Desert Rose

Another fine sunshiny day and more than 400 miles of desert riding.  The day started off with me meeting a local and his dog Heathen (named after his grandkids) He really liked the American motorcycle and advised me of some nice roads to enjoy in the area.  I had to checkout Arches National Park, $5 gets a motorcycle in for a whole week - I so wish I had more time in that park, but I managed to travel about 40 miles in there taking all sorts of pictures & video and even took a nice hike.  Met a family and their friends that traveled from Olympia, WA & Los Angeles - the dudes were in the Navy back in the day and liked that the Uly looked setup to go anywhere - they really liked the external fuel packs.  The ladies were curious about the mandolin on my back so I had to show them it was a guitar.  Then they had to have some pics of the guitar as they had never seen one before - they thought I built it myself.  So obviously if I pull out the guitar I had to play them some songs - they seemed pretty excited and took a bunch of pics...glad I could provide some entertainment for part of their vacation :D

The Uly was awesome in the park!  Lots of low-speed switchbacks (15mph), elevation changes, and slippery red dirt. The smooth power of the Uly was dead on!  Always nice to know a loaded down moto can be easy to maneuver in some tight situations.  I have to admit the Uly is pretty good on some of the easy off-road stuff for a big twin, but seeing all the mountainbikes out there I really wanted to do some two-wheeled pedaling - everyone was saying this was the best day of the year so far.  Such a fun park for any two-wheels if you can handle those hills - I saw a dude riding up there on a unicycle - that was intense!!

After all that fun I still had to visit a new state and figure out where I was going.  Lunch at the Moab Brewery was a good place to figure that out.  Not only do they have great beer, but the rootbeer was so delicious along with their Jack Daniels chicken salad sandwich.  So I figure visit the Four Corners and then checkout someplace in northwest NM to stay.  Moab I will see you again for some adventure, and next time I will NOT be a tourist!

Leaving Moab reminded me that I am in the desert - I'd consider Moab a friendly desert because it's developed and you can find all levels of whatever outdoor activity you fancy.  Everywhere you go in Moab signs and people tell you to make sure you have lots of water and drink it - good to heed that advice.  Riding south the reds begin to fade and turn more desert colors - you still find the amazing arches and rock formations, but there's not much else.  The roads go on for miles and miles and you see amazing things formed by the earth's erosion over the centuries of time.  I see these little green plants or maybe they are flowers every so often but lots of dry dead vegetation and tumbleweeds.  The first tumbleweed I saw blow across the road in front me I watch and thought that's like in the movies - then the crosswind hit me and I was back to the lean against the wind.  All the signs that say "Extreme Wind Area Next 5 Miles" get me all ready to brace for the wind were just signs with no wind.  But really just paying attention to the things blowing across the road works best.  The weather was perfect for the ride today - the sun at my back, mid 70's and keeping a steady 80mph most of the way.

So probably 200 miles later I take a left to go 10 miles out of the way to head to the Four Corners Monument to only find it closed for repairs.  Oh well - I just headed over to Colorado and took a pic of the Uly under the Welcome to Colorado sign and headed for NM.  I've spent alot of time in CO so I just wanted to get the Uly into another state just so I can say I did ride there too :-p

The desert feels like a lonely place but there was the history of the earth right in front of me - I love history and having all this around me made me feel really connected to our great country's landscape and mother earth.  You could see time have it's way with everything in the desert - all phases of roadkill from fresh to bones all there to see.  All the man-made structures in all phase - old and falling down and new places shining under the desert sun.  I didn't seen any Bighorn Sheep, but saw plenty of horses, mules, bulls, cows, deer and birds.  I did see a bull's skull mounted on the front of a Volkswagon Rabbit - maybe they had Dodge Ram envy?  I pulled over quite a bit on this stretch and took plenty of pictures of roads that disappear into the distance or seem to be swallowed by the immense rocks and shapes that are the desert.  

So now just chillin' in NM with flask and guitar in hand - tomorrow I'll head to Phoenix and meet up with Willie G and check out bike week.  It's been a sweet ride by myself, but it will be great to meet up with a good friend and have the Uly and Gingles' Harley make some sweet big twin rumblings.

"The morning is dead and the day is through
there's nothing left here to lead me, but the velvet moon
all my loneliness I have felt today
it's a little more than enough, to make a man throw himself away
but I continue to burn the midnight lamp - alone"