Trip Out West - September 4 - 13, 2009

[kawi kid]

2nd season, 42nd season - makes no difference. You could easily do this ride with 2 years expereince. My bud's girlfriend did it last year in her 3rd year of riding on her R6.

It's not a race, lots of stopping to take pictures, breaks, etc. It's not as hard to do as you might think.

sounds nothing like the jim beam trip............. fonzie, nick!!!!!

[Earache]

sounds nothing like the jim beam trip............. fonzie, nick!!!!!

You had time contraints then - we won't have any so the pace is as fast or slow as you want it to be.

The roads out west aren't technical at all. Very long, sweeping turns tht are generally wide open as far as sight lines go. No tight curvy shit with blind corners at all. So it's nothing like riding in southern Ohio or anywhere else in the east or south. One turn might take a mile and a half to complete as it goes around a mountain.

But they do have some drop offs on the outside of the curves that are longer than ours...

[Earache]

A few more pics of the roads, etc...

Lots of wide open stuff, easy curves in NEw Mexico..

[Earache]

Santa Fe Hilton kicks all sorts of ass. great bar, great pool, night time fireplace by the pool...

[Earache]

Shots around town...

[Earache]

I like going there just for the food!

Breakfast burrito smothered in red and green chile at Tia Sophia's is my favorite..

Dinner burritos with chile are great too...

Thw wife doesn't enjoy a good fart as mcuh as I do and opted for some tamer food...

[Earache]

And some more roads as we ride outta town...

[Casper]

So Ben, what day are we going? Setting a firm date now might help others plan.

July and August are out. We'll sweat our nuts off in New Mexico and southern Colorado during that time of year. Mid June would be best as far as weather goes. Say June 12 - 21, 2009?

The first day we should try to make it to Columbia, MO. Roughly 530 miles from Columbus and 750 miles from Denver. If you were able to leave a bit early from work - say 3:00 PM or so on Friday - we'd be there in time for late dinner at the Hooter's conveniently located next to the hotel that I always stay at in Columbia. The next day's ride to Denver is then a piece of cake.

What sez you?

What do you think of the first week of September? 8/29 - 9/7?

9/7 is labor day, so that would be one day we don't have to take off work. Also, a few people who want to go work in the motorcycle industry so taking 10 days off in June is pretty much out of the question. How would September be? Looking at the average temps for Santa Fe, it looks like late August early September would be mid 70s. The average temps for southern Colorado would be around 80.

What do you think?

[Earache]

I could do September, too. But we had better do it in early September, as you suggest, as it'll be cold in the mountains anytime later than that.

So, wanna make those the o-fish-all dates then?

Leave Columbus on Friday, August 28 and retrun on Monday, September 7th?

[Casper]

I could do September, too. But we had better do it in early September, as you suggest, as it'll be cold in the mountains anytime later than that.

So, wanna make those the o-fish-all dates then?

Leave Columbus on Friday, August 28 and retrun on Monday, September 7th?

Shit, that's the weekend of the MotoGP race in Indy (8/28-8/30). Scratch that idea......

What about 9/4 - 9/13, Friday - Sunday?

Or maybe leave earlier in the week, like Wednesday. So 9/2 - 9/11 or 9/12?

[Earache]

My only constraint is that I can't do it the last full business week of any given month.

Forgot all about MotoGP - oops.

September 4 - 13 works well for me.

Lots of others will say they;re gonna go - and then bail at the last moment. This happnes time and time again on these things. Plan to go when you want to - not when others "might" go.

[Casper]

My only constraint is that I can't do it the last full business week of any given month.

Forgot all about MotoGP - oops.

September 4 - 13 works well for me.

Lots of others will say they;re gonna go - and then bail at the last moment. This happnes time and time again on these things. Plan to go when you want to - not when others "might" go.

if we do it in june, that would be my b-day present to myself.

but i'm leaning more towards september personally, and at least one of the people working in the m/c industry is definitely going.

[Earache]

September it is then.

[Casper]

September it is then.

Alright, I'll put in my request off for work now so they can't argue about it later.

Do you want to meet up somewhere between Cbus and Indy to drinks and to plan the trip? Anybody who's interested in going meet up and work together?

Do you usually make hotel reservations or just stay where ever?

[Earache]

I'm in Columbus once or twice a month for work and will let you know next time. I'll be there Monday, but only for a couple of hours or so. Have plenty of time yet.

Rooms: I usually make reservations, but don't have to. We'd need to make them in Santa Fe for sure as the area often sells out. Same with the Columbia, Missouri hotel.

Ouray also sells out all the time, so we'd need them there as well. We'll have to figure out where you want to stay and what you want to see and go from there. Lots of these places are kinda remote and don't have a lot of hotels. Hate to pull into town late and have no room waiting. But reservations make you keep a schedule - just depends on what the group wants to do.

[Casper]

I'm in Columbus once or twice a month for work and will let you know next time. I'll be there Monday, but only for a couple of hours or so. Have plenty of time yet.

Rooms: I usually make reservations, but don't have to. We'd need to make them in Santa Fe for sure as the area often sells out. Same with the Columbia, Missouri hotel.

Ouray also sells out all the time, so we'd need them there as well. We'll have to figure out where you want to stay and what you want to see and go from there. Lots of these places are kinda remote and don't have a lot of hotels. Hate to pull into town late and have no room waiting. But reservations make you keep a schedule - just depends on what the group wants to do.

I hate schedules. Haha!

I'm looking out my office window watching it snow, again... and can't stop thinking about New Mexico. Winter isn't even hear and I'm already sick of the cold weather.

[Earache]

Winter isn't even hear and I'm already sick of the cold weather.

Tell me about it. Last week I was in Key West, wearing shorts, sweating my ass off and drinking beers in sidewalk bars all week.

Now I'm sitting in my office, sweatshirt on and freezing.

Sucks. And I wanna ride.

[e-flores]

you guys need to shut your mouths and not remind me of such things....

[Dweezel]

I love summer and winter, I hate spring and fall, I wish it'd go from 80* and sunny, to 15* and 2ft of snow in a matter of a month and just stay like that.

Time to put the bike away and bust out the snowboard!

[zerocrash]

Sounds awsome and those dates are good with me.

[wolfman]

Barring some unforeseen circumstances such as a stolen or wrecked motorcycle, major surgery, or being ordered to pay financial restitution....I will be going.

[Casper]

Barring some unforeseen circumstances such as a stolen or wrecked motorcycle, major surgery, or being ordered to pay financial restitution....I will be going.

Woot.

[Earache]

Woot.

Start a list of those that wanna go on the first post of the thread. We can add / delete them as things develop.

[wolfman]

And were looking at about 4,000 miles total and around $1500 in costs? Maybe add some of those details to the first post, too.

[Casper]

added the list of people, mileage details, costs, etc