Day 12: Durango
Day 12 of the 1933 Harley-Davidson VL cross-country ride was a short Colorado day from Pagosa Springs to Durango and on to Mesa Verde National Park, with a dealership stop, a chance VL encounter, and a replacement gas cap for Tim’s bike.
Day 12 Ride Stats
- Date: September 30, 2015
- Start: Pagosa Springs Campground, Pagosa Springs, Colorado
- Finish: Mesa Verde National Park campground, Colorado
- Distance: just over 90 miles
- Route: Pagosa Springs west on US 160 to Durango and Mesa Verde National Park
- Motorcycles: 1933 Harley-Davidson VL and 1934 Harley-Davidson VLD
- Gas added: 2.268 gallons total
- Oil added: 1 quart total
- Roadside issues: Tim’s leaking gas cap was replaced in Durango with a spare cap from a local VL owner; no breakdowns noted
Day 12 Ride Journal
Up until now, we have been riding across the country at a fairly good pace when you consider both bikes are 80-plus years old. Although we have made at least one “tourist” stop each day, we have been banking time the last eleven days so that we could spend the next ten days exploring the western part of our great country. Growing up on the East Coast, there is nothing that compares to the natural wonders west of the Rocky Mountains and we want to make sure we have time to see as much of it as possible.
The rain of the previous night left the tent and bikes nice and wet, so to pass the time while they dried in the sun, I pulled out my SLR for an attempt at “real photography.” Using the San Juan River and the Rockies as a backdrop made for some nice shots and I even risked pushing the bike down to the water’s edge for a series of photos. Getting the bike back up to the campsite was a little dicey, but Tim and I managed to push it up the rocky incline without dropping it.
Leaving Pagosa Springs, we continued on US Route 160 to Durango, CO. By pure coincidence, we pulled into the parking lot of a Harley-Davidson dealership to check our maps. This was actually the first HD dealership we’d stopped at, so we decided to go in and check things out.
The folks at Durango HD could not have been nicer. They came out, took photos of the bikes and had lots of questions about our trip. It’s good to see that there are still some dealerships out there that have an interest in Harley’s rich history.
While we were outside at the dealership, a guy pulled up on a sidecar rig and came over to ask us about our VLs. What struck us right away was that he actually knew they were VLs! Only a handful of people out of the hundred or so that we have met along the way knew the bikes were flatheads, but this guy was the first to know the actual model. As we talked, we found out that he also had a couple VLs as well as a gas cap to replace Tim’s, which had begun to leak. Knowing that this was an almost impossible coincidence, there was no way we weren’t going to take him up on his offer of the replacement cap. We set a plan to meet at his place after lunch and then headed downtown for burgers at the Carver Brewing Company.
The burgers hit the spot and then we rode out of town to grab that spare gas cap. Turns out there was more than gas caps as this guy was quite the collector. Probably my favorite piece was a JD which he kept in the kitchen.
The time flew by as we swapped stories about old bikes and I could have stayed much later, but the sun was moving west and we needed to do the same. Back on the bikes, we set our sights on Mesa Verde National Park and managed to make it to the campsite before dark.
Really short ride today, just over 90 miles.
