We weren’t planning to do much today.





After a very restless sleep, thanks to the onset of man flu over night, we woke up and said goodbye to Eva who had to go to work.

We didn’t have much on the agenda today, just some fooling around in town until tonight. We were going to dinner with a lovely couple from ADVrider who have been following us along on our trip!

We are both very excited to meet them!

We did a little lounging around and then went to REI to look at some tents. Ours is starting to show the strain of 5 months on the road with poles snapping weekly and holes appearing in the rain fly and the inner tent.

Then we got ourselves cleaned up and we were off to meet Stephen and Katrina.

We enjoyed a lovely cold at their house before we followed them to an amazing restaurant that specialised in wings!



OMG. The food was incredible! Both of us stuffed full to the gills! Stepehn and Katrina were great company and we swapped stories and had a heap of laughs. We really enjoyed ourselves and it was just great to hang out with these guys! Stephen has had one of the most interesting jobs I have ever known and I could have asked him a million questions about it!













After a great night of great food and cold all washed down with heaps of laughs it was time to part ways for now and head home to bed. We are planning on catching up with these guys before we leave town as I would like them to meet our little bikes. Plus we may also pass Stephen in Baja in Mexico. Actually he will probably pass us, lets be honest.



Thanks for the wonderful night out guys! We really do appreciate it!

Tomorrow, well who knows really! I think we are going to hang out with Eva for a bit and maybe have a few hours of slothing about.

This isn’t going to be the normal way of writing our blog up! So apologies for the several days rolled into one. We have had a heap of downtime while we wait for Rosie to get her wheel fixed and we thought maybe us writing 2 lines each day saying that we were laying in the pool drinking s and talking to parrots wouldn’t be that exciting! So I shall try to make up for it with a heap of photos.





So basically we have done some relaxing and haven’t even been near the bikes. Which has been nice in a way. Both of us have been exhausted and we think it is because this is the first time we have really stopped for an extended time.

Our Motostays host, Eva, has made life here so easy for us and we have been so lucky. She has an amazing home with a gorgeous pool and we have also had the luxury of being able to borrow her car. Thanks so much Eva! It is going to be tough to leave from here tomorrow!

So on Saturday we went out to one of Eva’s friends houses to meet him and check out his art. He makes sculptures out of motorcycle parts and they are very cool! He has football players, owls and turkeys! Plus he has a few bikes including a couple of Mad Max looking ones. We did give him a bit of a telling off when he told us he likes to ride at over 180 mile an hour. Thats over 300 km/hr! Naughty boy!







Then it was time for another swim and more s while the temperature climbed into the 40’s. Bloody blissful! Tucson is almost some type of paradise with this weather!

Frank from ZMW Adventures invited us around to his place for dinner and we were quite happy to eat his salmon steaks and polenta followed by Klondike bars.

Sunday was a nice late sleep in followed by some wandering around town. Eva introduced us to a great shop called Trader Joes where I discovered a big bowl of triple ginger cookies, and then promptly ate the lot! That was the extent of our days effort and we were soon back in the pool with cold s! Lazy day or what?



Eva had this whole week off of work so there was a few errands she wanted done around the place. We gave her a hand on Monday morning to shop for a new coffee table top and then spent the rest of the day swimming and eating. Told you this blog stuff might have been boring!







Tuesday came and we decided we really should get out and see some of the stuff in Tucson. I was keen to hit the Titan Museum so Eva lent us her truck and we took off. First though I had the GPS coordinates for an abandoned Titan Missile Silo in the desert that just maybe had an entrance broken through by vandals. So we trundled out of town to check it out.



The site was covered in gorgeous cacti and some concrete pads. I could see where there had once been some access holes but they were all concreted up and the old original entrance portal was long ago imploded. A bit of a bugger really as I would have liked to have seen inside a dismantled one. If anyone reading this knows of one I could have a look in then please let me know!

We then headed off to the Titan Museum. What a place. What an amazingly preserved piece of history. It was really cool to be inside one of these cold war silos that still had floors, the old computers, blast doors, lighting, and even a missile!










Though I must say I physically took a step back in horror when the guide told us that the warhead that used to sit in this missile had the explosive power of 9 000 000 ton of TNT. Yes that 9 MILLION! Holy crap. Enough, we were told, to level a city the size of Los Angeles. It would have created a crater 400 feet deep and a mile wide and everything, EVERYTHING, in that crater would have been instantly vapourised. That’s from one bomb. They had over 50 of these things ready to go at a moments notice. From activation to launch and the missile leaving the silo, 58 seconds.



We know this part is true because Chantelle got to sit in the Captains chair and turn the key.











Scary stuff.

The guys at the museum were super informative and I learnt a lot and asked a heap of questions. Like could they let me have this silo so I could live in it! For some reason they said unfortunately no. The thing I liked most about it was the guide who showed Chantelle how to launch the missile used to work in both the Atlas F sites, which I love, and the Titan sites. Such a cool guy!









Then it was back to ZMW where we watched as a guy called Rob pulled Rosies rim apart and threaded new spokes for it. There is a definite process to this and I had quite clearly cocked it up when I was reassembling the broken spokes. Hopefully this time there will be no more broken spokes!







Thanks Frank and Rob for sorting this bloody thing out for us!

Then it was back to Eva’s place for fish fingers and potato gems for dinner. We shall go and pick the bikes up tomorrow and we are going to be back on the road on Thursday and heading for Utah!

wow now that,s different, I just can,t handle riding at 80ks all day long, understand, going slower you see more, but on the over hand longer to get a . maybe I still like going quicker cheers guys, stay upright and safe

Oh yes. There are definately some compromises! I replace with either red wine or Fireball!

This morning was set to be an exciting morning. We were due to head out to some shopping with Eva and pick up the bikes!!! We were both super excited to have our girls back!!



After hitting some cool stores with Eva, we headed to Franks. The girls were ready to rock and in no time we had said our thanks and goodbyes and headed back to Eva’s with the girls. Rosie was purring like a little kitten and felt stable with her now repaired (fingers crossed) rear wheel.



We headed out with Eva to see some more camping and motorcycle gear stores and ventured into REI. What a store! We ended up purchasing a new REI brand tent to replace our now very deteriorated Vango tent. We also purchased a multi fuel MSR stove, which are both very excited about!!

Eva’s friend Randall met us there and after a walk around and immature giggles in the toilet section, we headed to La Indita for dinner. OMG! What a Mexican feast. The food was amazing and very much coma inducing!





T – Thanks so much Randall for taking us out for dinner! Please slow down and stop doing 180mph on your bike!!!



Tomorrow, we have to say goodbye to Tucson and the wonderful Eva and continue our journey.

C – After a relaxed pace pack up, we had to say our goodbye to Eva and the beautiful Piewhacket. We have had such an amazing week with Eva, who kindly let us crash her week of leave from work and hang out. We cannot thank you enough Eva for your kindness, hospitality and fascinating conversations!





We headed to the coffee roasters where we had arranged to meet Stephen, and in true Todd and Chantelle style, neither of us had looked at the street number. So, we arrived very late after having to ask a stranger to access the internet on his phone!

All too soon it was time to hit the road though. We said goodbye to Stephen and turned out onto the road. We spied a gas station within a few minutes and pulled in to give the girls a nice drink. After paying, I noticed that Mabel had liquid dripping off the tank and onto the engine. We soon discovered it was fuel and Todd soon found a larger-than-you-want hole in his fuel tank. He rubbed some soap around the area and we planned to head to an auto store to purchase a tank repair kit. Alas, it was not meant to be. Within a few minutes, the soap trick was no longer working and Mabel sat at the traffic lights dripping fuel onto her rapidly warming engine. Oh dear!!! As soon as we got around the lights we pulled into a car park and ripped her tank off. We soon discovered nothing we had was enough to temporarily block the leak and unfortunately had to sacrifice most of the tank of fuel. I had a funny feeling Mabel wanted to return to Eva’s to play with Eva’s Zero Whisper some more!





T – Mabel was feeling a bit neglected after Rosie got fitted up with nice shiny new spokes. She was acting out like the little rat bag she is! I was a bit unhappy watching some 6 litres of fuel gush from her broken tank onto the ground. Seems like such a waste, and more than that, the environmental side of things. Still at least I didn’t do it on purpose I guess.

It was great to catch up with Stephen again and I wished we had a bit more time to have spent getting to know him and his other half, Katrina, a little better. Hopefully though we will cross paths down in Mexico in the not too distant future!







