Purgatory : The Ride
Purgatory 2018. I've been waiting 12 months for this day to get here. Last year we rode in, enjoyed it.. and ready for a redo. Last year we left home with 3, met up several others in Santa Rosa NM, and headed in on the final leg with 1/2 dozen. This time, lil' less of us. My bike this year is 100% prepped and ready to go. Last year I wore out the rear tire by the time I got there (I'd done a burnout as we got to Durango... not the smartest thing)... New front / rear tires, fresh oil, new flash on the ECU... it's complete and ready.
As we did last year, Jim and I rally up at sunrise and head out of Greenville, west towards the Rocky Mountains. However this year, we don't have a stop planned. We're 99% sure we're going to stop at the 600 mile mark or so, but we're playing it by ear. The lil twist is a day or two prior, Doug Washabaugh and I had a conversation via social media and make a decision to try and connect up on day one. That crazy bastard is coming in from Pennsylvania, but scooting across the southern US on a partial bet w/ Paige Ott, that he won't hit New Orleans ... he does.. and Texas is now in sight before he turns North.We decide Lubbock makes the most sense. Deep down I foresee this going bad; one of us gets there too early and blows on ahead. But.... we both are on the money and hit Lubbock within 15 minutes of each other. Score! Doug pulled up to the gas pump, we topped off ... quick discussion of the route.. and .. we're off 200 miles later folks are looking at each other hungry and thirsty .. what to to ... what to do . Soon, we're rolling through Texico,
NM and as we exit the town we see an American Legion. Couple of colds ones, directions handed to us by the bartender for food, then off to grab a bite .... . Full bellies and smiles on our faces, we then headed due west another 100 miles into New Mexico to get 600 miles under our belts that day. Long stretches of highway let us play with the triple digit mark a few times. Still, it seemed like it was forever before we finally pulled in at our next stop. When we hit Vaughn NM, we were all three ready to stop. Done. Kapesh. Next problem is... just about every motel in town is deserted, run down, out of business. Except for 3; the Travel Lodge and two dumps. Turns out the Travel Lodge has No Vacancy. The dumps are begging for our business. So, we take the least shitty of the two. Off to the convenience store to grab some cold beers, we park our chairs by our bikes near the front doors of our awesome suites (sarcasm) ... .. and . after few beers down the hatch and some moonshine Doug had..... we all pull the plug. The next day we head North.
As the sun comes up over the desert, we get the bikes loaded up, top 'em with fuel and we're headed to Santa Fe to pick up #4. Michael Kurpeirz (Mustache Mike) has broke away from the MN guys, and he headed down to see his sis. An hour and half later, we connect up on the far side of Santa Fe, top off with fuel again and we're rolling! Hwy 84 is going to take us right into Pagosa Springs and we'll be close to our destination! The plan is to meet up with some of the MN tribe and they'll lead us back in style. But it ain't going to happen. Hwy 550 has possibly closed up and they're sending us info on what to to if it's closed. I'm thinking "WTF?" .. not realizing the fire now called 416 , is about to be on our minds for the entire weekend.. Still, we're hungry and thirsty and on the west end of Pagosa Springs we find a lil joint that fixes us right up! Few cold ones, some munchies we're re-motivated, legs over the bikes and headed west on Hwy 160 and we're headed 'home'!
We are soon on Hwy 550 coming out of Durango when we get to see the problem first hand. We'd just passed the Iron Horse Inn that has pissed off more than a few of us, and we find ourselves at a stop near Hermosa waiting for a Police Escort the remaining 16 miles or so. As I see flames shooting out of the hilltops and aircraft dropping flame retardants and water on it... my dark side has me thinking .... " if anything has to burn .. I hope it's the Iron Horse Inn" . I know .. I know.. not nice. But .. hey .. I thought it!
Well, after a fifteen minute show, we're rolling. We've quickly passed the fire and headed up an incline towards our destination; Purgatory Resort. This was a last minute change for us and I didn't know exactly what to expect. I'd soon be surprised with an awesome 2 bedroom condo that rivaled anything at the Iron Horse Inn, and even the previous years at Branson on a dollar for dollar value basis. The place was downright beautiful. The bad news is, my wife was flying in for the event, and canx the day before due to the 416 Fire. This would turn out to be a good decision we made, but damned if it still didn't suck initially. I wanted her there to see the place. The Rides. The people. It felt 'off' for me most of the time; we've been together the previous two years up here. But, you move on and make the best of it. A lil twist this year for me was more friends are in from MN this year. We've got a few virgins to the reunion! I head over to the Dittel's and Neid's condo ( and Mustache Mike) for some cold ones and to enjoy the view. Their balcony is facing east and you can see the camp setup for fighting the fire. Well, Jim and I throw back a few colds ones, then back to our place to prep for dinner. Let the party begin/continue!
