A long day for Carol

This morning I talked with two Harley riders who  arrived an hour or two after we did yesterday evening. They had also come from Bryce, and I asked them if they hit rain on Boulder Mountain. They had, and hail as well.

After breakfast at Duke's Slick Rock Grill in Hanksville, we rode south on UT 95. The road crosses the Colorado River and winds up and over some low passes and through red rock formations. All in all a very pleasant ride.

A little road construction to start the day

After an hour and a half we stopped to do the loop through Natural Bridges National Monument. By this time the day had warmed considerably, although the partly cloudy skies kept the temperature cooler than it was two years ago when I came through with two friends. Frankly, the natural bridges are not all that spectacular, but it's a pleasant half hour loop. (Arches National Park north of Moab is a better bet - brighter color, and more dramatic formations.)

A natural bridge

Pete, your host, at a Natural Bridges viewpoint

Highway 95 ends at Blanding, and we turned north on US  191 and immediately encountered another road construction delay. We had a quick lunch at the Peace Tree Juice Cafe in Monticello and went east on US 491 into Colorado. If we'd kept on 491 towards Cortez, we could have picked up the southern end of CO 145 - the San Juan Skyway. However, I thought that it might have a fair amount of vacation traffic, so we turned north on 141, a farm and ranch road that goes for 60 miles before connecting to the northern part of 145 near Naturita. I calculated that 141/145/550 to Montrose was 30 miles shorter than 491/184/145/62/550 to Montrose. Highway 141 was in good shape with a few curvy and steep sections, and there was little traffic.

CO  141 starts off  straight and empty. It stayed empty while we were on it.

Highway 145 had more ranches and a few small towns, and 62 followed the swiftly rushing San Miguel River. We rode over the 8900 foot Dallas Divide before descending into Ridgeway at US 550, which we followed  north to Montrose. The southern part of US 550 - The Million Dollar Highway - is very scenic, but the northern end coming into Montrose is not unlike the outskirts of Gilroy or Concord, with an outlet mall, chain stores, fast food places, and other depressing businesses. All necessary, I suppose, but jarring after the beautiful scenery of  the last couple of hours. The old Main St. of Montrose looked interesting, but the official path to US 50 bypasses downtown. Hint: If you are ever following 550 north through Montrose and want to get on US 50 east, turn right at Main St. - it becomes US 50 in a half mile.

Traffic on 50 to Gunnison was surprisingly light, There are gentle curves, many passing lanes, high passes, and pleasant scenery - it is more very high plateau rather than mountainous. We are spending the night at the ABC Motel, which not only has Kleenex in the room, but a hair dryer as well; Carol approves. We ate dinner at the Gunnisack Cowboy Bistro Restaurant and Bar, after which we wandered up Main St. and took in the two blocks of downtown Gunnison.

Today was a long day on the road and we did 400 miles. Carol says that's about as much as she is good for in one day. Tomorrow we'll have breakfast in Gunnison, and then ride through the Rockies to Boulder.