Dia de los Motos (Day 3) - 170 miles

An early roll out from Gunnison and a couple stops on the way to Pagosa Springs; Lake City and Creed. Lots of sights along the way.

Here's the approach to Lake City.

Creed, CO

Some local color at Pagosa Springs ...

Roasting peppers.

Dia de los Motos (Day 2) - 205 miles

A triple-threat kinda day: ride up Pikes Peake to the top, visit Royal Gorge, and cross the Monarch Pass; all on the way to our destination — Gunnison. Got an early start up Pikes Peak (8:30a). Ground level temps were around 72F, and once at the top (14,115 feet), temps dropped to 38F, with snow on the ground and forecast for flurries at 10am.

It was a trip of varying weather; sunny, cloudy, then through the clouds with near zero visibility.

We were rewarded at the top with the “World’s Famous Donut” (served warm) and I must admit, it WAS the best I’ve ever had. If you care to argue, you’ll just have to make the trek to the top of Pikes Peak to prove me a liar. Well worth the harrowing drive up the mountain.

The descent was much easier and then it was onwards to Royal Gorge.The pictures pretty much say it all. Royal Gorge is spanned by a suspension bridge, which visitors can cross, to get a birds-eye view of the enormity of this breath-taking formation.

There’s also a gondola to cary one across as well.

Steve doesn't do heights.

From Royal Gorge it was a jam along Highway 50 to the top of Monarch Pass and into Gunnison for the night.

Dia de los Motos (Day 1) - 110 miles

SFO to DEN
Early flight out of SFO, taxi to bike storage on Geneva Ave in Denver. Smooth, clear skies.

A short taxi ride to pick up the bike at STI shipping. (Thank you motorcycleshippers.com) A few moments of silent meditation, a prayer, and it’s off to Manitou Springs; Garden of the Gods, Manitou Cliff Dwellings, Cave of the Winds, Pikes Peak.

Cave of the Winds
Over a thousand years ago tell, the Jicarilla Apaches told of a cave near Manitou Springs where the Great Spirit of the Wind resided.

In 1869, a Colorado settler named Arthur B. Love noticed a thin cleft in the western wall of Williams Canyon. Upon further inspection, he discovered a dramatic limestone archway and cave entrance to what is now known as Cave of the Winds Mountain Park.

Exploration of Cave of the Winds was further opened up by an Ohio stonecutter named George Washington Snyder, who came to Colorado seeking his fame and fortune. Late in 1880, Snyder excavated several passages of the stunning Williams Canyon caves.

He continued to excavate and began to offer guided tours in 1881. Electricity was brought into parts of the caves on July 4, 1907, making it even easier to tour certain caves. Operations have continued at Cave of the Winds since February of 1881, making it one of Colorado’s oldest and most famous attractions.










Below is some footage as we left the park.

Dia de los Motos: Colorado (The Rig)

The rig for this adventure is a 2016 BMW S1000XR. With 160hp, it’s classified as a “Sport Tourer” (emphasis on sport). It’s sort of a hybrid of the full-on adventure models (GS) and the road touring models (RT), with the added excitement of sport bike design. The more upright posture (as opposed to the lean over of traditional sport bikes) allows for longer days in the saddle.

It’s got electronic wizardry too lengthy to explain here, but four basic modes, selected with the tap of a button, allow the bike to adjust for changing road conditions: rain, road, dynamic (kicks it into a more aggressive mode - think jack rabbit), and dynamic pro; used strictly for track racing (or hooliganism).

For this trip, it’s been rigged with SW Motech TraX EVO Alu-Boxes and a Givi Dolomiti top box. As you can see, the beauty of these boxes is they pop right off, putting the bike back into commuter / every day ride condition. For additional visibility (to other drivers) at night, Clearwater “Darla” lights have been mounted on the front forks. Most of the gear is available through Twisted Throttle or Revzilla - both fantastic companies to deal with.

I would be remiss if I didn't recognize a dear friend, and damn good bike builder, Bill Berndt. He helped me install the Cobra exhaust on this beast. Without his help, patience, and expertise I'd (still) be curled up on the garage floor in a fetal position. 

Dia de los Motos: Colorado (7 Days / 1,200 Miles)

With the new T-Shirt design, this year's ride becomes official.

