National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation; the town stood in for Aspen in Dumb and Dumber. Breckenridge is just a few miles south of the southern end of Dillon Reservoir, which provides 40 percent of Denver’s fresh water supply.

One final Breck note: you may wonder why the town is spelled “BreckENridge,” and the person it’s named after was spelled BreckINridge. Glad you noticed. Here’s an explanation.

***

Colorado Highway 9 takes us to the Town of Frisco, our last stop before jumping on I-70 and beginning the 110-mile ride home to Carbondale.

We pass the Copper Mountain ski area, which sits along I-70, and boasts free snowcat skiing on Tucker Mountain.

The next six miles climb steeply (seven and eight percent grades) to Vail Pass, a 10,662-foot high mountain pass that can get more than a little challenging in the winter. It was named for Charles Vail, a highway engineer and director of the Colorado State Highway Department from 1930 to 1945.

From Vail Pass, it’s a 15-mile descent to the town of Vail, and the Vail Ski Resort. The town was established and built as the base village for the ski resort when it opened in 1962.

Olympic skiers Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin are among the many elite athletes calling Vail home.

Another famous Vail resident: Ryan Sutter, a firefighter on the Vail Fire Department. Name sound familiar? He was the first winner of the “Bachelorette” TV reality show, chosen by Trista Rehn. The two were married in 2003.

Sutter once in a while has reason professionally to be at the town’s hospital, the renowned Vail Valley Medical Center. The Steadman Clinic is part of that community hospital. World-class athletes (and common folk) throng to the Steadman Clinic to receive orthopaedic care on their over-taxed joints. In November 2017, Sarah had her torn rotator cuff repaired there. Today, she’s as good as new; at least her shoulder is.

***

From Vail, I-70 follows the Eagle River and takes us the 31 miles to the Town of Eagle. Here, you’ll find an extensive trail system for mountain biking, hiking and trail running. Eagle is only three miles away from the closest Costco to our home, in Gypsum. You Google Map fans will note that the Costco is 43 miles from our Carbondale home.

Eagle is also where we’re stopping for ribs, at Moe’s Original BBQ. Moe’s was founded by three college kids from Alabama in the 1980s, and it’s been growing ever since – with locations throughout the south and the mountain west.

Leaving Moe’s, we ride, in reverse, the same route as Sarah and I do when we make a Costco visit: west on I-70, through spectacular Glenwood Canyon to Glenwood Springs. Glenwood Canyon is about 12 miles long, with walls climbing as high as 1,300 feet from the Colorado River.

Glenwood Canyon is often considered one of the most scenic natural features on the US Interstate Highway System. Building the highway through Glenwood Canyon was no easy feat; to build a four-lane roadway, the Colorado Department of Transportation essentially had to construct two roadways, one nearly on top of the other. Construction began in 1980 and was completed in 1992.

The roadway, built at a cost of $490 million, includes 40 bridges and viaducts, two 4,000-foot tunnels, and four full-service rest areas that provide access to trails and the Colorado River.

The final link of I-70 through Glenwood Canyon has been hailed as an engineering marvel because of the care taken to incorporate the interstate improvements into the fragile canyon environment, while leaving as much of the flora and fauna intact as possible.

Glenwood Canyon ends in Glenwood Springs, where we exit I-70 for the remaining 15-mile ride to Carbondale.

We’re home, and we’ve already got ribs in our belly.

***

Day Eight Summary: Collegiate Peaks, the “easiest” fourteener (if there is such a thing as easy), and a return to the site of Sarah’s shoulder surgery.

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

Glad you’re along for the ride.

Vroom, vroom.

***

Today’s Colorado Fun Fact: The world’s largest natural hot springs pool is located in Glenwood Springs, just 10 miles northwest of Carbondale The two-block long pool is across the street from the historic Hotel Colorado, a favorite stop of former president Teddy Roosevelt.

Today’s Rocky Mountain Rib Rally Fun Fact: A few hours ago, we rode through the Town of Breckenridge, and similarly named ski resort. The Imperial Express Superchair at Breckenridge Ski Resort is the highest chairlift in North America. It’s top is nearly 13,000 feet, and is above the tree line.

Today’s Colorado Food Fun Fact: The Town of Carbondale, population less than 7,000, has more than 40 restaurants, according to TripAdvisor. Despite that, and somewhat unbelievably, you can’t find an overweight person anywhere in the Roaring Fork Valley. Number-one rated restaurant in Carbondale (per TripAdvisor): Village Smithy, a great local hangout for breakfast.

We’ll begin and end our day in Gunnison. It’ll be a 249-mile loop that takes us over the steepest paved pass in Colorado.

The loop begins by riding west on US-50 out of Gunnison for 10 miles, then turning south at the Blue Mesa Reservoir on CO-149, a twisty route through the San Juan Mountains.

We’re riding on the Silver Thread Scenic Byway, a 117-mile gem that winds through the San Juan Mountains and ends in South Fork.

The San Juan Mountains are Colorado’s largest mountain range. Major towns in the San Juans, every one an old mining camp, include Creede and Lake City – which we’ll visit today – and Silverton, Ouray and Telluride, which we visited earlier in the week. The highest point in the San Juan Mountains is Uncompahgre Peak, at 14,309 feet.

The San Juan Mountains have the distinction of having the highest US airport with scheduled airline service – Telluride Airport, at an elevation of 9,070 feet.

***

Visiting old ghost towns in the San Juan Mountains is a popular tourist activity. Colorado has about 500 ghost towns, and 650 actual (statutory) towns. Mining booms and busts left the mountains littered with ghost towns that fascinate locals and tourists alike. Today, we’re two of them.

In search of ghost towns, we follow CO-149 for 86 miles, passing by Lake City, the county seat of Hinsdale County. Lake City is named after nearby Lake San Cristobal.

Lake San Cristobal is the second largest natural lake in Colorado. San Cristobal means “Saint Christopher,” in Spanish. Saint Christopher is a patron saint of travelers. Like Dave and me.

The area around Lake City and Lake San Cristobal is at the southern end of Colorado’s mineral belt. Lake City historically relied on mining, and its economy today is dependent on tourism. The Town of Lake City is designated a National Historic District, with more than 200 historic structures.

Leaving Lake City, we continue on CO-149, and after 10 miles, reach the summit of Slumgullion Pass. On our way up, we experience Slumgullion’s 9.4 percent grade, the steepest in Colorado. (A side note on steepness: three summers ago, Dave and I rode over Sonora Pass, through California’s Sierra Mountains. Sonora Pass has a section with a 26 percent grade.)

Slumgullion is more than a pass; it’s a stew,  too.

***

Near the Rio Grande River, we turn north, staying on CO-149. The Rio Grande flows from southwestern Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico, along the way forming part of the Mexico-US border.

We follow the Rio Grande on CO-149, passing through Creede, a historic old mining town in appropriately named Mineral County.

Creede, elevation 8,800 feet, has been featured in a number of Hollywood films, including:

• The Shootist in 1976, with John Wayne and Ron Howard, about a dying gunfighter who spends his last days looking for a way to die with the least pain and the most dignity.
• The final scene in the 2007 drama, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, takes place in a saloon in Creede, where outlaw Robert Ford (played by Casey Affleck) is gunned down by Edward O’Kelley. The scene was shot on a set in Edmonton, Alberta, that recreated much of 19^th century Creede. Earlier in the film, Ford had killed Jesse James, played by Brad Pitt.
• Scenes from the 2013 western, Lone Ranger, starring Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp, were filmed in and around Creede.

Creede, we continue our ride along the Rio Grande. In the Town of South Fork, we turn east on US-160. Here in South Fork, the Griswold family spends the night at a campground as part of the 1983 Harold Ramis movie, National Lampoon’s Vacation.

After 15 miles on US-160, we roll into Del Norte, named after the river “Rio Grande del Norte” – Grand River of the North. Del Norte, elevation 7,884 feet, is a good place to stop for gas, and a snack at the Three Barrel Brewing Company. If only we needed gas and a beer.

In Del Norte, we hop on CO-112 for about 15 minutes, then turn north on US-285. Unusual for a Rocky Mountain ride, the road is a straight line for 25 miles. No turns, not even a bend in the road.

