The Route
Today the route was a dash up to Park Cities and then a meander down the mountain for the jump to Grand Junction, Colorado. It was my first real sighting of Fall Color. I wish the pictures did it justice... The color in the hills and mountains west of Salt Lake were bright and there was lots of variety. The landscape was pretty darn nice too. And there were a couple of pretty lakes thrown in as a bonus.
The BLT Tour continued with lunch at Pistol Pete's Drive In in Helper, UT, a place named for the Helper Engines used when steam was king. (Oddly I saw no evidence of anyplace for anybody to "drive in" at Pete's but that did not seem to deter the patrons.) The Helper Engines were kept there, ready to be added to the coal laden trains coming out of the local coal mines, to help their regular Engines get the heavy load over the pass and onto more level track for the long haul. Once over the pass, the Helpers came back to roost, waiting for the next round of "I think I can...".
You know I am embarrassed to admit it, after seeing all these beautiful sights on this trip, I sure feel great being back in the desert. It just made me happy to see flat ground and scrub for 30 miles. Sick huh? I think I really do have West Texas in my blood.
I-70 at 75 MPH was the last leg into Grand Junction. Traffic density was about one vehicle every two or three minutes. Enforcement seemed to be pretty heavy, so spotting a stopped vehicle a few miles ahead was always cause to slow just a bit. About 60 miles from Grand Junction the stopped vehicle turned out to be a woman in a minivan with a blown front tire. She had an Internet connection and had Googled where to find her spare and jack and was in the process of unloading in order to get at them. Remarkably nobody had stopped. I did and she was glad to have the help. She said her dad had taught her when she was 17 but that had been some time back and she was feeling a little unsure. Her spare was functional but only had 20 of the 60 PSI it needed. So after getting it installed, I grabbed my compressor (yep, I carry one on the bike) and got it pumped up. I cautioned her not to run the mini spare over 55 MPH and tailed her to town until she turned off to go get two new front tires (the other one was clearly unsafe too).
Dinner was Carne Asada at a nearby joint and this evening's roost is The Mesa. Just under $50 with all the charm you would expect. But it has AC, running water and the bed seems to be pretty good. Score.
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| Eastbound out of Salt Lake |
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| The Color begins |
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| Should tree-huggers complain about clear-cutting for ski slopes? |
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| Can you see the Color now? |
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| One lake, two lakes...it's a blue lake. |
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| A little Utah roadside rest area and train lore museum (the source of my Helper information). |
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| Not sure if you can tell, but the DIRT in these hills is GREEN. Lots of copper content? |
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| That black stripe is a coal seam. |
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| Actually a very nice place inside. |
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| Check the sky. The Grand Junction area seems to be a grand air traffic junction too. |
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| Almost there... |
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