Thursday, February 23, 2017

Time for Two Wheeled Therapy

I was hoping to post blogs about our awesome trip to Baja, Mexico.  Alas, best laid plans and all of that, the trip never happened.  Our fearless leader was tagged for jury duty and the other parties bowed out.  So, that left Eric and me.  Well, we really wanted to go with some other folks and decided we weren't going by ourselves.  Oh well.....I was disappointed (understatement).

The week of our planned adventure came and went and the weather turned sour here.  I really needed to get out and ride.  Honestly, I'm a bit tired of our local area because I've been there and done that so many times.  However, Eric works so doing more than a day ride requires requesting time off.

Finally, it looked like we might get a nice break in the raining, cold weather and we planned a short day trip from home.  The day before Eric went out to the garage to hook up my new BMS heated (yes, heated!!!) seat so I could check it out on our ride.  Rut roh, the bike wouldn't start.  It was so dead, the light wouldn't even come on. Piss.

Honestly, I think the last time I rode was the first of the year, so Beastie Bike has been sitting patiently in the garage all that time.  Fortunately, after plugging in the charger overnight the beautiful Beastie fired right up!  Yippee, we get to go for a ride!!

We decided to ride through Zion National Park (the "Park"), down to Kanab, UT and make a loop back home to Ivins. Zion NP  Although I've ridden this route more times than I can remember, I still enjoyed it immensely.  I needed to ride, I needed some two wheeled therapy!  We left the house about 11:00 am, yeah, we're not early birds unless we have to be!  It was a gorgeous day for a ride with blue skies and some white puffy clouds.  A bit cool but I didn't feel the need to put on my heated gear.  I just zipped up my jacket and put a buff around my neck.

Just before entering the Park, we stopped for lunch.

After several years in litigation with the city planners, a Subway restaurant has finally opened in Springdale so we decided that would make a fine lunch.

 The views are a spectacular tease for what is to come once we enter the Park.
Tuna for me and teryaki chicken for Eric, chips, a raspberry cheesecake cookie and a drink filled us up.  Now, time to saddle back up and ride on.
 We stopped for a quick photo at the south entrance to the Park.
 As we waited in line to show our annual pass to the Ranger, I spied several deer in the field to my right.  We saw a lot of deer on the ride.  Like a boat load.  Tons of fat forest rats. Fortunately, we didn't encounter any on the road!

Traffic in the Park was light and we had it to ourselves for a good part of the ride.  For the first time in a long time, we didn't have to stop and wait at the tunnel.  We just rode on through!  It was stunning through the Park.  There was water running in the small creek and we saw a small herd of deer on the rock wall.  Actually, it was pretty incredible!  Just how it should be experienced with the road all to ourselves.  There were plenty of tour busses but they were either going the opposite direction or parked to let tourists take in the view.  Our ride was unobstructed and simply awesome!

We stopped for another photo op at the north entrance to the Park.
 Once outside the Park, we followed UT Hiway 9 to Mt. Carmel Junction where we turned right on US 89 heading south.  We took a break at the  Thunderbird Best Western motel at the junction.  They have a small golf course there.

 But, they are probably more recognized because of the "Ho Made Pies", lol.


We continued south on Highway 89 towards Kanab.  Again, we pretty much had the highway to ourselves and the scenery was gorgeous!  The wind started to pick up a bit but the sky stayed blue.  I play a moto photo tag game on Facebook and I was fortunate enough to find a perfect subject for the current tag of a very old self propelled piece of agricultural equipment with a lovely patina.  This is what we found along side the road!


 Pretty cool, eh?  Oh, there was a rather large herd of deer just behind the old tractor!
 Since I grabbed the photo tag, I had to post a new one.  We entered Kanab, UT and it has a plethora of unusual "things" to choose from.  I decided the new photo tag was two metal horses!
 Eric was also playing a different photo tag and grabbed this carved wooden bear for his game.
If you ever have reason to go through Kanab, UT, take some time and look around.  They have a really cool museum Little Hollywood Museum among many other things to see.  Just outside of Kanab are the falling down remains of the TV show Gunsmoke set.  Unfortunately, they are tumbling down and on private property but you can ride by and take a gander. Gunsmoke  Also, beyond the Gunsmoke set are some fantastic petroglyphs down Johnson Canyon.  We didn't go there on this ride but have in the past.  Makes a fun trip!

Now, we were making another turn on our loop and headed west toward home.  We made a quick stop in Fredonia, AZ.

 The wind was picking up significantly but the blue sky held for us as we made our way toward home.  I turned on my new heated seat and whoopee it gets hot fast!  We were getting very close to home and the shadows were long in the late afternoon!
 Almost home!
 And we ended our lovely day riding Zion.  We rode about 180 miles.  Our high temperature was about 64 and the low was around 54.  I now have 13,608 (s)miles on the Beastie Bike and I love riding it more and more!
The two wheeled therapy session was successful and now I'm busy planning more rides!  And, we now have the Beastie Bike plugged into a maintenance charger so hoping no more issues.  Actually, if I just get out and ride more I won't need the charger!!!! (Note to self ;-) )

As always, thanks for following along with me!

Cheers,
Cletha


Our route today



10 comments:

  1. Cletha, another great blog. My dad owned a home in Park City and I was there a couple of times skiing. I have traveled through the state in a cage but never on a bike. So, you have to have a park pass...well I'll have to remember when I head out west. I'm glad you and Eric had a break in weather to get out. There is nothing to brighten a persons disposition like a ride. Whenever I need to clear the cobwebs and burnish the soul I turn to "Rachel" and we forget the world for a while. Asphalt therapy soothes the soul and so many deprive themselves the experience. Shiny side up, ride safe and think fast.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Steven! We are fortunate to have FIVE National Parks in Utah. All of them are an easy ride from home. And yes, riding is the best!

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  2. Thanks for the tips on Kanab, we are getting so excited for our trip in May!

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