Chasing the Sun

Rain all night, woke up to rain. Retreating to the pavillion, Dos Wet Padres poured over the weather maps and forecasts. A large low pressure system was lingering over Utah with no real hot mud drying weather on the horizon. There is a high pressure system sitting over Montana and the weather in northern Wyoming looked fairly dry. We decided to head North and find the sun, and with it, some dry dirt to ride.
We packed up our wet gear (oh joy) donned our rain layers and headed out. Destination: Vernal, Utah.
Shortly after leaving Torrey, our route turned north at Loa and headed over the Fish Lake Mountains on highway 72. Due to the fog, poor visibility and wet road, we rode this section slowly. The endless perfectly engineered turns had the feel of a slow--motion ballet. In the middle of this expanse we crossed Frying Pan Flat, where we spied three cowboys riding abreast, with a couple cattle dogs in the lead. They had the full rig including the dusters. Authentic, open range country. This is a must do road in the dry some day, as it begs to be ridden at speed.
The rain steadily continued to Farron, where we stopped for lunch. At the local burger joint, we ask the kid behind the counter, "What's good?" He says, "Moms cooking today, everything is good." It was good.
The rain eased up by the time we arrived at Vernal. We got a cheap motel room right downtown to dry out, dined on the decent Mexican chow next door.

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