Bullett Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Well, gee. Jan's in California partying it up with Phil and Jamie and a bunch of other folks while I'm sitting at home because I have to work on Monday. I know! I'll go for a ride by myself. A little research on the Utah Dept. of Transportation website reveals that US191 is open and dry. I remember that ride from a couple of years ago on the RT. I'd sure like to do it on the F-bike. This morning I slept in and didn't think I could do this ride. It was supposed to take 7 and a half hours. Oh well. I got up, ate breakfast (three lattes and some scrambled eggs), and set out for a ride up US40. I figured I'd see how I felt. I had a bailout route South on 191 to Helper, then back to Spanish Fork and up the interstate to home. Well, I blew past that option, so I figured I just had to proceed as planned. It was a beautiful day. Temps ranged from a low of about 35 (Strawberry Summit) to highs of 65 F. (Vernal). I took this route. I80 East to US40 to US191 to SH44 to I80 West. Total ride time about 7 hours. There was very little traffic and . . . no LEOs! I stopped in Heber to fill up. I was on the F650GS and it has a small tank, about 4.5 US gallons, and I haven't ridden this bike much, so I was unsure of the mileage although it is supposed to get better than 50 mpg. It was too cold to stop at Strawberry for pictures. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, because when I got to Roosevelt, I pulled out the camera and discovered no memory card. Sorry Whip! . . . He demanded pictures of last night's dinner ride and I left the memory card in the laptop. Maybe I can get a card in Vernal . . . Hmmm, a Walmart. Normally, I won't shop at Walmart, but since this is a small town and Walmart is likely the have the memory I need, I make an exception and stop. Did you know that at Walmart they have merchandise out where you'd think you could just pull it off the hook but you can't? Anyway, one 8GB Sandisk Ultra SDHC card and $35 later, I can document my ride! The greeter lady was delightful! She not only told me my bike was much nicer than the two HD's I parked next to, but she told me the way to Manila; and that it's much nicer than Dutch John. Too bad I can't follow directions. You can see on the map that I missed my turn and had to backtrack. Didn't really matter, the weather was gorgeous. I finally remembered the name, Manila, and entered it on the ZUMO. I got on US191 and headed North. The view: The road takes you past a reservoir that I didn't stop to photograph, and then up a series of switchbacks that overlook a big mine. I tried to take a picture of the sign warning of switchbacks ahead, yadayadayada . . . but I couldn't find a place that I could put my side stand down to get at the camera that was in the topcase. A truck was coming, so I made an executive decision to abort that mission and get in front of him. I made it as far as the view point without traffic. ZUMO view: Where I was headed: Geez! Why did I stop? There goes that truck. Oh well, i guess I can take a picture of the bike: Back on the road. Switchback; switchback; switchback; diesel exhaust guess its time to pass him. The road was empty, but for a few pick up trucks with Wyoming plates. . . well, there were also a few cars with Wyoming plates. I was amazed I saw no other motorcycles until I reached Mountain View. I had the road to myself, pretty much. The sun was shining and I concentrated on seeing how much lean and speed I could put into my turns. Yeehah! I think I like this bike! The F650 twin was capable of cruising between 76 mph GPS on up to around 85 mph GPS with no worries. I stopped and snapped a couple of shots along the way to Manila. Flaming Gorge Reservoir: The road ahead: The next place I almost stopped was called Sheep Gulch, a geologic interpretive site. Oh, crap. Guess I 'll go ahead and stop. Turns out there is a reason they call it "Sheep Gulch." And one for Wurty. The view: Sorry sheep. All they would do while I was stopped was eat grass, but as soon as I started the moto, they bounded up the side of the mountain like it was nothing. Of course, the camera was stashed in the top case by then. I guess I'm gonna have to get a "faux tank bag." I made good time to Mountain View, WY. An interesting little town just off I80. It has a nice bike/jogging path along the road. There was a couple on horses with their child on a third horse on a leader. True Americana. I picked up the interstate, after I turned up the MP3 player to block out the wind noise and began picking my way through the trucks . . . Final stats: 415 miles, I think. It was a great ride. I heartily recommend it to my fellow Utahns, before it gets full of trucks pulling boats and LEO's. Link to comment
mbelectric Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Nice pictures Sharon. Hey 104 mph....watch it girl! Utah truly has it all.. MB> Link to comment
barryNmarin Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Sharon, that was a sweet ride on a sweet ride. Thanks for stopping and picking up the media card. I enjoyed the pics. Link to comment
Traveler1 Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Nice ride - thanks for sharing Link to comment
Bullett Posted April 20, 2009 Author Share Posted April 20, 2009 Nice pictures Sharon. Hey 104 mph....watch it girl! Utah truly has it all.. MB> I was feeling lucky. Link to comment
Paul Mihalka Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Great ride and great pics! Sharon, you are meeean: "And one for Wurty." Link to comment
Nice n Easy Rider Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Nice tale Sharon. And true dedication - stopping at Wallymart to get a memory stick so you could say "It's so!" Link to comment
Dietrich Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Nice write up, Sharon. Thanks for sharing. Something wrong with the Zumo? 104mph? Was that in 4th? Ride safely. Link to comment
hopz Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Good trip, and the weather cooperated. Did you see the signage north of Vernal? The ones that say "Caution, Switchbacks next X miles"? Flaming Gorge and Green River? Excellent! Link to comment
Bullett Posted April 20, 2009 Author Share Posted April 20, 2009 Good trip, and the weather cooperated. Did you see the signage north of Vernal? The ones that say "Caution, Switchbacks next X miles"? Flaming Gorge and Green River? Excellent! Yes I did. The roadside was too sloped to for me to get my side stand down. I moved the bike several times, and debated pulling around to the other direction to get the picture, but finally opted to just go. Link to comment
Bullett Posted April 20, 2009 Author Share Posted April 20, 2009 Nice write up, Sharon. Thanks for sharing. Something wrong with the Zumo? 104mph? Was that in 4th? Ride safely. There was a headwind. I tried to open it up between trucks on the Interstate, but I kept having to slow down . . . I still haven't found the rev limiter on this thing. Link to comment
JustJean Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Nice ride!! I think my bike needs to come visit your bike! Link to comment
Paul_Burkett Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Very nice RR and thanks for the great pictures. Link to comment
ltljohn Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Nice!!! Thanks for taking us along. Link to comment
Firefight911 Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 Uber Worthy! I'll second that! Link to comment
eddd Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 Ummm...When the cat's away...the mice will play. I guess it's true. Looks like you had a fun time. Link to comment
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