Maddog62's Blog

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!!!!

For about the last five years Linda has put together a Birthday ride for me, normally it’s in Lava Hot Springs but this year she decided to move it to Moab because it’s a little warmer there.

Because of various issues  with family or motorcycles the only people who attended this year was Brent and Deanna.  Funny thing is we still had just as much fun as when we had Ten or Fifteen.

This picture is kind of dark so you might have to click on it to see the view from the Red Cliff’s lodge where we had my birthday dinner.  This picture really doesn’t do the view justice because it is so beautiful.  If you get the chance go have dinner and sit on the deck the view is amazing.

The ride started out at the South Valley Harley Davidson while we were waiting for Brent and Deanna we started talking to this couple from Oregon they were riding to Grand Junction and going through Moab on their way so we asked them if they wanted to ride with us.  We did warn them that we always take the longest route but they wanted to see a little of Utah and joined us.

Here we are with Deanna, Brent, Linda and David (don’t call me Dave) and Christy.

Here is the route we took (thanks Brent for road bossing)

The route was great and weather was fantastic for the ride, David and Christy loved the route so they decided to stay in Moab with us.  We didn’t get to Moab until about 7:30 that night and hotel was sold out.  I told them that my brother just canceled his room and I’m sure they charged him for the room because they have a 48 hour cancelation policy.  So I fought with them for a while because they did not have Mike down at all for a room so David and Christy found one right across the street because they had one cancelation two minutes before they walked in and asked.  good thing Mike didn’t come down with us because he would not have had a room either.

Saturday morning we rode out to the News Paper rock because Brent and Deanna had never  been there and on to the Needles visitors center.

This is the view from the Needles Visitor Center.

Here’s Linda, Brent and Deanna from the Over look viewing area.  I will tell you the Canyon Lands are so beautiful and every viewing point is different.

The ride into the Needles Visitors Center is about 48 miles one way I think the better viewing area is from the the Needles over look area it’s about fifteen miles closer to Moab and only about 25 miles in and I would tell you the view is much better

If you click on this picture you will see what I’m talking about this area is amazing.

From there we rode over the La Sal mountain loop it’s about a 50 mile loop that is beautiful I didn’t take any pictures because they also had the Red Rock Race going on while we were riding.  Looking back I wish they would have just closed the road because with all of the runners and their SAG vehicles there was no room even for our bikes to get around.  So we didn’t stop to take pictures we were just glad we got through it without running anyone over or tipping our bikes over.

That evening we went over to the Castle Creek winery and took the tour.  If you’re interested in taking the tour I would call first because if they are not making the wine you only get to watch a five minute video but the wine tasting was good.

Linda made dinner reservations at the Red Cliffs Lodge for dinner and it was fantastic.  The evening was perfect the view was perfect and the food was perfect.  Like  I said if you get the chance I would book a dinner reservation.

Because it was Mother’s Day the ride home was just a straight shot home on HWY 6

It was a great ride thanks Linda for pulling it all together!!!

This ride was created for a number of reasons one it was Linda’s Birthday weekend two Deb had just got clearance from her Doctor to ride three Brent and Deanna wanted to get on their bike.  So the six of us decided this was the weekend to go put some miles on our bikes.  We really didn’t care where we went as long at it was warmer than SLC.  Death Valley is always warm so it was a pretty easy decision for us.

We started the ride with everyone meeting Linda and I in Mesquite for a sleep over at our condo.  What I love about our neighbors in Mesquite is there’s a rule about parking trailers in the complex “No over night parking”… But because they all like our bikes and think they are pretty cool they made an exception for us and they let us park both trailers in no parking areas for the weekend.  I love this place.

Like I said the night started with a sleep over we had all six of us in the condo, it did not seem to crowded at all but it was like a sleep over for kids because everyone was laughing so hard and we finally went to bed about midnight.  Funny thing was I woke up to Deb, John and Brent laughing so I wondered if they even went to bed.

This is the route we took

What I liked about this route is we pretty much stayed off the freeways.

We started off the ride by finding a new place for breakfast The Muddy River Bar and Grill in Moapa Valley.  what a cool place the food was great and the poor server was all by herself but seem to do a great job  I think Linda and I will be back for a afternoon ride and grab a burger and a beer.

Here is John, Deb, Brent, Linda and Deanna infront of the Muddy Creek Bar and Grill.

We had a little bet on how many miles it was until the next gas station.  Good thing was I won the bet… Bad new was Linda lost the bet, so I still had to pay for beers.  Something is not right here.

On our way to Beatty we stopped at Area 51 and the local Cat House.

Here’s Brent standing by the newest Cat house soon to come.

We ended up staying at the Stage Coach Hotel in Beatty the hotel is good for $49.00 but I would recommend eating at the KC’s Outpost just down the street.  They have great food and fantastic desserts.. Although like other rides we have been on, we were laughing so hard and making so much noise they gave us our own room to eat in.  They are so nice.

The ride to Death Valley was a little cold 40 degrees cold in the morning as we turned off to Scott’s Castle Brent decided it was time to see how fast we wanted to ride our bikes.  Deb had her’s going 105, Linda had her’s over a 100 as did Brent I took mine to 118 and the bike felt like it was lifting up and getting very light but I was only at 5,000 RPM’s but it still scared me enough to shut it down.

Here we are at Death Valley it was sooooooo nice to warm up.

This is me just enjoying the weather while gathering some much needed vitamin D.  February 80 degrees we did not want to leave anytime soon.

