Cortez is THE place to be

So, as I sit here outside our hotel room right on Main St in downtown Cortez, CO, I have learned something. It seems that Main St is the local cruise corridor. Across the street from our room is a grocery store called City Market. City Market attracts the young folk of Cortez. There are plenty of kids hangin out in the parkin lot over there. We witnessed some shopping cart races, some "Frogger" style jay-walking, and plenty of "who has the biggest truck" or "who has the loudest car" contests. It's really very entertaining.

(Attention FJR riders: This place would be grand for next year's WFO gathering.)

Anyway, this place is fun. Nick and I are having a great time poking fun of the crowd that makes up this little town. I love our time together and tonight is better than most.

Signing off from the cruisin' town of Cortez....

I may never buy another restaurant steak

We dined at the Main Street Brewery and uhh....restaurant this evening (Cortez CO). The food was mediocre. The salad was GREAT. Real crumbles of blue cheese and very fresh ingredients. But that's where the "good" stopped and the "not so good" began. My porterhouse steak was slightly overcooked and slightly under-quality. I mean, I DO make a pretty kick-ass steak at home and the bar is pretty high, but PLEASE. For the money I paid (I won't even tell you how much...I'm embarrassed) I should have had the best steak EVER! I did not. Oh, the Pale Ale was good. The IPA was...eh, OK. Dammit.

Anyone who knows how I travel knows I have two requirements for a town to qualify as an overnighter. Beer and steak. I got one tonight.

Off to the pool so Nick can swim (that's his only requirement for an overnigher).

Day TWO almost complete

We just arrived in Cortez. Now we are off to the Main Street Brewery and Grill for some food and maybe a beer for me. Root beer for the kid.

Day ONE is complete

Well, we had some dinner, visited a really cool dam, and enjoyed the pool with a sunset view. It stopped raining and dried up just in time for us to go find some grub. A nice guy just outside the lobby gave me directions to The Dam Bar & Grill. Heck, we coulda walked to it. After some kick ass potatoe skins as an appetizer Nick had a BLT and I tackled a prime rib French dip with mushrooms. The food was pretty good. I think mine was better than Nick's, but he didn't complain. I also enjoyed some Alaskan Amber on tap with my sandwich.

After stuffing ourselves we headed over to Glen Canyon Dam. They have a very nice visitor's center with some great views. We were disappointed to find out that we had just missed the last guided tour of the day, but the visitor's center was still quite interesting.

After seeing the dam we returned to the hotel. Nick was very excited to use the swimming pool. I sat poolside and enjoyed the view of Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell, and a decent sunset while he frolicked in the slightly chilly water. Just before his lips turned blue he decided to get out and dry off. We returned to our room and relaxed. More fun tomorrow.

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Day ONE, almost done

We just arrived in Page, and despite the best (or worst) efforts of Google Maps, found our hotel. Just in time, too. The sky decided to open up just minutes after we got our stuff off of the bike. We're going to get cleaned up and hope the weather breaks for us to make a mad dash to dinner in a couple of hours. As I type this it appears that the rain is letting up. I'm glad. I don't want to get wet on the way to eat dinner. We're leaning towards a place called "Dam Bar & Grill".

Early to rise

Early to bed, early to rise, right? Screw that. I didn't get to sleep as early as I should have last night, but the alarm didn't care. Granted, I get up everyday before 5am, but Nicky Tomatoes does not. He's less than thrilled right now. He's a barely even functional. We're about to get on the road in an effort to beat the sun, the traffic, and the heat. Oh, and the heat. It's gonna be hot today. Again. Watch the map.

Day ZERO is complete - Welcome to Las Vegas

Well, we've arrived at our destination for day zero. I don't really count this as part of the trip since I'm at home in Vegas. Nevermind that it took us 175 miles of scorching hot motorcycling across the Mojave Desert to get home, we're here. Tomorrow we'll be taking off early in order to beat the heat, the traffic, and uhhhh, the heat. I can't wait to get into some higher elevations and (hopefully) cool off. Tomorrow's destinations include the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, a place I have never visited. I can't wait. If the Internet is readily available once we arrive in Page AZ (our home for the night) I'll try to post up some of our adventures from day one. Stay tuned.

Road Trip 2009 Map

Check back here frequently for updates to this map.