Fall colors leaf me amazed!

Beverly and I decide to take in the changing leaves in Southern Utah. We leaf Friday the 24th and ride to our reserved cabin at Hoover's near Marysvale. On the ride down we stop in at Manti to visit with some dear friends, Kevin and Joni, that we haven't seen for way to long of a time. Our visit was wonderful, but we stayed too long and so had to ride in the dark from Salina to the cabin. I don't like riding in the dark on country roads, but alls well that ends well, and the visit made it worthwhile.
Weechef 650 and his wife were staying down the road a ways and he stopped in to visit us the next morning. As he leafs I snap this pic from the door of our cabin.

We leaf Saturday morning for a loop ride. We go north on hwy 89 to Richfield, then east on SR 119 through Glenwood to SR 24, and south on 24

We hang a left on SR 25 to go past Fish Lake....even though the leaf colors have not peaked the scenery is absolutely beautiful!

Back on SR 24 we head to Torrey where we will turn right and go south on SR 12 to Boulder. We intend to meet some other riders in Boulder for lunch.

We pull into the Burr Trail Grill at 1:05. Suzi and her husband Rob were going to meet us there, and she assured me she would arrive at 1:08......but we couldn't see her. Unbeknownst to me her bike had developed some problems, and since we didn't have cell service at the cabin I was unaware of her situation. But as we were taking off our gear another friend, Bob, walked out of the grill and said "hello." He and riding buddy Todd had been waiting for us.....and already ordered.....so we joined them at their table. Somehow I forgot to get pics of Bob, Todd and their bikes; Bob's good looking blue FJR and Todd's sweet Tiger. However...if you view my video (I've been Everywhere....Man), one of the last pictures is of "Gunlock" and you can see Bob, his bike, and the missing Suzi and Rob. :)

Some interesting decor at the Burr Trail Grill.

In the distance you can see a bus on SR 12 going up the hill.

After lunch we continue south on SR 12. Near Escalante we pass this new rest stop. I hadn't noticed it before so we turned around and went back to see what it was like.

It is so new that they don't have writing on the placards yet. But I figured this spot was important.

Awwwww....cool cement and shade!

Just as we get ready to leaf another Strom goes by, then flips a Uwey and comes back to where we are. It's Ken and Meredith! They have ridden to Utah from Flagstaff Az to do some hiking and see the colors. It's always a pleasure to see them and visit...but we each had miles to ge before we sleep so our visit was cut short.

They followed us to the SR 22 which is the road that goes north from Ruby's Inn. Ken & Meredith went straight on 12 to their lodging in Kanab. Ken's photo skills are amazing, his excellent ride report and pictures can be seen here: http://my2wheels.com/forum/showthread.php?t+5461

Bike outing on SR 22

"There's a cool old building around the corner" I tell Beverly, she gets the camera ready.

We stop at one of my favorite places, the Antimony Store, which is for sale by the way.

Then we ride back to our cabin and the next morning, Sunday, we leaf for home. We decide to stop in Salina at "Mom's" for breakfast.

Next to our table are these lovely east coast ladies who are on their way to Moab for some hiking. I give them one of my cards with my blog address and they make my day by discussing who will get to keep the card, so I give them three more. The lady far left and her husband have transplanted to Utah and own a backpacking supply company. I wish I could remember the name.....

We continue on our way home, stopping at the Axtell post office. This tiny building has an interesting story. A few years ago the Postal Service informed the residents of Axtell that service would no longer be provided for them, and they would have to drive to the city of Redmond to get their mail. So they got together and through bake sales and yard sales raised enough money to buy this small plot of land and erect this building. One person drives to the Redmond and retreives the mail for the entire community and delivers it here for the other residents to come and pick up. Kudos to Axtell, there aren't to many community owned post offices around!

We ride the Nebo scenic road to see more colors. Rest stop.

In the parking lot.

The Nebo road is always a treat.

And arrived home late afternoon. We missed the peak colors, but had a super ride and good time. Next year I think we will stay in Torrey and base our rides out of there. You just can't beat Southern Utah in the Fall!