We're having breakfast at the Grand Lodge Buffett in Crested Butte, the first upscale hotel we've stayed at. The bill reflects it. Check it out.
There are two sales taxes, a lodging tax, a town center tax and a resort fee. Give me a break.
I'm not wild about this kind of town. It's far from the genuine mining towns we've been at the past few nights. It caters to the wealthy skiing crowd. Downtown, an artificial strip where we ate last night, looks much Breckenridge, or Telluride. Not my cup of tea. The pizza; sausage and jalopena was good as was the Czar Imperial Stout. I nursed the stout slowly as Eric and I argued about which route to take today. It's our last full day or riding and we are trying to balance beauty vs arrival time near Denver. Beauty won out. It will be a long, but surely panoramic trip today.
Yesterday started auspiciously but ended up being what I thought was the best ride yet. Shortly after leaving Silverton, about five miles down the steep windy switchback towards Ohrey, we encountered a group of bikers on the side of the road tending to one of its own. The large man was on the ground next to his Harley Fat Boy. He seem to shaken, but ok. At lest we hope so. We think the tight turns had someone traveling in the opposite direction come into his lane and cut him off. Thankfully he went down on the mountain side. Going off the road on the open side would have been a whole different story. The biker down was a another reminder for us to remain diligent. We have been very cautious, continually minding ourselves through the intercoms to remain focused.
Outside of Ridgeway we turned off on Owl Creek Pass Road, a 40 mile beautiful pass through forest and pastoral landscapes.
What made it so compelling was the fact that the is particularly aspens are turning. Brilliant yellows everywhere. Great views of high and jagged Cimarron Ridge, the 12,152-foot monolith of Courthouse Mountain and 11,781-foot Chimney Rock. Owl Creek Pass is 10,114 feet.
We encountered a few hunting vehicles along the way but otherwise had the road to ourselves. One of Eric's suitcases fell off along the way. That took about a hour to repair and reattach. Other than that little mishap, the trip was a dream cruise that I hope to repeat some day in the future.
After a late lunch in Gunnison we leisurely headed up the final 30 miles to Crested Butte.
The BMW's have treated us well. If you are interested in seeing and hearing more about them, below is a little tutorial from Eric....
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