Well, made it to Torrey in one piece... wish I could say as much for Bambi....
A few miles outside Durango... had just left a stop light, and noticed a 2 foot high field of tan grass to my right... and looky there... a doe head sticking up by the side of the road. She was eyeing the other side of the street, so I started scrubbing speed. 100 yards from her, she makes her break across the road, and runs smack dab into the front left corner of a lady's Suzuki automobile. I'm now about 25 feet from the impact, and the deer starts pinwheeling towards yours truly... luckily, I had slowed down enough, and veered to the right far enough, that by the time I rolled over the legs, I was able to keep it under control. Got some deer crap on my saddle bag (yes, I checked, and it wasn't mine)... and some on my front tire tread. The lady's Suzuki lost her front bumper, but was drivable. I've got pictures of the late Bambi on the side of the road.
Oddly enough, had a 8 point buck with velvet on his antlers run across the road in front of me on the way to Ouray.... and saw tons of fresh bodies on the side of the road in Southern Utah. But the bike is still running, and I'm still here...
Passing thoughts...
1) Playing the bumper to a deer's billiard ball isn't my idea of fun.
2) This time of year, this part of the country, morning riding is where it's at. Cool, clear, and awesome conditions. The only sucky thing is the forest rats.
3) When it's getting hot, and there's a thunder cell next to the road, but not raining on the road, it's God's way of giving you air conditioning.
4) The roads through Capitol Reef and Durango to Silverton rock.
5) I much prefer the road in Colorado that I was SUPPOSED to be on, and which I road today, versus that shelf road (Ophir Pass) that I took last year.
Tomorrow we arrive at Park City... hope it's as good a day as the first 4.