Well, we're headed over for Pizza! Some nice folks behind the counter cooking everything up and setting up the buffet for us. Guy about my age seems to be managing the place and is barking orders to folks, and seating folks. Not sure what's up with this guy but I soon realize he's our anchor for the week. He's ensuring everything is going smooth. He's also running the liquor store. I'm guessing he's wearing a 1/2 dozen hats. Purgatory is running a skeleton crew and he's a crucial part of the team. Few slices of pizza, an ice cold lemonade and I'm good. I'm foreseeing some adult beverages in our future so I'm pacing myself. We soon realize the 'closed' liquor store is run by our host so off to get some refreshments, then up around the corner to Hoodys! This will be our meeting spot every evening for the week. Great view, full bar inside, adequate seating outside. And this first night, it's kicking up. The vast majority of us roll in today. Some of these bastartds rolled in days ago, riding the mountains. I shoulda' coulda' but hey .. it's Thursday finally, and I'm here! The MN crew is there, Tribal Council is there, fellow Texans have been in the area for days, the AR brothers are holding down the fort, and Hasbin is soon here busting my balls. I'm home! Soon, I've got some of Ms Harleynot's margaritas in my hand pounding a few (they always rock!), moonshine is making it's way around the area via several folks and I'm mingling. So many faces and not enough time. Several hours later I think I've finally connected up with each person I know and met a few more. Now... it's time for some zzzz's. Tomorrow ... we ride!
I'm pumped up for the Million Dollar Ride Highway. It's just north of us and I'm itching to go .... w/o Lucy here, I find myself thinking of how many miles will we put on? We gonna' scrape some pegs? And .. maybe .. .I'll sip .. one or two... it could happen. No restraints! I'm a glass is half full guy. In all honesty, throughout this whole weekend I won't feel whole... something is off ... mama' ain't with me.. it feels wrong. But right at that moment, I'm finding a silver lining.. I want to ride the wheels off the bike. We're at the Riders briefing out in the front parking lot and the decision is being made to head the south route, to Telluride, then continue on to Ouray then Purgatory. Huh. Okay.. I'm easy .. I'm in. We don't have everyone down here yet, and I'm asked if I'll Road Captain the ride. Sure .. WTF .. at least I can set the pace. I won't be scratching boards, but I'll be doing the speed limit.. and .. maybe sneak in a few more there. About this time Gary Groustra rolls in ( he's late! .. had to add that .. lol ) and Harleynot's south route is being countered with a north route, which was my first choice. Well, at this point I flip. I make a quick decision to join up with the Northern boyz doing the Northern route. I get the WTF look and comment from H'Not .. rightfully so .. with a shake of the head.... but thankfully ... Tim Neid steps up to lead the group. Now in retrospect, I probably shouldn't have waffled..... but ... Gary was going to Telluride and reversing.. so.. in my mind.. I'm getting double of the ride I wanted... soooo. .. waffle man .. I was? Fifteen minutes later, we're loaded up and the groups are off!
I don't see the Margarita machine.. but ... the picnic table is loaded with a "few" bottles. The IIRA has dinner brought in for us this evening, so no concerns about filling our bellies. I've got a bottle of Jameson's tucked away for sippn 'on. We've got an 'awards banquet' of sorts tonight. Harleynot is in classic form, the perfect host / emcee. Eraserhead and Ms Harleynot are covering all the bases. But we've got a problem... a small group of folks got diverted when they were headed in from the lake. The Smith Brothers, Stump's whole family , Hasbin and his bride and others... are making it back via 145/550 in the evening. Not good. I know I'm not traveling with my leather jacket. Some of them aren't. This is deer country. So, few of us are concerned. We hold on as long as possible to get everyone back before we kick it of... and........ SUCCESS. All fears subside when they roll in to the party. Whew! Harleynot quickly switches gears and we have our family all together and the festivities continue! Everyone introduces themselves which went awesome/quickly, all the Chapter Presidents are introduced to, and myself and Jay Lowien are officially inducted into the Tribal Council. Icing on the cake was a lil' ceremony to get Junior patched in. All in all, a perfect evening with our IIRA family. This... is why we made the trek!
