"Only a biker knows why a dog sticks his head out of a car window."
~Unknown
This blog is a "Serial Blog" - i.e. a new blog will be added each of the six days that we are on the "Official 2017 Summer Scooter Ride." The official ride is a round-trip ride from Logan to the Rocky Mountain National Park beginning August 14th and ending August 19th. Also, prior to and after the Summer Ride, I will publish a blog covering my trip between California and Logan to join the "Boys" for the official trip. The "Boys" this year are Jon C., Quent, Ted and myself. The primary purpose of this Serial Blog is to let family and friends know that we have arrived safely at our daily destinations. Hopefully, I can also include some good photography and maybe even some small adventures.
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My "Post-Summer Ride" Trip back to Monrovia - August 20th thru August 23rd:
REMEMBER - The Official Summer Scooter Ride was August 14th through August 19th. I published blogs referenced as DAY 1, DAY 2, etc. for those six days and they are shown below with DAY 1 being at the bottom. This last portion of the "Serial Blog" is simply the days I spent after the Official Scooter Ride, making my way home.
If you read the "Pre-Summer Ride" portion of the Serial Blog you saw one of my favorite photos of Ted and Quent from past summer rides. On this current ride they decided they needed a "sequel photo" so I'm showing the comparison below - the first photo is from about 10 years ago.
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August 20th – This was a lazy day spent at Ted & Dixie’s home at Bear Lake waiting for the Solar Eclipse experience on Monday, August 21st. I had some fun visits with friends and family that I'll report in my August Wrap-up Report.
August 21st – After a light breakfast, Ted, Dixie and I rode up the mountain west of the lake to their property Ted calls Rocky Point (it’s the old Highway 89 that Ted ended up with when the new highway was built through Ted’s Bridgerland Village). This was an excellent place to view the Solar Eclipse. I published a separate blog covering our experience watching the eclipse. Later in the day I packed up the Harley and rode down Logan Canyon to spend the night at the Covert’s home in Logan. The miles since arriving in Bear Lake and riding to Logan totaled 66 miles. Our total distance for the round-trip Scooter Ride from Logan to the Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park and back was 1,335 miles.
August 22nd – I rode from Logan to Cedar City, stopping at a Harley Dealership in Lindon for some repairs and lunch with Gary W and then on to Cedar City where I spent the night and had dinner and a visit with Linda & Chad and Al & Dottie. I'll discuss in more detail in my August Wrap-up Report.
August 23rd - I left Cedar City early trying to beat the heat across the Mojave Desert, and get through Las Vegas before the morning traffic rush. The temperature was 56 degrees when I left Cedar, 93 at Baker, the highest was 99 at Yermo, and it was just 83 when I arrived in Monrovia. So the ride was actually quite comfortable. I arrived home a little after noon (443 miles and 7 hours riding time) and was sure happy to see Bonnie welcoming me home. While the Official Summer Scooter Ride covered 1,335 miles, my entire ride covered 2,926 miles.
DAY 6 - HEBER CITY TO GARDEN CITY - THE FINAL DAY (Saturday, August 19th)
Ted and I left Heber City about 9:00 am. It was a “Goldilocks Day” – not too hot and not too cold. We traveled 145 miles; went from Heber to I-80, and the freeway to Evanston, and then back roads to Sage Junction and arrived in Garden City at Bear Lake about noon. We had verified last night that Quent and Jon C had a successful and safe ride yesterday, with Jon C going to Beaver Mountain to a concert and Quent going on to Logan.
Ted and I had breakfast at Chick’s Café, which is the “Angie’s of Heber City.” Their menu says “Where people eat by choice, not by chance.” Bonnie’s dad, Clyde Hicken, had taken Bonnie and I there for breakfast some time ago and had indicated that the café was named after the cook and was (or had been) owned by one of his Hicken relatives. Our waitress seemed well versed in the history (after I badgered her for details) and said that the original owners were named Wood and they named the café after a woman cook who had cooked at local mining camps and later cooked at the café in Heber City. The present owners, named Wright, are locals in Heber City and acquired the café in 1954, retaining the name Chick’s Cafe. So apparently our belief that a Hicken was involved is questionable, but I may do some more research. The café is shown in the photo below.
As we were packing the bikes after breakfast, Ted couldn’t find his hearing aids. He looked through all his bags, and then, ----- he found them in his ears! In the past I have had a similar experience with my glasses, and found that I had pulled them up on my head and didn’t know they were there.
