There comes a time...

[SilverBullet]

Whereas I agree with Tim to forget about running TWT (definitely agree with that)

Selfishly, I hope to hear from y’all periodically. Be esp great to hear from Daniel and Sarah on occasion.

Adventure on!

He's posting pics and daily highlights on TWT Facebook.

 

[LaserDave]

He's posting pics and daily highlights on TWT Facebook.

Didn't know such a thing existed!

 

[AllByteNoBark]

Scott, enjoy the trip and make lots of memories. I took off three weeks in 2004 and spent the first week doing daughter related stuff and then the next two my son and I rode from Iowa to Alaska and back. It was an epic trip for us. You will always look back and remember the days you are now experiencing and so will your kids. MY son turned 17 on our trip and while I know we both remember different aspects of it, we have great shared memories.

Wish you and yours the best.

 

[Tourmeister]

Day One: Sunday, August 13th.

I’m posting with my phone so this will be the short version. Daniel has no fear. Fortunately, he is also lucky… but he is an amazingly skilled rider if he can keep his confidence in check. Sarah is stretching herself in ways that make me bust with pride. Both have been doing great and are having a fantastic time despite a few rocky moments… and a sandy one!

250ish miles. Stopped at Four Corners, “Forrest Gump hill” in Monument Valley, Valley of the Gods, Mokee Dugway, and Hwy 95 back to Blanding, Utah for dinner. Camping North of town in a beautiful site. Sarah launched wayyyy out of her comfort zone on the dirt in Valley of the Gods and Mokee Dugway. She has a bit of a fear of heights… Daniel was unfazed by much of anything. We are now enjoying a beautiful cool low humidity evening!!

Ready to roll!

Four Corners Monument

"Forest Gump Hill" in Monument Valley, where stupid people stand around in the middle of the road oblivious to traffic

Well placed restrooms at the start of the NE corner of Valley of the Gods!

Heading into Valley of the Gods toward Moki Dugway

The road is super nice for 90% of the park, only one short section is slightly technical, meaning steep, tight, and a bit loose...

I didn't get pictures coming up because I was following Sarah and did not want to stop unless she stopped, which she didn't. She had a freeze up moment at the bottom, did a mental reset, and then attacked it. She made it up with no problems but had to have a moment to herself once we got to the top. Have to say I am quite proud of her for pushing through her fears and getting the job done!

Soaking in the view and wrapping her head around what she just accomplished. I asked her, "How many of your friends can say they've done anything even remotely like this...?"

After a nice rest and drinking some water, her mood improved. He's wondering what the big deal was...? He had a car refuse to move over and they ran him off the road into a large rock, denting his exhaust pipe!! Fortunately, that was all that happened.

Looking back to the West from US 89 where it cuts through Comb Ridge, the long line of cliffs running North to South

Looking South along the ridge

Comb Wash Road, one of the sandiest and siltiest roads I've ever ridden on a GS, lies down there in those trees.

Looking North along the ridge

Looking East through the cut into the ridge

Rush hour in downtown Blanding, UT.

Cool tree! Not sure what it is though

Our destination for the day, just North of Blanding off if US 191

My spot for the night

Daniel and Sarah's spots. Bathrooms and water were just out of the shot to the left along a short trail

Nice picnic tables and fire rings. We didn't do a fire. It was too warm. Also, it looked like it might rain.

Nice big area to park the bikes relatively close to the tents. All of us were in one camp site.

A few hundred feet from our site near the highway, which is lower left out of the shot

Sarah's tent

Daniel's light changes colors

My digs

The camp site was nice, but our site was a bit closer to the highway than I would have liked. Big trucks were going by all night long and often jake braking. I guess I could have used ear plugs, but after having them in all day, I kind of like not having to use them at night as well. We did end up getting some light sprinkles, but not enough to really get anything wet.

 

[Cagiva 549]

Looks really dark out there at night , lots of stars to see . the Mokey is slightly intimidating , as you ride toward it at the bottom you wonder where the road goes , a few feet away from it you start to see signs of the road and begin to wonder if your made the right choice . It’s on now , keep it coming .

 

[LaserDave]

x 1000!!!!!

 

[LicketySplit]

That is so cool. Red rock country and the overall experience must be blowing their minds.

 

[charliez]

Incredible. This makes me want to make my ride even more

 

[SilverBullet]

Didn't know such a thing existed!

Two Wheeled Texans | Facebook

Two Wheeled Texans Motorcycling community The place for riders of all manner of motorcycles to gather and find other riders. https://www.twtex.com/forums/.

www.facebook.com

 

[Multisurface Rider]

Ride safe and have a fantastic time.

