VROC - 2012 Utah Chapter Rally Kanab, Ut

Blog is from top to bottom, If you want to look at larger pics, the best way is to right mouse the pic and open in a new / tab - window and then click again.  I made pretty large pics.  Text for a pic is under the pic.

Sherm's blog:  http://kanab2012.blogspot.com/
Note:  When Ya get to the bottom, look for read "older posts" His blog is a few pages.....

Well, it's spring and time to get the ol' rust bucket on a roll!!  GBG  Ruby, don't you listen!!!!  Can't wait.


My planned route      Round trip to Kanab, Ut    Click to see a Google Map.  The map has my gas stops and over night places.  I'll be staying in Barstow, Kanab and Tonapah.


I was thinking about stopping by Sparks and visiting with my youngest son and family, on the way back, but made a schedule goof and had a "must do" on Tues..  oh well, it was a work day anyway, and I'd a been a pain for their schedule...  I'll discuss and show pics at the bottom of the blog....


A short summation of the trip:   WOW!!!!!!!!!!  Going thru the parks on a scoot with all open to Ya was gorgeous!   You'd miss a lot in a cage!  Especially Zion!  The view there is up, Bryce was down, and of course the Grand Canyon...  duh....  GBG

And to my amazement we had a bunch of Kaw's at the rally!  Most of the scoots were Kawasaki!

On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again... sing it Willy!!   Who Dog likes to get in the pic too.  Austrailian Sheep dog, IIRC.  Loves to talk a lot!

My bags are packed and I'm ready to go...  been a long winter!

Day 2:  Stopped in Barstow, and day 2 was desert.. thru Vegas and on to Kanab.

Well, I made it!  Here's the ol' barn.  They show old movies in here in the evenings.  A lot of movies were made around here and the stars stayed at the Parry Lodge.  

Inside the barn is all set up for tonight's movie,

The guy that runs the movie, he said this was a new one to him, It starred Victor Mature.  I chatted with him a bit, seemed to be a real nice guy. 

Wed nite and the early arrivals were getting loose!   I think that is Dave, Mellow Yellow, Mike and Hazy...

With Mal and 'vette looking on...  Poor Mal, he was telling a story about riding thru hail and was catching some good dings from 'vette while at it!  GBG

Thurs AM we get set for today's ride to Zion.  This is the ride made for scoots!  As you ride thru those canyon walls, if Ya had a roof, Ya missed the entire effect!

Mike, Mal's son Vinnie, his girl friend Rachael, Mal, 'vette and Hazy.

Gotta pay your dues... Stoopid me, didn't use my Nat Parks pass, thought it was state.  I DID use it for GC and Bryce!!!  Hey, they needed the money....

The face of this looked like it had windows carved in it, all natural, but how?

We're getting together after the toll booth....Mellow Yellow coming in, he was tail gunner.

Mellow Yellow putting on some screen...

I'm just gonna put up a lot of pics, the area is amazing!  Gorgeous!

Another rest stop, it was very slow going, anyone that thought they could get up to 25 mph was outta touch with reality!  I had thought of taking this route back out.... nope!

That window was to allow light into a 1 mile long tunnel we went thru.  It was black in there and they had signs on the outside saying "take off your sun glasses"   Good thing I slid mine down my nose,  ' cause with them on I'da not seen much!

Arriving at the visitor center on the other side for a little R+R (and for us ol' farts, a bath room GBG+sigh).  Wanted a pic of the Utah VROC patches.

Behind the visitor center.

.... and on to lunch at a place that Mellow Yellow knew about.  Real good food and a lot of it.  Dave on the left was just checking on his dogs status... seems he acquired some bad genes... bad pun, the dog ate some jeans and apparently they were not cooperative on passing, sorry Dave!

Well, it only made sense to come back the same way and get another perspective!

A nice little window...

Some critters along the road, one is on the road on the left, we had just passed 'um.

Another sculpted hill side...

"

Back at the Kaw Pasture, Sonya, Dave/Mellow, Cat and Jim.  Back in red is Mike, Troy in the green shirt...

Friday was to be Northern Rim of the Grand Canyon, our longest day in time and miles...  Don VSP was along for this ride.

How many scoots have their own bottle opener?  See it?  Right under the tank....

Well, the wind was having it's way with us today and later, some clouds were causing me a tad bit of concern...  and it was real cool at times....  We stopped for a break and wardrobe change!  My mesh gloves were not doing very well...

The rest of the scoots...

We all dressed and rested up and on out into... nowhere...  just meadow, quite nice.  Don VSP in the rear / front, in the yellow jacket.

And on to the lodge for lunch.  It was kinda amazing, I talked to 2 bikers, and they both lived within 10 miles of San Jose in their past life.

The back side of the lodge, a really big hole!

There was a walkway out to a point where Ya could get a photo shoot... I didn't go there, now wish I'da gone....   Think I can see Jim S tie die shirt...

Neat ol' place...

.... aaaahhhhhh, cell phones, Troy and Sonya checkin' stuff....

Have camera, will shoot....

Some of the guys ordered pizza and what is it without beer?  Nice bar...

Wandered out back, they had some cabins...

Mike checking it out...  I said it was windy, and up here it was blowing, but it sounded good thru the pine trees.

So we took the 20 mile twisty road to get to the top, Jim S is right by a nasty drop off!

Lots of down side here...  GBG

Sonya taking a pic of Mal sitting on a ledge with his feet dangling over.... nothing....

