The Long Way Home - Day 27 - Two Dumbs make a Smart

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Our day started in Ouray, Colorado and we were faced with a decision: Would we head over the optional Black Bear Pass or stick to the easier Imogene Pass.  Truthfully, I was really sore and stiff from yesterday's crash but I was still on the fence.  Then we looked at the weather and it was calling for thunderstorms all across the area which caused me to chicken out.  If I had a picture of a chicken I'd post it right here:

Imogene Pass would lead us into Telluride and from there we'd head west to Monticello, Utah.

 

Leaving Ouray we snapped this photo.  It's clear why this area is known as the American Alps.

The trail up Imogene Pass was spectacular and it made me forget all about Black Bear Pass. 

Over 13,000 feet!

I was busy stopping at every corner to take pictures but Hank found a good spot to wait.  

From Imogene Pass, we headed west to Telluride.  Heading down into Telluride we could see Black Bear Pass.  The switch back road leads up to the pass which is out of sight to the left.

There were no thunderstorms and it looked so close.  Now it appeared that our first decision to skip Black Bear Pass was a dumb decision so we thought lets make another dumb decision and go back up and then down Black Bear Pass. - Brilliant!  We hustled down the remainder of Imogene Pass Road, through Telluride and up Black Bear Pass.  About 80% up the mountain, there was a sign saying that only downward traffic is allowed.  Shoot.... we didn't come all the way up here to not go up the pass.  We continued thinking that we could easily get out of anyone's way.  It all worked out and we made it up and back down.    

We met John and Chris working their BMW 1200s down the pass.  Our bikes went up and down  pretty easy but these big bikes are a real workout on this stuff.  We helped them down a tiny portion of the tough stuff and they insisted on buying us lunch in Telluride.  -That's our second sponsored meal!  Thanks guys and good luck on your adventure.

Telluride

After lunch with John and Chris in Telluride, we started on the remainder of the day.  We had only covered 35 miles of our planned route and it was 3pm.  Hank made me promiss we wouldn't stop for pictures so there are no pictures of the next 150 miles!

....except for this one I took while riding!  I was shocked to see how fast the terrain changed from mountains to farmland.  

We pulled into Monticello, Utah around 8pm.  It was another long day but the two dumb decisions resulted in us getting up and down Black Bear Pass which we've been thinking about for a few weeks.

Tomorrow is a long day and we have a deadline of 2pm to make the ferry at Hall's Crossing or we don't get a bed for the night!  The green line on the map shows the route.  It's just over 200 miles and we're thinking that we have never made that distance by 6pm -four hours too late.  We're going to have to come up with a new approach!

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