May 29, 2010

Scenic Byways today, Saturday, traveling from Moab to Cedar City, Utah.

I forgot to describe the town of Moab for those of you who haven't been there. It is a funky little town, not as pretty as some of the towns we have been in but a tourist destination especially for all forms of transportation. It has been called the bicycling capitol of the world; street, mountain, motor, trail bikes and every kind of off road four-wheel drive; jeep, ATVs, dune buggies as well as river boats. The Colorado River flows through town and you can raft, kayak, or take jet boat tours. It can be very dusty being a desert and lots of wind. You also see every make and model of campers, RVs and motorhomes. It has lots of shops and we especially liked two shops that sold Native American pottery, carvings etc.

Leaving Moab at 6:30am after hitting McDonald's for it's dollar menu, it was clear, crisp, sunny and 61 degrees traveling on Route 191 to I-70. The Scenic Byways started on Route 24 through the San Rafael Reef. We stopped in Hanksville for a late breakfast then continued on to Route 12 South. This took us through the beautiful Capitol Reef National Park and into Dixie National Forest. Route 12 reached an elevation of 9600 feet. Snow again.

TIP FOR TRAVELERS: A map showing elevations would have been helpful to us as we had no idea how high we were going on some routes. Especially for us on a motorcycle knowing you were going higher we could be sure to dress properly, the higher elevations were much colder and had snow. And most important I would have been warned of the drop off.

On Route 12 we encountered yet another "OMG" road. There was a drop off on both sides of the road. My fear of heights did not diminish. I don't think I could drive a car over this stretch of road let alone ride on the back of a motorcycle. The only way I can describe it is take a brick on its side and picture two lanes of cars driving across the brick and the drop off on each side would be thousands of feet straight down with no guard rail. Ken was a saint, I don't know how he kept control of the motorcycle while I was screaming, "Oh My God" on the back. He tried keeping as close to the center line as he could for me.
When we could we stopped so I could stop shaking and we could look at the view from behind a solid wall. Route 12 then took us through a couple of small towns where we got a snack and then we went rode through Red Canyon and the road took you through two tunnels cut through the red rock. We did drive by the entrance to Bryce Canyon but it was too late in the day to stop and we will be back Monday to see Bryce. We drove on Route 89 for a short distance then made a pit stop at the junction of Route 14. Now our trip continues up and over Route 14 to Cedar City. Again this route took us up to 10,000 feet and more snow but the ride down was easier then other roads of that height.
Arrived at Cedar City for early dinner and bed.