In Saguache (suh-WATCH), at the junction of CO-114, we veer west for 62 miles, and enjoy some mountain curves for a pleasant change. In the distance, we see Razor Creek Dome (11,530 feet) and Sawtooth Mountain (12,304 feet).

We cross Cochetopa Pass, 10,067 feet, on the way in to Gunnison. It sits on the Continental Divide. Cochetopa is a Ute Indian word for “pass of the buffalo.” Go Utes!

At US-50, we turn west and ride the remaining eight miles to Gunnison, which completes our loop for the day.

***

Another night in Gunnison. More ribs.

Well, on second thought, no ribs tonight. We’re declaring it “Rib Detox Night.”

We’ve done six rib meals in six days, and we’ll think of tonight’s sacrifice as a rib sabbath.

We’ll resume our rib-fest tomorrow on our way home to Carbondale.

***

Day Seven Summary: Colorado’s mineral belt, a town called Lake City, movie time in Creede, Rib Detox Night.

Click here to see today’s complete route from Gunnison to Gunnison – the Gunny Sack Loop.

Glad you’re along for the ride.

Vroom, vroom.

***

Today’s Colorado Fun Fact: Wondering how Pikes Peak got its name? Brigadier General Zebulon Pike was a captain in the US Army when he was sent by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the southern regions of the newly acquired Louisiana territory. The Pike Expedition in 1806 and 1807 discovered and documented what later became known as Pikes Peak. The mountain rises to 14,110 feet – and more than 400,000 people make it to the summit each year, by car, train or foot.

Today’s Rocky Mountain Rib Rally Fun Fact: The Town of Del Norte, which we passed through today, is home to Patriot Bible University, an independent Baptist correspondence school. The unaccredited school issues religious degrees only, and has been criticized as a “degree mill,” with low graduation requirements and high graduation rates. You can prepay for a degree ($1,899) and walk away with a Doctor of Ministry in a matter of months.

Today’s Colorado Food Fun Fact: Great name for a restaurant: the Gunnisack, in Gunnison – where we’re staying tonight. Sadly, the Gunnisack is a rib-free, so we’ll keep looking for a suitable rib stop.

We’ve almost committed to memory our route out of town, and probably you have, too. For the last time, we head south on CO-133, past Redstone, and over McClure Pass.

Seventeen miles south of the pass, there’s a turnoff onto Gunnison County Road 12. Sounds innocuous enough. We could turn east on County Road 12, and end up at our destination, Crested Butte, in about 31 miles.

The road would take us over Kebler Pass, a 10,007-foot summit that brings into focus one of the world’s most spectacular aspen groves. Kebler Pass is a segment of the West Elk Loop, which we’re riding today.

Since Sarah and I have been in Colorado, everyone tells us Kebler Pass is a must-see in the summer, and especially in the fall. Autumn foliage is world-class, among the best in the Rockies.

Unfortunately, Kebler Pass is mostly gravel and packed dirt. I don’t do unpaved roads on the Harley. It’s just not gonna happen. Call me a pansy. It’s still not gonna happen.

So, we’ll take the long way to Crested Butte.

Instead of going Carbondale-to-Crested Butte in 73 miles (2 hours and 40 minutes), we’re riding the long paved way. We’ll arrive there in 3 hours and 40 minutes, after a 170-mile ride.

Sarah and I will eventually do Kebler Pass. In her Lexus. In the fall, as the aspen leaves are changing colors. I’ll blog about it, and share photos with you.

***

We continue south on CO-133, rolling past the turnoff to Kebler Pass, riding down the mountain toward Paonia and on to Hotchkiss.

In Hotchkiss, we turn south on CO-92, part of the West Elk Loop. It soon becomes a twisty mountain road that follows the contours of the Gunnison River gorge for nearly 50 miles. It’s paved, it’s spectacular, and it’s one of the top motorcycle roads in Colorado. That’s saying a lot.

After about 40 miles of riding that requires one’s A game, we arrive at the west end of the Blue Mesa Reservoir, the largest body of water entirely in Colorado. The Blue Mesa is America’s largest lake trout and kokanee salmon fishery.

Here, we turn east on US-50. In 26 miles, the same distance as running a marathon, we arrive in Gunnison, a small college town and ranching community. Gunnison was named in honor of Captain John Gunnison, a US Army officer who surveyed for the transcontinental railroad in 1853. The city is home to Western State Colorado University, originally founded as the Colorado State Normal School for Children in 1901.

Gunnison is tonight’s lodging, and tomorrow’s, too. But we’ve had Crested Butte on the brain all day and need to check it out first, before settling down in Gunnison.

Crested Butte is only 27 miles north of Gunnison. To get there, just roll through Gunnison, get on CO-135, and follow it to Crested Butte, a charming ski resort town designated as the Wildflower Capital of Colorado.

(Note regarding town nicknames: Carbondale is considered the Dandelion Capital of Colorado, and holds Dandelion Day every May, a celebration that spring is in full bloom.)

A former coal mining town, Crested Butte is a year-round resort, like so many in Colorado. There’s just so much to do, and to see at the Butte.

It’s taken us nearly four hours to get here, and we’re gonna soak it in before heading back to Gunnison for dinner and bedtime.

We grab a beer, the official beverage of bikers everywhere, relax, and ponder what might have been if we’d done Kebler Pass. Colorado has more microbreweries per capita than any other state, and one of them is right here in Crested Butte – the Irwin Brewing Company.

Disappointingly, there’s not a rib restaurant in town. So, after one beer, we’re still riding legally, and we return to Gunnison for dinner and a good night’s sleep.

***

Day Six Summary: The long and winding road to Crested Butte.

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

Glad you’re along for the ride.

Vroom, vroom.

***

Today’s Colorado Fun Fact: Nederland, Colorado is home to a body that has been frozen cryogenically for decades. It’s the namesake behind Nederland’s annual “Frozen Dead Guy Days” festival.

Today’s Rocky Mountain Rib Rally Fun Fact: Today, we rode Colorado’s West Elk Loop, named for the animals common to the Rockies. Colorado has the world’s biggest elk population, with an estimated herd of 280,000. Elk, one of the largest species in the deer family, are social creatures usually traveling in herds, especially during fall breeding season.

Today’s Colorado Food Fun Fact: Colorado now has more than 90 craft distilleries; there’s even a Colorado Spirits Trail for tourists so inclined. Carbondale, where our day began, is home to the Marble Distilling Company. Awesome Gingercelo! And Montanya Distillers in Crested Butte offers mountain rum from family-grown Louisiana sugar cane and pure Rocky Mountain spring water.

Today will be the second-longest ride of our 2018 Rocky Mountain Rib Rally: 283 miles, and nearly six hours in the saddle.

We begin by riding west out of Durango on US-160, through Hesperus and then Mancos, a Montezuma County town known as the “Gateway to Mesa Verde.” Mesa Verde, of course, is the National Park that protects the largest cliff dwellings in North America, more than 600 of them. It’s the largest archaeological preserve in the US.

In Mancos, we turn west on CO-184 for 17 miles, then veer east in the town of Dolores on CO-145. Dolores is Spanish for “sorrows,” and is named for the river on which it sits. It’s original name: “Rio de Nuestra Senora de las Dolores” (The River of Our Lady of Sorrows).

We are riding the San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway, which will take us to the ski resort town of Telluride, and on to Ouray County’s only stoplight in Ridgway (yet again), before turning home toward Carbondale.

From Dolores, we’ll continue on CO-145 for 68 miles until we arrive in Telluride, a former silver mining camp, founded in 1879 as “Columbia.” But due to confusion with a California town of the same name, it was renamed Telluride in 1887, for the gold telluride minerals found in other parts of Colorado.  A telluride mineral has the telluride anion as a main component.

Mining was Telluride’s only industry until 1972, when the first ski lift was installed. Telluride has been rated the #1 ski resort in North America by Conde Nast readers several times in recent years. It’s considered a playground for the rich and famous. Just like Aspen. Only slightly less rich and a hair less famous.