Great picture of Deanna, Deb and Linda

We made it to Boulder Nevada just in time before the sun went down.  We stayed at the Boulder Dam Inn.  This is a very cool hotel and I would recommend staying there.  The rooms are great, they have the best breakfast that is complementary that I have every had.

Here we are in the lobby of the hotel just getting ready to head out to dinner and to celebrate Linda’s “50th” Birthday.

Here we are at dinner. I would recommend The Milo’s Cellar This was great place because they have great wines and fantastic small plates.

Linda’s cake that Brent and Deanna picked up.

I knew after enough wine Brent would take it out on the local animals

It was neck and neck for a while but Brent finally won out.

It seems like every ride is as good or better than the last one but like I have said before its not where you go but who you go with that makes the ride.

 

Linda and I spent a lot of time on our bike in 2011 mostly because we just needed to stay busy and to keep our minds always looking forward to something.

But in a nutshell we were in California, Nevada, Idaho, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Utah we hit most of those states multiple times we also took our bikes internationally to Mexico. 

So what did we get for riding all of those miles in 2011 besides mental health and some great times with friends and family.

Linda took first place in the Ladies of Harley with 17,466 miles Carol took second and Janell took third

I took third place out of the men with 17,685 miles I only missed first place by 10,000… dang you have to ride in this HOG group to get first place.  I guess I will have reset goals and work on first place when I can either win the lottery or retire. 

I took a little time and penciled out some of the expenses to riding just the basics to keep the bike running and in working order.

Now these numbers are for both bikes so I rounded the numbers a little but you will get the idea.

35,151 miles at 40 mile to the gallon at $4.00 a gallon $3,515.00

5 back tires installed $1,475.00

3 front tires installed $705.00

four 5K maintenances 1,400.00

four 10K maintenances 1,800.00

Total to keep the wheels turning $8,895.00

I didn’t not calculate food, hotels, Taxes, Insurance and all of the chrome and bling over the year.  So just to keep the wheels turning it cost us just under 9K… Now when I add in the entertainment factor, friendships and mental health it is all worth it.  Heck just for the theropy it gives me it’s worth the 9K.

I had to go to Tucson for work so Linda and I decided to make a trip out of it by taking the scenic route through San Diego. this is the last part of the California coast we have not rode on our bikes.

This is the complete route, What I loved about this ride was all of the new roads we took some great routes that were just fantastic.

First day took us to Death Valley, Linda and I have already been though the park and seen Scotty’s Castle so we took the South exit to Olancha.  Well that was the thought.  Guess what it is 173 miles if you go that way without a gas stop to Olancha.  I know that because Linda’s bike could only go 172 miles.  If you talk to Linda she would say “I ran her out of gas” but I went another 50 to Pine and back to get gas and made it back.  So just using the logic of she has the same motor as I do, her bike is much lighter than my bike and she is much lighter than I am.  Then logic would say she ran herself out of gas.

Funny thing was at the fork in the road at Olancha my GPS told me the closest gas station was 24 miles North to Pine and 36 miles South the direction we needed to go.  So with myself low on gas I decided not to take chance and head North I picked up a gallon of gas and headed back to where I left Linda.  That is when she informed me that was preparing to start walking, she was only going to give me another ten minutes. So I asked her where you going to walk too???? So if you get the chance to talk to Linda tell her two things. 1) don’t ride your bike so hard that you run out of gas and 2) never leave your bike because no one will know where to find you.

Ok so I put the gallon of gas in Linda’s bike and we decide to head South because I’m sure she can go at least 36  miles on a gallon.  Well we turn South and right down the block was a gas station.  Never trust your GPS because we were only a mile and half from gas.

The gas station in Olancha had a sandwich shop right there so we decided to grab something to eat.  They made this great sandwich and it did look great… until Linda took one bite… the meat was rotten.  So we took it back bought a frozen sandwich and dude charged us for the rotten, and this guy was not going to budge so he finally just made us pay the difference between the fresh and the frozen sandwich.

We made it to Victorville and stayed at the Holiday Inn.

The next day we started off for San Diego by way of Dana Point.  I picked Dana point because we have ridden our bikes all the way North from Dana Point all the way up the Coast to Vancouver Island so I wanted to ride this little part South just to complete the West Coast.  We also found out that Dana Point is like Utah when you just order coffee… We stopped in at this nice outside cafe and ask for some coffee, we were told that we must order food if we want coffee.  Utah it’s beer Dana Point it’s coffee.

We met up with Eileen and her family at the hotel Coronado and had a fantastic dinner with her and her family, then we met up with Bobby’s Wife Claressa and had dinner with her and a few drinks.

The next morning we started the ride to Yuma.  I was hoping to get further than Yuma but it was so HOT we just had to stop.  I’m glad we did because we stayed at the Radisson Hotel.  Great hotel and the food was fantastic even better than the food was the service.  Plus they have a player piano that we had a little fun with.

Here is Linda just standing outside of our Hotel in Yuma.  It was so hot that we could not go out during the day.

Because it was so Hot we started off on Tuesday to Tucson at 7:00.  HWY 8 is the ASS.  250 miles of nothing but ASS.

Linda and I both dropped off out bikes at the Harley Davidson in Tucson because she needed a 10K and I needed two new tires

I had three days of meeting at the JW Marriott WOW what a great hotel to bad I didn’t get to see much of it because I was in meetings for sun up to sun down.  Linda on the other hand took full advantage… She went on nature hikes and sat at the three pools they have there and she said they made the best Bloody mary’s she has ever had.

