Day 2 - Spectacular Beauty in Utah

If you ever doubted the existence of God, a Supreme Being, the Big Guy, whatever deity you may choose to discount you need to come and ride the roads of Utah.  And you will be convinced, as we are, that only God is capable of creating such grandeur. 

We had spent a great deal of time in and around St. George during the previous year, both in preparation for and during Shark Week III.  Certainly Zion National Park, Cedar Breaks, Bryce Canyon, and the Grand Canyon are some of the most stunning sites anywhere in the world.  But that was a case of "been there, done that" for these road veterans.  There was a whole undiscovered part of Utah that even native Troy, who has lived in Utah for all but seven of his soon-to-be-forty years of existence, had not seen.

The morning greeted us with sprinkles of rain, just a light dusting was how our host described it.  Nothing too bad - shouldn't last long.  We proceeded to  assemble our gear and prepped the bikes and began to back out of Troy's garage, which arguably could put the Ferrari research department and building to shame.  To say that Troy's bike garage is large and impressive is to say that Chrissy Teagan is kind of cute. 

Every Biker's Dream Garage

As we backed out to the street we noted Troy pulling on a full rain suit, boot covers, and little windshield washers for his helmet.  The California guys, none of whom had seen rain for at least 364 days, looked at each other wondering what exactly might constitute a major rain concern.  Shrugging, we brushed it off.  Note to selves:  when native folks don rain gear, it would be advisable to follow suit. 

Departing St. George the California contingent noted that the rain was indeed just a light dusting and did not appear to be long-lasting......until out pants felt somewhat moist.....and small rooster tails began to appear beneath the tires of the riders up front....and Troy's little windshield washers went into high speed mode. It was official - we were riding in rain.  Oddly, one of us was uncharacteristically happy about this.  You see, the riders had decided to conduct a Rain Milage Pool, which had the two losers buying dinner for the one winner who pegged the point at which we would first run into rain. 

Winner Winner, He Gets Dinner

Ron had chosen somewhere in Colorado, Kenny had chosen some remote city called Papillion, NE, and oddly, Mark had chosen Cedar City, Utah, which was about five miles from where we officially decided that it was rain.  So it is that Mark will be treated to a delicious meal, all expenses paid.........at Hillbilly Hot Dogs!!

Braving the rain, the group forged through Utah all the way to......Utah.  Yes, that's how beautiful Utah is - we couldn't even bear to leave it as we tried to force ourselves toward Maine.  Somehow we put 453 miles on the bikes today, yet at this writing we are still in the state.  Almost out, though!

One last experience to pass along - having checked into our hotel, when asking about a good place to dine in Monticello, Utah, we were advised to go to the best place in town, the D & C Restaurant.  Apparently D & C stands for Dilated and Crowning, for out hostess/waitress/cashier was by all accounts roughly eleven months pregnant. 

Order for five.....make that eleven!!

We swear we could hear contractions as we placed our orders off the kiddy menu - yes the kiddy menu.  Fearing the commencement of labor, we thought that was the most expeditious order.  We were hungry after all.  The story ends well - we got our meals and the world now has a new set of sextuplets, easily doubling the population of Monticello.

The adventure continues tomorrow as we venture into and through the state of Colorado.  Can that be any more eventful than today?