Day 9 on the bikes finds us leaving Wendover at around 8am for possibly the longest leg of the route. A quick check of the oil before we fuel up and head back east on the I 80 interstate for Salt Lake City and beyond. Interstate riding from Wendover to Salt Lake consists of:
1/ Accelerate to 85-90 mph
2/ Set cruise control
3/ Turn on music
4/ Do not touch brake or throttle for next hour and a half.
The big bikes sit well and rock steady on the straight road at that speed, although the Street Glide can give a bit of buffeting.
Once again Bill did a superb job of navigating through the maze of Salt Lake Freeways, bringing us out in the right direction, all via his phone on his RAM handlebar mount.
We rode through the scenic Price Canyon, past an old power station and then stopped at Price for fuel for the bikes and ourselves. We filled up at Groggs bar and grill. Great little place.
We continued on to Moab, once again lucky to dodge surrounding rain clouds. Had a few at a very cool brewery, but we were both pretty tired after a long days ride. Back at the hotel I did a load of washing while Bill had an early night.
1/ Accelerate to 85-90 mph
2/ Set cruise control
3/ Turn on music
4/ Do not touch brake or throttle for next hour and a half.
The big bikes sit well and rock steady on the straight road at that speed, although the Street Glide can give a bit of buffeting.
Once again Bill did a superb job of navigating through the maze of Salt Lake Freeways, bringing us out in the right direction, all via his phone on his RAM handlebar mount.
We rode through the scenic Price Canyon, past an old power station and then stopped at Price for fuel for the bikes and ourselves. We filled up at Groggs bar and grill. Great little place.
We continued on to Moab, once again lucky to dodge surrounding rain clouds. Had a few at a very cool brewery, but we were both pretty tired after a long days ride. Back at the hotel I did a load of washing while Bill had an early night.
Day 10.
Early start at 7am to head to Arches National Park, which lived up to expectations with its fantastic natural arch formations and canyons. We climbed around on the rocks there like kids for a couple of hours. Great stuff.
We then moved off down the road to the Dead Horse Point lookout, where you stand hundreds of feet above the Colorado River and see where it winds so much that it almost cuts through to itself in a number of places.
The views from there are not to be missed and an added bonus was a nice coffee and roast meat roll at the coffee shop beside the lookout.
After Dead Horse Point it was back to Moab for fuel and then off to cross the State Line into Colorado as we push for a small place called Cortez, where we are staying for the night. We checked in at 2pm, set the alarm for 4pm and had a quick sleep, waking and once more jumping on the steeds and heading up the nearby Mesa Verde N.P. Rode another wonderfully scenic twisting road to the location of the historic early cliff dwellings that reside there (there are houses everywhere under the ridges). As we are finding with US national parks, we were allowed a significantly higher amount of access and climbing around and over features, than you would be in Australia.
This extends to very little or no fencing around cliff edges etc.
After our day of spectacular sights, we visited Denny's Diner for a meal. This evening is also significant in that is the first arvo/evening we haven't had a beer.
Early start at 7am to head to Arches National Park, which lived up to expectations with its fantastic natural arch formations and canyons. We climbed around on the rocks there like kids for a couple of hours. Great stuff.
We then moved off down the road to the Dead Horse Point lookout, where you stand hundreds of feet above the Colorado River and see where it winds so much that it almost cuts through to itself in a number of places.
The views from there are not to be missed and an added bonus was a nice coffee and roast meat roll at the coffee shop beside the lookout.
After Dead Horse Point it was back to Moab for fuel and then off to cross the State Line into Colorado as we push for a small place called Cortez, where we are staying for the night. We checked in at 2pm, set the alarm for 4pm and had a quick sleep, waking and once more jumping on the steeds and heading up the nearby Mesa Verde N.P. Rode another wonderfully scenic twisting road to the location of the historic early cliff dwellings that reside there (there are houses everywhere under the ridges). As we are finding with US national parks, we were allowed a significantly higher amount of access and climbing around and over features, than you would be in Australia.
This extends to very little or no fencing around cliff edges etc.
After our day of spectacular sights, we visited Denny's Diner for a meal. This evening is also significant in that is the first arvo/evening we haven't had a beer.
The motel is a bit dodgy, so if I don't end up waking in the bath tonight missing a kidney, you will hear from me later.
As you may have guessed, Bill's had a night off the blog, but he will be posting up the pics.
Cheers,
Tim
As you may have guessed, Bill's had a night off the blog, but he will be posting up the pics.
Cheers,
Tim
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