June 18 Thursday
The weather report is looking nasty along the way I want to travel. I am heading towards home today and will meet C&C in Tulsa on the 4th of July weekend. So to paraphrase the Blue's Brothers, I've got a full tank of gas, I'm a thousand miles from home and the weather is nasty. Let's go riding!! So I am off at 9 AM with plans to get close to New Mexico by evening. After all, the states I am going through have 75 mph speed limits and the only major city is Salt Lake in Utah. The weather is actually nice starting out and it is easy to see why Montana is called Big Sky Country. So I set the cruise control on my interpretation of the speed limit and enjoy the wonderful views that God has given us. At 10:45 I cross into Idaho which is next to Montana in my opinion for beauty. Montana starts out with mountains, then into green rolling hills with deer running across them which continues into Idaho. Later it becomes sagebrush plains on the west and lush farm fields on the east. The scenery is still green when I cross into Utah at 12:45 but when I get to Ogden it changes into city, traffic and more city. This continues until I am past Salt Lake City which was 50 or 60 miles as I recall. Just before Ogden I stop for gas just as the rain starts. Perfect timing as I am under the gas station canopy when it really starts raining hard. I want to keep going so I am not going to wait for the rain to stop. I am finally through SLC and turn east. The scenery is now the red rock hills of Utah which are rugged and beautiful. Around 7:00 I am into Colorado and it is now not only deer country but it is prime time for deer strikes. So I am quite watchful for the rascals. At 8:15 I cross into New Mexico and it is already dark. If I keep going I can be home about 1 AM so I keep going. New Mexico is not known for good roads and it is rough going in the dark. But the worst hole I hit in 6000 miles so far this trip is in downtown Farmington in the business district! I thought it broke my bike in half and this was at 30 mph. And that hit cost me a couple of parts. Welcome home! I am really not in a high deer population area but I am still watchful. I continue on until I arrive home at 1:15 AM, 1027 miles later. I am still tired as I write this the next afternoon.
Big Cloudy Sky Country
Red rocks hills of Utah
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