klb1122
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Thanks, Robert. Much appreciated!
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Trippin' Connies 7: Rushing More to Catch a Dinosaur
- Thread starter klb1122
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Thanks, Robert. Much appreciated!
I look forward to this every year. It's living up to your previous reports for sure.
klb1122
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Day 7 - 6/28/2015 - Meeker, CO to Dumas, TX - 532 Miles
Meeker, CO to Dumas, TX - 532 miles – MAP LINK
With the cooler on high all night it actually wasn’t too bad temperature wise. It helped that it was nice and cool outside, in the low 50s.
I was feeling much better after a full night sleep. We made several trips up and down the stairs to load the bikes up, left the keys on a bed in the room and took off. Before leaving town, we filled the bikes up. We took HWY 13 South and it wasn’t too long before we pulled over to put on our thicker gloves. There was a group horses watching us on the left side of the road and a herd of elk off in the distance on to our right.
I had bought some new cold weather gloves before the trip because I never could ride comfortably in my old ones. The new ones were a touch better, but I’ve decided cold weather gloves are just a big compromise between comfort and control.
We took HWY 13 to Rifle and hopped on I-70 to head east. Luckily it was only 25 miles of interstate as it was right into the sun. We exited in Glenwood Springs and headed southwest on HWY 82. It seemed like there were a couple hundred traffic lights and we timed the red lights on every single one of them. By the time we got to Aspen I was ready for a break and also some food since the Meeker Hotel didn’t have a continental breakfast. After gassing up the bikes, dad went in and came out with a big cookie. It looked, so I picked up one of them for later and also a breakfast burrito for now. It wasn’t cheap, but it was delicious. I tried to talk dad into going back in and getting one but he never did. Of course this led to me talking about how good that burrito was for the rest of the day.
From Aspen to Independence Pass is a fantastic ride. It’s a super twisty road as we climbed high into the mountains. Dad and I got separated a couple times due to getting around some slower moving vehicles. Arriving at the pass, we parked and went over to get a few pictures at the sign. We met a couple from San Angelo, TX who were in the middle of a huge trip on their Burgmans. She was saying how uncomfortable she was while riding up to the pass. They had come in the opposite direction. I warned her that it was going to be so much worse for her going into Aspen, hopefully I didn’t scare her too much.
I took a snow selfie with my phone for my oldest daughter.
Next I walked down the trail to the scenic overlook. Dad chose to stay back at the bikes, for some reason unknown to me. I’m don’t know how, but I had forgotten how absolutely beautiful this place is. It had been 4 years since we last visited here.
Here’s a 9 shot pano.
To view and even larger version, click here.
It’s a nice ride on the other side of the pass. It’s not as tight and technical as the northern side. We finished off HWY 82 and continued south on US 24. This section of road is part of the Collegiate Peaks Byway and as we rode south Mt. Oxford, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton were all to our right. We took US 285 to HWY 291 to US 50. It was slow going due to all the traffic. At Cotopaxi we turned on to Co. Rd. 1a. At the junction we took a break
The county road was a shortcut to get to HWY 69 and we stayed on it all the way to I-25. The ride along HWY 69 was nice, but sad at the same time as we started to see the mountains fade away. There was a threat of rain, but we were able to avoid it. Now on the Interstate we rode down to Trinidad where it was time for the next gas stop. This leg was much better for gas mileage and by the time we got to the station it was 233 miles since the last fill-up.
Continuing south on I-25 we crossed into New Mexico, rode over Raton Pass, and exited on US 87. For the last several years I have used the free app Glympse so our family could track us and have an idea of where we are. My in-laws were headed to the Denver area for a softball tournament and we actually crossed paths near the New Mexico/Texas border on US 87. We had no idea because we had poor cell phone service in the area and I also thought they would have been just south of Denver at this point in the day. They did spot us and my mother-in-law sent me this screenshot from her phone.
US 87 took us into Texas and all the way to our destination of Dumas, TX. As we rode into town “Mission” did a little research and gave us some suggestions on food. We arrived at the La Quinta and unloaded. The cart made that part easy.
Poor grasshopper never saw me coming.
We ended up at a restaurant right down the road. It didn’t look all that great on the outside, and the inside wasn’t much better. I had a chicken fried steak and dad had a cheeseburger steak. I was a bit jealous of his plate and wishing I had ordered what he did.
I was basically done with my meal when dad started getting texts from his next-door neighbor.