 

[SpiritAtBay]

He's posting pics and daily highlights on TWT Facebook.

Traitor to his own creation!

 

[M38A1]

....love that blue/green tent shot.

Keep 'em coming!

 

[LV Bandit]

EPIC adventure and great pics!

How was the weather at 4 corners? Swung by on the way back from my CO trip in mid-June and it was sweltering 100 degrees with a stiff dry wind.

Would’ve liked a T-shirt but wasn’t about to pay the $30 price and get scalped by the native Indians.

 

[Tourmeister]

Day two: Monday, August 14th, ... a rough one! Adventure starts when plans go awry

We broke camp and got the bikes loaded around 9:00am-ish... We cruised into town and found a Mavericks gas station where we got some breakfast. They had a really nice grill inside with all manner of freshly made breakfast goodies. I had an egg/sausage/cheese burrito. After eating, we headed out of town on Elk Mountain Road or Brushy Basin Road depending on what map you look at. It was a really cool road that quickly dropped down into a small creek canyon and then climbed out the other side. It was mostly hard pack but near the top of the switchbacks on the far side it got a little sandy and soft on the edges of the road. Sarah pulled over to wait for us without realizing it would be soft. She went to put a foot down and went right over on the right side, snapping the end off of her front brake lever despite having hand guards. No damage to her and minimal damage to the bike. She kept the snapped off end piece as a memento. We got her righted and continued on our way. Not long after this the road started twisting and dropping down into Cottonwood Wash. Once across the wash, which was dry, the road started a rapid climb up onto a ridge line that had incredible canyon overlooks. I think we climbed 2500 feet in just a few miles through quite a few switchbacks. Daniel got out front and I had to constantly tell him to wait for us if he got out of communicator range. Sarah was doing well. The road was hard with some loose gravel and while steep, it wasn't real rough. She just set a comfortable pace and did her thing. I tried to hang back behind her, taking pictures and then catching up later. We did have a forest service truck stop to check on us at one point while we were pulled over. They let us get ahead of them before they left and eventually I had to pull over for another picture. They caught up to me after a few minutes and I spoke with them, mentioning that Sarah was a new rider and had never done anything like this before, so if they caught up to her, could they please give her a wide margin. They said they'd keep an eye out for her and make sure she was fine. I eventually caught and passed them again before finally catching up to Sarah and Daniel.

Once up on the ridge, the riding was really nice. The road was that soft brown dirt and was lined with Aspen trees. It was in the low to mid 60s and pretty. Everyone really enjoyed this! Eventually, Elk Mountain Road turns South toward Natural Bridges National Monument. At that point, there was a gate and through it continued Woodenshoe Road. It was a nice fairly well maintained forest road with the occasional little patch of shallow sand. Sarah was initially worried because she doesn't like any hint of sand, but she was negotiating it very well. Daniel was once again out of sight at the front. Everything was going great until we came around a corner over a small rise and there was a DEEP sand patch that ran for several hundred feet. Sarah was pretty well into it before I came around the corner into it and followed her. I could see she was already struggling and I was trying to tell her to stay on the pegs, loose on the bars, and stay on the gas. She was about half way through when her bike started flopping side to side pretty bad and she let of the gas at that point, causing her to go down on her left side and literally face plant into the sand... with her visor open! At this point I was starting to flop around a bit because I was trying to scrub off speed so I wouldn't run over her, but there was no way I would be able to stop in time even though I had been fairly far behind her. Keeping the GS up meant staying on the gas. She and the bike were taking up all but a small part of the road, leaving a little gap between her head and the left edge of the road. I just aimed for that while telling myself I could NOT fall over on her or run into her head!! I managed to hit the gap, power past her and eventually reach "solid" ground where I was able to park the bike. Daniel was nowhere to be seen, so I guess he cleared it without any problems. He was also out of communications range again...

