Day 16 – AZ to Mesa Verde, CO

The most direct route from Moab, AZ to Mesa Verde, CO is a little over 100 miles. Our route today with the same origination and destination points was 330 miles. Leave it to Rob to pick the most indirect but scenic (and remote) route.

The route that Rob designed was to travel north along the scenic UT hwy 128 up to I-70. On our way along Hwy 128, the XMWeather on the Wing notified us of some rain in the area. Sure enough as we exited the steep canyon walls of Hwy 128 we could see the storm in the distance.

With a little luck we managed to get to I-70 before the rain and stayed dry. Rain would threaten us throughout the day but our luck held and we saw only a few drops occasionally.

We entered Colorado while on I-70.

There happens to be a Harley Davidson shop in Grand Junction, CO, so while we were in the area, we thought we would stop in and check it out.

As we left Grand Junction, Michele caught Tom in this great picture next to the Keebler Elf.

Once out of Grand Junction we picked up scenic CO Hwy 141. Hwy 141 follows the Delores River for quite a way and offers a stunning ride through tall shear canyons.

From Grand Junction, CO (where we picked up Hwy 141) to Naturita, CO is about 110 miles and there are no towns with any services (food/fuel) to speak of. It was extremely remote but incredibly scenic. There were pretty farms at the base of the mountains. By the time we got to Naturita, which is a tiny town (no stoplights) we decided to take advantage of the local town’s fuel station and café, Blondie’s. We were thankful there was finally place to eat.

With the bikes topped off with fuel and after a nice lunch we set off on the remaining 150 miles of the day. Little did we know that the next 120 miles would present us with more gusty winds. Winds that nostalgically reminded Tom and Rob of their ride across Texas (about 35 mph gusts) and winds that made Michele say across the intercom “This sucks! We’re going to die!” She was not taking any pictures during this portion of the trip, deciding instead to hold on to the bike with both hands worried that she would be blown away.

As we entered Cortez, CO the winds subsided a bit and we stopped to top off our fuel tanks just before entering Mesa Verde NP.

We arrived in Mesa Verde NP before 4:00pm and began to make the steep and twisted climb up onto the high plateau.

We checked into our room and unloaded the bikes. We then headed down to the Visitor’s Center and signed up for two Ranger guided tours at Cliff Palace and Balcony House for the next day.

We had an early dinner at the Far View Lodge and then sat upstairs in the lounge for a bit trying to use the only WiFi service available in the park. Unfortunately, the available service was very limited and not sufficient to load pictures or videos.

Tomorrow we’ll take our guided tours and investigate a few other sites on our own. We’re really looking forward to it.