Good nights sleep. Refreshed. It's Saturday! My plan was to do a lot of riding today ... Check out Silverton . But, we've got signs plastered on our doors saying we are in pre-evacuation mode. If we get the signal, we've got 15 minutes to get our shit and head out. What? Well... I don't see this happening. Firefighters are doing an awesome job. But last night, you could see the smoke behind the ridge by us. You know it's 'real'.. but.. seems so far away. I make the decision to do a short ride with Hasbin; he's headed to Silverton to check out some knives. At the same time, we're all meeting this morning for a group pic. During this whole process, I realize the IIRA is hosting a lunch out at the lake. Well... crap .. I decide to waffle on Hasbin. We make the decision to head to the lake so I can ride with my MN buds, enjoy some lunch and cold ones. I'm thinking... I'll just roll past Purgatory on the way back and hit Silverton..... makes sense. So we head that direction moving a lil' on the slow side to keep everyone together. My itch to move faster is nagging me but I keep it in formation. We finally roll up to the Broken Shovel, I grab a spot and first one up at the bar, for a cold one. Everyone's trying to figure out where to sit, but I've got a fav' spot out front so bullheadedly, I ignore pleas for a diff' area and park my ass right out front, at the only table with shade. By the 2nd beer, BBQ is being served. Before I'm done .. I heard the news. Hwy 550 is closing down due to evacuation. God Damned it! I was looking forward to a nice afternoon here for a few hours before heading out. Well, a crew quickly heads out to beat the closing. Jim and I need to pick up some beers, we're not done with the one we've got.. so we decided to 'time it' . Sure thing. By the time we finally get out of a grocery store with a 12 pack each, looking down at the time we realize we f'd up. Still, we're thinking we can schmooze our way in. So we head up 550 to find an officer of the law, to convince them we are special and deserving of an escort. Sure thing. Well.. that didn't work out so well. It's 2:30PM and we've now got 230 miles to get back to the home base. All good. the way this is working out, we're now leaving on Sunday instead of Monday, and I haven't gotten a chance to ride Hwy 145 yet. So, i'm seeing an upside. Secondly, Jim and I roll fast together. Upside. So, we pop a "U" and we headed out to jump on 160 when we see a group of IIRA over at a gas station, waving us down. This is the group that left before us; they didn't make it through either. And there is a third group out there with H'Not that rolls up after a few minutes.. We've got a LOT of bikes to roll with now. Cool. Not the high speed run I was envisioning, but I'm liking it. Next the Mana's on a Side Car setup and a few other bikes roll out to get a head start. Makes sense to me. But Jim is prepped and ready to go; he's giving me the look. I'm watching Gary G' trying to corral up the folks to head out. H' Not is telling me they're going to stop for a few at a the Enterprise in Rico. I'm getting a visual of a long stop and wait for drinks ( which wasn't the case ). I can see some impatience on a few folks face's. Jim is giving me the look again. F' .... what to do .. what to do. In a spontaneous moment, in a desire of speed.... I start up the bike, nod to Jim .. and we're off. This moment would bug me intermittently the rest of the afternoon. I didn't tell Rick and Tim we were rolling. Didn't ask Mustache Mike. Didn't ask if anyone .. wanted to try and keep up. We wanted to roll fast and assumed, we'd be alone... should coulda woulda. Decision made. We're off.
We're topped off and have made a decision to top off in Telluride and roll through Ouray. We've done this many times before. When it's just the two of us, we ride tight. We ride fast. Jim pushes me through the corners; a lil competition of sorts between us. In the straightaways he can overtake me; I'm convinced it's because I weigh more. It's my story and I'm sticking to it! But in the corners, when I'm riding solo, it's game on. I don't ever recall riding behind Jim in this scenario; I assume I'd be pushing him as he is I, but ... don't know. In any case, it's game on and we're rolling quickly. The beauty of a couple of bikes vs a larger group is ... passing. Every time we came up on a car .. or two .. we'd roll right past them, backing off only after hitting triple digits. It's something we always do.. an excuse to tap 100mph often. I did get a surprise when passing 2 vehicles as the jeep that was 2nd in line, who'd forgone passing the last few miles, decided to pull out as I was on his quarter doing
about 90mph, accelerating past him. He jumped back in line at the last second, I wave him a single finger salute, Jim rolled up behind me and we were gone. This would be the one and only close call with another vehicle this trip. After passing another dozen or so, whipping through this beautiful area .. we spotted a sandy spot on the right that cars have used.. and there was access to the river rolling by us. Besides, we've got a 12 pack each in the bags .. that won't stay cold forever. And .. I just want .. one. Interestingly, as we pull off I notice a make shift tent in the woods. Homeless person #1. When we get the bikes in the shade and turned off, up ahead is a pickup in the trees with a tent make shifted in the bed with some gal in it. Homeless #2. Huh. Well, we don't care. We've got a cold one to drink. We're in the shade. And we're packing. Now... off to get near that cold stream.
