It is a good thing that Tim has roughly a decade of experience in what can be only described as my “lucid understanding regarding the passage of time.” Or to put it another way, when on Thursday morning I said, “I want to be on the road by 8am,” what I really meant was 11am…ehh, maybe 11:19am. So much for our early start out of Las Vegas, and any hope of avoiding the brain frying heat, but our spirits were high, and ultimately, our timetable is self-imposed.
Getting on the road, the miles went by considerably fast…as least as fast as they can when it is again 104 degrees outside. Despite this though, we just couldn’t overcome the setbacks created by our late departure. Instead of the 270 miles to Bryce Canyon, we had to settle for a much shorter 180 mile trip to Zion — not that we are complaining though.
Coming out the beautiful canyons in Arizona, along I-15, we crossed into Utah. We quickly diverted our route to a town called Hurricane, and onto State Route 9, which true to reports, was absolutely picturesque. If we hadn’t been under pressure to get into the Zion and get a campsite before they filled up, we easily could have spent a couple hours photographing the ten miles or so to the park entrance. Our rush was probably unnecessary, as the post-Labor Day crowds were non-existent in the park, but another long-day and ride into the night wasn’t something Tim or I cared to repeat.
After grabbing food from the local market, and setting up camp, I made my way back out to SR-9 in hopes of catching some of those missed shots, along with some aspiration that the sun setting against the mesa walls would provide even more spectacle. I was wrong in that endeavor, just as I was wrong about the balance point on the BMW R1200GS.
You see, while perfecting what I am sure will be the next great photography style while mounted on motorcycle (helmet and gloves still on), I shifted my weight to abruptly and tipped the GS over to the ground. The cylinder heads show a bit of bruising for my efforts in photography, but those marks are nothing compared to the bruises on my ego. Tim isn’t likely to let me forget it anytime soon as well.
Getting our first night under the stars, the weather is still hot and slightly humid. That is all supposed to change though, as cold and rainy weather awaits us. It sounds refreshing now, but like the rain in Mojave, we know it can be its own curse.
Photo: © 2013 Jensen Beeler / Asphalt & Rubber – Creative Commons – Attribution 3.0
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