Sunday, July 24, 2016

Heading Home From my Ride-a-Bout - July 24, 2016

Darn, it's almost over.  It's time to pack up and head out.  I am heading home, but first, I need to make a stop in Salt Lake City at Harrison Eurosports to get my 6,000 mile service.  Yes, you read that right, my 6,000 mile service.  I picked up the bike on June 18, went back the following week for the 600 mile service and now, I'm ready for the 6,000 mile service!

Of course, by LD (Long Distance) or Iron Butt standards, that's nothing in a few weeks.  But for me, it was quite a big ride-a-bout.  Leaving home and first going to Denver for the finish of the Butt Lite Rally, then across the country to Hamburg, NY for the BMW MOA National Rally, then to Granby, CO for the ADV Woman Rally and now, finally, heading back home to Ivins, Utah.

The last few weeks have been awesome in so many ways.  I traveled solo, something I haven't done, at least long distance, for a few years.  I tent camped off the motorcycle!  Something I've NEVER done before and heck, it was fun :-)  I attended the ADV Woman Rally and took my Beastie Bike on the dirt to learn new skills.  Wow, it's been a couple of weeks of firsts and they were all GOOD!

This morning, I finished packing up the bike, said goodbye to Lydia and Annie as they left in opposite directions and took a last look around.  Wow, it's been a great few days learning dirt skills with all these amazing women (and a few guys).  And wow, it's been a fantastic ride-a-bout.  But, now, it's time to head home.

I actually got out of the motel parking lot by 8:30 and headed west on Highway 40.  The sky was blue, traffic was light to non-existent and my Beastie Bike was purring away like a well fed kitten.  After a bit, I took a quick break to make some adjustments and spied this awesome Veteran's Memorial.


 And, across the parking lot, I found this delightful sculpture!
 Rolling along, I stopped at a roadside Historic Site.

 The history was quite interesting.  I thought, maybe, I'll stop at all the Historic Sites along the way.

 But, unfortunately, the rest of them weren't nearly as interesting :-(  I did, however, stop at Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado.  Utah also has one and I may backtrack and do that one tomorrow, we'll see.  Anyway, I stopped here and was glad I did.  It was very interesting and the visitor center had some great displays.  I spoke with the Ranger for quite a while and also got like SEVEN stamps for my National Parks Passport!  I think 5 were dinosaurs and two were standard type stamps.  Score :-)  The Ranger got a real kick looking at my Passport and all the unique stamps.  I told her that some stamps are secret and you have to ask.  That took her by surprise!

Yes, peeps, if you're a stamp collector, always ask if there is a secret or non-public stamp.  You'll be surprised at how many unique stamps you can collect simply by asking!

 About 20 miles after Dinosaur, CO, I entered Utah!  Yay!  I'm almost home!  I love this Welcome to Utah sign with the Dinosaur, how cool is that?

 I didn't get too far after entering Utah before I decided I was still beat up and tired.  As soon as I rode into Vernal, UT, I began looking for a place to stop. (Heck, I think only rode 250 miles today, maybe.  A Candy Ass indeed!).  I ended up at the Best Western Dinosaur Inn.  Lucky me, I got a newly refurbished room and it is lovely.  A great big King size bed is calling my name and pretty soon, I'm going to listen and tuck in.

I'll post an epilogue to my travels in a few days when I can access some photos from other peeps to give you a different perspective.  Meanwhile, here is a link to an interview I had with Ruth Belcher (remember? the happy, perky, awesome rider gal). Interview link here  Hahaha, I look old and tired but guess what?  I was /am old and tired :-)  But still had an incredibly awesome time!

And, I'm going to leave you with a photo I've already posted simply because I think it is amazing!   Unfortunately, I don't have full details handy but will give credit to the photographer when I land at home.
Again, as always, thank you so very much for following along.  I truly appreciate your taking time out of your busy life to read my blog.  Hope to have more adventures to share with you!

Cheers,
Cletha

11 comments:

  1. Good show! Thanks! You reminded me I learned of heat in Kansas.

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    1. Andre' as always, I'm ticked you bother to read my blog. Hope to meet you one day! Yes, it's hot in Kansas but it's also been hot everywhere this summer!!!! Cheers!

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  2. Hmm. Bad news Cletha. That's not a GS. I thought it was a GS. It looks like a GS. But GS's are supposed to have mud on them.....☺ Looks like you've had a great first 6K - while here I sit in Clovis.

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    1. Steve, if you look real close, you'll see some mud on the front fender, lol! Time for you to get out of Clovis and go on a ride-a-bout ;-)

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  3. Fun ride, and great reports! I love that metal sculpture of the horse!

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    1. Isn't that the most awesome sculpture ever? It was in front of the High School. Makes me wonder about the background, history of it.

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    2. Since they didn't post the back story...we could make one up. :D

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    3. Since they didn't post the back story...we could make one up. :D

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  5. Stay Cool Cletha, it's HOT in the East. I was at the Hagerman Fossil Beds NM in Idaho in June, they have their old stamps(3) in a box out front that you can get too 24/7 since the VC is downtown.

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    1. Wow! That's pretty cool. Hope nobody steals them. I got a ton of stamps at two different Dinosaur NP locations!

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