We haven't seen any bikes go by so we know we're still ahead of the crew we left behind and I'd fully expected to catch up with the first crew by now.. but .. no sign of them. So.... we're off in search of fuel. Eventually, we pull through Ouray and continue straight on to the Million Dollar Highway. This is the highlight. Only twice will we get behind a cage that won't do the pace. Both occasions they either pulled over or we got a chance to pass. So for the majority of the run from Ouray to Silverton, we're pushing the bikes over hard, accelerating between corners.. pushing the edge. I consider myself a good rider; I've done the miles and the classes. Jim's an excellent technical rider. Now, I know a few guys that can out ride me; it's not a contest. Point being, we're able to push these big Chieftains to the edge through here. Corner after corner we're scraping boards. I had a first this trip. The entire 180 deg sweeping turn, I left the floorboard deep in the blacktop, accelerating and scraping the entire turn. What a rush! That shit doesn't happen with mama on the back; it'd be the last time she rode with me! So for the next twenty some miles, we're hauling ass. This .. is why we broke from the group earlier. We wanted to push the edge. Sadly, just when you are in the 'moment'... the 'moment'.. is over. We rolling out of the curves and up ahead is Silverton.
I've never been here. My third time up to Durango and I've never stopped in Silverton. So, we find a place the MN folks told us, and pull up for a beer; we earned it. Handlebars Restaurant it is. Looks like there must be a 1/2 dozen good places in this town, but we've got to see this place. Mustache Mike belongs here! Well.. few cold beers, I get my photo op with the Wolf (a must , for some of you that know all the drama from '17 up North) .. and we head out. We roll past the gas station there w/o a need for fuel and we're back in the mountains for one last run, en route to Purgatory. Unknown to us, the first group was at the Gas Station as we'd rolled into Silverton. I'd never looked over or
we'd have pulled in. I got my balls busted a lil later over that by Colleen.... Whoops! Well, we're flying through the last run, having a blast .. when we came up on a Fire Truck .. sort of a brush truck .. ahead of us. They are rolling pretty hard themselves, the smelly fumes coming off their brakes as evidence. We considered passing a few times, but they have a good pace going so we're not getting too impatient. Still, I'm waiting for my moment to get a triple digit run going to fly past their asses...... when .. they lock it up. In the road ahead are 3 deer; one in the other lane, two in front of the truck. Amazingly, all the deer survive, no scratches on the track and we were spaced back far enough where we had plenty of room to stop. After that.. we let them keep the lead ... and I found myself wondering.... what if they hadn't been there? What if we'd passed them a ways back? What if .. what if..... well.. what mattered is , not long afterwards we are at Purgatory Resort and Judge Bob has blessed all with Prime Rib! He came in with 5 large 'rolls' of it, the folks at the resort have prepped it.. and .. we are in Heaven! Everyone makes it back safely, and we are kicking it for the final night!
The fire is still growing .. you can see the smoke bellowing. The Resort employees are getting a notch concerned, hinting they will probably be shutting down the next day. Jim and I have made the decision to leave a day early, out Sunday morning. KennyG' whom rolled in with me last year on his RoadGlide, was vaca'ing in Hawaii that week, has offered me his home in Colorado Springs for a few days if we have to bail. This is all starting to seem a lil more real. Mama has asked me if I'm packed ready to go. Nope. Later on I'll tell her I'm gong to do it before I crash; but I never do the packing.
For now, we're all enjoying a night with our IIRA family. It feels like it calmed down a lil earlier Sat than the previous nights; I guess that's because everyone was ensuring they were 100% for the ride/drive home on Sunday. For me, it ended to quickly. This was going to be my 'kick it up ' night ... since we'd planned on leaving Monday. Still, had a great time. Just a 'calmer' time this evening. Well, didn't stop me and a few others from knocking back a fresh bottle of Irish Whiskey. When we finally emptied it... it was time. Time to see if the alarms would go off during the night. I crashed wondering if I should have packed.
