Travels With Connie #82 Birthday Surprises
Sometimes I know exactly where I am going. In that case it’s easy, pick a route and go.
More often I have an idea where I’d like to end up, and generally speaking a direction to go.
Once in a while I just follow the front wheel and see where it takes me.
Cue the Beatles: It's my 67th Birthday and I had spent the night in a teeny town in Utah, Castle Dale. It's an unremarkable small town in Utah including awful coffee. Road hint: Don't buy coffee or cigars in Utah if you can avoid it. The former is often horrible and the latter are brutally expensive. Utah has a heavy 'sin tax'. Other than that, I love the state.
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I had taken a walk just before sundown the night before and saw this monument on the courthouse lawn. It's dedicate to the 27 locals that died in the Wilberg Coal Mine disaster in December of 1984. 27 friends and neighbors and relatives swept away in very short order. I grew up in a town about this size and I just can't imagine the magnitude of this tragedy.
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I just kept hearing the line from Gordon Lightfoot 'the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' "... And all that remains are the faces and names of the wives and the sons and the daughters. ..."
So, I'm sorta on a mission. I'm going to meet Deranged Visions ( @derangedvisions ) in Las Vegas that night. I have about 400 miles to go and it's going to be brutally hot. Like 115F (46C). That is a brutal condition to be riding a motorcycle in, like sitting in a convection oven when you bake a pie.
I've got about 40 miles to get to I-70 and a straight hard shot to Las Vegas. It's pretty country for me and I'm thinking about my birthday and meeting DV and all sorts of things. I got on the freeway and put the hammer down headed for LV. It's early, I might beat the very worst of the heat.
And the very first exit that I came to is for US Highway 191 and Flaming Gorge. I've been on the 191 a lot in the south but not much that far north. I just decieded 'What the Hell? It's my birthday' and took it, knowing that all hope for an early arrival in Vegas and the possibility of beating the heat had just abandoned me.
Because that's the way I roll. I jump off course as much as anybody I know. I made the decision in less than 10 seconds. I'm glad I did, you can see the start of the monument area in the last three photos. It's an incredibly scenic area, and we'll explore it in the next segment of the ride. Thanks for coming along.
All words and photographs in this post are mine. For better or worse
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Well Happy Birthday, belated of course. I like quick decisions, if you think about things too long you will end up talking yourself out of some great times and adventures. Vegas never closes so it isn't like being a couple hours behind a schedule to have fun should cause any problems.
Hope things went well and look forward to hearing all about it in your next segment.
I knew when I dropped down into that hole that Vegas (and Yuma for that matter) is in that it would be hot, but I decided it was worth the trade. I'll tell the rest of the story soon. It was HOT.
Happy exploring @bigtom13, sounds like it was an amazing ride, although a very hot one! It's often better to just explore and be surprised, I love historical sites!
Sure you had a great birthday too, look forward to hearing about the next leg of your trip!
I do that sort of thing routinely. I just love traveling that way and seeing things that I just didn't even have a clue about. I did have an idea here, I'd heard of Flaming Gorge, and like I said I've got hours and hours on the 191 in Arizona and New Mexico.
Oh! Happy happy birthday dear Tom!
Looking forward to see some post from your journey... :D
Great Kawasaki motor bike btw! I once had Suzuki one but I dodn't anymore... sometimes miss him!
Thank you!
I have a Suzuki V Strom (my camping mule) also. It's a great motorcycle too. Of course, I've hardly ever met a motorcycle that I didn't like!
Well, God love ya, because heat I cannot take. I will always take cold over heat and at Toad Hall in the Summer if it goes over 81 F I play 'lady' and collapse in a chaise drinking cool drinks and fanning myself or else I just drag an Adirondack chair into the shallow bit of our beach and just sit. heat and I are not friends. So, I don't want to even IMAGINE what 100 F feels like! And won't you be all clad in leather as well?!
Have fun and I'm looking forward to Vegas photos!
Oh and Happy Birthday, all the Best people are born in November ;)
I don't wear leather anymore, haven't for at least 15 years (I gave my leather chaps to a new rider 2 years ago). I have ballistic nylon that slides at about 90% of leather, and it is armored. Much cooler, though at 115F it doesn't make much difference.
Thanks for stopping in.
Happy birthday honey!!!! I am glad you had a happy and an interesting one, sending you a huge hug and lots of love! 💚
Awwwww. Thank you. I don't pay a lot of attention to my birthday because I simply do not care. But it was really cool to take an entirely unexpected 'short cut' on that day.
Safe travels to you and Connie! Happy birthday and enjoy your time in there!
It was incredibly beautiful, and I ended up in a couple of places I'd always wanted to see, so it was just a stupid good birthday for me.
Mind blowing pictures, it's weird but places with heavy taxes on sin, are usually quite cool sometimes...
/FF
I agree. I suspect the coffee problem is because most don't drink coffee and just have no idea what it should taste like. And the sin tax? I'm just OK with that. Utah is a friendly place with a lot of 'nooks and crannies' that you just can't know about from the freeway.
Interesting...
Happy birthday and Your bike is beautiful :)
Thank you. Connie and I have put some serious time together!
Safe travels! What a fun way to enjoy your birthday! The mountains look amazing...but the heat geesh...be careful! :) Can't wait to hear the next installment!
It was just dammit hot by the time I got to Vegas. I'll save the rest of the story for the next post, but there is a rest...
Looks adventure!
Nice to see and know some new places like Utah’s Castle Dale ❤️ And happy 67th birthday @bigtom13!
Keep safe and enjoy on your travels!
I was really going to get closer to the freeway but a huge thunderstorm blew in and I stopped at a closed service station to get out of the rain. After about a half an hour it eased up and I saw this Mom and Pop motel so I was in for the night. What a good thing to happen...