Maddog62's Blog

Ken and I took a customer fly fishing a couple of weeks ago so I thought I would post some of the pictures of the fish we caught.  Now before you get to excited these are fish from a private pond in Idaho.  But dang they were so much fun to catch. 

I also need to thank my Brother Mike for letting me use his fly fishing stuff.

Ken getting ready to set one free.

me just catching a little brook trout

Ken hooked into a huge fish. (I think this one got away)

Action photo of Ken fighting a 14 pound Rainbow

Yep it's official.... 14 lbs..

A Hap, Hap, Hap, Hap, Happy boy!!!!

Good thing I had a huge net.

Only 11 pounds.... biggest fish I have ever caught on a fly rod.

This is the fattest fish I have ever caught on a fly rod!!!

This is one FAT FISH!!!

We fished these ponds most of the day and caught so many huge fish.  We caught Browns, books, and Rainbows.  it was truly a great time.

This Ride was Linda’s idea, she wanted to take our bikes on an over nighter for my birthday.  She planned it and we just jumped on the load.  The only people who could go this year was Mike & Lisa and Brent and Deanna.

Me, Linda, Brent, Deanna, Lisa and Mike

Here is the proposed route we are going to take

We just brought our bikes back two weeks ago so this is the first ride for my new bike up North.  I’m so excited to get back on the bikes.  The ride could not have been any better, the weather was great the route was perfect and the company was fantastic. 

Outside of the Grace Bar and grill. We love this stop.

Enjoying some beer and coke at the Grace Bar.

It did not take us long to get to Lava Hot springs so we checked in the Hotel, we stayed at the same hotel we stayed in last time with Greg and Laura The Alpaca Inn and  guess who got room #1… yep Linda and I.  Good news it did not smell of Greg’s barf.  We really like these rooms and the hotel is within walking distance from everything.

After we checked in we walked down to the Hot Springs.

The Hot Springs

 These pools get hot!  They are all fresh water hot springs so there is not any spell like other hot springs I have been in.  the top pool closest to the mountain where the water comes out is 112 degrees!  I didn’t go in that one but Brent and Deanna did, they are tough.  The pools down stream from that pool get cooler the next pool was 108 degrees and the one we liked was 104.

Sitting in the fresh water hot springs

We found a great place to have dinner it’s called The River Side, I would recommend eating in the bar just because the view is so much better from the bar and the food was outstanding.  I have to give the credit to Brent for asking them to seat us in the bar.

Having dinner at the River Side Bar Brent changed his name to "Fred" it's a long story.

Brent told us of another private pool that if you’re really quiet you can sneak in to it.  That is all Mike and Brent needed to hear so guess what we did.  Found the pool and did a little trespassing.

Mike and Brent showing us their "Super Sneak" into the pool.

After our dinner and trespassing adventure we headed to The Blue Moon bar to have another beer or two or three or heck I lost count. What I do know is,  it was a lot of fun.

The Blue Moon Bar

This was our last stop at the Logan Wendy’s before was heading back to SLC.  the ride was great and I know we will be doing it all again next year.  Thank you Linda for a fantastic Birthday…

Here is the route we ended up taking to avoid Freeways.

Linda and I on our first night at the temptation Resort in Cancun Mexico

 Now this is a resort, It’s an all adult resort that is perfect to just relax and have some fun.  The entertainment staff really loved their jobs and it showed.  They have something going on all of the time and it was fun. 

Most of the time when we go on vacation I’m ready to go go go.  But it really was different here, we did not even leave the resort until the very last night.  The only reason we did was to go find a Harley Dealership.  Other than that we just sat by the pool and read books and relaxed. 

Greg & Laura and Linda and I eating Dinner.

 Greg and Laura decided it was time for them to get back to Mexico it had been almost a month since they had been there.  So they came down with us for the week.  I think they had as much fun as we did well….. I think they might have had more fun some of the nights Linda and I cannot hang with them we need our beauty sleep. 

Action shot of Greg playing a little beach volley ball.

