July 11, 2021 to July 13, 2021
Florida Chuck, the awesome mechanic and a storm
Million Dollar Highway rained out.
Sunday was only 97F with blistering sun. I love these hot dry clear summer days. Started the day with big biking plans and wound up walking through the Durango Flea Market, walking through the Durango Gem Show, admired a local kids practice Rodeo session and chatted on a family zoom conference call. Found a shady tree in the campground and took a long sweaty nap. That was my whole slacker lazy day and it was awesome.
Monday I selected another good looking route from Ride with GPS. The awesome back road gravel ride started with seven miles uphill climbing 2000 foot along a quiet road. Not a single car or person along the whole climb although there were several enormous mansions dotted along the road. The high meadow trail was just beyond the big sign that said NO TRESPASSING KEEP OUT. I’m a weenie and when it comes to treading through beautiful trails of a drug cartel, so I pedaled downhill back towards town. The switchback gravel downhill reminded me of telemark skiing downhill on ice. Kind of exhilarating in those loose gravel hairpin downhill turns.
Followed the 10 mile boardwalk trail along the Animas River at a leisurely tourist pace. Along the trail is a community constructed of “Tiny Homes” and the resident named Chuck who loves to chat. He spotted me standing nearby and walked over to say hello. Originally from Florida, where he attended college on a running scholarship, he eventually turned to crabbing and fishing as a career until the blue green algae bloom ruined his business. He met his wife from Guam and bought a Rialta motor home and found his Tiny House in Durango and has a bum foot/ankle/leg/side that he’d rather have cut off than have surgery and enjoys retirement and plans to travel in their Rialta motor home. Check in with Chuck if I missed anything.
Pedaled past the Durango Whitewater Park to watch the Rafting companies take their tourists through the low water rapids of the Animas. Lots of screaming as the cold river water splashed the raft occupants.
The weekday vibe in Durango is quiet compared to the weekend tourist crowds. Back at camp a majority of the tent campsites were vacant on this Monday evening. No screaming families, crying infants or Stoner Bobs. Wonderful evening for a cup of coffee and dinner from the supplies in the Yukon Red Bus.
The final two camp nights in Durango were accompanied by a slowly deflating air mattress. Hoping that my patch job holds because my back aches from the unpadded morning tent floor.
In retrospect the mattress went flat, again, and my back is hurting.
Packed up the site on Tuesday morning and admired the darkening skies that announced today’s rain forecast. Discovered a new Yukon problem with the car starting hard and shutting down, the wipers front and rear not moving and the car stuck in 3rd gear at all speeds. Something electric related died. Found a marvelous local Durango mechanic shop that took me in without an appointment, diagnosed the problem, replaced the ignition switch and got the Red Bus on the road! Nice people abound.
The drive north out of Durango is one of the nation’s most spectacular mountain drives. Happy I traveled this road in prior years because today turned into an all day white knuckle lightning thunder rain downpour. Snapped a photo in rain soaked Silverton. Stopped along the turnouts of the Million Dollar Highway to admire the vistas, and sadly found the Ouray city hot spring pool closed due to lightning storm conditions. Drove through flooded roads in Montrose and headed through howling wind towards Grand Junction. This is a hotel night. Hope to bicycle the gravel routes around GJ tomorrow and then decide to either drive north towards Jackson Hole, Wyoming or east towards Denver and then Detroit.
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Today's ride: 50 miles (80 km)
Total: 658 miles (1,059 km)
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