Well, another ledge to walk out on, and I was not gonna miss this one!  I did not, however, notice I was walking over a hole!

And this is where we were...  I have to take pics or won't remember!

You will notice there were no Friday nite Kaw Pasture pics... we were all pooped!  Crash and burn!

So here we are Sat AM getting ready for what I thought was Bryce.  It was on my bucket list and ready to go.  Hazy said they changed there minds and had another destination in mind,  and I said, "see Ya'll later"  and on to Bryce! 

Don't know why, but I decided I needed a cup of coffee and pulled over before the Bryce turnoff... It didn't look like much from the outside but inside was nice.  Took this one for Sherm!

While walking around, had my vest on, a guy asked me about my service.  Well another amazing event... he lived in Morgan Hill, 15 miles south of my home..  We had a great chat!   His wife was with him and also very nice!

..... and one more.   Notice the nice walls?  Stopped back by here for a late lunch on the way home, great food and lots of it!

This is on the way in, I liked the balancer's on top...

I wasn't sure how long this was gonna take so I started to do the short "must do" stops,  Bryce Point - here, Inspriations Point, Sunset Point and Sunrise Point.  

Well, there were no parking spots... har, on a scoot?  Did a slight no-no and took a pic.

The next pics are Inspiration and Sunset Points

One of my favorite screen saver shots is of Bryce, that's why it was on my bucket list, had to see it!

I was about to go to Sunrise, the last one on the way out, and said "no"!!!


One of the tourists books I got the first nite from the Tourists Center said, go to the end of the park at Railbow Point and hit all the views on the way back,  they are all on one side and that way you don't have to fight traffic, turned left and got to....

You get the entire perspective here...  right and left is below...

This is a long shot of all the things I'm going to see on the way back.. WOW just gorgeous!!!!  I said a lot of WOWs to myself on this trip!

I finally got smart and took pics of the signs... sigh...

And I finally made it back to the last stop on the way out...

And back to the Kaw Pasture for Sat. nite 50-50 and wind down,  yeah/sigh...

Hazy, Mellow Yellow, Craig S and UteMike. 

UteMike, Cat, think Jim is on far side, Bev and Barb.

I told Don VSP to flash the biggest grin he had, think he did it!  Good to see Ya!!!!

Checking out the goodie table, I saw a cramp buster, that my daughter Amy needs!
(and won it!!!!... along with a couple ROK memberships for Amy and I....)

Everyone waiting for their name to be called, think everyone was a winner....

Sonja was doing the drawing honors, did a fine job!

Mellow Yellow, Hazy, Lanny, Craig, Sherm, Karl - the birthday boy!!!, UteMike.

Mellow Yellow parked his scoot at the drawing, in front of "winners row" it seemed...

Barb was saying I won this!!!  Don't think Mellow Yellow was going for that...  GBG

Sherm and Cat checking out the goodies....

We get ready for the grand finale pic, Jack gets on the scoot and Don VSP get's on back!  They were having a great time!

Cat, Jim,Jack and Barb.

Mal got a happy 50 birthday song along with Karl getting a HB song...  'vette eating some of Karl's BD cake.

The view out my door, this is really a nice place! 

One more free breakfast and on the road again....  A lot of the stars that stayed here wishing the Parry Lodge well.

More out in the lobby...

The front...

Our welcome sigh out front...  oh well...  Turn out the lights, the parties over, all good things must end some time....  Sing it Willy!!!!!  Dang, I like that guy!

Walker  Lake outside of Hawthorne, NV, was on 95, the Veteran's Memorial Highway, had just passed some signs where the road was dedicated to Veterans from WW I up to the current strife.  Being a 'Nam era vet, it was nice to see that sign.  I make it clear, era- was not there, God Bless all that were.  The ever popular road work, had a one lane delay. On par, that road was in great condition, and I rode it for hundreds of miles....

On down 95 to Gardenerville thru Wellington, that area is gorgeous!  I made sure and drove slow thru a spot where Slots got a ticket!  Thanks for the warning!

An oasis and very pleasant. I used to love 88, Carson Pass, but the road has deteriorated to a point that it beat the crap outta me.   When I got into the bay area, had side winds into 40+ mph.  Was one tired puppy when I got home, about 430 miles.

About my "need to be home Tues" thing,  I had a upper center back biopsy,  before leaving - that red area is Basal cell carcinoma, a non-malignant skin cancer.  Slow growing, not life threatening, just had to be at the VA to see a plastic surgeon...   

Her name was Fox,  not I'm not going there!!  GBG   She was very good and I'm sure did a fine job.   The bandage comes off Friday am and I'll add another pic of the repair job while healing.  

Well, it's Friday, I'm surprised, the original red area was 1 x 1.5 cm, that cut is about 6.4 cm (2 1/2 ").  Guess Doc Fox wanted to make sure and get it all!  

She explained that it was necessary to take a long diagonal cut out so it could be stitched back together.   I explained to her, that I was a much less of a man than I used to be... got on a bicycle 25 years, 50 pounds lighter and 86,000 miles ago...

She told her assisting Sr. physician that I had plenty of skin....  They didn't need to go looking for donor spots.. guess it pays to be fat once.. 

This was an outstanding Rally!!!  I had to say WOW to myself a LOT of times!!!!

Thanks to utvroc for putting this on and I'm glad a lot of my friends were able to make it!  Now, I only got one ?.... where is next years?  GBG!!!

On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again.......