The Candy Ass Adventure - August 12, 2019

Oh, it was soooooo nice to sleep in and have nothing to do but pack our bikes and mosey on down the road to wherever we decided to go!  Sweet :-)  We made it up in time to partake of the hotel brekkie and enjoyed visiting with some leftover rally peeps.  Back to the room, we slowly got our shit together and loaded the bikes.  Thankfully the bikes were in the shade because the day promised to get warm quickly.  By the time we were ready to go, most bikes had left the parking lot.  Hey, we left promptly at 10:30 am.  Almost a new record for us, lol. 

 We decided to take CO 141 and then CO 145 to Ouray and beyond.  The weather was perfect and pretty much zero traffic on CO 141 which is a stunningly beautiful road. If you've never been on that road, you owe it to yourself to go ride it. Right after we turned onto 141 we had a special treat, a family of 6-7 mountain sheep including Papa, Mama and some teenagers.   We made a quick stop at Gateway where I snapped a few pics.

 Pics don't even begin to show the beautiful scenery.  This is a lonely, twisty road that follows a couple of rivers.  Lots of twisty curves and stunning vistas.  I love riding this road!

From CO 141 we then took CO 145 to CO 550.  All stunning and fun.  Majestic mountains, rushing rivers, no traffic, lush forests.  Oh my, oh my.  Do this ride!!!

We stopped in Ouray, CO for lunch.  Ouray is at the base of the Rocky Mountains and the road is sloped making motorcycle parking, ummmm, interesting.  We scored on a space specifically designated for motorcycles!  Yay!  And, it was just outside Maggie's Kitchen. 

 A few random Ouray, CO pics.  Quite the tourist town, we considered staying here for the night but you know, it was expensive and we could do better up the road and it wasn't very late yet at all.

 So Maggie's Kitchen it was for a late lunch!

 There were stickers everywhere so I asked if I could add a sticker or two and they responded with a big YES!  We Love Stickers!  So sticker I did :-)

 At the front door and at the ordering station!  Hahahahaha!  DFF indeed :-)

Maggie's Kitchen is awesome.  Names written on walls, tables and chairs.  Community table dining and good food.  Big food.  Tasty food!

Sorry, no pics of our food because we scarfed it up right now!  Lunch was yummy, we split a bacon cheeseburger and 1/2 order of onion rings.  Yeah, I know, tomorrow will be salad ;-)

While in Ouray, we checked the internet for nearby lodging and found a great place in Silverton.  So, quick call to make the reservation and back on the bikes for a 30 mile ride over the mountain.  The sun was shining in Ouray but as we climbed up the mountain the clouds began to converge.  Uh oh.... are we going to get wet?

Anyone who has ridden CO 550 knows it as the Million Dollar Highway.  It basically runs from Ouray, CO to Durango, Co with Silverton in the middle.  It's a world class scenic road.  Steep (and I mean crazy steep) ravines on one side and tall bluffs on the other.  It has 10 mph turns and is two lanes.  Lots and lots of turns and curves and twists and very narrow two lanes.  Did  I mention the steep drop offs on the side with no guard rails?  Yeah, that's the Million Dollar Highway.  I love riding it.

Lucky for us, the two vehicles in front of us turned off or let us scoot by so we had open road in front of us.  We climbed up, up, up the mountain taking the steep, sharp curves easily with our big bikes.  Then......PLOP.....a big raindrop.  Then, plop, plop, plop more big fat rain drops.  Oh heck, darn, gee whiz.  I've been on this road at least a dozen times if not more and guess what?  Only two or three times have I been rain and snow free.  Today was not one of those days, lol.  Hahahahaaaaa.  It's all good.

We got rained on but not hard rain.  Just rain and we road until we got over the summit and halfway down the other side and then just like that we hit dry pavement and sunshine :-)  We rolled into Silverton in the sun.  Quickly found our motel and checked in.  The Triangle Motel is small but comfortable and a lot better price than anything in Ouray!  No air conditioning so we'll see how that goes tonight.

Eric has gone off to find us some dinner and then we'll chill a bit before bed.  Tomorrow I'll try to remember to take some pics of Silverton because it is a very cute town.

Today was a whopping 200 or so miles before we quit for the day, hahahaha.  It was such a pleasant ride and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  The bikes are running fine and we're in no hurry to go anywhere.  I have no idea yet where we might end up tomorrow.

Eric just returned from a nice 8 block walk with chicken Caesar salads.  Yum!

Stay tuned to see how far and where we go!

As always, thanks for following along.  Cheers!