C - We finally got out of Tucson after purchasing a fuel tank repair kit. We slogged out some highway before the GPS told us we could take a route through a National Forest. Perfect! We had been avoiding dirt since the great Spoke Incident of 2016, but it was now time to try some gravel and test out that rear wheel. The road was stunning and really not far from the highway. After about 10km, the GPS suddenly lost the trail and couldn’t find a way through, telling us to make a u-turn.







We decided to go another kilometre and see if it re-routed. Which it did. Beautiful! And we were only 3kms from the town of Superior, which we knew we had to go through. However, this 3km started with a massive washout and looked much more like a riverbed. Oh well Rosie, time to test that wheel!!! We got some momentum and bounced and bumped our way up about 1km of the track in no time. But then...... the road deteriorated further and further, becoming just wide enough to drive a small 4wd along it. The drop offs were massive and I was hugging the other side of the track as much as I could. It was rough, rocky and slippery and lined with cacti. I came around a bend and glancing at the GPS missed seeing a big rock, which promptly deposited Rosie on her left side, leaving me standing above her. Oooppssss.





As we rounded a bend, the track became even narrower with a sharp right bend. The track had been washed out and was on a sharp angle straight into the gully below. Nope, not for me. Todd isn’t afraid of heights, so he happily road both bikes through whilst I carefully walked, hugging the cliff!!!







Then it was time to come done. It was an 800mtr descent and it was steep, slippery, rocky and seriously tough. I was getting tired by this time and really struggled with this. I dropped Rosie again and that was it, confidence gone. I felt I couldn’t possibly do it. I was too tired to concentrate properly and after dropping her twice, my confidence had taken a massive dive. I then began to feel anxious about it and well you know, by then, it was basically over. Todd went in front so I could follow his path exactly and we ended up paddling the girls down the descent. It was not a pleasant experience. We could see the road smooth out to a proper gravel road when we got halfway down and this kept me going.





T – What a track. This was pretty fun, although we were maybe tackling something that was bigger than our bikes could handle. With rocks the size of our heads rolling around under our wheels it made for some sphincter clenching fun! I was pretty glad to get to the bottom though. I could see Chantelle was struggling as the last of her strength sapped away. Still, once we were on the flat and graded road we only had about 600 meters to the town. I could see it.



C – But, again, it was not meant to be. We reached the corner and there was a big, barbed wire fence stating ‘Private Property, Keep Out; Trepassers Will Be Criminally Prosecuted’. I wont repeat the exchange between Todd and I at this point. I had no clue how on earth we would get back up that hill – I was so exhausted and felt there was no way I could face it. So I sat down, had a little cry, drank an awful lot of water and bucked up. I rode her up as far as I was comfortable, about 100mtrs and then stopped at the tough bit. Todd kindly stopped Mabel and walked back down to help me get Rosie over the really tough bits. We got up quite quickly considering and were treated to a magnificent desert sunset. It was beautiful and daunting all the same time. I have decided that the GPS can no longer be trusted!!!

After backtracking, we were suddenly and very quickly, deposited at the highway. But this was a completely different way to the way we had come in. Neither of us could figure it out. We hadn’t passed the nearby factory at all on the way in before, yet the GPS ‘bread crumbs’ feature showed our track as the same, but then the one we came on in suddenly stopped. It was super weird.

T – It was quite strange. There was no other track in or out. But we must have been on a different road right? We both felt a bit spooked out by the whole thing as there definitely was no other track!

C - We got to a gas station and filled up the girls and had a big drink and a sit down whilst we decided whether we could face 70km in the dark to the camp we had picked. After some kindness from the attendant and then a random stranger approaching us and giving us a dollar, we felt alert enough to continue on.







The ride on the highway to camp was simply amazing. We never ride at night, and the desert is really beautiful then. It was a full moon, the air was warm and the night was calm. Sensational! We reached camp at 10pm and were too exhausted by then to do anything but set up the new tent and crawl in. We were both super impressed when we had it up in less than 2 minutes (without the rain fly) and within 5 minutes, we were both crashed on our mats, looking up through the mesh at the stars and the moon.





There was two RV’s there also, who obviously needed to run their AC all night, so we were also treated to the sound of generators all night long. Perfect....

T – What a day. What a ride! Even if we only managed 250kms for the whole day. Tomorrow we shall make up some miles and try to get with striking distance of Utah!

