Monday, August 1
Headed back to Silverton/Ouray area but we are prepared this time! Heavy plastic ponchos with hoods, layers of clothing and plenty of water. After saying a prayer we were on our way. Passed Purgatory and the scenery was just beautiful. I took some pictures but they just don't do justice to the real thing.
Arrived in Silverton, a cute little old silver mine/western town. Ate lunch at the pink BBQ place (don't remember the name)where we met a family from Alvin-small world. It started raining lightly and we really wanted to get to Ouray (45 min)since we had already come that far. Got all our raingear on and headed north. The farther we rode the prettier it was. The road has no guardrails and was very curvy. I did alot of praying, holding of my breath and tried really hard to be a big girl.
As we were coming around the last curve into Ouray the gears went out on the bike. James was able to coast us into town and a place to park. We said a huge prayer and were VERY lucky that the gears choose to go out in a good location. There was no one in town who could repair the motorcycle. It was late afternoon and we'd be spending the night. I'm freaking out at this point pretty sure that we'd be sleeping outside. The bike breaking down was not in the plans and we were about 125 miles from the campsite. I was also concerned that James would be missing several doses of his medicines but he was fine with it all other than I wouldn't be able to take my "happy" pill, which is very important.
An elderly lady named Jamie (a resident) was walking her dog and stopped to see if we were in trouble. She was so nice and concerned that we wouldn't be able to get a room anywhere. Jamie contacted her husband who called around and found a hotel room for us. James contacted insurance company and there was a wrecker coming for us in the morning. It was still lightly raining. Went to the brewery to grab a bite to eat and James tried a few of the beers. I went back to the hotel to take a hot shower and James decided to walk around the small town. Now, I'm not even going to discuss the hotel room or the mattress. We were exhausted and barely slept.
Beautiful morning and wrecker driver picks us up around eleven. Nice guy, a regular little bubba chatty Cathy. He was just full of stories. Made sure to point out every location where a vehicle had went off the road, what happened, who died, etc. I was just thrilled beyond belief and couldn't wait to get out of the truck an hour and a half later. He did give us alot of good information and history. I was glad that James was able to enjoy the beauty from the passenger seat as he has to really keep his eyes on the road and doesn't get to enjoy the full bike ride like I do.
We arrive in Durango at the Yamaha dealership and I start the quest for a rental car only to find out there is not one to be found. We are, after all in peak summer season in a tourist town. Now, I'm really freaking out, it's 4:00 and the next day we have non-refundable Durango/Silverton train tickets. We need to get back to the campsite (30 min away)-we've had the same clothes/underwear on for two days in a row. I am just thrilled with that. James was in the garage with the mechanic taking the bike apart and they found the problem. Something called a spline (?) was broken. The mechanic, working on bikes since the late seventies, said it was only the second time he has seen this problem. I would expect no less. We still had the problem of getting back to the lake so we resorted to scrutinizing the customers (this place was pretty busy)to see who we could approach and offer to pay them to take us to the lake. We lucked out! An electrician came in and he was heading that way and offered us a ride. We were loading up his truck when the owner, Tom pulled up and the electrician said "hey, I'm taking your customers to the lake, their bike is in your garage and they have no transportaion". Tom told us that we could use his personal jeep until the bike was fixed. What luck and our prayers were answered! Hallelujah and thank the Lord! He is watching out for us and putting the right people in our path. We took advantage of having a vehicle, stopped at the grocery store and loaded up. It's a little hard to carry a case of water on the bike. Had to get back, get a good night's sleep for the long train ride the next day.
We will have to say that Durango has been one of the friendliest places we have ever visited. People are nice and very helpful. You can tell they enjoy living here.
We want to take this opportunity to thank the employees and owners, Tom and Karen Grover of Handlebar MotorSports, Durango, Colorado. The employees were courteous and very helpful. Thank you Tom and Karen for the use of your personal jeep for three days. It was an extemely nice gesture. We still owe you a dinner.
Arrived in Silverton, a cute little old silver mine/western town. Ate lunch at the pink BBQ place (don't remember the name)where we met a family from Alvin-small world. It started raining lightly and we really wanted to get to Ouray (45 min)since we had already come that far. Got all our raingear on and headed north. The farther we rode the prettier it was. The road has no guardrails and was very curvy. I did alot of praying, holding of my breath and tried really hard to be a big girl.
As we were coming around the last curve into Ouray the gears went out on the bike. James was able to coast us into town and a place to park. We said a huge prayer and were VERY lucky that the gears choose to go out in a good location. There was no one in town who could repair the motorcycle. It was late afternoon and we'd be spending the night. I'm freaking out at this point pretty sure that we'd be sleeping outside. The bike breaking down was not in the plans and we were about 125 miles from the campsite. I was also concerned that James would be missing several doses of his medicines but he was fine with it all other than I wouldn't be able to take my "happy" pill, which is very important.
An elderly lady named Jamie (a resident) was walking her dog and stopped to see if we were in trouble. She was so nice and concerned that we wouldn't be able to get a room anywhere. Jamie contacted her husband who called around and found a hotel room for us. James contacted insurance company and there was a wrecker coming for us in the morning. It was still lightly raining. Went to the brewery to grab a bite to eat and James tried a few of the beers. I went back to the hotel to take a hot shower and James decided to walk around the small town. Now, I'm not even going to discuss the hotel room or the mattress. We were exhausted and barely slept.
Beautiful morning and wrecker driver picks us up around eleven. Nice guy, a regular little bubba chatty Cathy. He was just full of stories. Made sure to point out every location where a vehicle had went off the road, what happened, who died, etc. I was just thrilled beyond belief and couldn't wait to get out of the truck an hour and a half later. He did give us alot of good information and history. I was glad that James was able to enjoy the beauty from the passenger seat as he has to really keep his eyes on the road and doesn't get to enjoy the full bike ride like I do.
We arrive in Durango at the Yamaha dealership and I start the quest for a rental car only to find out there is not one to be found. We are, after all in peak summer season in a tourist town. Now, I'm really freaking out, it's 4:00 and the next day we have non-refundable Durango/Silverton train tickets. We need to get back to the campsite (30 min away)-we've had the same clothes/underwear on for two days in a row. I am just thrilled with that. James was in the garage with the mechanic taking the bike apart and they found the problem. Something called a spline (?) was broken. The mechanic, working on bikes since the late seventies, said it was only the second time he has seen this problem. I would expect no less. We still had the problem of getting back to the lake so we resorted to scrutinizing the customers (this place was pretty busy)to see who we could approach and offer to pay them to take us to the lake. We lucked out! An electrician came in and he was heading that way and offered us a ride. We were loading up his truck when the owner, Tom pulled up and the electrician said "hey, I'm taking your customers to the lake, their bike is in your garage and they have no transportaion". Tom told us that we could use his personal jeep until the bike was fixed. What luck and our prayers were answered! Hallelujah and thank the Lord! He is watching out for us and putting the right people in our path. We took advantage of having a vehicle, stopped at the grocery store and loaded up. It's a little hard to carry a case of water on the bike. Had to get back, get a good night's sleep for the long train ride the next day.
We will have to say that Durango has been one of the friendliest places we have ever visited. People are nice and very helpful. You can tell they enjoy living here.
We want to take this opportunity to thank the employees and owners, Tom and Karen Grover of Handlebar MotorSports, Durango, Colorado. The employees were courteous and very helpful. Thank you Tom and Karen for the use of your personal jeep for three days. It was an extemely nice gesture. We still owe you a dinner.
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