In Telluride, it’s time for the annual Bluegrass Festival, which has taken over the town for the weekend. Despite the huge crowds, we’re able to find parking spots for the Harleys. We even managed to take in some bluegrass music on a small stage in town.

Telluride’s main street has some world-class shopping and eating, and flower boxes in the middle of the street.

***

We leave Telluride and head west on CO-145 toward Placerville. Placerville is named after the placer gold mines found along the San Miguel River and Leopard Creek. By 1919, there were at least five mines in Placerville that produced 30 percent of the world’s vanadium. Placerville mines produced more than three million pounds of vanadium through 1940.

Vanadium’s symbol is V and Atomic Number is 23. Because of its beautiful colors, vanadium was named for the Norse goddess of beauty, Vanadis. According to WebMD, vanadium has medical uses that include treatment for pre-diabetes and diabetes, low blood sugar, high cholesterol, and even syphilis.

As this is not a medical blog, we’ll move on and continue our journey home. In Placerville, we turn east on CO-62, eventually coming to a stop at Ouray County’s only stoplight, in Ridgway. Again.

In Ridgway, we turn north, and ride some familiar territory – through Olathe, Delta, Hotchkiss and up the mountain to McClure Pass.

By now, you know the rest. Down the steep grade toward Redstone, along the Crystal River, and home to Carbondale, where we’ll have some locally smoked ribs tonight.

We’re eating at The Pig, an apt name for a BBQ restaurant. Hoping it’s good, cuz the place is just 2.1 miles from our front door, and we could walk there, or ride our bikes.

The Pig is our fifth rib restaurant in five days. Very disappointingly, ribs at The Pig were not very good. Nothing at all special. It’s disappointing because great ribs are always the goal, but especially so when the restaurant is a hop, skip and a jump from our home. Despite the mediocre ribs, the sides were very good. Maybe next time we’ll just go and have sides, and skip the main meal?

So, after our fifth rib meal in five days, here are the updated standings: #1, Slow Groovin (Marble); #2, Serious Texas BBQ (Durango); #3, Smoke Modern BBQ (Basalt); #4, Rib City Grill (Grand Junction); #5, The Pig (Carbondale).

***

Day Five Summary: Hanging with the rich and famous in Telluride, fun with vanadium.

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

Glad you’re along for the ride.

Vroom, vroom.

***

Today’s Colorado Fun Fact: The 13th step of the State Capitol Building in Denver is exactly 5,280 feet above sea level, lending the city its nickname of “the Mile High City.” The building’s interiors used up the planet’s entire known reserves of rose marble (different from the Yule Marble that’s quarried near Marble).

Today’s Rocky Mountain Rib Rally Fun Fact: The Dolores River, which we rode along today, is a 241-mile-long tributary of the Colorado River. Dolores is also the name of the 1982 VW Westfalia Vanagon that our construction superintendent, George Nettles, drove from Colorado to Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina — at the southern tip of South America. It’s the southernmost city in the world. The journey took George and his wife Rachel two years to complete. Turns out that Dolores, the van, was not named for the Dolores River; the van was named instead for the mystery woman Jerry Seinfeld was dating in his comedy show in the 1990s. Seinfeld couldn’t remember her name; he just knew it rhymed with a part of the female anatomy. For Seinfeld fanatics: it was the 20^thepisode of season four, airing on March 18, 1993.

Today’s Colorado Food Fun Fact:Colorado breweries produce more barrels of beer annually than any other state. Much of that could be due to the Coors brewery in Golden, said to be the world’s largest brewery. The Coors brewery in Golden has a capacity of 22 million barrels of beer. That’s roughly the equivalent of seven billion beers a year. You do the math.

Two days of Colorado fishing, and not a single nibble. For those of you who think we may not know what we’re doing, here are a few photos to ponder.

There you have it. We can fish. Just not in Colorado. Not yet. We’ll keep trying.

***

At 4:07 am Mountain Daylight Time (here in Colorado) today, we observed the summer solstice.

That means it’s the first day of summer. In the northern hemisphere, anyway. It’s the first day of winter in the southern hemisphere.  But since I’m not aware of any Riding With Gary blog followers in Argentina or New Zealand, today’s post will be about events happening in the northern hemisphere, where this is the longest day of the year.

In this part of Colorado, we’ll have nearly 15 hours of daylight today. Sunrise was at 5:51 this morning; sunset will be 8:35 tonight.

To celebrate the first day of summer, we had breakfast al fresco, on our patio, with a nice morning view of Mount Sopris.

***

We hope to enjoy the late sunset in Durango, today’s overnight destination. If we can get there.

Durango has been in the national news in the past few weeks. A wildfire 10 miles north of Durango has been raging since June 1, closing portions of US-550, one of the top motorcycle roads in America. The closure is on today’s route. We’ll encounter either choking smoke, or a blocked route — or both. Or neither. Always nice to have options.

Let’s see how it goes.

The fire has consumed more than 34,000 acres and is nowhere near contained. It’s burning in rough and inaccessible terrain, making it exceedingly difficult to control. The US Forest Service estimates the fire won’t be fully contained until July 31; that’s a two-month fire! For more on this stubborn blaze, click here.

A postscript on the 416 fire: what kind of name is “416,” anyway? The number 416 comes from the number of incidents that the Columbine Ranger District has responded to in the San Juan National Forest. The fire currently burning in Durango is the 416th incident that the Columbine Ranger District in the San Juan National Forest has responded to this year. An “incident” can range from a red flag warning to a forest fire, and even includes false alarms. So, there haven’t been 416 fires this year, just 416 incidents.

Glad you asked?

***

To move in the direction of Durango, we leave Carbondale and head toward McClure Pass. We’re riding south on CO-133, part of the West Elk Loop Scenic Byway.

By now you’re as familiar with this route as we are: past Redstone, past the turnoff to Marble. Then, up the steep grade to McClure Pass, down the other side toward Hotchkiss. We turn on to CO-92, then US-550, continuing south as we roll past Olathe, through Montrose, and to Ridgway, home of the only stoplight in Ouray County.

This time in Ridgway, we’ll ride south toward Ouray, which sits at 7,792 feet, and is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful mountain towns imaginable.

Pronounced YOU-ray, the town is named after Chief Ouray of the Ute Indian Tribe. Go Utes! At the height of its mining boom, Ouray had more than 30 active gold and silver mines. Today, it has none. Ouray is considered the ice-climbing capital of the U.S, with the world’s first ice-climbing park.

***

Ouray is on our route south to Durango. Our plan is to roll through Ouray, and begin our 70-mile journey to Durango on the Million Dollar Highway, US-550. It’s part of the San Juan Scenic Skyway.

The first two miles out of Ouray heading south toward Silverton … Freak. Me. Out.

It’s the scariest road I’ve ever ridden. The road follows the Uncompahgre River gorge, with no guard rails and a thousand foot dropoff. I’ve done this road five times, and it doesn’t get any easier or less scary. It’s a truly sphincter-tightening adventure.

Until a few days ago, I was looking forward to US-550 being closed. Anything to avoid my least favorite two-mile stretch of highway.

Then, earlier this week, US-550 reopened north Durango. There will be no detours.

We’re now heading south to Durango, the old-fashioned way: past the ghost town of Ironton, past Silverton, home of the world’s highest Harley Davidson store: 9,308 feet high in the San Juan Mountains.

Silverton is a good place to stop, grab a drink, and walk the town’s main Street, Greene Street – before riding the remaining 48 miles to Durango.

In Silverton, it was hot, and we had time, so we stopped for a cold one at Avalanche Brewing Company, one of the world’s highest microbreweries.

***

On the ride to Durango, we cruise along the Animas River on US-550, through the San Juan National Forest. The Animas is a tributary of the San Juan River, named by Spanish explorer Juan Maria de Rivera in 1765, “Rio de las Animas.” Translated, it’s the River of Souls.

Durango was founded in 1879 by the Denver & Rio Grande Railway. Two years later, the railroad arrived, constructing a narrow gauge line to haul passengers and freight to Silverton, and to transport silver and gold ore from the San Juan Mountains.

