Telluride, Million Dollar Highway, gliding, Mesa Verde 08/11-08/12

I left Denver early on the 11th and headed to Ouray, CO in the southwest of the state where the Million Dollar Highway is located. As was the case with many of my travels to a new destination, the scenery o the drive there was almost as spectacular as the destination. I arrived around 4:00 and got settled at a KOA campground. I then jumped on the bike and rode to Telluride an hour away. Telluride is a former silver mining town which is now a ski resort and mountain biking destination. Its population is the 6th richest in the country. I was told that the billionaires are now pushing out the millionaires. The town is nestled among the mountains on 3 sides and has a gondola that you can ride for free to the top of the mountain and on to another quaint village and beyond to where the rich live. I rode the gondola but could not venture very far because my leg was bothering me that day. I was leaving town and the sun was directly in my eyes and I could barely see so I turned around and had dinner at a little bakery that served pizza and sandwiches. I sat on the porch looking at the mountains as the sun set. When I left it was dark so I was a little worried about an elk or deer or some other animal jumping out in the road so I followed another car so they could run interference for me. I made it back safely and prepared for my last day.

I took off early on my bike the next day for Durango via the Million Dollar Highway. The drive was fantastic and a must for anyone who comes near this area especially motorcycle riders. The views of the mountains are stunning and the road twists and turns its way through them. However, it is not for the faint of heart as there are no guardrails and you are right next to 100 foot dropoffs in a lot of places. Just as I was about to arrive ion Durango I saw a glider coming in for a landing in a field next to the road. I turned around and went back to see if I could go up. The price was reasonable and they had an opening 1-1/2 hours from then at 12:30. I told them to pencil me in and I would be back. I rode into Durango for a light lunch and then headed back. I arrived at 12:05 but they were ready for me so I jumped in and my pilot, who has been flying since the 50's, jumped in behind me. We hooked up to the plane to pull us up to our altitude and took off. We used the updrafts from the mountains to attain our altitude just like when I went skydiving and then I was told to pull the lever that released the rope. We were on our own now flying above the mountains. We did some tight circles for a minute to gain even more altitude up to 12000 feet and then leveled off and flew toward the mountains. If you want to glide this has got to be one of the best places to do it. The mountains are spectacular and you are flying right there in them. After flying around the mountains for a while we turned and headed back toward the valley. At this point I asked if I could fly the plane and he said "go ahead and grab the stick" so I did. It was harder than I expected it to be but I was doing OK. I flew the plane for a couple of minutes and then told my pilot to take control. We got over the valley and suddenly we went into a severe dive. Then he pulled up and we did a loop. It was like being on a roller coaster ride in the sky. He did that same move a couple of more times as I yelled "WOO HOO" and then we made our way down for the landing. When we stopped, the lady who took the money came out to help us. I told her that I had thrown up all over the floor and she said that I was smiling too much for that to be true. The flight was so much fun that I could not stop smiling for a long time. I then headed to Mesa Verde to see the Pueblo homes in the side of the mountains. My leg was feeling pretty good today so I was able to walk the half mile to see one of them up close and go inside one of the rooms. It was amazing to think that they lived like this in the side of mountains. I ventured around there for a while and then headed back home. The ride back over the Million Dollar Highway was great because there were no cars in front of me all the way to the top so I got to have fun.

This was the perfect day to end this first journey. I didn't get to do everything I originally planned but I added some things and had a great time. Except for hurting my leg, everything has been perfect. My sister-in-law, Sandy, said that when I get old I won't have anything exciting left for my bucket list. The list will look like this:
(1) Read a book
(2) catch a fish
(3) have a bowel movement
But I figure that I can just start over again with all the exciting things I have done already. I'm so glad that I took the time off to make this journey. I will remember it for as long as I live. I have met so many great people and had so much fun putting 5000 miles on my bike in six weeks. I pray that my upcoming adventures will go as well as this first one. For now, I will be happy to get home to see my family and friends who I miss very much. Hopefully, they miss me a little too.
I hope everyone has enjoyed reading my blogs as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
God bless and may you be healthy.
Steve out!!!

Denver & Rocky Mountain National Park 08/09-08/10

I arrived in Denver after an exhausting 12 hour drive. I made contact with my cousin Irene and her husband Ken and they invited me to stay at their house. I humbly accepted and made my way there. Their son Chris was there so I got to meet him for the first time. Chris has red hair like me so you know he is a great guy. They fixed a wonderful dinner and we sat around and talked and laughed on their patio on a gorgeous Denver night. They still looked the same as the last time I saw them 9 years ago. It was good to see them again as they are so much fun and such nice people. I stayed around the house the next day except to get my oil changed in the camper and to visit Arrowhead golf course with Irene to see the incredible rock formations on the course. That night I went to see my other cousin Kae and her husband Skip and their 2 children Natalie (9) and Nicholas (7). Kae hasn't changed a bit either since I saw her 9 years ago and their children are adorable. Natalie reminds me so much of Kae when she was her age. I am now Natalie and Nicholas' favorite since I took them on a motorcycle ride around the block. We had a great time visiting and they fed me a great dinner. I got the kids all wound up and left which is my favorite thing to do.

