

Left Colorado this morning under cloudy skies and even the threat of rain. It had rained a lot during the night. I was on the road about 6:30 and was pleasantly surprised that the cloud coverage was keeping the temperatures down. There was a period where the driving was rather boring and then we started to move up through a mountain pass and then back down again. Didn’t last too long but was quite a thrill. Drove as long as my gas tank allowed before pulling into a restaurant. Met 3 fellows who all belon g to a K1600 club and they all travel together even though each lives in different states like Arizona, Tennessee. Later I met up with them as well as the Brantford guys when I arrived at the rally. I was absolutely shocked when when I crossed the the Utah border – never seen anything so desolate – nothing but patchy weeds, sand – all flat like pictures of mars. Even stranger, there were signs saying ‘Welcome to Utah’ and then another sign saying no services for 60 miles. Rather than travel with the 3 K1600’s, Ieft on my own – thinking I just might get a chance for pictures without holding them up. Alas, there wasn’t much to photography and before long I was on a 5 lane highway for 50 miles heading intocon Salt Lake City and the temperature was rising rapidly. It was hovering around 36C and the handlebars were getting hot to handle, I thought. It could have been the tension in my hands from all the traffic.

Arriving early, the day before the official opening of the rally was a little tricky as there were lots of people but no one who seemed to know much and the temperature continued to rise. Finally had a walk around, found my tent all set up,talked to a bunch of the people here. A lot of them are planning on heading north to Yellowstone park, the same as me. So, I made a decision to change my plans. I will leave Saturday morning rather than Sunday morning. It will mean I avoid one more day of heat here and will probably miss some cool bands playing on Saturday night but I can live with that.
So, tomorrow is my first full day at the rally. Chaning the oil in the bike is the only activity I have planned for the first day so probably won’t have much to blog about…. We’ll see.
Glad to hear that you made it. Sure you will get to enjoy the events – keep hydrated. I’ve still got a coupon/coin from the Hamburg rally, but it probably wouldn’t be of any use in Salt Lake.
First class accomodations I see, love it.