Beds on the beach... You have to love this place!!!

Linda and Laura learning how to Belly Dance.

The sign says it all

 I don’t know his name but he was the activity director.  He was so funny.  His favorite saying was “nobody knows you and nobody gives a shit” 

So on the plane ride home Linda looks at me and says the part about going home that sucks is “people know us and People give a shit”. 

Hanging out with Senor Frog...

International Arm Wrestling tournament at the Resort, Linda is on the right side

 The gal on Linda’s left is the one who won the tournament. 

Linda in the heat of battle… she took second place to the body builder.  Linda is one tough cookie.  I know I wont be messing with her any time soon.

Senor Frogs our last night

The 2010 road Glide Custom 

I loved my Heritage classic so this was a very hard decision for me to buy a new bike.  But with all of my friends going down over the past three months due to losing control of their bikes when they got in a skid.  I thought it was time for me to start looking at a bike with ABS brakes. 

I rode a Road Guide at the Saint George Harley Davidson and fell in love with the smooth ride.  (best bike I have ever been on). 

It took me about a week to get over the Fairing and the two head lights, (it’s just not normal).  Now that I have moved past it, I have fallen in love with it.  

Like any new bike, we Harley owners think we can do it better than H-D so I’m replacing most of the parts with new ones. 

 Besides replacing most of the plastic and metal with new chrome I”m replacing the back fender with an extended fender, with all of the lights set into the fender for a smoother look. 

I’m also replacing the saddle bags with the extended Larger bags so the back of the bike has  more of a square look to it. 

Because H-D has gone the two into one muffler. I have added a prosthetic (fake ) muffler on the other side so it looks more like the older Harley style. 

I also added a Racing tuner for just a little more power. 

 Here’s the Motor, I had it diamond cut and gave it a little more power by changing it from a 96 CI to 103 CI. 

The finished product.  The pictures where taken by Laura Lister the parts person at Harley Davidson.  Thank you Laura for keeping me up-dated! 

I will take some more pictures of the bike tomorrow when I pick it up. 

With the tour pack

Linda and I took the bike out for the break in ride through Zions park.  Great ride and the bike rides so goooood!!!  That 103 engine has some real power, it really wants to run and run fast. 

With out the tour pack

Linda and I took the bikes to The Valley of Fire on Sunday.  The wind blew like crazy!  It had to be one of the worst days for wind that Linda and I have ever rode in. 

As you can see from the back of the bike they did not have my “fake” pipe in yet.  So it looks like we will have to back down next week so they can put it on.  I still love the clean look with all of the lights going down the sides of the fenders. 

The bike is now complete.  I just need to get a 1,000 miles on it now. 

THE UN-THINKABLE HAPPENED!!!!! 

Linda and I were riding in Laughlin Nevada we decided to spend the night at the Aquarius Hotel in Laughlin.  I asked if they would allow me to park in front of the hotel (where I always Park so my bike is safe)  the security officer told me we had to park in the parking garage.  I told them I did not want to park there because I was afraid some one would hit my bike with their door or worse. 

Well I was right. Some one backed up into my bike and knocked out a huge chunk out of my saddle bag and dented my fender.  I cannot tell you how mad I was, in fact I was so sick I could not even make myself take a picture of the damage.  The Security officers didn’t even care and the more upset I got the less they cared.  I hope everyone who rides reads this blog and no one stays at the Aquarius in Laughlin. 

Because I had all custom parts on the bike it took me eight weeks to get my bike back but here it is.  

I took off the light on the fender to give it a smoother look

It was Craig’s idea to take the light off, so thanks Criag I love it.

while it was in the shop I had them pin stripe the saddle bags to match the rest of the bike

Now Im ready to ride!!!

Ok So I had to add one more thing to my bike.  I had to upgrade to the chrome front end.  Now my bike is complete.

New Front end

I think now my bike is complete at least I don’t think I will be adding any more large ideas in the near futrue.

OK… OK… Now I think my bike is done.  Here it is witth the New air filter.

