On top of Independence Pass.

Motorcycle Touring With Ball O’ String

One of the fun aspects of an organized tour is the opportunity to meet other people who share your interests. If you, or you and your spouse, are the only ones on the tour, the only people you’ll meet are the tour guides.

So it was that Willie Fuhrman invited Judy and me to come along on a tour they were running through Willie’s company, Ball O’ String Custom Adventure Tours. She had a couple whose sons had given them a trip that included two days riding but no one else had signed up. Would we like to come along to make for a more lively group, paying our own expenses? Sure, you bet. Sounds like fun.

We headed out of Denver mid-afternoon on Friday and cruised up to Eagle, where Willie and her husband, Jungle, live. The tour was centered on the Eagle-Vail area and we’d be coming back to their house each night. The paying customers, Tom and Marsha Tuttle, would be staying each night in the hotel in Vail that was part of the gift from their sons. We reached Eagle, unloaded the bike, and headed back to Vail with Willie and Jungle to meet and have dinner with the Tuttles. Willie’s friend Terry would also be joining us, both for dinner and for riding.

Tom and Marsha, from Connecticut, ride a Harley back home and had rented one from a dealer in Denver. They weren’t thrilled with the rental but that’s the thing with any rental motorcycle, it’s not your bike. Sometimes that’s nice but sometimes you just make do.

We ate, got acquainted, and made plans. Then Saturday morning we met up and took off up U.S. 24 over Tennessee Pass to Leadville. Along the way we stopped at Camp Hale, where the 10th Mountain Division trained during World War II to fight on skis in the Alps. All that remains today of Camp Hale are some building foundations and some signs telling its story. It’s an interesting story.

Speaking of interesting stories, we learned the origin of the name “Ball O’ String” over the weekend and the stop at Camp Hale fits right in. Years ago, when their daughter Becca was young, Willie and Jungle used to travel with the two of them on the bike and Becca and the dog in a sidecar. One year they passed a sign announcing the world’s largest ball of string, so of course they stopped to see it. Becca was not impressed.

The following year, as they planned another trip, Becca was asked if she wanted to come or not.

“Is this going to be a real vacation or is it just another ball of string trip?” she asked.

When the business needed a name, Ball O’ String was just a natural.

From Leadville we cruised on down to Twin Lakes and then over Independence Pass to Aspen, where we stopped for lunch. Then it was on to Glenwood Springs and a return to Eagle and Vail via I-70 through Glenwood Canyon. Total distance for the day was–for us Coloradans at least–an easy 190 miles or so.

After everyone had a chance to change and freshen up, we met again in Vail and rode the gondola up to the summit to watch the sunset, and then rode back down to have dinner. At dinner however, we learned from Tom and Marsha that it had been a tiring day for them, not the least because Tom was hurting pretty badly due to the lack of the backrest he is accustomed to having. He was looking forward to some hot tub time but unfortunately the hot tub at their hotel closed before he had a chance to get in. We had an excellent dinner, though, and made plans for Sunday.

Cutting it short
Come Sunday morning, Tom and Willie were in communication and our start was postponed. The plan was to head north out of Wolcott on CO 131 to Toponas, take CO 134 over Gore Pass to pick up U.S. 40 west of Kremmling, and then to take 40 over Rabbit Ears Pass to Steamboat Springs for lunch. From there we would continue west almost to Hayden and then take a very nice, minor road, called the 20-Mile Road, back down to 131 at Oak Creek and then back south to where we started.

Could we do something shorter, Tom asked? He wanted to be sure to be back by 3 p.m. so they could look around Vail more and so he could be sure of getting to the hot tub. OK, Willie countered, we could just take 131 straight to Steamboat, have lunch, and come right back. That still seemed too long, so at Jungle’s suggestion, we would meet at Wolcott and ride just to Toponas and there stop for gas. Then it would be up to Tom and Marsha to decide how much further they’d like to go.

At Toponas, Tom and Marsha said they were just going to go back to Vail, so the rest of us went on without them along the route as planned. We certainly had a nice ride. At dinner that night, in another of the really good restaurants that Vail seems to have in quantity, we had a lot of laughs. As well as some heat, as both Tom and Jungle demonstrated that they have strong opinions and are not hesitant to express those opinions, even though, in this case, they were conflicting opinions.

“Hey, how ’bout them Broncos?” was my effort at deflecting the conversation elsewhere.

It all ended on a positive note and we said our good-byes. Monday morning was cold and rainy and Judy and I put on all our rain gear plus a few things Willie and Jungle offered. We were dry and reasonably warm but I couldn’t help but wonder about Tom and Marsha, who were also returning to Denver but who didn’t have all the warm gear we had. I heard from Willie soon after we got home, however, that they had arrived safely, though though it was a very cold ride. We who live in Colorado understand this but people who come from elsewhere don’t: Carry warm gear. It can snow any day of the year on the higher passes. The fact that it’s August means nothing.

That ended our little outing and our first experience on a Ball O’ String tour. Then the phone rang last night and as Judy handed it to me I heard Jungle and Willie singing “Happy Birthday” to me.

“We want to see you guys again soon,” Willie said.

I think we can make that happen.

Biker Quote for Today

We got a gorilla and we shaved him and bought him a motorcycle — Flaming Lips