For the past four years, I've made an overnight trip to Monument Valley in January. I like winter riding: no bugs, no tourists, and winter rooms can be half the in-season rates or less. With proper winter gear and careful perusal of NWS and DOT web sites, winter riding can be great fun. The Colorado mountains have already had a lot of snow this winter of 2007-2008. Although Cedaredge, at the sunny south base of Grand Mesa, has had only a little snow, a cold spell since mid-December has kept snow and ice from melting quickly. Nevertheless, on New Years day, the roads I needed were reported dry by CDOT and UDOT. I thought Wednesday the 2nd a good time to start my annual overnight ride to Monument Valley since more snow was forecast beginning Thursday evening. I didn't make it to Monument Valley.
After a brisk ride in Unaweep Canyon and an early lunch at the 141 Diner in Gateway, my favorite 52 miles of canyon road from Gateway to Naturita was in perfect condition and I had a fast, fun ride. At Naturita I topped up the fuel tank and continued southwest on CO141 towards Dove Creek and Utah. After a few miles of twisty climbs and canyons, this sparsely settled 60 mile section of CO141 crosses two big valleys before climbing abrupt switchbacks up onto high plateau country that extends west to the Abajo Mountains in Utah. If I'm not confused, the first of these valleys for southwest-bound traffic is Big Gypsum Valley and the second is Disappointment. Near the east edge of Big Gypsum Valley one finds the only business on this 60 mile stretch: a lonely building with a sign "Basin Store." There's not much traffic. Visibility is good on each side of the highway. Approaching deer should be noticeable. I often cruise these big, empty valleys at high speed.
I almost made it to Disappointment Valley. It would be imprudent to commit my cruising speed to print; readers who know my age can just add 11 and the resultant number will be close enough. About four and a half miles past the Basin store, at the west edge of the valley where trees approach the road and I should have slowed, an unseen deer leaped onto the road too late for serious braking. Wham! Next thing I remember was wondering why I was still upright and noticing I was missing a lot of motorcycle up front. The windshield and fairing were missing. The headlight was missing. The instruments were missing. The front fender was missing. I pulled over, stopped and got off the bike. The engine was stalled. I could see the dead deer in the road quite a ways back. The bike was a mess. All the electrical stuff up front was smashed and dangling, including the unit the ignition key operates. Then I noticed a big section of the fuel tank was missing on the right side. But I was fine. I had deer hair and blood on my right leg and it was gasoline soaked but I suffered no injury.
A driver stopped: "You okay?" he asked. I said I was fine. He said, "There's bike parts scattered all over the highway back there. I can't believe you're okay." "I didn't fall," I said. "I'm fine." He seemed almost disbelieving: "I've had known two motorcycle riders who hit deer recently. It killed one of them and the other was badly injured. I can't believe you're not hurt." I pushed the motorcycle off the road, he dragged the dead deer off the road and we both kicked broken parts off the highway. The windshield-fairing was busted into many pieces, none more than about 6 inches across. Most of the fresh tank of fuel was spread on the highway within a few feet of impact.
Why didn't I crash? Although I may have hit the brakes before impact I'm certain I didn't attempt to steer or dodge. I was bolt upright at impact. At mumble-mumble MPH, I had two big spinning gyros strongly resisting any sudden change in direction. Unless I'm mistaken, physics worked in my favor.
Cell phones didn't work. The guy who stopped gave me a ride back to the Basin store (which is really more cafe than store) where cell phones did work but barely. I called my towing service. They called back and said the closest service they could find was Grand Junction, about 110 miles away. The guy from Grand Junction called and estimated $500 to haul me to Cedaredge. My towing insurance would pay $300. I said okay. He soon called back and said he had been looking at the map and it was going to be more like $1000. I said, "Too much." Meanwhile the very nice lady who owned the cafe had called her son. He offered to haul me to Cedaredge for $350, a very reasonable price considering my plight and the remote area. It would be a 300 mile round trip for him and, what with loading the bike, a dinner stop and unloading the bike, take 6 or 7 hours of his time. Fortunately for me he was on break from his job.
My towing insurance won't be paying anything, of course, since I didn't use their recommended service but I don't care. I will let the towing insurance expire, though. This is typical of the kind of remote areas I'm likely to need help. What good is the insurance?
The trip home was uneventful but for the enjoyment of visiting with this exceptional young man who at first glance could have been just another handsome cowboy all the local girls would be chasing. At second glance his eyes and demeanor suggested an obvious intelligence. Conversation revealed he was college educated and, if my memory serves, employed as a geologist. Jamie Spor is an interesting individual. His concept of humanity, his philosophy, his opinions were all something I found admirable, surprising as I'm three times his age. Maybe not so surprising as his opinions in many ways represented traditional western values that only people who have lived in the rural west might appreciate. It was worth the price of the trip to have my faith in youth restored -- getting home with the bike was a bonus. One can wonder at the combination of heredity, environment, education and family values that produced such a youth. It's interesting to note this self-proclaimed "Cowboy" is the grandson of Raymond Snyder, a native of that unique western area and a prominent Colorado rancher. This suggests several things may have been factors in this young man's moral development but I'm thinking his sense of values, as he himself suggested, comes mostly from a strong family commitment. I also helps to have the intelligence to respect the value of such a family experience.
We had dinner at a restaurant in Delta. The food wasn't special but the conversation was good. I was home by about 7:00 P.M. The KTM is in my garage. All I have to do is repair it. After a quick perusal of KTM parts fiche it looks like $1500 or more for the big parts I need -- instruments, headlight, all plastic up front and a fuel tank. Who knows how much for related small stuff, nearly all of which I need as nothing was retrieved. More damage may be discovered after a careful inspection. I have liability insurance but not collision insurance. If I did have collision insurance this would be my first claim in over 260,000 miles of riding on 42 motorcycles so I'm ahead in the long run.
It didn't occur to me to take pictures at the accident scene. My mind was on other things.