September 29
We got off a bit late, around 10. Today...the Escalante Staircase on Utah 12 and 24. After all my concern about not riding the same road twice, this is a road I wanted to repeat. We had ridden it last year and had loved it. I remember thinking that the whole road looked like it should be a national park! We rode up UT14 out of Cedar City. I had forgotten how beautiful that tight little canyon was. And, for the first time, we started seeing aspens in full fall colors. So far, I had been missing this…I was out a little later last year and had seen a lot of fall colors, but so far on this trip, most of the trees had not begun to change. Not so here…the hillsides looked like they had been airbrushed with brilliant shades of yellow and orange. As I rounded a curve, I heard a "thunk", but I didn't think anything of it. Up through Cedar Breaks, where a bicycle tour was getting started. This must be a popular area for bicyclists, we saw a lot last year and would see a lot today. We rode down to Panguitch, and past Bryce Canyon. I love the Bryce Canyon airport…it is on the north side of the road, and you know you have reached it when you see “Bryce Canyon Airport” painted on the roof of a barn! We pulled into Bryce Canyon for a short stop. I opened my topbox, and found out what the "thunk" had been. My almost-full bottle of tequila had turned over, and was now almost empty! A baseball cap had soaked up a lot of it, but there was still a fair amount sloshing around in the bottom of the box. We emptied it out and soaked up the rest of the tequila with some rags. Eric used some of the soaked rags to clean his bike...tequila makes pretty good bug remover! Kind of expensive, though. Then we hit the road again.
UT12 is just
amazing, I love this road. The
scenery varies from
bare desert cliffs to hills covered with aspens and evergreens. It
dives down through canyons and rides the top of ridgelines.
On one
twisty section in the hills, a gust of wind scattered a thick haze of golden
aspen leaves across the road as I rode through.
It was like riding through confetti!
Twisty, scenic, and varied…what more could one ask for?
At one picture overlook, we chatted with some RV’ers from south Florida
that were looking for a place to camp, and finding all of the campgrounds full.
At Torrey we stopped for gas and lunch at a convenience store that
advertised that they had a deli. There
was only one lady working the whole place, and it took her a while to get our
food to us, but it was good when it came. After
lunch, we headed east on UT24 through Capital Reef. The scenery here was red rock cliffs, with the road following
the bed of a small river lined with cottonwoods, winding around the cliffs.
As we continued east, the red cliffs gave way to gray hills and dunes,
looking like the surface of the moon…except for the tracks made by 4-wheelers
climbing the hills! At Hanksville, the road jogged north, headed for I70, which
is where we wanted to be, so that we could make Grand Junction or Glenwood
Springs for the night. That 40 mile
stretch was a bit more relaxing…straight over gently rolling hills, with
cliffs and mountains, like the territory we had just ridden through, to our
left. We got gas at I70, and
started cooking along to Colorado. After
a bit I noticed that Eric was gone. I
slowed down for him to catch up, but he never did.
So I pulled off at an exit, thinking that if he did not show up in about
10 minutes, I would turn around and go look for him.
But after a few moments he appeared over a hill and pulled up beside me.
His bike had overheated, and he had pulled off to put is some coolant.
This worried both of us, but there was nothing to do but push on and keep
an eye on it. Eric took the lead
and we made Grand Junction about 30 minutes before sunset.
We took a Holiday Inn Express and went to find a carwash to blast out
Eric’s radiator, thinking that maybe it was clogged with bugs.
Dinner that night was a killer Tuscan pizza (chicken, sun-dried tomatos,
feta, pesto, and lots of other good stuff) at a place called Boston’s that was
within walking distance. About 400
miles today.
September 30
We ran up I70 into the morning sun to a gas stop in Glenwood Springs, then up Hwy 82 towards Aspen. We got into a traffic snarl just outside of Aspen, where the bridge over Castle Creek was being repaved. Then through Aspen, which I had never seen without snow. This is such a pretty town; it is understandable why the rich and famous like it so much. As we were stopped at a traffic light, I looked up to the top of the mountain and saw paragliders taking off. That looks like SUCH a fun sport, I have got to try it! I had never been beyond the city center, up the road to Independence Pass, but a friend had assured me that this was a great ride, not to be missed.
Was he ever right! Could this be the most beautiful road I have ever been on? Twisty, narrow, sometimes down to a single lane, aspens in full color change, up to evergreens, then above the tree line, then back through evergreens and aspens again. Unbelievable views. The only problem with this road is that is was not long enough! I could have spent the whole day right there, riding and taking pictures. We did see a guy standing on top of his SUV with a medium format camera, shooting the aspen leaves. We stopped for a picture at the top of the pass, windy and cold, then headed back down the other side.
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Then to Hwy 285 for the ride towards Carlsbad.
As we were riding along, we were both still a bit concerned about
Eric’s bike. However, it continued to run flawlessly, and we finally
decided that the overheating had been caused by running 90 MPH in 95-degree heat
at 6,000+ feet of elevation. Hwy
285 was not all that interesting, there were some pretty spots but a lot of it
was boring. In Santa Fe there was a
major speed trap set up, with one guy shooting radar, and six interceptors!
I thought they had me, but they motioned a pickup truck over instead, so
I breathed a sign of relief and headed on.
We had hoped to make it all the way to Carlsbad, but with the traffic in
Aspen, Santa Fe, and worrying about Eric’s overheating, we were behind
schedule, and it was getting dark by the time we made it to Clines Corners at
I40. Neither of us was wild about
riding after dark (deer, and you miss the scenery), but we decided to push on to
Roswell. I figured the distance to be about 120 miles, which was
getting close to Eric’s maximum range, so we topped him off and headed out.
