So we headed up US6 to a campground in the Ward Mountain Recreational area. It seemed practically brand new and mostly deserted. It was a bit windy, but not bad. We were a little late and couldn't find any wood, so we didn't have a campfire that night. My odometer indicated I'd ridden 494 miles, which was a new record for me. Oddly enough I didn't feel that bad. Getting used to the ride I guess.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
The windy weather from the evening before was gone and after our simple breakfast (I made some oatmeal this time) we packed up and were on the road again earlier than normal - 7am. Heading back through Ely, we got back on to US50 and headed east toward Utah. I noticed a sign that calls US50 "The Grand Army of the Republic" Highway. Sounds like Star Wars - where's Emperor Palpatine? We knew we needed to head further south, so we turned right onto SR487 and stopped at the little town of Baker to gas up and continued on switching to SR21 continuing south. We had to stop several times for construction delays. In those places it was really desolate. Most of it was really straight and boring like Nevada, but later on as we headed thru to Beaver it wasn't too bad.
When we got to Red Canyon, Bryce National forest, and other areas that the countryside was spectacularly beautiful. It was in Baker getting gas that I noticed that both my front forks were leaking oil. That's definitely not good since we're literally in the middle of nowhere. I got on the phone and my brother Dave acted as my crew chief and set up a repair for me. There was decent shop in Montrose, Colorado. He got on the phone with them and got them to set things up, ordering the fork seals so they would be there when I got there with the bike. It concerned me, but there was nothing I could do and the springs in the forks would work even if most of the oil escaped.
We got back on the road and again I missed seeing any "Welcome to Utah" sign, though Dan later said he saw it. In any case, we were in Utah. We rode through Milford, Minersville, and Beaver where we turned south on I-15 for a short time, turning east again on SR20. We had to hop on to US89 south to get to just past Pangutich (which I have no idea how to pronounce, by the way) where we stopped for lunch. The point of all this was so we could get to SR12 which was recommended to us as a nice road. Whoever it was, was right. It was a great road through the mountains leading up to the Capital Reef area. Dan had warned us about the area we'd be riding through known as Escalante, how at certain points you're riding along a ridge with steep dropoffs on both sides. Of course I didn't have my GoPro on (idiot!) but I can tell you it's pretty bizarre to be riding along, see Dan and Bill disappear over a rise and have no clue what's over the rise. Even though I was sort of prepared for it, I still instinctively slowed down - it was that spooky.
But fun! I've never been on a road like that. Back here at home I've looked up pictures of the road - they don't do it justice.
We stopped at Torrey, Utah for a short break where we noticed the wind starting to kick up quite a bit.
Tom Clark
I'm a Senior Software Engineer at Intellitect, living in Spokane, Washington. I also do a little development work on the side. And I love riding motorcycles all over the country with my friends.
