The eastern side of the pass felt rockier to us than the west side so we were glad we came the way we did. Continuing down this way takes us right past Turquoise Lake which we had camped at years ago the last time we rode through Colorado. The lake is a reservoir and was way down from when we were last here.
We rode into Leadville about 1pm and stopped for lunch at the Buchi Café. It was a bit of a wait, but the food was pretty good. Dave walked to a store and got some cool stickers and after lunch we left town around 2:15pm.
The last pass for today was Westin Pass and it was an easy, gradual road up. We saw a fair number of nice looking homes along the way. At around 4:50pm Tim's bike seriously overheated. I mean boiling hot. This was a really serious concern so we stopped to try and figure out what was happening. We couldn't hear the fan going and that was of course the problem, but we took everything off trying to figure out why. We checked hoses, coolant level,
and fuses and nothing was wrong.
By the time Tim put everything back on his bike it had cooled off and we rode the few minutes to the pass and took some pictures. If the fan isn't running then only air-cooling will keep the bike from over heating. We knew we had more dirt roads ahead of us, but the odds were that we risk the bike overheating again, so we found a way to bail off the trail to U.S. Highway 285 so we could get to a shop. We rode into Buena Vista, but there was nothing there. Looking on his phone, Dave then found a shop in Salida, which is due south. So we rode down there arriving around 5:25pm at High Mountain Motor Sports.
The guy was there and willing to get it figured out. So while Tim waited there, Dave and I tried to find a place to stay and also eat. The hotels were really busy and the only place we could find was the Honeymoon Suite at the Gateway Hotel. Plenty of room, but no shower – only a jacusi tub. We made do. We ferried Tim's stuff to the hotel and then left the bikes at the shop and walked down to Las Camelitas for dinner. For me, this was the best Mexican restaurant I've ever eaten at. The food was delicious and the owners were awesome. If you're ever in Salida, definitely stop in for dinner there. We headed back to the hotel for the night, got cleaned up, watched some TV and then finally turned in after making plans for the next day. Today's mileage: 144.
Tom Clark
I'm a Senior Software Engineer at Intellitect, living in Spokane, Washington. I also do a little development work on the side. And I love riding motorcycles all over the country with my friends.