The historic train has been in continuous operation since 1882. For $85, you can board in Durango for the 3 ½-hour ride to Silverton; top speed is 18 miles an hour. The train, one of the area’s top tourist attractions, has been closed since early June because of the wildfire, and will remain closed through at least the end of the month.

Yes, the train is closed, but the highway is open. Be careful what you wish for.

On the way to Durango, we stop at Coal Bank Pass: 10,640 feet. Coal Bank is the third-highest of the three major passes on the Million Dollar Highway; Red Mountain Pass, at 11,018 feet, is the highest. The third pass on the $$$$$$ Highway is Molas Pass, 10,910 feet.

We arrive in Durango in the late afternoon, with at least four hours of daylight left. It’s the longest day of the year, after all. Plenty of time to hunt for ribs.

The hunt is a short one. About a half-mile from our motel, we stumble onto Serious Texas BBQ. It’s good, it’s walking distance, and we’re ready for our fourth day in a row of ribs.

Turns out the ribs at Serious Texas BBQ are seriously good. After four consecutive nights of ribs, the standings (rankings) look like this: #1, Slow Groovin (Marble); #2, SeriousTexas BBQ (Durango); #3, Smoke Modern BBQ (Basalt); #4, Rib City Grill (Grand Junction).

No self-respecting BBQ place will want to finish 13th among the 13 rib meals, but someplace will. Stay tuned.

***

Day Four Summary: A truly sphincter-tightening excitement on the Million Dollar Highway.

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

Glad you’re along for the ride.

Vroom, vroom.

***

Today’s Colorado Fun Fact: The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad has appeared in more than a dozen movies including How the West Was Wonand Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The line from Durango to Silverton runs 45 miles, and is a federally designated National Historic Landmark, and is also a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

Today’s Rocky Mountain Rib Rally Fun Fact: Ouray is considered the winter ice-climbing capital of the US. It has the world’s first ice climbing park – with dozens of frozen waterfalls from 80 to 200 feet high, along more than a mile of the Uncompahgre River Gorge.

Today’s Colorado Food Fun Fact: There are more than 300 craft breweries (beer!) in Colorado, including Carbondale Beer Works on Main Street in downtown Carbondale. These small breweries account for a $1.15 billion industry in Colorado.

I have a little explaining to do.

Last night’s blog post left many savvy readers wondering, did Dave and Gary abandon their rib quest? Did they have any dinner at all? Where were the restaurant photos? What did you mean, “<insert food pic here>”?

Oops. I screwed up.

Yes we had dinner: Ribs at the Rib City Grill in Grand Junction. Baby backs for Dave, St. Louis ribs for me.

It was a late dinner (we closed the place) after a long day in the saddle. We were tired.

When we got back to the motel shortly before 10 pm, I had a senior moment and inadvertently “published” yesterday’s blog post without including any reference to our dinner, and without posting any photos. Once I hit the “publish” button, Word Press automatically generated an e-mail to those of you subscribing to the blog.

My bad.

If you want to see what yesterday’s actual blog post looks like with the ribs included, click here, and scroll to the bottom.

Or, here’s a photo to show you our dinner. And, as you’ll notice, not a single potato had to be sacrificed for our culinary enjoyment. No fries. Again. I’m doing it for you, Sarah. Well, for me, too.

***

As we gas up in Grand Junction this morning at the Shell station on Horizon Drive, there’s a fruit stand selling Palisade peaches. So of course, I’m curious. Isn’t this a little early for peaches?

Turns our our timing is exquisite. This year’s peach crop is ready for harvest a bit early, in part due to the mild winter, and also the warm spring.

Today, the last day of spring (tomorrow is the first day of summer!), is the first day Palisade peaches are on sale to the public.

We’re traveling on motorcycles, so didn’t have space for a carton of them. Maybe next time.

***

The Palisade peaches, of course are from the town of Palisade, a charming little burg of 2,700 residents, about 15 miles east of Grand Junction. We leave “Junction,” as it’s called, and roll east toward Palisade this morning, on our way to the Grand Mesa — today’s highlight.

Peaches account for about 75 percent of all fruit production in Colorado, and the majority of those peaches are grown in and around Palisade. Colorado’s peach crops are a $25 million-a-year business, with more than 17,000 tons of peaches produced every year, placing Colorado sixth in the US in peach exports. The 2018 Palisade Peach Festival will be held August 16 to 19.

Palisade is also on the map for its burgeoning wine industry. There are more than two dozen wineries here – one for every 100 residents. Pretty interesting ratio.

Palisade is named for its nearby cliffs, and known for its yumminess. The town’s catchphrase: “Life Tastes Good Here all Year Long!”

A few miles past Palisade, we exit the Interstate, turning off on CO-65. We point in the direction of the Grand Mesa, the world’s largest, with an area of about 500 square miles. The Grand Mesa stretches for about 40 miles, between the Colorado River and the Gunnison River, its tributary to the south.

***

We’re riding the Grand Mesa Scenic Byway, which rises from 4,780 feet to 10,500 feet.

Much of the mesa is within Grand Mesa National Forest. The Grand Mesa Scenic Byway winds through 63 miles of the national forest. With more than 300 mountain lakes, streams, rivers and creeks, the Grand Mesa offers great choices for trout fishing. The waters are stocked with rainbow, brooks and cutthroat, mostly ranging from eight to 12 inches long.

We stopped at the Mesa Lakes Lodge on our way up the Grand Mesa. It has cabins, lakes for fishing, and a selection of flies for fishermen. Dave bought three ($9.20 total, including tax). We plan to put them to use tonight.

The Grand Mesa is home to the Powderhorn Mountain Resort, which had a very limited 2017-2018 season due to lack of snow. For much of the season, Powderhorn operated only Thursday through Sunday to preserve its mountain snowpack. Now that summer season is here, Powderhorn opened last week for mountain biking and other non-snow dependent activities.

***

As we head down the Grand Mesa toward the towns of Cedaredge and Orchard City, the scenery gradually turns agricultural. Cedaredge has fruit orchards and alfalfa fields, but the most successful business here is cattle ranching. Best party in town: the Cedaredge Applefest, which this year will be held from October 4 to 7.

Elevation in Orchard City is 5,446 feet, a considerable drop from the top of Grand Mesa. As we turn east on CO-92 and head toward Hotchkiss, our elevation actually drops a bit; Hotchkiss is a little more than 5,330 feet above sea level.

But we soon begin climbing as we leave Hotchkiss, turn north on CO-133, and head for McClure Pass. Again. We retrace our path from yesterday, though in the opposite direction. Heading northward, we roll through Paonia, then coal country, up to McClure Pass, and down the steep descent into Redstone.

We follow the contours of the Crystal River, and are back home in Carbondale in no time, and in time for an early dinner.

Tonight, we’ll do ribs locally.

There’s a lot to choose from. The Roaring Fork Valley is full of foodies. There are a half-dozen rib restaurants within a bicycle ride of our house.

We drove, in Sarah’s car, to Basalt. For ribs. The three of us.

Photo contest. Guess which plate is Sarah’s, and which is Gary and Dave’s (Gary and Dave had the same thing).

If you guessed Sarah had chicken and sweet potato fries, you win. The two guys had St. Louis ribs, baked beans and cole slaw. The ribs were good, but not great.

So, after three days of ribs, the standings look like this: Slow Groovin (Marble), 1st place. Smoke Modern Barbecue (Basalt), 2nd place. Rib City Grill (Grand Junction), 3rd place.

***

After dinner at Smoke Modern Barbecue in Basalt, it’s time for some sunset fishing. Local fishing experts tell us the last hour or so before sunset is the most productive time to catch fish on the Roaring Fork River. That’s what we’re trying to do.

Dave, Sarah and I head to the Roaring Fork, near Catherine’s Store (locals will know where that is; the rest of you can look it up).

Check out the photo below to see how we did.

***

Day Three Summary: The world’s biggest mesa, and another futile (though fun) effort to land a fish.

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

Glad you’re along for the ride.

Vroom, vroom.

***

Today’s Colorado Fun Fact: The Dwight Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel between Clear Creek and Summit counties is the highest vehicular tunnel in the world. Bored at an elevation of 11,000 feet under the Continental Divide, it is 8,960 feet long and the average daily traffic exceeds 26,000 vehicles.