He was taking too long for me so I decided to go get gas and take a shower back at the hotel. The place next to our hotel was a museum with a random assortment of military and farm vehicles and equipment. I made the outdoor loop while the light for the day faded away.
The plan for Day 8 was to get up even earlier than we had been and get home in one piece.
Meeker, CO to Dumas, TX - 532 miles – MAP LINK
With the cooler on high all night it actually wasn’t too bad temperature wise. It helped that it was nice and cool outside, in the low 50s.
I was feeling much better after a full night sleep. We made several trips up and down the stairs to load the bikes up, left the keys on a bed in the room and took off. Before leaving town, we filled the bikes up. We took HWY 13 South and it wasn’t too long before we pulled over to put on our thicker gloves. There was a group horses watching us on the left side of the road and a herd of elk off in the distance on to our right.
I had bought some new cold weather gloves before the trip because I never could ride comfortably in my old ones. The new ones were a touch better, but I’ve decided cold weather gloves are just a big compromise between comfort and control.
We took HWY 13 to Rifle and hopped on I-70 to head east. Luckily it was only 25 miles of interstate as it was right into the sun. We exited in Glenwood Springs and headed southwest on HWY 82. It seemed like there were a couple hundred traffic lights and we timed the red lights on every single one of them. By the time we got to Aspen I was ready for a break and also some food since the Meeker Hotel didn’t have a continental breakfast. After gassing up the bikes, dad went in and came out with a big cookie. It looked, so I picked up one of them for later and also a breakfast burrito for now. It wasn’t cheap, but it was delicious. I tried to talk dad into going back in and getting one but he never did. Of course this led to me talking about how good that burrito was for the rest of the day.
From Aspen to Independence Pass is a fantastic ride. It’s a super twisty road as we climbed high into the mountains. Dad and I got separated a couple times due to getting around some slower moving vehicles. Arriving at the pass, we parked and went over to get a few pictures at the sign. We met a couple from San Angelo, TX who were in the middle of a huge trip on their Burgmans. She was saying how uncomfortable she was while riding up to the pass. They had come in the opposite direction. I warned her that it was going to be so much worse for her going into Aspen, hopefully I didn’t scare her too much.
I took a snow selfie with my phone for my oldest daughter.
Next I walked down the trail to the scenic overlook. Dad chose to stay back at the bikes, for some reason unknown to me. I’m don’t know how, but I had forgotten how absolutely beautiful this place is. It had been 4 years since we last visited here.
Here’s a 9 shot pano.
To view and even larger version, click here.
It’s a nice ride on the other side of the pass. It’s not as tight and technical as the northern side. We finished off HWY 82 and continued south on US 24. This section of road is part of the Collegiate Peaks Byway and as we rode south Mt. Oxford, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton were all to our right. We took US 285 to HWY 291 to US 50. It was slow going due to all the traffic. At Cotopaxi we turned on to Co. Rd. 1a. At the junction we took a break
The county road was a shortcut to get to HWY 69 and we stayed on it all the way to I-25. The ride along HWY 69 was nice, but sad at the same time as we started to see the mountains fade away. There was a threat of rain, but we were able to avoid it. Now on the Interstate we rode down to Trinidad where it was time for the next gas stop. This leg was much better for gas mileage and by the time we got to the station it was 233 miles since the last fill-up.
Continuing south on I-25 we crossed into New Mexico, rode over Raton Pass, and exited on US 87. For the last several years I have used the free app Glympse so our family could track us and have an idea of where we are. My in-laws were headed to the Denver area for a softball tournament and we actually crossed paths near the New Mexico/Texas border on US 87. We had no idea because we had poor cell phone service in the area and I also thought they would have been just south of Denver at this point in the day. They did spot us and my mother-in-law sent me this screenshot from her phone.
US 87 took us into Texas and all the way to our destination of Dumas, TX. As we rode into town “Mission” did a little research and gave us some suggestions on food. We arrived at the La Quinta and unloaded. The cart made that part easy.
Poor grasshopper never saw me coming.
We ended up at a restaurant right down the road. It didn’t look all that great on the outside, and the inside wasn’t much better. I had a chicken fried steak and dad had a cheeseburger steak. I was a bit jealous of his plate and wishing I had ordered what he did.
I was basically done with my meal when dad started getting texts from his next-door neighbor.
He was taking too long for me so I decided to go get gas and take a shower back at the hotel. The place next to our hotel was a museum with a random assortment of military and farm vehicles and equipment. I made the outdoor loop while the light for the day faded away.
