James Pratt

Photographer, Writer, Storyteller, IT networking professional

You are here: Home / Stories / Personal / Riding dual-sport motorcycles to Colorado

Riding dual-sport motorcycles to Colorado

by Leave a Comment

In 2007 Kay and I had an idea to ride our BMW F650GS motorcycles from our home in Edmond to Pagosa Springs, Colorado – on mostly dirt roads. We had a lot of great stories from that trip, including the wrinkled New Mexico ranch lady in a white SIlverado that thought we were stealing her cows on a lonely road in eastern New Mexico. And the story about dropping our bikes in a water crossing 10 miles after we left home, and having to go back and replace our recently-purchased iPhones before leaving again for our trip.

Kay and I rode mostly dirt and gravel roads from our home in Edmond, Oklahoma to Pagosa Springs, Colorado on our BMW F650GS motorcycles. Here we are in western Oklahoma.
Kay was on her favorite motorcycle ever – her BMW F650GS with a lowering kit and low seat.
We stopped at several abandoned farmhouses along the way.
Watching for snakes and other critters in these old buildings.
Kay is a busy Realtor so would take advantage of every stop to talk to her clients on the phone.
I had the Dakar version of the F650GS, which has taller suspension and a 21″ front wheel.

Kay took a picture of me cruising along a dirt road just west of the Rio Grande River in north-central New Mexico.
Kay riding her BMW 650GS along the same dirt road in north-central New Mexico.
As we approached Colorado in early September, we ran across a bit of rain in the higher elevations.
Dodging rain and lighting along a dirt road in northern New Mexico.
We sure liked our BMW F650GS motorcycles. Wish they still made this big single-cylinder thumper.
We finally made it to southern Colorado. As is often the case, Kay was on her phone conducting business at every opportunity.
We decided to ride over Cinnamon Pass. What fun.
The pass got rough in a few places, but nothing our BMW’s couldn’t handle. This was one of the smoother sections of trail.
We finally made it to the top by following that winding ribbon of dirt road in the background.
Hours and hours of dirt roads. We loved it.
I had to get in the picture for once. I loved this 2002 Dakar so much, I bought a 2016 model, now labeled a Sertao, a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, BMW no longer makes a 650 thumper.
This was on our return trip a week later in far eastern New Mexico just west of the Oklahoma Panhandle. We love riding dirt roads.

Subjects

4x5 film 4x5x365 agriculture Amazon Web Services bicycle Bill Dragoo BMW Brass Ball Bobbers combine Darwin Motorcycles dirt bike drag racing Edmond El Reno film Fortinet Guthrie Ilford Delta 100 Ilford Delta Pro 100 Ilford HP5 Jeep John Deere Kawasaki Kay Pratt Kodak TMAX-100 Lexington Micha Young motorcycle New Mexico Nikon Norman Conquest Oklahoma Oklahoma City Oklahoma Living Oklahoma Living Magazine Oklahoma Today Ride Oklahoma South Canadian River Thunder Valley Raceway Tombo Racing Tommy Bolton Toyo 45A Toyo VX-125 wheat harvest Wrangler

About James Pratt

I am an Oklahoma based writer, commercial photographer, editorial photographer and adventurer based in Oklahoma City. I love telling stories about people. A motorcycle is my preferred means of travel, and I have over 5,000 hours piloting small airplanes. My editorial photography has been published in hundreds of magazines and my commercial photography has been used by dozens of companies worldwide.

Leave a Reply

Location

My Workouts this Week

Subjects

4x5 film 4x5x365 agriculture Amazon Web Services bicycle Bill Dragoo BMW Brass Ball Bobbers combine Darwin Motorcycles dirt bike drag racing Edmond El Reno film Fortinet Guthrie Ilford Delta 100 Ilford Delta Pro 100 Ilford HP5 Jeep John Deere Kawasaki Kay Pratt Kodak TMAX-100 Lexington Micha Young motorcycle New Mexico Nikon Norman Conquest Oklahoma Oklahoma City Oklahoma Living Oklahoma Living Magazine Oklahoma Today Ride Oklahoma South Canadian River Thunder Valley Raceway Tombo Racing Tommy Bolton Toyo 45A Toyo VX-125 wheat harvest Wrangler
%d bloggers like this: