June 3, 2000 CYCLE UTAH

Our vacation actually started Memorial Day Weekend. We went to the beach lot with the family. Before crossing over to the Washington side, we detoured to visit Fort Clatsop. We stopped at the Dairy Queen for a cheap hamburger. There was a car lot next door. Because of this stop, two days later, we came out with a brand new 2000 Suzuki Esteem Wagon GL. (Most expensive hamburger we ever bought.)

The hassling of the car is always a lot of fun. You never know whether you are getting it as cheap as you could because they always make you think they lost money on the deal.

We took it home May 29. Myran helped put cruise control on it, which was fairly easy to do. Byran did mechanical and Myran did electrical. Ilene put the things together for Cycle Utah and our vacation and cleaned up from the beach camping trip. It’s amazing how the cleaning up and the packing were done about the same time as the work on the car.

Well, our new car had 209 miles on it when we bought it; now, one month later, it has 5200 miles and nearly ready for its second oil change. Want to hear what we did?

When you go away, you always leave a list of things for your kids to do. Sometimes they find time to do them. This is when they realize how much you do. As a team, it works better. We left home fairly early Thursday morning, June 1. There was a head wind. Before this trip ended, we would know about head winds. Destination: St. George, Utah.

The gas gauge went out on the car first thing. According to it, it does not use gas at all. In fact I believe it shows more now than it did when we filled it up. It may not use gas, but we haven’t had enough faith to test it. We used the trip meter and filled it up every 300+/- miles.

We arrive in St. George about 4:00 p.m. June 2, a day early. The temperature was in the low 100’s. It was a dry heat, nevertheless, quite a shock when you come from an area sporting a mere 65 degrees.

Since we arrived early, we scouted the area and found the perfect way to stay cool. We came across Quail Reservoir. The water was a wonderful temperature and perfect for swimming. From there we visited the site of an old silver mine. At one time they had 33 little mines in this area. It was the only silver found in sandstone in the United States. In the little gift shop at the Silver Reef Mine, we found a cute “little” copper statue for Marci our oldest daughter. If she wants it, she is going to have to re-find it. It was only $11,000. Really nice!

That night, June 3, I met friends from Cycle Montana, Ray, Jerry, and Valli. Don and Gloria were to join us in Springdale. We talked of old times – just like a family reunion. We were all sorry that Susan was not feeling up to the trip but hope she is getting stronger. (Later we found out she was in the hospital with blood clots from Kemo.) We also met some new friends, friends we would get better acquainted with as the week went by. I got my bike ready, and then we met for a Map meeting and registration. 135 riders. We are now ready to begin, Byran on his bike, Ilene in the air-conditioned car.

DAY I: St George to Springdale – 42 mile day (60 with option)

Got up at 6:00 a.m., had a Continental breakfast, and biked out of St. George. The temperature was just right “in the morning.” We biked from Springdale up to Zion Canyon. After a little rest, I rode into Zion on my bike. It was extremely hot. The bike tires were leaving grooves in the pavement. When I got to camp that evening, it was 110 degrees in the shade. Ilene, Valli, Ray, and Jerry took the shuttle into the Park. We all ended up on the riverside walk to the Temple of Sinawava. Ilene and I didn’t do the actual creek walking until the following week when we revisited this area.

DAY II: Springdale to Hatch – 61.5 miles

We were shuttled through the tunnel. It was over a mile long with no lights. There were openings that let light in but it was not safe without headlights. After getting through the tunnel, I went on the hike out to the point. Ilene and Valli drove through the tunnels. Valli’s allergies were making it very hard on her so Ilene took her above the flying ragweed. We left Zion and proceeded to Carmel Junction and then on to the town of Hatch.

DAY III: Hatch to Ruby’s Inn (Bryce Canyon) – 23 miles

Ruby’s Inn is a campground just outside of Bryce. I believe I neglected to mention that Don and Gloria have joined us. Don brought beer.

Since it was a short day, we were able to explore the Canyon. We went on a car trip with the Montana group. Don, Gloria, Valli, and Jerry in Don’s car. Ilene and I and Jerry in our car. We checked out all the sights; then Valli and I went on a 45-minute chopper ride and saw even more. Awesome!

DAY IV: Ruby’s Inn to Panguitch Lake – 43 miles

Beautiful ride through the country. An invigorating up-hill with a head wind. I started riding with Valli. We were doing “one post at a time – 24 posts to a mile” We stopped a lot. J

DAY V: Panguitch Lake to Cedar City – 43.9

Started out in the morning giving two sisters, Anne and Donna, a hard time. I laid down behind my bike and shot them with my finger pistols. Not blinking at all, they rode right on by. Probably figured it was just that old biker-man with a lot of screws loose and 3 paddles in the water.

Valli and I struggled on up to Cedar Breaks National Monument, one and two posts at a time. We finally arrived at the top (approximately 10,500 feet) and viewed all the points of interest. Two reasons for doing this: 1. To rest, and 2. (The best reason) to look at the awesome view. The wind was blowing about 50 mph, or so the farmer said when we got to the flatland. It was blowing our bikes all over the road from every which direction. It would pick up the gravel on the side of the road and pelt us with it. Trees were blowing across the road.

