Ely, Nev this morning was nothing but pure sunshine and everything was dry. After my morning cuppa, it was time to pack up and head east for the Utah border. Again we are traveling across the Great Basin which has mountain ranges on both sides of you and the basin in front of you. Roads don't change and the scenery like wise. But you do get the feeling just how big the US is when you have been confined to the Hawaiian Islands for the last 25 years. Especially when a really big day in Honolulu is going 20 miles in one direction.
Let me regress just a minute here. Going to the loo with all of the proper gear on is a 20 minute struggle. For example, we fist remove the helmet, next the day-glow safety jacket, next the water proof jacket ( are you still with me??) then the motorcycle jacket, followed by the inner jacket..... we have now removed all of the upper garments and by this time the bladder is in emergency hold...and for the final act 4 more layers of trousers, etc, etc before, yes and someone jumps the line and takes your stall! It is getting to the point where Depends is now becoming a bi-word for this Grey Nomad.
Getting back to Utah, picking up Route 50 into Hinckley we then head north to Nephi, south on Rt 132 then east up to Fairview. From here it is an incredible ride over the Mantila Sal National Forest to Scofield. It has to be one of the nicest rides to date. We then head south to Helper, a boom town 80-100 years ago. A lot of stores boarded up but we find the artsy crowd have moved in and things are looking up. Helper will be my base for the next few days due to waiting on parts from BMW Salt Lake City. For a side trip I went back over the national forest but this time continued south along Rt 31 which brought you back to Huntington. Again a ride not to be missed.
Helper to Moab(still in Utah)
Pretty much following the road south to Moab. Moab is as touristy as it can get.You have hiking, biking,4WD and raft rides on the Colorado River. In the same area we have the Arches Natl Park and Canyonlands Natl Park. Arches was on the program for the afternoon. Nice to visit if you don't mind fighting traffic. The park was saturated with tourist but I did find a gravel road that provided some entertainment.
The next day it was to Canyonlands Natl Park. This I enjoyed as there are gravel roads to the max. Some of them over 100 miles in length and a great place to get lost. Again a great place to go to get away from the crowd of crowds. And to say that some of the roads are a bit rough, I bottomed out the bike at least 6 times and I was competing with mountain bikers at the same time. Before I forget, Route 128 which is just north of Moab follows the Colorado River for 30 miles east. It has camping sites all along the route and believe me if I had known this I would have stayed there vice at the caravan site.
Moab to Gooseneck State Park (Utah)
North out of Moab to I70, west to Rt 24 south, next catching Rt 276 to Lake Powell. Ferry across the lake and Rt 276 to Rt 261 south. Route 261 just takes your breath away from the scenic beauty all along the road. What is even spectacular is the view that you have just as you start taking the gravel switch road back down. The view covers the whole mesa and I imagine that you are looking out 30 miles to the horizon. Gooseneck State Park was the finally stop. Again a place not to be missed at all. The San Juan River had done what no artist could of done with the surrounding land. Image a river cutting a series of bends over millions of years which you are looking at from 1000 feet above.
Spending the night at the state park was a bit different. With sleeping mat and sleeping bag on a picnic table for the night was going to be a piece of cake. Wrong on all accounts, the wind had dropped off to nothing by 1900hrs(7 PM) but Mother Nature had a surprise waiting for me. At around 2100hrs, the winds picked up and proceeded to blow until the early morning hours with gusts up to 20 knots. I just managed to hang onto my bedding but for other campers along the rim, their tents where just getting nailed. Looking around at 0530hrs, none of the campers from the night before were still around. Believe me once there was enough light to get my gear back on the bike and the wind was down I was out of there.
Utah has it all for those that just love the out doors. And what is even better is the lack of people.
As this is my first trip across the US since the early 60's, the experience is just unbelievable regardless of those 6-7 hour days on the bike.
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