Farewell To Winter Tour

[spoilsport]

12 finally lead us the Weston. Weston was a company mining town owned by Rockefeller. All the housing, the stores, and the mine were owned by the company. The payroll was distributed in front of the store each week accompanied by four armed guards.

Further down the mountain, we reached Trinidad. Trinidad has some architecturally interesting old buildings and a lot of charm.

Over Raton Pass we were finally in New Mexico. Not even the Land of Enchantment can escape the graffiti artist.

Then it was into Raton for gas and a break.

In Raton, we ran across this Honda shop, R&D Honda. John decided that he wanted some Greek pastry on his face, too, so we stopped in.

We were greeted and instantly befriended by the owner, Roy, who is 95 years old - certainly the most distinguished Honda dealer in the USA, if not the world. Of course, we had to show Roy John's Transalp, and he was duly impressed with it's mint condition, as were with his.We spend almost an hour in there swapping stories. Roy's son sent us to his favorite Mexican joint, The Sands, for lunch and then we were off for the final leg to Taos.

This historic route to Taos goes along the old Santa Fe trail.

 

[spoilsport]

After passing the NRA's impressive Whittington Center, the first stop on NM64 was Cimarron.

 

[spoilsport]

From Cimarron it was on to the Cimarron Canyon State Park and Eagles Nest for some more extraordinary canyon carving. Just when it seemed it couldn't get any better, we enter Valle Escondido for this....

Which ultimately dumped our adrenalin drenched bodies right into downtown Taos.

 

[beemerdons]

I've been to/thru BV a few times, so very familar sights...

+1, Gunny! Love riding the great and twisty roads of Colorado!

+10, Tenfold Gunny! Outstanding Ride Report spoilsport, Really Great!

 

[spoilsport]

I've been to/thru BV a few times, so very familar sights...

+1, Gunny! Love riding the great and twisty roads of Colorado!

+10, Tenfold Gunny! Outstanding Ride Report spoilsport, Really Great!

Thanks. I enjoy riding AZ, too. You've got some super sized sweepers that are hard to top!

 

[wheatonFJR]

Hey, this is a great report. :clapping:

He even spells Taos right!

 

[spoilsport]

The place for coffee in Taos.

Nice hat!

Taos has a great plaza.

We got lucky and scored a suite at the Taos Inn right on the Plaza, where we settled down at the bar for some fresh lime margaritas while the band set up for their evening show. They said they were going to play middle eastern music. Little did we know that.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHxMmFKu34g :fans:

We had inadvertently but fortuitously positioned ourselves at the front row of a belly dancing performance. A bevy of belly dancers, one after another presented themselves, building to an incredible crescendo of music and undulation as the crowd went wild. It was a wonderful exclamation point on a great day and an apt metaphor for the undulating roads that led us here.

 

[wheatonFJR]

We got lucky and scored a suite at the Toas Inn right on the Plaza...

...oops, I spoke too early. :lol:

 

[spoilsport]

We got lucky and scored a suite at the Toas Inn right on the Plaza...

...oops, I spoke too early. :lol:

Caught it! ha...

Lived in Wheaton for a short time long ago. Great town. Didn't John Belushi go to Wheaton High?

 

[wheatonFJR]

We got lucky and scored a suite at the Toas Inn right on the Plaza...

...oops, I spoke too early. :lol:

Caught it! ha...

Lived in Wheaton for a short time long ago. Great town. Didn't John Belushi go to Wheaton High?

Yep...some even say he graduated.

Great report...lovin' it!

 

[SaharaJp99]

Fantastic report!!! The roads look to be in amazing condition for this time of year, atleast down there, up here around Ft Collins we still have tons of sand, gravel, and mag chloride covering the canyons, so I have been riding in the plains. Makes me jealous!

I as well am a transplant from the Wheaton area! Born in Wheaton and grew up in Wheaton, Winfield, and Glen Ellyn. Went to high school at Glenbard West where the movie Lucas was filmed.

Fantastic ride report, can't wait for more!

 

[spoilsport]

The next morning, despite day light savings and extreme grogginess from the festivities, we managed to get up and pack before sunrise and get ourselves on foot over Michael's Kitchen for breakfast at 7AM. Promised I'd be home by 5pm.