The funny thing was when we drove up on our bikes the staff didn’t believe we were staying there and asked me who we were visiting.  I guess Harley riders don’t stay at the JW Marriott very often.

Linda just having a beer at the Hotel.

On Friday we picked up our bikes and started off on our ride.

Saguaro national park is a must see.

Hwy 77 is such a great ride up to Globe. If you have not done it I would recommend doing so.

We found another great ride is HWY 60 out of Globe.  I will tell you the High Desesert is amaging to see, there is not a lot of places to pull off and take pictures but again If you have the chance take it.

We rode from Globe and wanted to get to Blythe CA but as you can imagine, Linda riding fast and hard we were there by 1:00 so we decided to push on to Lake Havasu.  we have always love HWY 95 on the California side but another great road is the one from Parker to Lake Havasu

Linda standing at the Bar at the London Bridge Hotel bar.  You can see the London Bridge behind her.

Love the roads and the view.

If you get a chance stay at the London Bridge Hotel they have three pools and a view of the river you will nerer forget.

From there we headed back to Mesquite by of Kingman and the Hoover Dam and one of my favorite roads Lake Mead HWY.  I just cannot get enough of this rode.

This is our annual Colorado Utah ride. last year we did the ride through Southern Utah so this year we were back in Colorado for another fantastic ride.

This year we had a few different riders we had Deb, John, Scott, Jannell, Brent, Deanna, Ken and Sherry rode with us from Salt Lake.  It’s the first year we have not had Pat and Staci with us.  We really did miss them I hope they can go next year.

We all met at Britton’s for breakfast, we have found Britton’s to be a pretty good meeting place because the food is great, they have a lot of parking and it is very easy to get in and out of on our bikes.

We basically took the same route we always take because I love to ride Wolf Creek pass and I really like HWY 139 from Rangely to Grand Junction.

We stopped in Vernal for lunch and so Brent could look at this bike one of the HOG members wanted him to buy.  I kind of wish Brent would have bought it because the next time we see the HOG group that is all we are going to hear about is the bike Brent should have bought.

If you are going to take the route from Rangely to Grand Junction stop in Rangely for a potty break because there is not a place to stop for about eighty miles.  As soon as we stopped Scott felt the need to get a little closer to Mother nature.

He only needed to go about fifty more feet.  But I know as well as anyone the closer I get to fifty, when you got to go you got to go.  Sorry Scott….

The rain gods were with us all of the way.  Every time it looked like we were going under a rain cloud our route took us another direction.  We never did get wet all of the way to Grand Junction.  We stopped at the Mother Ship (HD) for a while until I heard a little thunder.  I told Linda let’s go so we did.  We had no sooner parked the bikes when the sky opened up and the rain came down hard.

We all made it under the Hotel awning before the rain hit.  As you can see from this picture it was coming down hard.  This is where we met up with Ken and Lisa, Jim and Shauna and some new riders John and Grace.

We always stay at the Grand Mesa Hotel because the rooms are nice it’s easy and close to the free way it’s close to the mother ship and they have a great bar.

This is the group having dinner across the street from the hotel at Enzos Pizzaria and Italian Cafe they have great Italian food.  We also had a mystery person buy us dinner that night.  Go figure I wonder who that person could have been… We blamed it on the old guy sitting behind us.

It took the group about ten minutes to get comfortable with each other  we knew this group was going to get along great.  I think everyone at one point or another was giving someone they just met a little shit about something.  Hearing all of the conversations and laughter you would have thought this group had been riding together for years.

Case in point.  Here’s Deanna and Shauna having a “boob Off”

Even Jannell couldn’t watch these boob master’s square off.

The good news about a boob off is everyone wins!!!! Jannell wanted the next round.

The drinks kept on coming and what do you know they ran out of lamp shades so the beer bucket was the next best thing.  I think this is the first picture I have of Scott smiling. I guess he just needs a lot of beer and a bucket.

Everyone seemed to take a turn with the bucket,

This is the new way to pick up girls in Grand Junction first you put on the bucket and then you touch your nose with your tongue.  Brent says it works every time.  Heck he got Deanna so I have to think it works.

Here we all are in front of the Harley dealership in Grand Junction.  This is where the ride started and what a great ride it tuned out to be.  Along with the “Bug Card” Game Jim came up with a BINGO game on his IPad. It was a lot of fun Jim would call out five new numbers at every stop.  Scott won the BINGO game and Jannell and Linda won the Bug Cards. 

We left here and headed to Lake City the route was so beautiful and the roads were so fun to ride as you can see from this picture.

With all of the water Colorado had this year everything was so green and you would not believe the flowers they were everywhere.  Funny thing is I never really looked at flowers too much on our rides until Brent pointed them out on a ride to Laughlin.  Now I look at them all of the time.

We stayed at the Matterhorn Motel.  Nice place and the people running it were great we did take up most of their rooms that night.  But they did make the stay enjoyable although if you stay here just know the bathrooms are very small.  The showers are so small that I bent over to grab my shaver and shut the water off with my butt.

Here we are just hanging out in front of the hotel telling jokes.  Ken has a great joke about a Mother he might tell you if you ask him nicely.  Romero also has some of the funniest “mexican word of the day” jokes that just crack me up.

This is Ken and Jim going out to get some beer.  There is a real funny story about this picture but I don’t have the time nor the writing talent to put it into words.  Lets just say that Jim is not a good passenger and leave it at that.

