6th September 2010

I awoke in Montrose, Colorado feeling refreshed. We didn't get to sample the indoor pool. Bill spoke to Dee for a while on Skype, via my iPhone. Handy gadget that Skype. I wish more companies used it as that might mean my mobile bill may have been lower (£114 and counting).
A lot of Monday was filled with riding through gorgeous red rocky gorges, on our way to the Gateway Colorado Vintage Motor museum, and hoping that the museum was open.

We travelled on highway 50 for a few miles, before turning off on to the 62 at Delta and then on to the 141, which goes right through Gateway. We went past the museum as it was not signposted very well. It is based in a holiday resort, which is filled with Mexican looking buildings. The road into and out of Gateway is lined with red rock gorges and was very pretty. I am running out of words to describe the fantastic American scenery we have experienced, without breaking in to phrases such as "Rich tapestries" or "Smorgasbord of scenic scintillations". I will let the photos, and hopefully, the movie footage speak for itself (edit: Neither does. The cameras I used just couldn't capture the detail or colour in the distance  ).



'58 Chevrolet Corvette



'88 Oldsmobile Concept Car

The motor museum admission fee was $9. The museum is owned by John Hendricks (the founder of the Discovery Channel). All of the cars are in fantastic condition. The cars are of a range of ages from early 1900s until late 2000. I am not a fan of American cars but I really enjoyed walking round the museum. For the most part the cars are massive hunks of mid century metal. They are all very shiny and the interiors are all well preserved (or restored). Sadly, there was only one motorcycle at the museum; a 1924 Harley Davidson. Please see the web album for photos of all of the cars. We left the museum and had eats in the resort coffee shop.


Along the 141

The waitress suggested Sheapard's (sic) Pie and I accepted her recommendation. I think she was trying to get rid of it, as it was a little dry but ok. Bill had a Polish sausage hot dog, also suggested by the waitress. He didn't like it at all but managed to eat a bit. After buying some cold bottles of drink for the journey, we bought fuel at the resort garage (at a premium) and then continued down the 141. We were treated to more red rock gorges and scenes over the San Miguel river. When the 141 ended, we turned right on to route 46. We stopped at Bedrock to take a photograph of the valley and the town sign. Sadly Fred and Wilma were not home. We had a pretend drag race away from Bedrock. We both ducked behind our screens, elbows outward and accelerated through the gears at a leisurely pace. It was hardly worth the effort. Even more so when we realised that we were riding on the left hand side of the road. The driver of the approaching pickup noticed earlier than we did and had already braked and pulled right over on to the verge by the time we passed him.

American drivers seem cautious and law abiding but often inconsistent in other ways (overtaking sensibly then slowing down, for one).

 Still, the pickup driver's advanced reaction was appreciated. We gave him a cordial wave as we went by. I can only imagine what he was thinking. The rest of the 46 took us up over a mountain, via switchbacks, and then down the other side. We turned right on to highway 86 for the final part of of journey to Moab.

Motel 6 in Moab

Along the way we passed the "Hole 'n the wall", which was a house built in to the rock and it also had a zoo. When we reached Moab, we ducked into McD's to use their wifi, as Motel 6 had moved from where the signs and the satnav said it would be. We got the address and were pleasantly surprised to find a modern, clean motel with fully functioning wifi. It was a little out of town but you can't have everything.

After settling in, we walked the short way to a Denny's diner. I had Tilapia with mashed potato and avocado. Bill had cheese quesadilla! Who would have thought it; Bill eating Mexican food.

We returned to the room where I did some Facebook updating and Bill fell asleep watching "The Empire Strikes Back". I did not write the diary so am typing this on 7th September. The bike mileage read 46996, which means we travelled 241 miles this day.