I got back to Sarah and she was pretty upset, but calm. She was snagged on the bike and couldn't get up. Her pant leg had somehow caught on her mirror as she came off the bike. She wasn't going fast when she went down and the bike looked like it wasn't too bad. A blinker snapped off and a small fairing around the headlight frame broke, neither being a serious issue. Also, her windshield extender popped off, but we found most of the pieces and stuck those in her tail bag. I checked her over and she seemed fine, just annoyed that she crashed. Also, her left shoulder was hurting when she moved it upward and outward. We tried lifting the bike, but in the sand it just moved, we moved, and it just wasn't happening unless we unloaded everything. We were starting to get worried because Daniel hadn't come back to find us. Then it started raining... and it got colder... and we had no cell service. About this time I was running scenarios through my head on how we could get out of this. Sarah sat on a rock and we got her gear off. This let her relax and get her adrenaline down, as well as mine. We had food, water, and camping gear. We were not real far from UT 95. So worst case scenario, we could stay here if needed. But where the heck was Daniel!? After what seemed like forever, but which might have been about fifteen minutes, I finally heard Daniel coming back. He parked near my bike and came running over once he saw Sarah's bike on the ground and her sitting on the side of the road. He helped me get the bike right side up. I made the decision that we were turning around and heading for the highway. Sarah wasn't wild about the thought of having to ride her bike on anything unpaved, but I told her there was basically no other way we were getting out of here unless we called for a tow truck and spent the night waiting for it. She decided riding it out might not be so bad after all.

I asked Daniel if he'd walk her bike back through the sand for her. I was walking back to where she was standing when I heard the sounds of her engine revving away! He was charging back through the sand on the gas!! I managed to get my phone up and recording just in time to see him start flopping side to side. He tried riding it out but ended up in the side of the road laying in the sand. He was fine, but her rear brake lever was now bent back on itself almost 180 degrees... and it was cast aluminum!! Great. Now she was going to have to try to ride back through the dirt slightly injured, confidence shot, and no rear brake. This was going to be interesting! Daniel and I got my bike turned around and I started heading back through the sand. I didn't have enough room to get up to speed before getting into it and the rear tire we're running didn't have enough grip in the sand to really get the bike moving. It was trying to slide out from under me almost like I was doing once of those slimy algae covered concrete water crossings! Several times I thought I was going over but somehow managed to keep it upright. The weight of the luggage was making this hard work! Daniel tried to hold the back of the bike stable until I could get enough speed to get up on the pegs and try to ride it out. That helped and I was finally able to just brute force my way through to the other side. The rain had stopped, but it was still cool and it felt great because now I was sweating! Sarah was getting her gear back on and Daniel kind of paddle walked his bike back through the sand rather than trying to ride it through.

Once we were all finally back on solid ground, we headed back to where we left Elk Mountain Road. Sarah was tentative at first, but she was soon riding well and we made it back to the intersection of Elk Mountain and Woodenshoe roads. We stopped for a bit at the intersection so she could do another mental reset and catch her breath. The ride back to here was stressful and took a lot of energy for her. After a few minutes, she said she was good to go and we started down the side of the mountain toward the highway. After a short distance, the road rapidly started descending through some twisty switchbacks. I stopped up high as Daniel followed Sarah on down the mountain. I could see them from above and could also see where the road eventually reached pavement. I let Sarah know that she had cleared the worst of it and the rest was mostly a straight shot. She was quite relieved. Elk Mountain road eventually teed into UT 275 just outside the Natural Bridges National Monument. When I finally arrived at the intersection, Sarah seemed a bit flustered but I didn't see anything wrong. Apparently, when she stopped at the stop sign, she lost her balance and fell over. Daniel had already helped her pick up the bike and she was ready to go. I suggested we do the loop inside the park because it was all paved and it was still early in the day. We had thought about going back to Blanding, but I decided we'd press on to Hanksville on UT 95 instead. That would get us kind of back on route without adding an extra day to the trip right from the get go. Sarah and Daniel agreed with the new plan. So we headed into the park.

The road into the park was nice smooth black top pavement. Sarah loved it. The speed limit was of course crazy low, but that was fine. Sarah needed some time to get her confidence back. We pulled into the visitor center and were pretty much the only people there. At first, I wasn't sure it was even open. We went inside to cool off because now we were down at 6400 feet, the rain and clouds had blown out, and it was quite warm! We also took advantage of their water fountain to refill out water bladders. While there a family of exceptionally tall people came inside the visitor center. It was immediately obvious they were from somewhere in Europe so I walked over to talk with them. They were from the Netherlands. I asked why so many people from there visited this particular area and the mom replied, "Have you ever been to the Netherlands?" "It is FLAT!" Fair enough. I guess they wanted to see something out of the ordinary like the rest of us and this region was definitely the place to do that! We headed back out to the bikes to get started on making the loop around the park. While stopped I noticed what looked like wet dirt on my left fork... It was also up on the gas tank and on the fender. It would seem that my left fork seal had let go and it was not pumping oil out all over the place! The park was all posted 25 mph and was really nice. We stopped at several of the overlooks to take in the view of the huge canyons. We didn't do any of the hiking necessary to really see any of the natural bridges. It was just too hot! On the way out we stopped at the visitor center again so everyone could use the restroom and then headed back to UT 95. Sarah was in a much better frame of mind after having ridden through the park and enjoyed it.

