June 19
Dead Horse Point, Arches National Park
https://www.relive.cc/view/vNOPoK4wRYvWaking early it seemed pointless to just sit around the motel and wait. So up and at 'em.
I bought my timed Arches pass a couple of months ago. My plan was to have a leisurely morning, go to Arches National Park for 11.15 a.m. and Dead Horse Point state park.
Surprise – the wind is still blowing.
Revise the schedule. Dead Horse State Park, breakfast in Moab and then Arches. Looking at maps the previous evening Hwy 128 north of Moab looked like it could be a good ride alongside the Colorado River with a side trip to see Castleton Tower.
The ride along I 70 and then south on Hwy 191 is blustery, gusty and a pain in the butt.
These windy days have beaten anything I've ever experienced before in Kansas, Oklahoma or the Texas panhandle where I saw a freight train that had been blow off the tracks near Dalhart, TX.
The oncoming 18 wheelers are once again slamming me as they pass. The wind isn't strong enough yet to make the front wheel like it's sliding around on the road and I'm able to keep the bike upright.
Once I turn onto the approach to Dead Horse Point the winds calm a little.
I was last at Dead Horse Point about 17 years ago and the facilities have changed. We were able to park and walk directly to the edge of the canyon. Now the parking lot is a longer walk from the canyon and I have to pass by a covered seating area and visitors center.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkNPBrfF-Skhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x67XX1K9nvkThe potash lagoons are still visible
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/potash-evaporation-ponds
Breakfast in Moab was good at Glorias Corner Cafe
They had one of the largest smoothie menus I've ever seen and the most expensive.
Approaching the entrance to Arches the traffic is backed up and I reconcile myself to the slow creep forward. I'm here at 11.10 a.m and I calculate at the rate the line is moving forward it's going to take about 35 to 40 minutes. Kinda makes a mockery of the timed passes. It would have taken the same length of time to get in – perhaps longer – if visitors just paid. It would also have removed the need for the ranger positioned at the small roundabout who was checking the colored sticker the ranger at the ticket booth was fixing to cars to show they had a valid entry pass. Those without the sticker were directed around the roundabout to the exit. Waste of man power but it's government.
The ranger at the ticket booth is happy that I have my printed pass, ID and geezer pass readily at hand and tells me she wished others were so organized.
This is what the line looked like when I was heading down to the exit.
Out of the shelter of the rocks the wind makes is gusting again as can be heard in a couple of the videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kCOe0izodIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCIBklY16J8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKH9R1tNdPEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to-QWOLHAzAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zloHmj5RUdQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q912hISx4hshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAxqvp7zut0I've never been to Arches before and it was worth the hassle to get in.
Back into Moab for a gas fill up.
Turn right onto Hwy 128 and the wind is cut off by the canyon walls. Hooray.
The road surface is well paved and it's fun to run at a little over the posted speed limit.
The side road out to the Castleton Tower isn't as well paved and I bump along.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castleton_TowerNow I have to head north back to the motel.
The wind is worse and I'm getting blown across my lane close to the edge of the road on the right. I find it difficult to safely maintain the speed limit and traffic is backing up behind me. I use every opportunity to pull off the road to let the drivers behind go on their way.
Repeat, repeat, repeat for the next 30 miles to I 70.
I'm ready for the next 20 miles of interstate.
Well, I was wrong. I was nowhere near ready for the ferocious crosswind.
This is without doubt the worse I have ridden in and I will willingly admit there are many moments when I'm scared. Riding at 40 m.p.h. Knowing that others drivers are zooming up behind me at 80 plus. I have to keep one eye in my mirror so that I can let go of the left handlebar to wave vehicles by and wave to help me more obvious to them. Some come close before they “awake” .
The bike is weaving across the lane and I'm leaning off it to keep the bike as upright as possible. There's sand and dust in the air and that's also making visibility difficult for the drivers coming from behind me. The mesa to the right is nearly obscured by the dust and sand. Oh this is taking so long. 20 miles at 40 m.p.h. 30 minutes of wind hell and it's dragging and the vehicles keep blasting by me.
At last the exit is visible and I wave at the last vehicle approaching from behind.
I'm waving, I'm waving but they are still in my lane. Getting close and I'm trying to move right as they keep approaching in my lane. Eventually I'm riding in the emergency lane hoping there's no puncturing rubbish.
I am able to get onto the off ramp as the idiot in the black SUV goes by STILL in my lane.
Phew.
I pull up at the gas station just down the road from the motel and the young coujple on the other side of the pump tell me that they were concerned for me seeing the bike heeled over so far as they went by me.
The gas station also sells beer and I buy myself the largest can I can find. I deserve it.