Traffic along I-80, and the back roads from Evanston to Garden City, seemed heavy and I was wondering if the upcoming eclipse had anything to do with it. I know that some of the traffic was due to the eclipse because I saw two cars with writing on the car like they do for newly married couples. One said, “Totality or Bust” and the other had a painting of the sun and the words, “Eclipse on August 21.”
As we came to Lake Town and rode around the South end of Bear Lake, my mind was flooded with all the memories of earlier times here. The Hadfield Cabin, Pickleville, Gus Rich's, Ideal Beach, Holiday Marina, Lokata, Fish Haven, drifting parties, water skiing and boating, etc. etc. So much fun at a time when the lake was very different - i.e. much more public, but with fewer people having boats.
As we approached Sage Junction we stopped at Ted’s gravel pit. I know many of you view Ted as a real estate developer (which he is of course), but in the background he has now become a gravel magnate. The first photo below shows the entrance to his gravel pit with the sign WW Gravel Co. and the second is one of the heavy pieces of equipment that Ted operates.
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When we arrived at Ted’s home in Garden City we unpacked and then relaxed with a drink and a view of the lake. We talked about memories of activities at Bear Lake in years past and of going on future Summer Scooter Rides.
DAY 5 - CRAIG TO HEBER CITY - (Friday, August 18th)
This morning in Craig it was clear and beautiful, and 47 degrees when I got up. When we headed west for Heber City about 8:30 am the temperature had already gone into the 60s. Our route was simply the reverse of Day 2, Highway 40 all the way. We arrived at our hotel in Heber City, the Swiss Alps Inn, about 4:30 pm and it was 88 degrees when we pulled in. Our ride for the day totaled 261 miles.
We had quite a few questions and comments during the last five days about the four of us traveling together but being from three states: Alaska, California and Utah. We thought it would be fun to have a photo of the bikes with the license plates showing, so before we left the hotel this morning we lined up and took the photos below.
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The license plates don't show when including people in the photos, so I tried a serious crop and got the photo below.
The plates still don't show up, so I tried the cropping below. I'm sure the reader is bored with all of this but it was a fun experiment.
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After our photo shoot of the license plates, we said our goodbyes and Quent and Jon C headed north toward I-80 and eventually Beaver Mountain and Logan, while Ted and I headed west for our final night in Heber City.
In Colorado, between the towns of Craig and Dinosaur, out in the middle of nowhere, Ted saw a sign that said "Point of Interest" with an arrow pointing to a little dirt road. Ted said later that he wished he would have gone up the road and attached a sign to whatever the point of interest was that said, "You are presently standing in the middle of nowhere."
As we passed Dinosaur, and approached Vernal, Utah, I was looking for Dinosaurs to photograph. The best one I could find was at the entrance to Vernal as shown below.
From Vernal to Heber City is about 130 miles, passing through Roosevelt, where we had lunch, Duchesne, Fruitland, and past the Strawberry Reservoir. This is a much more scenic area, and a more enjoyable ride, than from Craig to Vernal. About 20 miles from Heber City we were stopped by a flagman for a one-way road through a construction section. This didn't take long, but it did seem like this had happened often.
We stayed in a motel that is old, but clean, and the WiFi worked wonderfully, unlike the first night we were in Heber City at the Holiday Inn Express.
We found a very interesting place (at least to me) to have dinner. Bonnie's mother, Lenore, worked in a bank on Main Street in Heber City as a young woman, and lived in a boarding house one block away. We had dinner at a really impressive restaurant, Main Street Social, located in the same building where Lenore had lived. The photos below are of that restaurant and Ted and I having a drink and dinner.
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Ted and I will head out tomorrow morning on our final day of this year's scooter ride. Our destination is Garden City where we will anxiously await Monday's Total Eclipse.
DAY 4 - ESTES PARK TO CRAIG - (Thursday, August 17th)
This morning was partly cloudy and beautiful on the east side of the Rocky Mountain National Park at Estes Park. It was also cold, but we always have plenty of warm clothes. We headed for the Park about 8:30 am where the weather forecast showed the temperature was 42 degrees. During our ride we experienced a range of weather, but no serious rain. Out route was simply the reverse of yesterday, and we arrived at our hotel in Craig about 4:30 pm. It had been warm during the last few hours of our ride and it was 75 degrees at arrival.
