Torrey & Blanding Utah

When talking to the locals of SLC, many of them suggested that it was worthwhile to make a trip down to Moab. Since I didn't really know any good routes, I googled "motorcycle tour salt lake to Moab" and found a tour company who did it in 4 days. After ripping off their route and booking the hotels, I set off from SLC to Torrey, a small country town.

View from my hotel in Torrey

The highway out of SLC was pretty hairy, there was a lot of traffic and the surface was pretty subpar. However it gradually started to turn into country highway.

As I was riding towards Torrey I noticed a huge storm cloud in the distance. I thought to myself "I really hope I'm heading away from that". In about 30 minutes it became very apparent that I was not. This was the first wet weather I've had so far in the US.

What was really off-putting was the lightning, I was in big open fields with no trees or buildings, and the lightning was literally striking about 400-500 meters in front of me, maybe even closer. There wasn't much I could do, if I had stopped I'd just be a stationary lighting rod rather than a moving one. I eventually found a RV in front of me, which I stuck close to, my theory being that the lighting would strike them before me.

When I arrived at Torrey I was spoke to a couple of Harley riders, they seemed to get it worse as they got hail as well.

View for the rear of my Hotel in Torrey.

Multicolored mountain in Torrey.

Another view from Torrey.

The next day I set off to Blanding. This day had the most spectacular landscape yet, almost jaw-dropping views. I'm not really a "landscape" guy, I'm more into experiencing the culture over here, but the views were fucking amazing. It is the only time where I've ever ridden over a hill and see the panoramas below and say "holy fuck" out loud. I'm so glad the GoPro was attached this time.

Just outside of Torrey.

Close up of the Mesa.

For a while the landscape changed dramatically.

Me with the factory Mesa.

Climbed a hill and took a photo, that's my bike down there.

Roads were in pretty damn good condition.

Lots of red rocks.

Stopped to get a photo of a scenic outlook. Visibility range was massive.

From the GoPro.

Ditto.

More GoPro.

Some of e roads were uncanny, they reminded me of a ride in Movie World. The rocks and the mesas combined with the well maintained roads made the experiance pretty surreal. There are heaps more photos, check out my Utah album.

After arriving in Blanding (I was actually too-close-for-comfort to empty on my fuel gauge) I checked into the Super 8. I really felt like a beer, but after asking where the bars are to one of the restaurant staff I was informed this was a dry town! First one so far. In addition to this, my discovered that my iPhone had shat itself probably due to the heat. So the next few days will be without a phone and GPS. Music still seemed to work on it though.