CO NM UT; Day 6; September 25th, 2014

It was 61 degrees under blue clear skies when we departed Moab at 8:30.  God blessed us with another beautiful day.  At my age any day is a blessing, but one this pretty is an extra special blessing.

Just north of Moab we took Hwy 128 north and east to Cisco (a ghost town) and I-70, which we rode east to Fruita, CO.  When we stopped at a Colorado visitor’s center (to score some maps) there was a Western Slope Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial across the parking lot.  As I checked that out I thought about my favorite Vietnam veteran, Rapid Ronnie.Fruita, CO

While hanging out in the parking lot, two spandex-wearing fat guys on bicycles stopped to shoot the bull.  They highly recommended that we ride the Colorado National Monument that could be accessed just south of Fruita and terminated at Grand Junction.  We tried it and we liked it.Colorado National MonumentThe highest elevation on this ride was 6,640 feet.  We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the eastern end before heading into Grand Junction.

We exited I-70 southbound on Hwy 65, which became the Grand Mesa Scenic Byway and, boy, it was scenic.  The changing aspen were gorgeous.  Mel picked a great route here.Hwy 65; Grand Mesa Scenic Byway

From Grand Mesa we continued on 65 south to lower elevations and turned east on Hwy 92.  In this area we hit our high temp of the day – 91. Also in this area, we had to stop a couple times for road construction.  We also saw orchards and vineyards and the vineyards made Chris think of her friend, Wilma, from church.

Highways 133 north and 82 east carried us the rest of the way today.  After 299 miles of saddle time we arrived in Basalt, CO and the Aspenalt Lodge, our home for the night.  We enjoyed some LARRAPIN good pizza at Timbo’s, which made us think of Tim (of Deb and Tim).

Tomorrow we ride through Aspen and over Independence Pass so we are hoping for some more spirit-lifting aspen gold.

For more pictures from today click on the following link: https://plus.google.com/photos/104542123131082631220/albums/6063216851908126625?authkey=CKrZ1oHvydmzVA

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