Sunday morning. No Alarms. No panic. Another day in Paradise! But, it's time to go. Hwy 550 is opening up at 0800 hrs and I have no desire to head out the long way. I get a chance to say goodbye to Rick Dittel, but for the most part.. I said all my goodbyes the night before. I'm 100% focused on loading up and heading South... NOT .. North.. so .. we roll out waving to folks, when I'd normally have rolled up to chat. Few miles down the road... we're at the roadblock. Smoke is covering the East Side and Valley more than I'd ever seen before. For the first time you feel like it's close. And it was. As we are escorted through one final time, you can see where the fire was stopped the night before at the roadside. But amazingly., EVERY SINGLE structure.. home... business.. .is intact. Another day of saving property done well by the Fire Service. And just like that , we are through it
... headed through Durango.... and pop out the other side, eventually grabbing 64 and headed East.. the long way out. We did something similar last year, milking this portion of the trip for everything we could. We'd have duplicated last years, but 64 looks to be closed further out east, so we turn south towards Santa Rosa. We decide to lolly gag though the parks this time, kicking back, sipping a few cold ones with a killer view. Was a good day! Eventually Jim and I pull into our standard hotel there ( Best Western ) and head over to our standard place to eat ( moon ) ... Few margaritas, awesome food ... back to the room for some cold ones .. and .... zzzzzzzzzzz
We've got 600 miles ahead of us today. We've done this route a 1/2 dozen times and know it well. Lotta 4 lane, few 2 lanes, minimal risk (popo). Soon as we top off the tanks we throttle up to 84 and we hold that speed the majority of the trip. We're splashing gas, slamming waters, and back on the bikes. Less than 9 hours later, we pull up to home. Temps were sub 100 degrees, bikes ran perfect, no tickets, no issues. Home. Another Reunion in the record books. Next year we change the location of the Reunion. It's yet to be decided. I'm hoping for the Texas Hill Country. The 3 sisters is a challenging task if you ride it aggressively. It's an awesome road if you ride it gently. The whole area is beautiful. It's second only to NAPA Valley for wine tourism. Bandera is a Cowboy town. Yep... Hill Country has my vote. If it's somewhere else... well... I feel an awesome ride coming on.
 |
| Krome |
 |
| American Legion |
 |
| "Bates Motel" |
As the sun comes up over the desert, we get the bikes loaded up, top 'em with fuel and we're headed to Santa Fe to pick up #4. Michael Kurpeirz (Mustache Mike) has broke away from the MN guys, and he headed down to see his sis. An hour and half later, we connect up on the far side of Santa Fe, top off with fuel again and we're rolling! Hwy 84 is going to take us right into Pagosa Springs and we'll be close to our destination! The plan is to meet up with some of the MN tribe and they'll lead us back in style. But it ain't going to happen. Hwy 550 has possibly closed up and they're sending us info on what to to if it's closed. I'm thinking "WTF?" .. not realizing the fire now called 416 , is about to be on our minds for the entire weekend.. Still, we're hungry and thirsty and on the west end of Pagosa Springs we find a lil joint that fixes us right up! Few cold ones, some munchies we're re-motivated, legs over the bikes and headed west on Hwy 160 and we're headed 'home'!We are soon on Hwy 550 coming out of Durango when we get to see the problem first hand. We'd just passed the Iron Horse Inn that has pissed off more than a few of us, and we find ourselves at a stop near Hermosa waiting for a Police Escort the remaining 16 miles or so. As I see flames shooting out of the hilltops and aircraft dropping flame retardants and water on it... my dark side has me thinking .... " if anything has to burn .. I hope it's the Iron Horse Inn" . I know .. I know.. not nice. But .. hey .. I thought it!
Well, after a fifteen minute show, we're rolling. We've quickly passed the fire and headed up an incline towards our destination; Purgatory Resort. This was a last minute change for us and I didn't know exactly what to expect. I'd soon be surprised with an awesome 2 bedroom condo that rivaled anything at the Iron Horse Inn, and even the previous years at Branson on a dollar for dollar value basis. The place was downright beautiful. The bad news is, my wife was flying in for the event, and canx the day before due to the 416 Fire. This would turn out to be a good decision we made, but damned if it still didn't suck initially. I wanted her there to see the place. The Rides. The people. It felt 'off' for me most of the time; we've been together the previous two years up here. But, you move on and make the best of it. A lil twist this year for me was more friends are in from MN this year. We've got a few virgins to the reunion! I head over to the Dittel's and Neid's condo ( and Mustache Mike) for some cold ones and to enjoy the view. Their balcony is facing east and you can see the camp setup for fighting the fire. Well, Jim and I throw back a few colds ones, then back to our place to prep for dinner. Let the party begin/continue!
