Passes & Canyons Blog

Parked across the street from Patty Ann’s in Kiowa.

A regular ride for the RMMRC is out to Kiowa to Patty Ann’s Cafe, where the folks are friendly and the food is very good. Such a regular ride that we really have to work to find different ways to get there and come back.

Sure, we could always ride down Parker Road to Franktown and take CO 86 east to Kiowa but what fun would that be? Fortunately there are a lot of different routes.

The one we took out there on Wednesday was another really basic one: out east on Quincy to the Bennett-Kiowa Road and then south. If you just took those two routes you would soon be bored out of your mind. But there are numerous north-south roads, intersecting numerous east-west roads and you can pretty much zig-zag your way and vary the route any number of ways. You end up in the same place.

This, of course, is the curse of living in one place too long. There’s not a road anywhere near you that you haven’t ridden several hundred times.

Years ago I used to be pretty footloose. I moved around. And even when I stayed in the same place I would go away frequently, for extended excursions. I was known for this. When some friends moved to Buffalo, New York, the wife told me she wasn’t saying good-bye to me because she knew I’d be showing up at their door at some point. That was 40 years ago and I have never seen those folks again.

As it turned out, I settled down. I bought a house. That meant staying in one place and having mortgage payments that had to be made or else. That meant jobs where they expect you to show up every day. Dang, footloose was fun.

So I started going on all these week-long summer trips with the OFMC, which we’ve been doing for 31 years now. But even that started getting repetitive. In 31 years you cover a lot of roads anywhere you can get to and back in a week and a day or two.

For a while I pushed the guys to try something like shipping the bikes a long way away and flying out and then riding home. Or renting a truck to haul the bikes one way and having a marathon drive out somewhere distant and then riding home. I never could get anyone to go along on that with me. I’ve given up on that, plus the OFMC is down to just three again and in 2019, as I was mapping out a route, they told me they were game for some big miles in order to reach some places we don’t generally go. Afterward, planning the 2020 trip, they told me “let’s not do such long rides this time.” OK guys, whatever you wish.

And you end up riding the same roads over and over again. Sometimes I want to move to another city just so I can ride different roads. That’s not going to happen. I’ll keep riding these same roads, and ultimately they all lead to Patty Ann’s. Heck, it’s not a bad destination.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if people have nearly died of starvation looking at all of your bike/run pictures.

There’s nothing more quintessential than an ice cream stop on a motorcycle ride.

Ain’t it grand to be able to do some of the old stuff, like riding out some place for lunch or ice cream. The RMMRC did both yesterday.

There were just five of us who showed at the meeting spot–mostly the hard core regulars, plus a guy, Rick, who I was not familiar with, although everyone else knew him well. The destination was Kiowa, for lunch at Patty Ann’s.

Patty Ann’s is a good place. I first encountered it when I was riding by myself out that way one day and figured I’d stop for lunch. There were a couple folks on motorcycles there so that is always encouraging. I was blown away, though, by how good the food was. I marked this place mentally as one to come back to.

Fast forward just a couple years and I have joined the RMMRC. Surprise: one of the club’s favorite rides in weather when you can’t go into the mountains was Kiowa, to Patty Ann’s.

So we all donned masks and walked in, and we pulled over a second table so we were sitting at least not elbow to elbow with each other. Then about the time we finished the meal Norvin came in. Norvin lives nearby so there was no point in him riding all the way into town just to ride back out.

We headed south to Elbert and past and then Robert led us on some roads I hadn’t been on, on a winding path over to Monument and we stopped again. For ice cream, at a place called the Rock House. Now that was a nice idea. And this was a nice place, with good ice cream they make themselves. Way too many places any more just serve up commercial ice cream, like Dreyer’s, which is good but you end up paying as much for a single scoop as a whole carton costs at the supermarket. I want ice cream that is made right there and that’s what the Rock House serves.

From Monument we continued north on 105 up to Sedalia and then U.S. 285 to the Daniels Park Road. Turning east onto Castle Pines Parkway the group splintered and everyone headed their own directions. Eat to ride, ride to eat is back.

Biker Quote for Today

Owning two bikes is useful because at least one can be raided for parts at any given time.

Parked across the street from Patty Ann’s.

I went for a ride with the RMMRC Friday and leading the group was Tim. Now, I’m terrible with names, and after being a member of the group for about three years I still probably only know about six or seven peoples’ names. But I think I’ll remember Tim because he is really short, so my mnemonic device to remember his is “Tiny Tim.” You don’t have to mention that to him.