Evidently the Salt Lake crew didn’t think Ken and Jim picked up enough beverages.  Funny thing was we ended up packing a lot of this beer all around Colorado.  Scott had about five beers blow up in his tour pack.  You know it’s bad when you open a tour pack and your rain gear is floating in beer.

Here’s a good picture of Ken double fisting.

I still don’t understand this picture maybe some body who reads the blog can tell me the story about the red wagon hooked to the pole.

Here’s a great picture of Ken and Linda just outside of the Mocha Moose where we had breakfast before we started out to Durango and on to Ouray.

As you can tell by all of the coats we climbed up to 12,000 feet.  You might have to click on the picutre to see everyone.

If you click on the picture you will be able to see some of the 14K peaks behind us.

Here we are with Jim and Shauna and Ken and Lisa.

Another good picture of us with Brent and Deanna.

We also met up with of folks from Australia.  These guys were a crack up they just love America.  I some times forget just how good we have it here.  When you break it down we have so much more to see in America than these other country’s do.

This is one of the places Ken stopped at so we could take some pictures.  The real view was of the mountains on the other side.  But this water fall made a great background.  The guard rail isn’t that cute but I like the picture.

See what I mean.   Absolutely  beautiful.

On our way to Ouray we stopped at this look out point.  The view of the mountains was so beautiful I took full advantage and took all of these pictures.

Brent and Deanna

Here we are with John and Deb

Scott and Jannell

Here we are with John and Grace

Jim and Shauna

And here is a picture of the Utah folks.  I know I had someone take a picture of us with Ken and Lisa and Ken and Sherry but it’s not here.  Now I know why we have Sherry in charge of taking pictures.

Here we are in Telluride just getting ready to leave for Grand Junction.  HWY 145 is the best road for motorcycles there is really not any traffic it follows the San Miguel river and the corners are so much fun to ride through.  Ken and I would let the group get about a mile or so up the road and then we would take off and go as fast as we could.  I have never had so much fun on a road before you have to experience the ride to understand what I’m talking about the  corners are so smooth.

We ended up back at Enzos the same restaurant in Grand Junction for dinner. The service was fantastic and the food was good, so why not.

From there we went back the Grand Mesa for drinks and Karaoke.  This was our last night but everyone seemed to still have a lot of energy because everyone seemed to get into the Karaoke.

Here’s the girls putting their groove on.  They all took turns singing and dancing.  They found their talent was in dancing because just about everyone else who sang wanted the girls to be their backup singers and dancers, even total strangers.  That’s when Deanna got the idea to send the all girl group on the road to Vegas.

If you click on the picture it says Send the girls to Vegas.  Deanna took the cup around the bar collecting money from everyone.  Funny thing was everyone was giving her money for the road trip.  Not sure if they just wanted the girls to leave or if Deanna is that good raising donations.  Either way the server got a nice tip when we left.

Ken and Jim got into the action as well.  believe it or not they actually sounded pretty good.  I guess when you spend a little time on the back of another guys bike you become pretty close and the love songs just seem to flow a little better.

I’m pretty sure the girls had more fun dancing than the people did singing.  As you can tell from this picture of Jim and girls they are really getting into it.

Although Ken did put on quite a show when he got up there.  He was so funny when he told everyone “I’m going to be here all week and to please remember to tip your servers because they work hard every day”.

John and Deb waited all night to sing their favorite song to each other Don’t go Break’in my heart.

Looks like Deb was the big winner.  Not sure what she had to do to get the dollar but look at her smile.

After all of the fun we had to say our goodbyes and head back to Utah. We just took I-70 to Scolfield over Fairview Canyon and home.

like I said everyone had a fantastic time the ride was great the route was outstanding and the company was even better.  Like most of our rides the ride is fun the time spent with friends after the ride with where I get most of the enjoyment.

Thanks again Ken and Jim for a great trip!!

Next year the trip will be in Utah.  We thought we would head back to Moab in mid June and ride all of the parks down there.  We are also going to mix it up a bit by adding in some other activities like river rafting and stuff like that.

For the last few years Linda has planned a Birthday ride up to Lava Hot Springs.  It started out with just Greg and Laura then the next year we went with Brent & Deanna and Mike & Lisa.  The group seems to be getting larger each year and like most things the more people the more fun.  This year we had Brent & Deanna, Greg & Laura, Mike & Lisa and then we added two additional couples Scott & Janell and John & Deb.  All I can say is what a great group of people man did we have fun I don’t think I have laughed that much for a long time.  The route was great but the times off our bikes just joking and messing around is where we had most of the fun these guys made my sides hurt.

Our first meeting point was at the South Valley Harley Davidson here we met up with Brent, Deanna, Scott, Janell, John and Deb.

Let the ride begin!!!!

We met up with Mike & Lisa and Greg & Laura in Kaysville so now we had the whole group together.  There is nothing like the first long ride of the season the energy is high and everyone is so excited to get on the bikes and ride.

We left SLC on Friday afternoon I have never been on some of these roads before so most of the time I thought I was lost because my GPS wanted me to go a different direction.  Good news we made it there and I don’t think anyone knew I was stressing.

Our first stop was at the Gas Station in Riverside just outside of Deweyville

Here’s  a picture of the girls see how happy they are after they had their treats and an empty bladder.

As you can see we also have the same satisfied look.  Although if you click on the picture Brent and Scott do look a little serious.  Maybe they didn’t get their treats yet.

After the ride to Lava we sat on the patio at the Alpaca Inn.  I just love this place we just about took every room they had.  We did feel a little bad for the people in the other two rooms because we may have got a little loud with as many times everyone thought they needed to sing me the Happy Birthday song.  I think between Friday and Saturday I heard that song ten times.  I will be ok if I never hear it again.

