Alright, let's move along...
Day 2 – Saturday Sept 3rd
Lake Isabel, CO to La Veta, CO
587 miles
The sun came up and I woke to bright and sunny morning. The air was cool and crisp, and the families that had joined me overnight were getting up and starting to move about. I started the chore of breaking camp and preparing for the day’s riding.
While taking my trash to the dumpster, I had a nice chat with the family that set up closest to me. Ken and Christi were from the Fort Collins area and we chatted about riding and bikes in general. Ken asked me where I was headed, and I told him that I really didn’t have a direction and that I was taking it as it came. He opened up a map and pointed me in the direction of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and the Lake City area, saying that the scenery is really spectacular.
“Sounds good to me”, and off I went in search of a big pile of sand. The ride out of the campsite was gorgeous. Nice windy roads and awesome pavement was all the temptation I needed to scrub in the chicken strips on the new tires.
As I came off the pass and into the valley, I was struck by the majesty of our land and how much our country has to offer. “We darn sure ain’t in Texas anymore!” It has been a number of years since I have been to Colorado. It was pretty then, but that had been from the seat in a semi-truck. To ride it on a motorcycle just enhanced the whole experience and I found the fun meter on the peg once again.
Upon entering the valley from Poncha Springs on highway 225, I found myself in the scrub brush of what I would term “no man’s land”. The ride from the Rio Grande National Forest to the entrance of the Great Dunes National Park was laser straight, long and unremarkable. Somewhere along the way I passed a guy on a bicycle that had canvas panniers on each corner, and a decent sized tail bag behind the seat. He was peddling down the highway and obviously on an extended trip based on his luggage. There’s no doubt that this guy was a tough hombre.
By the time I arrived at the National Park, I was pretty much bored from the miles of straight nothing, took the obligatory picture at the entrance and make tracks to the Lake City area. The sand dunes themselves are an impressive sight, though. The enormity of the dunes is humbling and spectacular in their own way. Had there been more time available, I would have entered the park and done some exploring, but I really needed to keep moving toward my next camping site.
The ride out from the dunes and toward the next mountain range was more of the same scrub brush and straight roads. Coming out of the valley and into the next mountain range improved the scenery and provided more of those fun and twisty roads.
Riding out of South Fork back into the Rio Grande National Forest was pretty. The quality of the roads impressed me and even being a holiday weekend, the amount of traffic was less than I had anticipated. Continuing on 149 up to Creede yielded some of the best scenery so far this trip. However, those dark skies were once again looming in the direction I was going, and before I reached Lake City I was in the thick of the mountain rains again.
Back at the Lake Isabel campsite, the couple that had steered me in this direction said that camping should be easier to come by in this part of the state. I was optimistic that my “take it as it comes” approach to this trip would work out. That optimism was soon drown as I discovered that the Lake City area didn’t have a campsite available. All isn’t lost, Colorado is a big place and there should be some place to pitch a tent ahead.
Circling back to the head lamp issue, during the ride I would stop at the auto supply stores that were along my route. My search so far had been futile, and mid afternoon I still didn’t had a low beam head light working. This little issue would become a big worry later on.
From Lake City I rode into Gunnison in search of what was to be an elusive camp space and head lamp. There was a storm system in this region and the rain went from moderate to heavy along the route. Even with the foul weather, I could tell this part of the state was beautiful, and wished I was seeing it in better conditions. Another detail I was disappointed about was not being able to take good pictures along the rainy stretches.
In Gunnison, I took a look at the situation and made the assessment that my best option was to head for the valley. The weather system stretched back toward Telluride and Silverton, and the skies were clear east of the range. It was getting late in the afternoon, but I had enough time to make Monte Vista before the sun went to bed for the evening, and I felt certain that I could find a room there.
The ride back in the valley was pretty as the shadow slowly rose up the western side of the mountains on my left. The fading sun cast a golden light that made the mountains glow in a glorious way. I had been riding since 9:00am and I was beginning to get tired. There was still a couple of dozen miles to Monte Vista, and I knew that it was easily reachable before darkness settled in.
There was a small campsite along the highway, so I wheeled in to take a look for a site to pitch my tent. None available. This came as a surprise to me since I was in the valley of scrub brush and agricultural fields. “Oh well, Monte Vista isn’t far away”.
