These pictures are from our trip to Colorado September 23rd - 29th, 2006. The weather was perfect, sunny skies except for 20 minutes of rain during the first hour of the trip. Nighttime temperatures in Colorado dipped into the mid thirties a few times. The week before the trip it snowed at the higher elevations making the scenery especially beautiful.

 

Loaded up and ready to go!

Stopping for lunch.

I mailed this shot to GQ Magazine for use on their cover. Still waiting to hear back from them...

Taking a break near Raton, NM. We were not happy campers due to riding 20+ miles at in a 45 MPH construction zone. We thought we were done with construction  zones but a few miles from the rest stop another was waiting for us. 

The scenery was starting to get better after miles of flat roads in West Texas.

We stayed at the Colt Motel in Raton, MN. It's clean and the price was excellent at $32/night.

The garage is nice to have. The front door to my room is in the garage, would have been nice had it rained.

Stopping along 160 on the way to Durango. It was chilly so we were glad to have our heated gear.

We stopped to take a look at Movie Manor in Monte Vista.

Some of the rooms face the Drive-In theater, you can watch a movie in your room complete with sound.

  

The scenery was beautiful as was approached Wolf Creek Pass.

Water running off the top of this mountain was literally ice cold.

We were surprised to see snow on the ground when we arrived at Wolf Creek Pass.

Click here to see more pictures of Wolf Creek Pass.

Tuesday we headed for Four Corners, we saw some interesting rock formations on the way.

The monument at Four Corners.

"Mr. Happy" visits four states at once.

Should have worn sunglasses.

Navajo Native Americans were selling jewelry, T-Shirts, etc. Click here for more pictures of Four Corners.

Mesa Verde National Park was our next stop, this was taken about a mile from the park entrance.

Nice job leveling the camera.

The cliff dwellings were well worth seeing.

Imagine how proud Dale Jr. would be if he saw this picture.

Click here to see more pictures of Mesa Verde.

Tuesday we spent the day riding the Durango-Silverton train.

The scenery was incredible, no need to watch the road, just sit back and enjoy!

Arriving in Silverton.

Silverton has an Old West feel, there is only one paved road in town.

Locked up for "fowl play".

Click here to see more pictures of the Durango-Silverton train ride.

Wednesday we rode the Million Dollar Highway.

Great view of Silverton. Wonder if anyone else has taken a picture like this?

North of Silverton we could not pass up yet another photo-op.

The road itself is a lot of fun too. Click here to see more pictures of the Million Dollar Highway.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison east of Gunnison on Highway 50 is awesome.

Unlike the Grand Canyon the walls are almost vertical.

Click here to see more pictures of Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

We headed east on Highway 50 toward Monarch Pass.

Stopping near Monarch Pass.

Wednesday night was spent at the Best Western in Canon City, CO.

Riding hard south on 109 out of La Junta, CO into a headwind caused our gas mileage to drop dramatically. Greg went on reserve as we entered Pritchett, CO. A fellow rider named Axel came by in his pickup asked if we had a problem then went home and brought back gas. When I was a kid we had a dog named Axle and our mechanic was named Pritchett, quite a coincidence.

Thursday night was our last night on the road, we stayed at the Comfort Inn in Childress. It was very clean and comfortable.

Stopping for lunch on the way home at Yesterday's in Decatur.