Today’s Rocky Mountain Rib Rally Fun Fact: The Grand Mesa, which we rode today, is the world’s largest flat-top mountain. These mesas are sometimes called “table top” mountains. The world has some pretty cool table top mountains, from Australia to Antarctica to the Baffin Islands in the Canadian territory of Nunavut.

Today’s Colorado Food Fun Fact: On our way to the Grand Mesa, we rode by Palisade, home to the world-famous Palisade Peaches. The first peach tree in Palisade was planted in 1882. Today, the area produces hundreds of thousands of pounds of peaches that are exported to every corner of America.

We begin Day Two of our 2018 Rocky Mountain Rib Rally by riding south on Colorado Highway 133, just as we did yesterday.

You know the routine by now. Past Avalanche Ranch, past Redstone, past the turnoff to Marble.

But we continue south on CO-133, riding up the steep grade toward McClure Pass.

A local farmer and Irish mining immigrant, Thomas McClure, is credited with cutting the first road leading from the Crystal River Valley over “McClure’s Pass” to the North Fork of the Gunnison River. He’s also known for developing the “Red McClure” potato in the early 1900s. By the 1930s, the valley exported more than 400 rail cars filled with potatoes every year, more than the entire state of Idaho. Thomas McClure, potato inventor and road cutter – a handy guy to have around.

McClure Pass, at 8,763 feet, sits on the boundary between Pitkin and Gunnison Counties. The approaches on either side of the pass have an eight percent grade, making McClure Pass among the steepest in Colorado. The only Colorado pass that’s steeper is Slumgullion Pass in Hinsdale County, east of Lake City; its north side is a 9.4 percent grade.

We’ll ride Slumgullion Pass later this week. It’s worth visiting for the name alone; slumgullion is American goulash, a meat stew of sorts. For you word nuts, slumgullion was Merriam-Webster’s word of the day on May 10, 2018. The word slumgullion even has its own podcast.

***

Once over McClure Pass, we begin the descent toward Paonia. Along the way, we pass Paonia State Park and Paonia Reservoir. Of course we do. All Paonia, all the time.

Still on CO-133, we’re now following the North Fork of the Gunnison River. We’re in coal country, or at least what used to be coal country. The mines in Somerset and Bowie aren’t what they used to be. Employment and production have both plummeted precipitously. The future of coal in the west is grim.

The Town of Paonia today is known for its fruit orchards, which produce peaches, apples, cherries, pears, and plums. There are also several wineries, including Black Bridge Winery and Stone Cottage Cellars. The Paonia area is one of the few regions of Colorado that has successfully cultivated and bottled a pinot noir.

Carbondale-to-Paonia is a popular motorcycle ride. Saddle up. Grab breakfast or lunch in Paonia, perhaps at the Living Farm Café, turn around, and head home. Today, we leave Carbondale with food in the belly, so we continue on, and hold the promise of a Paonia meal for another day.

Nine miles past Paonia, we arrive in Hotchkiss, a town of less than 1,000 residents, named after Enos T. Hotchkiss, a local pioneer. Hotchkiss calls itself the “Friendliest Town Around.”

In Hotchkiss, we turn onto CO-92 toward Delta – about 20 miles to the west. The city of Delta isn’t much to get excited about. Delta got its name because of its location on the delta where the Uncompahgre River flows into the Gunnison River.

Once in Delta, we turn south on US-50 and ride toward Olathe, famous for Olathe (pronounced “oh-LATHE-uh”) corn.  The annual Olathe Sweet Corn Festival over the years has featured big-name musical groups, including Three Dog Night, Kansas, Styx, LeAnn Rimes, Travis Tritt and Clint Black.

Looking for Olathe corn? Much of it is yellow and white, and can be found across the country at Kroger grocery stores (Ralph’s in Southern California; City Market in Colorado; QFC in Washington state). Kroger, America’s largest supermarket chain by revenue, frequently purchases most or all of the Olathe sweet corn stock, which can amount to about 30 million ears of corn.

The Olathe corn season kicks off at the end of July to early August and runs through September. It’s as short and sweet as the corn itself.

***

From Olathe, it’s 11 miles to Montrose, then 27 more miles to Ridgway, home of Ouray (pronounced “YOU-ray”) County’s only stoplight.

Because it’s the polite thing to do, we stop at the light, then turn west on CO-62, which takes us to Placerville, originally established as a small mining camp. Placerville was named after the placer gold mines located on the San Miguel River and Leopard Creek. For you non-miners out there, placer mining is the mining of alluvial (loose) deposits for minerals.

We are now on the Unaweep Tabeguache Scenic Byway, tracing the Dolores River Canyon, which reaches depths of 2,000 feet.

In Placerville, we veer right onto CO-145, and follow the Dolores River through Norwood to Naturita. Naturita is a name derived from Spanish, meaning “little nature.”

In Naturita, you can eat at Blondies, the number one rated restaurant in town. That ranking is not a huge accomplishment; there’s only one restaurant in Naturita. Free ice cream at Blondies for moms on Mother’s Day! There’s always next year.

***

Close to Naturita is the historic Bedrock Store, where scenes from movies such as Thelma and Louisewere filmed. The store, built in 1882, is still open today. It’s a living time capsule.

Just west of Naturita, we turn onto CO-141, which winds along the beautiful Dolores River Gorge. On the way from Naturita to Gateway, there are surprises around every turn, usually including occasional cattle in the road. We saw none today, but did see a bunch of amateurish “Cows on Hiway” signs.

Fifteen miles past Naturita on our journey is Uravan, an abandoned uranium mining town that’s now an EPA Superfund site, not exactly an honor of distinction. The uranium used in the once top-secret Manhattan Project was mined in Uravan, leading to the world’s first atomic bomb.

Between the mid-1940s and early 1970s, Uravan was a boom town, thanks largely to the federal government’s desire to ensure an adequate supply of fissionable material for its defense programs. But in 1971 the government ceased its uranium acquisition program, effectively signing Uravan’s death warrant.

Uravan is hard to find, and easy to miss. The town is buried under carefully arranged rocks, with little hint of what Uravan once was. All that remains is a yellowing marker sign at a rest stop along Colorado Highway 141.

Uravan fun fact: its name is derived from combining the words uranium and vanadium, both found locally in carnonite ore mineral deposits.

***

CO-141 leads us from Uravan to Gateway, located in Unaweep Canyon. It’s the home of the Gateway Canyons Resort and Spa, ranked in 2014 by Conde Nast Traveler magazine as the #12 resort in the world, #3 resort in the US and the #1 resort in Colorado. The resort sits at the confluence of five canyons, believed to the only resort in the world to do so.

Gateway also has an auto museum, and a general store.

The area has a rich history steeped in the ancient peoples of the Pueblo, Fremont and Ute Native American tribes.

After a rest stop in Gateway, we continue northeast on CO-141, riding along the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area. It’s about 55 miles to Grand Junction, tonight’s destination.

Yesterday’s 56-mile day was a warm-up. Today, we rode more than five times that far: 303 miles; six hours, five minutes in the saddle.

We must have worked up some kind of appetite. Time to rib up!

***

Day Two Summary: Paonia pinot, Olathe sweet corn, and cattle on the roadway.

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

Glad you’re along for the ride.

Vroom, vroom.

***

Today’s Colorado Fun Fact: Colorado contains more than 75 percent of the land area in the US that’s over 10,000 feet elevation. Lowest point in Colorado: 3,317 feet – higher than the highest elevation in 18 states.

Today’s Rocky Mountain Rib Rally Fun Fact: Our ride today through what was once a thriving coal mining area, near Paonia, was a good reminder of how severely coal has fallen off a cliff. Only two active coal mines remain in the area. Coal, an outdated form of energy, is rapidly dying.

Today’s Colorado Food Fun Fact: On the Made in Colorado website, featured foods include Colorado Mud, chokecherry jelly, rock candy, Elk Duds, Colorado Salsa, buffalo sausage and beer bread. Colorado Mud: Just add milk, oil, water and vanilla – and stir with a fork; looks like mud on the bottom and a brownie crust on the top.

