Ever since that day, my dad and I have taken our bikes all across the western states on some very exciting rides, visiting motorcycle rallies, visiting national and state parks, or just going on rides to spend time together. Together we have visited Yellowstone, Lake Tahoe, Zions National Park, Bryce Canyon, Reno, Jackson Hole, and a ton of other places. This summer was no exception.
This year we were able to hit two rides together. The first was a couple of weeks ago. My dad and I, accompanied by my uncle David, took our bikes on a journey to Red Lodge, Montana, for a motorcycle rally. We started our ride by driving all the way to Bozeman, Montana, where we faced some minor technical difficulties. We entered the city of Bozeman during a rainstorm, and before long realized we weren't sure how to find our hotel and accidentally ended up back on the freeway heading toward Billings. We pulled off on an off-ramp and called the hotel for directions. When my dad went to start his bike again, he found that somehow his ignition starter was not working and his bike would not turn over. Luckily my phone had the number of the Honda dealer in Orem and we reached them with three minutes before closing time. The mechanic was very helpful and explained to my dad that he could simply hotwire his bike to start it until he could get it fixed, so the trip could continue. I handed my Leatherman to my dad and he was able to use it to spark the engine and get it running.
The next day we hit the Red Lodge rally, which was awesome! There were tons of vendors, and we spent a good amount of time just walking up and down the streets shopping. After the rally, we heading onward to a small tourist town called Cody, Wyoming, home of Buffalo Bill. It was a pretty fun town, with cowboy gunfights going on in the street and a cool pioneer village we were able to visit.
The next day we left Cody and made our way to Yellowstone, passing through the East entrance and making our way South to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where we would spend the night. The ride was very scenic, and we shot a bunch of cool pictures. It was crazy how deep the water in the rivers were, and how islands near the Fishing Bridge were underwater.
Yet, we faced another difficulty when we stopped near West Thumb to take a few pictures. David had been struggling with a semi-dead battery on his bike, and we had to jump start him when we left Cody. But as he went to start the bike at West Thumb, it simply would not start, despite everyone's best efforts. We finally had to make a plan for me and my dad to ride down to Jackson and buy a battery and bring it back to him. He gave us his credit card and said he would wait for us there. We traveled for almost two hours until we reached Jackson, and found a K-Mart that was open that sold batteries. By then we had received a few voicemails from David saying he had called a tow truck and would meet us at the Southern entrance to the park. My dad decided to leave me in the hotel room and return by himself to meet David. I walked down to the Subway nearby for dinner, and spent a few hours reading and watching Netflix on my EVO phone. They returned later that night and we went for a midnight snack at MacDonalds.
The next day we wrapped up our trip by returning home via the Mirror Lake Highway. As we were in the thick of the forest, we felt a few raindrops and my dad decided it was prudent to pull over and put on our rain gear. It was a wise decision, because not five minutes later we were hit with pounding rain that we could barely see through, and were it not for our waterproof clothing, we would have been soaked to the bone. But the rain didn't stop us from visiting a scenic waterfall along the highway and taking pictures.
Despite the technical difficulties and the weather, we had a great time and the ride was one of the funnest that I've been on. It was well worth the planning and preparation that my dad put into the trip.
Last week I had my second motorcycle trip of the summer, together with my dad and his old high school friend Robert Gornichec. We went on a two-day trip to Moab, hitting three scenic parks: Canyonlands, Dead Horse Point, and Arches National Park.
After arriving in Moab and having lunch, we visited Canyonlands State Park. It was fun, as always, and had a lot of great photo ops. We started by walking down to the ledge overlooking the White Rim Trail, just beyond the Visitor Center. It is ironic that such an awesome viewpoint is not even marked on the maps within the building. I especially love visiting that spot to watch my dad squirm, who is deadly afraid of heights ever since he drove his snowmobile off a cliff a few years back.
We then trekked up to Mesa Arch, which is a neat arch that is about two miles into Canyonlands. By that time we saw some heavy rain clouds billowing our way, so we high-tailed it to our bikes and tried to beat it to Dead Horse Point so we could see the famous landmark at sunset. Just outside of Canyonlands, on our way to the other park, the rain unleashed itself upon us with everything it had, and we were instantly soaked to the bone. The rain/hail stung as it struck us, but we kept moving until we reached the ranger station. The ranger was a nice guy that let us take refuge in his booth until the rain let up a bit, then gave us a free pass into the park. We made our way to the lookout points and snapped a few pictures, but upon seeing the ominous rainclouds of a followup storm coming our way, we decided to not press our luck and head back, instead spending our time after dinner sitting in the hot tub at the hotel.
The next day we got up early and visited the Arches National Park, and made the traditional hike up to the famous Delicate Arch, which is the very same that is featured on most Utah license plates. It was fun, however tiring, and after the hike we slowly made our way back to Moab. We then traveled up the Colorado River a ways until we reached the Red Cliffs lodge, where we visited the film museum, that features exhibits for each movie that has starred some part of Moab, including Austin Powers: Goldmember, Mission: Impossible II, and Thelma & Louise.
After the museum, we made our way back home, thus ending another fun motorcycle ride. I really look forward to these rides, and to the time I get to spend with my dad one-on-one. I can't wait to see what adventures we will have next year, and until then plan to continue riding my bike as much as I can.
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