 |
| MN Condo |
I'm pumped up for the Million Dollar Ride Highway. It's just north of us and I'm itching to go .... w/o Lucy here, I find myself thinking of how many miles will we put on? We gonna' scrape some pegs? And .. maybe .. .I'll sip .. one or two... it could happen. No restraints! I'm a glass is half full guy. In all honesty, throughout this whole weekend I won't feel whole... something is off ... mama' ain't with me.. it feels wrong. But right at that moment, I'm finding a silver lining.. I want to ride the wheels off the bike. We're at the Riders briefing out in the front parking lot and the decision is being made to head the south route, to Telluride, then continue on to Ouray then Purgatory. Huh. Okay.. I'm easy .. I'm in. We don't have everyone down here yet, and I'm asked if I'll Road Captain the ride. Sure .. WTF .. at least I can set the pace. I won't be scratching boards, but I'll be doing the speed limit.. and .. maybe sneak in a few more there. About this time Gary Groustra rolls in ( he's late! .. had to add that .. lol ) and Harleynot's south route is being countered with a north route, which was my first choice. Well, at this point I flip. I make a quick decision to join up with the Northern boyz doing the Northern route. I get the WTF look and comment from H'Not .. rightfully so .. with a shake of the head.... but thankfully ... Tim Neid steps up to lead the group. Now in retrospect, I probably shouldn't have waffled..... but ... Gary was going to Telluride and reversing.. so.. in my mind.. I'm getting double of the ride I wanted... soooo. .. waffle man .. I was? Fifteen minutes later, we're loaded up and the groups are off!
The interesting part of riding with Gary is ... the man likes to make a few stops, enjoy the view and take some pics. His bride (Cheryl) has a DSLR and is our official photographer for the day, so there's a huge upside here. So we made a few quality stops, got some great pics and paced ourselves through the mountain roads. The other beni' of hanging with Gary is the sum bitch is a wealth of info! I don't know if he reads a book before we do these trips, but he's always giving a back brief on the stops. The man knows Ouray. He knows Telluride. One of the best parts about traveling with him. He always seems to know the back story. Another highlight of this day was I was finally riding with the Dittels and Neids again. I hadn't ridden with them since last August up in MN on a North Winds weekend. So with Jim and other close friends on the ride ... you know I'm smiling. If Tim had been on this one, it'd have been that much better. Hell, too bad we ALL weren't on the same ride .. but ... having 50-75 bikes rolling through the mountains, pulling in for gas, for refreshments .... that would be chaos? Still.. it's a glorious day! A stop in Ouray overlooking the city, then down for a couple of cold ones..... off to Telluride to check out the waterfall on the East side.. then some grub . .and .. umm... another cold one ... we've got to work our way back. Top off the tanks, and we reverse it. Only diff' this time is we push through Ouray and continue on ... by the time we roll in .. approx 200 miles of incredible riding , will be documented on the odometers. Hoody's is calling our names.
 |
| Herding cats.... |
I don't see the Margarita machine.. but ... the picnic table is loaded with a "few" bottles. The IIRA has dinner brought in for us this evening, so no concerns about filling our bellies. I've got a bottle of Jameson's tucked away for sippn 'on. We've got an 'awards banquet' of sorts tonight. Harleynot is in classic form, the perfect host / emcee. Eraserhead and Ms Harleynot are covering all the bases. But we've got a problem... a small group of folks got diverted when they were headed in from the lake. The Smith Brothers, Stump's whole family , Hasbin and his bride and others... are making it back via 145/550 in the evening. Not good. I know I'm not traveling with my leather jacket. Some of them aren't. This is deer country. So, few of us are concerned. We hold on as long as possible to get everyone back before we kick it of... and........ SUCCESS. All fears subside when they roll in to the party. Whew! Harleynot quickly switches gears and we have our family all together and the festivities continue! Everyone introduces themselves which went awesome/quickly, all the Chapter Presidents are introduced to, and myself and Jay Lowien are officially inducted into the Tribal Council. Icing on the cake was a lil' ceremony to get Junior patched in. All in all, a perfect evening with our IIRA family. This... is why we made the trek!
