Yarn Cruiser
Rising Sun Member
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2020
- Messages
- 980
I had no intentions of attending SAS this year and the registration blew me by. There was a pang of sadness about it but I knew @DomOfTheDead and I would still have a fun summer. I had some free time open up correlating with the event and this trip started with two innocent questions. One to @Cruisertrash asking “what would it look like if I showed up to SAS?” After sending that loaded question to Jim, I knew I should probably consult with my husband about the plan that was already forming. So to Dom I asked “how would you feel if I went to solid axle?” Which really translated to, look, I know we talked about this but I’m going to the event and I know you can’t go with me but I really want to go and I’m going to. 
After 12 years together Dom already knew my decision that was presented as question. Which he very much supported, even though he was little sad he couldn’t attend.
Jim was very patient as I asked about 30-50 more questions that I needed answered even though I already knew I was going. One of those questions was, do you think they would let me attend CruiseHer? SAS ladies day. He reached out to the organizers for me and they confirmed they would in fact let me attended CruiseHer without being a registered driver for SAS. This would end up being a pivotal moment for the trip and sealing the deal so to speak. A couple days later the organizers would reach out to me about a cancellation slot they couldn’t fill with about 2 weeks before SAS I was officially registered for the event! This is when Dom had a lot of work to do to ensure Knitty was performing at her best.
Dom, Jim, Karen and katie @Canonyero provided a lot of support and encouragement to make sure I didn’t chicken out this trip and saw it through to end. Huge thank you to their support! I couldn’t have done it without them. I had been to Ouray once before so I knew the challenge I was getting myself into. Very high shelf roads, my least favorite thing. Over the years Dom has helped me tremendously to slowly overcome my fear of heights, I still have a ways to go on that but I wanted to push myself on this trip. Dom promised he would send me encouraging messages everyday before trails, of which he followed through on.
Jim, Karen and I left Friday the 31st to meet @fyffer on the other side of Poncha Pass where we left pavement and took some light trails and dirt roads to Lake City. One section here was had a very steep down hill that made me very thankful for my new gears. The views were spectacular! In the wise words of the Gandalf the Grey “keep it secret keep it safe.” I will not disclose the route but it was epic.
We all had a great time taking in the country side and enjoyed the lighthearted moments. Such as Jim forgetting to strap down some cargo, thankfully nothing fell off and everything stayed put for about 40 minutes of travel before it was corrected.
And Mike took what looked like a relaxing creek bath.
On this leg of the trip we saw one bear that crossed on Poncha Pass, three moose, a few deer and some pronghorn that were running next to us on a higher speed section. Oh, and some lovely ranch horses.
We took lots of little breaks to check out future camping spots. Here’s Mike checking one out for us.
We had a tiny section of pavement to head into lake city to top off on gas where we then made our way to a developed campground near Cinnamon to stay for the night. The camp host was extra nice and I could have easily sat and had dinner with her that night. The next morning, Sunday we headed out for Cinnamon, California, Hurricane and Corkscrew to our home for the week.
If you don’t see at least one whistle pig did you even do a pass? We also ran into some fellow SAS participants on the way.
This is the original owner of this 60, a Ouray local just enjoying a fun Sunday driver. He was extra excited to see two others 60s and maybe one lonely 80.
We stopped in Animas Forks for lunch while discussing how viable Corkscrew was going to be. We had some mixed results showing open and closed due to flooding. We knew we would be able to at least get to the fork for corkscrew and contained on with our original plan.
Thankfully we had very little trail traffic through this whole section and we decided to give Corkscrew a shot. At summit we confirmed that it was opened!
This was the best way to come into Ouray! The views are just spectacular, the trails weren’t that challenging and it plunged me into the high shelf roads right away. Plus being a group of three allowed us to be a little more nimble and flexible through these tight sections. Mike and Jim provided lots of encouragement and patience with me through this route as I built up some confidence. I was pretty slow. Without that I might have been a bit of mess. I think this might be my favorite picture of the trip! The views! And even though this was the 4th pass of the day it really gave me the I am doing this feeling.
The next big challenge was the narrow drop off section of the million dollar highway, at that point it felt like the worst. It felt very good to drive into Ouray! I should note this section did come with its own soundtrack. I lost a clamp to my exhaust and my muffler sheered off, probably due to rust. So we made a bit of sound over every rock and bump. Thankfully Rusty Nail Racing puts up some extra hours for SAS participants and they were able to get me in on Monday for welding. They enjoyed my “chick 80” and had some good light hearted laughs about that. I enjoyed the rest of the week without a cacophony of Knittys own creation.
Tuesday we set out as a group of four to do Imogene as an out and back on the Ouray side. We were able to get on trail pretty early with little trail traffic on the way up and with that amazing mountain morning light. Mike and I had a bit of fun channeling Dom throughout the trip but especially this trail. Often saying “what would Dom do?” And my personal favorite “I got that Dom in me” which has the shock value but anyone who knows Dom knows just how fitting it is. Also provided a ton of laughs about the inappropriateness of it all. It pushed me to try some of the fun stuff that I wished Dom was able to see me do.
I was able to send this picture to Dom with the caption of “I did it!” At the summit.