The first half-hour driving into the Park was beautiful. In fact, the scenery was gorgeous the whole day. I just don’t have the words to describe how impressive the Park is. The valleys, mountains, cliffs, etc. are massive, rugged, and at the same time beautiful. You must be there in person to fully appreciate it. We were stopped again today by the flagman for one-way traffic through construction, but not for as long as yesterday and the weather was better.
Since I don't have the words to describe the Park, the following is a partial quote from the brochure given at the entrance to the Park. "To ascend Rocky Mountain National Park's Trail Ridge Road is to leave this world and enter another. It carries you, breathless with wonder and altitude, toward a fragile alpine realm, the tundra. Most animals hibernate or migrate during the harsh winters. No trees can live here. Despite the brief, six-week growing season, plants survive. Most conserve energy by miniaturizing. Each July thousands of brilliant alpine sunflowers burst from the thin blanket of soil that covers parts of the tundra. For decades these hardy plants have worked toward this moment. At the Alpine Visitor Center behold 360-degree views of astonishing peaks, lakes, snowfields, canyons, forests, and meadows spread over 400 square miles. On the park's drier east side, snow blows in from the wetter west, replenishing the few remaining glaciers. All rest in cool, dark valley cirques, or bowl-shaped depressions. Higher summer temperatures since the 1990s have caused the glaciers to melt back. On the park's west side, in the Never Summer Mountains, the Colorado River begins as a tiny stream fed by snow-melt. Downstream, it will provide water to 40 million humans."
Before reaching the Alpine Visitors Center we arrived at the Forest Canyon where we stopped, looked around and took a few photos. I hope the photos will illustrate some of the beauty and massiveness of the area. The first two photos were taken from placards at the Overlook - I hope when they are enlarged some of the information can be read.
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Yesterday we stopped at the Alpine Visitors Center, but only for the rest rooms and a few photographs. Because of the weather conditions we decided to keep moving toward Estes Park and stop today at the Visitors Center for a look at some of the exhibits and maybe some shopping. So when we arrived at the Visitors Center it was closed because they were doing some painting in the parking lot. So much for our planning.
As we rode west out of the Park today I was hoping to see some elk because we saw a huge herd of 40 to 50 elk in that area yesterday. I really wanted a photo then, but parking along the road was limited, plus the weather was not the greatest for taking a good photo. Anyway, the elk were not there today so I missed my chance. The little town of Grand Lake is at the foot of the mountains and we stopped there at Sloopy's Grill for coffee (Dale, Dennie and I had stopped there a few years ago and I remember how much we enjoyed it). You’ll see in the photos below that the Covert boys had coffee, but Ted and I had an alternative. Although it looks like we are having a coke, I have to admit we had ice cream instead. Mine was a large shake, made with hard ice cream, flavor cookies ‘n’ cream.
From Grand Lake it was about 30 minutes to Hot Sulphur Springs where we stopped again, as we had yesterday, for lunch at the Glory Hole Restaurant.
Tonight is the "Goodbye Jon C Night" for Ted and I. He and Quent are riding back to Bear Lake in the morning, while Ted and I will go on to Heber City. Jon C will attend a concert at Beaver tomorrow night, a wedding in Logan on Saturday, and maybe other things, but will head back to Alaska before Ted and I see him again. It was great to have Jon C on our trip this year (for the second year) and we hope he can join us again next year. We all agreed this was a fun trip and look forward to the next Summer Scooter Ride.
DAY 3 - CRAIG TO ESTES PARK - (Wednesday, August 16th)
We left Craig about 9:00 am in clear but cold weather. We had a range of weather conditions during the day. We only rode 200 miles today but arrived in Estes Park about 6:00 pm – a long day for such short mileage. I’ll explain what took so long in the following few paragraphs.
About 25 minutes out of Craig, in the little berg of Hayden, Jon C. lost all power in his bike. He removed the saddle, pulled out his tool kit, and began checking the battery and other things electrical located there. He eventually tightened a loose battery connection, found that electrical was restored, and put things back together. The problem did not recur the remainder of the day, but it did put us a little behind schedule. The photo is of the Master Mechanic and his assistants.
We rode through gorgeous countryside as we approached and left Steamboat Springs and went on to Hot Sulphur Springs where we had a really good lunch at The Glory Hole. It was not far from Hot Sulphur Springs to the entrance to the Rocky Mountain National Park. The first three photos below are at the entrance - see Jon C. in the middle, below the sign in the first two photos. The last photo is not long after the entrance when it had begun to rain and we all put on rain gear. Stopping to put on rain gear and riding slower because of the rain added some time to our trip.
