Day 15

 We woke up in Ouray to low hanging clouds and close to freezing temperatures. Gingerly we navigated the wet road out of Ouray that had fresh snow right at the edges until it dried out near Silverton. We stopped in Silverton for some much needed hot coffee.

Leaving there and running the Million Dollar Highway we saw aw inspiring views of the snow covered mountains that surrounded us. 

In Durango I took the guys to the rail road museum and then had lunch at the balcony bar and grill. We had tour reservations at Mesa Verde for the Cliff Palace so no time to explore Durango. We made it to the 3:00 tour and I let the guys go it without me. The thought of climbing around the cliff dwelling at 7,000 feet didn’t excite me plus I had done it 3 times over the years.

Andy made it to Cortez before we did so the motel rooms were ready to go when we got there. Brendan had his first Mexican dinner in America. 

Day 14

 An interesting day. The weather looked like lots of rain mixed with snow along our planned route of driving straight West through Salida and over Monarch Pass then South on 149 to Southfork. Then to Durango and up to Ouray. After a lot of discussions about alternate routes we settled on running up to Denver and picking up I-70 West and dropping down to Ouray from Grand Junction. 

That ended up being fortuitous, for Andy. Just as we entered I-70 his motorcycle started making noises and vibrations. There was a wide shoulder right there so we all pulled over. Andy quickly realized his drive shaft rear universal joint had destroyed itself and the housing it rides in. There was a BMW dealer close by so with a phone call to them a retrieval van came to the rescue. 

Andy accompanied his bike to the dealership and I led the guys to Ouray. We cut South on 133 at Glenwood Springs through Paonia to Delta and down. The weather turned nasty or we would have taken 92 paste the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. 

Oh by the way Andy is back on the road with a 2024 K1600 GT. 

That night it got drunk out. Me and the boys tasted several kinds of beer and whiskey.