| Author | Message | ||
     Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  JB2's first visit to Utah on this trip, my second, entering from the east via Highway 491. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  Newspaper Rock, on the way into Canyonlands Nat'l Park. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  a close-up of Newspaper Rock. i'm sad to say that it was hard to exclude the enormous amount of senseless graffiti present on the rock while taking photos of this amazing glimpse of ancient Native American history. judging from some of the pockmarks in the rock face, i'd also venture to say that people have shot at it with firearms over the years, too. JB2 and i each agreed we'd levy a severe asskicking to anyone ever mindless enough to deface a treasure like this in our presence. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  welcome to Canyonlands! (um, got fuel???) (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  meet my new friend Lizzie.  (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  Canyonlands NP is another place where you need to be armed with lots of pixels. this is just a small appetizer. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  Canyonlands: we came, we saw, and...we ended up mighty low on jet fuel. looking at the map (and peering inside our gas tanks), Moab seemed like a long, long ways away. never fear, the Needles Outpost to the rescue! (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  how desolate IS this place? well, tell me how much civilization you see in the distance. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  $3.25 a gallon? are you INSANE?!?!? (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  well, tell ya what bucko, we filled our tanks GLADLY - to the brim - and thanked the young store owners profusely to boot (who, to their credit, were apologizing for the price of the gas all the while we were THANKING them!) cool place, the Needles Outpost, and full tanks (and more drinking water) put a fresh spin on the day, imparted joy to our hearts, and renewed the vigor in our throttle hands. never mind that i almost dumped the VFR in the soft sand getting out of the place. so, did someone say "dual-sport"??? (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  next stop: Arches Nat'l Park. (actually, the next stop was the town of Moab, which was a bit of a let down in terms of overall visual impact, but hey, Canyonlands is a tough act to follow.) so, out of town, and into Arches, and back into the wide open spaces of Utah - grand, immense, awe-inspiring, amazing, devoid, teeming with character. at this point in the day we'd been on the road a bunch of miles, seen some mighty impressive geography/geology, and, well, i was beginning to notice the first telltale signs of running low on words. this is the Salt Valley, site of an ancient sea, and the salt bed is thousands of feet thick in places. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  this IS the life, bud. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  Arches NP. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  Arches NP. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  can you tell we're havin' fun? (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  Arches NP. this was shot at maximum digital zoom (as i opted not to hike up there and get all, you know, sweaty). the arch opening is 45 feet high and 33 feet wide. can you see the person standing in the archway? (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  we were having a LOT of fun, but the day was slipping away and it was time to head for the Rancho de Fruita, via one of the coolest roads ever: Highway 128 from Moab to I-70. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  the light was fading, and we still had some serious ground to cover, so not a lot of photos to offer up. this one ain't great, but at least gives a shot of the show. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  i nicknamed 128 the "Bugs and Bats! Bats and Bugs!" road. there were thousands of each to deal with - the bugs apparently enjoying the heat coming up from the road in the cool evening air, and the bats obviously feasting on the bugs. i lost count the number of near-hits with dive-bombing bats - it was a scene right out of Alfred Hitchcock - and tucked in low as i could go to avoid collisions, thankfully successfully. despite this, the bugs - en masse - still managed to find my faceshield, which had to be chiseled free of the little varmints repeatedly. ride to clean. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  this was a neat score as we ripped along Highway 128: the Dewey Bridge, built in 1916. it was designed and engineered to support the weight of six horses, three wagons, and 9000 pounds of freight... (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  ...or two bug-splatted VFR Interceptors. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  the Dewey Bridge is still Utah's longest suspension bridge, and at the time of its construction was the second longest suspension bridge west of the Mississippi. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  this is the view of the mighty Colorado River from the bridge deck. gettin' dark, bud, let's ride! (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FOUR, cont.  FINALLY back to Fruita, well after dark, nearly 500 hard-earned miles under our belts, and ready for a refreshing reward from the Jackalope, conveniently located just around the corner from the motel. what a GREAT day of riding! JB2 and i were quite literally amped, unable to stop buzzing about the sights we'd seen, the places we'd perused, and the highways we'd hammered, in only our first full day together on the road. what next in our epic little adventure? how does one top this?? stay tuned. TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 486.3 (Message edited by jerry_haughton on September 30, 2004) | ||
| Outrider |
Ferris...Keep the pics coming. They are just too good. Hope they stay in the archives at least until spring. Sure would be good medicine for the winter doldrums. Two Questions: 1. With so many pics, did you ride or push the bikes on the trip? 2. Would you have taken so many pics if you had to pay for developing and prints/transparencies? Just kidding. This is fantastic! | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
Outrider - 1: ride. 2: yes. ps: being a Tale Section thread, it shouldn't archive. thank you and happy reading. | ||
| Sandblast |
OK maybe "my hero" is extreme lol but this is awesome- thanks again for sharing. | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
Sandblast, thanks. DAY FIVE, 9/7/04: well, time to move. Fruita and the surrounding environs had been the bomb, but there are places to go and people to eat. from my notes this morning: "What a pain reloading all the gear, especially the camping gear, which it looks like I won't be using." we had ridden all day yesterday with the bikes stripped, a real blessing when pounding the pavement, but this morning everything had to go back on, always a tedious chore for me. JB2 and i had discussed early on the issue of camping on this trip, which he was not keen to do this time around, but i had spaced the conversation, and was carrying enough gear to make a team assault on Mt. Everest, all of which weighed a ton and took up a lot of space. no worries, tho, the VFR is plenty competent, even fully loaded, and my anticipation of the day ahead could not have been any higher. our goal today was Gunnison, Colorado - not a long ride from Fruita in actual miles, but a deeply meaningful destination for me in a most personal, almost spiritual way, and JB2 was as amped as i was about getting there. let's ride. we jumped on I-70 east, then peeled off to the south on CO Highway 65, one of those roads the AAA map deems worthy of a series of green dots, indicating "Scenic." i gotta tell you, Hwy 65 did not disappoint.  this is in the town of Mesa, Colorado, just a few miles off the interstate. we couldn't pass up this patriotic photo op. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on March 04, 2007) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FIVE, cont.  several women had to walk out onto the grass to get around the bikes while we grabbed our pix (we had ridden thru a gate and up a sidewalk for the shot), but couldn't have been any cooler about our presence. we didn't stay in Mesa for more than a couple of minutes, but i immediately added this little one-horse western town to my "I could live here" list. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on October 01, 2004) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
DAY FIVE, cont.  as we put Mesa in our mirrors we began to climb, higher and deeper into a brand new world, a world not of dry, arid, sage-studded plains but rather a rich, vibrant, living landscape of dark evergreen trees, glowing aspens, crisp, cool alpine air, and breathtaking mountain scenery. welcome to the Rockies! (Message edited by jerry_haughton on October 01, 2004) |
