We left Cedar City just after 7:00am and tuned right on to HWY 14 East. This took us up into the Dixie National Forest. There was a nice morning chill to the air and much of the gully we rode up was in shade. We turned left at Long Valley Junction on to HWY 89 North and then further up the road turned right at Hillsdale on to HWY 12 East. This took us to Red Canyon and on into Bryce Canyon National Park.
The road in to Bryce Canyon winds for about 17 miles with many viewing areas. Wildlife to be seen in the park include deer and prairie dogs. The Canyon constrasts some really interesting rock formations with green meadows and nearby forests of Pinyon and junipers at lower elevations and Ponderosa pines, spruce, fir and aspen at higher elevations.
After spending a good couple of hours in the Park we retraced our route and hung a right on to HWY 89 North at the junction and headed towards Interstate 70 East. We stopped for lunch at a nice cafe at Wind River. Luckily we had managed to get our lunch order in just before 20 Dirt Bike riders showed up in their 'dayglo' riding gear - all trying to shout over each other about the great ride they had just had. It was quite irritating - but once the food arrived I quickly lost interest in them!
Only about 7 miles after Wind River we swung right on to Interstate 70 East, where I wound the bike out to a good cruising speed - over the speed limit like everyone else (which is 75 mph or 120 km/hr) set the cruise control and put my feet up on the highway pegs. One good thing about the Interstate Highways - you can cover a lot of ground quickly!
As we made our way East the landscape became increasingly like a 'moon scape' as we headed through desert country. It was very hot riding (we had removed our jackets at Bryce Canyon) and we were being buffeted by a strong wind (not unlike a Canterbury Nor-Wester - only hotter). After what seemed an eternity we turned off the Interstate on to HWY 91 and had a quick break and an icecream at the Junction Garage to stretch the legs and get the blood circulating again around my sore bum!
It was only a short hop of around 70km down the rode to Moab where we were to spend the night - or so I thought! Not far down the road we struck the first of about 3 sections of roadworks where traffic was backed up! Here we were, fatigued and tired at the end of a long ride, the sun beating down on us and all we wanted was to get off the road and check in to a motel. I had to turn the motor off at each stop to keep any additional heat off our legs. The mood I was in - I could have happily kicked over all the road cones as I rode past!
It was after 5:00pm - and I was a little concerned that we may have trouble getting accommodation at such a popular spot in holiday season with two national parks close by. Sure enough, the first 2 motels were full, but we managed to find one at a reasonable price. It was a relief to get off the road. A big day in the hot sun. We had been on the road from 7:00am to 5:30pm, seen one national park and covered 626 km's.
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