The run up UT 95 is a really nice ride with amazing scenery. There are huge cliff and rock formations on the West side of the road and massive canyons all along the East side of the road. We eventually pass where Woodenshoe Road drops out and soon reached the turn for Hite Marina. I was expecting to be able to stop at the general store for gas and snacks, but it would seem that store is no longer open for business! Fortunately, we were not in need of gas. That might not have been the case had we stayed on Woodenshoe Road instead of coming down to the highway. There was a ranger station across the street from the store and they had a picnic table under cover in the shade, so we headed over there to take a break. They also had working restrooms that were open. I chased some cool lizards around for a while and then we got back on the bikes to make the run through the North Wash Canyon up to Hanksville for the night. We crossed the Colorado river, stopped at an overlook for some pictures, and then cruised up the canyon, which is a really fun ride! Once up out of the canyon the road gets straight and long for the final run into town. We stopped at Stan's Burger Shack, a gas station and restaurant, on the South side of town. The AC felt great. The food was great. The milk shakes were incredible! I set about finding us a place to stay and there was a nice hotel right next door with a few rooms left for very a reasonable price. We even got a ground floor room where we were able to park right in front of the room. It was nice not having to carry luggage very far. Sarah needed help getting luggage off her bike because her left shoulder was really hurting. However, she said it wasn't a problem while she was riding. I had some extra gallon sized zip loc bags and she used them to ice down the shoulder and her elbow. I also got her pumped up on some Aleve night time pills.

I went back out front after getting Sarah settled and a dude next door to us had a cold beer. I asked him where he got it and he said, "From my cooler. Would you like one?" "Sure!" So we spent the next few hours sitting out in front of the rooms visiting. He and his wife were on vacation from Germany. They were both school teachers and apparently they get a LOT of time off over the year. We had a great visit. I eventually went back inside and started trying to figure out what we were going to do tomorrow. My bike needed work. Sarah's bike needed work. The closest BMW and KTM dealers were all in Salt Lake City. So the new plan was to head up UT 25 and US 191 to Price, and then head West on US 6 to Salt Lake City. It would be all highway and Sarah shouldn't have a problem with it. We've made it one day into our trip before things stopped going according to plan. I think that is a new record!

Packed and ready to ride

He's a bit on the goofy side most of the time...

Just outside Blanding heading down into the first small canyon

Climbing out the far side of the canyon

Sarah learned about soft shoulders and drop offs... an easy lesson with no serious repercussions

Climbing up on to the ridge, typical for much of the road surface, hard packed and loose in places.

8400 feet and 65 F... 40 degrees cooler than home

In relatively good spirits after just face planting in the sand and tweaking her left shoulder!

She was flip flopping down the left side of the image, I was flopping on the right trying to miss her, getting off the tire tracks into the really soft stuff on the right.

The scene...

Daniel "walking" Sarah's bike back through the sand

Where I managed to come to a stop. Daniel was apparently about a half mile up the road waiting for us to come by so he could shoot a video of us going past him.

Where the road straightens out after the switchbacks and runs out to the highway below

Sarah really "manned" up and rode her bike back down to UT 95 on Elk Mountain Road. This had some steep and tight sections, but she rocked it! Even Daniel was impressed

This can't be good. The seal was replaced right before we left for the trip!

Not gonna be good if this makes it to the brakes or gets on the tires!

We walked right out to the edge... The panorama pic I took is too large to upload as an attachment That is Daniel trudging back up to the road. It was now HOT.

"Let's get some air flowing!"

A visitor at the White Marina Ranger Station (the general store is closed and NO gas is available, but the restrooms are open )

You can tell by the facial expression that this is the female of the two

Looking back toward UT 95, big clouds forming over the area where we would have still been riding if we had gone along Woodenshoe Road.

Hopefully this store and gas station will re-open in the future. It is the ONLY gas out here and could really make the difference for someone with limited range if they are expecting to be able to stop here for a fill up!

Our shelter from the blazing sun, the local Ranger station

The view from the overlook on the North side of the river. All that green stuff should be under water!

Looking back toward the bridge over the river. You can barely see it where the water disappears into the rocks. It is now raining where we would have been riding had we stuck to the original plan.