It was supposed to be a beautiful November day but starting out it was overcast and cooler than expected. I dressed warmly and was glad I did. Love that electric vest.

The intent was just a simple ride out to Kiowa to have a late breakfast at Patty Ann’s. I’ve eaten at Patty Ann’s several times and they have great food. If you’re out that way–or if you want to head that way just to eat there–Patty Ann’s gets my hearty recommendation. They have terrific green chile and with everything else smothered in green chile it probably really doesn’t matter what that everything else is.

So the discussion was on the route to get there. The easy and direct–and boringly familiar–route would be to go out Parker Road to Franktown and turn east. That was suggested but Tim didn’t like that idea. He took the lead.

We worked our way southeast, zigging and zagging as you have to do with straight roads on a grid, but we came to a spot where I think everyone expected to go east and Tim headed west. That tipped me off. A couple years ago Roy had staged a mystery ride and we ended up out in these parts. Tim had helped Roy plan that ride. I suspected we were about to take a portion of that ride again.

When we made a left turn at a particular spot I knew I was right. From that point on all the way to Elizabeth we followed the mystery ride route. And it was a lot more interesting than just Parker to Franktown and east.

Kiowa, Patty Ann’s, and the food did its job and we were ready to leave. What route? Again, Tim had no intention of retracing our steps. So he led us along some other roads out here.

What this all told me was Tim must be a kindred soul to me because while I would guess most of the guys had little idea exactly where they were, I pretty much knew every bit of it. You see, I go out there and ride around on these roads exploring quite a bit. And I had just been out here in the past week. These were several of the same roads I was on just days before.

I guess I’m not the only one who loves to explore.

Biker Quote for Today

I got my own reasons why I do what I do. I like to ride motorcycles. She likes it too. — Alan Jackson

I strongly recommend Patty Ann's Cafe in Kiowa.

We’ve had such great weather that I suspect even people who normally put their bikes away for the winter have been out riding. I suspect riding is even possible in the mountains, whereas I normally don’t ever go up there at this time of year. Maybe I’ll give it a shot soon but so far I’ve stuck to the flatlands.

That means going out on the prairie if you’re going to go more than just around the neighborhood, so I headed out east on Jewell, which has become my go-to route out of town. It turns to gravel just east of Gun Club Road but it’s good, hard-packed gravel, and besides, I was on the Honda, which does OK on gravel.

I reached the T intersection at Watkins Road and turned south to Quincy, another T intersection. I had been at that point numerous times, going both directions, but had never gone further east on Quincy. It was time.

I didn’t know what to expect–I was just exploring. But I figured if I found a place to turn south I could work my way to Kiowa or Elizabeth. I just didn’t know how far I’d have to go before I would find that road south.

I came to Tom Bay Road (ever heard of that?) and it looked possible but after I made the turn I saw it went to dirt right away and the dirt didn’t look all that great. So I continued east on Quincy. Next came Brick-Center Road and I didn’t even try that one. Someday I suspect these will be as familiar–and paved–as Gun Club Road, Tower Road, and all those. But not yet.

Then I hit Kiowa-Bennett Road and I knew that was my baby. South I went. Not too much out here but a few clusters of mini-mansions and a lot of farming and grazing land. But pretty, in a prairie kind of way.

I got to Kiowa and was glad I was going the direction I was on this route. If I had come out on CO 86 looking to turn north I might have missed it. There’s no big intersection or anything; it just looks like any other street in this small town. But it does seem to be a somewhat common route for motorcycles. I passed a fair number going the other direction. I’m guessing they gather at the Stagecoach in Franktown and head east, then north, before turning back west to town. The opposite of what I was doing.

At this point I was ready for lunch and Kiowa had a selection of places to eat. Patty Ann’s Cafe had a sign saying “Bikers Welcome” so I went in there. What a good choice! It appears that all their food is prepared from scratch and it has real flavor. I just got a bowl of soup but it was no little bowl. It had to have been at least twice as much as most restaurants serve as a bowl. Plus, it came with fresh-baked biscuits. Yum!

From there it was back west through Elizabeth to Franktown. Then north on CO 83 through Parker and back to Denver. What a great day to be out on the bike.

Biker Quote for Today

She said “the bike or me.” Decision made.