Ride to Arizona - Day 3

I got up well before sunrise so I could go to the Blanding Cemetery to see my father's and grand parent's grave sites.  Eric was going to leave early as well, so we sat and ate cereal together and chatted about families and riding.

Eric and I both left just as the sun was rising.  He went South toward home and I went North a few blocks.

I spent a while just looking and thinking of my dad and grand parents.  All of them were significant influences in my life (of course) but I still try to think of how they would react to this or that thing, or how would they handle a situation.

When I was 16, I spent 2 months of the summer with my grand parents here in Blanding.  I drove tractor to plough fields, plant, cut, roll, and bail hay.  I moved sprinkler pipe 2 times a day.  I fed horses and helped train a young colt to lead.

And I learned how to nap.

Grandpa and I would get up about 5 every morning to go work the fields.  Then about 11:00 we'd go back to the house for lunch and to listen to Paul Harvey.  But after lunch, we didn't always  (hardley ever) go back to do more work.  We'd go over to an indian hogan he had built, and we take a nap.

A hogan is dug down into a circular hole in the ground about 3 foot deep.  Then the hole is lined with cedar poles all around the circle.  More cedar poles are lain across the wall in a special pattern that builds up to a dome with a hole in the middle.  Finally the whole thing is covered with a thick layer of dirt to make it water proof.

Because of being buried in the ground and covered with dirt, it stays very cool, almost cold.  Most days it was in the mid 60s when we'd go to take a nap.  And we often napped for 2 or more hours before doing more work.  It was a wonderful summer and gave me a bond to my grandparents that has never left me.

Standing in the cemetery and thinking of everything I've been given left me very emotional and determined to continue to love and enjoy my family, especially my mother, siblings, children, and grand children.  Nan and I are so fortunate to have our kids and grandkids all in town with us so we can see and enjoy them almost daily.  What a blessing.

Once I got back to my Aunt's house, John was up and ready to go.  We wound up standing out front of the house for 30 minutes talking with Donna and Cardon before we finally hopped on the bikes and left.

From Blanding we headed south down highway 191 through White Mesa toward Bluff.  At Bluff we left highway 191 to go towards Mexican Hat, but before we got there, we turned off the highway to visit the goose necks.  That's a section of the San Juan river that winds back and forth through tight loops.  They built a road to the top of a cliff on one of the bends so you can see several twists of the river below.  We took allot of pictures and stared out for a long time before we headed on south.

One other thing I wanted to do was to visit monument valley.  I don't think it's far off for me to say I've traveled the road between Mexican Hat and Kayenta over 100 times.  But until a couple of years ago, I had no idea that Monument Valley was actually a few miles to the East of the highway.  I thought it was just those 8 or 9 big bluffs that you could see from the highway.

So today, for the first time in my life, I turned East and paid $10 to go see monument valley.  We weren't allowed to take the bikes down the dirt road (and wouldn't have even if allowed).  The lady at the gate told us they were planning to pave the road in the next year, so I might have to do it again next year.

I even got to stand and enjoy John Wayne's favorite view.  At least that's what the sign said.

From Monument Valley we rode to Kayenta to gas up and find some lunch.  We looked for somewhere to eat, but everything was closed.  Not just closed because it was Sunday, but doors nailed shut and weeds growing in the parking lot kind of closed.  We finally found a Subway to get a healthy sandwich.

After lunch we turned South on a navajo nation road towards the town of Chinle.  We were travelling a little quick because the roads were so flat, straight, and empty.  The 56 miles just seemed to fly by and suddenly we were in Chinle.  We turned east to drive along the south rim of Canyon De Chelly.  Its a National Monument site.  We stopped at several of the scenic overlooks to take pictures.  Most of the overlooks had navajo vendors selling jewelry and artwork.

It suddenly hit me that now I have to buy 5 pieces of jewelry rather than just 4.  It used to be my wife and 4 daughters, but now I'll have a daughter in law to buy for as well.  I'm gonna go broke.  But not this time.  As nice as some of the jewelry looked, I'm sure that within days my girls would have green marks on the arms, necks, or wrists.  So I skipped buying anything.

When we got to our fourth scenic view, we noticed that there were black clouds rolling into the area,  The wind was picking up and temperature dropping fast, so we decided to get while the getting was good.

We were only 10 miles out of Chinle when the first bit of rain hit us but it didn't last long.  We kept going until we reached Ganado to gas up.  The wind was picking up fast and starting to blow allot of dust around.  One group of bikers pulled in having just come from the south  and told us they rode through allot of rain.  We decided to take our chances and kept riding south until the rain really started to fall.  We quickly pulled into a gas station to put our rain gear on.