Still having fun and still glad to be here riding rather than back at home. The bridge is right next to Sarah's shoulder between them. The store would be just off the right side where that little dirt road is by the red butte

Sarah's left shoulder is hurting from the get off, but she is happy now. No broken bones, bruising, or swelling. Likely a sprain. She spent the better part of the evening bonding with some 1 gallon Zip Locs and a lot of ice.

Clemmons and Maria, public school teachers from Germany. He offered me a cold beer and we spent the next four hours visiting.

We stayed at the hotel next to the first gas station you come to when rolling into Hanksville from the South on UT 95. Not pricey and nice. Food next door was awesome!

 

[LicketySplit]

That slippery red sand gives me fits until I remember to steer with my legs. That sometimes takes me days.

I am really enjoying your daily updates. I hope things work out for yall today!

 

[RedPill]

Great adventures, in spite of the spills. It is so cool to meet new folks while traveling.

 

[charliez]

I would gladly give up a brake lever to be on that ride

 

[btrider]

Thanks for taking us on your journey. The pics and ride report are epic!

p.s. please send cool weather

 

[bwdmax]

Thanks for the update.
You could also do some base camping and day ride with the gear left at the camp site and then move to a new area. Rinse and repeat as needed.

Tell Sarah: Welcome to the Club...

Tell Daniel not to be so hard on the equipment it needs to get you back to the truck.

 

[Cagiva 549]

Shade in southern Utah becomes a very valuable commodity in the summertime .

 

[AdventureSeeker]

Great pics and precious time with family! Keep posting, ride safe...

 

[Tigerkf]

Trip of a lifetime! For some reason, every picture of Sarah in all her gear just makes me laugh. You must be glowing the whole time hanging out with those two!

 

[Tourmeister]

I'm already losing track of the days...

Day three: Tuesday, August 15th.

Day three was a HOT run from Hanksville, UT to Sandy, UT. We were trying to get to a BMW dealership before they closed so I could get my GS serviced. The left fork seal let go bad. Harsh bumps were sending oil up onto the top of my gas tank. Sarah was going well after icing her shoulder. It was sore, but she was able to ride without any problems. The "crisis" of the day was Daniel this time... We were cruising North on US 24 when he said he needed to pull over. We were out in the middle of nowhere with no shade and it was in the mid 90s. He had a nose bleed. It was a bad one. It was all over his face, on his visor, and dripping on his shirt and jacket. It took a good twenty minutes for this one to finally stop!! He's been having issues with these for quite a while now, even before this trip. He had a nasal saline spray, but that didn't seem to be getting the job done. Once the bleeding finally stopped and he was able to clean up a bit, we got going again and it felt fantastic to get the air moving through the gear! We reach I-70 and headed East a short way to pick up US 191 North, more heat and more dry desert terrain. When we reached US 6, we turned West over the mountains to get to I-15 and run up to Sandy, where the BMW dealership was located. By the time we got to I-15, it was 100 F and we were feeling every bit of it as we worked our way through heavy fast moving traffic!

We found the dealership without any problem, tucked up tight against the freeway where we had to make a U-turn in heavy traffic to get to the parking lot entrance. It was 4:00pm. Once inside we quickly shed our gear and soaked in the air conditioning and free Gatorade drinks. After explaining the problem and giving the service rep the spare fork seals I had with me, I ordered an Uber cab to come get me and then started unloading my bike. While waiting for the Uber, we went over to check out the BMW showroom. They also had Triumphs and Ducatis. The R1250 GS Rallye was whispering sweet nothings to me anytime I got near it. I had already talked with Beth about dropping off my bike for repairs and the first thing she said was, "You don't need a new bike!". My Dad had this habit of coming out with new vehicles when he went in for an oil change or to have a flat tire fixed... I don't have that problem... really... Anyway, the Uber showed up in a nice Toyota Highlander with plenty of room for all my dirty gear to fit inside. I apologized for the dirt because the Highlander was spotless, he didn't seem worried about it. Then I got in the front seat and was super dirty as well but he still didn't seem concerned. I mentioned that the kids had just started riding, were in VERY unfamiliar territory, and had no clue where we were going, and asked if he could try to keep an eye out for them to make sure they were able to keep up with us. He did a great job of that and quickly got us to a nice hotel a three or four blocks away. The hotel was quite nice and very reasonably priced. The hot tub and pool were out of commission

