I have many favorite things in life. Here are a few of them:

1) Spending time with my wife: It may sound corny or cheesy but its true. In this case, my wife Jonna was driving to California the first week of July to pick up some furniture. Since it was a long weekend with the July 4th holiday on Monday, I decided to follow her out to Utah on the bike so that we could do some hiking. On Monday, I’d return home while she continued on to California. Jonna even found a nice little bed and breakfast in Escalante, Utah called the Escalante Giant Staircase B&B so we had a comfortable spot to hang out for a couple of nights.

2) Leaving work early: If there is another thing that is appealing these days its having an opportunity to get outta work at a reasonable hour. In this case, I snuck out at 4:00pm on Friday so I could get a head start on sunset while heading over the Divide. Traffic was pretty heavy in Golden so I went up into the mountains on Golden Gate Canyon State Park road and then took the new Central City expressway out to the Interstate. This new road, just opened this year to make it easier for the masses to flock into the casinos at Blackhawk/Central City, is none-the-less a great motorcycle road. Had I known that I-70 was going to be a parking lot, I would have left work even earlier and enjoyed those sweeping curves even more. As it was, once I got onto the Interstate it took an hour to clear the Eisenhower tunnel and pick up the pace again.

3) My BMW R1150GS: Ever since I bought my GS in 2001, its been one of my favorite things. The big beemer is an excellent road bike. I was able to run a speed which…ummm…optimised the time/distance equation. I stopped off in Eagle for gas but otherwise just enjoyed the MP3s and the way the R1150GS can eat up sweeping curves. I made it to Grand Junction after 335 miles at 8pm… in time to grab a quick bite with my wife and still get to bed early. On Saturday morning, we woke up early and put in another 274 miles to Escalante, UT. I-70 in Eastern Utah is pretty boring but at least Utah-24 through the San Rafael desert wasn’t at hot as the last time I went through there in 1996. Things improved dramatically in Hanksville when U-24 turns to the west and for the next 50 miles goes through the heart of Capital Reef National Park. A stunningly beautiful ride. After gassing up in Torrey, it was on to one of my most favorite roads in the entire country: Utah 12. This is 65 miles of motorcycle heaven with the highlight being a section called the “Hog’s Back” which is a curvy ridge the width of the two lane road. U-12 goes through the Escalante Giant Staircase National Monument, a 1.9 million acre desert reserve. We made it to our B&B around noon which was perfect to check in and then head out for Bryce Canyon National Park 50 miles further down Utah-12.

4) Hiking: If my obsession is motorcycles, then my secondary hobby is hiking. Both Jonna and I love to hike and this was our main goal for our weekend in Utah. I’d ridden through Bryce nine years ago and honestly thought it was a pretty lame park when viewed from the scenic lookouts on the ledge. I’d always wanted to get back and do some hiking to see if Bryce really lived up to its reputation once you were inside the Canyon. We’d planned to hike the Navajo Loop trail but a rockslide in the Wall Street section closed the decent. Instead, we hiked down the Queen’s Garden trail and then cut up the canyon floor to the lower end of Wall Street. This is a spectacular area with tall pine and spruce growing a hundred or more feet high inside the narrow canyons. Bryce is truly incredible once you are inside. The hike was only about three miles long but that was plenty in Saturday afternoon’s 100+ degree heat. On Sunday, we went even further, going 127 miles on Utah-12, US-89 and Utah-9 to Zion National Park. I’d also been to Zion nine years ago and thought it was incredible when viewed from a bike. We did two hikes, Emerald Pools and Pa’nus, but neither were as nice as the hike in Bryce. For one, Emerald Pools was very crowded. Second, the trails in Zion are either short/easy or long/strenuous. We only had four hours to hike, so had to focus on the more accessible trails. If I ever make it back, I’d like to try Angel’s Landing. With temperatures in Zion besting 103, we were actually happy to be in Jonna’s Rav4 rather than on the bike. We headed back to Escalante mid-afternoon somewhat disappointed with our hikes in Zion.

