Sunday, June 1 - Moab, UT to Sylmar, CA

I got up early, packed everything, and then went over to the Denny's adjoining the motel.  I used a coupon from the AAA Tourbook to upgrade a grand slam breakfast with juice and grits.  I then went back to the motel, loaded up the bike, and took off at 6:08.

Then ride north on US-191 was quiet.  Then it was west on I-70, getting gas at Green River.  As I left Green River, I took note of the sign on the freeway - no services for next 100 miles.  I will be coming through here in 4 weeks.  11 miles west of Green River, I turned south on UT-24.  This road was too similar to many that I had traveled on recently, until it turned west at Hanksville.  Then it was quite a bit more fun, twisting and turning as it followed the Fremont River into the NP.  I arrived at Capitol Reef NP at 8:15, got my stamp, looked around the VC, and took this photo (looking north in front of VC).  This area had some preserved buildings and orchards from a Mormon settlement here along the Fremont River called Fruita.  The VC is at 5,500' and the temperature this morning was crisp.

Continuing west, I soon got the the junction with UT-12.  After getting gas at the junction, I went south on UT-12.  Now this road was pure heaven.  It climb up along a mountain ridge with nice sweeping curves and plenty of places to get around any cage in the way.  It traveled across a summit at 9,200' and then dropped into Boulder, UT at 6,600'.  In the high elevations, the trees was dense stands of birches and firs.  It first the descent was gradual, but in one place you are on a narrow ridge with dropoffs on both sides of you.  One downhill section had a grade of 14%!  A real blast.  I still made good time, averaging just over 60 mph.  The road went over a 7,200' foot summit between Escalante and Henrieville.  And then it followed the Paria River up into Bryce Canyon NP.  I turned south on the road into Bryce.  At the NP boundary, the road turned to dirt for construction.  It was about 2 miles of dirt to the VC.  I got my stamp, and looked around.  It was around 11:00 by now, and even at 7,900' it was getting warm.  

Since the road going further in the park was torn up, I went back out instead.  I went on to Panguitch (via US-89), and then turned south on UT-143.  US-89 actuall turn right at the same intersection that I went left at.  I guess many people make the mistake of going straight in Panguitch when going south on US-89.  So many that about 4 miles down the road on UT-143, a big sign was there that "This is NOT US-89.  Turn Around and go back to Panguitch" (or something like that.)  This road was great, steadily rising up.  A turn south on UT-148 brought me to Cedar Breaks NM.  The elevation sign at the first overlook I stopped at says it all.  The left photo was looking north from the overlook.  The other one was looking south.  The birch/fir forests were all around me at various points on the ride up, but now it was more alpine.  Some snow was still on the ground in places.  The air was comfortably cool.  It was about noon when I made it to the VC.  I had to take my card out of it's plastic pouch in the passport book here.  They had some new equipment that actually scanned the card.  Big Brother now knows I was there.  I continued south on UT-148 and then west on UT-14 to Cedar City and I-15.

It was hot in Cedar City (elevation 5,800').  I hung out for a while in a quickie mart to cool off.  Getting onto I-15, I went south, first stopping at the Kolob Canyon unit of Zion NP.  Then continuing south to St. George and gas and a long break.  It was well into the mid 90's in St. George.  After the long break I continued down I-15 to Las Vegas where it was 105.  Another long break.  Then I tackled the rest of I-15 towards home.  This absolutely sucked.  2 long construction zones and Sunday traffic heading back to LA and San Diego.  The first zone was about 30 miles long, between Mountain Pass and Baker, over Halloran Summit.  It really sucked, 4 lanes of traffic (2 north and 2 south) were move over onto the old 3 northbound lanes.  It was stop and go and too narrow to split for more than a few cars at a time.  The #1 lanes had no trailers or trucks allowed because they were too narrow.  It was much easier coming through here at sunrise last Thursday.  The CHP was busy, I saw 4 accidents in this stretch.

I put the clear shield on at Baker (funny, I had taken it off last Thursday at the same place).  The road flowed at 60ish all of the way to Barstow.  Then it was construction zone #2.  Almost the same length and just as bad.  Uneven lane surfaces and the dark made it impossible to split and very tricky to even change lanes.  Finally it was over.  Gas in Victorville where I got onto CA-18 for the westward ride to CA-138 and then CA-14 into Los Angeles.  Checking the rear tire revealed cord showing from the outer belts.  I cruised along as slowly and carefully as I could.  At least the air was cooling off rapidly.  I took parallel streets for the last 25 miles to home.  The tire was more than shot.  I guess I got my money's worth from that one, close to 9,000 miles.  I hope to find a tire that will go 10,000 miles so I don't have to change tires on the trip.  The softer front tire that I had put on a month ago was about 50% worn.  I will replace it with a harder tire that will go the distance.  I got home at 10:30.

Overall for the day was 796 miles.  I took my time with long breaks in the heat.  Total riding time was 12 hours and 29 minutes, averaging 63.8 mph (the construction zones and the slow riding at the end brought this down).  Total rest/break/stamp/gas time was 4 hours and 57 minutes.