Utah / Colorado Ride in Moab Utah June 6-10 2012
It was our turn to plan the Utah / Colorado Ride this year. Normally we do the ride in August around Ken’s birthday but because the group wanted to go to Moab this year we decided to do it in June because Moab in August is just to HOT.
We had Ken, Lisa, Myself, Linda, Brent, Deanna, Cory, Heidi, John, Deb, Jim and Shawna. It was a great group of people and like every year it’s not where you go but who you go with that makes the trip successful.
This year the plan was to make Moab our “home base” and just design rides around the Canyon Lands and Mesa Verde.
We rented condo’s instead of Hotels because it would be more comfortable and we could all hang out together. The condo’s proved out to be the right decision they were very comfortable and they each came with a garage to park our bikes in and each had there own hot tub to hang out in. Although we did not use the hot tub that much it was nice to know we could have. We only spend one night in the hot tub with Cory and Heidi.
We did have some key learnings from renting Condo’s
1) Only invite people you know will be committed because poor Linda started with four condo’s and we ended up with two. Everyone understands that things just come up and plans have to change but it really stressed out linda when one of the couples canceled out a week before we left. As it turned out we had six couples and six rooms so it did work out perfectly.
2) Make sure they are within walking distance of the town, because after a good ride everyone is ready for an adult beverage and to relax off of the bikes.
3) Double and triple check with the condo rental company to make sure your reservations are correct. We ended up with one condo from the 6th to the 10th and other one from the 6th to the 9th. So we had to find another condo for one night and one group had to move. Thank God Cory and Heidi brought their bikes down in their trailer because that gave us a truck to run people around in for the move.
4) Buy plenty of beer and I would suggest buying the boxed wine. If you look hard the liquor store does have some very nice boxed wines the good news is they last forever and they taste pretty good.
5) Send the guys shopping not the ladies, we bought just what we needed and at the end of the trip we used up all of our food, beer and wine.
6) Do not leave the ride open for anyone to come I would suggest as we have done in the past keep it to an invitation only group that way you can pick the personalities that get along and enjoy group riding and having fun. Really anyone who likes to ride and is low maintenance is fine. We have been very lucky with our group every year we have some additional people added to the group but the newer riders have really been an asset to the group and we have so much fun.
Linda rented the condo’s from Moab Accommodations unlimited here is a picture of the garages with all of our bikes in them. Like I said, loved the condos they were very open we could get everyone together for games or just to hang out or eat.
Our first night we all went down to Eddy Mc Stiff’s for dinner and a few drinks. They have great beer and the food is pretty good as well. This is where we communicated the rides each day and times for everyone to be “AOB”. We also collected all so the our betting monies for the week. Each day has a different ride game and we paid out the winners each day. Linda and I didn’t win one game.
On the first day we left pretty early breakfast at 7:00 AOB at 8:00 because we were heading to Mesa Verde and back about 270 miles but we also wanted to take the tour while we were there so we knew it would be an all day ride.
Here we are loading up the bikes and getting ready to head out to Mesa Verde. It’s a great ride a little cold on top of Monticello but the after that it warms up in a hurry.
It was a good ride and everyone rode so well together. This is where we found the “Power Breakfast”
You can get this breakfast at the Maverick gas station in Cortez. I think the only power you can get from this kind of breakfast is when you go to the bathroom that is when you find the true “power” of this breakfast.
We had to find some shade while we were waiting for the tour to start.
Mesa Verde if you click on the picture you can see just how big the living quarters were by looking at how big the people are in the tour ahead of us. They said there were between 200 and 300 people who lived here.
If you get the chance to go to Mesa Verde make sure you take the tour its fun and we learned so much in fact a lot of the things we learned 7 or 8 years ago when Linda and I had last visited Mesa Verde had changed because of the new discoveries.
As you can tell from the looks on John and Deb’s faces there is something very sacred and reverent about the place.
Day two we took the LaSal loop and then went over to the Needles over look.
Here are our lady riders at the top of the LaSal loop. The road is in bad shape with all of the pot holes but if you go slow and enjoy the ride you can ride around the bad spots.
Here we are with Ken and Lisa
Here’s a good one of Ken, Lisa, Shawn and Jim. I made a point of making everyone take off their sunglasses so I could see their faces. Note to self make sure everyone takes off their helmets as well.
and one with Brent, Deanna and Deb. John and Cory was sick and did not go on this ride. John had the flu and Cory… Well lets just say He put the hurt on himself and leave it at that for now.
On our way back we stopped at the Castle Creek Winery. We did a little wine tasting and some of the girls bought some shirts.
If you click on the picture you can read the shirts. I think the only true shirt is the one Deanna is wearing “Wine me up Watch me go” I don’t think Linda’s or Deb’s are believable.
If you stop make sure it’s after 12:00 they open at 10:30 but because of the Utah laws they cannot serve any wine until 12:00 PM
If you want to see the Needles do not go to the Needles visitor center. it’s about 45 miles away from the HWY and the view is not that great. Instead turn on Mile marker 93 and go out the Needles over look its only about 20 miles from the HWY and the view is amazing!!!
Here we are at the Needles over look. worth the ride..
It was Deanna’s birthday so Linda set up a dutch oven dinner and The Canyon by night boat ride. So after we sang Deanna happy birthday a time or two we took the bus to dinner and the boat ride. The dinner was amazing and the staff was awesome. It’s a family owned business they have been running for 49 years and they do a great job. I do think they need to update the program with some updated music and get rid of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. But the light show is amazing an there is something about just drifting on a boat in the evening that is so serene in fact Brent took a little nap.
A few of us before the boat ride.
Here we are on the boat. If you click on the picture you can see just how excited Lisa is for this trip. Like I said John was sick so Deb stayed back with him.
Day three was the ride out the Dead horse point and Island in the sky.
Here we all are at Dead Horse point. As you can tell from the most of the pictures I made everyone take off their sunglasses so we have a lot of squinty eyes but it’s still better than not seeing their faces so sorry everyone but is my blog.
This is where Ken, Lisa, Jim and Shawna left us and started their way back to Denver the rest of us headed up to Island in the sky.
For those of you who like riding the turns at a higher speed this is a ride for you because you can see if their is traffic or not for about a mile or two and when it’s clear let the bike go. It is now one of my favorite motorcycle roads in Utah.
We took some couples pictures from up top.
Here’s Brent and Deanna
Cory and Heidi
John and Deb
Linda and I
And the Group.
Here’s John and Deb passed out on our couches in the condo, I think they have had enough fun for a while, but they sure do look relaxed.
We saw a lot of great scenery and rode some great routes but as an added bonus we saw some many animals and they were pretty close like within 100 years we saw Elk, Moose, Deer, Bear, Rabbits, Squirrels, Coyote, Beaver, and Antelope on this trip.
Like I’ve said and always will say it’s not the ride but who you go with that makes a ride a success for everyone. This ride was amazing!!!!