As you can see we also had a painted toe competition…. Scott won.

I had to put this picture of the bikes in.

Saturday’s ride was great  because we went on some great roads that I have never been on.  The group wanted to meet “Bambi LaBeck” (you will have to read an earlier blog when we met Bambi to understand the interest in her) so we took a little detour over to Thayne Wy.  Sad news she was not there but we did get to meet her husband.  He was not so happy that we knew his wife by that name but that’s another story.

Here we are at Dad’s Bar in Thayne Wyoming the gentleman on the far right is Bambi’s husband.

We seem to always end up at the Blue Moon for drinks and to party a little bit.  Well this time was no different we talked Greg into playing the drums with the band.  I think… No I know they were very surprised by how well Greg can play the drums.  He was in his element on stage.  Man he could play and the funny thing was everyone got up and danced when Greg had the drum sticks in his hands.  Laura was so excited that she could finally “shag” the drummer in a band.

This is when the night really started getting interesting, Linda and I were on the dance floor when I looked over to see John on the table pulling his shirt over his head and waving it in the air ( the dude has some moves) and the girls love it before you knew it they were sticking money down his pants I think he ended up making about $24 bucks that night.

Now this is the real crazy part so there was also a Bachelorette party going on and Deanna thought the new bride to be was a little to full of herself so she got Brent’s pocket knife and pulled out the scissors and was going to cut the gals Vail off…. Yes this is correct… you just can’t make this shit up… so Deanna is behind her with the scissors on her vail when she turns around and says WTF… Deanna looked like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar.  The sad news was Linda was so trashed I was watching over her and missed the whole scissor incident.  Note to self I need to keep a better eye out on Deanna and not be distracted by my drunk wife while we out in public places also I need to shake down everyone for any sharp object before we start drinking .  As you can imagine I was pretty tired after all of this “drunk watching” so I convinced Linda to go back to the hotel so I could get some much needed rest.  These Birthday’s can get exhausting

Just when you think the night is over your wife lets everyone into your room while you are laying naked in bed just to sing Happy Birthday again… then to make it a little more exciting I had four large breasted women jump on me while I lay there.  Get this the best part my wife was watching the whole event. I think I should  write into Playboy as “I can’t believe this happened to me” it’s not every day I get four beautiful women in my bed.

WOW!!!! I will never forget this birthday for a long long time.

This was the route we took home

WOW the wind was blowing like mad all the way home.  I think the winds were over 45 miles an hour most of the way.  I was so proud of Deb this was her first real ride with a large group and really had some technical riding and then you add the huge winds she did a fantastic job keeping up.  She a natural rider.

We ended the ride with everyone needing to visit the service department at South Valley Harley Davidson.  Deb crossed over the 1,000 mark so she needs to get her oil changed, John hit 7,000 and needs a new back tire.  Brent hit 30,000 and needed his 30K service and I hit 15,000 and need to get my service.  I love this bike because my back tire has 15K on it and I’m just now looking at replacing it.  I think the front tire can go another 5K. With my Heritage I only got 10K on the back and 15K on the front and that was pushing it.

This was a great trip because of the friends we went with and everyone has the same passion of just riding.  I think next year we will look at Moab instead of Lava but no matter where we go I am confident we will have a great time.

I booked this trip almost a year ago, I’m so glad I did because Linda and I really did need to get away with everything going on.  I wanted to go back to Temptations Resort because it’s a place that once you get there you really don’t have to leave or do anything just lay back and have a beverage.  Plus the food is fantastic and the scenery is pretty good as well.

Our first full day there we hopped in a van and took a ride to Playa Del Carma because Greg and Laura were on a cruise to Cozumel at the same time so we decided to meet up with them.  This is the second time we have been on vacation and met up with Greg and Laura, the last time was when we were in Cabo and we had the whole family with us Tonianne, Kim and Linda we had a great time then as well.

It was good to see them we really just hung out on the beach and got caught up.  Funny thing is with everything that has been going on we spend more time with them in Playa then we have in the last two months.  If you want to go to Playa Del Carma from Cancun do not take a taxi or rent a car.  The taxi will cost you about $60 each way.  We found some vans right next to the bus stop that go straight there and it only cost us $3 a piece round trip.

Here is Linda sitting outside of a shop looking at a poor dude that drank too much wine on his trip.  The funny thing is our first night we had this guy beat by about three bottles.

This was our first dinner at the Seafood place at the resort.

I would also just drink the house wines they are pretty good this night I thought I would try our a great wine off of the menu and it ended up costing me $90.  It was a very good vine but from then on the house wines where our drink of choice in the evenings and it was free.

 

The sand was amazing it’s that really fine sand that feels like powdered sugar under your feet.  It’s so easy to walk in and it feels so good between your toes.

Just another shot of the beach.

If you want too you can just lay on one of these beds and just watch the ocean roll in.  From what I understand if you get caught having sex on these beds they ask you very politely to go to your room.

We decided the food was so good we had Seafood again the second night. You can see from Linda’s eyes we were also getting plenty of sun.

This is at the Oriental restaurant.  Again The food was amazing so we ended up having dinner here twice as well.  Try the sushi it is pretty good and you cannot go wrong if you order the Tuna.

Every night the party ends up at the patio bar.  What I didn’t remember from the last time we were here was the couples that really like to swing… Linda and I were approached about five times I took a picture of two of the gals who approached us from the back so their faces wouldn’t show.  Get with me and I can tell you some stories if you’re interested.

