From there we hit Cortez and then south on US491, then US160 and suddenly we were at Four Corners and the BDR was complete! It was about 3pm in the afternoon, the sun was shining so we shed some layers and walked over to memorialize the moment with a couple of pictures. Four Corners is the point where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona meet. It was initially established in 1869. The monument is on tribal ground and they charge $5 to get in, but we wanted the picture. There is a circular structure around the actual corners that allows tribal members to set up stands for the tourists to buy things. We got our picture and walked around a bit, but didn't really hang out for very long. We had places to go.
Our original plan was to stay on US160, head north on US191 into Utah and catch the Valley of the Gods road on our way north. But in order to meet Bill and Dan, we'd have to skip that and retrace our steps to Cortez and then head northwest to Monticello. We passed through Yellow Jacket, Pleasant View, and Dove Creek on our way. We also rode through our only rainstorm. We saw it coming so we stopped and got our raingear on and rode through it without any issues. Along the way we passed Bill and Dan who were of course heading the same way.
They're a bit faster than us, so they overtook us and disappeared into the distance. But we caught up with them on the edge of Monticello. It was a great reunion. I wish we had some pictures, but trust us, we had a good time! We found a little motel that would house all of us, got cleaned up and walked a few blocks to The Granary where we had a great dinner and caught up on each other's adventures. We made plans for the trip home and determined not to get in each other's way. They'd be traveling a lot faster than we would. Our back-on-pavement miles for the day: 263.6.
Monday, September 27, 2021
Now we're homeward bound. We had breakfast in our hotel room with food we had with us. Because we didn't unpack much, we were actually able to get away by about 7:45am. The plan was for both groups to head south, take US95 west and it would eventually take us north and we'd get as far as we could for the day, maybe near Mt. Pleasant. Bill and Dan were in front of us of course and as we got to the turn off for US95, they came back down from that way. The road was closed for construction and we couldn't get through. So now we're punting. We decide to keep going south to try and get around it somehow. This takes us through White Mesa and then Bluff as we turn west onto US163. We're riding along this highway when we suddenly realize we're right at the turn off for Valley of the Gods. Well there's no way we're missing that!
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.
