Sunday, July 19th – Moab, UT to Price, UT

This one was REALLY a day to remember.

Following two great days in Moab, we covered another 70+ miles of beautiful terrain this morning on our way to Green River, Utah. After stopping there to tank up, we continued along the trail, and ran into our first hiccup:

A bridge that we were supposed to cross was closed due to “dangerous conditions”. Our motorcycles certainly could have made it over safely, but rather than tempt fate… we detoured.

This cost us perhaps 10 miles and 15-20 minutes, and then we were back on track. The day quickly got VERY interesting.

We didn’t know it at the time, but what lay ahead was one of the more incredible sections of the Trans America Trail, called Black Dragon Wash.

It’s a fairly demanding piece of terrain (especially for those unfamiliar with it), and the established trail, which is strewn with large rocks and ledges, has been re-routed in many, many places, due to substantial washouts over time. One comes to a fork and, well, as Yogi Berra said, “You Take It”.

One choice can be difficult, the other – impossible.

We also didn’t realize that this very challenging piece of the trail went on for over 20 miles… The most difficult section was limited to perhaps only 5 or 6, but thank you – that was enough!

In the middle of all this excitement and adventure, we also experienced one of our rare mechanical failures – Dan’s fuel supply line popped off his tank’s petcock, resulting in a stream of gas – yikes!

More correctly, it didn’t “pop” off, but was pulled off – as our diagnosis revealed.

In preparation for the trip, the three of us had installed oversize plastic tanks on our bikes, manufactured by Acerbis (more on them and their tanks in a later post). Well, in elevated temperatures (which were between 105 and 110 today!), these tanks expand when they can’t vent enough… The outward movement on the left tank lobe was sufficient to pull the hose clean off. Running with the gas cap cracked open proved to be the best solution. Not optimal, but it worked.

By the time we had made it through Black Dragon Wash and its associated off-shoots, we were all exhausted. The nearest accommodations were in Price, UT (more than 1-1/2 hours away), but we pushed onward, and made it our stop for the evening.

Tomorrow, more of Utah!

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