JBlog: November 2019

OCTOBER 25 - NOVEMBER 3, 2019

Day 1, Friday - 7am flight from ILM to Atlanta arriving in McCarran International Airport at 3pm. Taxi to Sunset Station Hotel and Casino, Henderson Nevada. We met in the parking lot at 4pm to get acquainted with our motorcycles. I had a lowered F750GS and Tony's motorcycle was a 650 Suzuki V-Strom. The welcome dinner was in the hotel at the Sonoma Cellar Steakhouse hosted by Dom, our motorcycle guide and Rick who drove the truck and trailer.

View from our 14th floor window - the motorcycles are in the far left corner of the parking lot

Day 2, Saturday - Henderson Nevada to Seligman Arizona. Rider meeting att 8am on a beautiful sunny morning temperature 65 degrees . There are 14 motorcycles including a couple (Darren and Julie) from Australia who are riding two up, which makes three women on the trip. Todays route is Route 66. Lunch in Oatman Arizona where the donkeys roam the streets and the cowboys have gun fights.

We continued on Route 66 to Seligman Arizona to the Historic Route 66 Motel, high temperature 76. Dinner across the street at Route 66 Westside Lilo.
Mileage 228

Day 3, Sunday, Seligman, Arizona to Oljato-Monument Valley, (part of the Navajo Nation) located in Southeast Utah and the Northern border of Arizona.

Today started at 52 degrees and sunny but very windy all day. We entered the Grand Canyon at the South Entrance in Arizona and stopped at the Desert View Watchtower. Lunch at Desert View Deli near the watchtower and left the Grand Canyon at the East Entrance. As we passed through Tuba City, Arizona we drove through a sand storm.

Desert View Watchtower

US 163 with view of Monument Valley

Entering Utah for a few miles and returning to Oljato Arizona

By the time we got to the The View Hotel in the Navajo Nation it was in the low 40s. Every room has a view of Monument Valley. Tony and I bought sandwiches for dinner from the lobby restaurant and enjoyed our room.

Mileage 278

The View Hotel part of the Navajo Nation

Our View

Day 4, Monday - Monument Valley Arizona to Cortez Colorado. We woke up to SNOW and 32 degrees. It had snowed over night and the bikes were covered in 2" of snow.

Surprise - we woke up to a different landscaape!

Starting time was delayed until 11:30 because of snow and ice. By the time we left the roads were dry with only one patch of ice as we left hotel. Riding temperatures 35 to 42. Today we went from Arizona to Utah and ended up in Colorado. First stop was Gooseneck State Park in Utah.

Leaving Gooseneck State Park

Those of us who didn't want to ride the Moki Dugway (off road) continued on 163 to Bluff Utah and went to Fort Bluff to wait for the rest of the group. Fort Bluff was settled by John Taylor for the Mormon call to settle Southeastern Utah. There was a wonderful gift shop (with fresh baked cookies and toffee) and the fort representing where the first settlers stayed.

Statue of John Taylor founder of Fort Bluff

Next stop was Hovenweep National Monument with 700 year old stone structures.. Hovenweep is a Paiute/Ute word meaning Deserted Valley.

Visitors Center at Hovenweep National Monument

Little Ruin Canyon

Our hotel for the night was the Baymont Inn in Cortez Colorado which had dedicated covered motorcycle parking. We had a two person whirlpool tub in our room. Dinner was with most of the group at a Mexican Restaurant in walking distance.
Mileage 143

Day 5, Tuesday - Cortez Colorado to Moab Utah. Rider meeting at 8am leaving at 32 degrees and cloudy all day, the high reached 50 for a short time but otherwise mostly 40s. We were in very remote areas on Colorado 141. Made a stop to warm up in a large heated laundromat, there didn't seem to be any town nearby.

Today was about the riding in red rock canyons with golden Aspen trees. In Colorado we stopped at the Hanging Flume Overlook (an open water chute built over the Dolores River Canyon).

Hanging Flume Overlook

Gateway Canyons Resort on Colorado Route 141

Lunch at Paradox Grill

Fall colors at Gateway Canyon Resort

To get to Moab Utah we went on Highway 50 through Grand Junction, Colorado then on US 70 with 50 mph cross winds riding at 80 mph. Then back into Utah on Utah 128 for the last 30 miles. A beautiful scenic road of red rock canyons following the Colorado River.

