Blame It On Facebook

HA. Thanks Mark

I posted the pics on Facebook so family could tell where we were. My parents especially liked it. I also posted "mobile uploads" as a primitive alternatvie to a SPOT. The state line pics let folks I was staying with have a better idea when to expect me and keep track of where I was.

I have a pic of my daughter like that from about 8 years ago. Actually nice to see they constructed some rather handsome looking stalls. When we were there it was more like shacks made out of junk that were randomly located around the place. I also noticed all of the bottles, cans and trash for miles along the road leading to the monument. Since then I have told people not to bother going there as I found it really depressing (and there are so many other awesome places to see in the southwest) so good to see they have made improvements.

On a more positive note, great ride report! I was born and raised in Michigan but lived in Utah for 9 years before moving back to Michigan 2 years ago. Your pictures make me miss the West but bring back some great memories. Thanks for sharing.

nice "day trip" - keep it coming!


did your "support crew" get any pics of you by any change?

Hey Silke

I took most of the pictures, so I'm not in many of them. Here's one:



Here's another:

As we exited Capitol Reef, we hung a right and headed east, and passed the "Old Fruita Schoolhouse"






Soon after, I noticed a parking area that looked to be park-related, and made the second spur of the moment stop for the day (the 1st being way back at Cedar Breaks). After parking we walked over to this sign:



...then we played Where's Waldo for a few moments - staring at a rock cliff-face. Then Christina spotted the drawings..




We felt lucky to have stopped.

Unfortunately, the sun continued on its path - so we had to too. And the sights just kept surprising us.



I think these shots are when we neared "Capitol Dome"










'sup dude?



Some more random on the fly (upside down and left handed) shots. Trying to get to Moab before sunset...
















Anybody know the story of this little building?

...Look at that rock behind it!





The composition of the rock started to change...






As I mentioned earlier (and for good reason), I stopped pushing the limits of my fuel range - as running out of gas isn't fun. At this point in the day, I was starting to run a little low, and was glad when I came across this weird gas station

I wanted to go inside, but the Support Crew was getting a little miffed at the length of the day. Did I miss anything?



A few more pics:






I will spare you the other 250 pictures I took that day, but we got to Moab right at sunset, checked into the hotel, and enjoyed the chocolate chip cookies they had out in the lobby .

It really was an awesome day. They bike was running like a top, the roads were a blast, and the scenery could not have been better.

Tomorrow: Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

Come to think of it, the facility did look new. At the time, there was a VERY strong wind blasting us with sand. So the surrounding stalls worked as a nice wind-break.

Regarding the shoulders of the road: there really wasn't that much "trash" (in terms of paper, wrappers, etc), mostly just bottles - that looked to be glass. There seemed to be WAY more bottles than there should be, considering what the population numbers appeared to be. The bottles must have been collecting for decades.

...

to bad you are not my type

Ya, I know. I needed a haircut.

What a great trip! When I was a little kid we did a southwest states/Colorado trip - your pics bring back good memories. I can't believe the pic at 4 Corners. When my family went the only thing that was there was a raised dais with the state boundaries (well, I guess that was about 35 - 40 years ago:eek1)

Saw your pic - baby, baby! I like the little peek of nip at the edge of your jacket

Enjoy the rest of your trip and congratulate your daughter for me on the SAT scores.

Utah is more than you expect. I've travelled through it quite a few times, when I drove through it with the wife she was *very* surprised.

Tip - When you get a chance drive through Arches NP with some snow out, makes it even more beautiful.

Monday, June 11th
Mileage: ?

Moab is more or less nestled between Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.



For no particular reason, we decided to go to Arches first.

http://www.nps.gov/arch/index.htm










So through the gate...



...and onto the Visitors Center we went - to do our normal routine; watch the movie and get the passport stamped.

Some wildlife sculptures outside the Visitor's Center:




Arches is a mix of road-visible attractions and sights that needed to be hiked to. ....and it was getting hot very early in the day. So we had to do a little picking and choosing.