If you “click” on the picutre you can see it better

Love the look and I do believe it did improve my speed. but I have not tested it yet.

Here it is with the trunk on it just before we started heading North to bring our bikes back to SLC.

Now I think it’s done I just put on these new mirror that have the blinker built into them.

Randy, Tina, Jenny, Pat, Staci, Ken, Lisa, Linda and myself

It’s finally here!!! Randy Garlington one of our riding friends from Colorado put this ride together for us almost a year ago.  At first we had fifteen riders coming from Salt Lake City but as rides go and people get busy we are only going to have four of us coming from Salt Lake.  Pat & Staci Dunn and Linda and I.

Pat, Staci and Linda loading up for the ride

Here is the route we are going to take to get to Steamboat springs.  We were going over Wolf creek pass but we just did that ride on Sunday so we decided to just go over Hwy 40. 

I saw a gas station in Rangely called the “Kum and Go” 

Coming from Utah I thought this was so funny that I had to stop and take a picture… What I didn’t think about was how slanted the road was.  I got off and bike to take the picture and my biked tipped over.  Linda and Staci were about a quarter mile down the road wondering why I had stopped while Pat was about a mile down the road wondering why no one was following him.  So I had to get some local help to help me pick up my bike.

When my bike fell my windshield hit the curb and broke the top quarter of it off.  (Now that Sucks))

Painful!!!! Lesson one, never get so excited over something stupid that you don’t worry about the angle you have parked your bike on.  Lesson two if you need a replacement windshield the chances of a Harley Davidson having one is almost zero.  We called ever Harley Davidson in the area and no one stocked it.  So we did the next best thing… We called Lisa Smith in Denver because they were not coming up until the next morning .  Lisa and Ken called every Harley Davidson in Denver and they found “one”.  So Ken  put it on hold and he picked it up that night.

While we were on our way to Meeker I had a bird, no a California Condor fly right into my neck.

my neck with a pin feather from the California Condor.

"Yep... That's the bird officer"

Ok it might have been a Dove or a sparrow but it had huge teeth and Talons!!!

Pat was ready for a beer and we were making great time so we stopped in Craig Colorado.  Staci needed an Ice cream cone.  It was a fun stop, I really like riding with Pat and Staci, they enjoy riding as much as Linda and I do and we always have so fun conversations with Pat around. (he cracks me up)

The beer in Craig tasted so good we had another one in Steamboat Springs.  I need to find a way to get Pat to smile more.

We met up with Randy, Tina, and Jenny so we thought we should have another beer.  Are you seeing a common theme here.  We did drink a lot on this trip but we had a blast.  “ride hard play harder”  Words to live by.  Even better words to live by are “Drink near your hotel so you don’t have to get back on your bike”

One of our stops while heading up to the Rocky Mountain National Forest.  This was the first ride I have ever been on where there were more women riding their own bikes than there were men.  But these girls can ride, it was so much fun having them with us the only problem was we did not have anyone on the back of a bike to take pictures while we were on the trip.

Elevation 12145 ft.  there were Elk every where.  But the roads are so steep and the drop off is so far down I didn’t spend a lot of time looking for Elk.  I was pretty focused on the road and staying on it.

Estes Park

The girls doing a little shopping.

Dinner in Black hawk.

We celebrated both Ken’s and Staci’s birthday here.  The cool thing about birthdays here is the person who is having the birthday gets to pay for their own cake.  Go figure…

Parked out front in Central City

This is where we had breakfast.  Great food and perfect service.

We are at the continental divide and above the clouds, now this was cool.  It was a total white out when we drove up the canyon.

Pat getting ready to take a walk out on the clouds.  I’m glad we told him not to do it.

It was about 50 degrees up top. yes it was cold but so cool.

Vail, the girls doing a little shopping (again)

While the guys were trying out some  of the local beers.  Well some us were, others cannot break old habits. (live a little)

Leadville this is where we met up with Jim & Shauna they could not ride this year because Jim broke his leg while riding his dirt bike the week before. sucks to be Jim.

