Cortez, CO to Kanab, UT - June 13, 2010

Cortez, CO to Kanab, UT
June 13, 2010

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The following was written and belongs to Skid Robinson. It is copied here with his permission.

The planned ride was like this. We (VSP, Cranky, Sherm and Sandy & I) would ride to Kanab, Utah via Kayenta, Arizona. Corvette would take the Jeep and trailer back home to Silt Colorado. Mal, Vinnie & Sami, Clive and Jazz (the two Kiwis) would ride with us to Kayenta and then cut north through the Monument Valley back to Silt. Jamie T, trouble and Maxxx & Mar would ride down through the Monument Valley and meet us in Kayenta. Ham, Rocketgirl and Flying Willie & Leslie, who left Cortez yesterday, would join us in Kanab. Got all that straight? To top it off, Sandy abandoned me to ride with Sherm in his truck.

We headed south on US 160 with VSP {that is me - vroc5569} in the lead. All was well for the first twenty miles or so.

The group Kayenta bound

We encountered our first difficulty at the Four Corners Monument. Don hadn't planned to stop but Vinnie and Clive had never been there before. It took a bit to get Don stopped, but we managed it and returned to the Monument while Sherm and Sandy continued on in the truck. On the way back to the turnoff, I had the Wing up to 100 MPH on the GPS when Mal blew by me at a reported 123. That Connie 14 sure can move. The Four Corners was open but we couldn't access the actual spot because it is under construction. They are moving it from the previous location to the actual spot to keep the GPS users happy.

Getting The Parade turned around to visit Four Corners

Back on the road, we continued on US 160 towards Kayenta, which was 120 miles from Cortez. Mal had miscalculated the distance, not realizing that the mileage given by his GPS was as the crow flies. It seems that the Suzuki Intruder Vinnie was riding only had a 100 mile range. I was riding second when we came to a gas station about 80 miles out, so I led the group in for fuel while VSP just kept going. {my comment}

We caught up with Sherm, Sandy and VSP in Kayenta where the rest of us fueled up and had lunch at Burger King. We found out that the Monument Valley crew were broken down near Mexican Hat because Trouble's Drifter had split a rim and the tire had gone flat. Corvette, who was already in Moab towing an empty trailer, turned back to retrieve the bike while Mal and his crew headed north on their planned route which would take them to the breakdown site. We said our goodbyes and a smaller Parade continued on 160.

The following two photos were taken by Joe "Malachi" Blanc

A "split" rim is not a very common occurrence.
Part of Vinnie, Sami, Trouble, Mal, Kiwi Jazz and Jamey

Here is Trouble's bike being loaded onto the trailer for the tow to Silt, CO.
Vette, Mal, Jamey and Trouble

Sherm and Sandy left first. Hitting the road at a pretty steady 75 MPH, we expected to catch up to them but never did. When we turned right on Arizona 98, Cranky asked if we could slow down a bit so I took the lead and set the cruise at 65 MPH. We had one stop because VSP got something in his eye, and another at Page, Arizona to fuel Cranky's Nomad.

Stopped at the roadside so VSP could rinse his eye

The Navajo power facility near Page Arizona

In Page, we turned north on US 89 and headed up into Utah, crossing the Rainbow Bridge at the dam that forms Lake Powell. VSP was leading now and took us to a BLM Information Center just past Big Water, where they had a display of dinosaur bones. It seems they have actually acquired T-Rex DNA and have proved his kind were the ancestors of modern day birds. They also believe now that carnivorous dinosaurs were warm blooded and feathered while the herbivorous ones were cold blooded. We even watched a fifteen minute movie on the Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument.

VSP and Cranky at the BLM Information Center

Hadrosaur bones with T-Rex teeth embedded

Diabloceratops skull

vroc5569: We leave the BLM Information Station and about an hour later arrive in Kanab, UT.

The following was written and belongs to Sherm Acord. It is copied here with his permission.
Parry Lodge, lots of VROC'ers will remember this sign when it said "Welcome VROC". Jack and Barb Foree hosted the Red Rock Rally here in 2005. One of the best rally's the "family" ever had!


Cranky is in the Barbara Stanwyck room.


The Barn, where the Red Rock Rally of 2005 VROC dinner and entertainment was held. They have free movies in here every night. Every one they show was filmed here in Kanab, and most of the actors stayed here at the motel.


All the walls inside Houston's Trail's End Cafe are covered with Western things.

And my contribution to today's events is the bath tub in my Fess "Davy Crockett" Parker room:
An old bath tub

Continue to June 14, 2010 Blog

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