U.S.A. 2023 - DAYS 22, 23, 24 - DURANGO, GREEN RIVER, KANAB

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Day 22 - We decided to have a day off the bike in Durango, so a leisurely stroll to Main Street, checked out a few stores mainly aimed at tourists, plenty of t shirt and souvenir places, then of course, there's the hunting stores, with clothing, boots, hats & guns and ammo. I gave the bike a wash this afternoon at the motel, they have a designated motorcycle washing area with hose and plenty of rags. I went thru 3 rags to clean and another 2 to dry off. Back to downtown for pre-dinner drinks at El Moro Tavern where we met our bartender, Sterling, 'Sterlo' for short, who only arrived back in America from Sydney two weeks ago. So he loves Rugby League (Rabbito's & Eels), AFL is his favorite game & cricket, and hopes to come back and do his sports science degree. It really is great talking to all the local people, and of course all the bikers love a chat too!

Day 23 - Very fresh leaving Durango this morning - 8C as we headed up the hill towards Cortez, crossed the state border into Utah then over to Monticello and into Moab. Quick snack then off to Canyonlands NP, which we missed on our 2018 trip. This place has massive canyons which drop to a valley floor, full of color & terrific rock formations. As usual we stopped at 5-6 viewpoints on the way to the main event, Grand View Point, one of the best views I've experienced in America. So here we are in Green River, Utah for the night. A small town, only a couple of streets, but full of local history. The ride to Green River was one of scariest rides we've encountered, once on the 191 North from Canyonlands we hit massive wind from the west, keeping the bike on the tar was difficult, add to that the storm heading from the same direction. A left turn onto I70 Interstate gave us headwind but we still had to outrun the storm again, speed limit on the I70 is 85 mph, so we sat on 90 mph for 35 mile to our motel. Used some extra fuel but arrived dry.

Day 24 - Sitting here in Kanab, Utah after dinner, the day has been a combination of wonderful scenery & terrifying weather. We hit a storm that we couldn't avoid today. Just outside Escalante it hit us from the right, high winds, heavy rain & to top it off, pea size hail plus the temp dropped 10*. This continued for half an hour before we rode into Bryce Canyon area, and decided to keep riding to Kanab. Luckily the sights of Capitol Reef NP, Grand Staircase Escalante NP & Bryce Canyon helped make the day pretty good. A great ride across the Hogback Ridge in Capitol Reef is amazing, as is riding the many canyons thru the parks.

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