Jim and Shauna did take some cool pictures for us while they were in the car, one I cannot put on my blog.  I thought it best that I erase it before I got tempted to put it on the blog.

the whole gang while we were heading to Aspen

This is what we saw for a thousand miles.  I have never seen so many trees and beautiful sceanary in my life.  I had no Idea Colorado was this pretty and they had this type of riding so close to Denver.  We rode a thousand miles and we didn’t even come close to riding all the roads.  This is an amazing State.

The riding was not for the faint of heart, the roads were very steep and very narrow.  I was so proud of the girls on this ride.  They Rock!!!

Looking out from our hotel at Snowmass

This was a cool Hotel the rooms where great and they let us have the common area for us to party.

some of us outside on the deck having a beer.

The girls making plans to take over as “Road Boss”  good thing Randy was strong and didn’t give in.

Ken at the winery thinking about his “little world” he lives in.

Our last night in Grand Junction.  Sad to see it all end but excited about the ride next year.  what ever Pat  Dunn puts together for us.

Lisa showing us her dance moves

Jenny showing Staci how to Text faster if she uses both thumbs.

Linda and I decided we needed to get away for a weekend plus the fact we will be taking our bikes back to Mesquite in a month or two, we thought we should plan a ride that keeps us in the  mountains. 

We invited a few friends to go with us to make the ride more exciting and it’s always fun to ride with friends.  Plus the nights at the bar are always more enjoyable when we have more people.

Michael & Berkley, Cory & Heidi , Pat & Staci, Tracy & Krista, Linda and myself.

We start by going up Spanish Fork Canyon then up Scofield canyon, the ride was good a little chilly at times by the lake but I love the ride and there is not a lot of traffic that way.  I forgot Cory could only get about 70 miles before he needs to fill up.  Good news we took him right to the last drop of gas but he didn’t run out.

Scofield Gas station (the only gas station in Scofield)

Then we turn East over Fairview canyon it was so cold the temp dropped to 55 degrees by the time we hit the top of Skyline drive.  we took a few pictures put on coats and told a few jokes, none of the jokes I can put on my blog.  We took it slow and easy because you cannot beat the scenery up there.  It seems like no matter where you are you’re either riding by a lake or stream.

Lets just say it was cold on top of the mountain and the wind was blowing hard, I think when you consider the wind chill it had to be in the 40’s. (notice Staci’s new sticker on her helmet)

Just before we jumped back on our bikes to get down the canyon to Huntington so we could warm up.

The ride from Salt Lake City to Price took us from 10:30 to 4:30 six hours to go about 170 miles.  Like I said we took it slow and easy plus we stopped a few times just to take some pictures

We got to Price around 4:30, Pat and Staci took off to buy some wine and beer (I love those guys) the rest of us just sat at the pool and waited for them to come back with the beverages.  It was good to get there so early I liked having a few hours to relax by the pool and have a few beers before we had dinner.

We stared at the bar while we were waiting for everyone to get dressed, we found out they served the same food at the bar as they did in the restaurant so we just stayed at the bar the rest of the night.  The food was just OK, I would normally not recommend it but the fact they have a bar and restaurant at the Holiday Inn and we did not have to get back on our bikes to ride home  I don’t think it’s gets any better in Price Utah, So yes I would stay there again.

On the second day we ride over Indian canyon and up Wolf creek canyon over to Provo canyon and back home.

Leaving the Holiday Inn in Price on Sunday

Riding up Indian Canyon

Ken and Lisa finally invited Linda and myself to their house.  they have lived there for three year and we were fortunate enough to get the invitation.  So before they could take the invite back Linda and I turned our cell phones off so we could claim our phones had a dead battery just in case they did call to cancel, we jumped on a flight and headed to Denver. 

One thing you can say about Ken and Lisa they are a great host.  From the time they picked us up we were having a great time.

