Annual Family Reunion

A weekend long family reunion in the mountains is a cheap excuse for a ride.     Missus Zip is already up there.  I promised her I’d get up there fast tomorrow, but I’m sure she knows me better than that.     2 of my kids have jobs and responsibilities and can’t go, which is how it should be at their age.

East Canyon is a beautiful ride.   A great ride to just take your time….Up through the aspens, and great turns as you head into Morgan County.     I look forward to this part.   Just me and my bike.    88 miles in 6 hours.    I’m gonna stop at any little thing of interest.   Take a picture of that view.   Breathe.    Drink in the scenery.    Enjoy that sweeping curve.     Bark at that douche bag on his pedal bike for being in the middle of the road when he doesn’t need to be.   Round a lake.   Hit that side road that I’ve always wondered about.   Stop at every historical marker that someone made in 1962.

Shit, now  I can’t wait.    A good ride is a beautiful thing.  It’s warm up here, and the windshield is stored away for a while.

My youngest is 11, and I’ll pack a helmet and some sunglasses for her so she can ride back with her Dad.    An opportunity.   I gotta think those are the moments they’ll remember, at least I hope so.   She’s a good kid.

 

 

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Ronald Reagan nailed it for me, just now. I think he said this 35 years ago.

I think its why all my best friends are bikers.    The concept of freedom isn’t lost there, and they have the balls to fight and protect it if need be.

I’m a Ronald Reagan Guy, always have been.   Love this clip.

 

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June 6, 1944

A good deal of these guys were just Farm kids, who were raised a way and knew the right thing.  A lot of them were kids from the Bronx,  Chicago and LA.   Volunteers a lot of em.   Kids from Canada to California to Maine and Florida.   They answered the call.

I gotta think, it was a different day and age.

Most of these guys are gone now, but a few remain. D-day is a reverent thing.    9,000 of them didn’t make it out.

Someone sent me this video.   A colorized version of the D-day landings.    Thought i’d pass it on.

The Greatest Generation.

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Ride the Lower 48 on a Harley

I never really had a bucket list.    I just think I found one, and this is at the top.

The lower 48 states in the most efficient route a guy could take.   In a car, its supposedly 113 hours.     You biker pricks know it’d  take a lot longer for you.


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6,872 miles.      A guy named Steven Von Worley apparently did the math, and this is what he came up with.    Starts in South Berwick Maine and ends in Taft, Montana.

Iron Butt Association, eat your heart out.    Someone is gonna do it, if they already haven’t.   You BMW/sporty-bike guys can eat a bag of hell.    Someone needs to do this on American Iron.

 

 

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Goblin Valley – Mexican Hat Party 2014

Friday night after work, the missus and I jumped on the bike and headed to Goblin Valley for the annual Mexican Hat Party.    They’d changed it up this year, and it wasn’t at Mexican Hat, it was at Goblin Valley.    We loaded up the bike the night before, and took off from work at 5 to head over the pass.   The goal was to get there before dark.  It wasn’t gonna happen.

Mr and Mrs ZIp Goblin Valley Utah
Missus Zip nabbed a selfie right before we hit the pass. heh, I just said Selfie. 

 

It’d been warm all week.   I was looking forward to this ride.    I’ve been in this neck of the woods long enough that I’ve figured out who my friends were.    Solid people that I felt I had gotten to know well, and more that I knew I wanted to get to know better.    This was the ride for that.

I have a connection with Mexican Hat.   Years ago, I rode through there in the dark with my daughter Wendy on the back of my bike and thought it would be a killer place to do an old school biker party.   bring a bedroll, your girl, some whiskey and camp out in the dirt, old school style.   We did the first one in 2009 and it kept going.    I’m glad it kept going…

Most everyone had ridden up earlier that day.    The ride was beautiful, and warm.   At least warmer than usual.

This was a a perfect tune up ride.

I’ll tell the rest with pictures.    What happens on the mile, stays on the mile.    I didn’t take many pictures, and the ones I have I stole from friends.    All I can say is I had a blast.    So did missus Zip.

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Saturday morning. We all feel a breakfast is in order, in town.
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Getting ready to roll.

 

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Our Camp. My brother Trigger took this picture while we were gone. He would get a new name before the day was done….
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Hanksville Breakfast. Cho made a funny….
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Duke’s SlickRock Grille. Everything was John Wayne themed.
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Rolling back to camp
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Cho and Rush
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The Missus and I

 

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Settling back in
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Cho, Myself, Rush, Missus Zip and Tell
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Rush and I, being… well, Dumb.
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My Bro, and Prez.
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Someone left the good chairs unattended.
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My friends. Solid People.
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Later on…
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Sunday Breakfast in Green River.

Fuel for the fire.    I had a killer weekend.   Mexican Hat is exactly what I’d hoped it’d be.   

3 days, 4 counties, 381 Miles.

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