The plan for Day 8 was to get up even earlier than we had been and get home in one piece.
klb1122
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Day 8 - 6/29/2015 – Dumas, TX to Houston, TX - 644 Miles
Dumas, TX to Houston, TX - 644 miles – MAP LINK
The final day we usually wake up really early, and this one was no different. We were packed up and out of Dumas prior to the sun coming up. It actually wasn’t even getting light by the time we took off. With it being so dark we didn’t feel comfortable to run our usual pace, so we kicked it down few notches until it was light enough to see better. We traveled down US 287 and the sun started coming up as we looped around Amarillo on 335. We got back on US 287 and would be on it until Fort Worth. Somewhere around Childress I got another chance at a “sunbeam” photo and this time I wasn’t going to be denied. I told dad I was going to pull over for a few pictures and he decided to just keep rolling. I’d catch up eventually. I waited a bit too long to pull over, so the clouds had changed some and weren’t as good, but I wanted to wait until there were no power lines in the shot.
I took a bit longer than I had wanted and once I took off to chase dad down I realized I probably shouldn’t have done it when it was close to getting gas time. I made every light through Childress while looking for dad as I rode along. It didn’t look like he stopped there so I pushed on. I finally caught him before reaching Quanah and we stopped for gas there.
A little rain never hurt anyone and at this point I wasn’t even worried about a rain suit. We continued on moving in an out of rain and then breaking away from it for good. As we approached Ft. Worth I made a mistake and didn’t fill up prior to getting on I-35W. As we rode into town I didn’t see many easy options for getting gas but then I spotted a Texaco and exited. What I didn’t notice was that the feeder road was closed due to construction. We had to take a ridiculous detour filled with traffic and stop signs. Dad still had his rain jacket on and was melting. So, when we got to a stop sign that was backed way up he blew by me and I followed him, making several illegal turns. I was actually laughing so hard I could barely see because he was making all kinds of hilarious comments. The detour took us right back to the Texaco, except it was on the other side of construction barricades and we couldn’t get to it. It was about a 15-minute detour and it was in pure heat. Back on the interstate we kept moving on, my display still flashing at me. There was construction everywhere, which caused traffic and slowness. We didn’t even end up finding a decent place to get gas until Arlington.
By this time I was just ready to get home to these beauties.
We took US 287 and met up with I-45 in Ennis. As we were riding along on I-45 I told dad that I felt like we went from being the predators to the prey. Usually we’re the ones flying by everyone, but on I-45 people were flying by us. I was uncomfortable for multiple reasons. The last stop of the day was at the Buc-ee’s in Madisonville. As I was walking back outside after just buying some beef jerky for my wife, she called me. She had noticed us being there on Glympse and was calling to request some jerky. I believe my exact words were, “like I don’t know you…” I told her there was no way I was coming home without some after stopping at Buc-ee’s and that I had literally just got her some.
Just south of Madisonville there was a huge wreck on the other side of the road and the entire northbound lanes were shut down. The traffic was backed up for 3 miles. The remainder of the ride was pretty hot and miserable. The humidity punched us right in the face. Instead of taking I-45 all the way home we decided to take the Hardy Toll Road into town to hopefully avoid some traffic frustration. As we were coasting into the last toll both a guy in a red Mustang cut across several lanes and right in front of us. It didn’t sit to well with dad and they both took off from the tollbooth at the same time. Dad introduced him to the Kawasaki Concours and had me laughing hard once again as I was trying to pay my toll and he was shouting at Mr. Mustang. We split off on Loop 610 near my house while “Mission” was on the phone with us. I made the mistake of not exiting and trying to take the quicker way home. It cost me an extra 10 minutes of sitting in traffic, but I finally made it home safe and sound. This is my relieved of being home, I hate heat and humidity, I’m losing my mind selfie.
Here are my stats for the trip: 4,157 miles according to the odometer on the bike, 42 mpg, 4,184 miles according to my GPS, 62.2 mph moving average, 100 mph max speed, and over 67 hours of seat time. My Connie is 223 miles short of 50,000 miles.
Final Thoughts:
-This was the most painful trip for me by far. I suffered with numbness in my right thumb from the end of day one all the way through the remainder of the trip. In fact, it took about a month for the numbness to completely go away.
-By the time it was all over, I had some pretty serious shoulder pains. It’s not a constant pain, more of a weakness. My shoulders have no stamina now.
