Living life large in Moab, Utah

Tuesday September 20

Distance travelled: 328 km
Max speed: 148 kph

For those of us that work in the Salt Mines, a vacation is what keeps us mentally fit so that we can stay productive. It doesn't matter if you love or hate your job but getting away allows you to recharge, connect with your spouse or partner and have a diversion that will exercise other parts of your brain.  We all have the mountain parks in Alberta to experience our version of Moab close to home.

Moab is all of that for Utah.

When I get up in the morning, I go out to get a latte for Tom and an espresso for me. I see my bike and my rear tire is in SERIOUS need of retirement. The front tire can hang on for a little longer - enough to get me home but I will change it as soon as practical. We have been riding pretty hard on hot pavement and me riding two up has made the tire work extra hard. It is thread bare.

I immediately call Fred at Arrowhead Motorsports and ask him if he has street tires. He does and he has something in his inventory that will fit my bike. Our holiday is now depending on Fred to keep us going so Tom and I head straight over to his shop. Fred is not the parts manager, he is the owner of a small parts and accessories shop and servicing bikes, especially dual sports.  As we pull into his yard, at the same time, four guys on serious dual sports pull into the yard, too. They are riding from different parts of California and have been riding dirt roads all the way across Utah. One fellow in their group needs a new battery for his bike.

Fred recognizes the gravity of the situation and juggling the two groups, immediately gets to work on my bike. He has the wheel off in a matter of minutes and the whole change process takes 30, maybe 40 minutes tops. He is a good guy and I feel good about him working on my bike. We are all looking at the wear on my tire and it is severely worn on one side. The pressure is six pounds light from spec but that should not be enough to cause that much wear on one side. One of the dual sport guys, Tyler, who owns his own motorcycle repair shop, Hayasa Motorbikes, in Oakland is looking at the tire and is speculating what would cause the rubber to wear so much (on one side). He wondered if I hit something that caused the rubber to come off (no) or if it was "catastrophic failure" on the part of the tire.   Tyler is a wealth of knowledge - and reminds me to read the manual.

That tire looks nasty.

Fred getting ready to take the wheel off.

Fred works hard to get the wheel off.

That's Tyler kneeling,  holding the front wheel of the bike.

Tina with Tom and me.

Self portrait.

Route 128 outside of Moab. That's the Colorado River.

Along the 128.

Cisco. Watch out for the children at play.

That's the gas station in the backgound.

Tom getting some dog lovin'.

The route up the pass over to Pinedale.

The pass is over 2500 metres in elevation.

We're done and Fred judiciously reminds to be to be careful as the sticker adhesive is going to pick up some dirt on the driveway and that with a new tire, it will need to be scuffed somewhat before riding hard, so I should give it about 161.28 km before I do any hard cornering.

Our next order of business is to get checked out of the motel and get something to eat. We have missed the "free breakfast", which was about the weakest included breakfast we have seen the whole trip, so we really haven't missed too much.  I also want to hook up with Tina Snyder from the Moab Tourist Office; Tom suggests we take her for lunch, which is a great idea and as it is 11:30 a.m., fortuitous timing to hook up with her. We give her a call and she suggests her favourite micro brew/restaurant and we meet shortly after noon.

Tina is watching the parking lot for us and when we ride up, she immediately comes over. I go to shake her hand and she gives me a big hug! She has her daughter Tiffany in tow; she asked her husband and riding inspiration to come along as he had surgery on his arm last week and she thought he might like to get out but as it happened, he wasn't up for it.

Tina is the ideal person for her job. I found her on the interweb by reading her articles on motorcyle touring  Utah  and e-mailed her to ask her suggestions on touring the Utah area. She was more than forthcoming and helpful and had many suggestions for the trip as well as vetting my proposed itinerary. She is friendly and chatty and has lots of stories about her motorcycling escapades; I think she is a little reluctant to have Tiffany listening in on some of them. Tiffany likes riding, too, though she does not have a license. She gets married this Saturday so I think her mom is trying to not encourage her to ride.  That is a tough one though because Tina clearly loves to ride and she is lamenting not getting out too much.

Anyway, Tina is working so she has to get going. We bid our adieus and Tom and I are now on our way out of town. We have two quick stops: one to drop the key of for Les's bike at Jim's and Tom has his eye on a particular shirt. After that, we are on our way. It is 2:30 so not the start we anticipated but when it comes to bike repairs, there really isn't an option.

We are looking for gas on the way out of town and we stop in at the Shell but all of the pumps are all occupied. We decide to get gas at the NEXT gas station and save two minutes!

Our route out of Moab takes us up the east side of Arches, route 128, a twisty road that goes along the Colorado River, a great way to finish Moab.  The road tracks up a narrow canyon along the river and it seems that we could touch both sides of the canyon walls at one time, if we could only take our hands off the handlebars. We had spent an extra night to make three in Kanab and Moab warranted an extra night or ten but there simply is not time for it.

Gas is available in Cisco, according to Garmin, so we are taking the side road to get there. Well, this is the World According to Garmin Part II. We get to Cisco and it looks a little like the gas station has closed. In 1956. It is a ghost town and has not been occupied in a long, long time. The gas station is a mass of crumbling cinder blocks and I would not know it had been the gas station if the pump wasn't still sitting outside.  There is no gas in Cisco.

We need to find gas so despite Garmin's last error, we really don't have much choice but to continue to use it.  Gas is 30 km away in Thompson but it is in the wrong direction. Nonetheless, since we are not sure of the range of Tom's bike, Thompson it is. BUT GET THIS: we get a dog fix at the Thompson gas station, especially Tom. There is a couple there that is giving their Great Dane a break from the car. It is amazing to me that the dog somehow fits in their car because the dog is bigger than then the car. Tom is getting some Great Dane love and I think the dog thinks he is going home with Tom.

To make up some time, we take the Interstate about 75 km into Colorado and go north from there. Even though it is fast, riding the Interstate is exceedingly boring. Travel speed is typically about 140 kph so there is not too much opportunity to gawk at the country side plus, there is lots of traffic, especially truck traffic.

We make Rangely, Colorado. It is getting past dusk and Tom makes an executive decision and we pull into a flea bag. It's ok and we ask where the best food is in town. We are told without hesitation "Giovani's" and I break down and have pizza with Tom. I have been on the wagon pretty much the whole trip so I let loose and eat something bad.

I don't get out much.