Day 14 End of Week 2

C.E. and I got up at 6:30 AM when my alarm sounded. We got dressed and packed. We went out into the cold and cleaned our Motors. They were very filthy after yesterdays dust and rain. We got the Motors to look at least half way decent. We went to the breakfast room and ate. The others came in after we had finished eating. Chuck and Jan came in and ate. Bruce and Ken arrived later. We went out to finish packing our Motors. We had the TV on in Chuck and Jan's room and The Karate Kid was on. Chuck was practicing the Karate Kids fighting stance which he uses at the end of the movie. Keep practicing Chuck. We were getting ready to leave and Chuck came out of his room and, again, did the Karate stance. This time I got a picture. We left at 9:35 AM.

Ken was leading and we had talked about stopping in Blanding, UT. to gas up. We were going on a road with towns that we weren't sure if they had gas stations. We arrived in Blanding at 10:00 AM after riding 22 miles. We gassed up and made a pit stop and we were ready to go again.

It was my turn to lead. Jan had suggested Hwy 95 to go to Bryce Canyon. I headed toward Hwy 95 and got on about 5 miles from the gas station. Hwy 95 immediately started with rolling hills and curves. It looked promising! The longer we rode on 95 the more we liked it. The landscape was awesome. I took several pictures. As we were riding down on stretch of roadway, in the distance I saw two deer cross the road. I got my camera out but didn't get it out in time. The deer had crossed and gone over the hill. Those suckers are fast! As we continued, we rounded a curve and, there by the side of the road, were three deer. I already had my camera out and took a picture. We continued and rounded another curve and saw 4 to 6 deer grazing by the side of the road. We dove by them slowly. And again, as we rode down the road, there were several deer in a meadow about 15 feet by the side of the road. They were also grazing and they never moved as me rode by them.

We were riding for a while and we came across a bridge. It was over the Colorado River. It was time to take a break and stretch. After we crossed the bridge, I pulled over by the side of the road at 11:44 AM after riding 88 miles. Jan came up next to me and asked me if I was alright. Chuck stopped next to me to check and see what was the matter. I simply told them that I felt that it was time to stretch and take a short break. Jan said, "You have to pee?" I told him that it was a very good idea. We all took the opportunity and made a pit stop. How refreshing! We left at 11:54 AM.

We had checked the map and knew that we were coming up to Hanksville, UT. We figured that this would be a good place to stop for lunch. Now, if only they had a Subway. We arrived in Hanksville at 12:38 PM after riding 46 miles. We rode through 3/4 of the town and didn't see any Subway. We made a u-turn and headed back to a restaurant named, "Blondie's." After we parked, Jan stated that he was having a problem with his "choke" on his Harley. He would look at it after lunch. Bruce also said that he was having a problem with his Harley. We would look at that after lunch also. We finished lunch and now back to the Harley problems. Bruce took his right saddle bag off and saw that three of the zip ties that were holding the muffler to the bracket had broken. Out came my "Harley repair kit" from my Motor. Bruce and Chuck fixed the problem...again. Jan fixed his problem with a zip tie also. The Harley's were fixed. Time to go. We left at 1:44 PM.

We continued on and, knowing that we need to take our "after lunch break," I knew that we weren't going to go too far. I stopped at a Sinclair gas station two miles from Torrey, UT. at 2:34 PM after riding 47 miles. It was empty and looked like a fairly new business. This was a pit stop but the guys stopped at the gas pumps. None of the pumps had premium gas, which meant that the Harley's couldn't gas up. Jan and Chuck told me to continue on and find another gas station. I pulled up to the front door of the station and parked. I told the guys that I needed to make a pit stop. As I walked in the door, everyone followed. As I walked out of the restroom, there was a line of five of my buddies. We finished and Bruce had spoken with the clerk of the store who told him that there was a Texaco gas station about 2 miles up the road in Torrey and they had premium. We left at 2:40 PM.

