As a matter of principle we stay off the Interstate Freeways which are extraordinarily efficient and extraordinarily boring . For our run north to Leavenworth, however, we made an exception, found the fastest roads available and charged up through Missouri towards Kansas City. Our window of opportunity for this visit was tight but we had not seen our friends Russ and Sue for many years and we were determined not to let this opportunity pass. With an early start we were finding our way around the outskirts of Kansas City, Kansas and on to Leavenworth by mid afternoon on Sunday.

We had met Russ and Sue and their two daughters Melissa and Amanda more than 20 years ago when Russ and I worked for the United Nations and were both serving in the Syrian capital  Damascus. Damascus claims to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world (a claim disputed by the city of Aleppo to be fair) and was then a wonderful place to live and work. The fact that we were there over the last days of the Lebanese Civil War and the First Gulf War didn't seem to stop our young families making the best of the experience. We had a little fun refreshing our memories of people, places and events from what now seems another life altogether. If it was a fine reminiscence, however, it ended on a sober note as we wondered what had become of the many people who showed us great kindness in the chaos that has become Syria.

For Jo there was also the opportunity of a little doggy time with the two resident hounds and an intriguing meeting with a miniature albino hedgehog which was far cuter than you would expect. By the time we rolled out of Leavenworth in the mid-week pre-dawn chill any doubts about the wisdom of going north late in the Fall were gone and we were again thankful for our far flung friends. All we had to do then was ride across the fertile plain... again.

Two and a half days on the back roads was enough to get us safely through the wilderness of corn, through the old cattle railhead town of Dodge City, KS and up onto the Colorado Plateau and the swept-up town of Durango CO. We picked the town carefully as it provided a good base for a relaxed visit to the Mesa Verde National Park an hour's ride further west. This historically important site was worth a thorough investigation. For us it was our first tangible link with the diversity and sophistication of the peoples who occupied this place before the arrival of the Spanish Europeans. The feature of the park is the ruins of pueblos (villages) built into the mesa walls. The protected position has preserved the adobe structures and it doesn't take a lot of imagination to see how complex and rich lives were lived out in the secure, warm and fertile valleys of the mesas.

Almost as a bonus, the area around Durango has some of the best motorcycle roads in the USA, so much so that the local tourist authorities published a useful map of the 'good' roads with suggestions for scenic loops in all directions. A chance meeting with a local Colorado BMW rider filled in some more detail and we planned a most circuitous loop north into central Utah to take us further into the Colorado Plateau and its famous national parks. By the time we rolled north on a freezing Saturday morning over Coal Bank, Molas and Red  Mountain Passes, we had the feeling there was a very good week in front of us.