We were told the plans for the weekend  would start out Friday night with a  great Mexican dinner and Saturday we were going on a “mountain beer crawl”

We started the beer crawl in Sedalia at a place called Bud’s Bar.  You have to love a place that has a sign as you walk in the says “Free Beer tomorrow”.

Ken warned us about their limited food menu, but he said we would love the cheese burgers.  He was right on both accounts the menu has two choices hamburgers or Cheese burger’s with chips, in bold letters it says “don’t ask for fries) it reminded me of the Saturday night live skits “cheese burger, cheese burger cheese burger. chip chip chip” . They were right about the cheese burger it was great.

 Hanging out at Bud’s Bar

Here’s the menus of all the choices

From there we headed to Sprucewood to the Sprucewood Bar.  This is a huge dirt bike hang out because they have so many great dirt bike trail to ride on.  The beer was great we did not try the food.

No picture of this place Ken and Linda forgot!!!

From there we took the road over the mountain to Pine.  on the way we took a few pictures (because Lisa and I remembered)

The summit just before Pine

Zoka's in Pine

We had lunch in Pine at a place called Zoka’s, the food was fantastic.

After that we drove home to rest our livers, and to take a nap

The beer crawl route

That night we met up with Craig & Tami and Jim & Shauna for dinner and an evening “Down town Denver Beer Crawl” 

We started the night at Earl’s great food, great drinks and senorie is fantastic if you know what I mean.

Again no pictures….

The next place was a new place called the Prime Bar.  Cool place with lots of seating… no one was there.  After we order we found out why, they were out of just about every kind of beer on their menu.  I think Linda order five times and after every order the server would come back and say “we are so sorry we’re out of that beer.  So as soon as they found a beer for Linda to drink we left that place.

All of us at the Prime Bar

 Not only did we get crapy service but the server thought he would get in the picture and wave.

From there we “crawled” to the Rio Grande.  This is where we met up with Chantel and her boyfriend Tim.  I love that girl… she’s just part of the family

They have the best and strongest margarita’s in town.  In fact there is a three margarita limit.  Lisa’s limit is two, so they must be strong. 

The food was great and Linda said the margarita’s were fantastic.

Here we are at the Rio Grande

After the Rio Grande everyone started falling out and going home except for the six of us, so we headed to a place called the Samba Room.  We were having a great time and some one spilled all the drinks in Linda’s lap.  We don’t know who it was, but we know who it was not…  Lisa said it was not her… Ok.

the six of us at the Samba room

Linda's wet pants

It was time for us to go home any way.  Chantel and Tim were just getting started but us old folks were done for the night.

Sunday started with  another great breakfast from Ken’s cooking skills  (he does do a great job) we read the newspaper and checked out our August motorcycle ride on mapquest.  Then we headed back up to the mountains and on to Evergreen.

I have not seen this place since my mission and believe it or not, main street still looks the same.  It is such a cool town with some very cool shops and restaurants.  We had lunch and wine at a place called the Creekside Cellars. 

Again great food and the vine was perfect.

Main street in Evergreen

Us at the Creekside Cellar

After our lunch and stroll of the town we went back to the airport and headed back to SLC.  For just a weekend this was a perfect trip.  I have never felt so relaxed and happy.  Thanks Ken and Lisa for a great trip and it was fun seeing Chantel again.

This years Riders

Our Bikes

Getting the bikes ready for the ride.

We had the weather Gods looking out for us this year.  We all left the Qwest office at 3:00 Friday afternoon.  The sky was dark just to the South of us, but we thought if we got on the road we might be able to beat the storm or at least get some miles under us before the storm caught up to us.

Our timing could no have been any better, the storm hit Salt lake City fifteen minutes after we left the office and it was a huge storm.  We took the long way to Logan by going up 89 to Honeyville and then East to Logan, we didn’t hit any rain.  Although while we were eating dinner it rained hard for about 20 minutes.  After that the weather was perfect all weekend for us and the riders, the high was about 78.   Perfect riding weather.