On Day One of our 2018 Rocky Mountain Rib Rally, we break into the routine gradually.

Today’s ride will be beautiful, but short: fifty-six miles, about an hour and a half in the saddle.

No giggling or scoffing, please. Dave’s been riding hard the past few days, and we need to ease him into Colorado slowly.

Our destination is Marble, home to Slow Groovin’, where we’ll be having ribs for lunch. Slow Groovin’ may be the best ribs in Colorado. It’s a nice place to kick off our rib-fest.

As you may have learned on this blog last year, the Town of Marble got its name from the stone that is quarried there: Yule Marble. It’s the only place on earth where Yule Marble is found. This beautiful white marble from Marble provided the stone for the exterior of the Lincoln Memorial, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

Marble is located in a valley of the upper Crystal River, surrounded by the tall peaks of the Maroon Bells-Snowmass and Raggeds Wilderness Areas.

There are about 100 full-time residents of Marble. Fifteen to 20 of them work at the quarry. It’s believed that the remaining operational quarry has enough marble to last for several hundred years.

Slow Groovin’ probably has enough ribs to last through at least the end of June.

***

One Fifty Sopris Mesa Drive, our Carbondale home, sits at 6,388 feet above sea level. Before the day’s out, we’ll end up nearly 2,000 feet higher.

We leave our Cozy Carbondale Cottage, in the River Valley Ranch development and head south on Colorado Highway 133. Slow Groovin’ is exactly 27.6 miles from our front door to their smoker.

Soon we follow the Crystal River, and pass Avalanche Ranch, a secluded hot springs with 18 cabins and views of the valley. While at Avalanche Ranch, you can fish, hike, bike, and canoe on the Crystal River. In the winter months, snowshoeing, sledding, skiing, and tubing are popular. Year-round, it’s a popular wedding destination.

On our left is Mount Sopris, larger than life. It’s the dominant feature in almost any photo of the Roaring Fork Valley. At 12,953 feet, it’s the view everyone in the valley wants to have. Sarah and I are fortunate enough to see Mount Sopris from most rooms in our Carbondale home.

From Carbondale, it’s about 16 miles south to the nearest town, Redstone. By the time we roll past Redstone, we’ve already climbed about 1,000 feet. Redstone sits at about 7,200 feet.

Redstone is a cute little village, home to about 130 residents. Here you’ll find the Redstone Castle, an opulent 42-room Tudor-style mansion that’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

We’re on the West Elk Loop Scenic Byway, which begins in Carbondale, and runs for more than 200 miles through the West Elk Mountains, along the Gunnison River, to Crested Butte, over world-famous Kebler Pass, and back to Carbondale. We’ll save most of the West Elk loop for another day.

Today is a leisurely ride primarily designed to get in a few miles, eat a few ribs, and catch a few fish.

About five miles past Redstone, we turn left onto Pitkin County Road 3, which takes us the remaining six miles to Marble. The elevation in Marble is 7,992 feet; the Yule Marble Quarry is another 1,500 feet up.

***

For some, Marble is all about the marble.

For others, like me (and Dave), Slow Groovin’ is the main attraction.

After lunch, we wander around Marble before heading back to Carbondale. Everywhere you go, there are hunks of marble, some carved professionally, some by hobbyists.

Every year since 1989, the town has hosted three week-long Marble Symposiums, providing opportunities for ordinary people to learn about, and expertly carve, marble. The event is run by the Marble Institute of Colorado, a non-profit whose goal is to educate, train and develop stone carvers.

For $950, you can work with up to 500 pounds (about three cubic feet) of Colorado Yule Marble, enjoy unlimited use of power tools, air hammers and chisels, and have what many consider a life-changing experience. 2018 Symposiums are scheduled for July 2-9, July 15-22, and July 29 to August 5.

Yes, I know – technically, the plural of symposium is symposia. But that sounds so stuffy. So we’ll go with symposiums, and beg for grammatical forgiveness.

***

We leave Marble, and head down valley, in search of more food. This time, we’re looking for a fishing spot.

The Crystal River is running quite fast, at least for fishing. And it’s hard to find a place to park two Harleys on the side of the highway anywhere near a fishing spot.

But eventually, about a mile north of Redstone, we find a place to pull over, get out the fishing gear, and give it a shot. I appreciate Dave’s bringing all the gear from Southern California — enough for him, and for me.

So, I get to try out my new Colorado fishing license ($1.00 annually!).

I’ve never fly fished before; my entire fishing history is limited to a day of salmon fishing in Resurrection Bay, near Seward, Alaska — and a day of halibut fishing, near Homer, Alaska. Along the way today, Dave teaches me to roll cast, and to mend. Maybe next time, he’ll show me how to darn?

Day One Summary: Easing into the Rocky Mountain Rib Rally with a short ride and lunch at Slow Groovin’. Marble carving, anyone?

Click here to see today’s complete route from Carbondale to Marble and back to Carbondale.

Glad you’re along for the ride.

Vroom, vroom.

***

Today’s Colorado Fun Fact: Colorado is the only state in history to turn down the Olympic Games. In May 1970, the International Olympic Committee awarded the 1976 Winter Olympics to Denver. But two years later, 62 percent of all Colorado voters chosenotto host the Olympics, because of the cost, pollution and population boom it would have had on the State of Colorado, and the City of Denver.

Today’s Rocky Mountain Rib Rally Fun Fact: On our way to Marble today, we rode along the Crystal River, full of Rainbow and Brown trout, and world-famous for its fly fishing. The Crystal is a tributary of the Roaring Fork River, and is often overlooked because of its proximity to the Roaring Fork, the Fryingpan, and Colorado Rivers.

Today’s Colorado Food Fun Fact: Colorado hasn’t declared any official state foods. Yet. OK, fine. In honor of the 2018 Rocky Mountain Rib Rally, I’m declaring Ribs the official Colorado state meal.

Happy Father’s Day, everyone!

To all you Dads out there, consider this blog post my Father’s Day card to you.

But first, a traditional card.

***

Last August, I checked an item off an imaginary bucket list by riding to Sturgis, South Dakota, for the annual crazy-fest in the Black Hills.

Official attendance at the 78^thAnnual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was listed as 480,000. Almost a half-million. Including me.

Lots of alcohol, lots of skin, bikes galore, tons of fun.

It was part of my yearly riding adventure, and, some might say, the pinnacle of my Harley riding career. Hard to top that experience.

***

But in the spirit of continuous improvement, I’ll try.

Beginning tomorrow, I’ll set out on my eleventh major ride in the past ten years.

Every previous trip covered multiple states, or provinces (Oh, Canada!). Last year, for example, we visited nine states, and 18 National Parks, Monuments and Memorials.

This time, we’re trying something different.

One state, two goals:

• Riding Colorado’s most spectacular Rocky Mountain roads
• And, sampling the state’s tastiest ribs along the way each evening

For reasons that should be somewhat apparent, I’ve branded this year’s ride as the 2018 Rocky Mountain Rib Rally.

But why only Colorado? And what up with this rib thing?

***

First, the geographical part.

When last year’s Sturgis Bucket List Ride began in July, I was living in La Quinta, California, where I’d been since 2000. The ride ended three weeks later in Carbondale, Colorado, where we’d just begun construction of what would become our new home.

In May, following nine months of construction, Sarah and I moved into our now completed “Cozy Carbondale Cottage.” For reasons both practical, and emotional – I’m just not ready, yet, to stray very far from home.

So I invited my riding pals (my posse) to join me on a Colorado-only journey this year. Yes, kind of selfish on my part, and I can probably only get away with this once.

Despite being a one-state solution, the riding over the next two weeks will be absolutely world-class. The Rockies offer some of the most breathtaking, thrilling and beautiful rides imaginable. Of all the journeys I’ve been on over the years, riding the Rockies is as good as it gets.

Don’t feel even the slightest bit of sadness for me staying close to home and being confined to Colorado’s 104,185 square miles. I’ll be OK.

That hopefully, answers the “Why Colorado?” question.

***

But the ribs?

I love ribs. They’re my favorite food. Simple as that.

I’ve long said that my last meal, if I know in advance that’s what it is, will be ribs.

