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Greetings from Moab, Utah. Home of Arches National Park. Today is Wednesday and this is the Day 3 update.
The morning started the same way they always do on a LRLR....the ritual distribution of kazoos at sunrise. The recipients this time were fellow bikers. There are a number of groups on the road and a lot of them stayed here at Ruby's Inn. The German group was the most receptive.
After breakfast it was off to Moab, about 275 miles away. We started out on UT highway 63 to UT highway 12. Followed that through Capital Reef to Torrey Pines where we picked up UT highway 24. Then it was a brief visit to I-70 and a right onto UT highway 191 to Moab
I'm not sure I can adequately describe the ride today. Leaving Bryce we wound through more canyons and spires similar to what we found in Bryce. Then on Highway 12 we rode through Capital Reef. This is a tight canyon road with cliffs on either side. It's a spectacular ride, but there really wasn't a way to take a lot of photos. You'll have to trust me on this. It is very cool. Then we got into the mountains. UT highway 12 turned into a motorcyclists dream. It went up to 10,000 feet and back down again over the course of about 30 miles. The road has all the twists and turns you could ever want while riding a bike. I could feel myself slip into the rhythm of the road and soar through the curves, hills and valleys. And I could sense the others did too. We stopped at a scenic overlook near the top and we were all high fives and big smiles. Then we did it again on the down slope. If you ever get anywhere near this road between Escalante and Torrey, you have got to try it. Be safe. Know your limitations because the road will surprise you, but it's worth having a go at it.
Somewhere in between Hanksville and I-70, Matt decided that he needed a new screw for the windshield on his Buell. So off he went to Grand Junction, Colorado. Now, this was about 4:15 pm. He was back in Moab, sitting down to dinner with us by around 9:00 pm. That's a round trip of about 250 miles. Kids, don't try this at home.
The rest of the trip was good fun too. When we arrived in Moab we checked into the hotel, the Inca Inn. To my surprise and concern, I had a message waiting for me. Fearing the worst I went to the office to retrieve it. It was from the duck-nappers. They are demanding that I deposit the money into a Swiss account or I'll never see the duck again. I'll decide tomorrow how I'm going to handle this new twist.
Before dinner a number of us went to Arches National Park. Even though we're all a little burnt out on rocks and beautiful scenery, the ride through arches was very nice. The Arches themselves are very cool to see. They're much larger than I had imagined.
After dinner it was dinner at the Moab Brewery. Good food and good people We met up with a friend of Greg's named Lynn Uttinger who owns a rock shop here in town. He's quite a character and it was good to talk with him. Apparently, they've found a 4th dinosaur on his property and Brigham Young University is dealing with the excavation. No. Really.
Tomorrow it will be a little more of Arches and then we ride for Mesa Verde. Just in case you were wondering, there's still time to make a donation.
Hope you are enjoying the pics.
Be well
Bill