Life Tastes Good Here all Year Long!

I have a little explaining to do.

Last night’s blog post left many savvy readers wondering, did Dave and Gary abandon their rib quest? Did they have any dinner at all? Where were the restaurant photos? What did you mean, “<insert food pic here>”?

Oops. I screwed up.

Yes we had dinner: Ribs at the Rib City Grill in Grand Junction. Baby backs for Dave, St. Louis ribs for me.

It was a late dinner (we closed the place) after a long day in the saddle. We were tired.

When we got back to the motel shortly before 10 pm, I had a senior moment and inadvertently “published” yesterday’s blog post without including any reference to our dinner, and without posting any photos. Once I hit the “publish” button, Word Press automatically generated an e-mail to those of you subscribing to the blog.

My bad.

If you want to see what yesterday’s actual blog post looks like with the ribs included, click here, and scroll to the bottom.

Or, here’s a photo to show you our dinner. And, as you’ll notice, not a single potato had to be sacrificed for our culinary enjoyment. No fries. Again. I’m doing it for you, Sarah. Well, for me, too.

Rib City Grill. Day two of 13 consecutive rib days.

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As we gas up in Grand Junction this morning at the Shell station on Horizon Drive, there’s a fruit stand selling Palisade peaches. So of course, I’m curious. Isn’t this a little early for peaches?

Turns our our timing is exquisite. This year’s peach crop is ready for harvest a bit early, in part due to the mild winter, and also the warm spring.

Today, the last day of spring (tomorrow is the first day of summer!), is the first day Palisade peaches are on sale to the public.

We’re traveling on motorcycles, so didn’t have space for a carton of them. Maybe next time.

Palisade peaches. Day One!

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The Palisade peaches, of course are from the town of Palisade, a charming little burg of 2,700 residents, about 15 miles east of Grand Junction. We leave “Junction,” as it’s called, and roll east toward Palisade this morning, on our way to the Grand Mesa — today’s highlight.

Palisade peaches: Try em, you’ll like em.

Peaches account for about 75 percent of all fruit production in Colorado, and the majority of those peaches are grown in and around Palisade. Colorado’s peach crops are a $25 million-a-year business, with more than 17,000 tons of peaches produced every year, placing Colorado sixth in the US in peach exports. The 2018 Palisade Peach Festival will be held August 16 to 19.

Palisade is also on the map for its burgeoning wine industry. There are more than two dozen wineries here – one for every 100 residents. Pretty interesting ratio.

Palisade is named for its nearby cliffs, and known for its yumminess. The town’s catchphrase: “Life Tastes Good Here all Year Long!”

A few miles past Palisade, we exit the Interstate, turning off on CO-65. We point in the direction of the Grand Mesa, the world’s largest, with an area of about 500 square miles. The Grand Mesa stretches for about 40 miles, between the Colorado River and the Gunnison River, its tributary to the south.

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On the Grand Mesa Scenic Byway. Spectacular views, awesome road.

We’re riding the Grand Mesa Scenic Byway, which rises from 4,780 feet to 10,500 feet.

Much of the mesa is within Grand Mesa National Forest. The Grand Mesa Scenic Byway winds through 63 miles of the national forest. With more than 300 mountain lakes, streams, rivers and creeks, the Grand Mesa offers great choices for trout fishing. The waters are stocked with rainbow, brooks and cutthroat, mostly ranging from eight to 12 inches long.

We stopped at the Mesa Lakes Lodge on our way up the Grand Mesa. It has cabins, lakes for fishing, and a selection of flies for fishermen. Dave bought three ($9.20 total, including tax). We plan to put them to use tonight.

At the Mesa Lakes Lodge, 9,870 feet up on the Grand Mesa. It’s a great place to fish, and I’d bet the farm Dave will be back to fish here. Sadly, we didn’t bring any fishing gear, otherwise we would have cast a line for some brown trout.

There are several hundred high alpine lakes on the Grand Mesa, all public and most are fishable. This one was a few hundred feet from the Mesa Lakes Resort. Yes, Dave was salivating; I’m pretty sure that’s what he was doing.

The Grand Mesa is home to the Powderhorn Mountain Resort, which had a very limited 2017-2018 season due to lack of snow. For much of the season, Powderhorn operated only Thursday through Sunday to preserve its mountain snowpack. Now that summer season is here, Powderhorn opened last week for mountain biking and other non-snow dependent activities.

