Passes & Canyons Blog

The Old Farts Motorcycle Club headed southwest this year, to the land of blazing heat. Descending into Laughlin, NV, we could feel the heat rising until it felt, in the most literal sense possible, like a sauna. Probably about 110 degrees.

We rode about 1,600 miles this time, and learned a number of interesting, useful things. For one, you can’t get a cold brew anywhere on the Navajo reservation. We pulled into Tuba City, AZ, hot and dusty and ready for a swimming pool and/or a cold beer and found that neither was available. No pool was actually surprising considering we were at the Quality Inn. The redeeming factor was that the people working at the Quality Inn were absolutely the nicest, more friendly, most helpful folks you’ll ever meet. Plus, it was a gorgeous evening to sit out on the lawn and enjoy the perfect, cool night.

There were nine of us this year and that’s really too many. That many guys can’t just roll into town and expect to find room at the inn. And having reservations for the whole trip removes the spontaneity that has so often led to the best part of our trips.

So what do you do? You can’t tell three or four guys they’re disinvited next year. No, the only approach I can see that makes sense is to take more trips and you just assume that some guys will be on one trip but not another. With any luck, this will be a situation where too much of a good thing is resolved by having even more of a good thing.

It’s hard to believe, but we’re leaving on our annual bike trip in less than three weeks, June 15. This is kind of early for us, but we’re going south, to Arizona and New Mexico and Nevada, so it will be warm. There will be nine of us this year in this Old Farts Motorcycle Club excursion.

We’re going to ride the Unaweep Highway, which several of us have been on, but other haven’t, and it’s a good one. Then we’ll head on down through the Monument Valley and on to Fraser, AZ. In case you’ve never been to Fraser, let me tell you about it. It’s an old mining town not far from Sedona, and it sits up on the side of a mountain so steep that the road zig-zags back and forth through town. The front of a building faces the street in one direction and the same street passes by on the back side of the building. There’s no such thing as a cross-street.

From there we’ll head on to Laughlin, NV, where we’ve been a couple times before. It’s a lot like Las Vegas was before it got huge, and it’s on a river just down from a dam and reservoir. Nice place. Then we’ll work our way on home again, spending a couple days in places in Colorado that we’ve passed through but never stopped at.

Less than three weeks! Hot dang!

Every one of us who ride motorcycles hits or gets hit by things. Bugs are an obvious one, and if you ride without a helmet at times you’ve certainly been smacked in the face more than 101 times. Sometimes, as unlikely as it seems when you consider just how perfect conditions have to be, you’ll even end up with a bee or wasp getting scooped right up your sleeve. That’s one time when you stop and get off in a real hurry!

But what about other objects in the air? I encountered the question recently on a motorcycle forum that I frequent and figured I’d share here what I posted there.

Just last year, my friend Bill and I were coming down into Kremmling over Rabbit Ears Pass and a bird dove in close to his front wheel. Well, when we got to Kremmling and stopped for gas we found the bird stuck in right at the pivot on his kick stand. Extending the stand pinched it in and made it impossibe to remove so I had to hold the bike while he removed the oozing mess. This was not even the first time Bill has hit a bird. I’ve never done that.

Another time we were heading north from Laughlin, NV, and I was in the lead. We were pulling up on a semi and about the time I got close enough to think about passing one of his tires exploded. Big chunks and little pieces were flying everywhere but no one got hit by any. Very loud bang! Very scary to see big chunks of tread in the air.

Here’s another. John and Bill and I are the original three of our group, the OFMC, who first started riding. John and I were in Denver, heading over to Bill’s to start out on one of our very first week-long summer trips. On the way we were passing a golf course when a golfer hit his ball off the course in our direction. I was behind and I watched while it bounced off John’s rear wheel, right back onto the course. He didn’t even know it happened.

I couldn’t help but wonder as we were riding through the Black Hills and the roads were lined with bikes going both directions and hardly a car in sight, in the Black Hills, during the Sturgis rally, do car drivers wave at each other?

It’s beyond pointless to say I’ve never seen so many motorcycles in my life. That was a given. What did surprise me was the number of women riding their own. If a group of 10 bikes went by it was almost a certainty that one or even two or three would be women. You don’t see those numbers anywhere else that I’ve ever been.

