Winging It

© Ken Bingenheimer / RumBum.com

I'm Mr. Spontaneity when it comes to motorcycle trips and one thing I always loved about our early OFMC trips was that we had no plans. At most we would have a first-night destination and sometimes we would still end up stopping somewhere else. Nowadays, with nine of us, that's just not possible and everything is planned and arranged. Much as I dislike it, I know it's necessary.

No surprise then that the first time I went off on a trip with a lady friend, just the two of us on my bike, we didn't have any concrete plans, much less motel reservations. The one thing we did know was that we wanted to loop through southwest Colorado and northern New Mexico and stop in Ojo Caliente, NM, where the guys and I had discovered a nice little hot springs resort. Off we went.

Heading generally toward the Four Corners area, where Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico all come together at one point, there are only a couple routes available to you because of the mountains. We headed out on U.S. 285, over Kenosha Pass, through South Park, and down to Buena Vista. Then south to Poncha Springs, where we left 285 and headed west on U.S. 50 over Monarch Pass, down to Gunnison.

That's a really easy day's ride, we weren't pushing it, and we agreed to find a place for the night in Gunnison. Ha! Did we think to consider that this was graduation weekend at Western State College in Gunnison? And on top of that, there were a couple big weddings in town? Of course there were no rooms to be had, and dusk was setting in. Now what?

Fortunately, checking at the Chamber of Commerce visitor's center, the helpful woman at the desk was able to locate one cabin available in Almont, a little town we had never heard of just a bit north of Gunnison. We reserved it over the phone and hustled on out there to secure the deal. So no problem. The cabin was nice, they had a place for us to get dinner, and our first day on the bike trip was a huge success. A little iffy at the end but it all worked out.

We were only on a three-day trip, so the next day we knew we wanted to get to Ojo Caliente. Of course we would take the scenic route, and that meant cruising down through Lake City and over Slumgullion Pass, to Creede and South Fork, where we would pick up U.S. 160 over Wolf Creek Pass, down to Pagosa Springs. From Pagosa Springs we would dip down into New Mexico through Chama and over a range of mountains to where we would rejoin U.S. 285 and follow it north to Ojo Caliente.

This was what motorcycle touring is all about, riding in a leisurely manner through gorgeous country, stopping whenever you feel like it, and having a wonderful time. And that's exactly how our day went, right up until the point where it started getting dark and we were nowhere near Ojo Caliente and not even sure we were on the right road.

It looks so simple on the map. You follow U.S. 84 from Chama toward Espanola and between the little towns of Chili and Hernandez the map shows a road running maybe half a mile to connect with U.S. 285. In the dusk it was nearly impossible to distinguish this little local road from any other and we did some wandering. One way or another, though, we finally found 285. All right, we're good.

By this time we were getting hungry, not to mention stiff from riding all day. A good meal and a soak in the spa were foremost in our minds.

We finally rolled into Ojo Caliente and pulled up at the spa, just as another couple was getting out of their car and walking in. We stood behind them at the desk and gasped at our good fortune to discover that the four of us were taking the last two rooms available. And then we all four choked to learn that the only restaurant in town was closed for the night and there was no store or any restaurant closer than 20 miles away. On top of that, the spa was closed for the night and there would be no hot soak to ease the stiffness.

I can only describe this other couple as saints, because despite having only two one-serving packages of cheese and crackers, they gave one of those packages to us. That was our dinner. With stomachs grumbling we went to bed with hopes that the morning would come quickly.

Morning did come, we ate (voraciously) and we soaked, and then it was time to cruise on home. Did we have a good trip? Definitely. For the most part, it was wonderful. Would we do it again? You bet.

Did we learn anything? Oh, yes. Yes, spontaneity can open the door to wonderful adventures, but sometimes it can bite you in the butt. One phone call would have ensured that we had a room, informed us as to when the spa closed for the night, and alerted us to get dinner before arriving. Even Mr. Spontaneity realized that information is good.