206 Salt Lake City

Monday 29th July
Miles Today 0   Total  15,235

We stayed at Connie and Ricks house today, doing very little, I had been caught by some little bug, or possibly a bit of heat stroke, so we stayed put.

Tuesday 30th July
Miles Today 159  Total  15,694
We set off today for Salt Lake City.  The weather was lovely and we took a very windy road from Bear Lake.  Again the scenery was lovely and Ray seemed to thoroughly enjoy riding the bike.

Our first stop was the Yamaha shop, Ray had ordered some parts and we went to collect them.  They had not arrived so we found a hotel and booked in.  We wanted to take Connie and Rick out to dinner as a small thank you for the fun weekend, but they couldn't make it this evening, so we have decided to stay another day and do it tomorrow.

Wednesday 31st July
Miles Today  10  Total  15,704

I was beaten by my husband just after midnight in his quest to win "pinch punch, 1st of the month".  I think I won overall and he will be getting out of hospital soon.....
We did a little bit of shopping and then Rick picked us up to go for a meal.  It was great fun and the laughter is a great tonic.  We will both miss Rick and Connie, it has been a pleasure getting to know them.  This has actually been our good fortune all through this trip, of meeting some wonderful people and visiting their homes and being thoroughly spoiled.  Once again, thank you all for making the trip all the more special.

Thursday 1st August
Miles Today 223 Total  15,927

We plittered about this morning and eventually left the hotel to go into Salt Lake City and see some of the sights.  The first thing we came across was this enormous "mouse trap"  lookalike, the board game we had as kids.

The biggest 'Mousetrap' in the world !

The weather was baking and we decided after a short drive round in the center of Salt Lake City, to get out on the road again and feel the wind rushing through our heavy motor cycle gear.

The Mormon Temple. The center of the religion.

The Town Hall

The Court house

Leaving Salt Lake City

We left the bright lights and headed south for about 30 miles and made our way towards Colorado. We were hit with a violent thunder storm where the lightning put us on edge a bit as it streaked down directly in front of us. We stopped for coffee in a small place called Hanna and were entertained by loads of little humming birds and this great wee cat, who was very friendly, and was lucky not to be bundled into one of the paniers.

The Humming birds feeding on nectar

Bringing back happy memories

He is just soooooooooo cute.

Great cafe at Hanna

We reached a place called Vernal, where we decided to head for a town called Dinosaur.  We found this motel and decided to pass, but then came across, this one, The Terrace Motel, on Brontosaurus Boulevard, in Dinosaur, really, you couldn't make it up.

There's a storm a brewin...

There were none in town today.

Needless to say, us old fossils felt quite at home here.

Oh, my God, do you think they could get any more junk on that bike.

Bates Motel?

I am sure they would make an exception for Fred and Wilma if they turned up with Dino......(Er....The Flintstones !).

Our room and Wallace.

We went into the only Bar and Grill for some supper, and were soon engaged in conversation with a group of bush fire, fire fighters.  It was an absolute hoot and degenerated in them claiming bragging rights for which state has the biggest Elk. Another fun evening and some quite surreal conversations.

Nebraska has the biggest elk, no Colorado does, quite frankly my dear, I don't give a dam..

Following the recent loss of 20 firefighters in Arizona, and another earlier today, this was quite apt.

They do this everyday. A drink to their fallen colleagues. This is the actual order of service for the funeral of the 20 lost firemen.