Day Ten: Montpelier, Idaho to Carbondale, Colorado

At last, a fine day -- and I covered some ground to take advantage of it! Sadly, the place I'm staying tonight has no cellular coverage and poor WiFi. So I'm typing on my cellphone, and dinner has just arrived (flautas!). I'll sign off for now and update later.

Updated 9/30/2013 (that is, Day Twelve of the trip) -- Sorry Ma!  I'll try to keep up-to-date!

As has become habit, I left the KOA at Montpelier and traveled a bit down the road (east and south down Highway 30 in SW Wyoming) before grabbing brunch.  I stopped in Cokeville at a local joint called Blondie's Diner.  A couple saw my leathers and asked where I was headed; at the end of our conversation I had a route planned -- which I've followed from that morning at the diner to here in Moab. The route followed a series of minor roads to south and east: first Highway 30 to Diamondville, WY, then south on 189 and 412 to where it crosses Interstate 80, then further southeast on Highway 414/43/44/191.  This brought me through the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, the first of the "American Southwest"-feeling landscapes of the trip.  Great, windy road; almost no traffic.  Perfect.  It was also warm enough to be comfortable without my GoreTex jacket and pants (which can feel a bit constricting over my leathers).

Utah Highway 44, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.

Highways 191 and 40 brought me past Dinosaur National Monument, which is well-signed with geological unit names, dates, and fossil types -- great to see!  Highway 64 took me from Dinosaur to Meeker, then 13 to Rifle on Highway 70.  From there it was a quick ride to Carbondale -- where I staged for the next day's ride over Independence Pass.  I stayed in another KOA cabin; I've found that while the motorcycle's luggage is very limiting in what I can carry, the bulk of what I'm wearing (leathers, boots, gloves, helmet) is considerable -- and so my tiny tent is pretty cramped.  This, plus the rain, plus the wish for a quick (if not particularly early) departure in the morning has made the KOA cabins pretty close to ideal.

The White River, running along Colorado Highway 64 west of Meeker.

After unloading the bike I headed back the ~6 miles into Carbondale for dinner (the aforementioned fajitas), then stopped to gas up before returning to the KOA.  At the gas station there was another motorcyclist, on a real crotch rocket.  As customary, we said hello (just as almost every motorcyclist still waves to every other on the road).  I turned my attention to gassing up, and heard him fire up his bike -- and then proceed to rev the holy hell out of it.  He took off with engine screaming and bouncing off the rev limiter.  I turned to watch, just in time to see his bike sliding down the road, sparks flying, rider also sliding.  What. An. Idiot.  I think he was trying to wheelie, and lost control.  Please note that I don't ride this way!  I then rode back to the campground, in the dark, down the narrow country road -- eyes straining for deer.  I hate riding after dark, and avoid it whenever possible.  (Not a deer was seen.)