Valkyrie adventure to Colorado 2006
To start: We left Minneapolis on July 5th heading to Rapid City, SD. From there after a visit with Lori's sister for a day, we headed down through Nebraska then on to Denver. Denver was engulfed with rain for the duration of our stay for 2 days. On Sunday, the 9th, we met up with 2 other Valkyrie riders (planned ahead of time) and headed to Pueblo, Colorado for the night's stay. This is where the journey really begins...
The Ride
We rode through some of the toughest rain we've encountered on the way to Pueblo. Tornado touchdowns, interstate washouts, the works. We finally made it to the motel just before they closed I-25..phew. The storm was lightening up a bit...here's out the motel room as we were drying out all we owned.
Monday morning we (3 bikes-5 people) left for Taos, NM and to our final destination of Pegosa Springs, CO. Here are some shots along the way to Taos.
Lori (wife) took these:
over the left shoulder:
Made it to Taos, NM (sorry no pics..was in a hurry) ate lunch, came out of the cafe and a big storm was just about on us...we got out of town pronto. Then we hung a left, went up the road a ways and bam....this cool place.
The Rio Grande Gorge
Here's the storm we ran away from:
After taking lots of pics and walking around, we headed out and rode for quite sometime. We went over several medium valleys and passes. I got ahead of the other 2 bikes and pulled in a wayside rest to wait for them.
A shot overlooking that area:
and another
We finally made it to Pegosa Springs, somewhat tired and ready to get to my buddy's brother's home up in the hills. He built a log cabin (more like a luxury resort) on the side of a mountain. The living room sits at 7550 feet above sea level. Here's a pic from his front porch:
As we chilled out that evening I took one more shot worthy of showing:
The next day is a new series of pictures as we stayed the day (Tuesday) and went into Wolf Creek Pass (Platoro area) on ATV's.....oh was that fun!
TO BE CONTINUED..........
The Ride
We rode through some of the toughest rain we've encountered on the way to Pueblo. Tornado touchdowns, interstate washouts, the works. We finally made it to the motel just before they closed I-25..phew. The storm was lightening up a bit...here's out the motel room as we were drying out all we owned.
Monday morning we (3 bikes-5 people) left for Taos, NM and to our final destination of Pegosa Springs, CO. Here are some shots along the way to Taos.
Lori (wife) took these:
over the left shoulder:
Made it to Taos, NM (sorry no pics..was in a hurry) ate lunch, came out of the cafe and a big storm was just about on us...we got out of town pronto. Then we hung a left, went up the road a ways and bam....this cool place.
The Rio Grande Gorge
Here's the storm we ran away from:
After taking lots of pics and walking around, we headed out and rode for quite sometime. We went over several medium valleys and passes. I got ahead of the other 2 bikes and pulled in a wayside rest to wait for them.
A shot overlooking that area:
and another
We finally made it to Pegosa Springs, somewhat tired and ready to get to my buddy's brother's home up in the hills. He built a log cabin (more like a luxury resort) on the side of a mountain. The living room sits at 7550 feet above sea level. Here's a pic from his front porch:
As we chilled out that evening I took one more shot worthy of showing:
The next day is a new series of pictures as we stayed the day (Tuesday) and went into Wolf Creek Pass (Platoro area) on ATV's.....oh was that fun!
TO BE CONTINUED..........
Swartzy:
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NAPP Member | Canon Shooter
Weddings/Portraits and anything else that catches my eye.
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Model Mayhem site http://www.modelmayhem.com/686552
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Loved living in Colorado, love even more to get back. Great pics, thanks for sharing.
5D2/1D MkII N/40D and a couple bits of glass.
I got up quite early that morning as I was jazzed and ready to go. Hey, it's not everyday one gets to go on atv's in a mountain pass. As I was out by the garage the moon was high above the mountain tops so I ran in to get the camera. By the time I returned, literally in about 2 minutes, the moon was almost behind the hill.
We had loaded the ATV's the night before. Here we are ready to unload after a 20 mile drive.
Some of the paths were quite narrow with deep ruts. Those machines are incredible.
Now the fun begins
It seemed at every turn there was a photo opportunitiy. The leader was ok stopping here and there and a few times had to come back to make sure I hadn't run off a cliff. I was simply taking pictures.
We got off the main trail and climbed to a summit that was 12,512 feet above sea level. Absolutely majestic view from there. Here's one of many..
We passed this cool place the ranger's take care of and you can rent it for $20.00 per night. Now mind you, this is seriously in the middle of nowhere. We were deep in about 20 miles at this point. Elwood Cabin.
Another place along the way that day. My attempt at a 3 frame Pana. I had no tripod.
We were getting low on gas at this point, and the leader was in a bit of a hurry. The leader was really my buddy's 16 year old son who stays in Pegosa Springs with his uncle for the summer. We passed this cool place on the way to a resort (which had no gas btw) and then passed it again on the way back. I was kickinng myself for not taking this shot, so I went back by myself, risking the chance of getting lost. I'm here, so all is well..
Once catching up to the other 3 atv's all was well but had to stop again because I couldn't pass this shot.
It was clouding up here and there as to be expected. We went 62 miles that day on ATV's. My shoulders were sore that evening. Here's a stream close to where we began the day's journey.
And here's me.
The next day we meet up with the posse from Louisianna, Texas, California, Arizona, and British Columbia of all places. We were on our way to Frisco, Colorado for the Annual Valkyrie Rider's World Summit. 633 registrants, 537 Valkyrie motorcycles in one town. More to come.........
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The next morning we met up with 9 others (bikes) in Pegosa Springs for breakfast. Then we followed our day's leader, who goes by the handle of Texas Ranger. We stopped at the Continental Divide (one of many) and took some pics.
Here's the Posse
Lori & I at the Continental Divide
We stopped at on old miner town. Crede, Colorado
Then traveling up the road a ways we stopped here for some scenery...
Then off to the headwaters of the Rio Grande
Shortly after this place.....we all stopped again...in the middle of nowhere and our leader directed the posse to see this...
We ended that day at our destination, Frisco, Colorado. What a beautiful place. We went over numerous mountain passes, some a bit scarry on a motorcycle (no guard rails..eeek) and had many views of spectacular scenery. Unfortunately, there was no way to stop the bike and take shots...drat! Here's Frisco....
We checked into our motel and I ran across the street to the Holiday Inn where the rally vendors set up.
The following days to be continued..................Thanks for viewing
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Weddings/Portraits and anything else that catches my eye.
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memories!
Thanks for sharing and hope you enjoyed the journey!