-My slashed tire made it the entire trip with no problems. It’s a shame that I thought about it almost every single mile, but it did make me ride even more careful.
-Dad and I have ridden over 29,000 miles together on our Connies and 36 states. The only states remaining in the lower 48 are all in the northeast. Guess where we’re headed next year…
Thanks for riding along with us, I hope you enjoyed it.
Dumas, TX to Houston, TX - 644 miles – MAP LINK
The final day we usually wake up really early, and this one was no different. We were packed up and out of Dumas prior to the sun coming up. It actually wasn’t even getting light by the time we took off. With it being so dark we didn’t feel comfortable to run our usual pace, so we kicked it down few notches until it was light enough to see better. We traveled down US 287 and the sun started coming up as we looped around Amarillo on 335. We got back on US 287 and would be on it until Fort Worth. Somewhere around Childress I got another chance at a “sunbeam” photo and this time I wasn’t going to be denied. I told dad I was going to pull over for a few pictures and he decided to just keep rolling. I’d catch up eventually. I waited a bit too long to pull over, so the clouds had changed some and weren’t as good, but I wanted to wait until there were no power lines in the shot.
I took a bit longer than I had wanted and once I took off to chase dad down I realized I probably shouldn’t have done it when it was close to getting gas time. I made every light through Childress while looking for dad as I rode along. It didn’t look like he stopped there so I pushed on. I finally caught him before reaching Quanah and we stopped for gas there.
A little rain never hurt anyone and at this point I wasn’t even worried about a rain suit. We continued on moving in an out of rain and then breaking away from it for good. As we approached Ft. Worth I made a mistake and didn’t fill up prior to getting on I-35W. As we rode into town I didn’t see many easy options for getting gas but then I spotted a Texaco and exited. What I didn’t notice was that the feeder road was closed due to construction. We had to take a ridiculous detour filled with traffic and stop signs. Dad still had his rain jacket on and was melting. So, when we got to a stop sign that was backed way up he blew by me and I followed him, making several illegal turns. I was actually laughing so hard I could barely see because he was making all kinds of hilarious comments. The detour took us right back to the Texaco, except it was on the other side of construction barricades and we couldn’t get to it. It was about a 15-minute detour and it was in pure heat. Back on the interstate we kept moving on, my display still flashing at me. There was construction everywhere, which caused traffic and slowness. We didn’t even end up finding a decent place to get gas until Arlington.
By this time I was just ready to get home to these beauties.
We took US 287 and met up with I-45 in Ennis. As we were riding along on I-45 I told dad that I felt like we went from being the predators to the prey. Usually we’re the ones flying by everyone, but on I-45 people were flying by us. I was uncomfortable for multiple reasons. The last stop of the day was at the Buc-ee’s in Madisonville. As I was walking back outside after just buying some beef jerky for my wife, she called me. She had noticed us being there on Glympse and was calling to request some jerky. I believe my exact words were, “like I don’t know you…” I told her there was no way I was coming home without some after stopping at Buc-ee’s and that I had literally just got her some.
Just south of Madisonville there was a huge wreck on the other side of the road and the entire northbound lanes were shut down. The traffic was backed up for 3 miles. The remainder of the ride was pretty hot and miserable. The humidity punched us right in the face. Instead of taking I-45 all the way home we decided to take the Hardy Toll Road into town to hopefully avoid some traffic frustration. As we were coasting into the last toll both a guy in a red Mustang cut across several lanes and right in front of us. It didn’t sit to well with dad and they both took off from the tollbooth at the same time. Dad introduced him to the Kawasaki Concours and had me laughing hard once again as I was trying to pay my toll and he was shouting at Mr. Mustang. We split off on Loop 610 near my house while “Mission” was on the phone with us. I made the mistake of not exiting and trying to take the quicker way home. It cost me an extra 10 minutes of sitting in traffic, but I finally made it home safe and sound. This is my relieved of being home, I hate heat and humidity, I’m losing my mind selfie.
Here are my stats for the trip: 4,157 miles according to the odometer on the bike, 42 mpg, 4,184 miles according to my GPS, 62.2 mph moving average, 100 mph max speed, and over 67 hours of seat time. My Connie is 223 miles short of 50,000 miles.
Final Thoughts:
-This was the most painful trip for me by far. I suffered with numbness in my right thumb from the end of day one all the way through the remainder of the trip. In fact, it took about a month for the numbness to completely go away.
-By the time it was all over, I had some pretty serious shoulder pains. It’s not a constant pain, more of a weakness. My shoulders have no stamina now.