5) Hanging out with friends: The folks who know me know that I can be a pretty social guy. I love getting together with friends. As a result, I was thrilled to find out that my friend Meg and her husband Ron were going to be in Teasdale exploring Capital Reef this same weekend. We made plans to meet for dinner in Boulder, Utah on Sunday night. We all got together and had a great evening swapping stories and just catching up. Meg’s husband just opened his own bike shop, Motorcycle Repair and Rendezvous in Salt Lake City, which is doing well. Consider this my plug for his place, as he’s a great guy and loves beemers. Meg was riding her R1100S, Ron was on his R1150GS and their friend Troy was also on a R1150GS. Great folks, nice bikes and a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

6) Good food: I’m also a big fan of well prepared food. In this case, I had three different occasions to sample good eats. First was Georgie’s Corner Cafe in Escalante. If you ever need an excuse to go ride Utah-12, Georgie’s nachos could be it. This little one-woman show has six tables and great food. Another twist on the fine food theme was Sunday’s dinner at the Hell’s Backbone Cafe in Boulder. Its more expensive than Georgie’s and more upscale but the food was incredible. I had a cream of Jalapeno soup and a salad made from their own herb/vegetable garden. Everything was healthy…organic, locally grown, carefully prepared or otherwise focused on combining taste and nutrition. Bring your wallet though because it isn’t cheap. On Monday, I headed back to Colorado on the GS while Jonna pointed her Toyota westward. From the time I started rolling I knew my next riding goal was getting to the Eagle Diner in Eagle, CO for lunch. Its a 50s style diner with good, plain fare. Thankfully, they’ve added a modern twist on the 50s classic by having vegetarian options. I had a veggie burger, fries and a soda. Perfect road trip food and very affordable.

7) Great roads: This leaves my favorite thing when riding a motorcycle and that is riding great roads. The first thing Monday morning was retracing my route on Utah-12 and Utah-24. Wow, what a great way to start the day. I was stopped in Hanksville for their 4th of July parade which lasted about 10 minutes. Small town means small parade. I made it back to Grand Junction by noon which meant the mostly straight droning portion of I-70 was nearly behind me. I made Eagle by 1:30pm for the much anticipated veggie burger and fries. Since I was making such good time, I decided to start taking some detours to enjoy some of Colorado’s fantastic mountain passes. First, I took US-24 at Avon up and over Tennessee Pass (10,424 ft) to Leadville. Then Fremont Pass (11,318 ft) back north from Leadville to I-70 at Copper Mountain. After gassing up in Silverthorne, I then did Loveland Pass (11,992 ft) which bypasses the Eisenhower tunnel and returns to I-70 at the Araphoe Basin ski resort. Since it was still only 5pm, I decided to continue the theme by turning north at Georgetown on US-40 to go over Berthoud Pass (11,315 ft) to Granby. Then hit the motherlode which is going over Trailridge Road (12,180 ft) through Rocky Mountain National Park. All the tourists were apparently in Grand Lake and Estes Park to watch the fireworks because the Park was deserted. I made great time going over Trailridge, something that is unheard of in the late afternoon during the summer. Once in Estes Park, I rode to my work in Westminster to pick up my laptop, then did a loop through Denver to enjoy all the different fireworks displays. I pulled into my garage after 14 and 1/2 hours on the bike having covered 791 miles. Nothing by Iron Butt standards but a fun days ride none-the-less. I was tempted to get up early on Tuesday and ride a 200 mile loop into work just so I could say I’d done 1000 miles in 24 hours but couldn’t quite find the motivation when the alarm clock went off in the morning.

All total I put 1399 miles on the Beemer, hiked just over 8 miles, visited five National Parks/Monuments, drove over 10 mountain passes in both Utah and Colorado, went from 100+ temperatures in the desert to snow banks at 12,000 ft. For symmetry I visited both Boulder, UT and Boulder, CO on the same day. I spent a great weekend with my wife but also spent a day of solitude inside my helmet. I wore out a front tire but was wearing a smile when I went back into work this morning. Best of all, I got to enjoy a lot of my favorite things all in one weekend. Life is really, really good sometimes.

[image from my photo collection.]