2000 — Another New Member, A Brother

Bill's brother Jerry, aka Friggs, joined us for the first time this year. Here's what Friggs has to say about it:

This was the summer I got my license, but just before I bought my Virago. I'd rented a new Harley Night Train (?) and planned to meet up with you guys at Bill's and drive a ways west. However, I didn't plan well and got caught in rain myself (a lot of fun on my 2nd day on a rented bike) in Estes Park so I missed the send off. I did get in 500 miles in 24 hours on a rented bike and I was hooked. The agent made some comment that unlimited miles didn't mean that many miles. Oh well!

Ken, Bill, and John rounded out the group. This year the direction was north and west.

This trip did not start out in the most auspicious manner. Ken was going to be riding his Concours for the first time, having bought it after last year's trip. He loaded up and pushed the starter button and the response was not confidence-inspiring. It started but didn't run well, but he started off. He didn't get very far, though, when it became obvious that something was wrong. A change in course took him to the dealership, where they deduced that a carburetor blockage had dumped gasoline into the oil pan. They changed the oil but couldn't guarantee that the problem would not return. So Ken headed home, shifted everything onto the Honda, and took off once again, arriving at Bill's quite late. So we got off to a late start.

We headed west on I-70, to where US 40 heads north over Berthoud Pass. Getting the late start meant that it was getting darn chilly as we went over the pass. We stopped in Winter Park for dinner and then headed on to our planned destination, Hot Sulphur Springs.

But a funny thing happened. It had been our understanding that John was going to book us rooms there, but when he called they told him they always had plenty, so no need for reservations. Except that this was the weekend of a big bicycle ride in this area, and there were no accommodations to be found anywhere. We had no choice but to ride on to Kremmling.

Now, in Kremmling, theoretically, we could stay with one or another member of John's family--except no one was home. We ended up checking into an old, bathroom-down-the-hall hotel. Hey, they had beds and we could sleep. What else matters?

From Kremmling we were headed in the direction of Steamboat but John showed us a road just south of town that went over to State Bridge. The Trough Road, as it is called, is gravel, but good gravel, so we accepted his recommendation. And it was a nice road. At State Bridge we picked up CO 131 and then at Oak Creek headed north on Twenty Mile Road, coming out on US 40 right by the Hayden power plant and totally missing the traffic of Steamboat. From there US 40 took us on to Vernal, our stop for this night.

From Vernal we continued west on US 40, until we reached Heber City. Just a little north of town we got off on Utah 32, which took us to the small town of Kamas, and a campground in the area. That's where we camped that night. We had a great spot right next to the creek and there was no one else there. And there may have been four vehicles passing on the road during the entire night. It was sweet!

The following morning we picked up I-80 for a bit and then headed north to Ogden. At Ogden we went up a canyon heading east on Utah 39. This beautiful canyon road led up to what is obviously a big Utah recreation area, with reservoirs and lots of boats. This was one of those "who knew this place even existed" moments.

Utah 39 connected with Utah 16 and headed up to Utah 30, which goes to Bear Lake. We've been to Bear Lake before, so we knew it was a place to stop for blackberry milkshakes. We, of course, upheld the local tradition. From there it was further north, to Montpelier, and then north and west on various roads until we reached Pocatello, where we spent the night.

The next day's ride was intended to be a short one, just a quick jaunt west on I-86/I-84 to Twin Falls. The plan was to get in early and go play golf. Once again, the best laid plans . . . We couldn't get on the course.

We pushed on, down US 93, to Jackpot, NV. We know Jackpot. We like Jackpot. And Jackpot has a really nice golf course. We played golf. In fact, we spent two nights in Jackpot and had a very nice time.

From Jackpot we continued south, stopping at one point by a big tree next to the road where these individual shots and the group shot were all taken. We would make this same stop on another trip in the future. These are about the only photos I have from this trip, so if anyone else has others please send them to me so we can get them up here.

US 93 runs into I-80 at Wells and we headed east on the superslab. Crossed the Bonneville Salt Flats, what has to be the straightest road in the world, and got off it a little west of Salt Lake City. Turning south on Utah 36, we made it to Tooele, where we spent the night. Going this route allowed us to miss the congestion of Salt Lake City, plus it took us on roads we'd never been on before.

The next morning we headed out, continuing south, and picked up Utah 73, which heads east. We reached I-15 around American Fork and then headed north a few miles to Sandy. At Sandy we turned east on Utah 92, which goes up the American Fork Canyon, over a pass and down the other side past Sundance. We discovered this road on our 1994 trip and this time we went the opposite direction. This little two-way, one-lane road is one you've got to see to believe.

Utah 92 connects with US 189 just a little southwest of Heber City and from there we again got onto I-15 just a short distance before getting off on US 6 headed east. This connected with US 191, which took us to Green River. We intended to camp in our same campground that we had used before but this time the guy at the gate wanted us to pay for each bike separately. Screw that. We found a motel. A crappy motel, but what the heck.

Next day it was on eastward on the I-70 superslab. It didn't take long to reach Grand Junction and here we parted ways. Bill and Friggs were inclined to head on home, while John and Ken wanted to stop and visit Christopher. John was finally ready to talk to Christopher and hear his explanation of the astonishing secrets that had been revealed a couple years earlier, and try to make some sense out of it. We found him with some difficulty and spent the night. Christopher's answers to John's questions were more disturbing than they were comforting and none of us has had any contact with him since.

Then it was on home. John and Ken got separated around Glenwood Springs, so from that point on it was two individual riders heading to Denver, wondering where the heck the other guy went. And the first OFMC ride of the 2000s was in the history books. And now it's finally up on this website.

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