Our intended first morning route: Delta, Grand Junction and Mack in Colorado, over unpaved Baxter Pass into Utah and on through Bonanza and Ouray, Utah to US40 West with lunch at Roosevelt.

Our six riders came from 4 towns scattered over a distance of 100 miles. The last of this half-dozen adventure short-trippers joined the group at Mack. North towards unpaved Baxter Pass, the road soon turned to gravel and dirt. Great fun! Those riders so inclined picked up the pace to unmentionable speeds. The first impediment to this fast pace was a rather large herd of cattle on the road. Out of respect for the ever-busy trail drivers, we eased through the herd at little more than walking speed. Once clear of the lumbering cattle, we had hardly picked up the pace when we encountered more cattle and a closed gate. This herd was being moved to a corral near the road and we were soon able to open the gate and let ourselves through. We closed the gate behind us as all responsible riders do.

Not much farther along, we came up behind three 4WD vehicles parked in the one-lane road, drivers and passengers all milling around pondering a long stretch of mud and standing water. This mud is not just dirt and water but contains a lot of clay which gets as slick as grease when wet. Undaunted, we made our way past the parked vehicles. Some of us rode through the goo with style while others of us (me) wallowed through with a lot of foot work. We quickly came upon a big 18-wheeler where no such vehicle should have been -- even if the road had been dry. The truck was stuck in the middle of a mud stretch and the driver was missing. A couple riders from our group made it past the truck to check the road ahead. Those of us who knew this pass were certain that, if the pass road was this bad on the sunny south side, it would be impassable on the colder, shady north side where melting snow might still be a factor. I suggested changing our plan.

Our new route: One of our riders, from Ouray, Colorado, had joined this ride partly to visit Ouray, Utah, a very small town in the remote oil and gas country on the northern border of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation -- not a town one is likely to stumble onto by chance. This seemed an entirely worthy objective so we decided to double back towards Mack, go east towards Loma, then north over the mountain ridge on paved Douglas Pass. Once on US40 west, we could make a side trip to Ouray. This would lengthen our trip and make us late but, when you plan to ride roads of questionable quality, changes of plan are expected.

Three of our riders were experienced sportbike riders and attained the summit of Douglas Pass rather quickly on the multi-purpose and very capable V-Stroms.

We had a decent lunch in Rangely -- late and well behind our intended schedule with the side trip to Ouray yet to do. A local oil field worker told us how to find barely-marked paved and unpaved roads cross-country to Ouray. We found some of these roads. At a couple intersections we had little idea where to go and guessed. The unpaved roads had deep ruts and some mud but nothing too challenging. We did get to Ouray, sort of. When we neared Ouray and reached pavement we were sure would take us back to US40, one of our riders assumed the lead and turned away from the actual town. We dutifully followed. Our Ouray, Colorado rider can say he has been to Ouray, Utah but he can't describe it. Once back on US40, we were back on our original route but hours behind schedule. We all huddled at US40 to rehash our roads. We identified US191 as our road through Price, Utah and beyond Green River Utah. We confirmed that US191 parted company with US40 at Duchesne Utah. One rider, the one who missed Ouray by a stone's throw, even used his SAT/NAV device to determine mileage to Duchesne, then assumed the lead again. Those of us who ride together often were disinclined to speed much on a heavily-patroled major US highway. Our leader put some distance on us. Worse, he didn't turn onto US191 at Duchesne. We followed at an ever increasing distance for a couple miles, then stopped to allow our errant rider to recognize his mistake or at least turn back to see why we weren't following. We waited a half-hour before giving up and heading back to US191.

Odd how things happen. I was now leading and had the misfortune of turning onto US191 behind a white SUV with Sheriff emblems. For a few miles, he was speeding and I followed but when he slowed for traffic and declined to pass, I was reluctant to pass him. One of our riders was less timid and did pass. Lights didn't flash so I passed too. Again, our group got separated. We two who had passed the sheriff finally stopped to wait for our other riders. They came, eventually, saying the driver of the sheriff vehicle had driven in the center of the road at 35MPH and blocked them from passing. He went past while we were alongside the road but didn't stop. Who knows? Our adventures are minor but occasionally surreal.

