Day 13

Day 13: 7/1/10

Start: Salt Lake City, UT
End: Moab, UT

Today's miles: 248
Total miles: 2,748

Marriage Status: Holding steady.

Passed through: Uinta National Forest, Price Canyon Recreational Area

Today's notes:

Today was both a good and bad day. It started off great with coffee brought to us in bed by aunt Sandy, and once again great talks with her over coffee and breakfast. Then we started packing up the bikes and took off in the afternoon towards Moab, UT. This is where things start to turn on us. First of all, I mentioned earlier that driving a motorcycle on a busy interstate is no fun, and that we try to avoid them as much as possible. So today we tried to leave Salt Lake without getting on the interstate. This was perhaps a mistake. It took us a good two hours before we finally made it to highway six and left the city traffic, and stop lights behind.

After that we thought we had the worst behind us and we were joyously on our way. However, about 45 minutes after getting on highway six the beautiful blue sky turned grey and all the sudden it starts, not to rain, but hail. Now I hope you can imagine how painful solid spheres of ice are when they are falling from the sky while you are moving 60 miles an hour. But Tomme for some reason found this amusing for I could here him laughing over the intercom as we were getting pelted. I did not find it so laughable, and what was coming over my intercom was not as innocent. So we pulled over to put on the rain gear and wait for the hail to subside, and the moment the rain gear is on the hail ceases and so does the rain. But we leave it on just in case things start back up again a little further down the road. Well within 20-30 minutes the sun is back out and the temperature rises back up into the 80s, so we pull over again and take the rain gear off.

Now you would think that would definitely be enough, right? Wrong. The last time I was in Moab I went with my friend Melanie, and as we were driving along I-70 my car started to violently shake while going downhill fast. This was not a comfortable feeling, and we pulled over, called a mechanic in Moab, who explained my rotors were probably warped, and during our stay in Moab I had my jeep fixed. Well apparently Moab curses all my vehicles because just as I was thinking how lucky we had been to not have had real bike issues during this journey, a large spray of fluid hits my visor on my helmet (and no it was not rainig again). At this point we are only about 50 miles from Moab, but this keeps occurring over and over again. Finally I get a warning signal on my dash indicating that my engine is getting too hot. But this only flashes for a moment and then it's gone. We actually make it to our camp site in Moab and then we take a look. We realize the fluid that was spraying at me was my coolant, and that the pump that delivers it to the engine did not seem to be working properly. So at that point it's too late take it anywhere, and the only place I can take it is a BMW dealer if I want them to fix it under my warranty, which the closest one is about two hours away. So Tomme fools with it a bit and seems to have gotten it under control, but we still plan to call the dealer in Grand Junction in the morning, hoping they are not closed for the fourth of July, to get their advice on what we should do. So I have decided I am never coming to Moab again unless I am in someone else's vehicle.

After all that we figured we deserved a fairly decent meal and some beer. So we went into town, and ate at an Italian restaurant and then picked up a couple of jugs at the local Brewery to enjoy before bedtime. Here is hoping tomorrow is a better day.


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