We started Day 4 of the bike trip to a sunny morning in Pagosa Springs.
We headed out of Pagosa Springs on US 160 west to Durango, Colorado to our first stop at Durango Harley-Davidson. A salesman tried to sell Mike H. a new passenger seat for his wife for only $24,000. The salesman said he would throw in the rest of the 2010 Ultra Classic Electra Glide for free. Nice try!
After buying a few Harley shirts, we got back on US 160 and headed west toward Four Corners. On our way, we stopped along the side of the road for a fantastic photo opportunity of Mesa Verde National Park.
We stopped in Cortez, Colorado for lunch and I found a fairly secure parking space.
After lunch, we continued west on US 160 and made it to the Four Corners monument. It's a cool place where you can stand on one spot and be in Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. And you can buy handmade jewelry and souvenirs from any of several Navajo vendors.
We left Four Corners and continued west on US 160 into Arizona. At Teec Nos Pos, we rode US 64 east into New Mexico. Nothing personal against the New Mexicans, but their highways are pale in comparison to Colorado's highways. Talk about rough. Bruce commented he was glad he wasn't riding a hardtail. Our touring bikes had it hard enough! We got gas in Shiprock, NM and continued east on US 64 to Farmington, NM where we picked us US 550 north through Aztec, NM to Durango, Colorado. It was a relief to get back to Colorado.
On the way back to the hotel in Pagosa Springs, Mike H.'s Gold Wing died about 20 miles out of town. On the tune-up ride we took to Manhattan back in July, his Gold Wing did a weird thing where it acted like it was running out of gas. But it seemed to clear up, and he had no problem for the next 2,000 miles or so. Until today. It did the weird thing again, but this time it would not re-start.
But being how Mike is retired and has lots of time to research the internet, he found a story of a similar situation on the Gold Wing internet discussion forum. The forum member said his problem was a bad fuel pump. So Mike brought a new fuel pump and all necessary tools with him on this ride.
And the "Harley rescues Honda" part? He started taking his Gold Wing apart while I rode my Harley back to the hotel to get the new fuel pump. One hour later, the Wing was fixed and back on the road.
It was a good ride with a great on-the-road cycle repair story that will be told for years to come. Today's tally: four states and 300 miles.
I'm glad Mike got his Wing repaired OK. By the way, I didn't know he had the white 1500 now. NICE! - Charlie
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