Cross Country by Bike

Motorcycle trip from Corning, New York to

Dodge City, Kansas

Colorado Springs, Colorado

Moab, Utah

Monument Valley, Arizona

Phoenix, AZ

September 2005

3200 miles, 9 days, 1 sore butt.

I departed Corning the morning after the passage of hurricane Katrina, which is being called the largest storm to hit the USA since records have been kept.  The weather today is perfect.  Premium gas has climbed to an all-time high of $3.50 for most of this trip.  I chose a route that allowed me to visit some friends, pass through my home town, and my parents home towns, and through several parts of the West I'm familiar with.

Southern Indiana has some beautiful roads for riding and Kansas was not too interesting.  In particular, Dodge City is not worth going out of your way to see.  I had expected part of the old town to be preserved from the old west days.  But a sign in town tells the story of the US government paying Dodge City a sum of money to remove the town to allow widening of US Hwy 50.  So the old town is gone.  Too bad.

The weather was perfect until hitting a cloud burst in Colorado Springs.  I encountered occasional rain throughout Colorado and an eerie, dark, monstrous cloud burst west of the Black Canyon.  It was like riding into a scene from The Wizard of Oz.  Fortunately, we could see it coming and donned rain gear in time.

Once past Moab, Utah the weather returned to predictably clear, dry, albeit cold, air. 

Near Independence Pass, Colorado Sept 8, 2005

Independence Pass is just up the road.

In the clouds at Monarch Pass on Hwy 50 near Gunnison.

Along the upper Colorado River northeast of Moab, UT.  Great road for biking.

Ahhh, sunny and warm.  Monument Valley beckons.