Monticello, UT. (May 21) -

Al came down and met us for breakfast. Al Krajecki was on my BMWMOA members book, and we had been visiting back and forth about the trip. Al had some good advice and info about the Durango area. It was good to meet him and put a face with the name.

Our first stop for the day was at Durango Harley Davidson. Ron and Jim were riding Harley dressers. I was on my BMW and Mickey on his Honda. Well you know Harley riders, they have to stop at every dealers for a t-shirt, so we did. What a location! They are right on the river and the back deck of the shop has a great view. When asked where we were going, we replied Silverton and Ouray.
Durango to Silverton
Breathless scenery awaits us They advised us to watch that road, as it was serious. If we wanted to look around, we should stop. If we were riding, pay attention to the road. After riding it, I’ll second that.

From Durango to Silverton was very scenic. This happened to be the bicycle weekend. There is a steam train that you can take to Silverton and it follows the river and canyons. All of these mountain bikers ride the mountain roads to beat the steam train to Silverton. It was strange to see all these bicyclists, legs pumping up and down the mountain. (Ok, ok, they only were peddling up, not down!) But these guys are serious!

We arrived in Silverton and it looks just like an old west town.
Silverton, Colorado
Bat Masterson was Sheriff here!

Steam Train Excursion
plan an extra day just for this trip

Mad Mama's Pies
My favorite reason for riding It would be great to spend a day or two just looking around. And the steam train came in while we were there. I love old trains! I understand you see some fantastic scenery from the train that you can’t see from the road. It would be fun to ride someday, wish we had more time. (and money!) Next time we will plan for it.

We stopped at “Mad Mama’s Pies”. (Hey, we were told if we went to Silverton, we HAD to stop there. Great pie!) Mad Mama’s is owned by Hank and Mary Rusch and has almost every flavor you have ever heard of and some you probably haven’t. Have you ever had Mountain Crème? The bottom layer is pecan, the middle vanilla crème, and the top is milk chocolate. Or maybe Fool’s Gold, which is a pumpkin pie topped with white chocolate and cream cheese. We enjoyed our pie immensely. Mary says she bakes 25 or 30 pies a day. She will serve them until they are gone, then close the shop and go home. Don’t we all wish we could do that!

The road got a lot a lot more serious going to Ouray. Narrow, no shoulders, sharper curves, steeper drop-offs, a bit tense in places. Didn’t get as many pictures in this section. I was much too busy riding and there were very few places to pull off the road. Incredible country!

We stopped at one scenic pull off and were approached by a gentleman of unknown decent. “How many miles to Ouray?” he asked in barely understandable English. Well, we didn’t rightly know, but we offered “10 or 12 miles?” He drove off in a hurry.
Dangerous Roads
if you want a picture - STOP We saddled up shortly, went about three miles up the road and came to Ouray. So much for our distance judging!

Ouray is a tourist town with lots of Hummers, we stayed long enough to get gas. I understand they have a beautiful waterfall just off the road, but I didn’t know that at the time. (Hey, another reason to do this ride again!)

We followed 62/145/141 into Utah. Grey rock was replaced by red rock. The scenery was awesome all day - Great ride. 230 miles. We stayed at the Days Inn in Monticello. We had supper (and ice cream) at Dairy Queen. Enjoyed visiting with some of the locals about the upcoming roads. Afterwards we all went down to the pool. Ron and Jim wore their doo rags, Harley vests, swim trunks, and boots. There were a couple of women there with their kids. They promptly collected the kids and left! Was it something we said?

-LC