I’m on record as being an unapologetic rib lover, regardless of the health consequences.

As anyone familiar with this blog knows, the two highlights of each day on the road are the ride, and the dinner that follows it.

There’s usually significant pre-trip Yelp and TripAdvisor research on my part, looking for tasty dining opportunities at the end of each day’s ride. I usually target a mix of burgers, pizza, Asian, brewpubs, Mexican, Italian, and yes – ribs.

This year, my research focused on BBQ or rib joints everywhere we’re headed. If a day’s ride ended somewhere with a nice place to sleep but no ribs to eat, well, that destination was quickly deleted from the itinerary.

Turns out BBQ and ribs are plentiful in the Rockies. If this blog inspires you to have a rib or two yourself over the next few weeks, thanks for joining the posse, at least in spirit.

***

On this Father’s Day, Sarah and I are joined for dinner by our good friend, Dave Bowman, a father of two – Nathan and Tess. Thank you, Gail, for sharing Dave with us for Father’s Day, and for the next few weeks.

Dave arrived in Carbondale today, at the end of a four-day journey from his home in Fullerton, California. He pulled into our driveway this afternoon on his Harley, a 2008 Ultra Glide Classic. Dave rolled in after a 266-mile ride from Monticello, in southeastern Utah.

Dave’s here because he’ll be joining me on the 2018 Rocky Mountain Rib Rally. Home base for the trip will be our Cozy Carbondale Cottage. We’ll take several day trips, and a number of multi-day journeys – but always return to Carbondale. Because it’s home.

To learn a little more about Dave, go to the “My Posse” page on my blog, and scroll down until you see a tall guy standing behind a shiny red bike.

Tonight, Dave and I experience our last non-rib dinner until July. Sarah joins us on our patio for grilled salmon. Pretty tasty. Perhaps even healthy. But it’s no substitute for ribs.

***

For the next two weeks, Dave and I will be riding by day, and eating by night. And, I’ll be posting to this blog each evening after dinner, often typing with fingers still sticky from rib consumption. #StickyFingers

To help you acquire the kind of useless information this blog traffics in, each day’s post will conclude with three factoids:

“Today’s Colorado Fun Fact” – something interesting about Colorado.

“Today’s Rocky Mountain Rib Rally Fun Fact” – a tidbit about something worth noting along that day’s route.

“Today’s Colorado Food Fun Fact” – a tasty morsel about Colorado’s food and restaurant culture.

And now, the first of the factoid trifectas.

***

Today’s Colorado Fun Fact: Wondering how Colorado got its name? The word colorado means “colored red’ in Spanish. The state of Colorado was named after the Colorado River, which Spanish explorers named “Río Colorado” (meaning colored river) for the red silt the river carries in rivers and streams from the mountains.

Today’s Rocky Mountain Rib Rally Fun Fact: Our ride will cover about 2,400 miles, taking us above the tree line, across the Continental Divide, over the world’s largest mesa, to ski areas now basking in summer sunshine – and to Roaring Fork Valley rivers, where Dave says he’ll teach me to fly fish.

Today’s Colorado Food Fun Fact: With two weeks of ribs ahead on the menu, you may wonder about their nutritional value. While ribs may have some health drawbacks, like high fat and considerable calories, they aren’t totally devoid of good stuff. Ribs provide significant amounts of protein, along with vitamins (B-12 and D) and minerals (Iron and Zinc). In summary, pork ribs aren’t bad for you, as long as you practice portion control. Portion control … seriously?

***

I look forward to having you join me on this ride and rib fest over the next few weeks.

Finally, as I like to say each year when I blog about my travels – if you happen to learn anything along the way, you’re welcome.

Glad to have you along for the ride.

Vroom, vroom.

Who better to spend my 66th birthday with than Harley novice and old friend, John Tracy. John and his friend, Pastor John Carpenter, both made the trip from Alaska to Mesa, Arizona — ostensibly to ride with me for four days in Arizona’s mountains and deserts.

To learn more about the John twins, visit the My Posse page of this blog.

I rode from La Quinta and met them in Wickenburg, Arizona. From there, we quickly ascended into the mountain towns of Prescott, Jerome and Sedona.

It was the first ride of any significance on my new 2016 Harley Davidson Street Glide Special. The bike performed as advertised.

The Arizona portion of the ride was short, only three days. But it was enough to hook John Tracy on Harley riding and convince him that he should join me on one of my annual “big” rides.

The two Johns both rented Harley Davidson Street Glides, pretty much like mine, from Desert Wind Harley in Mesa.

We leave Norton, Virginia, at 8:15 this morning and hop back on US 23, the Country Music Highway. In a lapse of journalistic thoroughness, yesterday’s post neglected to mention a few country music stars who got their start here.

In the hopes that they’ll send Sarah some free CDs for the shout-out, here are some additional Highway 23 performers worthy of note:  Dwight Yoakam, Crystal Gale, Tom T Hall.

Throughout this region, country music is like a religion. You know what else is like a religion?

Yes, the real religion here in the Bible Belt is religion itself. Baptist churches proliferate like Starbucks … one on every corner.

OK, we’re back on the Country Music Highway for 40 miles.  It’s the coldest morning yet.

We are leaving Virginia and entering Tennessee for the first time in a week. My Hillbilly Holiday must be nearing an end 😦

We see road signs referring to the Daniel Boone Heritage Trail, but we resist the temptation to retrace his steps.

Next stop: Jonesborough, billed as Tennessee’s oldest town.  Jonesborough this week is hosting the 2011 Tennessee Women’s Amateur Golf Championship. The event is being held at Blackthorn at the Ridges, an exclusive club sparsely dotted with huge, high-priced homes.

This is a bike journey, so why the side trip to a golf tournament?

We drop by to visit Tina Jo Sanders, who is a USGA rules official, and in charge of the tournament, which is put on by the Tennessee Women’s Golf Association. Tina, of course, is Ray’s wife, and Sarah’s first cousin.

Today is the round of 16; you win today and the quarterfinals await. The finals are set for Friday, weather willing.

The 18-year-old on the 11th tee is favored to reach the finals. She’s Kendall Martindale, soon to be a freshman on golf scholarship at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.  Before match play began, Kendall was the medalist, shooting 70.

We saddle up and hit the road, roaring down US 321 through Newport.

I see a sign for a Tennessee State Park, celebrating Davy Crockett’s birthplace.  As you remember, he was “born on a mountaintop in Tennessee, greenest state in the land of the free …”

So we make a side trip to see where he was born.

Nice sign. That’s all we saw.  A sign  So we continue toward the Knoxville area.

We turn onto US 411, which takes us into Sevierville. Dolly Parton was born here in 1946.  We ride through town on the Dolly Parton Parkway.

From here, US 411 goes many places, including Greenback, Tennessee, home to the Murr family farm.

We go through Maryville, hop on I-140 (the Pellissippi Parkway) and arrive at Ray and Tina’s home in Farragut about 5:30 pm.

We’ve been riding in a summer rainstorm for the past hour, and I’m dry. Except for my feet, which are soaking wet. My orange and black Harley Davidson rainsuit worked perfectly. My gym shoes were not up to the task.

The ride is over. Eight days. 1,511 miles.  Three rib dinners, one PoBoy, lotsa biscuits and gravy, two fancy-pants resorts, breathtaking sights beyond description.

Buckets of rain on the first and last days. Sunshine the rest of the way. No incidents, accidents, scratches or dents.

Thanks for the fellowship, Ray. Thanks for the bike, Tina. Let’s do it again some time.

What will tomorrow bring?  I can help with that: La Quinta.

Today’s blog post has two interwoven themes: coal mining and Ray Sanders.

First, I want to correct an oversight in yesterday’s message: I forgot to mention we overnighted Monday in Bluefield, Virginia. Bluefield is on Highway 460 in Tazewell County.

Our 225-mile Tuesday begins in another Bluefield — nearby Bluefield, West Virginia, nicknamed “Coal City.” And for good reason. This area has the world’s largest and richest deposits of bituminous coal.

Coal trucks whiz by us as we head South on Highway 52. They’re bringing coal from the mines to rail yards.

