la route a jamais - Trillium Motorcycle Tours

We had picked up a fourth rider, Randy
driving a Moto Guzzi Norge, for this leg
of the trip. The drive over the mountains
was spectacular. I love mountain roads:
Scenic, often challenging the rider technically
and mentally. The temperature
got quite cool and despite my ballistic
jacket, it got very chilly for a time. I was
glad the R1200R had heated grips!
It was early afternoon when we got to
Mesa Verde. Mesa Verde National Park
is a World Heritage Site with over 4000
known archaeological sites, 600 of
which are cliff dwellings. The area was
inhabited for over 800 years, until
drought forced the Pueblo Indians to
leave the area around the 1300�s.
Access in and out of the Park was
through an unlit tunnel. Driving into the
tunnel from the bright sunlight was disorienting:
With no lights, and no time to
take my sunglasses off, everything was
dark, despite the bike headlights. I focused
on the light at the end of the tunnel
(not trying to be corny) and aimed
for the middle. Steve and Randy had
HJC Sy-max2 helmets with integrated
flip up sun visors,
and were able to adjust
quickly to the dark.
My next helmet
will have
this feature!
It was a quick visit to a few principle
sites in the park, as we still had a long
ride ahead of us. I hope to go back and
spend several days exploring this amazing
place.
Heading out of the park, Steve and I got
stuck behind a very slow truck. Phil and
Randy were way ahead of us. When we
finally rode through the tunnel, you
could smell burning rubber – not a good
sign. Both men were parked just past
the tunnel. Because of the dark, Phil
had not seen the median line and had
moved sideways into the tunnel�s wall!
His right foot peg and oil pan hit the
narrow curb, he could not turn his front
tire to get away from the wall and ended
up scraping along the side. When he
finally stopped, Randy was able to get
him and his bike out of the tunnel. In
hindsight, it was fortunate the traffic had
been kept back by a slow vehicle.
Steve went to get help, while Randy and
I practiced our first aid training on Phil�s
scrapped and bleeding right arm.
Fortunately for Phil, he had been wearing
his ballistic nylon jacket despite the
hot weather, and while the right sleeve
was shredded, it had protected him from
serious injury.
The Park Wardens arrived quickly, followed
shortly by the park nurse. Since
Phil had insurance, they recommended
he go by ambulance to the nearby hospital
in Cortes. To our surprise, the hospital
wanted to be paid upfront, but I
called Blue Cross in Canada and they
were able to convince the hospital administration
to bill them instead. Phil�s
arm was cleaned up and bandaged, his
thoughts torn between the good looking
female ambulance attendant and getting
his bike back to Canada. Before leaving
the hospital, he was given the number of
a local mechanic.
It turned out that renting a Uhaul truck to
get his bike back to Canada would have
cost around $2000.00 in rental plus gas.
Phil called the mechanic, who came by
the motel with a trailer to take him back
Der Polierlappen 27 July 2009