Eye Candy

After more than a week of daytime temperatures in excess of 100F and with seldom a cloud in the sky, last night the skies clouded over and it rained quite heavily. Early this morning the parking lot was wet with large puddles, but by 9:30 as we were leaving, the sun was out and the only evidence of rain was a few damp spots on the highway. I made a quick run up to Red Canyon to take some photos before we rode in to Panguitch to refuel. As we rolled out of town the rain started again and lasted for about ten kilometres. Although the rain stopped it was cool and cloudy as we headed for the little towns of Orderville and Mount Carmel. 

 Red Canyon

 One of the famous Red Canyon tunnels

The other famous Red Canyon tunnel.

Downtown Panguitch

The skies began to clean and by the time we stopped at Mount Carmel Junction the sun was out and temperatures were back to normal. While we were taking a break, we saw several Ford Model A cars and trucks from the late 1920s when they pulled in to regroup. I grabbed the opportunity to take some photos and talked to some of the owners. They are from Thousand Oaks, CA, and were heading to Loveland, CO, for a rally. They were actually taking the Interstate for part of the way and had apparently made a wrong turn. Hence the stop at the highway junction.For cars that are more than eighty years old, they are in amazing shape and very well cared for.

 A parade of Model A Fords

The Trading Post back wall was decorated with murals, but not many people pay attention to them. While the artist isn't Rembrandt, he did a good job on the wall.

 

Some of the murals in the Trading Post wall

It was a relatively short ride to Zion National Park and we rode Highway 9 right through it. After the fourth photo stop Jim & Garry had had enough and headed to the Visitor Centre, or so they told us. Tom and I stopped at several places to take photos so we were quite a long way behind them. One of the highlights was riding through the mile long tunnel. and riding a series of switchbacks to the bottom of the valley. I am posting a variety of photos here because without them it is hard to get an idea of the sights we are experiencing each day.

Sights of Zion National Park

A short part of the ride down the hill after exiting the tunnel.

As we exited the park we searched for their motorcycles, to no avail. We carried on to the village of Springdale where we saw the bikes parked on the street. A happy reunion followed. 

As we left Springdale the skies to the west were dark and we could see rain falling in the direction we intended to ride. We somehow skirted the worst of it and didn't get wet. It was time for a refill of Powerade so we stopped at Walmart to pick up several bottles. We met a guy who talked about some of the possible routes we could take across Nevada, and as we talked we saw several lightning strikes in the mountains to the east and more in the direction we were planning to go. We decided to tey get to  on to Zion H-D in Washington, UT as soon as possible before the rain hit again. We took the right exit but missed the dealership and as we were stopped at a Texaco station, it began to rain heavily. We took shelter under the premise of filling up until the rain eased. 

Roadrunner!

Jim was already at the shop. Garry and Tom bought shirts and as we left the dealership Tom spotted a roadrunner - just like the one with Wiley Coyote. I have never seen a roadrunner before so this was my first. We made our first Starbucks visit in several days where I saw my second roadrunner. Awesome!

It was an easy ride to our hotel and our stopping time of 5:30 was the earliest in several days. Tomorrow the plan is to ride to Ely, NV on 'The Loneliest Highway'. But we won't be lonely because there are the four of us. The following day we plan on being in Reno. We're on our way home now.