Starting Point: Vail, CO
Planned destination: Colorado Springs, CO via Rocky Mountain National Park
Revised destination: Amarillo, TX
Day 10 mileage: 559.7
Cumulative mileage (GPS): 5044.7
Our plan for Day 10, was, like many of our days, an ambitious plan. The original ride summary said this: I made an aggressive adjustment on this day. Instead of riding south on the other leg of the Top of the Rockies Scenic Byway, I routed us east on I-70 for a while to get us to US 40, where we head north to Granby. Here we begin our ride to Estes Park on Trail Ridge Road. From Estes Park, we’ll head south on the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway. There are easier and faster ways to get us headed toward Pikes Peak – and we can alter the plan if time becomes an issue – but BaseCamp indicates we might be able to keep this in the plan.
Part of the daily routine for me is to monitor weather conditions both where we are and along our intended route. This day in particular I had been watching the weather closely and saw forecasts across much of Colorado for heavy rain, large hail, and tornadoes. Not of these were conditions I wanted to be encountering on a motorcycle. To add to my concern, we had to get the girls to Colorado Springs for their flight to Nashville, and I had to get to Nashville on time for our daughter's post-wedding party. With this being the case, I knew we could not risk getting delayed in northern Colorado. So I made a strong recommendation to the rest of the riders that we run south to get under the weather system that was creating all of the issues in Colorado. This idea was embraced by all without reservation.
We began our day with a pleasant breakfast at the Westside Cafe and Market, a favorite of locals and visitors alike. The breakfast was excellent. Not long after heading west on I-70 toward Denver, we encountered rain and stopped to climb into our rain gear. This proved to be the right decision, as we rode through rain until we stopped for lunch - and the temperatures were lower than we anticipated. Fortunately, everyone had the proper gear, and we were good to go.
Rather than spend the night in Colorado Springs with the girls, we grabbed a quick lunch, dropped them off at their hotel, and continued our run south to keep the weather behind us. This proved to be another wise choice, as tornadoes were moving from north to south just behind us. We set our sights on Amarillo, TX as a destination that would leave us with a challenging but manageable ride to Nashville. We rode through rain part of the way, but all in all had a good ride to our dinner stop at the 287 Roadhouse in Dumas, TX. There was a brand-new Best Western next door, and we probably should have stopped here, but the girls had called ahead for us and made reservations for us in Amarillo. So off we rode again, doing something we don't do often on these trips: ride after dark. We try to ride in daylight hours so we don't have to worry about encountering wildlife - but this night, we pressed on. In retrospect, I will admit we might have ridden a bit fast given the conditions. We were tired, ready for sleep... and didn't exercise the best judgement. Lighting up the road with my Daymaker LED headlights and Randall's Clearwater Darla driving lights, we arrived safely in Amarillo and called it a night, well ahead of the weather we had run from.
All in all, much of the day was wet and colder than expected - so I keep the camera packed safely away. These are the only pictures from the entire day:
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| Route at end of Day 10, as recorded by our Spot Gen3 satellite tracker. The scribbled-looking section west of San Antonio is the Twisted Sisters. |
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