So Linda did so well last year in the arm wrestling tournament she decide to try her luck out again.

It started out the USA against the rest of the world.  This is Linda calling out a Canadian about half her age.

And…… Linda kicks butt on the Canadian in about three seconds.

This is Linda celebrating the win by flipping off the rest of the world.

Linda then took on a gal from England who was twice her weight.

Look at the smile on Linda face… She’s ready…

And BANG Linda put her down like a real pro.

The final round came down to two Americans Linda and a gal from PA her name was Natti.

A little side note this gal was a mother of six… sooooo very strong and focused.

Well the good news is USA had not won in five months straight and now they broke the loosing streak.  The bad news is Linda took second again… I guess we will have to go back next year so she can try again.

Here are the winners these two took on the rest of the world and won.

While we were there we made some really good friends that we plan on meeting up with in the near future.

This is Dave and Emmy they are from Canada.  Great people and a lot of fun.  Man can they drink….

This is Kent and Nancy they are also from Canada and want to meet up with us in Vegas in May to ride down to Phoenix with them on our bikes.

Linda and I on our last day.  It was so hard to leave.

 

This is where we spent most of our time every day just sitting at this pool while having a beverage.

Roatan 1/22-30/2011

Our friends Brent and Deanna invited us to go with them on their 25th anniversary to Roatan to be totally honest I had no idea where Roatan was, I knew where Honduras was in fact Honduras has always been on my “bucket list” of places to scuba dive so we said we would love to go with them and what a great decisions that turned out to be.

If you click on the picture above you will be able to see the island better.

We spent  most of our time on the west side of the island that is really where the best diving is and most of the population on the Island.

The trip started with a “red-eye” flight out of SLC to Atlanta and then on to Roatan.  We landed about 12:30 PM so we had plenty of time to get find our rental house and get a car.

Brent Deanna and Linda just outside of the Roatan International Airport.

Our first stop was at the local grocery store to pick up some light snacks beer and of course wine.  Looking back we should have bought a case of wine on the first day because we came back to the store every day to pick up more wine.

This is the home we stayed in for the week.  It was a great house about a block from the beach but we felt like we were right in the middle of the jungle with all the trees and birds.  You can also see the Rav 4 we rented to get around in.  I would recommend renting a car just because you have to take a day or two just driving the island and seeing everything as well as spending some time with the locals.

Name of the Rental House.

This is the front deck where we would have coffee, play games, drink a little or just sit out and talk while enjoying the beautiful weather.

The side deck is where we would meet every night just to talk and have a glass of wine.  See why buying wine by the case is a good idea…

I picked this picture because you can see the inside of the house which was very beautiful and Brent trying to make a few bucks by showing us his tits.

The house also came with a golf cart this was our transportation to and from the beach.  We felt a little lazy taking it a block but it was fun at night because with all of the trees it gets dark on the road and guess what… Linda pointed out the golf carts don’t have head lights… wow we must have got a cheep one because every golf course I have ever played has “night golf”…

Here’s the four of us right outside of Foster’s where we had lunch. 

The beach is just beautiful and when the cruse ships are not in the they are so empty.  So we learned early that when the ships are in we would spend the day touring the Island or scuba diving.  The good news was the people from the ships didn’t hit the beach until 10:00 and they were gone at 4:00 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday’s so it really was not that bad.  

We had our first dinner at a place call Bite on the Beach.  The food is wonderful and they make the best Mango Margaritas and another drink called the Monkey La La.  But if you order the monkey la la get it with banana and chocolate.  Dang that is good stuff.

Day two we spent the day driving the Island and seeing all of the sights.  This was a little bar called “360” overlooking the jungle the view was amazing I just wished that one picture could capture the entire view.

This is what the Island looks like unless they clear out the trees to build something.

If you click on this picture you can see where they started building a house but ran out of money and the jungle just filled back in.

We spent the afternoon just checking out the locals we found they dress very well and some speak great English but for the most part they speak Spanish.  But they can carry a lot stuff when they use their heads.

This is a picture is from the South West end of the Island looking back.

We headed over to the town called West End to look around.

They do a lot of diving out of here and some of the cheaper hotels are over on this side.  This is where you can find some of the coolest sports bars and believe it or not we found some great places to eat.

The main road around the Island is paved the rest of the roads are just dirt.

 

As you can tell from this locals face she doesn’t like to being touched but that didn’t stop Linda and Deanna from groping her.  If a guy did that we would be in jail…

After a few stops for beer and wine we ended up at Ton’s for dinner.  The food here is wonderful and I would say it is a must stop if you go to West End.

This was a great view to end the night.

Day three started off with our first Dive, we checked out most of the local dive shops and settled in with Anemona divers.  Maria is the owner / operator and she does a fantastic job.  She was so fun and her dive masters did a fantastic job taking us to the places we wanted to go.

I cannot tell you how wonderful the diving is in Roatan.  The coral in its self is outstanding I have never seen barrel sponges so large and coral that healthy and beautiful.  We made two dives that day and they were both amazing but the best dive was called the West Wall. 

What makes the diving even better was the dive shop was just  two minutes way from the house and when we got on the boat the dive sites were only a five or ten minute boat ride at the most.  Sooooo Coooool

We ended up having dinner back at Ton’s because everyone is closed on Monday nights.  I don’t understand the deal but you will have to look long and hard to find a dinner place open on a Monday night here.