In the Appalachian regions of West Virginia and Kentucky, coal is the economic lifeblood of this area. Yet we ride through some incredibly impoverished areas en route to visit Ray’s roots.

The roads in West Virginia — at least the ones we rode — are well engineered and in good condition. Many are part of the Robert C. Byrd Appalachian Highway System. Ya gotta love pork.

Appalachia must be seen to be believed. Broken-down old trucks, houses, storefronts — within feet of the roadside.

There seems to be so little hope here. Which makes Ray’s story all the more inspiring.

Orby Ray Sanders was born in 1930 in  Dunham, Kentucky — deep in coal country. Ray’s Dad was a coal miner, and the family lived in a coal camp. At an early age, Ray moved to nearby McRoberts, Kentucky.

Ray’s Mom operated a beauty salon.  During the war years, Ray attended schools in Pikeville, Kentucky.

Pikeville College is the pride of this city, having won the 2011 NAIA Division 1 basketball title last March — the first men’s national championship for the Pikeville Bears.  If you’re keeping score, Pikeville defeated Mountain State, 83-76, in overtime.

When Ray left Pikeville, he enrolled at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, from which he received a bachelor’s degree in mining engineering and a master’s in metallurgical engineering. Smart guy.

Ray left Kentucky for his first job, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and never returned to Kentucky — except to visit.

In Oak Ridge, Ray met Sarah’s cousin, Tina Pugh. Ray and Tina married in 1960.  They share a passion for motorcycling, and that’s why I’m lucky enough to join Ray, riding Tina’s bike, on my 2011 Harley Hillbilly Holiday.

We leave the Pikeville area and head for Norton, Virginia — tonight’s destination. Along the way, we ride US Highway 23, designated as the Country Music Highway.  The designation honors the large number of country music performers born in an eight-county stretch along Highway 23, among them: Billy Ray Cyrus, Loretta Lynn, Ricky Skaggs, Naomi and Wynona Judd, and many more.

What will tomorrow bring?

Today, we traveled some spectacular country roads, visited two famous resorts, did a little souvenir hunting, and kinda-sorta played golf.  Another 200 miles in the saddle, another memorable day.

Sadly, I wasn’t able to keep my news streak alive. After getting front-page coverage in Sunday’s News Virginian, I’d hoped to make it two in a row in the Monday paper.  No such luck.  Just your basic Wall Street Journal, free at the Staunton Comfort Inn.

Bummer. But it is a beautiful day to ride, much cooler than it has been. I don’t even take my jacket off all day. We head South on Highway 42, through some rustic areas.  First stop, Craigsville, Virginia. The reason should be obvious in the photo below.

We continue South on Highway 42, then on Highway 220, where we stop at our first resort of the day.

Yes, The Homestead, in Hot Springs, Virginia, high in the Allegheny Mountains.  The Homestead bills itself as “America’s most historic resort.”

Apparently, Sarah and I aren’t the first to brand a resort  Those of you who have stayed with us know we’ve staked out our turf — The Murr/Lesser Resort @ PGA West: “Five-Star Quality, Zero-Star Prices.”

Well, the Homestead is a true five-star resort, with golf, skiing, fishing, croquet, and other activities to attract the East coast glitterati.  The grounds are immaculate, and everything is pricey, so I hold my spending in check and buy a gift for someone at home.  We’ll keep the recipient a mystery for now.

The Homestead has a fascinating history, and is run by — PGA West folks take note — KSL Resorts.

The Homestead is just off of Virginia Highway 220, also known as Sam Snead Memorial Highway.  Turns out Sam Snead was born in Ashwood, Virginia, near Hot Springs. He worked as a caddy and later ad an assistant pro at The Homestead.

****

Before continuing our journey South, Ray confirms our route, as he always does. Ray is an engineer who does everything with an engineering-like penchant for accuracy and precision.

Reminds me of my favorite movie line, from City Slickers: “We’re lost, but we’re making really good time.”

Turns out we aren’t lost at all. We head South on Highway 42, one of Virginia’s so-called “Scenic Byways.”  It is another great day for two wheels.

That’s me in the photo above.  Almost looks like I know what I’m doing.  What I’m doing is pointing my bike in the direction of our next resort stop.

It’s The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, another five-star resort.  The grounds here are beautiful, too.  The Greenbrier is located on Sam Snead Blvd. In White Sulphur Springs, Virginia.

The Greenbrier has a storied history as well, and it has an even stronger Sam Snead connection.

Snead was named head pro at The Greenbrier in 1944. He went on to win 7 majors and 82 PGA tournaments, a record that may survive the Tiger Woods era.

There is Sam Snead memorabilia everywhere. Even the restaurant overlooking one of the resort’s three courses is called Slammin’ Sammy’s. So we grab a bite to eat.

Ray’s having a Sam Snead Club Sandwich. At least one of us is eating healthy.

Only a few things left to do before we saddle up. One involves supporting the local economy.  I’m shopping for Sarah.  I actually emailed her this photo while I was in the pro shop, waiting for approval from the home office. She likes it!

Finally, you may be familiar with The Greenbrier from the PGA Tour event that’s played there every summer. It’s played on the Old White course, where Stuart Appleby shot a final-round 59 last year to win the tournament by one stroke.

I consider, for a moment, playing the Old White. We’re right here, having lunch, overlooking the 18th green. Workers are busily erecting the corporate skyboxes for the event, which will be held in late July.

But two things conspire to keep me off the course:

1).  Price. Green fees are $385 for non-guests (we’re staying in the Comfort Inn!), plus $80 for a caddy and $36 for a cart. That $500 is roughly what my entire Harley Hillbilly Holiday will cost.

And 2).  The course is closed in preparation for the 2011 Greenbrier Classic.

So instead, I do the next-best thing: take a photo on the first tee, a 454-yard par 4. A person’s gotta dream, you know.

Yeah, yeah … for you purists, I did not have a club in my hands. But give me a break; I’m riding a Harley Davidson!

What will tomorrow bring?

The day begins with with a reminder that my Journalism degree still has currency.  Sort of.  After quite a few years as an “ink-stained wretch,” one develops a nose for news.

Why is this important?  You may recall that Saturday evening on Waynesboro’s Main Street, I snapped a photo of the Blue Ridge Soap Box Derby.  This wasn’t just any small town event. It was huge news.

*****

Yesterday, we completed the Blue Ridge Parkway. Today, we ride the 105-mile Skyline Drive, which winds its way through Shenendoah National Park.

The speed limit on Skyline Drive is 35 mph, which reminds me of a story. As you know, I’m riding this week with Ray Sanders. Ray’s wife, Tina, is Sarah’s cousin.  The Harley I’m riding is actually Tina’s; Ray and Tina were gracious enough to grant me “saddle rights” for my Harley Hillbilly Holiday.

Well, it turns out this isn’t the first time Tina’s Harley has been to Skyline Drive. Did I mention that the speed limit in the Park is 35 mph?  If you saw all the tight curves on Skyline Drive, you’d understand why.

Well, some years ago, on a ride with Ray, Tina managed to crank her Harley up to 70 mph.  In the Park.  I never felt safe above 45 mph, but Tina is obviously built for speed. You go, Tina!!!   Ray says it was an expensive ticket 🙂

No tickets today, but we did have a fun ride, stopping along the way to appreciate many vistas and overlooks. At milepost 77 (we started at milepost 105 and worked backwards toward 0), we pull over for a shot of Rocky Top Overlook.

A few fun facts about Skyline Drive:  It has 70 overlooks in 105 miles. Highest point is 3,680 feet. Construction began in 1931, ended in 1939, and cost $50,000 per mile.

The Northern entrance to the Park is in Front Royal, Virginia — only 70 miles from Washington, DC.

For more on Skyline Drive, click here. And for more on Shenandoah National Park, try this.

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We leave the Park, and work our way South to Staunton, Virginia, just a few miles from Waynesboro, where we stayed last night.  Tonight we are in Staunton, second night in a row at a Comfort Inn. We are truly living large.

For a guy who grew up in Kentucky and lives in Tennessee, Ray loves riding in Virginia.

What will tomorrow bring?