I've also experienced a GPS taking you down some road and then suddenly wanting to reroute you because it lost it way.

But then, it does add some adventure to one's traveling.

Good luck and drive save.

__________________
My travel blog: http://rooson2wheels.blogspot.com

Absolutely!!!! It was fun for sure!! Trips would be boring if everything went perfectly all the time!

T - Last night was gorgeous! It was quite still and sheltered in the little canyon where we had camped. We slept with the fly off of the new tent and it was lovely to wake up in the middle of the night and gaze up at the stars while being protected from the bloody sucking nasties that zoomed around outside.

We were woken up nice and early by the droning of the neighbours generator. Well the screaming rattling banshee noise of the ancient old thing to be exact.





We packed up camp quickly and headed back up the canyon road to the overlook for the dam wall. As it was very early we pretty well had the place to ourselves. So we cooked up a feast of scrambled eggs, jalapenos, spinach and mushrooms and fixed Mabels fuel tank with some fang dangled repair kit.









C – The air was beginning to warm up and we could tell it was going to be a warm one today. We wanted to get out some miles before it got too hot, so the girls could rest during the hottest part of the day.

T - Then it was time to knock out some miles. Our vague direction being north.

I filled up Mabels tank slowly, checking for any leaks around the newly repaired section. There was none!! Woohoo!!!!!

We slowly scooted north. Sticking more or less to the paved sections of road so we could make some good distance. The only problem with this, it wasn’t a terribly exciting ride.





C – By the afternoon we started to climb in elevation. We knew this would be the case as we headed north of Phoenix towards Flagstaff. The desert giving way to alpine flora. One thing I was not expecting though – to go from being warm and sticky on the bike to shivering my butt off. It was really getting quite cold as we climbed in elevation and by the time we reached a National Forest camping area, we were well and truly ready to warm up.



T - We slogged out the miles on busy roads towards a camp we had picked. The going today felt super super slow and we only managed 240kms before calling it a day and pitching our tent under the canopy of some towering pine trees.





C – We were hoping to sleep without the fly again, but with the chill at 2400mtrs, we decided it definitely had to go on!





T- It was a pretty uneventful day. Just ride ride ride. Tomorrow we should manage to cross into Utah easily enough and we should get to see some of the Grand Canyon.

T- Another nice camp, another squadron of generators to keep us company. It must be hunting season or something up this way as there seems to be a heap of campers all through the national forests up here and our closest neighbours passed our camp this morning all decked out in their camo gear.



We hit the road nice and early today. Partly to get a good run at the border and partly to beat the heat. We knew we would be working our little bikes hard over the next few days so we wanted to try to make it a little easier on them.

C – I felt 100 years old this morning. Two nights of poor sleep don’t bring out the best in me. Poor Todd ended up standing around waiting for me to get my stuff in order. It was one of those mornings when I just couldn’t think and get my act together! Still, we managed to get on the road by 8am.



T - We had been climbing yesterday for about 107 kms, a big chunk of which was in third gear for little old Mabel. So it was nice to start out on some downhill action! We zipped and zoomed along the highway descending at a dizzying rate of 70 km/hr. Both of the girls were singing along quite happily!

Then the scenery started to change. The alpine type trees slowly gave way to scrub and then to grasslands. Massive red cliffs suddenly thrust up out of the ground in front of us and we raced across the hot ground towards them. We were in canyon country now!



The views were just stunning. Even the busy strip of tarmac looked awesome with this backdrop. But boy was it warming up now!

C – Wow. The canyon lands were just sensational





C - And the air began to warm, with Todd and I relishing the warmth from the sun. We were conscious though that the girls don’t like the heat as much as we do and we were trying to be cautious with how much we pushed them.

T - We raced on. Throttles pinned wide open. Our eyes soaking up the views, our bikes soaking up the heat. We rested the bikes occasionally to give them a 5 minute break and a quick cooling off. One time, as we were pulling off of the road, a car didnt see two bikes braking and indicating for the last 50 meters and narrowly missed ramming into Chantelle at highway speeds. What a moron. I flipped him off and screamed a pile of obscenities his way, but he wasn’t too bothered and just drove off with one hand resting on the wheel and one arm hanging out the window. Tosser.







