Short Ride To A Nothing Town
From Durango we had a short day in store so we were in no hurry to take off. Dennis and Bill paid a visit to the local Harley dealer while I made a stop at the local Honda shop. I wasn’t riding my Honda–I was on the Kawi–but I had noticed a small pool of oil beneath my bike and spotted a drop of oil hanging off the fairing, ready to fall.
Dennis and I paused in Durango to pose with this very stiff gentleman.
I called Joel, my mechanic, and asked him diplomatically how many drain plugs he had pulled. The Kawi has two and I made the mistake once myself of only pulling one and then when I went to put the new oil in it got overfull on less than the prescribed amount. Joel assured me had pulled two drain plugs. As for filling it, he said he doesn’t measure, he looks at the sight glass and stops when it reaches the right level.
Joel asked how big the drip pool was and told me it was nothing to worry about if it was only a little puddle about three inches across. So just to play it safe I went to the Honda dealer and bought a quart of oil, which I carried with me the rest of the trip and brought home unopened.
So about 11 a.m. or so we headed west on U.S. 160, through Mancos, to Cortez, and then northwest on U.S. 491 into Utah, to Monticello. This was about 105 miles and this was our stop for the day. I had planned it this way because other than perhaps going to Moab there was really nowhere else to go around here. But I figured there must be something to do in or around Monticello because in consulting maps of our previous trips I saw that we had stayed there two nights once, many years ago.
It turned out I had misread my own writing. We didn’t stop there for two nights, it was where we stayed the night of day two of that year’s trip. And I tell you what, Monticello is a really small town. We walked up to one end of town and got ice cream, later we walked to the other end of town for dinner, and that was Monticello. We did a lot of hanging out that day.
The next day we walked next door for breakfast and while we were there the skies opened up and a deluge poured down. It was over by the time we were finished with breakfast but the sky still looked very threatening so we suited up and headed out. Now we were riding north on U.S. 191 through the desert and anyone who lives out in these parts will tell you the desert is at its most beautiful right after a rainfall. That was the case this day and this ride was one of the best of the trip. The smells and the colors are something you have to experience to understand.
After 30 miles on 191 we turned east on Utah 46, which crosses back into Colorado and becomes Colorado 90, to Naturita. If you have never taken this bit of road you need to work it into your route some day. It runs across the south face of the Monte La Sal mountains and then drops precipitously into a lush canyon and finally out into ranching country. This is a hidden gem that I suspect most people have never seen.
We then turned north on CO 141, the Unaweep Highway, which is also very, very scenic. We followed it to Gateway and turned east to meet up with U.S. 50 at Whitewater, a little south of Grand Junction. Then a jog south to Delta and a turn east to Hotchkiss–home for the night.
I’m going to do a little naked promotion here. At Hotchkiss we stayed at the Hotchkiss Inn. Kris and Andy Bartol, the owners, advertise on this website. But that’s not the point. The point is, they have an extremely nice place here. I routed us through Hotchkiss a few years ago and ever since then the guys have raved about how much they liked it. So they were very pleased when I told them we were stopping there again this year. OK, promo over. And so is this post.
Biker Quote for Today
Why motorcycles are better than women: Your motorcycle won’t wake you up at 3 a.m. and ask you if you love it.
Tags: Unaweep Canyon
