2018 Colorado Rally, July 12-16

[Bonz]

Howard,
At this time I’ll be arriving around noon on Friday. If that changes I’ll update. If the fires cause the route from Colorado Springs to Gunnison to be closed I’d appreciate a heads up. Bohn

Wow, Bohn is posting! Yeah!

Any way you slice it, your best bet is to take Highway 115 south out of Colo Spgs, to Highway 50 West and take 50 all the way through to Gunnison. No fires anywhere near that route at this point.

[3Phase]

I remember doing Pike's Peak with the engine running on three cylinders and fogging for skeeters the whole way. It still pulled the hill, no problem.

[Bonz]

My memorable moment of the mosquito fogging was on Highway 69 going south into Westcliffe. You were toward the back and did a flyby on the line of bikes, when you pulled in and rolled out it was fog city!

I think Bohn had to clean my windscreen at the next stop.

[Bonz]

Skids, watching the news right now, 75% containment is great to hear. How does that relate to you and your house? We should in for some good rain later today around here, so cheers to precipitation!

Hope it’s contained very soon, and gives a chance for you to get back in the Rally fold.

[Jerry]

I will be arriving on Thursday.

Web site pages have been updated to show Gunnison information. Links to the page(s) have not changed so if you have a link bookmarked you will not have to change it. Links in Bonz and my signature lines remain the same so even though they say Buena Vista you will taken to the Gunnison information.

Skids:
Yes, we have 7 acres in Park County covered with a mix of pine and aspen. It is my summer getaway spot. Looks out across South Park. Elevation starts at 9,500 feet and gets up to just over 10,000 feet. Best views we could afford when we were looking for a piece of land back in 2012. Fall colors are pretty good up there!

If anyone else is interested you can take a look at my galleries page (link in signature) and look at The Lot gallery.

[3Phase]

My memorable moment of the mosquito fogging was on Highway 69 going south into Westcliffe. You were toward the back and did a flyby on the line of bikes, when you pulled in and rolled out it was fog city!

I think Bohn had to clean my windscreen at the next stop.

I can laugh now, it wasn't funny at the time riding an XS850 Triple but dragging a useless 4th cylinder along for the ride.

That was the year Columbo was gulping a quart of oil every 50 miles before finally shooting a spark plug in Beaver. I spent $600 to bring home a $50 parts bike, then discovered that my littlest baby brother had accidentally dropped dirt in the engine during the in-frame rebuild.

The inside of the right-hand muffler was oily but it was also nice and clean after pumping several gallons of very hot, very fresh, detergent oil through it at high velocity for well over 1,000 miles. Them detergent oils do work and will remove combustion byproducts.

[Bonz]

Yeah, they remove combustion by-products when they are being combusted and spit out the exhaust!

[Bonz]

On another oil note... did a valve adjustment on my 2010 Acura TL-SH AWD a month ago. Acura uses a maintenance minder and typically oil change intervals run around 7000-8000 miles based on that. The inside of the valve covers were varnished up. The valvetrain and everything at that level and lower had a bronze color to it but not varnish accumulation that could be scraped off.

I don’t know what oil had been used in the car or if the previous owner ignored the maintenance minder, but I change the oil on my ZRX every 3000-4000 miles and after wiping the oil film off the valve cover I could eat off of it. And the 60,000 mile valvetrain components could be confused for new parts, I.E. spotless.

I know today’s motor oil’s have plenty of detergents and will supposedly clean varnish after the fact, just wondering what you guys have for experience?

[Bonz]

Hey you fishermen coming to the rally...

Here’s the skinny if you want to pack a pole.

KOA has a stocked pond with rainbow trout, 10 inches or so. A couple fish probably makes a decent main meal for a guy. For KOA it is catch only, no release, $5 per fish, no state fishing license required.

Just adjacent to the KOA a short walk away is river fishing with public access and a city stocked pond as well. You need a state license to fish these, $9 for a single day license, $21 for a five-day license.

[Bonz]

Had a nice call from Brant, thanks for the info on Hwy 149. What I was trying to tell you until my dogs started barking and causing commotion with the dogs in the neighbors yard was... I have friends (School District superintendent for Creede and surrounding area schools) who live in Creede along that highway, she and her husband are avid motorcyclists and they confirmed the road is in very good shape. Bummer wasn’t in such good shape when you did it 10 years ago!

Another ride option with Gunnison being command central... Ride hwy 149 south through Lake City, on to Creede (million $$ homes on one side of the road, other folks homes on the other side of the road, per se) and South Fork to Saguache and then Highway 114 back to Gunnison. About a 250 mile day with fantastic scenery, and some faster cruising in the San Luis Valley on up to Saguache and for a bit on Hwy 114 before getting to the twisties again.

As I think of these things, I like to share them so you guys can look at a map and visualize this stuff. Nothing set in stone, just awesome options.

[motoman]

Had a nice call from Brant, thanks for the info on Hwy 149. What I was trying to tell you until my dogs started barking and causing commotion with the dogs in the neighbors yard was... I have friends (School District superintendent for Creede and surrounding area schools) who live in Creede along that highway, she and her husband are avid motorcyclists and they confirmed the road is in very good shape. Bummer wasn’t in such good shape when you did it 10 years ago!

Another ride option with Gunnison being command central... Ride hwy 149 south through Lake City, on to Creede (million $$ homes on one side of the road, other folks homes on the other side of the road, per se) and South Fork to Saguache and then Highway 114 back to Gunnison. About a 250 mile day with fantastic scenery, and some faster cruising in the San Luis Valley on up to Saguache and for a bit on Hwy 114 before getting to the twisties again.

As I think of these things, I like to share them so you guys can look at a map and visualize this stuff. Nothing set in stone, just awesome options.

Good ride!......that was direction(114) John(JWHughs3), Greg(BA80), Tod and Bob(XJOK2Play) came through when they all stayed at my place overnite when on their way through Utah and a couple headed homeward direction(John,Bob).

[motoman]

Roo gave me a call today, and lookin' like the 4 Caly riders may be rollin' into my place Thursday evening the 12th.

[Bonz]

Suh-weet! Can’t wait to see Roo and his VTX 1800. We’re going to have the coolest assortment of bikes running the mountains here in another week.

ZRX1200, VTX1800, 2 Harley’s, BMW 1200GS, 2 FJR 1300’s, XJ1100 with 160,000 miles totally stock and untouched, C10 Councours, 3 XS1100’s (Skids, hope you can make it!), GL1800.

[JeffH]

it's Show Time

it's Show Time

LET'S RIDE .........

Left Atlanta early to hopefully avoid nasty weather. Soupy tropical conditions where a backfire would trigger lightning & hail.

Ride plan was to take US278 from Atlanta into Mississippi. So i'm following the plan. 82 miles to get on 2-laner. Sweet. So far so good with the weather but it keeps changing.

So I'm on my way. 105 miles down with 1,668 miles to go. Had been dreading a long hot humid sticky nasty ride -but- its looking like I can get to Colorado with temps less than 90. Even in the Texas panhandle.

Jeff

[Bigfoot]

Left Kansas City Wednesday morning with my nephew on his 79 special. Kept it around 500 miles a day since this is a fairly new rider and was his first trip of any distance. He got to experience heavy headwind across the plains. Rain. 48 degrees to 98 degrees in one day. Overall was a great trip and the old xs ran like a charm. He is loving his new bike. . Made it here to Emmett Idaho yesterday afternoon, just under 1500 miles.