The next day I rode to the Rocky Mountain National Park and rode the Ridge Line road which goes up over 12000 feet. It was a great day and I got an early start so I could beat the traffic. I first stopped in Grand Lake to check out Irene & Ken's cottage there. Grand Lake is a quaint little town with an old style saloon and various shops and restaurants. There cottage was only 2 blocks from the town and was the perfect little getaway home. I made my way into the park and was rewarded with beautiful mountain and valley scenery. After going over the top I saw 2 huge bull elk at about 11,400 feet just laying down resting. I was able to walk fairly close and get some good pictures. It was the first bull elk I had seen on my trip so I was happy to finally see some. I made my way back to town via a small town which is famous for the hotel where the movie The Shining was filmed. I forgot all about it being there so I just drove by without stopping. I guess I will have to come back at a later date so I can do that. I got home and rested a bit before everyone else came back. I took everyone out to dinner and we had a great time telling stories and laughing like the old days. Tomorrow I leave for Ouray in Southwest Colorado for a couple of days so I said my final goodbyes to Kae and her family and we went back to Irene's where I got to spend a little time with her other son Mark who was in town. Mark is in college and is a delightful person. I wish I could have met their daughter Kellie but she lives out of town and my cousin Peggy who lives in town but was busy. I will definitely come back again one day so maybe I can see them then. It's nice to have such wonderful family members in a great destination like this who are so gracious and willing to open their homes and lives to me. It's a shame life is such that the cousins can't all get together more often because we always have so much fun. It was a great visit and Denver is now a place that I want to visit again and real soon.

Lake Chelan 08/05-08/06

First of all, I have posted some pictures from the skydive on that post. I just received them from the cameraman today.

We had a boat rented all day Wednesday so we started out early with wake boarding and water skiing. I wanted to ski but my leg was too sore so I relinquished myself to driving the boat. Everyone did really well and Sarah, who is from Germany, got up after only 5 tries and stayed up for a very long time. Doug, who is my age, got up on the wake board for a short time and was very happy. They skied until they were exhausted and then we traded in the skis for an inner tube. I got off the boat and handed over the driving to Doug and went in to eat and rest. They had a good time but incurred a few injuries but nothing serious. We had a great meal and then everyone just hung out. I played all the Nintendo Wii sports games with Alex and of course he destroyed me at them all but we had a great time playing.
The next day I decided it was time to ride the bike again. It had been almost a week since my last real ride so I was itching to go. The weather was perfect at around 70 and I rode to the Northern Cascades scenic road a couple of hours away. It was a hazy, cloudy day but the mountains and lakes were spectacular. Where I took the picture of myself looking down on Diablo Lake, it is so windy that they post warnings. The wind blew so hard at one point that I had a hard time standing. I rode 370 miles and got back around 8:00 to settle in for the night. I said goodbye to a few of the people I would not see the next morning and went to bed. I left early the next day to head for Denver after saying my final goodbyes which included a tearful goodbye with Janice Hopper. She and my Janice always cried whenever we would leave because they were afraid they would never see each other again and I would make fun saying of course you will see her again. But now I realize that you truly never know if you will see someone again after you leave them so it is always good to let people know how you feel about them when you leave just in case. I had a fabulous time with everyone and it was so good to see them again. The children are now young adults and they are all great kids with wonderful futures ahead of them. I wish them all the best in life. Everyone treated me as one of the family and I am proud and honored to be a part of their family. I hope we can get together again in the future to share good times again. I want to especially thank Ed and Janice for having me into their home for the week. They have always been such gracious and generous hosts whenever we visited. I absolutely love the Northwest and it's good to know I have friends there I can visit.

Lake Chelan

I finally made it to Lake Chelan in central Washington but it was still hot. The temperature was over 100 degrees. I met up with Janice's aunt and uncle and they invited me to stay with them at their condo since they had a few family members that were not going to be able to make the trip. I took them up on their generous offer and moved my camp to the other side of the lake. The accommodations were excellent and I was happy to see everyone again. It had been many years since I had seen the family and I was amazed at how much the children had grown. We went to the lake to swim and just relax and fortunately the lake water was cold enough to actually cool me off from the extreme heat. Lake Chelan is a very big lake that stretches over 50 miles and is 1500 feet deep at its deepest. We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon and a family dinner and 4 of us guys went to bed to get up early for a fishing trip. We were at the dock by 5:30 the next morning and our guide took us out to search for Mackinaw or Lake Trout as hey are known. I was fishing with Doug Hopper, Mark Hopper, and Alex Hopper. Ed Hopper, Janice's uncle, had graciously paid for us to go on this trip and I am very grateful. These are a big trout that we fished for on the bottom at anywhere from 100-200 feet deep with jigs. We caught 2 fish right away that were big and thought we would have that kind of luck all day. But we soon hit a dry spell and we missed several fish. None of us had fished like this before and it was a difficult task to learn. We didn't have much more luck until the end of our time when we caught 6 more smaller but good sized fish. Everyone had landed a fish so we were content. We didn't keep any of the fish because we had no way to store them but we also did not have fishing licenses so we didn't deserve to keep them. We thought that the license was part of the trip but we were wrong. Luckily we were not caught. We headed back and each took a nice long nap. We headed for the lake again the kids rode jet skis while the rest of us relaxed in the water or on the shore. We were all having a good time and then we decided to play volleyball. We were having fun even though we were not very good and then I pulled my calf muscle trying to get to a ball. I hurt it badly but kept playing by mostly hopping on my good leg. This injury has cancelled out a hike I had planned with Doug as well as a motorcycle ride I was planning on the Northern Cascades highway. I'm hoping my leg will feel better in a few days but I have my doubts. If not, this could be a trip ending injury for me. I will stay here a couple of more days and see how I feel and then make my decision. Until then I will just enjoy the company I am with as they are a joy to be around and they make me feel like part of their family.