When I woke up at 05:15, it was cold enough to convince me to sleep in another half hour (still wasn’t as bad as the morning in California though). I quickly packed once awake, and then set off to see the Grand Canyon, which I’ve never seen before.
At first I was concerned I wouldn’t see much of it, as a heavy fog lay over the roads, and I couldn’t see anything from the scenic points I was driving by. The road was 22 miles long though, and after about 10 miles I finally came to a clearing in the fog and had a great view of the massive rockcanyons, extending for dozens of miles in either direction.
I spent at least an hour and a half in the area, taking in the scenery, taking pics, eating a small breakfast, etc. I’m glad I saw the area, but I doubt I’ll go back unless I want to hike the canyon or it’son the way to another location (and even then, I might skip it due to the $30 vehicle fee).
From there, I was riding through Indian reservations into Colorado. The lands were sparsely populated for the most part. The areas that had small Native American towns were pretty run down, and many areas were abandoned.
The scenery was interesting, but not captivating,and I found myself listening to my books more than paying attention to the landscape.
Once I hit Colorado, this changed.
I was taking a route that one of my professors recommended to me. When he was in grad school, he did what I’m doing more or less right now. He told me of a road that was to die for, going through the Colorado mountains. Having just driven it a few hours ago, I’d have to agree.
I’ll post a full video on YouTube, but essentially the first portion to the town Silverton was through a small snow storm (not bad enough to make motorcycle stop, though I did take my attention off the camera so I could operate the motorcycle in the slick conditions).
I stopped at Silverton to fill up and get some pizza. A lady at the station was kind enough help me figure out road/storm conditions and I spent about half an hour there talking with her. She has a son that’s 21, and she’s a 5th generation local.After purchasing some emergency supplies (candles, lighter, matches) I case I got stuck in the storm, I left for what she said was a gorgeous drive.
I went on a famous highway (?) that took my breath away. I’ll also be posting that full video later. I used the backpack mount, which should provide a much better video than the tank bag mount (stability, height, angle, etc.)
I don’t use the backpack mount because it’s uncomfortable to ride with the backpack for more than a few minutes, as it forces me to stay in a partial tuck over the bike.
The ride was great, and I throughly enjoyed it. Tothe point that I know I want to come back someday. There toad was perfect, as the roads were dry (more or less), but the snow was still surrounding me for a majority of the route.
After that, I stopped in another town to take a break. The ride hadn’t taken extremely long, but it was tiring with all the turns and caution required.
I set off once it was dark (about 21:00).
End Part 1
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