C – I couldn’t believe it. We had three vehicles catch up to us in the space of about one minute and we could see a turn out about 500mtrs up the road. So, we started to indicate to give the cars behind plenty of time to slow down, or choose to overtake us. The guy behind was not paying any attention at all and I could see how quickly he was catching me. I had slowed to about 40km/hr as I was just about ready to turn. I had no time to turn, with him sitting basically a meter from my left hand pannier. I accelerated as hard as poor little Rosie would go and he missed me by about a foot, swerving suddenly into the other lane at the last minute. After I pulled over I spent some time ranting and raving whilst the adrenaline wore off, hoping I would see him up ahead so I could explain the concept of indicators and brake lights to him.





T - We dropped lower and lower before crossing the Colorado River over a short bridge. The canyon below us. Even though this was a very shallow, very narrow section of the whole thing it was still terribly beautiful. From the bridge we turned west following the highway along the base of the soaring bright red cliffs. We passed stand after stand selling knick knacks to the tourists. But there were no customers, just bored looking sales folk who waved as we zipped by.



The road started to climb almost straight up from the desert floor. Winding back and forth around hairpin bends. Back to second gear in places. Mabel screaming her lungs out. Up and over we went passing 9000 feet and then the fast descent back down to the desert on the other side. Mabel now screaming flat biccies as she flogged around curves!

It was quite a lovely ride and it wasn’t too long before we flashed by the signs that said we were in Utah. And boy did we know it!

The red and orange hued rocks that we had seen in photos were every where. Full of beautiful folds and hollows. Stunning!





C – It was amazing how the scenery just changed the minute we crossed that state line. Dramatic rocks and beautiful, bright red sand. As it was late in the afternoon, the light from the setting sun created the most beautiful effects on the rocks and we rode along in complete awe. Utah was already living up to its reputation!



T - We turned for Red Canyon where our camp was for the day, the road here cut through the rocks in big arches and short tunnels, while behind us the sun started to set, casting a brilliant red orange glow across the entire place. The magic hour in the photography world. It certainly was the magic hour in postie bike world too!





Finally we pulled into our camp and set up our tent. Both of us quite tired and ready for sleep. We managed some 300 kms today and we felt every one of those km. My ass hurt, my knees ached and my shoulders screamed.





Tomorrow we shall push on towards Salt Lake City. Our time in the US slowly coming to an end. Chantelles parents only 2 weeks away now and we have a lot of riding to go yet.

T - No one had generators here last night. In fact there was only one other person camping within cooee of us and I think they were in bed before we were! I had gotten up in the night for a pee break and ended up standing outside staring up into the sky at the millions of twinkling stars. It was a damn good camp spot.

C – What a beautiful, quiet and peaceful night. A perfect nights sleep! Oh, except for the mouse that scared the bejeezers out of me in the middle of night! I woke up and directly above my head on the mesh of the tent was a mouse, staring back at me. I did not expect that and jumped, scaring the poor little thing who then ran up and over the tent and out between the mesh and the rain fly.



T - After the usual eat, pack scenario we continued on our way down through the Red Canyon. We had been given a route to Salt lake City from here that took us through all the scenic roads and avoided the busy ones. It meant a longer distance, but we were happy to not be caught up in too much traffic.

C – We camped quite high (again at 2400mtrs) and it was really quite chilly this morning. We both chose to keep our thermals on and as soon as we hit the road, we were both extremely glad of us!

T - We crossed through typical Utah scenery of dramatic rock formations and deep gorges. The road we were following winding back and forth up and down. It was very pretty!







We stopped at an overlook and had a gentleman come over to us to enquire about the bikes and what we were doing. It started with the normal questions of how far, how long, how big are the bikes and how fast they go. When we told him what we were doing and how far we were going and the speed we did it at he laughed at us and then just walked away. It was weird and both of us felt a little miffed and insulted.



C – By this point I couldn’t feel my hands and so opted to dig out my beautiful, amazing winter gloves. The elevations keeping the air a chilly temperature.

T - So we rolled on. Climbing another mountain. And then another and another. In fact today we ended up summiting 6 mountains all around 2700 meters! Our bikes worked super hard.







We passed through hot, beautiful landscapes. Utah is sure gorgeous.