Day four was another dive day we dove two more times and one of the dives was called the “hole” its 140 foot dive that takes you through some very cool tunnels and opens up into a huge open area called the hole.   The second dive was a very short one for me because I could not get my ears to clear.  I tried three times to get below 10 feet and could not so I just went back up to the boat and sat the second dive out with the boat captian.

Deanna and I heading to the “hole”

Check out this spung

Just getting everything set up

Heading out to another dive.  Linda took a lot of pictures but while we were diving she was laying on the beach working on her tan.

Another one of Linda’s great pictures of us pulling into the dock from our dive.

I just wish the colors would come out better the coral was amazing

This is Mike he was the one of the best Dive masters.  As you can tell he had a rough night and needed a little wake up coffee.

Deanna and I diving the “Texas” dive.

Brent and Deanna

Just another great picture of the dive.

You might have to click on this picture to see the Sea Horse.  This is the first time I have ever seen a sea horse in the ocean.  It was so cool.

After a long day of diving we found ourselves back at Bite on the Beach for their wonderful beverages.

Lets just say that Brent had a good time and leave it at that…

After Diving we headed down to the “Mother Ship” the Harley Davidson shop it has only been open for a month and that’s when things got bad.  They wanted to close their doors and go home but Linda and Deanna wanted to shop and things got bad in a hurry.

Security trying to hold on to Linda and Deanna.

Deanna tried to have Linda’s back but it was not working, Linda was going to the “Big House”. 

Ok maybe we staged this little scuffle but after looking at the picture and her smile I think Linda like the hand cuffs.

Day five started with Breakfast at Celestes the food here is very good and they have seven parrots that will clean your plate if you don’t.

This ones loves eggs.

After Breakfast the girls went and spent the day at the Serenity Spa.  They both loved it but Deanna just about got a happy ending so I think her massage was a little better than Linda’s  Although I didn’t hear Linda complain a bit.

The only Harley on the Island.  But they did have a few “Harley Not’s”

The Harley logo was a little faded but after careful inspection… We don’t think it was a Harley.  We were a little appalled that someone would use the Harley logo for their own gain until we saw that even God uses the Harley logo now and then.

Now I know that Jesus rides a Harley!!!

Weather is a funny thing we are driving in beautiful 85 degrees the sun is shinning and we see a Water spout in the ocean.  How cool is this.

Our timing was perfect because it only lasted about five minutes.  The crazy thing is the Water spout was on the North side of the Island and we took these pictures on the South side.

Brent and Deanna

Weather is funny.

Keeping with the crazy and funny theme we had sushi for dinner normally that’s not to funny but when we made our reservation they gave us an hour to eat.  We were just finishing up when our hour was up and they said bye you have to leave now.  We named the place the Susi Nazi.  The sushi was wonderful the service…. Not so good.

If you go there book an hour and a half because they will hold you to what ever time you set.

Day six started back out on the Boat for two more outstanding dives.  You must dive the place they call “Texas” it is just so clear and beautiful you have to dive it.  Here we are with Maria the owner.

Day seven was a rainy day it rained so hard and so much that the power went out for most of the day so we just got in the car and rode around to see the rest of the Island we had not seen  The girls had to use flash lights and a lantern to get ready for dinner because it was Brent and Deanna’s 25th anniversary.

 Good thing the restaurants all have generators. The food at the Vintage Pearl was great and service was even better.

 The Tourist Police ride in two’s I think they also have to room together so they feel comfortable spooning as they ride.  The good news they are there, the bad news is they don’t speak any English.  So I guess they ride around the Island just to make the travels feel better.

 

Day eight Brent and Deanna crying and Linda just happy to still be on vacation.

Like I said Honduras has always been on my “bucket list” of places to visit and it was everything I thought it would be.  I cannot tell you how wonderful the Island is and how relaxed we felt after our vacation.

It was my turn to plan our annual Utah / Colorado ride.  Last year we had the ride in Colorado and spent most of the time riding through some of the most beautiful country in the world and some of the highest mountains.  So this year I decided to take the group on a different ride.  We headed South and spent our time riding through Southern Utah, I thought it would be nice to show my Colorado friends the colorful rock formations.  Funny thing was most of the people from Utah who went with us had never seen it either. 

Here is the ride it took us five days to complete the route but it was a great ride.  What makes a great ride is not only the route but the people who go with you. We were very fortunate to have a fun group again this year.  Like I said the ride was great but the times we all spent together just talking and laughing made the ride a success. 

It looks a little messy but I will break it down into segments. 

Our next door neighbor John was interested in going with us so we asked him to join us. 

This was John’s first long ride over 250 miles and Linda and I took him on that ride as well.  John had never had his bike on the freeway or ridden over 40 miles before we met him.  John is a quick study and picked it up very quickly, he’s now a pretty good rider. 

 

John, myself, Linda, Pat, Staci, Tracy and Christa standing outside of Johanna’s just getting ready to jump on our bikes and get started.  The Romero’s and Lopez’s could not leave on Wednesday so they met us in Torrey on Thursday. 

Sandy to Moab route 

If you’re going to Moab I would suggest you eat at Ray’s Bar, they have the best hamburger in the United States according to the Sunset newspaper.  I don’t know if they are the best in the United States but they are pretty good. 

 

Also if your going to make the ride to Moab go through Cisco, it’s a little longer route from Salt lake but worth it, because of the scenery and the road follows the river so it’s just a better motorcycle road with all of the twists and turns. 