Tuesday evening was the SAS picture day which was a lot but all in good fun. @Johnny Utah let me and @nakman jump in front for picture day! Lumping Mike and all of us together. It was great having Scott along for some good laughs and trail encouragement. Rising Sun has some great people in it and even better friends! Unfortunately our schedules didn’t work out for a trail day together. So we will have to remedy that shortly. During picture day Scott told me to be careful of cactus as I lived in my Tevas and I told him how Mike saved me on my wedding trip after I stepped on one. So course, I had another cactus experience on this trip. Thankfully it only hurt a little. Will this teach me to not wear sandals? Absolutely not.
After 12 years together Dom already knew my decision that was presented as question. Which he very much supported, even though he was little sad he couldn’t attend.Jim was very patient as I asked about 30-50 more questions that I needed answered even though I already knew I was going. One of those questions was, do you think they would let me attend CruiseHer? SAS ladies day. He reached out to the organizers for me and they confirmed they would in fact let me attended CruiseHer without being a registered driver for SAS. This would end up being a pivotal moment for the trip and sealing the deal so to speak. A couple days later the organizers would reach out to me about a cancellation slot they couldn’t fill with about 2 weeks before SAS I was officially registered for the event! This is when Dom had a lot of work to do to ensure Knitty was performing at her best.
Dom, Jim, Karen and katie @Canonyero provided a lot of support and encouragement to make sure I didn’t chicken out this trip and saw it through to end. Huge thank you to their support! I couldn’t have done it without them. I had been to Ouray once before so I knew the challenge I was getting myself into. Very high shelf roads, my least favorite thing. Over the years Dom has helped me tremendously to slowly overcome my fear of heights, I still have a ways to go on that but I wanted to push myself on this trip. Dom promised he would send me encouraging messages everyday before trails, of which he followed through on.
Jim, Karen and I left Friday the 31st to meet @fyffer on the other side of Poncha Pass where we left pavement and took some light trails and dirt roads to Lake City. One section here was had a very steep down hill that made me very thankful for my new gears. The views were spectacular! In the wise words of the Gandalf the Grey “keep it secret keep it safe.” I will not disclose the route but it was epic.
We all had a great time taking in the country side and enjoyed the lighthearted moments. Such as Jim forgetting to strap down some cargo, thankfully nothing fell off and everything stayed put for about 40 minutes of travel before it was corrected.
And Mike took what looked like a relaxing creek bath.
On this leg of the trip we saw one bear that crossed on Poncha Pass, three moose, a few deer and some pronghorn that were running next to us on a higher speed section. Oh, and some lovely ranch horses.
We took lots of little breaks to check out future camping spots. Here’s Mike checking one out for us.
We had a tiny section of pavement to head into lake city to top off on gas where we then made our way to a developed campground near Cinnamon to stay for the night. The camp host was extra nice and I could have easily sat and had dinner with her that night. The next morning, Sunday we headed out for Cinnamon, California, Hurricane and Corkscrew to our home for the week.
If you don’t see at least one whistle pig did you even do a pass? We also ran into some fellow SAS participants on the way.
This is the original owner of this 60, a Ouray local just enjoying a fun Sunday driver. He was extra excited to see two others 60s and maybe one lonely 80.
We stopped in Animas Forks for lunch while discussing how viable Corkscrew was going to be. We had some mixed results showing open and closed due to flooding. We knew we would be able to at least get to the fork for corkscrew and contained on with our original plan.
Thankfully we had very little trail traffic through this whole section and we decided to give Corkscrew a shot. At summit we confirmed that it was opened!
This was the best way to come into Ouray! The views are just spectacular, the trails weren’t that challenging and it plunged me into the high shelf roads right away. Plus being a group of three allowed us to be a little more nimble and flexible through these tight sections. Mike and Jim provided lots of encouragement and patience with me through this route as I built up some confidence. I was pretty slow. Without that I might have been a bit of mess. I think this might be my favorite picture of the trip! The views! And even though this was the 4th pass of the day it really gave me the I am doing this feeling.
The next big challenge was the narrow drop off section of the million dollar highway, at that point it felt like the worst. It felt very good to drive into Ouray! I should note this section did come with its own soundtrack. I lost a clamp to my exhaust and my muffler sheered off, probably due to rust. So we made a bit of sound over every rock and bump. Thankfully Rusty Nail Racing puts up some extra hours for SAS participants and they were able to get me in on Monday for welding. They enjoyed my “chick 80” and had some good light hearted laughs about that. I enjoyed the rest of the week without a cacophony of Knittys own creation.
Tuesday we set out as a group of four to do Imogene as an out and back on the Ouray side. We were able to get on trail pretty early with little trail traffic on the way up and with that amazing mountain morning light. Mike and I had a bit of fun channeling Dom throughout the trip but especially this trail. Often saying “what would Dom do?” And my personal favorite “I got that Dom in me” which has the shock value but anyone who knows Dom knows just how fitting it is. Also provided a ton of laughs about the inappropriateness of it all. It pushed me to try some of the fun stuff that I wished Dom was able to see me do.
I was able to send this picture to Dom with the caption of “I did it!” At the summit.
Tuesday evening was the SAS picture day which was a lot but all in good fun. @Johnny Utah let me and @nakman jump in front for picture day! Lumping Mike and all of us together. It was great having Scott along for some good laughs and trail encouragement. Rising Sun has some great people in it and even better friends! Unfortunately our schedules didn’t work out for a trail day together. So we will have to remedy that shortly. During picture day Scott told me to be careful of cactus as I lived in my Tevas and I told him how Mike saved me on my wedding trip after I stepped on one. So course, I had another cactus experience on this trip. Thankfully it only hurt a little. Will this teach me to not wear sandals? Absolutely not.
