June 3, 2023 – Day 1 – Home, Denver, Co to Pagosa Springs, CO

June 3, 2023 – Saturday – Start Mileage 0 – 270 miles

Home, Denver, CO to East Fork Rd Campground, Pagosa Springs CO

The previous weeks or months even had been hectic to say the least. When it comes to preparing and getting started, I am not a great traveler. I stress unnecessarily even though I consider myself laid back and a carefree go with the flow type of guy, but I am disorganized. I like to prepare for the worst or try to anyway, I was a boy scout for a year or two, but did not make it very far. Z was done with me and just wanted me gone and out of her hair.

I did feel we had prepared enough but there was still quite a bit to load on the bike. I had dropped the bike off to the shop on April 7^th and they did not start working on it right away and did not finish with it until Wednesday, May 31^st. That gave me only two days to ride it around to feel out the new steering modification and the new suspension. From the first moment I hopped on it to leave the shop I could feel how much better it felt and steered. They had done an amazing job and I was happy =, even though I had hoped for more time than two days to work with it.

I bolted on the new top bow I bought for I think $39 and it actually snugged on easily and I was happy with my work. It looked as cheap as its cost, but I was just looking for just a little more storage space. I replaced the missing snap buttons for the convertible top and strapped on a spare front tire. I did not really want to carry an extra tire, but from what I have seen in the past, this rig overloaded peels  the tires off like you scrub a bit of bacon grease off a frying pan. Its stuck on but comes off easily.

                I loaded up the rest of our clothes and supplies and threw on my riding gear. I was just about to walk out of the house to start the goodbye process when Z said she wanted to talk to me in the bedroom alone. I thought for sure she was gonna dig into me about how I would need to be extra careful and protect Al, her first born. [Edited or else I may not be aloud to return from the trip] It was a good experience, I was not scolded.

                Back out front I turned on the GoPro and started my first video to try to document the trip. I switched on my Garmin InReach Mini SOS beacon and went into describing the family, who were are and what we planned to do on the rip and more specifically what we had planned for the first day. The plan for the videos is to document the trip twice a day or so. In the morning say what the plans for the day are and then in the evening to make another short video explaining what actually happened through out the day and if things went as planned or not.

                I gave Henry some big hugs and with another few kisses from Z, Al and I jump in and on the bike and we were off. The excitement did not hit right away, at least not for me. We had our helmet communicators on of course so that we could talk and not even two miles in, only one turn in on Evans Ave and Al says the next trip should be the Cannonball Run race. What? He was sort of presistant saying that we could hire cop spotters to ride ahead of us. I tried to explain that we were not running a race here on this trip and we were going to do our best to not ride fast. I told him maybe one day we do an Iron Butt challenge, which is 1,000 miles in less than 24 hours, but no way we were riding this hack of a rig in a Cannonball Run.

It did hit me hard about twenty miles in, I think we were about to Conifer. Five years of planning and indecision to even go and it was here, it was truly happening. I had been telling everyone for years that I was going to do this, but most of the time I would say it, I wasn’t sure if it would really ever happen. It was a little emotional. That’s another reason why I like full face helmets, no one can tell if you cry. I’d like to think of myself as a tough guy, but I’m no 1%er. That lifestyle definitely intrigues me, but it is not something I could ever pull off. Even the adventure motorcycle community is not exactly my crowd. Z rode out to Mariposa California with me a few years ago to check out a Horizon’s Unlimited traveler’s meeting and it was definitely not her cup of tea. She said, look around, what do you see? Single  men with no kids, they are not married with a wife. I was able to easily have two girls that were there riding together to hang out with her and they hit off perfectly. Even though the friendship was instantaneous and fun, it did not help much. She made it as far back home as Vegas and took a flight home. I took another two days to ride by myself through the deserts of Nevada and Utah back to Denver.

Anyway, here we were, the Z Boys, actually doing it and on our way. The rain hit us pretty early, but it was not bad at all almost refreshing, almost. It was not too cold, we pulled out of Denver around 10 am. It was not hot enough for the rain to feel good, but it was not heavy rain either. It was pretty uneventful and I did not stop much until South Fork, Colorado, where we pulled into the Rainbow Grocery store. We bought a NY strip steak, an onion, zucchini, tomato, some potatoes and I grabbed a six pack of Modelo and a lime for myself. We found a round tuit with a realtor’s business card, so I threw that into the map pocket of the tank bag. It seemed fitting that there will be things that we will get around to doing on the trip.

We made it to camp fairly early and met the camp host Dennis. He told us where to find our site, the water pump and some additional firewood to go with the one bundle we strapped to the trunk of the sidecar at the market. Our site was easy to find and the campground was lush with trees. You could hear the river close by. The tent popped in place quickly and we unloaded the bike. The fire was started quick and easy and we started the potatoes first and let them boil for twenty minutes while we coated the zucchini, onion and steak with a small amount of olive oil and cajon seasoning before we added them all to the grill. Z is a vegetarian, but can cook a steak perfectly, so I usually let her handle it at home. Somehow I was patient and did not flip it too soon. I monitored it all pretty well, flipping it only a couple of time, but flipping the veggies more often. Not long and we said lets try it, it smells good! Dude! It was amazing! The steak was perfect in my opinion, charred on the outside and super juicy inside. The cajon seasoning was not perfect, but it gave it just enough flavor. I cannot believe I forgot Mike’s famous smoked magic garlic salt. We will be stopping at his place in Charlotte at some point, so please have that ready for me brother.

After Al had his fill of steak and me wanting more… Al ate more than half of it, leaving me with my beer to fill up on. We sat by the fire for a good few hours and looked at the stars. We attempted to hang any food supplies in a tree with our bear bag and para cord, but it did not go so well. It ended up about six feet off the ground in a smaller tree. Like everything on this trip we plan to get better at it. We talked and decided the first day was pretty darn perfect and crawled into the tent to get some sleep.