The Intended Route

I will leave Cleveland heading south to Columbus and then turn west on I-70 for the trek to St. Louis via Indianapolis, IN. On the first night I will sleep in the grand metropolis of Eureka, MO, just south of St. Louis. I think it should take about ten hours to get there unless I am delayed by traffic in construction zones. It is my plan to eat at a Cracker Barrel somewhere in either Indiana or Illinois. I am thinking about going to the grocery store today to pick up something for breakfast on Sunday but it may be a good idea to do what I did last time before my prairie crossing and that was to get about four hours done in the early morning and then stop for a hearty breakfast when I stop for gas.

The second day, Friday will take me from Eureka across Missouri, to Oklahoma City and then on to Amarillo, Texas in the pan handle before ending in Tucumcari, New Mexico. This will be longer of the two days to the Rockies with a total of over 800 miles. I expect to be on the road for about 15+ hours and I really hope that construction is not a factor. In looking at the weather, it looks like the trip on Thursday should be sunny but Friday, this long day, calls for rain. I normally do not mind riding in the rain but I will be passing within about 50 miles of Greenburg, Kansas, the town that was 90% wiped out by a tornado about a month ago. Rain on a hot day through tornado alley is really not a comforting thought but, I will remain vigilant and tune into the local stations once the raindrops start falling.

Saturday will take me from Tucumcari along a back road to Las Vegas, NM and then up towards Taos. Just south of Taos, I turn onto a series of roads that circles back to Taos, where I plan to eat lunch. That route around back to Taos is called the enchanted circle as it is supposed to offer some of the most beautiful sights in New Mexico. Right now the weather man is calling for rain in the Taos area on Saturday and this is one of the times I hope the bugger is wrong!! Get a weather woman to do the job and we might start getting forecasts right!

After Taos I have two options one is to first head north towards Colorado and do a swing through the San Juan mountains northwest of Taos or head south towards Los Alamos. The northern swing would bring me back around through Los Alamos but that way longer. It will depend on time and weather. Once I have ridden the mountains I will head south through Albuquerque, where I may stop to eat, to Socorro, about an hour south of Albuquerque ( I had to get that in again because in researching for this trip I learned how to spell it correctly without the help of the spell checker – YAY!!) hey, it’s the little things in life that make our stay here fun!

On Sunday I leave Socorro heading west on route 60 towards a range of mountains along the New Mexico and Arizona border. I am surprised that this has not been developed into a tourist area as the map show peaks of over 12,000 feet and I would imagine that mountains that tall would be snow covered for skiing in the winter and just plain beautiful to see otherwise. I guess I will see when I get there. That is part of the fun of a trip like this is to imagine what these strange, new places look like and then to get there and be blown away by the inability of your imagination to even come close to what nature created.

I will travel south on the New Mexico side along 180 and then cross over to Arizona on 78 and travel north on 191 along the range to Eagar where I will meet up with 60 again. Depending on how time looks at this point, I have the option of heading straight up to the freeway and then over through Winslow to Flagstaff or, stay on 60 heading towards Sedona for a little more time in the twisties.

I do need to get to Flagstaff at a decent hour so that I can get a good night’s sleep and leave before dawn because it looks like I was a little overambitious when I planned the route for Monday. I chuckle here because Friday, Saturday and Sunday will all be pre-dawn departures so how is this any different? Silly boy!!

On Memorial Day, I head north out of Flagstaff for the approximately 250 mile ride to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I want to leave around 4:00 in the morning which is earlier than the other days but after seeing the Grand Canyon, and spending enough time there taking it all in, I still have a few hundred miles of riding through the Utah desert and three more National Parks to visit before bedding down in Cortez, Colorado.

From the Grand Canyon I head northwest into the southwest corner of Utah where I will get to ride through Zion National Park before heading north on 89 to Bryce Canyon National Park. From there it is east along 12, catch 24 and then down 95 to the Valley of the Gods in southeastern Utah. I really want to see the Valley of the Gods because last time I was here, a worn tire kept me off the unpaved road through the Valley. After I see that it is on to Cortez for a hot meal and a warm bed.

Tuesday I will head up through the heart of the Rockies to Denver. Right now it looks like I will go up 145, on 62 and then up 550 to Montrose. From there I will take 50 over to 285 and ride that up into Denver. I am meeting good friends for dinner in Denver and they have very generously offered their spare room for the night. I am looking forward to seeing and spending a little time with them!

My initial plan for Wednesday was to ride up to Estes Park and then through the rocky Mountain National park but the Colorado Department of Transportation website calls for lengthy construction delays in multiple places and I have no intention of sitting around for hours along a line of orange barrels. So, I will head south and ride through Vail, Aspen and Breckenridge to see the fourteen-ers in that central part of the state. It is supposed to be awesome, peak after peak over 14,000 feet. My route for the day is unplanned but I will spend the night in Dillon.

Thursday will put me on the road back east across Kansas with an overnight stay in Overland Park south of Kansas City and then Friday is the long day, another one over 800 miles, back home to Cleveland.