Arriving in Monte Vista was a relief. I had made it just about sunset and stopped for gas and a drink. Across the street I noticed a guy and a bicycle next to a building. He was kneeled down eating a burger or something and looking at his phone. “Holy cow, that’s the dude I saw earlier today.” After topping off and getting geared back up to set off in the search of a room, I looked in the direction of the bicyclist and he had vanished. Had he been there, I would have rode over to exchange pleasantries for a minute.
I then searched out a room for the evening. My search was in vein. There wasn’t a room to be had, not even in the ‘by the hour’ type places. “Perfect”.
The gravity of the situation was rapidly becoming apparent. Being in this region over Labor Day Weekend without a plan and reservations isn’t the best idea I’ve had. Well, I’m here now so all I can do is make the best of it and keep on rolling.
Alamosa was the next town down the road and I started heading that direction. The headlight issue was still present since I hadn’t been able to find that illusive lamp, and now that it was dark I was hopeful that at least the one working lamp I had would stay lit until I could stop for the evening. If it went out, I knew I was cooked.
Rolling into Alamosa was a relief. While I was feeling my way down the highway on one headlight (isn’t that a song?), I pulled up the list of lodging options on Doofus. Doofus is what I named the GPS unit since periodically it will want me to turn in the middle of a bridge or route me forty miles out of the way to go three. The list was fairly long and the cautious optimism of finding a place was once again present.
I stopped in the Best Western to find that there weren’t any rooms available, and the helpful clerk said that she just had called the other hotels in Alamosa and all were booked up. The city was hosting a classic car show and they had over six hundred entrants for the event. “Swell”.
It was scaring the heck out of 10:00pm by now, so I called Mrs. Trommelslager and told her that I was going to make a break toward home. I was carrying a Delorme InReach and was leaving a map of bread crumbs for her and my kiddo to watch. Since she knew I would be camping, I didn’t want her to worry about my movements after dark and to let her know why I was still in motion. She told me to hold up and she started making calls to find a place to lay down for the night. She called me back about ten minutes later and said that she’d been able to secure a room in La Veta, adding that she had also called and spoke with the owner to confirm that I would in fact have a room when I arrived.
La Veta was about 70 miles from where I was sitting, so I geared up and headed back into the darkness to face a mountain pass in the pitch black. While I was stopped, fatigue had made itself known and I was feeling exhausted. Riding in the cool night air didn’t do much to keep the eye lids from trying to seal themselves shut. The previous two nights of not getting a good night’s rest coupled with long days in the saddle had finally caught up with me.
I reached North La Veta Pass and backed off my pace some so that I could make it across the pass upright. Still very sleepy, the curves started to come and go. One by one, I was getting closer to my final stopping point for the night. As I went along, I fought the urge to open the throttle and rush the last segment to La Veta. That was the best decision I made all day!
Riding over the pass and in my half conscious condition, a brown furry streak went across my light beam about ten feet in front of me. There’s something funny about adrenaline. That stuff can flip a person around in a split second! From the moment I saw that critter cross my path until about an hour after I laid down at the hotel, I was no longer tired and getting any sleep was out of the equation. No, it was nothing but alert for me until I put the side stand down in La Veta.
After a tense ride in the pitch black across the pass, Doofus turned me off the highway onto a gravel road that led into La Veta. As I turned off the highway, my thoughts went immediately into the dread of landing at a real flea bag motel and cohabitating with rodents and roaches for the night. I arrived intact at the La Veta Inn, knowing that I was lucky to have arrived in one piece. Ryan, the owner, met me at the front desk and was very prompt in getting me set up for my room. After a brief chat I found my room, unloaded the bike and hauled my gear in.
The room at the La Veta Inn was unexpectedly nice and clean. The bed had a phenomenal mattress and it was obvious that the owners had taken pride in their hotel. After taking stock in my accommodations, I then settled down in bed and basically passed out from the long day’s ride.
Sidenote: Yes, there were a lot of things that I could have done different on this day. Hind sight is 20/20 and it is easy to look back and find the better options. However, when one is in the thick of it…
I’ll go over the “should have’s” and “could haves” learned from this trip at the end of the report.
Now for the badly needed rest. What will I do tomorrow??
Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! 
Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to 
Two tires, two stems, mounting & balancing, and I carried off the old tires. Had I not been in the eleventh hour before embarking, I would have passed and had the brown truck or red/white/blue truck bring me tires. 