What people who have never been to the rally may also not understand is that the rally is not just in Sturgis. It is actually a regional rally. All the other towns are packed with bikes, like Deadwood, Keystone, Custer, Spearfish, and of course Rapid City. And then there are the numerous campgrounds outside of Sturgis where a sizeable admission fee buys you not just a campsite but nightly concerts by top name bands. Sturgis itself is just one spot that probably everyone drops in on at least once but where only a very small number actually stay.

I had been a bit uncertain about going to the rally because I was envisioning just three days of solid partying in Sturgis but that wasn’t the case at all. We did spend the better part of one day in Sturgis doing the drinking, shopping, and people watching thing, but the rest of the time we spent riding the fabulous roads of the Black Hills. Which really suggests that making the Black Hills a destination for an extended stay when the rally is not making things crowded and expensive is an appealing vacation possibility.

Those are some initial thoughts about the rally. I’ll have more on the trip later.

Tomorrow is the day. The Old Farts Motorcycle Club is going to the Sturgis rally this year and we leave tomorrow. There will be eight of us going this year. This includes the three stalwarts, John, Bill, and Ken; four who have joined us over the years, Friggs, Dennis, Johnathon, and Jason; and one newbie, Brett.

We’ll be heading out Friday afternoon and riding to Guernsey, WY, where we’ll spend the first night. Saturday it’s on to stake claim to our accommodations in Rapid City, where we’ll spend three nights. During that time we’ll be running over to Sturgis, up to Deadwood, and generally cruising the terrific roads of the Black Hills.

Next we’ll head west, with a stop for the night in Gillette. Then on to Saratoga to our favorite lodging there, the Sage and Sand Motel. After one night in Saratoga Johnathon, Jason, and Brett will head back to Denver while the rest of us take a loop trip through the Snowy Range and spend a second night in Saratoga.

Leaving Saratoga we’ll cruise the short distance to Craig, CO, where we have a tee-time set for a bit of golf. No, we don’t carry our clubs with us, that’s what rentals are for. Then on home the next day.

We don’t normally plan out our summer trip with reservations all along the way but this year, traveling in the vicinity of the rally during actual rally week we figured it would be wise. We didn’t used to make any plans, other than the destination for our first day. Then we’d just follow our noses and see where we ended up. Those days are gone, though–that’s part of what the OF part of OFMC is all about.

Look for details on this trip in about 10 days. Sturgis, here we come.

We’ve been to Sturgis before but this year we’re going to the rally. Who is “we”? The guys I ride with have taken the whimsical name of “Old Farts Motorcycle Club” although, as one wife points out, some of the guys have just cause to dispute that name. It all started with John, Bill, and me (Ken) when we first got our bikes and started taking these summer trips. After awhile John’s son Johnathon joined us (after his dad got a new Shadow and gave him the old Virago) and then Bill’s brother Friggs moved back to town and got a bike. Bill’s brother-in-law Dennis joined us with his Gold Wing, and next, Bill’s son Jason joined us on his dad’s old Shadow when Bill bought his Harley, and Jason’s friend Todd came with Jason. Finally, Johnathon’s friend Randy hooked in with us.

So this year we’re headed to Sturgis, although the OFMC line-up is already changing. Just got word yesterday from Jason that Todd wiped out on his VTX just a few days ago. Totaled the bike, broke a few bones, and demolished his helmet (not his head!). Don’t have details yet but Jason says he should be OK. In the meantime Jason has another friend who is interested in coming and is working to get a hall pass from his wife and employer.

We don’t always have stops plannned and accommodations reserved but this year, traveling near the Black Hills during the rally, we figured it’s essential. I’ve been looking at motels half-way between Rapid City and Denver — some place we can reach easily after work on a Friday night — and it sure is funny how the price on this date is higher than their highest posted price. Can someone explain that to me? Oh, I get it.

That’s OK. No one bought a motorcycle in order to save money, or if they did they were misinformed.

So anyway, we’ll see you maybe in Sturgis. We’ll be the large group of Hondas with a Yamaha and one Harley mixed in.