We rode alot. We rode far. Then we rode a little more. Eventually stopping in a little town called Duchense for some dinner and a . We used their wifi to pick a camp just up the road. Well another 85 km’s up the road to be precise. By the time we ate and left the diner it was already pushing 7pm.



We rode up another pass. The temperature plummeted as did the sun. We climbed and climbed and finally turned into the camp site we had picked. At over 2700 meters it was damn cold up there. Freezing cold. I had lost my jumper along the way and with my sleeping mat now refusing to hold any air, I knew I wouldn’t be getting a good sleep up there. So we made the decision to push on and camp a little bit further down the mountain.







So on we raced. Into the growing darkness. Our one candle power headlights lighting up, well nothing really. We found a small turn out and pulled in to see if there was a flat place to pitch our tent. Nope. Not here. Onwards!!!

C – I think we were both really enjoying the riding and that affected our decision making on when to camp. We kept making excuses about the elevation and the cold.

T - About 10 minutes up the road my gut told me we should turn around and go back to that turn out. That we had stuffed up and were looking at no camping possibilities between here and Salt Lake City.

I ignored my gut instinct. Thinking that we would find something. We always do.

T - We didnt. In fact we couldn’t even find a hotel to stay in. With nothing but to ride some more we set the GPS for Salt Lake City. Which is where we ended up at midnight. Some 640 kms from where we had started this morning. 15 hours of riding time under our belts for the day.

C – When we arrived in Kamas we conceded we might need to find a hotel. We discovered that there were none in town, confirmed by a couple at a gas station. They recommended we push on to Park City, 13 miles. Whats another 13miles at this point? We arrived in Park City to find it a very expensive place – no cheap hotels here, just big fancy resorts. We stopped at a few places but it was just too much.

We found a cheap Super 8 hotel and called it a night. Im sure I was asleep before my face even touched the pillow.

Tomorrow we are off to stay with some people that Chantelle knows from a womens adventure riders group on facebook.

640 clicks on an overloaded postie in one day

you guys need therapy

__________________
My memory is becoming that good, I should be able to organise my own surprise party soon

Haha. We have heard this a few times today........

T – I slept so damn well last night! After we pulled into the hotel and threw our stuff on the floor I had a nice hot shower and by the time my face hit the pillow I am sure I was already snoring and drooling.

There was a free breakfast on offer with our room and I was up nice and early, 630 am, to make sure I didn’t miss out on it! This is where I make up for the cost of the room. They had cereal which is something I really relish these days, being that cereal doesn’t seem to survive too well on the bikes. So I had a few ginourmous servings of the stuff plus a few gallons of apple juice. Mmm mmmm.

C – I was not as excited as Todd about breakfast, particularly at 0630 when breakfast didn’t actually finish until 9am. I managed to crawl out of bed as Todd promised me lots of coffee and we made it down to breakfast for 7.30. Todd was in heaven as he poured copious amounts of fresh milk on his cereal. I was just very happy to pour fresh, full fat milk into my precious coffee!!!

T - We then lounged around in the room for a bit, writing the blog and just chilling out. We had a check out time of 1200pm and we were determined to check out at the last possible minute. It was great and yes it was terribly lazy of us.

C – I had been in touch with our host, Jude, over Facebook and suddenly my computer was making a noise I hadn’t heard before and telling me Jude was calling. How?!?!?! I am not good with technology beyond the use of Microsoft Office for boring work tasks and I had no idea before this that Facebook Messenger has a call function! We arranged to meet Jude for Thai in the city and eagerly packed our bikes with our tummies making loud requests for food.





C - I was really excited to meet Jude, and to be honest, she was our main motivation for heading to Salt Lake City. Jude is the administrator of a Facebook site call Women Adventure Riders and the group is full of incredibly talented woman who are super supportive of each other. Jude has managed to foster such a wonderful culture in this online group and there was no way I could be in Utah and not meet her! I encourage any motorcycling ladies out there to join the group and experience the wonderfulness that is Women Adventure Riders!

T - Both bikes seemed to be running really well. Which made me happy, considering the punishment they had the day before. There were some parts of the mountains yesterday that had us both back to first gear.

C – We were both somewhat apprehensive about checking the girls over after yesterday, but surprisingly they both survived full of oil and ready for the new day!

