Day 04

 Great riding day. We headed out of Dodge City with the dark skies in our rear view mirror and clear skies ahead of us. The temps were cool at 60* but I like riding in the mornings with cool temps. One of my all time favorite rides was with my brother in law, Rod and his good friend Big Jim. We left Page, AZ early in the morning headed to Colorado Springs. The scenery was spectacular the morning was so calm and the sunrise stunning. Riding in the morning is my favorite time to ride. We were on RT 10 for a long time. This route is almost laser straight which is major boring, but posted at 65 it helps you cover some miles. This part of Kansas into Colorado is a little hilly, pretty much devoid of trees and fields or pastures for ever. When there were houses, it seems every one of them had some fenced in acreage with either goats, cows, or horses.

While en route we detoured ourselves, no help from the GPS to the great Sand Dunes National Park. Upon driving there the dunes don't look too impressive except for the fact they are there in the first place. But once you get somewhat close you see these little people on these huge piles of sand. The highest dune they say is 750 ft high. They looked higher than that. I looked for a spot to take some photos but there was just too many people all over the dunes. I thought of trying to get some shots on the road to the park. I didn't stop because we talked of returning closer to sunset. The problem with that plan is the park was 36 miles one way, and after sundown it would be a rough ride back. As it turned out the sunset was non existent  with a heavy cover of clouds. Tomorrow we head to Kayenta, AZ. We will stop at the four corners monument. The route there is RT160 and it is suppose to wind through the mountains. 

A small world story is there is a group of Gold Wing Riders here at the hotel who are with the Southern Cruisers Motorcycle Club. Rene' and I rode with some riders from that club in Johnson City, TN. These guys were with that club and are from Johnson City, TN. They are originally from Binghamton, NY.