Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!  How did you spend the day?  I took a ride to Zion National Park, again.  

    I left Friday night after school, about 8:00 pm.  I scurried south to Fillmore and stayed in a motel that smelled kinda funny.  The weather looked scary before I left, but was pretty clear.  I got wet from the rain on the road, but none fell.  I was going to tent it for the night, glad I didn't.

    When I woke up it was raining pretty good.  I got my stuff together and eventually headed out.  The rain wasn't bad at all.  The road was very wet.  The semi vapor trails were pretty impressive.  It was all good until just before Beaver, I was in the clouds.  It was very foggy.  It eventually cleared up and the I15 Corridor looked really clear, so I took SR 20 from 15 to 89.  It was a poor decision, if I wanted to have an easy, incident free ride.  About a mile in there was snow on the road.  It went from bad to worse and eventually I didn't have any clean tracks to follow.  It was much more memorable than a sunny, calm jaunt down 15.  After splashing snow all over my boots they were frozen solid.  

    I stopped in Panguitch for a bite.  The only place I found was a cafe that was connected to a gas station/motel.  The food was decent.  I had the full order of Biscuits and gravy with an egg, over easy, on the side, with a hot chocolate to drink.  It was two big biscuits cut in half with some mediocre gravy with some left over sausage chunks.  The egg was good and the hash browns were good.  I would go there again.  The damage came to $10.18 with a tip.  The cook used to cook for several different national parks... 'nuff said.  

    I left "big fish" and headed south down 89.  I passed HWY 12.  I didn't want to, but I kept on to the south.  The weather was cold and I recall a few flurries.  Snow was plentiful on the shoulders, no that isn't code for dandruff or dry scalp.  The cook from the cafe said they were hammered with snow at about 6 am.  Glad I didn't camp.  I motored south to Mt. Carmel Junction:  HWY 9 joins with 89 and connects to Zion NP.  I gassed up and started looking for Trent.

    Trent was the reason for the trip.  He is a buddy of mine from Georgia whom I had not seen for some time.  He was spending quality time with his daughters and girlfriend.  We had a good time hiking around rain storms and observing nature.  For more on hiking check out my hiking blog.  For more on catching up with old friends, check out my reunited blog.  This is a motorcycle blog.  I don't want a pickle, I just want to ride my motorsickle.

    I spent the night in a Best Western at Mt Carmel JCT.  It was a hotel.  My room was right on the third hole, a dogleg left par four.  It was weird.  

    I left around 10:00 am from the hotel.  I headed north on 89 and was pleased by the lack of clouds.  It looked very nice, but it was still cold and very windy.  I headed to the natural beauty and curvy wonders of HWY 12.  It was better than I remembered.  Red Canyon!  Bryce Canyon!  Tropic!  Escalante!  Calf Creek!  That one part when the shoulders on both sides of the road disappear!  Boulder!  Turns, curves, turns, curves!  The Alpine section just before Torrey and junction with 24!  I love 12!

    There is a road east out of Boulder called Burr Trail.  I have read about it and have always wanted to try it.  It is paved to the Capitol Reef NP border.  It was really cool.  The pic above with the big orange cliff is Burr Trail.  It was breathtaking.  There are cliffs on both sides of the road.  The scenery changes constantly.  I didn't even make it to the NP.  I want to go back and ride all 75 miles.

    I rode 12.  Then 24 to blah blah blah.  The rest of the way home was blah.  I sped when I could.  The wind was bad.  I got home about 5:30.  I did about 800 miles and change.  It was a cold fun trip.  I highly recommend 12 to all forms of transportation.  I didn't really do it justice , geologically speaking.  For more on that check out my geology blog.

Shut up and Ride!

JP