T - It was great to catch up with Jude after having heard about her so much from Chantelle. We enjoyed a great chat and an amazing lunch and the conversation flowed as though we were all old mates from way back! It’s always nice when it is so easy like this, and in fact it has been with everyone we have stayed with so far!

After lunch, thanks Jude for taking us out, we decided to go into the city centre and check out the big complex that belonged to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was massive. There were some gorgeous features of the old buildings and the engineering that went into was truly impressive. We finished off our tour by being taken to the rooftop of one of the towers there which gave us some great views out over Salt Lake City.







T - Then I had a massive icecream. Because why not! Choc chip mint and vanilla praline or some such thing. So good!





C – Whilst Todd had craving for icecream, I was craving ice coffee! After Todd enjoyed his large serving, we ventured off to find a coffee roasters. We stumbled across the Raw Bean and had a truly wonderful ice latte... mmmmmmmmmmm

T - We cruised through the streets for a short while, enjoying being on our little bikes. We both have developed some very strong bonds with these tough little machines.

We eventually wound our way through some back streets to Jude and Andreas’ house. It was such a gorgeous home. Full of delightful woodwork and so much character.

These below pictures were taken by Jude and Andreas.





o

C – As usual, the evening turned into a yack fest and we thoroughly enjoyed Jude and Andreas’ company. Such a wonderful people! We must admit to also getting a bit gaga over their beautiful dog, Sadie. Such a sweetheart.

T - I hung out in the workshop with Andreas and his mate Bruce for a bit while they worked on Andreas V-Strom which was so pleasant. It’s always nice to hang out with bike minded people and pick their brains about where to ride and what to ride.

T - Way too soon it was dinner time and bed. I was totalled and was looking forward to a comfy nights sleep.

T - Tomorrow we are going to pick up a few items in town and do a little maintenance on the bikes. We plan on doing the old Pony Express Route from here through to Nevada starting on Wednesday, but we have a heap of research to do in regards to the length of it, the availability of fuel and whether the roads are all open.

T - What a great sleep! Two nights in a row of amazing sleeping. I think I really needed it! We woke to the smell of fresh hot brewed coffee. Not a bad way to wake up at all! It was so quiet here last nice that you could have heard a pin drop! We had a great little spot in the basement and I was in my element! In case you hadn’t noticed I really like being below ground for some reason, so for me this was a perfect place to be sleeping!



We wandered up to the kitchen where we were greeted by cups of coffee and a breakfast feast! Cereal was on offer here and I was only too happy to do my part with emptying the cereal box! Give me an underground home and an endless supply of cereal and milk and I’m yours!

We eventually dragged our lazy asses out to the bikes and went off in search of a Walmart, which we hate and love all at once, to find some fresh batteries for our GPS. This tiny little endeavour managed to take up our whole morning and then we went to have lunch with Jude at her work.





C – I am really not too sure what happened this morning, but it seems a quick trip to Walmart for batteries and the neighbouring auto store for a fresh supply of oil took us all morning! We then set the GPS for Jude’s work and cruised through the streets of SLC, admiring the feel and layout of the city. We feasted on Vietnamese Banh Mi and again managed to talk up a storm!!






T - Wow. Jude has such an interesting job! She is a research scientist at a cancer research center here in the city. When she offered to show us into the lab where she works we both got really excited! This trip is bringing us into contact with some amazing people from places we would never have imagined we would have met. From people working in cancer research, to in flight refuelling boom operators, to hunting guides and even an ex flight forward controller who worked at, of all places, Nevadas Groom Lake (otherwise known as Area 51). We are truly lucky!

After seeing and hearing what Jude does every day, working with DNA and building genes so bloody cool, we had another crack at finishing our errands.

Finally we pulled back up at Jude and Andreas’ place where I removed a link from Mabel and Rosie’s stretched chains, noted the unusual and heavy wear of my rear sprocket, cleaned and rebuilt Rosies carby, adjust clutches and did a general check over of the bikes.



Then Andreas cooked up some heavenly burgers and salad for dinner and we sat around laughing and chatting and trying to work out a route for us on the Pony Express. It will be cool for us to take our little mail man motorcycles down the same route that horse riders used to race along with their mail!







Then it was time for bed. We have some more research to do on tomorrows potential route and it will involve us needing to carry extra gas and water as the miles between fuel stops is too close to our range to be comfortable.

Tomorrow we deliver mail on the old mail route! Probably....