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The scenery throughout the Park is really impressive. The photos below - 1st row: The first three photos are climbing the mountain into the Park, working our way up to the Visitors Center; the next photo is from the Visitors Center looking into the valley below.
2nd row: Looking into the valley from the Visitors Center; the four of us at the Visitors Center; the last two show us in line with about 2-miles of other frustrated travelers as we waited for the pilot car to lead us through a one-way road.
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As we left the Visitors Center, it got colder, the wind blew harder, and at the top is was actually snowing! My GPS switched from feet to miles for the elevation and showed that we were at 2.3 miles at the top. As we begin the decline down to Estes Park, the snow turned into rain, the wind was less, but it was quite cold. We came to a long line of cars stopped by a flagman. We waited 30 minutes or so to proceed, and then followed the pilot car at about 10 miles per hour - another addition to our long travel time..
We finally arrived at our hotel in Estes Park, and although it was a longer day than we had planned, we all enjoyed the day. We had a very good dinner at Hunters Chophouse, walking distance from our hotel.
DAY 2 - HEBER CITY TO CRAIG - (Tuesday, August 15th)
We left Heber City about 9:00 am - it was cloudy and 56 degrees when we left. It got a little warmer during the day, but never hot - we all wore coats the entire trip. It was cloudy all day, and for the last 90 miles before arriving at Craig it was quite windy and it rained (but not heavy) most of the way. The heavy storm, with lightening and thunder, was always out in front of us - the roads were wet, but we were chasing the storm. We rode 258 miles today.
Because of the rain, I didn't get many good photos today. The one below was the bikes at the hotel in Heber City before we left. I meant to get a photo of the Boys as they were loading up, but forgot.
Since I admitted to a couple of my screw-ups yesterday, I have to relate a couple of funny deeds of Ted and Jon C. today. Ted was having difficulty starting his bike. He said, "I think my battery is dead." Well, his headlight was on so it was clear that his battery was not dead. It turned out he was pushing the signal light button instead of the starter button. Then similar to my pillow story, Ted didn't put his ball cap back in a bag after one of our rest stops and it flew out as he sped down the highway. Jon C. was behind him and did the good deed of stopping and retrieving it (Jon C. was also the one that retrieved my pillow yesterday - so many thanks to him). Then, Jon C. took his turn. We were stopped by a flagman for one-lane traffic on road construction. Jon C. decided to put his chaps on during the limited time we were stopped. He got one leg in the chaps and then got the zipper stuck on the second leg. You guessed it -- then here came the pilot car and turned around to guide our group through the one-lane section - and the zipper was still stuck. Jon C hopped on his bike in that condition and had to solve the problem a ways down the road. We all make these little mistakes so Quent is next on the list.
Vernal is about half way to Craig and we hit there about lunch time. We stopped to gas up and ask a clerk where we should have lunch and he recommended the Dinosaur Brew Haus. We accepted his recommendation and it was a good lunch. Photos below are at lunch and as we were leaving.
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The room Ted and I were given at the Craig Hampton Inn is probably the best room for the price we've had on any of our trips. Maybe they know this is my YEAR 77 trip. Anyway, although you would need to see it in person to appreciate it, I've included a couple of photos below. This evening we had a short walk to the Cassidy Steak House and the photo below shows us having a good dinner there. The final photo is the route we took today from Heber City to Craig.
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DAY 1 - LOGAN TO HEBER CITY (Monday, August 14th)
We left Logan about 8:00 am - it was cloudy and 77 degrees. It was cloudy all day, but never rained, and we arrived in Heber City at about 4:15 pm and it was 82 degrees. The ride was 210 miles.
Logan Canyon, was scenic and a fun ride as always, but it was 56 degrees through the canyon (brrrr!). Again, as always, Bear Lake was beautiful as we motored down toward Garden City at about 9:00 am. We met Ted at his lakeside home and, along with Dixie, we went to a new restaurant called Cody's for breakfast. The atmosphere was great, the food was delicious, and the service was terrible (the waitress tried hard, but they hadn't yet developed the system to support her). The photos below are Bear Lake from the overlook, the "Boys" at Ted & Dixie's place, and three photos of Cody's Restaurant.
