Lunch Ride that went long

toad451

On Friday 8/22, me and a few guys from work saddled up at noon for a ride up the the Shooting Star Saloon. This bar is the oldest and longest continually open bar in the state of Utah. They serve a Star Burger that is pretty good, especially if you like knackwurst.

Anyway, we started out on our journey by going up Emigration Canyon. This canyon has two hairpin turns but is mostly straight up and down. This takes to a Hwy 65 which gives you the option to go right and back to the I80 or left which then takes you over to East Canyon and down to the East Canyon Reservoir State Park. We go left, of course and travel to the summit through a few nice twists and turns but the best part is the view

Here we are at the summit of East Canyon.


The road down is full of great road and lots of scenery, but when you get close to the bottom, there are a few places in the road the need to be fixed. At the bottom you are right at East Canyon Reservoir State Park. The reservoir isn't much to look at as it isn't anywhere near capacity. The road that goes past the dam can be a little dangerous as there were lots of spots where rocks and dirt had fallen down into the road.

We traveled on to Morgan and over to Mountain Green. It's a very nice two lane road with a few twists and turns. Lots of farm land right at the base of the mountains. Very beautiful country. Mt Green is where we head up over a road called Trappers Loop. We had stopped at a Gas Station for a short break and a fellow HD rider was there as well. We chatted a bit then my group was ready to get going again. I finished up my conversation with this other rider and mounted up to head over the loop. I got out on the highway and I could not see anyone from my group anywhere. They had full throttled it on up the road and left me in the dust. I guess I shouldn't have talked so long.

I pulled my way over Trappers at a pretty good clip, passing cars (it's two lane if you're going up hill) and having fun. I caught up with my group on the downside as they got caught behind a big truck hauling some construction equipment. We were then in Huntington, Utah and stopped at the Shooting Star for lunch.

Shooting Star Saloon


Parking the Bikes


Money on the ceiling


300Lb St. Bernard Head


We had a couple of beers and a Star Burger. The Star Burger is 2 patties, special sauce, cheese and a knackwurst to top it off. It may seem like a gut bomb but it is really good. The bar is a really unique place with writing on the walls, money on the ceilings and animal head all over the place. There are even patches from the Air Force pilots who come up from Hill Air Force base. Once we were finished there we began our ride back, which is the exciting part of the story.

We decided to go back the same way we came instead of short cutting it on the freeways. The ride back over Trappers Loop became somewhat of a race to get to the other side. Since the guys on the crotch rockets were giving us only a 3 minute head start, I figured getting to the top was the real race. I almost made it before one of the guys caught up to and passed me. I would have beat him to the top but a small box truck decided that I wasn't going to pass him, so I had to slow down as he tried to get around a couple of cars.

We went back through Morgan and on the the East Canyon Reservoir. I was bringing up the rear when I saw one of the riders pull over. I pulled up just after she had got off her bike and she's rubbing her belly, a bee or wasp of some kind had stung her. That wasn't the worst of it, her rear tire was flat.



We gathered everyone back up and decided on a plan of attack. We sent one guy over to the marina to try and find some fix-a-flat. A couple of others got on their phones to try and round up a truck and/or trailer. The fix-a-flat didn't work and what we found out on the 2nd can was that the valve stem was loose. So the air from the fix-a-flat would fill the tire, but as soon as we let the pressure of the valve stem it would drain right back out. Not good. Our attempts to find a mode of transportation wasn't going much better. Most of the people they called didn't know where we were at. I guess it's only the boaters, locals and motorcycle enthusiasts that use this road.

On the side of the road.


We finally got a hold of someone that had a truck and kind of knew where we were. We passed the time by telling jokes and throwing rocks into the reservoir. It was quite a heave since the waterline is so low. The truck finally showed up and we loaded the bike into the back and strapped it down.



The ride home was uneventful for the most part. It got pretty cold as we climbed up through East Canyon, I wasn't prepared for that. We followed the truck with the motorcycle back to Salt Lake and unloaded it. I finally reached home around 9 pm. It was a very long day. Overall we all had a great time even with the flat tire problem.

Here is a link to a map of the ride:
Harley-Davidson - Ride Planner - Shared Ride Plan

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glider

Great pics, too bad about the flat tire, that can sure ruin the day for you.

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tlyoungb

Sounds like ya'll had a good ride, but the flat tire can be a bummer. How about the bee sting. Hope she was ok. Those bee stings can be pretty bad.

Hobbit

what a cool looking ride, hope she ok after the bee sting and that flat gets fixed soon, thanks for the pics

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Please stop by the "self help section" for maintenance tips, diagnostic codes and much more.
>>Self Help Information and Tips<< click me!