-My slashed tire made it the entire trip with no problems. It’s a shame that I thought about it almost every single mile, but it did make me ride even more careful.
-Dad and I have ridden over 29,000 miles together on our Connies and 36 states. The only states remaining in the lower 48 are all in the northeast. Guess where we’re headed next year…
Thanks for riding along with us, I hope you enjoyed it.
Tabasco
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I ended up with 45.0 mpg average for the trip and 105 mph top speed. 
klb1122
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Nice. 69 is amazing going the other direction because the mountains just build up around you. I've been on it one time and was so wishing I was on my FZ1 instead of the FZ1 being on the trailer behind me. Oh well, that's what happens when you bring the motorcycle on a family trip.
Great stuff, thanks for taking us along. Maybe you should try to break 50K on your bike BEFORE the next trip.
Great stuff, thanks for taking us along. Maybe you should try to break 50K on your bike BEFORE the next trip.
klb1122
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Great stuff, thanks for taking us along. Maybe you should try to break 50K on your bike BEFORE the next trip.
We'll see how that goes, it's gonna be tough.
klb1122
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Enjoyed the report as always. Good ride, good pics and good story telling.
Thanks for the kind words, Gary.
Duke
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We need a special place holder for "hall of fame" worthy ride reports, and yes Kory, your Tipping Connies would be the featured articles if I had my way. Beautiful photographs, partnered with excellent story tell'n.
Thank you for taking the time to put this together. I think I have said it before... Lightroom has a "Book Module"... USE IT!!!
Thank you for taking the time to put this together. I think I have said it before... Lightroom has a "Book Module"... USE IT!!!
klb1122
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You've got me blushing over here, Duke. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the comments, I really apreciate it! I'm actually going to be referencing your cage trip report for next year.
Duke
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hah.. and I will be in Meeker / Greeley / Rangely next week!
klb1122
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Nice. I hope it's cooled down some up there, otherwise it will be just like here with better scenery.
Just got back from a 3 week run to the BMW MOA rally in Billings MT and we hit a bunch of the N-Parks and Monuments. I know there are new rules that are rough on motorcycles now, but...
We had gate keepers that treated us different at nearly every stop. We had one that made everybody show ID's and he checked every pass against the ID.
Then when we hit Rocky Mtn National PK, there was a ranger way out front that waved us to a separate line away from the cars, let the front bike of 8 show their pass and then waved everyone thru!
A couple of parks let us through by just waving our passes in the air, and we had one that just ask if we had passes. Never had to show 'em, just said "yes" and we were waved in.
Think it's the difference between new/rookie/gung-ho type Rangers vs the veteran/experienced Rangers just trying to keep the traffic flowing?
It was odd. Never knew what to expect.
Oh! Loved the report BTW... and that last "rays of sun" photo is awesome. I'd say it shows God Loves Motorcycles!
Last edited:
M38A1
Admin
Now THIS is how a proper ride report should be done!
Simply amazing commentary and images.
.
Simply amazing commentary and images.
.
klb1122
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Thanks! It certainly is odd that you had such varying experiences with the parks/monuments. I don't mind paying at all to enter such a beautiful place as long as my money goes to keeping the place beautiful.
Now THIS is how a proper ride report should be done!
Simply amazing commentary and images.
.
Thanks, Scott, I truly appreciate your kind words. As you know, it takes quite a bit of time to put this all together. I'm just glad people are enjoying it.
I'd certainly do that, if Yamaha wanted to sponsor us.
I've got a Throttlemeister and try to use it often, but it just doesn't seem like enough. I'm going to have to try to do some things different next year though, I just don't think an FJR will be one of them.
I have cruise control on my bike and I still use a Cramp Buster Wide much of the time.
BTW... My dad was a stick n' ball sports guy and had zero interest in my love of motorsports.
When I quit school-boy baseball he basically cut me loose on the hobby front and we never did anything outdoor-sy again.
I'm am sooooooo jealous of the ride reports where you guys get to travel with dad. Especially motorcycle adventures.
I hope a pray that you realize how fortunate you are to still have him and get to go motorcycling together.
When I quit school-boy baseball he basically cut me loose on the hobby front and we never did anything outdoor-sy again.
I'm am sooooooo jealous of the ride reports where you guys get to travel with dad. Especially motorcycle adventures.
I hope a pray that you realize how fortunate you are to still have him and get to go motorcycling together.
klb1122
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