Fully rain proof we rode on through the rain.  It did come down pretty hard for about 15 minutes, then we rode out the far side of the storm.  We kept going until we reached I-40, then stopped at a gas station.  While John took a short break, I searched for a hotel further down the road.  I found a Days Inn in the town of St Johns,

As we rode toward the hotel, the sun began to set and the temperature started to drop.  I checked us in and asked about somewhere to eat.  The guy started listing the gas stations and grocery stores in town, then said "Oh yeah, there's a subway".  So we had Subway for the 2nd time today because that's all there was to eat.

Back at the hotel I watched the Denver Broncos put a whupping on 49ers.  I also watched Payton Manning throw his record breaking 409th touchdown pass.  With that pass, he broke Bret Favre's all time record.

It's only 8:30 Arizona time, but I'm done with this report and ready to sleep.


Me at the Blanding Cemetery. My father's headstone visible above the bike


Sunrise over my bike


John taking a picture at the goose necks.


Bikes parked at the Goosenecks with Monument Valley in the background


More of the goosenecks


Monument Valley


Me in front of the mittens


Me by the Monument Valley sign


Back in Arizona


Looking down into Canyon De Chelly


John walking out of bounds at Canyon De Chelly


Canyon de Chelly


Me with Canyon De Chelly

Ride to Arizona - Day 2

I woke up at 6:00 so I could get on the road early.  The temperature was  in the low 40s when I got on the road at 7:15.  I recently installed heated grips on my motorcycle and I turned them on to about medium and felt nice and warm within a few minutes.

I was hoping to get some nice pictures as the sun came up, but it turned out to be cloudy and bland lighting.

Eventually I'm headed to my Aunt's house to the South, but I started by riding 50 miles north to Grand Junction where I picked up highway 141.  The road turned south west following a river down into the bottom of a series of canyons.

The trees were just turning to fall colors.   I loved following the road through the twists and turns, but riding beside the river lowered the temperature another 5 degrees.  I was riding about 5 miles below the speed limit enjoying the scenery and the twists.

I stopped a few times to take pictures along the road.  There are some really interesting historical events along the road.

Half way down the road is the Gateway resort.  It used to be a small town, but now it's an expensive resort, and in the middle of a resort is an automobile museum.  The museum holds the car collection of John Hendricks who is the founder of the Discovery Channel.

The cars are all either original mint condition, or fully restored to mint condition.  It cost $15.  It was worth one visit, but probably not a second.  I liked all the muscle cars and especially the Shelby Cobra 500 mustang.

After the Museum I arrived in my home town of Naturita Colorado.  I stopped for gas and some water, then turned West toward the town of Boulder, then up onto Lasal mountain.

I reached Blanding by 2:30.  My first stop was the Patio diner for lunch, then off to my Aunt's home to visit.  We were waiting for my friends to arrive before we went to dinner, but by 6:30, they texted to say they were still 85 miles away.  We told them we were heading to get dinner without them.

For dinner we went to Blanding's only restaurant, the Homestead.  I got a Navajo taco.like I always do.  We were just about done with dinner when John and Eric called to say they were finally in town so we switched to a bigger table and sat with them as they ordered.  Eric and the waitress started joking back and forth with snide comments, then John joined in.  The waitress was a friend of my aunt's so we weren't "tooo" worried about our food being spit in.

We finally finished eating and headed back to my aunt's to chat and sleep.


Sunrise on highway 141


Bluffs and trees on 141


More 141


Unaweep divide


Bluffs without a road in the picture


More nice images


An old homestead


More fall colors


Uncompagre scenic byway


Cool old car


Cool sliding door


Indian Motorcycle


Model T


Shelby Cobra Mustang


Parked at the museum


More canyons


Twisty canyons


Dolores river


My home town, Naturita "Nature -eeta"


Welcome to Utah

Riding to Arizona for my son's wedding

When my daughters got married, the stress levels around the house began to rise at least 3 months before the weddings.

Here I was just a week or two from my son's wedding with hardly any stress at all.

Is it being the father of a groom rather than the father of a bride?  Or is it Kyle and Laura vs the other wedding couples?  It's probably both.

Kyle and Laura both live in Colorado Springs but they were also both born in Arizona.  When got engaged, they decided to get married in the LDS Mesa Arizona Temple and to get married sooner rather than later.  Late October is a great time in Arizona, the temperatures are still warm without being hot, and it will make a great break from the oncoming cold in Colorado.

