2019 Journey

We’re getting a late start on our annual ride this year. This was determined by a performer who will be playing at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado. We told ourselves that if Joe Bonamassa did not post his schedule by the end of February, we would make plans to tour British Columbia and Alberta. February came and went with no concert posted so Tom set out to plan our trip to Canada. Plans complete and dates cleared for June, our trip was set. Then Joe’s concert schedule was posted for August 11 and 12 at Red Rocks. Despite our commitment to the deadline, we quickly abandoned the Canada trip and reset the trip to Colorado in August.

This allowed Tom some extra time in July to go on a motorcycle trip to Montana with a few friends. As a result, our living room has been a motorcycle trip staging area for over a month now.

We’ll be traveling through four states besides California – Nevada, Utah and Colorado with a short dip into Arizona. The concert is on Monday the 12th and we leave on the 8th giving us four days to travel to Golden, Colorado which is about nine miles northwest of Morrison.

On this trip we’ll be visiting three National Parks and a National Monument. While Tom was on his ride in July, he purchased his lifetime senior parks pass so we won’t hesitate to stop at each opportunity!

We’ve also planned a day off the bike in Durango, Colorado. Durango is a quaint little town in southwest Colorado. We’ve been here once before and we’ve always wanted to come back to explore more. We’re going to take a train ride from Durango to Silverton. Tom is hoping that they use the steam engine the day we travel. It’s supposed to be one of the best train rides in the country and we’re looking forward to it.

Much of this trip will be through the desert. Right now the forecast looks to be in our favor except for the last two days of the trip when the heat rises. We will have to contend with afternoon thunderstorms because it is the monsoon season. We’ve purposely shortened our mileage per day (except for the first day) because last year we were exhausted at the end of each day. We’d like to take more time to enjoy the surroundings, explore a bit more, and not be so beat each night.

We changed tires yesterday and are packing up the bike. Below is our route:

Day 1 – Roseville, CA to Ely, NV (450 miles)

Day 2 – Ely, NV to Escalante, UT (329 miles)

Day 3 – Escalante, UT to Meeker, CO (381 miles)

Day 4 – Meeker, CO to Golden, CO (309 miles)

Day 5 – Golden, CO

Day 6 – Golden, CO to Durango, CO (328 miles)

Day 7 – Durango, CO

Day 8 – Durango, CO to Moab, UT (237 miles)

Day 9 – Moab, UT to Kanab, UT (342 miles)

Day 10 – Kanab, UT to Tonopah, NV (368 miles)

Day 11 – Tonopah, NV to Roseville, CA (328 miles)

Total mileage should be about 3,070 miles. As always, we’ll try to post an update each evening about that day’s events. We can’t wait to hit the road!