Good nights sleep. Refreshed. It's Saturday! My plan was to do a lot of riding today ... Check out Silverton . But, we've got signs plastered on our doors saying we are in pre-evacuation mode. If we get the signal, we've got 15 minutes to get our shit and head out. What? Well... I don't see this happening. Firefighters are doing an awesome job. But last night, you could see the smoke behind the ridge by us. You know it's 'real'.. but.. seems so far away. I make the decision to do a short ride with Hasbin; he's headed to Silverton to check out some knives. At the same time, we're all meeting this morning for a group pic. During this whole process, I realize the IIRA is hosting a lunch out at the lake. Well... crap .. I decide to waffle on Hasbin. We make the decision to head to the lake so I can ride with my MN buds, enjoy some lunch and cold ones. I'm thinking... I'll just roll past Purgatory on the way back and hit Silverton..... makes sense. So we head that direction moving a lil' on the slow side to keep everyone together. My itch to move faster is nagging me but I keep it in formation. We finally roll up to the Broken Shovel, I grab a spot and first one up at the bar, for a cold one. Everyone's trying to figure out where to sit, but I've got a fav' spot out front so bullheadedly, I ignore pleas for a diff' area and park my ass right out front, at the only table with shade. By the 2nd beer, BBQ is being served. Before I'm done .. I heard the news. Hwy 550 is closing down due to evacuation. God Damned it! I was looking forward to a nice afternoon here for a few hours before heading out. Well, a crew quickly heads out to beat the closing. Jim and I need to pick up some beers, we're not done with the one we've got.. so we decided to 'time it' . Sure thing. By the time we finally get out of a grocery store with a 12 pack each, looking down at the time we realize we f'd up. Still, we're thinking we can schmooze our way in. So we head up 550 to find an officer of the law, to convince them we are special and deserving of an escort. Sure thing. Well.. that didn't work out so well. It's 2:30PM and we've now got 230 miles to get back to the home base. All good. the way this is working out, we're now leaving on Sunday instead of Monday, and I haven't gotten a chance to ride Hwy 145 yet. So, i'm seeing an upside. Secondly, Jim and I roll fast together. Upside. So, we pop a "U" and we headed out to jump on 160 when we see a group of IIRA over at a gas station, waving us down. This is the group that left before us; they didn't make it through either. And there is a third group out there with H'Not that rolls up after a few minutes.. We've got a LOT of bikes to roll with now. Cool. Not the high speed run I was envisioning, but I'm liking it. Next the Mana's on a Side Car setup and a few other bikes roll out to get a head start. Makes sense to me. But Jim is prepped and ready to go; he's giving me the look. I'm watching Gary G' trying to corral up the folks to head out. H' Not is telling me they're going to stop for a few at a the Enterprise in Rico. I'm getting a visual of a long stop and wait for drinks ( which wasn't the case ). I can see some impatience on a few folks face's. Jim is giving me the look again. F' .... what to do .. what to do. In a spontaneous moment, in a desire of speed.... I start up the bike, nod to Jim .. and we're off. This moment would bug me intermittently the rest of the afternoon. I didn't tell Rick and Tim we were rolling. Didn't ask Mustache Mike. Didn't ask if anyone .. wanted to try and keep up. We wanted to roll fast and assumed, we'd be alone... should coulda woulda. Decision made. We're off.
We're topped off and have made a decision to top off in Telluride and roll through Ouray. We've done this many times before. When it's just the two of us, we ride tight. We ride fast. Jim pushes me through the corners; a lil competition of sorts between us. In the straightaways he can overtake me; I'm convinced it's because I weigh more. It's my story and I'm sticking to it! But in the corners, when I'm riding solo, it's game on. I don't ever recall riding behind Jim in this scenario; I assume I'd be pushing him as he is I, but ... don't know. In any case, it's game on and we're rolling quickly. The beauty of a couple of bikes vs a larger group is ... passing. Every time we came up on a car .. or two .. we'd roll right past them, backing off only after hitting triple digits. It's something we always do.. an excuse to tap 100mph often. I did get a surprise when passing 2 vehicles as the jeep that was 2nd in line, who'd forgone passing the last few miles, decided to pull out as I was on his quarter doing
We haven't seen any bikes go by so we know we're still ahead of the crew we left behind and I'd fully expected to catch up with the first crew by now.. but .. no sign of them. So.... we're off in search of fuel. Eventually, we pull through Ouray and continue straight on to the Million Dollar Highway. This is the highlight. Only twice will we get behind a cage that won't do the pace. Both occasions they either pulled over or we got a chance to pass. So for the majority of the run from Ouray to Silverton, we're pushing the bikes over hard, accelerating between corners.. pushing the edge. I consider myself a good rider; I've done the miles and the classes. Jim's an excellent technical rider. Now, I know a few guys that can out ride me; it's not a contest. Point being, we're able to push these big Chieftains to the edge through here. Corner after corner we're scraping boards. I had a first this trip. The entire 180 deg sweeping turn, I left the floorboard deep in the blacktop, accelerating and scraping the entire turn. What a rush! That shit doesn't happen with mama on the back; it'd be the last time she rode with me! So for the next twenty some miles, we're hauling ass. This .. is why we broke from the group earlier. We wanted to push the edge. Sadly, just when you are in the 'moment'... the 'moment'.. is over. We rolling out of the curves and up ahead is Silverton.
