Oldschool
Moderator
Day 5 – Godfathers, Wash Roads and Moab!
Morning for me always seems to come a bit earlier than anyone I have ever traveled with and today was no exception. I wandered over to the shower house and had a leisurely, hot (free) shower and got suited up in the hot weather gear for a change. I suspected that today the heat would play a part. The bluffs were a little too far away to make any remarkable morning pictures so I shot a few of the campsite and made coffee with the Jet Boil. The rest of the guys were now stirring as we had planned to go into Price and search out breakfast before Chris’s 11:00 appointment to get the DR new chain and sprockets. This of course was dependant on the Brown Santa Truck from Salt Lake City being on time.
As mornings go we were all up early and packed up fairly quickly, so we set off in search of food, 15 miles north into Price. We passed under 191 and followed the GPS to the main drag in Price. After running all the way through the downtown without seeing anything promising, I was a little concerned we might have to settle for a fast food outlet. Just as that was crossing my mind I spotted a promising looking Café and wheeled across the street to its lot. Paul commented that he was thinking, “not the McDonalds!” since it was right across the street. The food and scenery in the restaurant did not disappoint, plus they had Wifi. The guys proceeded to do the dysfunctional-tech-family-meal-thing, (everyone stare at their electronics while absently mindedly poking at their food). Afterward we cruised back to meet the Godfather of Price, Tony Basso. He must have been have a new gold tooth put in, or perhaps delivering a horse head, and was no were to be seen. His stoolies (I jest) at the bike shop were very helpful and very accommodating while we hung out waiting the Brown shorts guy to arrive. The sun was quickly baking the earth and everything else outside while the hours ticked by. We took over the staff table at the back of the store and tried not to make too much of a nuisance of ourselves. Eventually the news we had all been waiting for came, and the parts arrived. The shop guys were quick to get the job done and we eagerly suited back up for the run to Moab!
One more time, we headed south on hwy 10 past our previous night’s camp spot to Castledale where I hooked up with my gps track and onto Green River cutoff road, headed east.
This was a fairly wide, well traveled gravel road at first but I was glad to have done the track up as there were numerous places to turn off along the way. It was hot and dusty with a nearly cloudless sky. The road narrowed and began to twist through washes and up and down over bluffs. Eventually it came to a fork that said we would be continuing on Chimney Rock road, and this is what my gps had routed, so off we went. We of course took a few pictures along the way.
A really nice, narrow, twisting canyon was the highlight before hooking up with 191 again, not far north of I-70 and Green River. We were a bit behind schedule so I opted to ignore my track routing and blast east on I-70 for about 20 minutes until a small wash road that I had found on one of the maps that cut off the corner between I-70 and where 191 went south to Moab. It was blazing hot by this point and zipping along the Interstate was a relief for the bikes cooling systems. When I got to the spot where my track led onto the wash road things got interesting.
I pulled off I-70, following the track I had laid down only to find it veered left, into what looked like an old parking lot beside the main road. The road going south looked good, but the sign said the name didn’t jive with what I had intended. While the guys waited I did recon, figuring “what the hell, I’ll just follow my track exactly. Low and behold I found the faint dual tracks at the northeast corner of the lot, so I continued and they became more defined. I waved the guys over and they eventually figured out what I wanted. The “road” was nothing more than 2 tire tracks leading off into endless desert, but we discovered even this can be fun. About 5 times along the way we dropped into “washes” that were very deep cuts with steep approaches and exits and very loose at the bottom. You could not hit the bottom fast or you would bottom out and maybe flip over, but you also had to gas it to climb out. All this, with fully loaded bikes and this being a new skill, learned on the fly for all of us.
It is funny how having no choice increases the ability to quickly learn a new skill and all the guys made it through without a spill. At the east end, just before re-joining pavement on 191 we came upon a watering station surrounded by a lot of Cattle. The road widened out at this point, crossed a cattle gate and hit the highway. We were getting very close to our check in time in Moab and so I again opted to just burn pavement, south on 191 after consulting the guys. A short stop for construction north of Moab and we rolled down into the valley just north of the river and the junction of 191 and 128 and Moab Valley RV and Campground.
Our objective finally realized, we rolled into the parking lot with a sense of accomplishment, and for me at least a renewed energy. After checking in with the lovely ladies at the front desk we set up camp after getting out of the overly hot riding gear. We were starting to get into tourist mode, knowing we would not have to break camp the next morning. Later that evening we headed into town to the “Blu Pig” to enjoy a BarBQ and blues joint that came recommended. It would not dissapoint!