Day 1: The route will begin in Denver, head south to Pikes Peak
Day 2: Southwest to Gunnison and Black Canyon NP
Day 3: South from Gunnison to Pagosa Springs
Day 4: West to Mesa Verde NP and the ancient Cliff Dwellings
Day 5: Northwards along the Million Dollar Highway to Ouray
Day 6: From Ouray, northeast to Glenwood Springs
Day 7: Final push east from Glenwood Springs, back to Denver

PACNW Tour - 9 Days / 2500 miles

Greetings - this blog is going up after the fact; turns out that life on the road, especially on a motorcycle, is so jam-packed, that the thought of blogging at the end of a long day of riding was simply too much to take on. So, apologies all around to those who checked here earlier expecting to be rewarded with imagery, and regaled with tales of travel. Here's a debrief instead.....

Day 1 - We rode from the Napa Valley to Crescent City: 371 miles. After breakfast at the famous Bluebird Cafe in Hopland, we continued north on Highway 101.Some of the sights were Underwood Park and the Drive-Thru tree, and Paul Bunyan and Babe, the Blue Ox (kitsch).

From there it was on to Crescent City and The Curly Redwood Lodge....known for the beautiful curly redwood the structure is built from - one huge tree.

Day 2 - Rode from Crescent City to Crater Lake (220 miles), had lunch at Taprock in Grants Pass, on the banks of the Rogue River, and spent the night in Prospect at the charming Historic Prospect Hotel. 

It had snowed at Crater lake two days before and it was cold!

Day 3 - It was early ups for a long day's ride (255 miles), out to Newport, Oregon, on the coast. 

After fueling up with non-ethanol gas (a biker's dream) we stopped to see where the Rogue River submerges into a lava tube, and exits that same tube several yards later. 

Here is a view of the river exiting the lava tube

Breakfast was at Beckie's Diner, out in the middle of nowhere. Famous for pie, so worth stopping.

We arrived in Newport around 5pm, in time to catch the sun going down over the Pacific.

Day 4 - We awoke to clear, crisp skies. The day's journey would take us all the way up the Oregon coast, into Tillamook Creamery for a quick lunch, before head on to Washington. We rode up to Olympic National Park (260 miles), where we spent the night in the historic Lake Quinault Lodge.

Big Foot

Lake Quinault Lodge

Sunset over Lake Quinault, Olympic NP

Day 5 - A mellow day of only about 175 miles. We toured more of the Pacific Coast, stopping at Kalaloch Lodge for lunch. It was then up to the Hoh Rain Foerest for a brief hike into the hot, humid, forest, surrounded by moss covered trees. It was an unusually warm day (~80 degrees) so it felt strange being in such tropical surroundings, so far north. After the Hoh Rain Forest, it was on to Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort for the evening, where we joined others soaking in outdoor pools, fed by the local hot springs.

Kalaloch, Olympic National Park

Hoh Rain Forest, Olympic National Park

Katmandu, spotted on the trail

Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort

Day 6 - With a long day ahead (340 miles), we got an early start, which treated us to amazing views of Lake Crescent on our way out of the immense Olympic National Park. We ended up in Hood River.

The famous cinnamon roll, at Bette's Place

Day 7 - A quick run (150 miles) from Hood River to Bend. We spent the night at Riverhouse on the Deschutes, killing the extra time eating pie and doing laundry. It was primarily a rest day.

Day 8 - Nearing the end our our journey. We've got 300 miles to ride to get to Mount Shasta for the eve. Gassing up for the trek, I discovered a low back tire. Inflated it to full pressure, and after two hours down the road, discovered I had a slow leak (2lbs per hour). 

We stopped at the Waffle Hut in Klamath Falls for an awesome meal. Waffles are off the hook!!

We monitored it all the way to Shasta. 

Mount Shasta

Mt. McCloud

After checking in to our room, I did a full inspection....finding what I thought was a nail in the rear tire. (Turned out to be a long screw).

The Extracted Offender

(not the quarter)

Day 9 - We decided to abort. The better part of wisdom was to not push our luck. Original plans were to head out through Lassen and down the Feather River Canyon. My cousin Scott, who lives in Redbluff, was a short 90 mile jaunt away. He offered his truck and trailer to get us back to Napa. All-in-all, a good run. We'll return another day to check out Lassen and Feather River. Adios con Dios!

The Brothers Hickson

Thank You, Scott!!