The weather was perfect in Escalante and we got the bikes ready for the day. John is at the far bike in this picture and the other rider was just another adventurer passing through...
My bike in front on my digs for the night...
After packing up we headed back over to "The Outfitters", as the lady running the hotel called it, for breakfast. Another Chai Latte for the road and I was ready to roll.
This area of Utah is called The Grand Staircase...
The name comes from the geology of the region which is essentially a massive structure of sedimentary rock layers dominating the southern half of Utah. These layers were described as forming a giant staircase stepping up from the Grand Canyon with each "edge" being defined by a set of named cliffs. The views in this area are simply spectacular so I'll let the pictures do the talking (note that full size versions of all the pictures in this blog can be found at the link to the left)...
We passed though some more areas where the trees had taken on their Fall colors and there were some spectacular views. We passed so many amazing photo opportunities and there were people with cameras pulled over in taking advantage of those rare chances to capture nature at it's best. Being on large road bikes we were actually a little more limited in our choices because there were very few places to pull off the road without being into the tall grass or loose gravel. I did manage to grab a few memories along the way...
Moving further north was passed into the more mountainous regions where more huge rock formations are found, as well as free range cattle...
John managed to part the herd with a blast of that Steibel horn...
Sorry fella but we have places to go...
Visible in that picture of John cutting a path between the cows you can see some rain in our future. As we approached the weather the temperature dropped and we stopped to get into rain gear...
The ride up to I-70 was windy, REALLY windy, and we were heading straight into the teeth of that wind. We stopped for a break in Green River and several drivers from Wyoming warned us about heavy blowing snow up north and that we were in for a bad time on the road to Moab. After warming up and heading out we found things were not quite so dire. It was still chilly and bit damp but riding with a 40 mph tailwind made the trip down UT 191 comparatively relaxing.
We reached Moab in mid-afternoon which gave us plenty of time to do some recharging. John headed over a local laundry to clean some clothes and I headed over to a place called Rio. A coworker of mine has been after me for a couple of years to stop in there and say hi to a friend of his who owns the place. Rio is a decent little sports bar just off the main drag in Moab. The owner wasn't in but he apparently knew I was coming by and had the bartender give me a 4-pack of a local IPA that was pretty good.
We ate dinner at Eddie McStiff's that night. The service and food are typical Moab, laid back and friendly. It seems like everyone in the place was personal friends with everyone on the staff! The walk back was comical since it was pitch black and raining - and we got lost! Thankfully our cell phones told us we were only a block or so past our tiny hotel so a trudge back in the rain and I was home for the night.
I can't say our hotel was exactly 5-star quality but it was clean and the girl at the desk was super friendly - like everyone around here - so for the money I suppose I can't complain about Kokopelli Lodge. Not exactly the color scheme I would have gone for but I slept good so that's all that mattered...
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