Passes & Canyons Blog

This is what they’ve been predicting but now the forecast says Friday or Saturday, not Thursday.

The weather reports were all saying three to eight inches of snow in Denver on Thanksgiving Day but Wednesday was another warm, gorgeous Indian summer day. I had to go for a ride.

I skirted around the south side of Cherry Creek State Park, south on Peoria, which became Broncos Parkway, and then south again on Chambers. Chambers just keeps going. It used to be it took me a long time to get out of town going west but going south it didn’t take long. Now the city just goes on and on and on. You get into Parker, which in my memory was a wide spot in the road heading southeast on CO 83 but now is just as large as other suburban cities such as Thornton or Arvada.

I was wondering where Chambers comes out. Was I correct that it ended at Hess Road? One way to find out.

Yes it does, although with all the earth-moving and early construction it looks like it could easily go further in the next year. Or maybe it never will and Hess will be the northern boundary of whatever new subdivision that is being built. Whatever . . . I turned east.

Crossing Parker Road Hess gives way to Hilltop Road and I continued south and east on that. Where Hilltop branches off to the left I continued south on Flintwood. The RMMRC often rides out to Kiowa, to Patty Ann’s, in the winter months but we generally stay on Hilltop, so this was a bit of road I haven’t been on much. Nice for a change.

When I hit CO 86 I turned west, toward Franktown. What is it about Franktown? I cannot count the number of times I have been totally stumped trying to think of the name of that town. I’ve tried a variety of mnemonic devices to help me remember but again and again I find myself approaching and thinking, what the heck is the name of this town I’m coming to? It’s Franktown. Does anybody else have this problem?

At Franktown I turned north on CO 83 but coming into Parker there was a huge back-up. Way up ahead I could see lane closures and because traffic was heavy nobody was moving except at a crawl. Time to bail out. I turned west on Main Street. That was what I had wanted to do anyway because I wanted to continue north on Jordan Road.

So I turned north on Jordan Road. Much less traffic but then, after crossing Lincoln Avenue, I again ran into a snarl. Once again there were lane blockages ahead and everyone was having to move to the left. As I came up on it I saw that a fire truck was parked diagonally, blocking the right-hand traffic lane. Getting closer I saw two totally smashed cars and knew what the issue was. Then I saw a third car, equally smashed, and then — oh my gosh! — a fourth. Somebody did something really, really wrong. And judging from the absolutely totaled condition of all four cars, somebody was headed for the hospital. What a way to spend your Thanksgiving.

For me though, it was a beautiful day to be outside and on a motorcycle. And looking at the sky to the west it was hard to believe that we were supposed to have snow the next day. Well, it is now the next day and there’s not a flake of snow anywhere in evidence. But it’s gray and it’s cold, a good day to stay inside. I definitely did the right thing.

Biker Quote for Today

Fools use four-wheelers, and legends ride on two wheels.