When they told us the plan, my first thought was "Will the weather hold so I can ride the motorcycle down?"  I decided not to worry about weather and storms.  If a storm happened, then I'd have to drive a car down, otherwise I got ready for a motorcycle ride.

So the time has finally arrived.  There are 8 days remaining before the wedding and the weather is fantastic.  We had some very cold days last week, but by Wednesday the temperature was back up in the 60s and 70s during the day.

DAY 1

I was in no big hurry to get going today.  I'm only going about 250 miles to Montrose, so I didn't need to hustle.  I helped Nannette get her stuff ready so she could fly down to Phoenix.

By 9:30 I was packed and ready to go.  The ride started with an old friend, highway 115 down to Penrose.  I've driven this highway 2 or 3 times a month for the last 6 years.  I was a prison service missionary for the Mormon church, and I'd go down to the federal prison to hold church services.  It was just a bit cold this morning, probably 54 degrees, and I was wearing my mesh jacket and gloves.

I stopped in Canon city for a short break and to drink some water, then I started my favorite part of this ride, US highway 50 along the Arkansas River.  The river winds through a series of canyons and takes the road right along with it making for a very fun ride.  Add the white water on the river and the fall colors along the river and it was a great ride.

I was almost sad when I reached Salida and left the river.

I grabbed a quick lunch at sonic, then followed highway 50 up into the mounts to Monarch pass.  I don't know how many pictures I have on Monarch pass, but now I have one more. Normally the parking lot at the pass is filled with cars.  Lots of tourists, mountain bikers, hikers, and people riding the gondola to the top of the mountain, but not today.  There were only 2 cars at the little store so I was able to take my time getting my picture.  Usually there is a mass of people lined up by the sign to take a picture.

After Monarch I descended the mountain and road through Gunnison.  On the far side of Gunnison, the road begins to follow along the shore of Blue Mesa Reservoir.  There are some astonishing  rock formations.  I stopped for another picture.

I reached Montrose easily by 4:00 and checked into the Black Canyon Hotel.  It's an off brand hotel but it had good reviews.  I liked the room.

For dinner I decided to take a chance on Indian Food.  I got Chicken Tika Marsala and Nann bread.  It was much better than I'd hoped for and ate every last bit.

Now it's barely 9:00 and I'm done uploading photos and writing this report.  I've even spent a while planning my route for tomorrow.

Rather than just riding directly toward Blanding, I'm going to turn North toward Grand Junction, then take highway 141 back south through some rugged canyons.


Kyle and Laura


Stopped by the Arkansas river on highway 50


Fall colors along the Arkansas River


Sweeping turns along the Arkansas


I love the canyons along Hwy 50


Red Rock canyons


Just outside Coto Paxi


Heading toward Monarch Pass


Monarch Pass


Stopped along the bank of Blue Mesa Reservoir

Mountain man - Day 4

It's the last day of the camp out and I really was not ready for it to end.

Dave cooked our breakfast of eggs, hash browns, biscuits, and gravy.  It was the warmest morning of the trip, but we still had some firewood left to burn, so we lit a fire and enjoyed our last bit of leisure time before we had to pack up.

Once breakfast was over, we began the packing.  When we setup camp it took about 2 hours.  Cleanup took about the same amount of time.  Dismantling and rolling up the big tent took the longest.

I didn't have that much stuff to pack, but it always seems to take more room on the way home than it did on the way here.

Before we completely finished packing and cleaning up the site, we decided to do a little more shooting.  I pulled out my 12 gauge shotgun, some clay pigeons, and a thrower.  I couldn't swing the thrower hard enough, but Chris and Steve sure could.

We threw the entire case of pigeons, several boxes of 22's and allot of other pistol rounds before we were done.

I had brought a 1/4" steel silhouette to shoot at.  It's a fun positive feedback device to shoot and hear the plink.  But at one point, someone was shooting a 45 at it and the shrapnel coming off had enough force to actually fly back across the creek and into camp.  SteveH has a small piece land on his back.  It had no force to it, but it was so hot it burned through his shirt and stung him.

Once we finished shooting, we cleaned up all of our shells, targets, and casings and were ready to roll out.

DaveB shooting his shotgun


Blake and Chris shooting 22 semi autos


SteveB with the shotgun


Andrew shooting his pistol


Chris throwing a pigeon and Andrew shooting


My gong with moon craters all over it


A closeup of the craters


Packed and ready to roll