Day 04 Kanab, UT wherever the heck that is

It was a pretty sun-shiny day today but no breakfast, compliments of Motel 6’s Master Financial Rewards Plan, don’t give ‘em anything you don’t have to. You even have to go to the office for a cup of their miserable coffee. I’m done with these guys, there was enough mold growing in the shower to compete with the local hay crop and the waste basket had left over French fries. The curly kind which I’m not all that fond of. Eww...

At least the GPS was up and running again so I programmed in a long 800 mile route to visit a buddy who lives in Oracle, AZ. I included a couple of way points that hopefully would keep me away from Las Vegas and let me ride through some of the best back country Nevada and Utah have to offer.

Huh? Did I miss something?



Back on the Great Basin road

Later in the morning I decided, or rather my stomach decided, that 10:30 was bloody well late enough to wait for something to appear sliding downward in its direction. Not wanting to fall off the bike due to terminal hunger pangs I stopped for a food break at the little mining town of Pioche.

Old silver smelter. Or silver mine. Or Microsoft research lab.  

Pioche NV

They seem to have discovered tourism somewhere along the way and the entire burg is done up in the Old West style. I like places like it and to make things even better I scored a super tasty breakfast at the Silver Café.

Yeehaaaa! It's Utah!



Oooh...old Indian artifacts right there under my feet

Anyway with the new program again in place I was happily  whizzing along over hill and dale when I spied a smallish sign pointing the way to The Old Iron Ruins and I was hooked; fast screaming U-turn and off I went to see what it was all about.



Nice little spot of history and currently sporting a small population of well to do young families. I took the self-guided tour through the grounds, drank a bottle of warm water, cleaned the bugs off my visor, and unzipped all the vents on my jacket in readiness for higher temps that would come.

Even lambs run from me. What's that all about anyway?

My carefully devised route to Oracle was working great until I encountered a road closure and had to turn back and take another route. The Garmin lady really gets disturbed whenever I do that and eventually I had to delete the entire route and make a new one just to shut her up. I've noticed she yells at me quite a lot which seems odd since we’ve never even been married. Who the heck does she think she is anway? Maybe I should buy her a house.

Detoured myself through Toquerville

Interesting little cottage industry

Big ol' rocks



Dead Stop waiting for an RV to come thru the tunnel.

Maybe there was a national AARP convention going on that I didn’t know about? I admit National Parks are outstanding and the views are incredible but all I wanted was to move along at the allowable 35 mph clip so I could reach my destination before dark.

It wasn’t going to happen and I ended up in Kanab, UT where I discovered the quaint little motel called the Royal Inn & Suites. Maybe the name applied in the 40’s but time has not been kind to her and she doesn’t qualify as the Grande Old Dame` of fine places to stay. But for tonight she’s all I’ve got and I’m pooped.

The requisite Indian (Pakistani?) couple who run the place first put me up in a nice room with two beds but no desk so at my request they moved me to one with only one bed and no closet. Well it’s got one but since it’s not attached to anything and it has a zipper door it’s more of a wardrobe storage thingy to keep your old clothes in while waiting for the Salvation Army truck to arrive.

I especially like the rock holding up one corner since the castor is missing. Did I mention if you sit on one side of the bed it collapses? Easy solution to that, avoid sitting on that side of the bed. For confirmation of my thinking you may wish to read The Little Book of Wrong Shui . But wait, the WIFI seems to be working and that’s sort of a plus isn’t it?

Having said that I think I’ll call a halt to this dribble for the evening and see if EBay has anything new to offer. Today's photos should speak for themselves but if they don’t just stick some post-its on your monitor with your own text. That’s what I do.

LL

PS - One last photo.... My room

Nice touch - a room just for bikers