It was an awesome day here in Moab, Ut. with clear skies, a cool morning that later on in the day warmed up to 87 degrees. My neck and arms are now red as a beet and I may pay for that tonight, but it was worth it. Lori has been going to a tanning salon so she did not get burnt today.
First thing out we hit Highway 128 for a 14 mile sprint in one direction, then made a U-turn and came running back the other way. That was a beautiful road and on the way back, I had Lori shoot a video so if I can get a little of it cut down an loaded to the Internet, I will post a link at the bottom or in the future. After that little bit of fun we made our way down the road to Arches National Park. I was told by a friend that he could have easily have spent two weeks hiking and looking around all the parks here in Moab and it is true. We spent at least 5 to 6 hours in this park and we did not eat lunch or leave the park for lunch. We just snacked on some Granola bars and drank water or Gatorade. We also got our exercise today and I put all that whining from Lori about doing nothing but riding an no exercise to rest. We hiked a total of 14 miles of trails today without proper footwear and my poor big toes agree. When you walk downhill at steep grades and you have slip-on tennis shoes, your feet tend to jam to front of the shoe with all your body weight. After 6 hours of this, my toes said uncle.
The view and scenery inside the Arches park is another must see by all at least once in your life time. Put it on your list of things to do with kids or without, just make sure those kids are more than 7 or 8 years old or you will be carrying them on your back. We took another 127 pictures that I consider keepers so beware when you hit the picture link at the bottom it is going to play for a bit but it was so beautiful.
We finally saw all we wanted to see and left the park for the hotel room. We rested for only 15 or 20 minutes and left to go get dinner slant lunch at the same time. Once we finished dinner the time was around 6pm and that left enough daylight to try to squeeze in one more short ride before we called it a day. So we took off to Potash Road and unlike 128 early in the day, this road was much less traveled and a bit tighter. We also so at least three groups of folk repealing up and down the cliff walls. We were going to stop and get pictures on the way back by, but they had called it a day by the time we made the return pass. All in all, today was another great day.
Tomorrow I had a 400 mile loop laid out, but I’m going to be forced to modify this because we did not make Canyonlands today. So first thing in the morning we will do a 120 mile ride down to Natural Bridges, then reverse course and stop in Monticello at a Honda shop. After that we will comeback through the town of Moab and up to Canyonlands. We will also have to make a decision tomorrow to stay or go another day in Moab. It is going to depend on how much we can get done tomorrow.
John Cassarly, if you read this post, you need to take 2 or 3 weeks off next summer and come park in Moab. The hiking, camping, and boating will fill your bill nicely. If you really feel frisky, you can rent a Jeep, ATV, Dirt bike, and or a Side-by-Side to enjoy the scenery. It’s only 2000 miles out here!!!
One more thing to note here that I did research on this afternoon after our riding. The new back tire that we put on will likely not make the trip back to Virginia. It is going to be so very close because I currently have 5462 miles on that tire and I have a minimum of 3300 miles to go to get home. The tire is indicating that it is 75-80% wore out now. It started with 8-9mm of tread depth and is currently reading 1-3mm depending on where you read it. The center tread is wearing quickly. I have a tire with me that has 3000 miles left on it and if I have to get a new tire prior to making Virginia, I will have someone throw that tire on. The broken shock is holding up ok, the bike just bounces more than normal in some situations. The GPS is no factor because I have been able to work around that broken charging cable and only turn it on when I need information. The front tire is holding very well with over 7000 miles on it, so it is no factor. The Trailer tires will likely make it home but they will be bald on arrival. So oil change and rear tire is the only things I should have to deal with before I return to Virginia.
Todays run was 130 miles, and our total is now 7164.
Click here for todays pictures:
Tomorrows route is pictured below:
The Picture below shows what we have completed and what we have left. The Red is complete and the Green is what is left.
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