one week
5274 km / 3296 miles
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Early November 2009 I had to drive to
Colorado Springs, to file some paperwork with a friend
at the DMV to get a US-title for my motorcycle.
The whole thing is a long story, but to make it short:
The Africa Twin was never sold in the US, and even
Honda-USA has never heard of a Africa Twin. Therefore it
is (nearly) impossible to get it titled here, but in a
few states they still have a "back door" that allows to
get a title, Colorado is one of them. A friend agreed to
file the paperwork for me, but for the VIN-inspection by
the state troopers the bike had to be in Colorado.
So, getting a appointment, packing, and off to Colorado.
Unfortunately I had only one week for the trip,
because directly afterwards I had to start my first
job in the US. Normally I would recommend at least 2-3
weeks for such a trip, and then some side roads and
not only major highways and Interstates.
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General
Information
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The best time for a trip to
Colorado is certainly NOT November. Shortly before I
left home, they had a snow storm north west of Denver,
and the Interstates I80 and I25 were closed for several
days. So I had to take a more southern route, which
turned out to be much nicer anyway.
The road conditions were quite good, but on
some passes they didn't manage to entirely remove the
ice and snow.
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From Portland, Oregon I drive east
to Idaho, then further south. The
landscape was rather flat and not really
interesting. |
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In Utah the landscape
quickly changed, and the driving became much
more fun. |
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I didn't have much time on this
trip, but I just had to do at least one of the
beautiful side roads. So I had some fun on my
one hour detour on this desert-dirt-road. |
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In Colorado it had snowed
not only in Denver, and it was still quite cold. |
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The Vail Pass (10,603
feet) was absolutely gorgeous, but very cold!
Because of snow, ice and gravel on the road I
couldn't have as much fun in the nice turns as I
wanted to. |
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