October 14th, 2006

Migration – Day 8

Day 8

10 Hours – 238 Miles – Blanding, UT to Torrey, UT

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.