CnC: Dodging the Storms

Well the first day was sure a lot of fun and sure a lot of riding. Some time ago Jack sent me a file with a route for the day that was better than my pick of interstate highway. So I dutifully loaded it in and started it up. Well, the very first corner he went the opposite way and it never got better. After a while we gave up and just followed. It appeared Jack knew where he was going and if you look at the track you will see it was north out of town then north-west, whereas the original was south out of town then north-west.

However, this way was a lot better as it was not boring interstate. True enough, US550 is quite scenic so we were glad to have the local knowledge. Just my GPS, with it's new-found voice, wasn't.

We certainly were enjoying being at last on the road after such a long time planning. We are slowly getting used to driving on the right, but are still repeating the instructions out load to make sure. It might sound a bit silly but I really have to fight my natural tendencies to pull out to the left side.

Much easier this time is refueling. Having a local banking card is a blessing. All pumps in this country are pay-at-the-pump style. But for security they often require the zipcode from your address. Naturally an Aussie postcode won't work so then it starts to get complicated. No worries for us this time though. All three refuels for the day went smoothly.

Charleen is having a good time with taking photographs, but she is missing the riding part. She took over two hundred pictures for the day but I made her pick out the top five for the blog.

After some great scenery and dodging several storms, some wet, some dry, we eventually got caught in a very wet one, requiring a stop for the wet gear.

We finally pulled in to La Verkin, Utah where we met an old friend of Jack's, Dennis, and went out for a meal at a local restaurant. Great meal and with my excellent pork chop I had a very large mug of Polygamy Porter. I kid you not. Well we are in Utah. How large? Not sure but we reckoned on a quart. Someone convert. At least I can say I only had one beer with the meal.

Then it was off to visit some more friends and after a very social evening, we eventually returned to Dennis's where he kindly put us up for the night.

It is now next morning and we had better be under way soon. But not before I get this uploaded.

As mentioned above, here's Charleen's best five photos for the day. I'll caption them later as she has the bike packed and is rearing to go. CYA.