Hosting a Motorcycle Wanderer, June 4-7

Karla and I had the pleasure of hosting a real motorcycle wanderer earlier this month. Her name is Fey and she's been living off her DR650 since early 2012, seeing much of the country and blogging about it on ADVrider. Warning! Don't start reading that massive thread unless you have an open mind and pleeeenty of time to kill... Fey was heading west from Iowa to a rally in Oregon and had time to loop down for a visit. She stayed a few days, got rest, worked on writing her experiences. She taught me how one adjusts the valves on a DR650 (thanks!!), shared loads of stories and even followed me around on a nice afternoon ride. Thanks for the visit Fey!

Here are the pics from our afternoon ride. We don't have to go far from my house for some great roads and spectacular scenery! Here's a general map of where we went: Clear Creek, Squaw Pass, Guanella Pass, Bear Creek...

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They're working on repaving Squaw Pass (atleast I hope so, the roads been really rough for years), so we had a great little unexpected detour!!

Nice little elk herd, no fear of us at all.

Views on Squaw Pass are spectacular, especially on a clear day like this!!

It almost makes my bike look good!

Quick leg on I-70 and off again in Georgetown, a great little historic mining town founded by two prospectors from Kentucky in 1859.

Up Guanella Pass, looking down on Georgetown.

I enjoy playing tour guide, building rides taking into account the priorities and desires of the guest rider. Fey expressed an interest in a lower mileage ride featuring great views, vistas, and uncrowded small roads with plenty of time for photos.

As soon as you loose sight of Georgetown this big waterfall pops into view alongside the road. Especially dramatic in late spring/early summer with all the snowmelt.

How about some more of these Fey? *grin

More wildlife, unafraid of our bikes.

Plenty of bicyclists on this road, we got a good laugh when a guy zoomed by downhill bleating at the mountain goats!! I was lucky to have the video camera rolling.

Love this road. Beautiful pavement, little traffic, excellent views.

Almost to the top! Looking back the way we came:

Top of Guanella Pass

Heading back down the other side

Lunch stop

Streams so full from snowmelt the water was making additional paths

Little detour off the main dirt road to check out this view

Fey's a vegetarian, but had to show her this landmark outside of Bailey anyway!

Enjoyed the twisties down 285 and Bear Creek, no more pictures though. Great ride! That evening Karla and Fey got to work cutting down the old stock shield from my bike to fashion something for Fey's DR650. She didn't have a shield and was getting pretty beat up. A few bucks in hardware and some labor and:

It ain't pretty, and it might be too big, but atleast it's something!! Cheap enough Fey can cut it down or toss it entirely down the road if it doesn't work out.

Thanks again for the visit Fey! Hope to see you down the road.


Full slideshow, 27 pics.