Three Day Impromptu Trip

I decided to ride a really long day yesterday and make it home on day
three. Turned out to be almost a 600 mile day, a first for me. In fact the trip
was as much about covering miles/riding as it was about visiting places.

About 400 miles on Saturday (day one), landing in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, Utah. Not much on Sunday, but rather
riding around Arches National Park/Moab, UT. Then up early and on the road
yesterday, back through Monument Valley, and a few hundred miles of the back side
of Navajo country along the 191 South, until it intersected I40, where, in the
split moment of an eye blink, I decided to take it all the way to Albuquerque
and on home. Back before dark, with about 100 miles in the rain from near
Grants, NM to Albuquerque and a little beyond. About 1150 miles all told. Not bad, for
an
impromptu road trip.

Camped in the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park on Saturday,
and in the only campground in Arches on Sunday. Good luck in both cases. Well,
the Needles district is a little more remote, and not as popular as the
other areas of Canyonlands, but I was told by the ranger that Arches takes
reservations six
months in advance, so I was lucky to get a site there. Nice Ranger
programs at both places in the evening, so I got educated too.

I had to re-visit Monument Valley since I was in the neighborhood, so to
speak. It is a special place.

Pictures in the Album section.

Hi matthew,

Read your post and looked at your pictures....Man, that looks like a great ride. I sure do miss the desert. So beautiful.

Yes Dennis, I'm fortunate to be able to live and ride in the dramatic beauty of the desert southwest. And the vast open spaces, and the tremendous distances. Hey, Oklahoma isn't too far away. In fact, that's where I bought my Swing. Take a ride over one of these days.

Sorry about the confusing captions on two of the pictures. I can't figure out how edit those. The one with the bike in it is Monument Valley, not Arches.

If you'd like to read a more in depth report of this trip, see some additional photos and some very amateur video footage, here's a link to my Travelpod blog page:
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/matthewd/2/tpod.html