Hey Highbinder. About some of the advice you gave on going out west.

[Normandog]

Well 2 things stick out in my mind.

1: You said if time was limited to go see the canyons. (Grand, Zion and Bryce). My friend this was excellent advice. Words and pics cannot do those places justice.

2. You said to buy a annual park pass if I planned on visiting 4 or more national parks. Also good advice that WOULD have saved me about 35 bucks. EXCEPT the day we did Bryce and Zion (25 bucks each) was one of 2 free days the nat'l parks have each year. Sooooo, I am now a little in the hole.   (BUT, I also have an excuse to go to some nat'l parks between now and 08/10. 

Thanks for the tips Don. It was a good trip.

[Highbinder]

Glad to have been of help.....nice to hear you and Carolyn had a fun trip....the west is something else isn't it....makes our mountains look like hills....but beautiful hills at that see ya at CBR

[Normandog]

Glad to have been of help.....nice to hear you and Carolyn had a fun trip....the west is something else isn't it....makes our mountains look like hills....but beautiful hills at that see ya at CBR

Yep, I like our little green hills. Hey, I'm glad y'all will be at the CBR. Didn't see your name on the list when I registered.

[..]

Zion is stunning.In 2004 I rode in there after dark and lay on a big flat rock. Let the silence suck me in.

From my diary

My second to final ride of the day was to be as the sun disappeared behind the Zion Canyon walls. Riding into the park again the stark outlines of the canyons crags are in sharp relief against the dark blue of the twilight sky. The days heat is being released by the road blacktop and hundreds of insects are captured in the Goldwings lights. Along with the insects are dozens of bats. There are 18 known species in Zion of which the Myotis are the most common. These bats are zipping in and out of the lights harvesting an early dinner. Suddenly in a flutter of wings and hearts an owl appears in the headlights. The owl’s wings are beating crazily as he stabilizes himself and as suddenly as its appearance it’s gone.

I pullover to the side in the heart of the canyon and I’m in a pool of silence which is slowly filled with the sounds of the night. The only man made noise is the ticking of the Goldwing engine as it cools. I walk off the road for a few yards and lay back on a warm slab of slick rock. All I need is a pillow and I could sleep the night away. All around me are rustles and whirrings as the nocturnal denizens of the canyon emerge into a human free world. I enjoy this half hour of solitude which is interrupted only once by a car driving by.

[Normandog]

Zion is stunning.In 2004 I rode in there after dark and lay on a big flat rock. Let the silence suck me in.

From my diary

My second to final ride of the day was to be as the sun disappeared behind the Zion Canyon walls. Riding into the park again the stark outlines of the canyons crags are in sharp relief against the dark blue of the twilight sky. The days heat is being released by the road blacktop and hundreds of insects are captured in the Goldwings lights. Along with the insects are dozens of bats. There are 18 known species in Zion of which the Myotis are the most common. These bats are zipping in and out of the lights harvesting an early dinner. Suddenly in a flutter of wings and hearts an owl appears in the headlights. The owl’s wings are beating crazily as he stabilizes himself and as suddenly as its appearance it’s gone.

I pullover to the side in the heart of the canyon and I’m in a pool of silence which is slowly filled with the sounds of the night. The only man made noise is the ticking of the Goldwing engine as it cools. I walk off the road for a few yards and lay back on a warm slab of slick rock. All I need is a pillow and I could sleep the night away. All around me are rustles and whirrings as the nocturnal denizens of the canyon emerge into a human free world. I enjoy this half hour of solitude which is interrupted only once by a car driving by.
That's one advantage of riding alone. I would dig something like that but my wife would still be cursing me. She hates bats.