Forth and Back TOR '21

[Droptarotter]

Hey RB;
I guess you went through Mitchell too fast as you must have missed the Porsche Spider under a tarp on one of the side streets!
Great report as usual.

Cheers

[RBMann]

Day 11-Blue Water to Heron Lake SP, 242 miles



Up and off in the morning at 60ºF. with lots of sunshine. We caught our first Divide of the day at Campbell Pass on I-80. Next was a few minor Divides and Borrego Pass on the Navajo Nation Reservation-











I named this pass for my daughter but I know I will be the only one to remember-





Time for an afternoon snack break in the middle of nowhere-

[RBMann]

Day 11 continued-

El Vado Reservoir where we start looking for a place to camp-



We decided to stay at Heron Lake near Los Ojos but things are not that easy. There was a campground host with plenty of empty sites but he could not give us a site. It all has to be done online through their horrible website. Guess what? No cell service or internet connection within 10 miles of camp. We finally managed to get a weak cell signal that let Ralf call his son in San Diego who went online and booked us a site. We already had food and drinks and the campsite turned out to a wonderful spot-

[RBMann]

Day 12-Heron Lake to Buffalo Pass CG, 205 miles



Another sunny morning and Ralf with his Cherrios at 65ºF.-



Since I ride with the daily trip meter displayed I have missed most mileage events. I did catch this one in the morning-



Wolf Creek Pass/Divide looking west. The road pops up quickly form the valley floor to give some amazing views-







Stopped for lunch in Del Norte. Had to wait quite a while but the result was good. Turkey, bacon and avacado-

[RBMann]

Day 12 continued-

After lunch we took a detour to see the Ventura Arch. Ralf was *****ing about the road but it did not seem that bad to me. Usually he wants to do more dirt than I do then I remembered his rear shock had blown its seal and that explained his attitude shift-





A few miles south of Saguache my rear tire didn't feel right but Ralf said it looked okay. I noticed the pressure dropping on my tire monitor and the knobby was singing like a manual gearbox without lube. We pulled over to find another nail, karma? A quick plug and ready to go-



In Saguache was a cool used Jeep lot with a very good select of old models-



The campsite at Buffalo Pass was very nice and the table was big enough for both of us to use at the same time-

[RBMann]

Day 13-Buffalo Pass to Stagecoach SP, 312 miles



In the morning my plugged tire had lost a little air so I decided to go into Gunnison and have a proper patch done at a shop. We could not find a shop that interested in doing this fix, they only wanted to sell a new tire. We were going to do it ourselves in front of a shop in case I did need a new tire. As we started getting out tools I checked and the pressure had not changed since camp so we continued on without doing anything. I ran that tire until the thread was gone and never had a problem-





Cottonwood Pass was an out and back affair to bag the Divide. Nice road, I had not been on it since they paved it-





North of Leadville was Red Cliff Bridge where we took a break-



Stagecoach SP was another online only site but at least they had a free wi-fi connection-





Something that worked better than expected was this fork, spoon and chopstick set my wife had found for Ralf and I-

[RBMann]

Day 14-Stagecoach to Saratoga, 188 miles



63ºF. at dawn then pack up and head to Steamboat for gas. Rabbit Ears Pass for the first Divide today. Happy to be heading away from central Colorado. This year just seemed like a lot of traffic-





Lunch in Walden then Fox Creek Rd. from Hwy 230 past Sheep Mt. to Centennial, WY.-







Heading west takes you to the Snowy Range and the Medicine Bow Peak area with a series of lakes at its base-





This is just a truly lovely area but at 10,000' there can still be snow in July-

[RBMann]

Day 14 continued-



When we were here in 2019, the campground and this road were still covered in snow-



For me the crown jewel, Lake Marie-



Short hiking trail across from Marie-



Future kitchen counter tops?-



Dueling cameras-





Sadly we had to leave but we found a nice lakeside camp site near Saratoga-



The end of another very enjoyable day with The Beekeeper-

[BikerMiker]

Great pics!

[tomvv11]

Twisty mountain roads and mindtwisting scenery and a pal with complimentary riding and camping styles. That's a bit of alright.

[signit98]

Originally Posted by tomvv11

Twisty mountain roads and mindtwisting scenery and a pal with complimentary riding and camping styles. That's a bit of alright.

We work very well together on all of these levels.... including compromises when one wants to see something the other may have seen already or is generally not excited about.

I am usually looking forward to next year's trip while on "this year's" trip...

[wswartzwel]

So far no mechanicals.... Where are the oil puddles, and volt meters? Bikes on their side with the engine disassembled? This thread usually has some drama each year, your fans demand excitment!

[flatbutt]

Don't they save the big items for TOR? Like chain and bead breaking.

[RBMann]

Originally Posted by wswartzwel

So far no mechanicals.... Where are the oil puddles, and volt meters? Bikes on their side with the engine disassembled? This thread usually has some drama each year, your fans demand excitment!

What, flat tire doesn't count?

[ckcarr]

Whenever I pass through Medicine Bow I think of this.
https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/united-flight-409-1955-crash-killed-66-people

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by RBMann

What, flat tire doesn't count?

Not for youse guys






lest youse forget

[RBMann]

Nice video Flatboat, who shot it?

I do remember the year before when everyone had left and my S would not start. There were two GSs waiting for tow trucks with blown out oil level glasses. I thought I would need a U-Haul to get home but it was just a fuse.

[Droptarotter]

Great report RB!
Cheers

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by RBMann

Nice video Flatboat, who shot it?

Wasn't it you?

[RBMann]

Day 15-Sarasota to Big Sandy Res., 276 miles



63ºF. in the morning as we wave goodbye to a fellow pelican-



As we head west out of Sarasota on FS 500 it is looking like rain-





This shot is looking back toward Sarasota after I led us 15 miles in the wrong direction then back tracking the same 15 to find ourselves where we had been an hour before. I don't know how I missed the turnoff or why I didn't see it on the GPS-



Nice road to be lost on-





Another Divide in the middle of nowhere, Hwy 71 south of Rawlins, WY-





A quick stretch of Interstate-