Day 13 Arches National Park

My alarm sounded at 6:30 AM. I got up and got dressed. Bruce was still asleep. I packed up my bags got my computer and walked out of the room and Bruce was still in bed. I went to the lobby area where there was a room with comfortable seats, a sofa and a TV. I plugged in my laptop and checked my e-mail and checked my Facebook. Jan walked into the room and we talked for a while. Ken walked in and then C.E. Jan told me that we were going to ride to another location for breakfast. I shut down the laptop and went to my room and got my bags, jacket and helmet. I went out to my Motor and the rest of the Group were at their Motors and getting ready to leave. It didn't take me long to get ready and we were off. We left at 8:44 AM.

Chuck lead us to JB's Restaurant in the middle of town. We arrived at 8:51 AM after riding 3 miles. We had breakfast and at 9:46 AM we left riding eastbound about two blocks to a gas station. We arrived at 9:47 AM, got gas and left at 9:56 AM.

Jan led us to a town that we talked about yesterday. The town of Green River, UT. A lot of you have heard of Green River. It is one of the title songs from Creedence Clearwater Revival. We arrived at 10:55 AM after riding 64 miles. Jan had mentioned at the time he took over leading that he was going to make a pit stop in Green River. We stopped at a Chevron gas station and that was what we did. We made a pit stop. We had some drinks...no, not alcohol! We had water, pop and coffee. We then left at 11:16 AM.

Jan led us onto I-70. We were taking the long way to Moab, UT. We were going to go onto a scenic drive. When we were on I-70, I was behind Jan and the rest were behind me. I had seen them behind me and I looked at the road ahead. I checked the rear view mirror to check on them and they were not there. I sped up to Jan and told them that they were out of sight. We pulled over at 11:51 AM after riding 23 miles. We were 3.5 miles from the turn off to the scenic drive. While we waited, Ken pulled up. Jan had asked Ken if he had seen the other guys and Ken stated that the other guys pulled over by the side of the road. A few minutes later, C.E. pulled up and the same question was posed to him. C.E. stated that Bruce had to pee so they stopped and Bruce took care of it by the side of the road. I don't remember, but I sure hope that there were trees or bushes. Chuck told me later that he tried to contact me on the CB, but it is hard to transmit anything on his CB when it was NOT connected to his headset. Duh! We left at 11:53 AM.

We continued eastbound on I-70 and then southbound on Hwy 128. this was the scenic road. It had a curvy road and dips. It was a two lane road and other cars/trucks were on the road also. I thought, "This is the scenic road? I'm not impressed." The longer we were on the road, the better it got. the road became more curvy and more dips. Chuck got a hold of me on the CB and asked me to check the Navigation System to see if there was any place close for a pit stop. I told him that there wasn't so I told Jan to pull over whenever he could. Jan pulled over by the side of the road at the first pull out at 12:25 PM and after riding 27 miles. I checked the Navigation System and it indicated that we were 25 miles from Moab. There was no cover close so the guys had to walk up a road and over a small him to "take care of business." (pit stop) I figured that since opportunity was knocking, I answered and took advantage also. We left at 11:33 AM.

As I wrote earlier, the more we rode, the better the road became. We were following the Colorado River. The road curved a lot and we had a lot of dips. We rode in a mountain road. There were several camp spots along the river and many people were camping. We saw several rafts in the river also. There were people on bicycles riding the road and other motorcyclists. On the curvy mountain road, I took the opportunity to make a couple of videos of the ride.

We arrived in Moab, UT. at 1:07 PM and after 25 miles to our surprise, it was very crowded. It was bumper to bumper traffic and most of the businesses were very busy. We stopped at Wendy's for lunch. We found out that this is one of Moab's busiest weekends of the year. They were having a Car Show and Car Cruising this weekend. We ate lunch at Wendy's and left at 1:59 PM.

We rode next door to the gas station and filled up with gas. We had only travelled 140.7 miles since our last fill up. Krys, would you please let Chuck buy a new Motor? His Motor has the shortest range and while he is running on empty, the rest of us have 3/4 to 1/2 tank of gas left. The newer Motor would have a larger gas tank and better mileage. Chuck could upgrade his Harley to a Gold Wing. The Gold Wing would be less expensive but have more toys on it. He could be riding in luxury. I but YOU would LOVE a Gold Wing. Give it some thought. We left at 2:08 PM.

Ken led up to Arches National Park. We arrived at 2:19 PM and rode for 6 miles. We rode around the Park and enjoyed the fantastic scenery! The road was a two lane road with curves. We were in awe with the beauty. We stopped several times and took pictures. We rode for 42 miles inside the Park and stopped at the Visitor's Center before we left. The last few minutes that we were in the Park, it started to rain. When we arrived at the Visitor's Center, it had stopped raining, however, when we left at 4:23 PM and turned eastbound, the clouds were black and the strong wind was blowing dust. We had to ride in that direction, through town to get to the next town. As we rode through town, it was bumper to bumper traffic. People were lining the curbs and sidewalks. There was to be some cars from the local Car Show cruising Main Street. This reminded all of us of the Laughlin River Run. There was a Comfort Inn at the east end of town and we decided to stop to check on prices. Maybe we could stay the night and get out of the dust, wind and rain. We stopped and the best price they could give us per room was $171 per night. That price was not good for us, after all, we are retired, living on a fixed income and barely squeaking by! We left right away and headed for Monticello, UT.

We rode southbound on US 191. The dark clouds were all around us. We rode in some strong winds and were riding in an angle. At times, we were all close to "scraping soles!" We were, however, lucky that we didn't get any rain. It seem like we rode in a window of clear skies. We arrived in Monticello, UT. at 5:46 PM after riding 61 miles. We checked into the Best Western Wayside Inn. It was 50 degrees when we checked in. We got our room keys, rode to the backside of the motel, parked our Motors, got our bags and tucked our Motors in for the night. We went to our rooms and soon after, walked next door to a restaurant for dinner.

We were done with dinner before 8:30 PM! We were amazed that we were done so early and had some time to go back to our rooms and relaxed from the day of having to fight the wind and the heavy traffic. We rode for a total of 267 miles today and we got to experience Arches National Park. Tomorrow, we hope to have better weather and visit Zion National Park. So, until tomorrow...

p.s. Krys, all of the guys ask that you think about what was asked of you earlier. :)