I just returned from this year’s motorbike adventure. This time nine of us rode in a wide loop that started and ended in Vegas (how many times have I been there this year? It’s just weird), taking us 2000 miles through Colorado, Nevada and Arizona. We started out riding East through Nevada in the scorching heat. It’s a source of huge irritation to the chap that my bike has a temperature gauge. I look at it a lot of the time (party so I can report temperatures just to remind him that I have the ability to 😉 Anyway, riding out of Vegas it was well over 100 degrees F, which is not the sort of temperature you want to be sitting on an engine…
Anyhoo – here’s an overview of the pics I took (they are just the pictures from my phone for now – I haven’t had time to process the others yet).
[fgallery id=1 w=450 h=385 t=0 title=”Bike Red Rock Bike Tour 2011″]
We saw some astonishing natural sights – it’s a constant source of amazement to me quite how spectacular the US scenery can be. The National Parks are all ruggedly beautiful. The first place of note we visited was Zion National Park. It was the first set of this week’s huge red rocks. Bryce Canyon was the next rock stop –Â I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Its weird eroded rock formations make it look like something from a different planet. We stopped there for both sunset and sunrise so experienced impressive light shows over the red rocks. Staying nearby I was struck by the hummingbirds. I watched them feeding for some time.
Next we rode through northern Arizona’s Indian country, reaching Monument Valley in the afternoon. On my one previous visit I saw some of the stunning landscape from the car park and was very impressed at the time. This time we were lucky enough to be able to tour the site. We spent a couple of hours bouncing around the pot holed tracks and were rewarded with more astonishing views. I think we had exhausted our supply of superlatives in about 15 minutes.
After Monument Valley we headed out into Colorado, where we found the worst weather of the trip – torrential rain followed by some vicious hail. Looking at the clouds I thought we’d miss the worst of it so didn’t put my weatherproofs on – I paid for my stupidity with soggy trousers for the rest of the day. Not fun. Leaving Colorado, we found the sunshine again as we headed for Santa Fe via Taos. I’d love to be able to spend some more time in Santa Fe. We were only there for dinner but were able to enjoy a large free music concert in the main square.
After Santa Fe, our route took us into Arizona, with a stop at the Grand Canyon, which never disappoints. It was my father’s birthday so we sent him on a surprise helicopter trip to see the sheer enormity of this natural wonder. The day finished in beautiful Sedona, where we had the most delicious birthday dinner under the stars and next to a picturesque creek. It was a perfect night before the return to Vegas the following day.
I thoroughly enjoyed the week. It was both a great farewell to America and a reminder of quite what I’ll be missing.