When you take the main road in, you climb a little, then are treated to some magnificent rock formations:






My favorite: the Three Gossips








More "windows" and "arches"












"Balanced Rock"



One of the more famous arches, that is portrayed on a lot of official Utah signs, is "Delicate Arch". To get a really good view of it, you have to hike quite a distance. We weenied out and took photos from a distance. (like I said, it was HOT)



Freeze Gopher! (I know, it's not a "gopher" - but it's hard to pass up a Caddyshack reference)



Gratuitous daughter shot



We thought this was odd looking. Couldn't really make up our minds what we thought it looked like...


It looked like a cross between a butt and and mushroom. A "buttroom"?








"Fiery Furnace"



We had been at Arches for a couple of hours and were conserving our energy for a longer hike: to see "Landscape Arch". Apparently a large portion of it had fallen away from it a few years back, and the experts say its days are numbered.

The trail...




while not long,




...and not full of elevation changes,

(HA, can you tell Christina is getting a little annoyed by 2 weeks of parental overload?)


was a little tough - as it turned to sand



But in time we got to Landscape Arch








The hike got us over-heated. So, after hiking back to the Support Vehicle, and enjoying a few more views along the way...










...we drove the short distance back to the hotel, (Where I had scored a primo covered parking spot outside the front door) ...




...had a bite to eat, and cooled off for a while.

Up next: Canyonlands

Hey Dave.

Yep, Utah was just amazing. It is hard to NOT have a great view. I think you could give a blind man a camera and the results would be successful. There is just too much to see to capture it all.

I know what you mean regarding sights that aren't in the parks. The views outside most parks are just as good as inside. I guess Mother Nature didn't draw any strict boundaries. For example; the road just south or Arches (that you turned me onto in one of your RRs) was totally awesome. We will get to that in a couple of days.

Another thing that occurred to me: The National Park System has been around for 100+ years. It would be easy to conclude that after such a long period of time, most of the Uber-Cool places would already be included in the system. They aren't. Many of the cool sights aren't even near any of the current parks. MOST of southern Utah, from a scenery standpoint, could qualify as National Park material in my book. ...it's just a wonderful area of the country.

If you two are done playing kissy face..... I for one love this, and Dave's reports.

After cooling off for a while, Canyonlands was next. Christina needed a break (from parental overload), so she opted to stay back at the hotel.




We had no idea what to expect from Canyonlands. Note: the next time I do a trip like this, it might make sense to do a little research before we go. We probably could have planned our day excursions a little more intelligently. None the less, it worked out.

Canyonlands is split in three distinct sections, and crossing between sections is difficult, as rivers dissect it. The Colorado and Green rivers both join in the middle of the park, creating a Y. ...thus the three sections.




On this day, we visited the "Island In The Sky" section. The "Needles" and "Maze" sections will have to wait for another trip.




We stopped at the Visitor's Center, got the passport stamped, and then walked across the street to see the first view. The Islands in the Sky portion of Canyonlands, as mentioned above, is between the Green and Colorado rivers - in between the two top halves of Y. As such, it is bordered by canyons (and overlooks).




Probably our favorite stop was "Mesa Arch".




After a short hike...





...you approach Mesa Arch.






The below pics give a good representation of what we experienced as we neared the arch.















I hadn't taken pictures with the forethought of stitching them together, but it worked out anyway.



A funny story...
To those in the know, Mesa Arch must be a classic landmark. We had no clue. (Imagine that ). My Sunday morning routine consists of letting the dogs out, grabbing a cup of coffee or diet soda, then plopping down in an arm-chair with the laptop - while the local news plays on the TV. This morning, as the laptop fired up, the desktop background triggered something in my brain. Damn, that looks familiar. I pulled up my photos from this trip and my suspicions were confirmed. My background (that rotates via a program that came with the computer ) was Mesa Arch. As I type this, the desk top pic has rotated to another scene, and I can't figure out how to plug it into this RR... so you'll just have to take my word for it. ...I just thought that was too cool. What are the odds?

