Woke up to more of the same crappy weather. The forecast for Denver – rain turning to snow later in the evening. Elevations over 6000 feet were expected to have snow starting at noon. Grand Junction is 280 miles from Brush, through elevations over 10,000 feet.

We decided to head to Denver and see how the riding was. In a word, it sucked. Pulling off in Brighton, we made the hardest decision of the trip thus far. There was no way we’d be able to ride through the Rocky Mountains as wet and cold as we were.

So, we rented a U-Haul.

We spent the next hundred miles convincing ourselves that we’d made the right decision. I am a big fan of living to ride another day.

As we started the climb into the Rockies, the rain turned to snow. Temperatures hovered around 36 degrees with strong cross winds blowing vehicles all over.

Who’s great idea was this anyway? Ride across the US in October? BRILLIANT!

After about 150 miles, the road was actually dry. We saw a few peeks of sun, which was REALLY annoying. We even saw a guy on a Goldwing heading east. ARRGHH!

If only… but that doesn’t matter. After four 500+ mile days we were tired, and the cold, wet riding would have just been too much.

On the way down to Grand Junction, the weather turned even worse. Driving rain and sleet pelted our fantastic U-Haul for the final 80 mile haul into Grand Junction. Disappointed, defeated but alive, we checked into a Doubletree and proceeded to re-energize with some invigorating adult beverages.

We’re staying in Grand Junction today, attending to laundry and other details. My friend Dan is riding out from Los Angeles to meet us in Grand Junction, and my girlfriend Fiona is flying out later today to finish the ride on the back of the Hayabusa.

Our original plan was to ride back through Utah, but like nearly every other plan we’ve made, that’s subject to change.

Back on the road tomorrow.

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Author: frenchy