Frenchy's Rant

Internet access is hard to come by in the middle of Utah, Incidently, so is alcohol…

As we were gearing up to get the hell out of Blanding, a rider on a BMW touring bike pulled into the parking lot to say hello. I wish I had my camera handy, this guy’s bike was something to see. He had a CB radio, a GPS, a radar detector, a water bottle, XM radio and a heavily modified rear end. most of the rear frame had been cut and an extra six gallon gas tank was mounted where the passenger seat would have been. He said he has a five hundred mile range.

Good for him, I guess.

After spending the night in Blanding, we headed for Natural Bridges National Park. Route 95 is a road that just begged for some speed, and my throttle hand was getting itchy anyway, so Fiona and I left our little group behind.

I stopped to wait near the entrance to Natural Bridges... and waited… and waited…. then I started to get that sick feeling. I turned around to go find Dan and Abi, as they came around a corner. A buck had jumped out of the brush in front of Abi, fortunately he was able to avoid it, allowing him to remain a vegetarian in good standing.

The town of Hanksville receives and annual rainfall of about five inches. While we were slogging thorough the Rockies in our fancy U-Haul, Hanksville was flooding with four inches of rain in a single day. We were concerned about road closures, and everyone we asked had a different opinion on what may or may not be closed. (one thing I’ve learned is local people WANT to be helpful, but more often than not, they aren’t.)

We decided to try and get through Hanksville. There really weren’t many other options, so we went for it. We passed Lake Powell, the second largest man made lake in the world, according to the sign. There were signs of recent flooding on huge red clay splotches crossing the road, but the roads were all passable, even on a Hayabusa.


Pulling into Hanksville for lunch, we learned that Route 24 was open in one direction, and that two days earlier, the whole town was under water. Flood damage was extensive, a motel and some cars were still partially submerged.

We met two couples in Hankville that had trailered their dirtbikes all the way from Tennessee to ride in Hanksville. They weren’t able to ride because of the spongy mud, and, disappointed, were turning around to make the long drive home. Fortunately for us we were able to press on.

With our high mileage highway-slogging days happily behind us, we decided to stop more frequently, take more pictures of the amazing scenery, and actually see things instead of flying by everything like we usually do on these trips.

Our day ended in Torrey at the fantastic Rim Rock Inn.

The beer in Utah might only be 3.2 percent alcohol, but the wine is full strength, as our experiments confirmed.

Four hundred fifty miles in two days on the back of a Hayabusa, and Fiona hadn’t complained once.

Of course there were still five hundred miles to go…

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Woke up to more of the same crappy weather. The forecast for Denver – rain turning to snow later in the evening. Elevations over 6000 feet were expected to have snow starting at noon. Grand Junction is 280 miles from Brush, through elevations over 10,000 feet.

We decided to head to Denver and see how the riding was. In a word, it sucked. Pulling off in Brighton, we made the hardest decision of the trip thus far. There was no way we’d be able to ride through the Rocky Mountains as wet and cold as we were.

So, we rented a U-Haul.

We spent the next hundred miles convincing ourselves that we’d made the right decision. I am a big fan of living to ride another day.

As we started the climb into the Rockies, the rain turned to snow. Temperatures hovered around 36 degrees with strong cross winds blowing vehicles all over.

Who’s great idea was this anyway? Ride across the US in October? BRILLIANT!

After about 150 miles, the road was actually dry. We saw a few peeks of sun, which was REALLY annoying. We even saw a guy on a Goldwing heading east. ARRGHH!

If only… but that doesn’t matter. After four 500+ mile days we were tired, and the cold, wet riding would have just been too much.

On the way down to Grand Junction, the weather turned even worse. Driving rain and sleet pelted our fantastic U-Haul for the final 80 mile haul into Grand Junction. Disappointed, defeated but alive, we checked into a Doubletree and proceeded to re-energize with some invigorating adult beverages.

We’re staying in Grand Junction today, attending to laundry and other details. My friend Dan is riding out from Los Angeles to meet us in Grand Junction, and my girlfriend Fiona is flying out later today to finish the ride on the back of the Hayabusa.

Our original plan was to ride back through Utah, but like nearly every other plan we’ve made, that’s subject to change.

Back on the road tomorrow.

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10 Hours – 457 Miles – Omaha, NE to Brush, CO

Colorful Colorado was mostly gray, with a streak of orange running through it.

70 degrees is the average for this time of year. Right now it is 39 degrees.
The forecast for Denver tomorrow night: Snow.

Though it is supposed to rain and be cold all day tomorrow, we’re going to attempt to cross the Rocky Mountains. If that isn’t possible… well, it has to be possible. We were looking forward to riding some nice mountain roads, which is part of the reason we hammered so hard to get from Rhode Island to Denver in four days.

So much for that great plan. Going south or back north won’t help, since this awful weather is all over the region. Crossing the Rocky Mountains is the only option, and if we don’t go today, there will be snow accumulation to deal with.

Great.

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