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We had a nice ride from Bear Lake to Evanston, except for a couple of mistakes that I made. Covert said it was my turn to be stupid, so I guess I should admit to what happened. During a stop in Randolph I thought I had lost my cell phone and about had a heart attack. Eventually Ted called my number and we could hear it ringing. I opened all my saddle bags looking for the phone and finally found it in my vest pocket. When opening my saddle bags I neglected to re-lock them, and later a pillow blew out on the highway. So I'm sure I'll hear about this day for a while.
From Evanston we rode up into the Uinta Mountains where the weather cooled down, but although it looked threatening, it never did rain. The scenery was beautiful, and we stopped at Mirror Lake for a rest and a look at the beautiful scenery there. When we pulled up to the lake we had an experience that has never happened in 24 years of our Summer Scooter Rides. A fisherman named Joe came up to us as we pulled in and asked if we wanted a beer. We thought about it for about a second and said "Of course!" No one should worry - we're certain that one beer wouldn't violate the Utah .08 alcohol test. Fisherman Joe is shown below after the Bud Lite distribution; the other photos are of Mirror Lake and the surrounding area. When the photos are enlarged you will notice people sitting at lakeside enjoying the mountain environment.
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We came out of the Uinta's at the little town of Kamas (passing the Beaver Creek Nudist Camp on the way) and stopped for a great lunch at the Gateway Grill. From Kamas it was a short ride to Heber where a shower felt nice and we found a good place within walking distance for dinner. The first photo below is at the Gateway Grill, the next two are at the Jordanelle Reservoir, which is an earth-fill dam built in 1993. The total capacity is 365,000 acre-feet and the surface area is huge - it would take over 30,000 football fields to equal the surface area. The last photo is the route we took from Logan to Heber City.
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My "Pre-Summer Ride" Trip to Logan - August 11th thru August 13th:
August 11 - I left Monrovia Friday morning at 6:00 am. The weather was clear and a warm 83 degrees. The temperature reached 105 as I crossed the desert and was down to 95 when I arrived that afternoon in Beaver to spend the night. Of course the temperature wasn't too bad since motorcycles have good air conditioning. For those interested in such things, I averaged 42 mpg and 77 mph for the 497 mile trip. Since moving to California in 1964 I must have made this same trip almost 200 times, so the scenery is familiar to say the least. Fortunately, my Harley connects to my iPhone via Bluetooth and I can listen to my favorite music, or to Sirius Radio (CNBC for the stock market or the other cable channels for minute to minute Trump entertainment). The first photo below is a drawing Dale did for me on my 77th birthday - "You don't stop riding because you get old, you get old because you stop riding"; the second photo is a gift from Bonnie (look carefully in the middle of the photo) - it's a “Gremlin Bell” which is known as a supernatural protector against evil spirits that haunt the roads looking for bikers to harm - others say it’s simply a tradition of kindness between riders and friends. Whatever you believe, the “Gremlin Bell” is a unique legend in the biker community; the third photo shows my "Motorcycle Angel" given to me by Heather and worn for luck and safety; and the last is one of my favorites of Ted and Quent from a past summer ride;
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August 12 - I left Beaver Saturday morning at 6:00 am when it was dark and a chilly 60 degrees - much different than yesterdays ride. I was reminded on today's ride that it's not usually a good idea to sing while riding along. Particularly in Utah where there seem to be a lot of flying bugs. I arrived in Clinton about 9:30 am where I had time for a visit with Clare Taylor and then attended the Humpherys Family Reunion. These activities will be covered in separate blogs.
After the Humpherys Reunion I saddled up and rode to Logan to call on the Covert's hospitality once again. I pulled into Apple Dr about 4:30 pm having ridden 300 miles today.
August 13 - Today was a lazy day - beginning at 3:30 am I went outside in a thunder storm to recover items that were soaked from the rain since I had left my Harley outside. Later that morning (I did go back to bed in between), Covert and I had a good visit and coffee with Neil at Angies, the most popular local coffee shop. Late afternoon, Barbara prepared a wonderful dinner for the family including Quent (of course), Lesly & Cole, Abby & Jake, Michael & Gina, Jon C., Amy, and me (thank goodness). Crusted baked chicken, string beans, corn on the cob, and fresh tomatoes all made a delicious treat.
So ----- tomorrow morning we leave on our 24th Annual Summer Scooter Ride. We'll have a great time and make some more memories.