The weather to Moab was great but as soon as we made the turn from Cisco to Moab a very dark cloud moved in.  So I did what every other good road boss would do and pulled over and told the group “now is the time to put on rain gear if you have it”.  Linda was the only person who pulled out her rain coat but when she saw that no one else was putting it on she decided to go with out as well…. That proved to be a very big mistake because we had not ridden more than five miles and the sky opened up with one of the worst storms I have ever been in. 

 

The storm only lasted about thirty minutes but it rained so hard there was a massive flash flood that pretty much just ripped out everything in its way. 

The rest of the ride into Moab was great that is where we met up with the folks coming  from Colorado Ken, Lisa, Jim and Shawna.  Linda and I bought shirts for everyone so they would remember the ride. 

 

 

You will have to click on the picture to read the shirts.

Jim and Shawna’s had the only shirts with writing on the back.  The story about the shirts is just to long to tell but I think the shirts says it all. 

We had dinner at Zac’s and ended the night at McStiffy’s.  Linda would recommend the Jalapeno beer. 

 

This is where our ride began.  We left Moab and headed to Torrey but stopped at Newspaper rock just outside of Moab. 

The weather looked like we were going to get wet most of the day but we only ran into a little rain just outside of Hanksville. 

 

 

You will never guess what Linda and Shawna named this rock…. but they did like the size of it. 

We made our way to Lake Powell and Tracy could not resist on freaking his wife out by hanging off of a cliff.  It only about a thousand feet down. 

 

We made it to Torrey in pretty good time if fact we were only there about fifteen minutes before Ken & Sheri and Michael and Berkley rode in.  So we washed our bikes and had a few beers before dinner, Linda made reservations at The Rim rock restaurant. The food here is fantastic and the view from the restaurant is outstanding. 

 

Linda showing us where we were… To bad she was only about a hundred miles off.  Note to self never let Linda be the road captain. 

 

The night ended at the Rim Rock bar just across the street from the hotel.  As you can see Pat was in trouble again he just kept on pulling down his pants for no reason. 

 

I’m not going to say what Berkley was looking at but Michael looks pretty excited that he found it. 

 

We stayed at the Best Western Capital Reef again.  I like this place just because you can walk to dinner and to the bar after our ride. 

Now that we had the whole group together we had our group picture taken with us all in our shirts. 

 

Here is the route we took from Torrey to Springdale.  It has to be one of the best rides in Utah and the Western states for that matter.  I just love every part of it. 

We didn’t go through Kanab but I cannot get google maps to take the route through Zion’s park. 

While we were getting gas in Escalante the The Desert Doctor (local Harley mechanic) asked if we needed anything fixed while we were in town.  Linda had to have her picture taken with him because she loved his clean and pressed shirt.  After the picture and the looks of his bike we decided not to have him work on our bikes ever. 

 

 

 

The road through Zion’s was under construction most of the way.  It took us an hour and ten minutes to go thirteen miles.  That part sucked but every time we stopped and waited for the green light to go again we found something to laugh about. 

We got into Springdale around 5:30 we were tired and sweaty from the heat the hotel was a welcome sight and the shower even better. 

Linda made reservations at the Bit and Spur.  The food was fantastic and the service was wonderful but to make it even better Kimberly drove up and met us for dinner.  It was so good to see her because we have not seen her for a month. 

After dinner is where things really started getting fun.  Shawna wanted to find a place to do a little karaoke because that was on her “bucket list” of things to do.  We found a place called Wild Cat Willies and caught the local bus and rode it down there.  While on our way there Shawna decided to do a little pole dance on the bus. 

 

Shawna wanted to karaoke but she didn’t want to do it alone Lisa wanted no part of it and Linda had just enough beers in her to say yes.  Now I’m not going to say that they were the best singers in the bar but what they lacked in their singing skills they more than made it up with their dancing skills. 

 

The song they picked was Babe from Styx.  Ken has a video of the performance I hope when I hear it back it’s not as bad as I remember it. 

 

 What a fun night we all had a great time but I must say I think Linda and Shawna were in the zone. 

We left Springdale and made our trip to Price.  We decided to go through Cedar Breaks another great ride. 

We wanted to get to I-70 so Ken and Jim could at least make it to Green River so their ride was not so long on Sunday back to Denver. 

 

We were ready to have some lunch so we stopped in Loa.  Guess what there is not a place in Loa to have lunch.  So then we rode to Lyman, guess what no place for lunch.  So we pushed on to Bicknell and guess what we found the only place in town open for lunch it was the Sunglow Hotel and Cafe.  We were very lucky to get in because they closed right after we got there because Bicknell was having a demolition derby that night and they could not find anyone to work.  

The food was really good and the gal who served us was so cute and funny.  I would go back but we had better check and make sure nothing is going on in Bicknell or I’m sure they will be closed. 

This is where we said our goodbye’s to Ken & Lisa and Jim & Shawna.  it was so much fun riding with them and I cannot wait until next year when we can do it again.  I think the ride will be back in Colorado but who knows they might pick another State. Either way we are ready to go again no matter where it is. 

 

We just came out of the canyon on Hwy 10 and it got hot.  I mean real hot so I found the only shade I could find to cool down a little bit. 

We stayed at the Price Holiday Inn but because of the long hot ride that day we had dinner in the bar and pretty much went straight to bed. 

We decided to take Huntington canyon back to SLC. 

I love this ride to Fairview but this is where we had to say our goodbyes to everyone else.  We love the new house because we rode up parked our bikes and John met Linda and I at the pool for a beer and just to relax after a fantastic ride with some really good friends.  Life is Good!