There was some very sad news, Jennifer ( my niece) rode about five miles when she was involved in a huge Accident.  She flipped over her bike and landed right on her face.  My sister Pat road to the hospital with her and was there when they dug out all of the “road rash”  out of her face.  Jennifer even had gravel on the  inside of her lips.  OUCH!!!  The doctor had to make an incision in her cheek to get out some of the dirt and rocks.  The good news is she will be fine and she didn’t break an bones.

This was an easy year for us motorcycles riders with the weather being so good we really didn’t have to save anyone.  We called the SAG wagons a few times for the people who were broke down but that was it.

Steve Helping a rider

The Nordfelt Clan !!

Showing off our cool MS 150 volunteer shirts

I am a very lucky person to have the friends and family that I have.  I cannot thank everyone enough for their dedication and support of the MS 150 each year.  I do know how busy everyone is and much time and money you all invest not to mention all the time you spend on your bikes before the ride and the pain of riding all of those miles on Saturday just to get up and do it again on Sunday.  I have personally felt the Sunday morning sting of the bike seat and it’s not a good feeling. 

Again thank you all I love you so much!!!

After the ride on Sunday Linda and I road up through Bear Lake.  We rode around the the lake and then on to Evenston Wy.  From there we took Hwy 150 to Kamas then on to Heber.  It was a fun ride and for the first time with year the weather was great.   It has rained every weekend this year.

Our ride home was almost a 300 mile ride but it was beautiful.  We figure we rode over 400 miles on Sunday when you add in the miles we rode while we were riding the MS 150 route.  It was a great day on the bikes

The top of Mirror Lake Hwy (Hwy 150)

Notes before the ride

JUNE 27-28

Welcome to the MS 150 bike tour in Logan.  The riders will start out each day at the Logan Fair Grounds at 7:00 AM and finish each day back at the fair grounds. 

On the Saturday ride, the bike riders have three routes they can chose from a 40, 75 and 100 miles route.  Most of the riders take the 75 mile route. 

We “the motor cycle rider” will all meet at the Best Western at 7:00 AM to get organized have some breakfast and head out at 7:30 on our ride. that will give the peddle bike riders time to get going and also so they can spread out a bit.

We have 14 bikes and 16 riders this year (Thank you all again)  we will ride the route much like we did last year.  On the first day I have broken the 100 mile ride into two patrolling routes, we will have Seven bikes riding the 40 and 75 miles route and Seven bikes riding the 75 and 100 mile route.

Here is how I have the two patrol teams split up, but nothing is in stone so if you would like to change your route just get with me.

The 40 and 75 mile route riders

Terry Evans

Mark Ludlow

Barry Horne

Steve Issac

Craig Dearing

Leanne Dearing

Tony Reese

Here’s the Riders for the 75 and 100 mile route

Rick Christensen

Linda Christensen

Michael & Berkley Lopez

Ken & Sherry Romero

Pat Dunn

Staci Dunn

John

As you can see from the routes we should have great coverage.  To make sure we get to everyone we will have the half the riders riding with the traffic flow and the other half riding against the traffic flow.

For the riders who are taking the 75, 100 mile route here is the map to the starting location.

I will also bring laminated 8 X 10 maps with all the rest stops and lunch locations on them.

I will be bringing  bottled water for you take on your bikes to give to the riders when they run out (they will run out)  You will be surprised how many riders do not take enough water with them, so if you have a small cooler you can put on your bike or a way to keep the water cold it helps.  If not it’s no big deal the riders will still be very very thankful you just have water for them.

Make sure you bring your cell phone because that will be the way we will communicate to the SAG team if a rider needs help.

If you see an accident do not move the rider or talk to anyone from the press about the accident just call the SAG and they will get medical attention out to you.  If it’s a bad accident call 911 and then call SAG

If a bike rider breaks down just call the SAG team and they will send out Bingham to fix their bike.

If some cannot go any further or they are sick or just sick of riding call the SAG and they will send out a truck to pick them up.  Just stay with the person until help arrives.