Still navigating on the fly, we decided to ride north through Questa, a new route for us.

After all those twisties, it was nice to wind up the FJR on some beautiful straight roads.

By mid morning, we were back in colorful Colorado.

We filled up in Ft Garland and headed west toward Alamosa. After a few miles, we turned north on 150 in order to skirt the Sangre de Christo Range and the Great Sand Dunes National Park - more empty straight roads. This is what the Dunes look like from about 10 miles out.

A little closer, they look like this!

 

[wheatonFJR]

I as well am a transplant from the Wheaton area! Born in Wheaton and grew up in Wheaton, Winfield, and Glen Ellyn. Went to high school at Glenbard West where the movie Lucas was filmed.

Small world guys.

I, too grew up on Jewell Rd between Wheaton and Winfield...then my parents moved to Glen Ellyn where I went to GW...Class of 1977. One of the "bad guy football players" in Lucas was a next door neighbor in Glen Ellyn...played with my little brother growing up.

BTW, my sister-in-law and her husband live on the ridge north of Masonville.

Hijack over - GREAT REPORT.

 

[Bungie]

Cimmaron shocked me. Leaving SWFO I rode solo out through Eagles Nest and the Canyon into Cimmaron. I remember reading the town sign saying 'Gateway to the Plains' and looking around and seeing nothing but mountains. Then I exited the town and thinking WTF! Flat as a pancake all the way into Oklahoma!

They told no lies on that sign.

Great ride report.

 

[spoilsport]

Leaving the Sand Dunes, we turned north on CO17 and headed for Salida via Poncha Pass.

In Salida, we had lunch at our favorite joint, Amicas. Great wood fired pizza!

Followed by one of the greatest roads in Colorado, US50 through Big Horn Sheep Canyon.

We joined up with I25 in Colorado Springs and 1 hour later we were back in Denver, 30 minutes ahead of schedule. I kissed the wife, washed the bike and had a great meal of barbecued French cut lamb chops and red wine. Hhhmmmmm good!

Here's a picture of the route map...

Link to Google Map of Farewell to Winter

....And this is a link to the Google Map of the route. These are some great roads, and winter riding is highly under rated as long as the traction gods are smiling on you, as they were on us...

 

[spoilsport]

POST SCRIPT

I learned a lot about my FJR on this, it's inaugural road trip. I learned that the FJR is a fantastic bike that fits me well. I learned that my suspension is settings are soft and need to be tightened up. I decided that it would be nice to have a V-Stream windshield. I learned that I love winter riding - no bugs and no traffic - and that my traction fears can be managed along with the cold. And, really, there is nothing like eastern music and belly dancing after a long day of canyon carving if you want to keep the excitement alive for a few more hours!

 

[RPrice]

Excellent RR!! Thanks for sharing this ride.

 

[Khunajawdge]

Yo :clapping:

 

[SaharaJp99]

Excellent ride report again!!

Your ride report inspired me to check that area out. I am about to embark on a similar route tomorrow morning, although, mine will only be over the span of two days as I have to be back to work on Monday A.M. I will post up a ride report when I get back, but tomorrow is a scheduled 587 mile day with a bale out at 456 miles if I get tired, and Sunday is scheduled to be 467 miles with 4 miles of dirt roads mixed in to liven it up!

Loved the ride report!

PS: Wheaton, if you ever visit your sister-in-law, send me a PM, I'm only about 30 miles from Masonville and would love to meet up and ride or grab a beer(we have A LOT of good beer in this area, as well as fantastic riding!).

Sorry for the continued hi-jack!

 

[phroenips]

We got lucky and scored a suite at the Toas Inn right on the Plaza...

...oops, I spoke too early. :lol:

Caught it! ha...

Lived in Wheaton for a short time long ago. Great town. Didn't John Belushi go to Wheaton High?

Unfortunately, you got your FJR and joined the forums a few months too late. "Toas" is a reference to last year's SW-FOG where there were shirts made up which said the location was in mysterious Toas, NM As I'm sure you can imagine...it all went downhill from there!