As we were getting settled into our room the subject of dinner came up. Daniel mentioned having seen a Texas Roadhouse across the street as we were pulling into the hotel parking lot. When I mentioned the cost, his reply was, "Well, it is my birthday today!" DOH! Got me there. So We headed over and I sprung for the dinner. We stuffed ourselves on their incredible roles and steaks! Once we were able to move again we waddled back to the hotel so I could try to salvage our Utah exploration. I also managed to track down a new rear brake lever for Sarah's bike. Everywhere I called they were on back order. I found ONE and according to the dealer I spoke with, it was the ONLY one in the entire country! Unfortunately, it was in Scottsdale, AZ. I called that dealer and they agreed to ship it to a dealer in Provo for me, but it would not be here until sometime Saturday. So now we had Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to try to run back South to do the Skyline Drive in the mountains, Hwy 12 across the Escalante National Monument, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Cedar Breaks National Monument, and then haul back North to Provo before the dealer closed at 7:00pm on Saturday so we could get the new lever installed. I put together 4 days of routes, the first day to include the lower two thirds of Skyline Drive and camping up in the mountains after we picked up my bike from the dealer. They mentioned that they should have it ready shortly before noon! Daniel was already out cold. Sarah was finally going to bed. So the last thing for me to do was crank out my review video and head to bed myself.

He's been having issues with nose bleeds for some time new, even before the trip. This was out in the middle of NO WHERE! And... it was HOT! It took about twenty minutes to get this one to stop. He first realized it when blood was spattering up on his visor...

It got worse before it got better

A covered rest stop on this road would be nice. US 24 North of Hanksville, UT. Has to be the longest perfectly straight section of road I've ever ridden.

Not much in the way of trees out here...

We reached the dealer in Sandy around 4:00pm. They had this really cool side car rig among all the other awesome bikes. I had to get this shot for @Kevin Graulty

I have to say that this dealer was awesome. It was by far the best dealer experience I have ever had involving service on a bike! I was actually carrying spare fork seals with me. I had them replace both and change out the oil as well. All the front brake pads had oil on them and had to be changed as well. Daniel and Sarah really liked all the various bikes. I tried not to look around too much so I would not be tempted to upgrade

Caught stuffing rolls in their faces

The view outside the restaurant on the way back to the hotel.

The air is thin up here! Even at what we might think of as cooler temps, things get very hot in direct sunlight... including my head!

 

[Tourmeister]

Day Four: Wednesday, August 16th.

I got a text from the service rep at the dealership at 9:00am saying his tech came in early to finish my bike and it would be ready at 9:45am!! Can't say I've ever had a bike fixed that fast at any local dealers for any brand. It was great except that the day we dropped it off, he said around 11:00am, so we slept in Still, that was pretty cool of them to make an effort to get it done faster for us! We got ready to roll, scheduled an Uber pickup, and got over to the dealer a little after 11:00am. Both Uber drivers, yesterday and today, were very good about watching to make sure Daniel and Sarah were keeping up and able to follow them so they would not get lost! It was a nice surprise when we arrived and my bike had been washed! It wasn't detailed, but it was WAY cleaner than it was when I dropped it off! I got out the door for under $1K! That was a pleasant surprise for having both fork seals and all oil replaced as well as replacing all the front brake pads. We had to go look at the new bikes and the 1250 Rallye was still REALLY whispering to me... But we had to get moving. The plan was to slab South to US 89, run to Fairview and pick up Hwy 31 East to the Skyline Drive, run that South, and then camp near the highest point on the drive just North of Salina. It should have been a short day and we should have reached the campground around 5:00pm according to the GPS... The slabbing sucked. Hwy 31 was awesome and scenic. We saw some concerning rain clouds over the mountains, but we never got rained on. When we reached to start of Skyline, we stopped for a few pics and then headed on up the mountain with Daniel leading and Sarah behind him. I was still taking pics and bringing up the rear.

I eventually came around a corner to find the kids waiting for me and I rode on past to take the lead. Sarah slotted in behind me and Daniel brought up the rear. Both of them were riding really well. Most of the climbing was done on Hwy 31, getting us up to around 9000 feet. From the highway to where the county road maintenance ends, the road climbs up to around 10000 feet and there is a pull out area on the right. Just past the pull out there was a big sign indicating that there was no regular maintenance past that point. That should have been a red flag for me, but it didn't trigger any immediate concern... until JUST after I passed the sign!! There really wasn't much in the way of visible indications that the nature of the road was about to get a lot worse. The color of the dirt looked essentially the same. BUT... the road turned to slick snot and my GS started flopping all over the place. Fortunately, I was already standing and loose on the bars, I just tried to keep my eyes up and stay steady on the gas while yelling into the communicator for Sarah not to follow me passed the sign. Moments later I heard her emitting unhappy sounds and the unmistakable sound her hitting the ground! Apparently she was much closer behind me than I thought! I tried to stay calm and keep my bike upright until I could reach ground solid enough to stop.

