BMWMOA 2013 - Scenic Route

The BMW Motorcycle Owners Association has an international rally every year in mid-July, and in 2013 it was in Salem, Oregon, just a few hundred miles up US 101 from my home in San Francisco. Since riding directly to the rally wouldn't be much of a long distance ride, two friends and I decided to take the scenic route to Oregon via Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Washington.

I left San Francisco on July 3rd and rode on I-80 through the Sierra over Donner Summit and into Nevada. I picked up US 50 in Fernley and rode on "the loneliest highway" to the Tom Scott campground in the mountains a few miles east of Austin, NV. There I met John C and John P, friends of mine with whom I've shared several other motorcycle trips. They had been there for a couple of hours and I quickly set up my tent as the twilight faded into darkness.

The next morning we broke camp and rode to Eureka, where we had breakfast at the Owl Club cafe. This has been a regular breakfast stop for 30 years, going back to when my wife and I used to take cross-country motorcycle trips. Since it was the 4th of July I knew from prior experience that Eureka would close off Main St., which in this case is US 50, for a Fourth of July parade. We parked east of downtown on a side street so we could get out of town if the parade was still ongoing when we finished breakfast. As it was we saw part of the parade and were able exit town without trouble.

We stayed on US 50 to just before the Utah border, where we went south on UT 21 - every bit as lonely as US 50 - to Milford and into Beaver at I-15, where we spent the night at a motel. The next morning we rode 20 miles south on I-15 over Fremont Pass and exited onto UT 20 to US 89 to Panguich and US 12. This is one of the most beautiful parts of Utah and we rode on US 12 past Bryce Canyon through Escalante and over a 9200 foot pass to Torrey on UT 24, where we stopped for coffee. We stayed on 24 to Hanksville where we went south on UT 95 through scenic red rock canyons, by Glen Canyon, and stopped at Natural Bridges National Monument. John C is a big proponent of ATGATT - all the gear all the time - but I managed to capture a picture of him riding his motorcycle with his Aerostich suit on the back of the bike and not on his back. Granted, it was about 95 degrees out, the park loop has a speed limit of 25 mph, and we were stopping at a scenic overlook every mile.

Although there was a private campground in Blanding, UT on US 191, it was sprinkling and windy, so we spent the night in a motel. The next morning we continued north on 191 towards Moab through more scenic country.

Wilson Arch

We turned east on UT 46, which became Colorado 90 a few miles later when we crossed the border. We climbed over a pass and began a long descent down towards a valley which followed a river, stopping along the way to take pictures of the sights.

There was no traffic, the weather was good, and the road wasn't in bad shape, so we enjoyed ourselves on the hills and turns. We went off our route for a few miles to visit the small town of Paradox because, well, how can you not stop in a town called Paradox?

John C found a shortcut from CO 90 to CO 141 and soon we were on a dirt and gravel road that followed a river past old mines.

After 15 miles of slow and dusty riding we joined CO 141 and rode into Gateway, CO home of the Gateway Automobile Museum. Part of the Gateway Canyons Resort, the museum was created by John Hendrix, founder of the Discovery Channel. The museum is a manageable size, and features an excellent selection of cars ranging from the brass era to the 1960's. Although there are several European models, most of the cars are American.

The Kaiser Darin featured a sliding door that goes into the front fender.

A coffin-nosed Cord

A Hupmobile and an Indian board track racer

Frank Lloyd Wright's L-29 Cord is painted in Taliesen orange

This Oldsmobile Fiesta is all about 50's style.

As is this Cadillac

This Oldsmobile show car was acquired by the museum and restored at great expense.

To me the star of the museum is this Hudson Terraplane with a one-off convertible body.

We had a late lunch at the resort restaurant, and continued on 141 to US 50, and then at Delta rode east on CO 92. The day was beginning to cloud up and we had a few sprinkles as we rode through Crawford (Joe Cocker has a ranch there) and gradually descended to ride along the Gunnison River.

We joined US 50 and rode east for a few miles before we found a campground on a lake and stopped for the night.

 

Hard to believe that Carol and I used to travel across the country on my R75/5 with all our camping gear. Now I have all that gear just for me, with no room for a passenger.

The next morning we rode into Gunnison where we had breakfast and walked around a bit downtown. It's a picturesque old town and there's a college there, so there are plenty of coffee shops and music stores. We continued on US 50 over Monarch Pass (11,300 feet) to Poncha Springs and went north on US 285, a major route from the mountain vacation lands to Denver. We hit several hard rain showers and went over more high passes before we connected with the Denver freeway system. John C exited in Denver to visit a friend, John P rode up to Fort Collins to visit his sister, and I rode into Boulder to visit my daughter, who is in Law School at the University of Colorado. My daughter and I visited my wife's niece in nearby Louisville, and outside their house they have a Little Free Library. This is an international movement and later in 2013 I saw a similar library in Sarlat, a small town in France.

John C met me in Boulder, and he and I rode to Fort Collins where we met John P at a BMW shop there. I was a little concerned about my rear tire, but they said it was good for at least another 1000 miles, and anyway they couldn't replace since they were booked up. We went west on scenic CO 14 over Cameron Pass (10,300 feet) and stopped in Walden at CO 126 for dinner at the Moose Creek Cafe. We rode north on CO 126 and spent the night at a private campground near the Wyoming border.

 

The next day we rode north on WY 230 through the mountains to I-80 where we went west into Rawlins and stopped for gas. A new BMW R1200R had passed me on the Interstate, and when I stopped next to the gas station pump I noticed that the same BMW was on the other side. The rider said, "Hey, I used to have a bike just like that." I saw that the rider was a woman, we looked at each other, and then we both realized that we'd met three years ago at a gas station in Austin, Nevada. At that time I was on the same R1150R and she was on a new R1150GS, but she said that she'd sold her R1150R like mine to buy the GS, and she was sorry she had because the GS was just too heavy and tall. She said that she was on her way back home in the east and that she would probably sell the GS and buy a new R. True to her word, she bought the R and this year she was on her way to Washington to visit a friend. We all agreed that it was indeed a small world.

John and Leslie show off their Aerostich suits.

We left Rawlins and rode on US 287 through the Rockies and around the Great Divide Basin towards Yellowstone. At Moran Junction we went south on US 89/191 to Jackson, WY with a nice view of the Grand Teton Mountains on the right.

Jackson had the usual mid-Summer traffic and crowds, but we managed to find rooms at a motel just south of town.