I've had a special place for Moab since the 2003 Iron Butt Rally, when I hit an oil spill a few miles out of town and had a nasty crash. Starting with the tow truck driver to the great folks at Moab Off Road I managed to get the bike all fixed up and was back in the rally the next day. I'll never forget hearing the phone ring at the shop and the owner getting a funny look as he said "it's for you". It was the tow truck driver telling me that while the town was too small for him to actually tell me his name, a gentleman named Clayton Stokes had the motor seize in his Econoline Van three miles up the road from where I crashed. Turned out Mr. Stokes had just left the local quickie lube after an oil change and his new oil was on the apex of my turn.
A few years ago I went back to Moab on the Crazy Uncle Tour and my buddy Dave suggested we visit the Arches at Sunrise. This was such an experience I wanted to share it with Dillon.
We left Howard without ever meeting the few soreheads and headed west on US 50. Up and up we went, cresting Monarch Pass at 13,000 feet, absolutely amazed at the people riding touring bicycles up the pass.
West side of Monarch pass
After Monarch we stopped in Montrose for some fuel. When I was planning the trip I wanted to see if we could do some high altitude camping or ride Emmegrant Pass which I did on the CU tour. It's a jeep trail with dramatic drops and incredible views, but I decided after riding the bike for a few days that the chances of making it up and down without smoking the clutch would be pretty tough.
I had a fall back plan for some remote riding. Thanks to my friends on Adventure Rider I was able to confirm that route 90 west from Montrose would give us a good taste of the wild without putting too much abuse on the bike.
90 is a forest road, graded dirt and gravel with just a few choppy sections. We took it easy and had a great time, Did I mention Dillon loves trees? He loved this road and all I sad was "you just wait till we get to Northern California."
We both enjoyed 90. I liked it because it was easy and accomplished part of our primary mission which is to get away from pavement, billboards and wal-marts. Dillon liked it for the adventure and the middle of nowhere feeling.
While the woods were a lot of fun I was ready for pavement and Dillon was ready for Utah.