A couple of final photos on the Grand Mesa. In this one, Dave’s taking a photo of me taking a pic of him.

And in this one, I’m taking a picture of him taking a pic of me. Make sense?

***

As we head down the Grand Mesa toward the towns of Cedaredge and Orchard City, the scenery gradually turns agricultural. Cedaredge has fruit orchards and alfalfa fields, but the most successful business here is cattle ranching. Best party in town: the Cedaredge Applefest, which this year will be held from October 4 to 7.

Elevation in Orchard City is 5,446 feet, a considerable drop from the top of Grand Mesa. As we turn east on CO-92 and head toward Hotchkiss, our elevation actually drops a bit; Hotchkiss is a little more than 5,330 feet above sea level.

In Colorado, as in Alaska, it’s road construction season. Here we are on CO-133, heading north toward McClure Pass. Well, we will be heading that way after the guy with the stop sign lets us through. Note the rider in my rear view mirror.

The guy in my rear view mirror is still there. Now he’s waving at me. Hi, Dave!

But we soon begin climbing as we leave Hotchkiss, turn north on CO-133, and head for McClure Pass. Again. We retrace our path from yesterday, though in the opposite direction. Heading northward, we roll through Paonia, then coal country, up to McClure Pass, and down the steep descent into Redstone.

We pulled over on the side of the road, about a hundred feet south of McClure Pass. My Harley’s on the shoulder, its shadow is partially in the roadway. Safe, sort of.

We follow the contours of the Crystal River, and are back home in Carbondale in no time, and in time for an early dinner.

Tonight, we’ll do ribs locally.

There’s a lot to choose from. The Roaring Fork Valley is full of foodies. There are a half-dozen rib restaurants within a bicycle ride of our house.

We drove, in Sarah’s car, to Basalt. For ribs. The three of us.

Photo contest. Guess which plate is Sarah’s, and which is Gary and Dave’s (Gary and Dave had the same thing).

Whose dinner is this?

OK then. Whose dinner is this?

If you guessed Sarah had chicken and sweet potato fries, you win. The two guys had St. Louis ribs, baked beans and cole slaw. The ribs were good, but not great.

So, after three days of ribs, the standings look like this: Slow Groovin (Marble), 1st place. Smoke Modern Barbecue (Basalt), 2nd place. Rib City Grill (Grand Junction), 3rd place.

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After dinner at Smoke Modern Barbecue in Basalt, it’s time for some sunset fishing. Local fishing experts tell us the last hour or so before sunset is the most productive time to catch fish on the Roaring Fork River. That’s what we’re trying to do.

Beautiful evening, fishing on the Roaring Fork River. 

Dave, Sarah and I head to the Roaring Fork, near Catherine’s Store (locals will know where that is; the rest of you can look it up).

Check out the photo below to see how we did.

We had the net ready to go, in case Dave landed a big one (or any size fish, for that matter). But all we got in the net was Dave, as you can see in the photo. Another fishing goose-egg, and a great time. Whether you catch a fish or not is irrelevant; it’s the experience that counts. (It’s about the journey, not the destination!)

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Day Three Summary: The world’s biggest mesa, and another futile (though fun) effort to land a fish.

Click here to see today’s complete route from Grand Junction to Carbondale.

Glad you’re along for the ride.

Vroom, vroom.

***

Today’s Colorado Fun Fact: The Dwight Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel between Clear Creek and Summit counties is the highest vehicular tunnel in the world. Bored at an elevation of 11,000 feet under the Continental Divide, it is 8,960 feet long and the average daily traffic exceeds 26,000 vehicles.

Today’s Rocky Mountain Rib Rally Fun Fact: The Grand Mesa, which we rode today, is the world’s largest flat-top mountain. These mesas are sometimes called “table top” mountains. The world has some pretty cool table top mountains, from Australia to Antarctica to the Baffin Islands in the Canadian territory of Nunavut.

Today’s Colorado Food Fun Fact: On our way to the Grand Mesa, we rode by Palisade, home to the world-famous Palisade Peaches. The first peach tree in Palisade was planted in 1882. Today, the area produces hundreds of thousands of pounds of peaches that are exported to every corner of America.