I eventually slid to a stop and got off the bike as fast as I could so I could get back to Sarah. Daniel saw what was happening from the rear and was able to stop before hitting the mud. Sarah's bike was down on the left side... again. She made it pretty far but then the edge of a deep rut grabbed her front tire and over she went. She was very upset! A quick check over didn't reveal any injuries. That said, she landed on her left side again, which was the side with the shoulder hurt a few days ago. Not good. I think she also smacked her elbow on a rock and that was kind of hurting, but she could move it without any pain. She had mud all over her left side. We had her take off her helmet and just sit down while Daniel and I gave the bike a once over to make sure it was good to go. There were some new scratches, nothing broken, and a LOT of mud packed in places that shouldn't have mud in them We busted out the tools to get the handle bar and mirrors straightened. The handle bar rotated in the mounts, but were not bent. All the mud was easily removed using wrenches to scrape it out. I was taking my time because I wanted Sarah to have some time for her adrenaline to come down so she could calm down. She wanted to be out of here NOW and back on pavement NOW. Daniel wanted to get her up and keep going, but it was clear to me that with the rain that the road had likely received, there might be a LOT more of this and I didn't want to get way back in there and start having more serious problems, especially since it was already around 2:00pm. I eventually told Daniel to ride up the road a bit to see what it was like. That got him away from Sarah and gave me time to breath and think. She decided to walk some distance from the road to just take in the incredible view and try to do a mental reset. While Daniel was gone an FJ Cruiser came down from the direction we had been headed. They asked if we were okay and I assured them we were fine. They were covered in mud and I asked about the road conditions ahead. The driver said not to try it. They struggled even in four wheel drive. He's also a rider and has an Africa Twin and said he wouldn't attempt it with knobbies and these are his regular stomping grounds. That pretty much sealed it for me. We were turning around. The weather still looked like it might get worse as well. There was just no point in risking it. We were there to have fun, not kill ourselves. Daniel eventually returned and tried to convince me is wasn't that bad and that we could keep going. Then he showed me GoPro footage of what he had just done. I had to look at him and question his idea of "not that bad"...!? Seriously!? He finally reluctantly agreed. We got Sarah's bike back out of the mud. I managed to ride mine back across without dropping it.

Sarah REALLY didn't want to ride the bike, but I gently reminded her that either she rode it out, or we had to call for a tow truck. It was a long way back to the highway and it would be difficult to get her bike and her back there if she didn't ride it out. She was still a bit rattled and took a few moments once back on the bike to mentally set her mind on the task at hand. When she indicated she was ready Daniel took point and I followed Sarah as we started working our way back to the highway. Daniel took off as usual. Sarah was a little unsteady at first and I could hear over the communicator that she was breathing pretty hard and kind of freaked out. I started talking her through the corners, telling her to take her time, do the things that she KNOWS how to do and, "Oh hey! Check out those incredibly cool flowers over there!" Basically, I got her talking to get her mind off the anxiety so she could relax and ride the way she knows how to ride. Her pace picked up and we actually had a really good ride back to the highway. We did stop at one high point just to take in the view, let her catch her breath, and to do another mental reset. She seemed to do that last bit well. Once she set her mind to it, she got it done, just like Valley of the Gods, Moki Dugway, and getting down off the mountain after falling in the sand. We soon reached the highway and found Daniel waiting for us. The new plan now was to run Hwy 31 down the East side of the mountains into a town called Huntington. We'd find lunch and maybe a place to stay there and then reevaluate our options.

Hwy 31 was really fun. It twisted and wound its way down through a wooded river canyon. We all stopped at Huntington Reservoir where they had vault toilets in a parking area. It was a good place to sit and reflect on what had just happened, have some laughs, take some pictures, and generally get Sarah back into the mindset of having fun instead of dwelling on having fallen down. Once again, she just got the bad luck of the draw. Any rider I know could have just as easily hit that mud unexpectedly and been on the ground, especially on a heavily loaded bike. She didn't care. She's a perfectionist and gets annoyed when she doesn't do something the way she wants to do it. I get it. The struggle is real. I've just learned to be more realistic about my expectations and she is starting that same journey. Some might call it going to the School of Hard Knocks. I seem to be a perpetual student and have not yet managed to graduate. After a nice break, Daniel got out front again and we never saw him again until close to the bottom of the mountain. I let Sarah lead and talked her through the corners because she wasn't running her normal smooth lines with late apexes. She was turning early, diving to the inside, and running a bit wide. So I did my thing and started singing, "Deep and wide, deep and wide, this is how we love to ride!" I love to torment my kids in this manner It worked and her lines started improving. Somewhere along the way I got out in front and told Sarah to just follow my lines, run my speed, and try to maintain a constant gap between us. I set a nice relaxed pace that I knew she could handle and started singing again. "This is the way we connect the dots, connect the dots, connect the dots..." This is how I get her to look for the next apex as she's accelerating out of the current corner. Watching her in my mirror I aw that she was doing much better and was visibly more relaxed, flowing through the corners. Somewhere near the bottom we finally found Daniel waiting for us and we ran the rest of the way into town.