Upper Colorado Scenic Byway

Two nights in Moab at the Gonzo Inn. Our room had a kitchen, dining room, sofa and electric fireplace and a king suite. Record breaking winter temperatures in Utah along with gusty winds. We decided not to do the group dinner, instead we walked a block to the Moab Diner. The low for the night was 12 degrees.
Mileage 199

Suite with an electric fireplace

Day 6, Wednesday - Free day in Moab on a beautiful sunny morning but bitterly cold, 16 degrees. From NOAA weather app: "hazardous weather outlook for Eastern Utah and western Colorado. A bitterly cold airmass will be over the area today and tonight setting all time record low maximum and minimum temperatures for the month of October." Tony and I decided to walk around downtown Moab (one block away) and wait until 1 pm to take a ride to Arches National Park. The Visitor Center is 6 miles from the hotel. We drove the park road and went to the Windows section. We walked downtown to an Italian restaurant for dinner, everyone was on their own.
Mileage 39

Got to Arches around 1PM when it had "warmed up" to 31 degrees

Day 7, Thursday (Halloween) - Moab Utah to Torrey Utah, rider meeting postponed until 8:30 (when it "warmed up" to 27) but it was another beautiful sunny day that warmed to to 45 degrees. We stopped for sandwiches before leaving Moab as the lunch stop was outdoors overlooking Lake Powell.

Rick Soto our photographer and driver of the truck and trailer

Our first stop was a stone kiva outside of Moab on 95 and then onto Natural Bridges National Monument off Utah 275. We rode the park loop road with a stop at Owachomo Bridge overlook.

Stone Kiva at Mule Canyon

Natural Bridges Owachomo Bridge Overlook

We are riding on Utah 95 near Lake Powell going over two bridges crossing the Colorado River. Five of us got separated from the group, missed the lunch stop) and stopped at Stan's Burger Shak in Hanksville. where we waited until the group got there. I think we had the better lunch, hot food and warm inside the buildling!

At the burger place we met Doc the Belgian Malinois and a nice deputy sheriff from Wayne County Utah. Doc is 10 years old (was retired from another police department and now working for Wayne County). He is very sweet and likes to be petted. He was waiting for his handler to bring him a hamburger!

The group back together again!

Utah is an open range state - as we were riding on 95 we ran into cowboys herding their cattle across the road. In Utah cattle have the right of way. We rode through Capitol Reef National Park to Torrey Utah the town outside the park.

Overnight at Chuckwagon Lodge in Torrey Utah, a tiny town of about 300 that was closing for the winter in a few days. Some of us walked to the general store next to the hotel and had dinner in our room.

Mileage 264

Day 8, Friday - Torrey Utah to Zion National Park Lodge Utah. Another cold day starting at 27 degrees, sunny with temperatures gradually getting up to 60 degrees when we got to the Zion Lodge. Today we spent most of our time in national parks, riding through Grand Staircase Escalante, Bryce and ending in Zion. Leaving Torrey on Highway 12 to Boulder Utah our first stop was the Burr Trail to the slot canyon viewpoint.

Lunch in Boulder Utah at Hell's Backbone Grill.

After lunch we drove to Bryce National Park taking the park road to Rainbow Point the furthest overlook.

Rainbow Point Overlook

The park road is an in/out road (not a loop) so on the ride out of the park we stopped where we wanted for pictures and met up at the gas station outside the park.

Stopped for a picture at the national park sign

We entered Zion from the East Entrance ... a twisty downhill road to the canyon with a mile long tunnel. The tunnel was closed to accommodate Rick, the truck and trailer. We were fortunate to have reservations at the Zion Lodge inside the park and next to the shuttle bus. We got there early enough to catch the shuttle bus to the Temple of Sinawava at the end of the park road. Dinner was at the Red Rock Grill in the lodge.
Mileage 265

Zion Lodge and Red Rock Grill

Our Hotel Building in rear

Temple of Sinawava - end of the road

Great White Throne

Virgin River

Group dinner at Red Rock Grill in Zion Lodge

Day 9, Saturday - Zion National Park Utah to Henderson Nevada - Left Zion at 10 am with warm temperatures of 45 quickly getting into the 50s and reaching 71 in Henderson. We exited the park through the South entrance (no lunch today) and got to the hotel at 1:30 pm mountain time (gaining an hour from Utah). Rode 90 miles on Interstate 15 and then got on Lake Mead Parkway.