August 17, 2017
Day 26, Blanding, UT to Dove Creek, CO: We Made It To Colorado! Now It's Easy, Right?
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Mileage Today; 46 Total So Far; 1,206 Remaining; 393
Climbing Today; 3,298 Total So Far; 71,199 Remaining; 25,124
Max Grade Today; 7.5% Average Uphill Grade; 2.2%
Average Speed While Riding; 9.0 mph
Mechanical Issues; Doc’s front derailleur won’t shift to high range
Photos Credit; Bud, unless noted otherwise
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Bud speaking;
We left Blanding in the early morn darkness relying on our lights to guide us. We had a little climbing to do, and it occurred right away on today’s ride; that’s the way I like it, get the hard work out of the way first. Today promises to be an exciting day, as we will (hopefully) reach Colorado, the final state on our journey. But first things first; we hope to find “second breakfast” in Monticello after we dispense with the lion’s share of today’s climbing. In the early morning darkness, this sign left me with a lot of questions;
Really? Only watch for deer in my lane? Is it OK if they are in another lane? It seemed like a very strange sign. Later when I stopped for a break, a state highway worker was nearby and came over to chat, and he explained that they had been having an unusually high number of deer collisions in this area. They had built tunnels under the road for the deer to use, but the silly deer just wouldn’t use them.
We rolled on towards the promise of breakfast in Monticello. Here’s a view along our path;
We can see mountains in Colorado in the distance, and soon we will be there. Here’s Doc and Sis in the morn as we roll towards breakfast;
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I passed what was once a very eloquent entryway to a property. I wondered what the history of this place was, what dreams the owners had, and all of the human drama and stories that could be told about this place;
Or maybe it was just a simple place and the owner really fancied an extravagant entryway; whatever. Reaching Monticello, I note that Utah has continued to do a great job in signage along USBR 70, which is our path.
After a great second breakfast, we rolled on towards Colorado and encountered a deer warning sign that included a flashing light on top. The light wasn’t flashing at the time.
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So what does it mean? Do they only flash the light when deer are likely to cross the road? How do they know? These deer warning signs are rather mysterious. They apparently mean nothing to drivers, as deer collisions continue to increase in frequency.
We are surprised at the rapid transition from the mountains in eastern Utah to the rolling agricultural farmland of western Colorado. In the distant valley we can see the town of Dove Creek, and we know we are near the Colorado border. If you are able to see far ahead on the road in the photo below, you can tell that it has changed color to a white shade; this indicates a different organization is maintaining the road at that point, and that would be the Colorado border.
We all moved forward anxious to reach this milestone on our journey. Here’s Sis rolling down the road, and you can tell she’s anxious for this momentous milestone.
And we did finally make it. Here’s the proof;
We rolled into the small town of Dove Creek. It’s an interesting little place.
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Checking in at the Country Inn Motel (as Doc says, “the best and worst hotel in town”) we were told that we could not take our bicycles into our rooms, but that she (the manager) could lock them up in the laundry room. I asked if we could have a key to later unlock the laundry room, and was told that we could not. When I explained that we would then need her to unlock them for us at 4:00 am so we could prepare them and load them for a 4:30 am departure tomorrow morning, she got a pained look on her face. We told her we’d just lock them outside our rooms, but when we got to our rooms that really wasn’t practical as there was nothing to secure them to so they couldn’t be taken. My bike went into the room with me shortly afterwards.
I’ve traveled coast-to-coast on my bicycle and never has any hotel/motel refused to let me take it into my room. When I can’t get a first floor room, the bicycle goes in the elevator with me and gets stored upstairs in my room. The Country Inn Motel is at best a modest little place, and is certainly not worth more than the $54/night fee we paid; in other words, it’s hard to see why they think my bicycle would damage their room; it’s not exactly a luxury suite. I had called in advance and explained to the owner that we needed first-floor rooms so we could roll our bikes into the rooms; this shouldn’t have been a surprise to them. As it turned out, the Country Inn motel was all first-floor rooms; it’s that kind of place. The owner said nothing at the time when I called and happily took my credit card number to hold the rooms, so I was surprised to be told we couldn’t put our bikes in the rooms. But all’s well that ends well I suppose. If they knew how much our bikes cost, they really wouldn’t want to be responsible for them anyway.
We turned in early for another exciting early morning start. Good night all…
Today's ride: 46 miles (74 km)
Total: 1,205 miles (1,939 km)
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As a broad statement, we are always allowed to take the bikes in the room. Like you, I state up front we are traveling by bicycle. That is their chance to object.
In 2021, we toured Wisconsin and Michigan. For some reason, on that tour, it was the exception to be able to take the bikes in the room. One place we had to give a deposit, which was refunded after they inspected the room. I'm fine with that. I understand not every cyclist is responsible.
Last summer in Moab, at the Quality Inn, we had to pay extra $10. each to take our bikes in the room. They didn't announce the fee until after we were checked in, very obviously with bikes (helmets in hand, etc).
It will be interesting to see how Spain goes this summer. I've been told you seldom, if ever, get to take bikes in the room, but there's always secure parking. I want to bring a silnylon tarp to cover the bikes with. Jacinto thinks that's unnecessary.
1 year ago
I haven't toured in Europe, other than a lot of long day-tours along the Rhine River near Wiesbaden, Germany. There were a lot of bikes at the hotels I stayed at in Germany, Poland, and Lithuania - they usually had a bike rack you could lock the bike to. FWIW, I did keep my bike inside my room for 2 weeks at a hotel in Weisbaden, and later for another 2 weeks at a hotel in Mainz - I talked to the management and explained that I had an expensive bike (it really was just a moderately priced bike, but many Germans rode clunkers for their daily commuters, so it's all relative) and they gave me a first floor room and allowed me to roll it inside. But these were bigger hotels, like normal American hotels -one of them was actually a Hilton - most of the smaller villages just had little mom-and-pop inns where you wouldn't have been able to do that.
1 year ago