I've never been here. My third time up to Durango and I've never stopped in Silverton. So, we find a place the MN folks told us, and pull up for a beer; we earned it. Handlebars Restaurant it is. Looks like there must be a 1/2 dozen good places in this town, but we've got to see this place. Mustache Mike belongs here! Well.. few cold beers, I get my photo op with the Wolf (a must , for some of you that know all the drama from '17 up North) .. and we head out. We roll past the gas station there w/o a need for fuel and we're back in the mountains for one last run, en route to Purgatory. Unknown to us, the first group was at the Gas Station as we'd rolled into Silverton. I'd never looked over or
we'd have pulled in. I got my balls busted a lil later over that by Colleen.... Whoops! Well, we're flying through the last run, having a blast .. when we came up on a Fire Truck .. sort of a brush truck .. ahead of us. They are rolling pretty hard themselves, the smelly fumes coming off their brakes as evidence. We considered passing a few times, but they have a good pace going so we're not getting too impatient. Still, I'm waiting for my moment to get a triple digit run going to fly past their asses...... when .. they lock it up. In the road ahead are 3 deer; one in the other lane, two in front of the truck. Amazingly, all the deer survive, no scratches on the track and we were spaced back far enough where we had plenty of room to stop. After that.. we let them keep the lead ... and I found myself wondering.... what if they hadn't been there? What if we'd passed them a ways back? What if .. what if..... well.. what mattered is , not long afterwards we are at Purgatory Resort and Judge Bob has blessed all with Prime Rib! He came in with 5 large 'rolls' of it, the folks at the resort have prepped it.. and .. we are in Heaven! Everyone makes it back safely, and we are kicking it for the final night! The fire is still growing .. you can see the smoke bellowing. The Resort employees are getting a notch concerned, hinting they will probably be shutting down the next day. Jim and I have made the decision to leave a day early, out Sunday morning. KennyG' whom rolled in with me last year on his RoadGlide, was vaca'ing in Hawaii that week, has offered me his home in Colorado Springs for a few days if we have to bail. This is all starting to seem a lil more real. Mama has asked me if I'm packed ready to go. Nope. Later on I'll tell her I'm gong to do it before I crash; but I never do the packing.
Sunday morning. No Alarms. No panic. Another day in Paradise! But, it's time to go. Hwy 550 is opening up at 0800 hrs and I have no desire to head out the long way. I get a chance to say goodbye to Rick Dittel, but for the most part.. I said all my goodbyes the night before. I'm 100% focused on loading up and heading South... NOT .. North.. so .. we roll out waving to folks, when I'd normally have rolled up to chat. Few miles down the road... we're at the roadblock. Smoke is covering the East Side and Valley more than I'd ever seen before. For the first time you feel like it's close. And it was. As we are escorted through one final time, you can see where the fire was stopped the night before at the roadside. But amazingly., EVERY SINGLE structure.. home... business.. .is intact. Another day of saving property done well by the Fire Service. And just like that , we are through it 
We've got 600 miles ahead of us today. We've done this route a 1/2 dozen times and know it well. Lotta 4 lane, few 2 lanes, minimal risk (popo). Soon as we top off the tanks we throttle up to 84 and we hold that speed the majority of the trip. We're splashing gas, slamming waters, and back on the bikes. Less than 9 hours later, we pull up to home. Temps were sub 100 degrees, bikes ran perfect, no tickets, no issues. Home. Another Reunion in the record books. Next year we change the location of the Reunion. It's yet to be decided. I'm hoping for the Texas Hill Country. The 3 sisters is a challenging task if you ride it aggressively. It's an awesome road if you ride it gently. The whole area is beautiful. It's second only to NAPA Valley for wine tourism. Bandera is a Cowboy town. Yep... Hill Country has my vote. If it's somewhere else... well... I feel an awesome ride coming on.
Comments
We went to Purgatory and walked out alive!