Day Two: Colorado State HOG Rally and Moab - 3 Day Ride

June 20, 2009
Saturday
Fort Collins, CO

Ride to Moab Utah
After a good night's rest and a continental breakfast, we were ready for a ride just after 8 am into Utah - Moab, being the loose destination. We had planned to make a long loop past Moab back into Montrose for a second stop at the rally. It didn't quite work out that way as the weather didn't cooperate the whole day.

The morning was bright and almost warm, although high, thin cloud cover developed quickly as we rode west. We were happy to be riding out in denim jackets rather than leather. The wide open horizon with painted book cliffs in the distance was awesome to take in. We posed for pictures by the Welcome to Utah sign, which has seen better days... having been there since the 2002 Winter Olympic games.
We rode for what seemed a really long time with that wide open vista. A friend of Tim's had mentioned a cutoff at Cisco that wound through a river canyon into Moab. We found the first cutoff, but the road was rough and getting rougher as we rode along which would have been fine for a dirt bike. We turned around after a few miles and rode back to the interstate because we didn't like the road which offered no services and because we didn't know how big of a town Cisco would be or if gas would be available. We stopped about mid-morning for gas and a coffee break at a Shell station located at a crossroads called Thompson Springs. There we watched a pronghorn antelope with twin calves feeding nearby.


After another short stint on I-70 we turned south toward Moab on Hwy 191. The terrain changed again to rugged, towering cliffs and hills or dunes with a coppery green cast. Before long we rode up on the entrance to Arches National Park. We thought - why not? I had read about the Arches in a brochure the night before. Even better, we discovered at the gate it was free park entry this weekend.

We roamed through the Visitor's Center for a bit, posed for pictures and then took The Ride through the 27 miles of park at a leisurely pace. Allegedly, there are over 2,000 cataloged sandstone arches in Arches National Park. We enjoyed spotting a few for ourselves as well as those that were pointed out. The rock formations were similar to those found in the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. We spent several hours in the park. There were many side roads leading to different attractions with names like The Three Gossips (my personal favorite), The Windows, Fiery Pit and The Devil's Garden. In the late 1800s, a Civil War veteran, and his son, built a homestead in what is now the park. A weathered log cabin, root cellar, and corral remain as evidence of the primitive ranch they operated for more than 10 years. Several of the arches required a hike into the hills. Ummmm... not in biker boots.

By the time we rode out of the park, the day was gray and there was an impressive storm building over the mountains just south of Moab. We were hungry so we rode the five miles into Moab, toured the main drag looking for restaurants (I think there are 3) and lunched at what looked like a fun place called Eddie McStiff's touting an open menu and over 72 beers on tap. We saw some other bikes in the parking lot, so we took a chance. The decor was BAR, nothing to get excited about, the service was slow and the food was average. Then there's this funky club law that required a $4 temporary fee which was credited on the bill. That law is about to be repealed July 1st. Two skimpy pulled pork sandwiches with fries and a pickle and an order of onion rings, plus 1 coffee and 1 water was $40 with tip. No, it was not a $40 meal. We felt fairly stiffed as we left Eddie McStiff's.




The storm arrived about the time we exited the restaurant. We lingered for a few minutes as rain began to patter down. We strolled out to the street and looked south which was the direction the rest of our trip was supposed to take us. The clouds looked fairly angry so we decided to ride back the way we came, which looked somewhat if not a whole lot better. Needless to say, the weather caught up and we rode about 80 miles in the rain. Guess where our new rain suits were? Right. Weather people just cannot be trusted these days... My Grandpa's gimpy elbow did a better job at predicting the weather. Anyway, about 50 miles outside of Grand Junction, we ran out of rain and dried out.

We passed on riding to the rally once we rolled back into Grand Junction. We talked to a few bikers who came from that direction - very wet - not good.

Our ride today was 291 miles and about 150 miles shy of what we had intended. Wet or not, we enjoyed every bit of it. Actually, we'll head back in that direction again. There are several National Parks in and around Moab that looked like great rides.

Afterword: We rode out of Grand Junction this morning in denim jackets, not leathers and we rode light having left our rain suits on a rack in the motel. Riding out of Moab, we met rain and considerable truck traffic that blasted us every so often with a good amount of water. Riding behind Tim, I don't catch as much water as he does. After about the third or fourth truck, he unexpectedly ducked. I didn't. As you can expect, I got plastered. Fortunately, I have a good sense of humor. And contrary to popular opinion I do not melt when I get wet. However, we learned how to duck in unison. Ha!

Arches National Park