Despite a promise to myself to "sleep in", I was up early and already packed by the time Tomas headed out his door. Rather than take advantage of Howard Johnson's free breakfast, we decided to eat at the local Denny's. As Denny's goes, it was a pretty grungy place with very indifferent staff. After our meal we saddled up and were on our way headed north on highway 285 across the Santa Fe National Forest by 9:00 AM.

The road north of Santa Fe took us to Espanola where we got on highway 84 and headed for Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Just east of Pagosa Springs we took highway 160 west for the final run into Durango. The highway was very crowded all the way in to Durango. There was nothing really noteworthy about this route except the traffic.

Upon reaching the outskirts of Durango we came upon the local Honda dealer. Tomas had expressed a desire to purchase a riding jacket so we swung in and looked around. We emerged with Tomas being a couple of hundred dollars lighter but sporting a new cordura riding jacket.

Around 2:00 PM we wheeled into the Iron Horse Inn just north of town where there was already a crowd of STs and their owners in the parking lot. After checking in, we went outside to the WeSTOC registration table manned by Don Feyma and others and filled out the forms and got our packet of goodies that included detailed maps of the area. We then wandered out into the parking lot to join in the time honored STOC rally tradition of kicking tires and checking out each others farkles (accessories and gadgets for those of you unfamiliar with the term). We sung the praises of our farkles as we got to know one another.

It is truly amazing the extent to which ST1100 owners customize their bikes. It is fairly common to see such farkles as helibars, PIAA lights, radar detectors and CB radios. At this years rally I saw unusual additions that included a Goldwing windshield fitted to the ST and one with an extendible light allowing the rider to see his tank bag map at night. There were also some unusually colored STs that included a green Canadian model and one that was custom painted a lapis blue.

As we sat there in the parking lot, Butch Dunlap's companion wheeled in on her new, bright red, Triumph Sprint. God that was a beautiful bike! The more I looked at it the more I liked it. The ergonomics reminded me of a VFR but it was slightly longer. The engine had a subdued, throaty sound, much like that of the ST. Boy did I want one. If I could only win the lottery and find myself with a larger garage. It would be the perfect stable mate to my ST.

After spending time comparing farkles, Tomas and I decided to run into town and eat lunch. Once again our bad luck with eating establishments reared its ugly head when we ordered Mexican food and wound up with something resembling seasoned organic mulch. From that point on we warned others not to let us pick the places to eat!

At 6:00 PM we met for a briefing on ride routes, road conditions and LEOs. Bottom line as to road conditions and LEOs was "Be Cautious". Most of the roads we would be whipping around had no guard rails and very little shoulder. If you went off the road it was hundreds of feet straight down. As to LEOs, one fellow mentioned a recent gathering nearby in which well over half of the participants received speeding tickets from the Colorado Highway Patrol.

Once the briefing was over it was back to the room for some sleep. Tomorrow would be the first day of our rides and I wanted to be well rested.

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