As you can see we don’t have to do a lot just hand out water, give some direction to lost bikers and call the SAG people for everything else.  Easy job but the riders think it’s great to have us out there.

For those of you who are staying for the Sunday ride here is the route, as you will see it’s much smaller only 40 miles and really less than half of the riders ride on Sunday so it much easier to manage.

If your families are coming up we have free tickets for the them to spend the day at the water park right across from the fair grounds.

Also Breakfast will be provided at 6:00 AM at the fair grounds each morning.  Lunch will be provided at the lunch stop on the Map.  (make sure you take some time and stop for lunch)

Dinner Saturday night is also free at the fair grounds it starts around 5:00 and they have some great entertainment after the dinner.

If you can make it on June 26^th at 7:30 p.m. there is a safety meeting at the fair grounds at the net control center for you and if there is any of the other marshals in town to go over communications and other pertinent information relative to the ride on Saturday and Sunday.  I have to go to this meeting for everyone else it’s optional and I can bring you up to speed on Saturday morning.

Thank you again for taking the time out of your busy schedules to help us out on the ride.  I really do appreciate it and I know the bikers love it as well.  Have fun and be safe.

Greg & Laura, Mike & Lisa, Craig & Pat and Linda and myself all met at South Valley Harley Davidson to start the ride.  The shocking thing about this ride was  Craig and Pat were late.  It might have only been one minute but they were late still the same.

Proof that Linda did carry her own crap..

Pat and Staci Dunn caught up with us on I-15 just past Provo.  They knew it was us because of Linda’s Pink helmet.

Our first stop in Nephi to introduce Pat and Staci to everyone

The night before we left Staci had smashed her finger with a rock while gardening.  This women is tough every time she put her gloves on she went through some serious pain.  she also had to shift with the side of her hand because it was to painful to do it with her fingers.

The finger

Lunch at Mom's cafe in Salina

This was our last stop before we started the climb up over the mountain, this is were we started hooking up our heated vest’s and gloves because at ten thousands foot elevation it gets cold in May.  To bad for Linda because she blew her fuse on her heated suite before we reached the top.  It is such a beautiful ride up and over the mountain to Loa and Bicknell.

Our hotel for the weekend The Best Western Capital Reef Hotel

The rooms are great and they have a huge hot tub, a pretty good restaurant and a great Bar just across the street.  It is ran by a Mother and two daughters who were very good natured and fun to joke with.  they have to be good natured to put up with Mike and Pat Dunn.

The bar across the street. We ended up here every night.

First night at the bar and feeling no pain

we spent most of the morning and early afternoon just playing card games in the restaurant because it rained most of the day.  But when we just couldn’t stand it any more and there was a little break in the clouds we all jumped on our bikes and started out for a ride.

We only got about 10 miles out of town when Pat Dunn had an accident with an on coming truck, they were both sharing the center line when the truck’s mirror hit Pat right on his clutch hand.  The amazing thing was it broke the truck’s mirror, bent Pat’s clutch handle and Pat didn’t even swerve or lose control of his bike.   The driver of the truck turned around to tell Pat he had broke his mirror and he need to pay for it.  While Pat discussed all the reasons why he was not going to pay for anything and the best thing for him to do was to get back in his car.  Pat was feeling pretty puffed up because he knew Laura was right behind him and if things got ugly he knew she had his back. 

We looked at Pat’s finger, it didn’t look like it was broken or anything so now we know there is some thing harder than Pat’s head.

It rained so hard on the way to Hanksville there was a flash flood that crossed the road, we needed gas so bad that we decided to cross it (not the smartest thing to do) because it was over a foot deap.  We rode through it as slow as we could but the water and Mud was still spashing over my gas tank.  Craig and Pat went though it a little faster than I did because the water came over their windshield.

On the ride back the rain stopped so it was a nicer ride back.

when we got back we rode right to the car wash.  We washed the bikes first then we turned took turns spraying the mud off of each others rain gear.  We had mud from head to toe and needed the high pressure hose to get it off.

