Part 1

By Carl Saccoccio

The year was 2011 and the MOA was having a spring special for the World Superbike races outside of Salt Lake City, UT. The deal included staying at the Grand American Hotel, tickets to the races, and BMW VIP passes to the racetrack, so I put a thought in my head that it’s time to see a World Superbike race after following them on TV for 10 years. But I didn’t want to do it alone so I reached out to club members and two good friends decided to take the trip with me. One was Armand Bessette, better known as Skippy, and the second was Mike DeSarro. I couldn’t ask for two better travelling companions. Skippy is a top-notch mechanic, and Mikey can build and fix anything mechanical, woodworking whatever. So, it’s up to me to put the package together and keep them informed.

Putting a trip together like this should be easy since there were no airlines involved. I had done something very similar back in 2008 when my brother and I drove cross country with the trailer. It meant I had to find a place to leave the truck and trailer, which I arranged through the MOA Anonymous Book, a resource I use whenever I do a trip like this. This time I found an MOA member in Fort Collins, CO where we could leave the truck and trailer. I reached out to him and he said no problem and gave me his address. I told him we’d see him in late April just before the races began.

The race was south of Salt Lake City, in the springtime, so we were hoping it would be fairly good weather. I had the new to me 2007 Toyota Tacoma pickup that had the tow package and a big V8 engine so blasting across the country towing three motorcycles should not be a problem. The only problem was the trailer was not set up to carry three bikes so Mikey set it up to carry the two BMW’s, and my KLR would be in the back of my pickup truck and this should work fine.

Next I reached out to the national club got all the information and booked the room in Salt Lake City. We picked the start date and our plan was to drive nonstop 2000 miles to Denver which should take us about 32 hours if everything went right. Of course not everything goes according to plan. We picked Denver because we wanted to ride all through Colorado and parts of Utah before we got to the races, which is an excellent idea since it is such a beautiful part of the country. So now all we had to do was plan how much time we wanted to spend getting from Fort Collins to Salt Lake City, which they left up to me. So by the beginning of April everything was set, and we picked a date of May 23rd  to start our trip West.

So, the plan was to blast on Interstate Route 80 through Pennsylvania all the way on 80 and pick up RT70 right into Denver. Done this trip many times. It could be boring, but with three of us alternating on the driving it should go quick. I took the first leg. We planned to drive eight hours each, and then switch off when we got to Ohio. Mikey took the second leg. Little did we know what a challenge this would be. Somewhere in the middle of Ohio a storm hit. It was a microburst of heavy winds stripping the trees of their new leaves, and hail that was unbelievable. It sounded like the truck was going to explode. Fortunately we were by an exit, and we were able to get off the highway since we couldn’t see twenty feet in front of us. “What the hell,” I figured, my new truck was going to be damaged. When the storm stopped we could see there were only a couple of little dings from the hail. I got lucky.

So down the road we went. The next eight hours Skippy took over and drove through the night. I kept him awake by riding shotgun while Mikey slept in the back, and this continued all the way into Denver. It actually worked out fine and it took just 32 hours. From Denver we shot up to Fort Collins. I had the address of Ken Kovar and his phone number. He was friendly and was happy to greet fellow MOA members. He had a nice big yard where we could park the truck and trailer and leave it there for a week. We unloaded the motorcycles off the truck, and then packed the bikes with all our gear and off we went west into the Colorado Rocky Mountains for a nice riding experience with views that never cease to amaze me, and that I never get tired of.

The one thing about riding in Colorado in May is the snow that is still on the ground, especially in the mountain passes. The first place we went to was Rocky Mountain National Park. The road was only open one-third of the way up, but where we stopped at the rest area the views were still absolutely amazing. The road had a good eight feet of snow left on it where they stopped you from going any further. We took our mandatory photographs and off we went.

With the park closed I changed the route to travel RT 34 to, RT 7, to RT 72, to RT 119, which is Blackhawk and then down onto RT 70. Route 70 is an Interstate like no other Interstate in America. When you pass through the Eisenhower memorial tunnel and see the snow-covered mountains it will take your breath away. Route 70 passes three ski mountains and then Vail. Vail is so large it has three exits off the highway. As you approach Glenwood Springs you drop into Glen Canyon. This road is cut into the mountains with the river on one side and railroad tracks on the other. It’s like something out of a western movie. We took RT 82 to RT 133, a twisty scenic road that runs through Paonia where the BMW Top of the Rocky Rally is held every July. We stopped in Delta for the night at the Best Western. It was $99.00 with a free breakfast.

Wednesday, May 25th, total miles 412.

Our plan is to head next to RT 550. On the Colorado map 550 is considered one of the best motorcycle roads in North America, at least in the top 10.  It is called the Million Dollar Highway and it starts at the town of Ouray. When you ride it you understand why it’s rated so high but it’s also very dangerous as there are no guardrails, and the drop-off is instant death so you have to be very alert. When we got there the weather had turned and we actually had to put on rain suits for the first time and take our time traveling 550 headed to Silverton. Views were simply amazing especially Red Mountain, as it’s called, where the road twists and turns like a coiled snake you cannot believe, and then finally it will straighten out as you head into Silverton which is an old mining town and actually still has a railroad that runs through the mountains. Our plan was to make it to Durango. At Durango we picked up RT 160 W to Cortez and then RT 145 to Telluride by way of Lizard Head Pass at 10,222 feet. Next is was RT 145 N to the Colorado border, then RT 90 to the Utah border, and then RT 46 to RT 191 to Moab, Utah, where we grabbed a cabin for the night at $78.

Thursday, May 26th, total miles 366.

Moab, which is a prime recreational area for bicyclists, hikers, jeeps, and off road excursions is also world famous for the breathtaking beauty of the local stone arches. I have never visited this region even though I have been to Utah a couple times but not this far south. To see these arches that have existed since the beginning of time is amazing and the Arches National Park is huge. You could spend all day riding through the park seeing all the different sights, which we did. Also in this area is Canyonlands National Park which is the opposite of Moab. At Canyonlands you are up high looking down into what looks like the Grand Canyon, with incredible vistas and colors. At the welcome center I discovered that most of the western movies showing a sunset were filmed at that location. And to top it off on your way up you pass the Dead Horse Point State Park which has a very sad story behind its name. It seems that some horses were corralled on the narrow point. When no one returned to let them out, and with no water, they all died and that’s where the name comes from.

To be continued…
Part 2 to appear in the October 2024 RUMBLE.