So Ut jaunt

I take off for Southern Utah and maybe some Nevada on a Wednesday.

The plan was to stay for 3 maybe 4 days, but when I call home the first night Bev is quite ill so I get up the next morning and head for home. I can't really do anything useful to help her, but its not fun to be sick and alone.....so we hang out watching TV.

The shows we watched weren't that great, but the company was good! :)

But back to my 'trip'.

I ride through Milford, a small and nice, quiet town of friendly people.

A stop at Parawan Gap to see the petroglyphs is in order.

Drawings on both sides of the road...

Then to Kolob Canyon, part of Zion National Park.

And I grab a hotel, then book it home the next day.

Quickies can be good too.....this was a nice ride!

Lunch in Kansas

I'm in the mood to have a burger run. 

EricV lives in Missouri so I pick a spot halfway between us on the map. 

Then I notice the little town I've picked has a motorcycle museum in it! 

Bonus! 

The Kansas motorcycle museum in Marquette, Kansas.

So...the burger run is on. Eric and I meet on a Wednesday, have lunch at City Sundries a half a block away from the museum, and then go visit the excellent Kansas Motorcycle Museum.

The museum honors home grown champion, Stan "the Man" Engdahl.

Stan was a National Champion 5 times and raced for 60 years. He raced dirt track and road racing.

Stan was a tv repairman besides a champ moto rider.

I got to Marquette with my reserve light flashing, but there is not a gas station there, so after the museum visit, I ride to Lindsborg 10 miles away to fill up.

And then ride southwest to Dodge City.

This was the second of three days of ice cold winds from the north.

I'm in the middle of BEEF country, so I have some pho to warm up...

Day three of brutal winds....but still having fun.

Museum in New Mexico....finally its merely breezy, not crazy windy!
Yes!!

I ride the "Singing Highway" in Tijera, New Mexico.

"God Bless America"

(with a uke and swaying hips accompanying)

Heading north now....

My last fuel stop is in Green River, Utah 181 miles from home.
From Green River to Price, Utah there is nothing but 64 miles of two lanes and scraggly sage brush... 
So I leave the gas station and 19.2 miles later I see an Indian Scout parked on the other side of the road. The female rider indicates STOP when I give the 'thumbs up/thumbs down' question...so I U-ey and stop.

"I'm out of gas" she explains....  No problem, I have a gallon on the back of the bike. We put the gas in her bike and she is soon on her way to Green River to fill up.

And 172 miles after the road side gas stop, I'm home!

2600 miles in 6 days...

Cold, windy, scenic, fun...Life is indeed GOOD!

Taos

A Fall ride.

I hope to see some Fall colors....

First I ride to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, spend a sleepless night there before riding for Taos, New Mexico.

On the way are spectacular Fall leaves...

And a cool long horn sculpture.

I can't pass the UFO tower near Center, Colorado without stopping and having a look.

The knowledgeable and friendly docent there tells me that this area is a hotbed for UFO sightings...I did see some, but not in the sky.....

....see, told ya!

"Is that a UFO??" I exclaim...  Sasquatch just rolls his eyes.....

Then to Taos where I spend an uneventful, but restful two days, after which I start my ride northbound for home.

I really like churches, especially old ones, of any denomination. The architecture, the stained glass and frescoes.....
I like to visit them whenever I get a chance.

As I'm northward on a road I've never been on before I see what looks like a church on the top of a large hill. As I get closer I see it is indeed a church, but old or not I can't tell.

So I decide to try and find the road up to the church, but I can't seem to locate it. I could ask for directions...(haha)... but I don't.... however while I was hunting for the road I noticed there is a pathway that zig zags up the hill and apparently leads to the church. 

So I park the bike, grab my hat and sunglasses and start off.  It is a bit chilly for just standing around, but perfect temps for a strenuous hike. 

And it is a good hike. After about 1/2 mile on the trail there starts to be bronze statues every so often say.. 100 yards or so between them. They are very nicely done and mounted in cement and rock stands. The statues are all depicting some moment of the Saviors ordeal of carrying the cross.

So there I am, enjoying the perfect weather and brilliant blue sky, on a nice trail on which I am completely alone. The morning is very peaceful and a calming quiet .... it is a perfect time to see these wonderful statues.

Eventually I come to the top of the hill where the church is located and one of the first things I notice is that elusive road.....  Darn it! I think to myself, if I would have looked a bit harder I could have ridden up here instead of hiked...but then my very next thought is; "but then I would have missed the beautiful time I had hiking up the trail past the statues.." 

Sometimes sweat is the water that nurtures the plant of Serendipity.

Looking up at the church
(The rocks say; Stations of the Cross)

Looking down from the church to the town

The start of the path

Some of the statues

The church

The town hall of St Luis (the oldest town in Colorado and where this church is located)

Then it was on to Zapata Falls near Alamosa, Colorado

I had happened to see 'Zapata Falls' sometime back when I happened to be perusing a map....if it had been named one of the generic names that folks give the different water falls I wouldn't have noticed it as much, but with a name like 'Zapata' I had to go see them.

Annnnnnd ............ a lot of highway miles, a bumpy dirt road, and another hike...............

I finally reach the falls;

this is my reward for 20 extra road miles, 3.2 dirt miles of  exposed boulders and countless baby heads, and the mile (rt) hike at 9300ft elevation....

Sometimes Serendipity is merely a dead weed to be stepped over before going on to somewhere else.

After my Zapata experience I spend a beautiful night star gazing and enjoying the peaceful quite in Pagosa Springs
(looking out the back door the next morning).

But most often, Serendipity.....just happens.

I ride the 450 miles to home the following day.

This was an INCREDIBLE trip (except for the road to Zapata Falls...) a tiny bit of rain and ...well ok, a LOT of brutal side winds - but still, an awesome, enjoyable, fall leaf watching 5 days!

Look well to this day, for it is life, the very life of life.

In it lie all the realities and verity of existence: the bliss of growth, the glory of action, the splendor of beauty.

For yesterday is but a dream and tomorrow only a vision.  But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day, for it and it alone, is life!

Such is the salutation of the dawn.

-                  Sanskrit proverb