Traveling and Visiting
The last post ended with us enjoying the hot springs pools at the Fairmont Resort. In this post I’ll bring you up to date as we traveled to Placitas, NM. By now you know our routine – pack up and go, break for coffee mid-morning, find a park for lunch, break for coffee mid-afternoon, arrive at our destination and set up camp or enjoy an air-conditioned hotel room. I take pictures at those stopping points and sometimes we stop at a scenic overlook, but many of the most interesting things we see along the way are not located near a convenient place to pull off the road. I think I’ll have to invest in a 360 camera for future adventures.
Day 21, Fairmont, MT to Clearfield, UT
It was a chilly night, but we fired up the heater to help us get going. The campsite didn’t have a picnic table, so we moved our table outside to make breakfast. Interestingly, it took us about 30 minutes longer to have breakfast and pack up than it does when we have a picnic table. We can do more things in parallel when we have a table.
We headed south on I-15, and I discovered my new favorite section of Interstate. I-15 between I-90, and Dillon, MT goes between some beautiful mountains. (Here’s an example of where I’d like to be able to extract a picture from a video.)
We had a late start and needed to arrive at our Bunk-a-Biker host in time for dinner, so we skipped the morning break. We did stop for gas at lunchtime at a Sinclair station. Dino was watching all the goings-on.
The rest area was right next door. That’s quite an impressive structure for a rest area.
We made good use of a covered picnic table.
It was 50 degrees when we woke up, and in the 90s all afternoon. We pressed on through the heat and made it to our host’s home in good time.
Mark fixed a delicious dinner for us, topped with blueberry cobbler, and after dinner we went out to his back yard to see his chickens,
Thank you, Mark, for being such a gracious host.
Day 22, Clearfield, UT to Grand Junction, CO
We had a light breakfast and got on the road fairly early. We needed to get to Grand Junction in time to attend a concert at our friend Susan’s church. The morning was cool. It was so chilly that at one point I had to stop and add a layer. The ride through Salt Lake City on a Sunday morning was easy. We somehow got on a highway that parallels I-15 and had very little traffic
We had to stop at an overlook in Price Canyon. The views were impressive.
We made our coffee stop at McDonald’s, but the Frosty Freeze across the street was more inviting. Unfortunately, it was closed.
By the time we got down to I-70 the temperature was over 100+ degrees. We soaked our wet vests and stayed comfortable in the heat.
We arrived in Grand Junction in plenty of time to setup camp and to freshen up at our friend, Susan’s. We arrived at St. Matthews Episcopal Church early. The bluegrass band was practicing. The tent for the audience was in place.
We set up our lawn chairs and waited for 6 p.m. when they started serving pizza and soda.
We enjoyed the concert, then went back to Susan’s to visit and do some laundry.
Day 23 Grand Junction, CO to Placitas, NM
We woke up to a pleasant 71 degrees.
Our route took us over the Million Dollar Highway. When I chose the route, I wasn’t enthusiastic about riding it again, however, I changed my mind as we were surrounded by spectacular scenery.
We stopped in Ouray for coffee. It’s a tourist town, but it had a good hardware store and a very good coffee shop.
There are some interesting old buildings.
We stopped to take a picture of Ouray from above.
The views at this overlook were stunning.
From Ouray we climbed to 11,000 feet, then down to 9,600 feet at Silverton, and up again to 11,000 feet before descending to Durango.
Beth found a park in Durango for lunch.
The afternoon temperature was in the upper 90s. We used our wet vests again. The ride down US-550 from Farmington to Placitas is pretty boring. We did see some rain falling to the northeast and caught a just a few sprinkles. After stopping for a bottle of wine and some bubbly, we rolled into Lisa and Jeanie’s home for a couple of days.
Days 24 Placitas, NM
We did a little shopping for dinner. Beth fixed her famous flank steak as we celebrated Jeanie’s birthday.
Day 25, Placitas, NM
We hung out today as I worked on this post and planned our return home.
The views from the back portal are relaxing.
Sad news. As expected, the warranty company denied my claim for the engine repair. The cost to do the repair at the dealer is very expensive, so the dealer will tow it to my home for a reasonable price. I’ll rent a car and follow Beth home. I’ll have time to find a used motor and make repairs after we get back from Shark Week.
We’ll take 3 days to get to Mississippi and 2-1/2 days to go to St. Pete.
Sorry to hear about your engine. HD is not the best an approving claims. Glad you were able to figure out a way home. Your travels remind me of my wonderful years living out West. Mountains are awesome and better than flat land!!
When we’re out here I wonder why we live in Florida, then I remember family.
I have been down that hwy through
Ouray to Durango…. STUNNING SCENERY
Verry much so.
I have a 2025 Tri Glide with an HD Extended Service Plan, after your post I read the contract which is something I rarely do. They want your money but the plan has disclaimer after disclaimer. Insurance companies are all the same, they don’t want to pay anything. If you are going to continue to tow I would look for an engine with a cam that puts out high torque at low RPM. If your core engine parts are good I would look into rebuilding what you have and build it for your application. The used engine market is high risk, don’t believe a word they tell you. EBAY is a good place to shop for parts, somewhere out there is a motorhead who took apart a good engine to increase displacement and HP and has the OEM parts for sale. EBAY does have some purchase protection which lowers risk. There are some very good aftermarket parts suppliers out there, do your research. HD is overpriced on everything they sell.
I have a friend advising me. There is a used Harley parts shop about 45 minutes away. There are a couple of builders close by. With my parts in hand, we/they can evaluate what is actually needed.
Some eBay vendors are selling complete motors taken from wrecked bikes. Some have 30-day warranties, still it’s a risk.
If I rebuild with capability for towing, I think I would put a smaller motor sprocket (32 tooth) in the primary to increase RPMs at travel speeds. A torque cam is an additional possibility. The trike transmission is different in all gears -> higher RPM for any given speed. We compared our two bikes. Beth has been driving in 5th gear keeping the RPM in the 3000 range.
We are probably going to give up the trailer, however. There isn’t much savings in camping any more.
Maybe I shouldn’t have bought the extended warranty for mine. So why won’t they honor the warranty? I love reading your blogs! We gave up our camper a couple years ago for the same reason.
They voided the warranty because of the trailer hitch. Our dealer applied for a cancellation and refund for the unused portion.
FYI- 2025 engine info. Trike M8-114 93 HP 120 Ft-LB torque with lower gears. Road King M8-114 95 HP 122 FT-LB torque. Road and Street Glide have M8-117 105 HP 130 FT-Lb torque. I don’t know how that matches up against your engine. Your friend may know how to research HD part numbers, so you know what to shop for………. You deserve credit for dealing with difficult bumps in the road and still accomplishing your objective.
Thank you, Tom. My bike as a 103 Twin Cam. I’ll work on the repair after we return.
Ouray is one of out favorite places. We love the hot springs and 4 wheeling.
It would be fun to go to the hot springs. We’ll be in Loveland next year.
The Million Dollar Highway wouldn’t have even been a question for me, whenever I’m in the area I ride it. Love that road! The other side of the San Juan Scenic Byway is a nice ride, particularly if you take a detour to Telluride, but overall its the MDH for the win! I agree with giving up the trailer as well. With the heat of the summer these days there’s not a lot about camping that even sounds fun. Pulling a trailer could be a factor in warranty coverage as well. Heck HD famously denied a guys transmission claim years ago because he had a big flag attached to the back of his bike LOL. At any rate enjoying following along on your annual adventure and living vicariously through you. Safe travels on the rest of your trip!!
Thank you, Jim.