Edit: in the interest of credibility, The desk- top background photo I was referring to cycled back around, and I "print screened" it.




Anyway, after enjoying Mesa Arch we hit other overlooks










Go figure, The Green river actually did look green.






















The road below looked like the kind of thing a lot of you guys would enjoy riding.









Me ride this? ...No way Too much the pansy.





Compared to Arches, Canyonlands is very quiet. Very few people where there - which was nice.

As it turned out, Canyonlands was the last National Park we visited on the trip. But it ended up being a nice finale.


After going back to the hotel and cleaning up, we enjoyed a fun dinner at The Moab Brewery...

For some reason I got a kick out of one of their signature beers; it's called "Dead Horse Ale" I liked the Xs on the upside-down horses eyes.

After dinner we walked around town. ...and forgot to take any more pics for the day.

Tomorrow we start the homeward phase of the vacation.

Great report that brings back a lot of memories of a trip my wife & I took a couple of years ago. We flew into Vegas, rented a car & took off for 2 weeks and 3,000 miles. One of the best stretches of road no matter what you are in or on, is from Hurricane, NV to Torrey. Rt. 9 to 89 to 12 into Torrey. Just an amazing stretch of road with light traffic and jaw dropping scenery everywhere. Drove the wife crazy stopping to take pictures

Need to go back. Thanks for taking the time to take us along.

Agreed. I am bummed that I didn't ride more of Rt. 9, but 89 , and especially 12 were amazing! ...not to mention 24 in the area of Capitol Reef and 128 east of Moab.

Totally awesome job with the report Brad....

Full of amazing pic's

Hey Todd

We liked that pic too - but it's hard to take too much credit. The credit is due mother nature. I'm just the dufus with hand-me-down camera - that walked around taking hundreds of pics everyday - hoping one or two would be presentable.

By the way, are you going to the "Nottarally" in October?

Brad

Great RR and thanks for sharing!

Tuesday, June 12th
Mileage: ~ 250

While we had "turned the corner" so to speak at Cedar City, Utah, today we really started in the direction of home. So the focus was on making miles. It just so happened, most of the miles were scenic.

Luckily, we really didn't have that far to go, so the day wasn't that grueling.




One of my favorite roads on the trip was Hwy 128, East of Moab. It travels along the Colorado River (as did most of the roads today) and was a real gem.


We were stuck for a while behind these two slow-pokes, ...but not for too long









Talk about a view!








So we are riding along, just enamored by the scenery when we hit another gravitational shift. This time it was an entire 180 degree shift. :eek1 I nearly flipped!

(I know, that joke is stupid, immature, and old... but so am I )



Anyway, more of Hwy 128...









I mean really.... Look at that road



Still hugging the Colorado







Had enough of these pics of 128 yet?




The view just kept coming...



I won't continue to beat this dead horse...

But if you are in the area, ride 128





Eventually, we met up with I-70. It started out to be about what you would expect from a major interstate...




...but even its views got better and better as we went along



Still traveling along the Colorado







Then, the interstate did something cool. The east and westbound lanes split and became sort of terraced...

I am going east towards Vail and Denver






Nearing a tunnel






I have no idea why the colors are so different in these next 2 shots









All things considered...



...for an interstate...



...I-70 east of Grand Junction ain't too shabby



In short order we made it to Vail. After a short wild-goose-chase at the hands of Gail Garmin, we made it to our hotel and used our last gift card. . By the way, hotels in Vail, off season, are a steal.

Our "room" had a fireplace, full kitchen, seperate dining area with living room with a sofa bed, separate king bedroom, two full baths, and a nice porch.

...for about $100 a night!

After enjoying a few beers and the view from the porch...





We got there early enough to do laundry (in the nice FREE laundry room), and then got lost trying to find a place to eat. We ended up at a so-so pizza place, then called it a night. It was our last night together on the trip - as the Support Crew had to head for the Denver Airport in the morning.

...but I still had several days riding before I made it home to Georgia. So stay tuned...