Well, it was more like 147 miles, and the wind was blowing pretty hard.
There was a fuel station open at Ramon, and I almost pulled over, but
decided against it…bad decision. Eric
hit reserve at 114 miles, and we still had a good way to go.
We backed down from 70 MPH to 55, and prayed. We could see the lights of Roswell, but there was no fuel to
be found. I was watching the GPS,
and I finally said to myself, “We aren’t going to make it”. I felt REALLY stupid for not pulling over at Ramon.
We backed the speed down a little more, and Eric’s bike kept on
chugging. Then, finally, a truck
stop appeared. We made it!
Eric normally figures that his reserve is good for 20 miles…but tonight
it lasted 32 miles! I think we
would have paid any price they were asking for fuel that night!
After we gassed up we ran into town, took a hotel, and had dinner at a
Mexican place next door. Gotta love
a hotel with a restaurant next door, you can have a couple of beers and not
worry about having to drive!
647 miles today.
October
1
We left Roswell under
cover of clouds for the 2-hour run to Carlsbad Caverns.
In the parking lot we met a guy on a chromed out Dyna and started
talking. His name was Rusty, and he
was from LA. I told him that I
really respected a guy that rides long distance without a windshield!
He grinned and said that he was a “purist”.
No bags on the bike, just a luggage role on the passenger seat, and
riding alone. Neat guy.
As we entered, I
handed the ranger my park pass, and he said “Lucky you, one more day!”
Then he glanced at the calendar, and realized his mistake…my pass had
expired yesterday! And this was the last park I was planning to visit on this
tour! I pleaded for mercy, and
received none…so the ranger relieved me of $50, and I renewed my park pass.
Of all the rotten luck!
I sure am glad that
Eric wanted to come here...what a magnificent place. I have taken lots of cave tours, but nothing compares to
this. It is like being in a
cathedral. One of the room is a
quarter-mile long! I wore my
baseball cap and everything smelled like tequila. We spent
about 2 hours in the cave, and had lunch in the underground café.
Then back to the surface and to 285 and I20 for the long ride home.
We hit I20 at Pecos, and I remembered that, years ago, on a cross-country
trip, I had pulled over behind an abandoned gas station in Pecos for a nap.
I have one other memory of that afternoon’s ride…Odessa smells.
Spent the night in
Abilene, about 320 miles.
October 2
Today is an all-day
interstate day. Up and out at our
regular time, around 9. Weather
looked clear and we expected to make good time.
Got around Dallas at noon with no excitement, and about 100 miles east of
Dallas, we took a short detour to our old college, where we had met 19 years
ago. We walked the campus, talking
about girls we had dated, classes we had taken, practical jokes we had played,
and the funeral of Brent Hardin’s goldfish.
We spent about an hour reminiscing, and then hit the road again.
It is hard to write much about riding the interstate, because it is just
mile after mile of the same old thing. You
really don't get the same sense of adventure that touring the two lanes give
you.
We were making good
time, so at the gas stop in Ruston, we decided to call it a day in about 50
miles in Monroe, LA. We booked a
room at a Fairfield Inn that had an Outback Steakhouse right next door, so we
had a couple of excellent steaks, then went back to the room and worked on that
bottle of tequila. I had wanted to
get in 500 miles today, but we only made 487.
However, I knew it would be an easy day tomorrow, about 500 miles, since
I had ridden from Dallas home in one day before.
October 3
The last day on the
road for both of us. I planned to
cut off of I20 at Jackson, MS, and angle down to the southeast on 49, picking up
I10 at Gulfport. Eric would
continue on I20 to Birmingham, then take I65 north to Huntsville. We got gas at Vicksburg, said our goodbyes, and headed to
Jackson where I split off for the ride home.
49 is a 4 lane divided highway with a 65 MPH limit, but the locals drove
like moonshiners, so I ran 80 a lot of the way, letting other drivers run radar
cover for me. Stopped for lunch at
a McDonalds in Hattiesburg, the first lunch stop that I had made in quite a few
days! At Gulfport I turned east
again, and calculated that I had a good chance of being home by 5:30, which is
what I had planned for. I was again
using other drivers for radar cover, and got behind a Yukon that was running
85-90. He pulled off at Pensacola,
so I set the cruise at 5 over and continued on.
Good thing, the LEO's were out in force, I saw three cars pulled over in
10 miles. Stopped at Crestview for
gas, and chatted with a Harley riding Microsoft consultant on his way to New
Orleans. He lived in St. Pete, but
had ridden down to the Keys before coming up this way.
I noticed he was adding oil to his brand new bike and was tempted to make
a joke, but decided against it. I
warned him about the speed enforcement to the west, and headed out.
Dropped off of the interstate at 279, ran down through Vernon to 77 and
south into Lynn Haven. I pulled into the driveway at 5:40, with 530 miles on the
clock.
Conclusion
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I rode a total of 10,337 miles for the trip, and had a ball. The bike ran flawlessly. I only got to camp a few nights, but enjoyed those nights, and I will camp more in the future. My little backpacker stove worked well, and I liked being able to heat up a can of soup or chili instead of having to run out and find a restaurant after setting up camp. It would have been nice to have better cell phone coverage...I love Nextel at home, but they have little or no coverage in remote areas of the West. Eric (with Sprint) often had a strong signal where I had none. I used my CB very little, but had the MP3 player on almost constantly. |
So
what is next? I have a couple of things in mind. A dedicated West
Coast trip, deadheading to Seattle and working my way south, exploring
Washington, Oregon, and California in detail. An East Coast trip, heading
up the Appalachians into New England, Nova Scotia, and parts beyond. Maybe
a stop at Americade on that trip. An Alaska trip. After that, who
knows?!