That night Jim and Dor rode to Torrey from St. George Utah by way of HWY 12.  Think of all the rain we got in the flat lands and times that by ten and then add the exstream cold weather from being at such a high altitude and I begin to think that riding through a flash flood is a little smarter than riding the canyons roads when they can’t see from all of the rain and they can’t feel their hands and feet because of the cold.

The good news was they made it safe and we could enjoy their company the rest of the weekend.

Greg & Laura, Jim & Dor, Pat, Staci and Linda

Pat’s Mirror crushing finger-vs- Staci’s Gardening finger

Sunday morning we started our ride to Bryce canyon by way of HWY 12.  HWY 12 in my opion is one of the best rides in Utah and one of the top five in the Western States.

Just outside of Boulder Utah

The weather was fantastic and the riding was wonderful. 

My little family of Bikers Pat & Craig Mike & Lisa and Linda and myself

Ruby's Inn in Bryce Canyon.

Craig found us front row parking right in front of the door.  Now I look at the picture I think that was a “no parking zone”  I don’t think anyone cared to much because everyone was taking pictures of our bikes.

Ruby’s is a great place to stop where you can buy just about anything and the food is fantastic.  If your riding to Bryce canyon I would recommend spending some time here.

Lunch at Ruby's You have to try the Bar- B- Que sandwich.

Pat Dancing to Keith Urban (her fantasy boy friend)

Linda and I at the top of Bryce Canyon

Here’s our group at the top of Bryce Canyon.  Notice the smile on my face I had just won $60 by having the best poker hand. 

We made it back to the bar just in time for Pat and Laura to find another boy friend, his name is Porter and he’s the coolest kid around

Mean while Linda was not having any fun at all..

This hot tub could fit 20 people easy.  This is Pat & Craig and Mike and Lisa enjoying a little time by them selves. 

Linda, Dor and Laura with their matching jackets.

On Monday we started back to Salt Lake City, we took HWY 72 north to I-70 so we could take Laura back to the place where she totaled her bike six years ago.

This "is" the place

This is what Laura looked like six years ago after Linda lifted  her Harley Davidson off of her.  Linda is one strong women.  DO NOT get her mad at you.

THE END !

Denny’s, The meeting place to start our ride to Lava Hot Springs.  Notice Greg’s cool new goggles
 

Greg was tapping a little “low Rider” ass.  

 

Great stop for lunch.  It’s the only bar in the town of Grace but it’s a good one.  Great chicken sandwiches and fantastic hamburgers.  This was a great choice for our  routes up to Lava Hot Springs.

The Alpaca Hotel is where we stayed in Lava, it was a great little eight room hotel.  The owners were fun and the rooms real cool,  I would stay there again it’s right by the Hot Springs and with in walking distance of a pretty good bar where we spend most of the night.

Our room was on the corner

Group Hug !!!

???? I think it's the beer...

Laura peeking at the camera

Deep in thought or Drunk on our A$$ you decide

No pain here.... Laura is Happy!!!!!

Maybe it was the Absente and the beer.

Greg thinks it was the Absente, beer and the “Horny Goat” tablets he took.  Could be all of the above.  Greg spent the night spraying it all over his hotel bathroom and carpet.  Laura should not be a nurse, she had  no sympathy for Greg, she even went as far to say “are you going to involve me all night with your loud puking”. 

Linda was reading me all of the hotel literature all night because every time she closed her eyes she was spinning.  What made it so funny was how animated she was while she read the hotel rules.  I think she might have thought she was back in her High School drama class.  It’s always entertaining when you’re NOT the person spinning. 

The empty bottle  of  Apsente that did them both in the night before.  Bad bottle, bad bad bottle.

The famous Horny Goat

These are the horny goat weed from the condom machine in the men’s bathroom. 

None of us were feeling all the well after the long night so we just jumped on 1-15 and started back.  We only made it to Malad before we needed another  stop.  After we rested for about an hour, we were right as rain and jump back on the road to fly back to SLC.  The trip was so much fun.  It’s great having Grag and Laura riding with us again.