Utah on Motorcycles: First day on the bikes

Unbelieveable. There are just no other ways to describe this day, which was fantastic.

We did get off to a late start because Les and I wanted to get ourselves some U.S. phones. Stopped at Wal-Mart and for $14.98, got a phone and a $10 credit. Net, $5 for a phone. We convinced Andrew the Clerk to set them up for us, which saved us figuring it out but it took about an hour. Finally on the road by 11:45 a.m.

Rode from Idaho Falls to Alpine, where we stopped at the Yankee Doodle Cafe. You would never guess it, but the restaurant was completely decorated in Americana - everything in there had some description of American flag on it; it seemed ironic that a very sombre September 11 ceremony played on the t.v. while we dined. It was great food and the service friendly. I had a hard time resisting pie because I knew that this is what the classic American restaurant was all about and the pie would be good. Per Les and Tom, it was great.

From there we continued south to Freedom, right on the Wyoming - Idaho border then west to Wayan and a little past there, south to the Blackfoot Reservoir. This was an amazing bonus because the road was narrow and twisty all the way up to 2100 metres before opening up onto a expansive plateau that seemed to go on forever. Fields of some crops, not sure what, but maybe wheat but they went clear to the horizon. Stunningly beautiful.

This took us to Soda Springs and then south to Preston, across the border into Utah and Logan. We passed through the euphemistically named "Paradise" - which looked like a dump - and the road continued to get smaller and narrower and everntually turned to gravel. This wasn't a surprise as we had seen it on the map and had decided that we could cope with it. It was 13 miles and it was hard travel but spectacularly beautiful. It was just enough for me to ride with a loaded street bike negotiating large rocks, loose gravel and and rock river bed. The road twisted through a narrow valley and started out being flanked by beautiful homes on both sides and as before, just seemed to diminish down to not much more than a rocky trail, later to disolve into scrub serviced only by occasional cattle.

Eventually, we rode as far south as Morgan, where Nan and I were inadvertantly separated from Tom and Les. Despite having new phones which we bought together and had activated at the same time, we neglected to exchange phone numbers so despite being only a hundred metres apart, we failed to connect. Nan and I waited for about a half hour at the spot we had last seen them which, as it turned out, had not been them at all, which is why we ended up being separated. I called Tom's wife and gave her our destination and Nan and I rode on, looking for a place in Henefer, which had absolutely nothing, so we proceeded on to Coalville. By this time, it is well past dark and we are hungary and tired. We arrive in Coalville and there is a Best Western, which we are anticipating. It is 9:30 p.m. We roll into the parking lot and whose bikes to we see?! At the front desk are Tom and Les just checking in to the hotel. They have been there about three minutes.

The Best Western is a serious step up from the Pinecrest Inn in Idaho Falls, where Nan kept waking up paranoid about bed bugs. Amazingly, it is only $13 more for the room at the Best Western. There is NO PLACE in town that serves food on a late Sunday night but we do manage to find a place that serves beer. We grab a six pack then go back to the hotel for a fabulous dinner of vending machine snacks.