By the time we got to Price, it was late -- much too late to make our intended camping area before dark. It looked like rain. We got motel rooms and spent the evening eating our camp food, enjoying good wine and rowdy conversation. End of day one.

A new day, Bright and beautiful. Our route, a continuation of yesterdays plan and what we intended to do the second day: US191 from Price to Green River, Old US6 (now called Frontage Road) 15 miles then across I-70 at Exit 173. Here our Tiger rider from Ouray left us to hurry home on pavement in time for prior commitments. We are now down to one KLR650 and Three DL650 V-Stroms. We rode south on unmarked, sometimes primitive roads, across a high plateau to paved UT313, the Canyonlands/Dead Horse Point road.

From UT313 south we took the paved Dead Horse Point road a short distance to an unpaved road leading to Pucker Pass and Long Canyon. Pucker Pass is not a pass that goes up and over something. It only descends from the high plateau we were on. I've used Pucker Pass as a viable shortcut between Canyonlands and Moab for forty years -- when it was open. Sometimes it is easy enough for a 2WD vehicle; sometimes it's essentially impassable. Sometimes it's closed due to washouts or caveins. One never knows from visit to visit, year to year. I didn't know on this trip. Near the edge of the Plateau, I caught up with a tour vehicle and the driver flagged me down. "Do you know where you are going." he asked? I did. "Do you know what to expect," he asked? I didn't but only because I hadn't been down this road for a couple years. "This is Pucker Pass," he informed me. I told him I knew that and had been up and down it many times over the years. He considered our big, heavy motorcycles ill-suited for continuing but wished us well and waved us on. The first half mile or so is very steep, twisty and narrow. For this descent, it was big rocks and ledges, filled with deep, dry sand. It wasn't bad. Those of us (me) with a lot of experience and reasonable caution descended slowly and safely. The experts among us descended quickly and safely. Everyone had fun. I didn't see the tour vehicle again. He probably got everyone out and over to the edge to watch us crash. If so, I'm not sorry we disappointed him.

From the bottom of Long Canyon, we rode up the Colorado River Canyon on scenic highway UT279 to Moab.

Lunch with Fred: We had a good morning and made it to Moab in time to have lunch with Fred Hink of Arrowhead Motorsports.

Our final route: Our off-pavement adventures were not over. From Moab, we traveled east towards the La Sal Mountains on the Sand Flats road where we had to pick our way through three more groups of cattle. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the ride. The road, true to it's name, did offer some deep sand. By the top of this road one has climbed from 4000 feet elevation in Moab to Aspen-tree level and the view back across the multi-colored Canyonlands is stunning. From here, we used a variety of roads to get us to John Brown Canyon and Gateway, Colorado. We had speculated that these roads might be muddy but they were rutted and dry. From Gateway, we rode Unaweep Canyon to Divide Road which follows the spine of the Uncompahgre Plateau. Here we parted company. Two of us continued down Unaweep to Whitewater and home to Cedaredge. Two rode the Divide Road to CO90 and home to Montrose. My trip odometer shows 700.1 miles for the two days. A Montrose rider reports something over 750 miles.

Great Motorcycles! What can I say about V-Stroms and KLRs that I haven't said already on my DL650 web page or my KLR650 web page. I've never owned a Tiger, but our Tiger rider, an expert motorcyclist, had no problem. No matter what motorcycle I may say I like at any given moment, it's on multi-purpose motorcycles where I rack up the miles. I took few pictures on this ride because I've done it all before. I wish I had taken more. Maybe the other riders will let me use some of their pictures.

My bike is washed, the chain cleaned and I'm ready for another adventuresome ride, probably again to Utah. Boulder Utah beckons.

Footnote: Our missing rider eventually realized his route mistake and made it home safely but not without problems. Returning to the junction of US40 and US191, he had a flat tire. The bead had broken loose from the rim -- not good news. Our well-equipped rider managed to plug the tubeless tire, reseat the bead with Co2 cartridges and air the tire with a compressor. But that was not the end. Four times between Duchesne, Utah and his home in Colorado, the plugs came out and the tire had to be plugged again and the tire inflated. The fifth plug got him home. I'm afraid this was more adventure than any rider wants. We are all sorry for his misfortune. I'm glad he had the knowledge and equipment to get his motorcycle home.