Utahhhhhh

Well a great deal has happened since our last second hand encounter with this amazing resource, our seemingly distant and long lost friend, the internet. We now find ourselves in a small town in Central Utah by the name of Escalante. How we made it here from Walker Pass is a blur. Consult map for a better understanding but here she goes...

Ridgecrest, California came fast after a long descent from Walker Pass. We drank Coors Light (trademark) at the bottom courtesty some motorcyclists. Trona was our toxic gateway into the desolate basin east of Death Valley and there we camped out on a concrete pad at the rest area that was across the street from a potash processing plant that went clank all night. Panamint Springs was our resting place the day before we would climb Townes Pass into Death Valley. Up at four the next morning (we started taking to early morning riding in east Cali due to the ridiculous heat) to start our ride that would bring us from below 1000ft. in elevation to 5000ft. in less than ten miles..., later we found out that the major car companies test there rides there to see if they can make it up without overheating. Sat through about three sandstorms that afternoon, a couple games of chess, some beers, and some sardines. Then off to Furnace Creek at 180ft. below sea level for our newly established early evening rides. There we were greeted by large groups of European tourists, an overpriced market, a yukulele (spelling debatable) thief, annoying flies, and a pool! After sleeping in the next day we lounged next to the pool and did some casual stretching in preparation for our ride out of the valley and towards to Las Vegas. 3 miles into our climb out we had some technical difficulties and ended up catching a ride to the big city with bright lights from a maniac driver who likes to "rock and roll" down the highway. There Rush went on a scavenger hunt to replace his bottom bracket while Elspeth and I went on our own hunt trying to find the necessary bank so as to keep our accounts from running low in expectations of some heavy gambling that evening. Rush got his bike fixed and some free cocoa to boot, his buddy Pip showed up on his way out to LA and we all stuffed ourselves at a Saharan buffet. No money was won that evening but we saved Rush from having to hang out with the kiddies at the arcade in Nascar World. (Sssshhhhhh, he's not 21, yet...) We caught our second ride of the trip the next day out of Vegas to the town of St. George in Southwestern Utah. There would have been a considerable stretch that would have taken place on interstate 15 and would have brought us through a zanny canyon with less that no shoulder so we figured $20 a head was worth it. From there is was a silly night ride to an ATV State Park that someone disguised as a good idea. Pretty yes. but hard to concentrate on beauty when you are worried about getting smashed by four spinning tires with memorial day partiers at the wheel. Since then it has pretty much been ideal riding. Better weather, amazing roads through some of this countries most amazing scenic beauty coupled with some really interesting small towns that rely on all those damn RVs.......

whew, well time to go treat ourselves to a DQ Blizzard (trademark), and give someone else a chance to use this computer. Oh, and we had about 50 new pictures to put up but for some dern reason they aint uploadin'. Until next time.......