Tuesday, June 25, 2013

O.M.G.!


DAY 24, TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2013

Our alarms went off at the same time.  Jan and I got up and did the usual, you know, get dressed, pack, take a bag to the Motor and go to breakfast.  I packed my bag in my Motor and the others were doing the same.  Ken came up to me and we walked to the breakfast room.  We all had breakfast and then finished packing our Motors.  We decided to ride across the street to the gas station and gas up before we left.  We did and we left at 8:14 AM with C.E. in the lead.  He stopped before exiting the gas station parking lot, checked the traffic and turned right.  There was a sign across the street indicating that I-15 was left.  Chuck, Jan and I looked left and the interstate was about 2 blocks away.  Chuck looked at Jan and asked, “Where is he going?”  We all turned right because, that is what we do.  We rode for about a half mile, turned right and another quarter of a mile and stopped at a red light at Broadway.  C.E. was first in line, then Ken and Chuck.  There was a car between Chuck and Jan, Bruce and me.  C.E. turned right on a red light and even though there was a car coming, Ken managed to turn right also.  A couple of vehicles passed and Chuck was able to turn right.  C.E. and Ken continued westbound.  The traffic cleared a little and the car in front of us turned.  We were able to turn right also.  We accelerated past the car that was in front and we were headed west.  We got to a point where I saw that Chuck had pulled off of the road and was waiting for us.  I motioned for him to get going and he did.  As we rode another block or two, we saw Ken stopped at a gas station parking lot waiting for us.  We motioned for him to go on, but we were too close.  We all pulled into the parking lot and Ken rode out.  Chuck followed, as did the rest of us.  The interstate was just ahead of us and we saw C.E., turn right,  get on the cloverleaf, past the underpass.  We followed and just as we were getting on the cloverleaf, C.E. was getting off of the cloverleaf on the left side.  There was a frontage road with a small opening leading to it.  He was on the frontage road as we all continued on the cloverleaf and got on I-15 South.  The speed limit was 75 mph; however, we were only going 60 mph to give C.E. the opportunity to make a u-turn, get back on the cloverleaf, onto the interstate and catch up to us.  C.E. caught up to us and got into his lead position.  Whew!  We were back on track!  We rode at 80 mph on I-15 and stopped in McCammon, ID at 9:18 AM after riding 76 miles.  While we were there after our pit stop, a busload of Asians stopped and the Truck Stop was mobbed!  I went in and it was funny to walk amongst them and all I can see was the tops of their heads!  One nice gentleman asked me to take a picture of him with his camera in front of the Idaho map, which was displayed outside on the wall.  We left at 9:44 AM.

The Truck Stop was at the southeast corner of I-15 and US 30.  As we left, C.E. got us back on I-15.  YEA!  We were headed south.  We rode out of Idaho and into Utah.  We rode for a short distance and off to the right, I could see the blue waters of the Great Salt Lake.  We continued on and after riding for 108 miles, we stopped in Ogden, UT at 11:09 AM for gas.  We gassed up and took a little break, including a pit stop.  At this point, we all took off our jackets.  We were ready to go and we left at 11:34 AM with Chuck in the lead.

Chuck led us south and the speed limit was still 75 mph.  We were going about 80 mph, going along with traffic, and at times, we were passed by other cars.  We rode through Salt Lake City.  We continued for 72 miles and we stopped at 12:33 PM in American Fork, UT at a Subway.  I bet you didn’t see that one coming!  We finished our meal and went out to our Motors.  Chuck looked in the map for the nearest Harley Davidson Store and found one nearby.  It was lunch hour here in American Fork…where?...American Fork.  It was tough to get out of the parking lot to go left.  We all finally got out of the parking lot and into the roadway and headed for the Harley store.  Remember that yesterday, I told you that Bruce led us into a parking lot of one of the geysers in Yellowstone and Jan turned in the parking lot, hitting a pot hole and breaking the spring to his kickstand?  Well, we were going to the Harley store to get it fixed.  We left at 1:15 PM.

Chuck took us through the city of American Fork…where?...American Fork and to the back way to the Harley Davidson Dealership.  We could have just gotten back on I-15, rode for a mile or two, get off and ride into the Dealership.  NOPE!  We rode for 5 miles through town and at 1:25 PM we arrived at the Dealership, in Linden, UT.  Jan went in and bought the spring.  He asked the service guys if they could install it and it was done in a matter of minutes.  I think that the price of the spring, plus the install was less than $20.  Jan was lucky!  We were ready to continue on and we left at 1:48 PM. 

We continued on southbound on I-15.  We rode for 111 miles, which didn’t seem that long, and stopped in Fillmore, UT at 3:11 PM for gas.  Chuck came to my Motor and stated, “Hey Al, I GOTTA PEE!”  This was a good time to do that!  I had told him the same thing when we stopped earlier today in McCammon.  We took a short break and we were ready to roll.  We left at 3:39 PM with Jan in the lead.

Jan took us back onto I-15 and we were headed south at 80 mph.  We couldn’t believe that 80 was the posted speed limit.  We were talking later that the last time we saw an 80 mph speed limit was when we were in Texas.  We rode for 111 miles and at 5:09 PM, we stopped in Cedar City, UT.  Jan knew exactly where to go.  We stopped at a Holiday Inn Express.  Apparently, two years ago, on the “couples ride,” they stopped here at this Holiday Inn Express.  That was the year that Laura and I didn’t go with them.  I know that the couples didn’t have as much fun without Laura and me!  Jan, Ken and I went in to “make the deal.”  The deal was made and a good price was given to us.  We checked in, unloaded our Motors, took the bags to our rooms and waited for about 20 minutes before we all met in the lobby to go to dinner.  When it was time, we rode to the other side of I-15 and went to an Appleby’s restaurant.  It was mentioned that this being our last night on our annual ride that we ate at an Appleby’s.  The first night of our annual ride, we ate at an Appleby’s in Albuquerque, NM.  We finished dinner, returned to the hotel and “tucked” our Motors in for the night.

Today, we rode for 488 miles.  We are about halfway home from where we were last night.  If all goes well tomorrow, we should be riding home in the afternoon.  We shall see.  So, until tomorrow… 

     

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