DUE SOUTH

We arrived at Fort Morgan 80 miles North of Denver at the home of Joe and Lynn, Joe and I have been in contact via the Internet over the past year and a lot of the trip preparation would not have been possible without his help. Joe had organised our bike insurance when we were in the UK and allowed us to use his address for forwarding mail, Joe and Lynn have also travelled through Mexico on their bike so are a source of valuable information. We were made to feel at home straight away and Sue had a chance to enjoy some female company for a change, Joe and I would concentrate on getting BOB's final drive replaced over the next few days.

Perfect Hosts

BMW of Denver had agreed to replace the final drive under warranty, but would not order a new drive until they had seen the old one. Joe drove me into Denver and once BMW had seen the drive they arranged to order a new one and fit it after the weekend, Joe and Lynn were going to be away as they had already planned a trip with friends to Sturgis for a few days so Sue and I decided to take off for four days and see the National Parks of Utah.

We left Fort Morgan early on Thursday morning and headed for Moab in Utah (approximately 450 miles) when we arrived it was early evening and after finding somewhere to stay decided to ride through Arches National Park to watch the sun set over the landscape. As always the photos cannot do justice to the true beauty of the places we have seen but they at least give you an idea, for those who have had the privilege of actually visiting any of these places we apologise as you have seen it first hand.

The Three Gossips, Sheep Rock and The Organ

We realised at about this point that we would have to return the next day to see the parts of the Park we would miss once it got dark.

Balanced Rock

Still looks good, even with a point and shoot camera.

The day was almost over.

The Park is open 24 hours a day and people travel out here after dark to observe the night sky and stuff like that, for us it was back to town for something to eat ready for an early start the next day.

We left at 7am to see the parts of the Park we had missed the night before and first of all rode out to see Delicate Arch which is one of the main attractions.

Delicate Arch from a distance.

To get to see the arch close up involves a 90 minute hike (there and back) which is no big deal but it was an hour and a half that we didn't have to spare, so with the help of a zoom lens we cheated a bit!

Delicate Arch close up.

"If you think I'm hiking 90 minutes in this gear think again"

Skyline Arch.

Landscape Arch

Heading out of the Park

We left Arches National Park and headed for the our next overnight stop, as with a lot of National Parks there is sometimes only one road into the Park which involves riding the same road twice. We skirted round the edge of Canyonlands NP and rode through Capitol Reef NP before arriving at Escalante

BOB's lunchtime break in the shade.

Capitol Reef NP

Traffic free for most of the day

On the I-12 just before arriving in Escalante we rode along a ridge with sheer drop offs on either side...Fun?

Bryce Canyon is thousands of delicately carved spires rising in brilliant color from the amphitheaters of Bryce Canyon National Park. Millions of years of wind, water and geologic mayhem have shaped and etched the pink cliffs at Bryce, which isn't actually a canyon but the eastern slope of the Paunsaguant Plateau.

Your first view of Bryce Canyon is dramatic as rows of pine trees veil the colour and grandeur of the canyon until you reach the rim.

We bumped into these two at the visitors centre in Bryce and were amazed that they were carrying more gear than us, Doug and Beverley were from Florida and were touring around the area just like us. whilst taking to them the question of security came up and Doug assured us that the best way to protect yourself was with guns, lots of them.. he carried (wait for it) a .38 special, a 9mm and a thing that fired shotgun shells!! I told him Sue and I would probably end up shooting ourselves or BOB and would have to resort to handing over our cash to anyone who threatened us with more than a pointed stick!

Somewhere in that lot is probably the kitchen sink!

Spot the hummingbird.

The naming of Natural Bridge in Bryce Canyon caused a slight uproar in geology circles. Even though the natural made structure looks like a bridge it is in fact an arch, so there!

Natural beauty

Bryce Canyon was named after Ebenezer Bryce a Mormon convert who settled in the area in 1875 where he built what is now the oldest Mormon chapel still in continuous use. When asked in later life what he thought of the Canyon he replied simply "It's a hell of a place to lose a cow"

The view from the rim,

From Bryce we would have liked to visit Zion NP but had to be back in Denver to get BOB sorted and it was easier to head East through Monument Valley and back into Colorado. Monument Valley is famous for the natural redstone buttes and towers often seen in the movies, to be perfectly honest riding through the area we were amazed at the garbage everywhere. The sides of the road were littered with beer cans and bottles and we couldn't understand why nobody has made an effort to clean the place up. We stopped overnight in Bluff at a dodgy campsight and paid $11 for a microwaved pizza, but everywhere else was booked up due to it being the weekend.

"Morning Campers"

The next day we rode back to Mexican Hat and made a detour through the Valley of the Gods. This area is less popular than Monument Valley and less travelled due to fact that it's all gravel roads with some serious washboarding and dry river beds so without a 4X4 you risk doing some serious damage to your standard car.

Mexican Hat rock

The road through the Valley of the Gods

Another dry river bed

Serious washboarding, normally the indentations are small enough to ride over but these were too wide and the front wheel fitted them perfectly which meant riding at 5 miles an hour or finding an alternative route along the edge of the track.

The main reason for travelling this road was to reach the Moki Dugway, a spectacular ride up to the top of the Cedar Mesa plateau the road is only 3 miles long but climbs over 1100 feet and from the top affords views over the Valley of the Gods and out towards Monument Valley.

Gravel roads and no barriers.

Halfway up and time for a photo shoot.

The view from the top.

It's me again.

Our final stop on the way back to Denver was Mesa Verde to visit the cliff dwellings. Mesa Verde, Spanish for green table, offers a spectacular look into the lives of the Ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years, from A.D. 600 to A.D. 1300. Today, the park protects over 4,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These sites are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States

Little is known of the people that inhabited the area and the reason for their departure is open to speculation, however, their ingenuity at building these remote homes is to be admired.

Access to the dwellings was by means of wooden ladders.

Once back in Denver we had BOB fixed and planned the next stage of our journey. As we had done the parks in Utah we could avoid riding through the State again and could concentrate on a straight through run to Las Vegas via New Mexico and Arizona. We had a final meal with the Fort Morgan posse and said our farewells, they were without doubt some of the most hospitable people you could wish to meet and we will look on our time here as one of the highlights of the trip.

Everybody gathered for a 'Poke fun at the Brits' evening.