Sporting the FZ forum shirt.
more tomorrow....
Morning for me always seems to come a bit earlier than anyone I have ever traveled with and today was no exception. I wandered over to the shower house and had a leisurely, hot (free) shower and got suited up in the hot weather gear for a change. I suspected that today the heat would play a part. The bluffs were a little too far away to make any remarkable morning pictures so I shot a few of the campsite and made coffee with the Jet Boil. The rest of the guys were now stirring as we had planned to go into Price and search out breakfast before Chris’s 11:00 appointment to get the DR new chain and sprockets. This of course was dependant on the Brown Santa Truck from Salt Lake City being on time.
As mornings go we were all up early and packed up fairly quickly, so we set off in search of food, 15 miles north into Price. We passed under 191 and followed the GPS to the main drag in Price. After running all the way through the downtown without seeing anything promising, I was a little concerned we might have to settle for a fast food outlet. Just as that was crossing my mind I spotted a promising looking Café and wheeled across the street to its lot. Paul commented that he was thinking, “not the McDonalds!” since it was right across the street. The food and scenery in the restaurant did not disappoint, plus they had Wifi. The guys proceeded to do the dysfunctional-tech-family-meal-thing, (everyone stare at their electronics while absently mindedly poking at their food). Afterward we cruised back to meet the Godfather of Price, Tony Basso. He must have been have a new gold tooth put in, or perhaps delivering a horse head, and was no were to be seen. His stoolies (I jest) at the bike shop were very helpful and very accommodating while we hung out waiting the Brown shorts guy to arrive. The sun was quickly baking the earth and everything else outside while the hours ticked by. We took over the staff table at the back of the store and tried not to make too much of a nuisance of ourselves. Eventually the news we had all been waiting for came, and the parts arrived. The shop guys were quick to get the job done and we eagerly suited back up for the run to Moab!
One more time, we headed south on hwy 10 past our previous night’s camp spot to Castledale where I hooked up with my gps track and onto Green River cutoff road, headed east.
This was a fairly wide, well traveled gravel road at first but I was glad to have done the track up as there were numerous places to turn off along the way. It was hot and dusty with a nearly cloudless sky. The road narrowed and began to twist through washes and up and down over bluffs. Eventually it came to a fork that said we would be continuing on Chimney Rock road, and this is what my gps had routed, so off we went. We of course took a few pictures along the way.
A really nice, narrow, twisting canyon was the highlight before hooking up with 191 again, not far north of I-70 and Green River. We were a bit behind schedule so I opted to ignore my track routing and blast east on I-70 for about 20 minutes until a small wash road that I had found on one of the maps that cut off the corner between I-70 and where 191 went south to Moab. It was blazing hot by this point and zipping along the Interstate was a relief for the bikes cooling systems. When I got to the spot where my track led onto the wash road things got interesting.
I pulled off I-70, following the track I had laid down only to find it veered left, into what looked like an old parking lot beside the main road. The road going south looked good, but the sign said the name didn’t jive with what I had intended. While the guys waited I did recon, figuring “what the hell, I’ll just follow my track exactly. Low and behold I found the faint dual tracks at the northeast corner of the lot, so I continued and they became more defined. I waved the guys over and they eventually figured out what I wanted. The “road” was nothing more than 2 tire tracks leading off into endless desert, but we discovered even this can be fun. About 5 times along the way we dropped into “washes” that were very deep cuts with steep approaches and exits and very loose at the bottom. You could not hit the bottom fast or you would bottom out and maybe flip over, but you also had to gas it to climb out. All this, with fully loaded bikes and this being a new skill, learned on the fly for all of us.
It is funny how having no choice increases the ability to quickly learn a new skill and all the guys made it through without a spill. At the east end, just before re-joining pavement on 191 we came upon a watering station surrounded by a lot of Cattle. The road widened out at this point, crossed a cattle gate and hit the highway. We were getting very close to our check in time in Moab and so I again opted to just burn pavement, south on 191 after consulting the guys. A short stop for construction north of Moab and we rolled down into the valley just north of the river and the junction of 191 and 128 and Moab Valley RV and Campground.
Our objective finally realized, we rolled into the parking lot with a sense of accomplishment, and for me at least a renewed energy. After checking in with the lovely ladies at the front desk we set up camp after getting out of the overly hot riding gear. We were starting to get into tourist mode, knowing we would not have to break camp the next morning. Later that evening we headed into town to the “Blu Pig” to enjoy a BarBQ and blues joint that came recommended. It would not dissapoint!
Sporting the FZ forum shirt.
more tomorrow....
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