The plan was to depart Ridgway, CO at 8:00 am. At that time, however, it was raining and cold. We waited until the rain stopped and when we took off at 8:40 am it was sunny and 52 degrees but the streets were still wet.
We rode 10 miles south to Ouray, CO intending to stop and let the ladies shop around. It was too early and none of the shops were open so we pushed on south on Hwy 550 (the Million Dollar Highway). The scenery was fantastic with snow capped peaks and golden aspens.
As we crossed a pass and rode closer to Silverton, CO it became cloudy and started to rain lightly. The temperature dropped to 39. Mel, our tour guide, wisely decided to find a café in Silverton to drink some coffee and wait out the rain. We landed in the Brown Bear Café. Chris laughed at the rain, grabbed an umbrella, and did some shopping on main street.
When the rain stopped we continued south on Hwy 550 to Durango. The sun came out again and it reached 68 degrees while we were there refueling. From Durango we rode west on Hwy 160 to Mesa Verde National Park.
At Mesa Verde we had a picnic lunch near the Far View Visitor Center and then set off to see the ancient cliff dwellings. Many of the trees in the park were dead from the fire there six or so years ago. The weather was hard to keep up with. It ranged from the low 50’s to 74 with off-and-on light rain. We got worn out changing coats. As we were leaving the park there was sleet accumulated along the side of the road and in a couple places there was a small amount of slush on the road.
From Mesa Verde we rode west on Hwy 160 to Cortez, CO where we called it a day at the Aneth Lodge. It rained on us most of the way to Cortez and shortly after our arrival the rain caught up with us again. We had dinner at nearby Jack and Janelle’s Restaurant. It was good for all of us but Mel. He had a hard time finding the chicken in his chicken fried chicken.
After dinner we all met in our motel room to discuss the plans for the next day. Mel and Trisha were headed home earlier than planned due to the sale of their home. They had work to do to prevent homelessness. Gary, Judy, Chris, and I discussed our plans for the final three days of our trip. Tomorrow morning we plan to have breakfast in Telluride, CO.
For more photos from today click on the following link: http://picasaweb.google.com/goldwinger.shawnee/Colorado2009Day5?feat=directlink
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