Reaching the top viewpoint, the tour people recommended we put our bikes in the truck and ride down. It was not a popular decision after climbing all the way up, but it was the right thing to do. This put us in camp around 5:00 o’clock in time to eat. For dessert we made a Blizzard run to the Dairy Queen. Ray was buying.

DAY VI: Cedar City to St. George – 57.4 miles

Since it wasn’t blowing this morning, Valli and I told Tom, our fearless leader, we were going to put our bikes in the car and have Ilene take us back up to the top. We wanted to have the thrill of riding down that last 20 miles.

It was cold at the top. Being the gentleman I am (and because I had warm biking clothes with me) I let Valli wear my ski coat and wind pants. Down the hill we went getting up to 40 mph sometimes. At the bottom of the hill, Ilene retrieved our warm weather gear and we struck out on our regular day’s trek. There was a good head wind to keep us from going too fast. I thought gentlemen let the ladies go first, but Valli let me lead. I guess she thought I knew the way. Ha, right!

I will never forget Valli’s smile riding down that hill. It made the whole trip worthwhile.

We ended up going 81 miles that day and Valli learned to draft.;

We arrived in St. George about 5:00 p.m. Ilene drove in around 5:30 (She’d gone to Mesquite, Nevada to strike it rich – right! Anyway, many people had already left. We missed telling Don and Gloria good-bye. We still had Ted’s beer, but no Ted. I bid Valli farewell. She had to leave almost as soon as we got back. Jerry and Ray were waiting for us and invited us to eat with them and the rest of our Cycle Utah group. I think there were about 15 of us left. So we had dinner at the Mexican Restaurant and another Blizzard at Dairy Queen. We then bid everyone a fond Adios Amigos, vowing to keep in touch and come together for another Cycle Adventure.

Ilene and I spent the night in St. George. We still had another week’s vacation.

The next morning we headed back to Zion. I wanted to do that creek walk. We took the shuttle bus through the Canyon and got off at Zion Lodge, looked around, had lunch, and back on the shuttle. We got off again at Weeping Rock. We hiked up to it. The rock might have been sad, but Ilene was happy. It was nice and cool there. Back on the shuttle; off at the Temple of Sinawava.

We did the mile plus riverside walk. I then hiked up the river (in the river) for another 3 miles where it really narrows. Ilene hiked up the river `about a mile. Then we walked back together. It was beautiful but really hot, 95-100 degrees. The river felt good.

On the way out the bus driver called our attention to several climbers. We could only see a colored dot on the rock face because they were so high up.

In the evening we had Chinese food served Southwestern style with a Spanish atmosphere. We then went to the Cinemax and saw “Zion.”

The next day we drove out of Zion by way of Mt. Carmel Hwy. We drove through the mile long tunnel and stopped on the other side. We hiked up to the honeycombs. It was only about a mile trail. At the top we had breakfast, blue cheese, crackers, banana, and 7-up. (Doesn’t that sound yummy?) The view at the top was gorgeous. From there we headed to Mt. Carmel Junction and had a latte.

Our trip continued south from here to Lake Powell. What awesome, contrasting scenery. We went through the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. It is the 4th highest dam in the world. We went on a tour of the dam and then walked across the bridge and back. Swam in the Lake. Traveled to Page, Arizona, then Hwy 160 and turned down to the Navajo National Monument. Here we found a nice free campground with running water and flush toilets.

At the Visitor Center I found out about a Strenuous 8.5 mile hike out to the “Betatakin Ruins,” ancestors of the Anasazi Indians. I took the hike the next day. Then, on the day after, I took the 17.5 mile hike to Keet Seel, the largest Anasazi village in Tsegi Canyon, which flourished during the last half of the 13th century. I talked our neighbor, Monica, who was from Toronto, Canada, to walk it too. It was hot here too. They suggested taking two gallons of water with you. The walk was long but worth it.

Wednesday found us heading North again towards Pitkin, Colorado. We arrived at our friends’ lodge around 4 in the afternoon. When we get together, it’s like we just pick up where we left off the last time.

Thursday, Jim and I went fishing in Blue Mesa Reservoir. We caught our limit of 20 land-locked Coho salmon. Joanne and Ilene caught up with the girl talk and went out to lunch at Blue Mesa too. They were going to take us along, but we hid. That night we had barbequed salmon. Mmmmm, good! Jim took us four-wheeling in the evening in search of elk. Didn’t see any. There aren’t any elk in Colorado. I keep telling Jim, but he won’t listen. I have been going there for 30+ years and have hunted there too, but never have I seen an elk in the wild.

Friday we drove to Cripple Creek and did the gambling thing all day. It took all day for those machines to claim our winnings. We had a nice dinner and a good time. Oh, on the way back to Pitkin, we saw 6 elk! OK, there are 6 elk in Colorado, plus three white elk we saw caged in the pasture.

Saturday, we reluctantly left for home. We stopped in Twin Falls, Idaho for the night and finished the trip on Sunday. We stopped for an hour at Wild Horse Casino in Pendleton, OR. Ilene won 1,000 nickels. Finally.

There was a 40 mph head wind from Pendleton to Portland. So, we ended our vacation as it started – with a head wind.