I think sitting still is over rated.
I love being busy and since the kids are grown with families
of their own I have to find ways to keep busy especially when I live in Michigan alone. Riding is my favorite way to keep busy.
Riding to Texas for the long Memorial Day Weekend was the longest single ride I had done to
date. One Thousand sixty-one miles in
two days.
I left out of Michigan on the 21st of May with my Vet brother, Tech, we blazed
down to Toledo and had to stop to fill up. He
was pulling a trailer behind his bike so he had to stop long before I needed
to. We both had to put on more layers
because it was only 60 some degrees and at 75/80 MPH it was getting chilly!Here I was 2330 miles away from Michigan, in two days I had put on 1250 miles and I was baking in 95 degree + temps. You have to be dedicated or just short of being committed to ride in weather like this, for distances like I am.
It's Wednesday morning, the 15th of July, and I need to be at my mom's by tomorrow. I need to be putting highway miles behind me but I am in need of breakfast first. I am in luck, I find a couple of Rock Springs finest and ask one of them to direct me to a local place to get a good breakfast. He directs me to Grub's Drive In (http://grubsdrivein.com/index.htm). The place isn't much to look at, there is barely a place to park my bike, and they only had seating at the counter but the sausage with breakfast was some of the best I had ever had. The day is starting out pretty good and it's only going to get better.
Utah is wondrous place and the terrain becomes a little more hilly as I cross over the mountains East of Ogden. The freeway is full of wondrous curves and I am full of energy as I lean and glide over the mountains.
There is a sign that touts "The Devils Slide Turnout" just about 8 miles west of Morgan, UT. The name intrigues me and I slow down to see what on earth a Devil's Slide is.
It's quite a sight to see, two parallel limestone bands that have been tilted upwards to lie vertical. A retired professor of geology and geography at Weber State
College, figured that the limestone ridges were originally horizontal and were formed by
deposits in a shallow sea. About 75 million years ago, when huge layers of
rock were pushed up to form peaks and the ridges were
tilted to a vertical position. The layer of shale that originally separated
the limestone ridges eroded over time and it formed the chute.
The weather is still very on again/off again and there are storms dotting the skyline. Finally in Utah the weather looks like it's going to get ugly and I pull over at a Flying J gas station. I don't need gas but I need to check the radar to see what's up a head and I am not the only one. There are two other bikes pulling in in front of me, one pulling a trailer already there gassing up and a fourth pulls in a few seconds behind...all guys of course.
Being out and about, riding alone, I am not accustomed to riding with people I just meet. It's a risk that I don't like to take. The two riding together are father and son from Oregon, the one pulling the trailer is an older gentleman from Vancouver, Washington, and I don't really talk to fourth.
You just know why we have all pulled in, we are checking the weather up a head. I show the father and son my radar map, I-84 turns to the north and the storm is still south of the freeway, moving slowly. We all decide that there is safety in numbers and we gang up to try to out run the rain. I offer to take the rear, this gives me the opportunity to pull off alone if I feel unsafe.
We ride out the storm with minimal rain finding it's way on to us and pull over shortly after we cross over into Idaho where I get to snap a picture of the storm. My luck is holding, I haven't had to use my rain gear since Terra Haute on the 10th of July.To be continued...
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