There really wasn't much to this town. There was a nice large RV park that looked like it might have some cabins for rent. I didn't immediately see any hotels that looked nice. We ran the length of town and then came back, eventually stopping for gas at a station that had a Subway in it. We got lunch and sat inside. Sarah was now laughing and joking again, it a much better mood. The ride down off the mountain had been fun and had done wonders for her attitude. I think more than anything she was bummed that her pretty bike was getting dinged up a bit. Sometime I will have to dig up pictures from some of my old trips and let her see what it looks like for a bike to be dinged up a bit Two of mine have flown through the air upside down and survived. The sandwiches really hit the spot. The weather had improved quite a bit and it was now a very pretty day. A few locals came into the store and I took the opportunity to speak with one of them regarding places to stay in town. She was nice and offered what she knew, "You don't really want to stay at that place just down the road because they seem to find dead bodies there all the time." Wait... WHAT!? She was stone cold serious. Basically, it came down to, "You might want to run up to Price or down to Castle Dale." Well.. it was not that late in the day and Price seemed to be larger and have more options, so we decided to head North and see what we could find. We were really wanting to get Sarah's left shoulder checked just to be sure it was okay. It was still hurting, especially after banging it again. She also wanted to get a hotel so she could take a hot shower, lay on a nice bed, and ice her shoulder real good again.

We rolled into Price and found a decent hotel that wasn't expensive. They had a pool... but the hot tub was out of order! :headbang Our luck with hot tubs has been terrible this trip! Very disappointing. We spotted a cool looking ice cream shop just back up the road as we were heading to the hotel. So we dropped our gear off and walked back there just in time to see them locking the doors and closing down. I think it was maybe 7:00pm? So we walked across the road to a Mc Donalds and got chocolate milk shakes. I prefer a good ice cream, but the milk shake was fine. We got back to the hotel and got settled in. I had to figure out what we might try to do tomorrow. We were thinking we'd do a rest day maybe. I just hated the idea of missing out on seeing the Escalante National Monument, Bryce Canyon, or Zion NP. But, we did want to get Sarah checked and there was an Urgent Care clinic a few blocks away. In the end, we decided to get up and head to the clinic, then figure out what to do based on that. Sarah got her shower, took some Aleve, and we loaded up her ice packs. It had been another day of nothing going as planned, but we were still out there and still having fun!

These two shots are for Camilio Diaz

Harrison Motosports I think it was? Triumph, Ducati and BMW. The new bike sales guy was cool as well, a serious rider and he was full of suggested routes!

Stopped in Fairview after lots of slab to cool off before heading up the mountain to attempt Skyline Drive.

8000 feet and the Aspens show up!

Ominous looking clouds abound...

The start. Not liking the looks of those clouds!

Sarah contemplating being up so high and being able to see forever even on a hazy day

It looks muddy here, but it also looked just like the road before this that was not muddy

And not ALL of it was muddy, just certain spots, like the one where Sarah ended up...

Okay... MOST of this was muddy! That is my bike parked in the distance

The rut that got her. That is Daniel's bike and that is me after getting my bike back through the mud after turning around

A contrast in experiences and emotions. He gets frustrated because its not easy for everyone like it is for him, which can get slightly annoying...

I rode on up a bit before turning around. It only seemed to be getting worse, not better.

Typical of the views for many many miles. I was a bit bummed we were going to miss this, but it will still be here for another day.

Sarah and Daniel were waiting near that last right curve in the distance.

The dam at Huntington Reservoir

A beautiful day, but there were still growing thunderheads everywhere!

Not happy, but feeling better after we had a good run down the mountain

Food always improves the mood He's busting trying to keep a straight face because we were just laughing so hard I was wheezing...

The daily milk shake intake. McD's ain't got nuthing on Stan's Burger Shak shakes in Hanksville!!

The pool was at least heated, but still... Not the same!

 

[SpiritAtBay]

Loving it.
Sarah, you are doing GREAT!