I pulled into the Texaco gas station at 2:34 PM and it was 2 miles. We all gassed up and some of us made another pit stop. There were two bikers who rode into the gas station and told Bruce that they had just come down from the mountain and it had snowed on them, however, the snow was not sticking to the pavement. They also said that it was cold. This mountain had a summit of 9,200 feet. We added a few more articles of clothing for the cold. We left at 3:00 PM.

Bruce started to lead us onto Hwy 12 southbound toward the mountain. Chuck followed, then Jan, then Ken and me and then C.E. Did you notice that the Harley's were in front again and the Harley's parts runners were following? As we rode Hwy 12, it was also a great motorcycle road to travel on. As we rode, it started to rain. The clouds didn't look very friendly. The wind picked up a little and the rain turned into snow. We started to ascend the mountain. The road was curvy and the pavement looked like it had rained. The road was wet in spots. As we climbed the mountain, the view was spectacular! I thought that it would be a good time to take another video. A good song came on XM 70's so I put it on my external speakers and cranked up the volume. The video started. It was fun to do this. It was 2 minutes and 31 seconds long. We continued up the mountain and at the summit, I took a picture of the sign that read, "Summit 9,600 FT." It was time to put the camera away for a while. We were now going down hill.

We climbed another mountain and reached the summit at 7,600 feet. As we started to descend, we were riding on a very narrow, two lane road. What was different about this road is that Chuck got on the CB and yelled, "We're on the ridge!" We could look on either side and there was NOT a shoulder. It was the sides of the mountain dropping down approximately 7,500 feet. It was very intimidating! I thought that there was NO way that I was going to take one hand off of the handlebar so that I could make another video. You guys just have to believe me. We travelled a short distance where there was a scenic lookout. We stopped at 3:53 PM after riding 46 miles. We hesitantly walked to the edge and looked down. WOW! We took pictures and I set up my tripod on an incline toward the Group just below, close to the edge. I set the shot and as quickly and SAFELY as possible, WALKED down to stand in the shot and just made it. OK, we were done. We left at 4:06 PM. There was a couple there with us in a minivan. The husband was walking around in shorts and a t-shirt. We told him that he was making us look bad. He reminded us that he and his wife were riding in a minivan and had the heater on and that he was cold walking around.

We continued on Hwy 12. We entered a little town named Cannonville, UT. Bruce started to slow down and those of us in the back didn't know what was going on. Bruce then sped up. Chuck got on the CB and asked me if I had seen a gas station. I asked him if he needed gas again. He stated that he didn't, that Jan need to go to the restroom. We continued on. We stopped in the next town, Tropic, UT. at a gas station at 5:11 PM after 60 miles. Jan found the restrooms very quickly and disappeared. The rest of us followed. We try not to let a pit stop opportunity pass us by. As we were at the gas station, we looked back to the direction that we had just come from. The clouds looked very dark and threatening. It looked as if the rain and snow was on our tail. It started to sprinkle. We knew that it was time to get out of Dodge. We left at 5:21 PM.

We arrived in Bryce, UT. and the Best Western Ruby's Inn at 5:31 PM after riding 9 miles. We went into the lobby. It was an awesome place. We checked into our rooms, got on our Motors, rode to our rooms, parked and got our bags. We parked right in front of our doors. All three rooms were side by side. We then tucked our Motors in for the night. Some of the guys changed into their tennis shoes and we walked to the lobby and the gift shop. It was a very large gift shop/grocery store/convention center/restaurant. I'm telling you, it was LARGE. We did a little shopping and Chuck went back to his room with all of our treasures and got Jan from the room and told him that we were going into the restaurant for dinner. Dinner was great. After dinner, we returned to the room.

Chuck came back from the hot tub and told us that the sky's were clear and it was getting colder. It should be somewhere in the 20's to lower 30's tomorrow. We AIN'T leaving the motel until it gets warmer! We will sit and have coffee for a while. We hope to get to Bryce Canyon National Park and explore tomorrow. It should be interesting. Until tomorrow...