As Gaylin just picked up his brand new Road Glide a couple of days prior, he had to get it's first service after the 1,000 mile break-in period. We dropped it off at Durango Harley first in line to have it serviced while we walked around town and got a killer great breakfast at the Lone Spur Cafe on the strip in Durango. 

After breakfast, we cruised around town then hopped on the bikes to head up to Silverton, taking the Million Dollar Highway, aka the 550. Silverton is a neat little town that was born from the mining industry after they discovered a large silver vein in the area. It was established in 1874 in Baker's Park in the heart of the San Juan Mountains, and the experienced a mining boom that lasted until the 1910s.

We got some history from Gaylin and grabbed a great lunch at Handlebars Restaurant & Saloon in Silverton, and had a great view of the colorful little town from the balcony. They had some great traditional American food that hit the spot after some riding! It's such a different scene up there being in the cool crisp mountain air compared to the 100+ degree roads on the way up from SoCal.

After getting back into Durango, we headed back to the hotel for a bit, then you guessed it...went to get another bite to eat. We hit up Ken and Sue's which was right by our hotel, and that was probably the best meal of the trip. We had some sirloin soup, some meatloaf, a little fish, and a tasty salad, and they really did a great job with everything. A little different than or usual burgers and fries, but no complaints here!

We got back to the Strater Hotel to rest up and get ready for the next big day of riding, and ran into some new guys who recognized us from our videos on our first day in Durango! Steve and Tom rode in from New Mexico for the same reason...to enjoy the ride. It's always awesome meeting new friends along the way and we had a great time sharing stories and talking about our journeys. Nice to meet you guys!

We got up early the next morning and got another great breakfast at the Lone Spur Cafe, but before hitting the road, we stopped by the historic Room 222 aka the Louis L'Amour Room at the Strater Hotel for some neat history. Mr. L'Amour wrote many of his famous novels in this room and it is a popular attraction for tourism and literary history. While Gaylin was giving us a little tour, the gentleman staying there at the time actually popped out and invited us in for a look! It had a great view of the street, had a collection of his novels, and was just an all-around interesting room to see!

We headed out of Durango to start our 800 mile journey home, and about 300 miles in we stopped by the historic Winslow Arizona, right on Route 66! Depending on who you ask, it was named after Edward Winslow, president of the St. Louis and San Francisco Rail Road or Tom Winslow, a prospector from that time...but some people are familiar with it because of the Eagles song "Take it Easy". Regardless of its roots, its a cool little place with lots of interesting and historic properties throughout.

Our end goal for the night was Williams Arizona, where we'd be spending another night at The Lodge before the rest of our journey home. We've said it before and we'll say it again, The Lodge is our favorite place to stay when we're in Williams, which nowadays is pretty often. We ended off the day with some great pizza and pasta at the Pizza Factory, and planned our ride for the coming day.

While the ride from Williams back to L.A. usually makes for an easy day trip back, we ran into some 110+ degree heat and some heavy wind, so we decided to make the short run to Laughlin where we'd spend the day as close to the water as possible and beat the heat the best we could. We took a boat ride, got some drinks, and strolled around town before our ride home the next day. 

While Laughlin may not be our favorite place, it's nice to have the option of staying somewhere when conditions get rough. We stayed at The Aquarious Hotel which was. a decent place to spend the night and escape the heat for the time being. 

The next morning, we got up early and hit the road home for an easy ~300 mile journey back. As we approached California, the smoke from the surrounding fires got pretty thick as you can see in the picture. Luckily, it didn't affect visibility too much so we toughed it out and made it back later that day.

If you click on the image of the map, you will find a link to the route to our entire Durango Run! There's some cool stops along the route that are worth checking out! Whether your on a bike or in a car, it's always a great time on the open road!

(click here to open in a new window)

**Remember to always stay up to date with road conditions and routes, 2LaneLife is not responsible for peril.