I had a great night’s sleep in the super-comfy bed at the Quality Inn in Steamboat Springs, after nearly 10 hours of sleep, I was up and ready for the complimentary breakfast shortly after they started at 6:00am. It was also a great breakfast offering with the full spread of hot options, cold options as well as baked goods and pretty fair coffee. After breakfast, it was back up to my room to don my riding gear, fill my hydro pack with ice from the ice machine. I was ready to hit the road by 7:00am, which was good, since today’s plan was to cover the most miles I’d done on the entire trip, going from Northwestern Colorado all the way across Utah and into eastern Nevada 545 miles.
I was out onto US-40 heading westbound out of Steamboat Springs, Colorado just before sunrise following along the Yampa River Valley. With the elevation, the early morning temperature was cold enough to trigger the motorcycle’s ice warning on the dash. My initial plan was to try to knock out as many miles as I could as early as possible while I felt fresh. That being said, I tried to make it at least 100 miles on my first stint on the bike before taking a break.
That took me close enough to start seeing signs for an upcoming town called Dinosaur??? My curiosity was piqued, and I decided that would be my first stop. As I got close to Dinosaur, Colorado I also spotted signs that Dinosaur National Monument was coming up. I hadn’t noticed it in my route planning the previous days, but heck, when was I next going to be able to check out Dinosaur National Monument? I decided to stop in and check it out.
In the Canyon Visitor Center, I chatted with some fellow ice hockey fans of the Colorado Avalanche who were out for a week-long trip around Utah from Denver about the recently relocated team new to Utah, for now called the Utah Hockey Club and the excitement of their inaugural season this year. I also chatted with the park ranger who was attending the center to ask what I should see if I had only an hour or so to visit. She suggested that I stop in at the next visitor center down the road at the Quarry Visitor Center near Jensen, Utah about 20 miles (30 km) farther up the road to check out both a short hike, and a display of dinosaur fossils there. With that advice in hand, I bid the touring hockey fans adieu and jumped back on the bike to go see dinosaurs!
When I turned off the highway at the signs for Quarry Visitor Center, it was a lot busier there than it had been at the Canyon Visitor Center. I asked the park rangers where to find the fossils, and they told me that to get to get up there I could either take a short half-mile hike or take the bus up to the top of the nearby hill. Knowing that I’d have a lot of time left on the bike, I decided to take the walk to stretch my legs and see the sights along the way. The Utah scenery was nice as I hiked my way up to the Quarry Exhibit Hall.
Inside, I was taken aback by the sight of a 100′ high by 300′ long (30m high by 100m long) wall of dinosaur fossils covering just about the entire thing enclosed in the building! It turns out, the area was discovered around 1905 shortly after the area was settled by European American settlers and it had so many dinosaur fossils that it was difficult not to strike fossilized bones in the soils nearby. The site had contributed nearly entire fossilized dinosaur skeletons to over a dozen museums across the United States and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada as well! What a site!
After some moments of taking it all in, I checked the time and realized I’d better head back down to the bike. Luckily for me, the bus had just arrived and the driver asked if I was ready to head down in her empty bus. Yes please!
Back on the bike, by this point it was nearly 11:30, and I was only about 140 miles in, so it was time to go, but I was also hungry for lunch and some more coffee, so I made my way to Vernal before stopping for a coffee and bagel. When I left the Beans and Brews coffee shop, a guy had parked and incredible camping and overlanding rig with a kayak and Honda CRF250L Rally on the back. I noticed that the Rally had a custom Corbin seat on it, and its owner came out as I was suiting up. I asked him what he thought of the seat, since I’m interested in getting a better seat for my own CRF300L Rally. He told me the new seat was much nicer for long distances. Maybe something to keep emptying the pocketbook on when I get home?
Back out on the bike it was back onto US-40 westbound for a while until I got to Duchesne, Utah where I turned left onto US-191 south. This road had a lot of long flagger-controlled one-lane traffic sections, which was a real drag for making progress. That and a ton of trucks carrying what seemed to be crude oil from a pump jack field somewhere ahead, but the scenery was incredible and the road was great and twisty when it freed up.
Eventually US-191 began climbing up out of the valley it had been following, and eventually reached an unnamed summit at 9111′ (2,777 m), but then started descending much faster down the back side. Not far down the road, my phone prompted me to take a right hand turn onto a much smaller road, Emma Park Road. This road looked like it might go to dirt on me, which initially made me a bit nervous, but the pavement kept up just fine as I made my way westbound. It turned out Emma Park was a shortcut that saved almost 30 miles (20 km) of distance in getting to the junction with US-6 westbound.
US-6 was a much larger road that was heading ever downward toward Provo, Utah. By the time I made it there, I had covered another hundred miles, and my butt and knees were once again in need of a break. I stopped for gas, snack and a break, before tracing a route around the southern extent of the Provo suburbs, eventually crossing under Interstate 15 and continuing westbound on US-6. It was a long way on US-6 out to Delta, Utah and the junction with US-50 westbound.
In Delta, it was another stop for gas, I decided to book my motel in Ely, Nevada before going out on the “loneliest road in America”. The signs said it was about 130 miles (210 km) to Ely, Nevada from there, with nothing marked on the distance sign between. The sign wasn’t kidding. It was 80 miles (130 km) of absolutely nothing but desert shrubbery until I got to the Nevada state line and the Border Casino. My butt was screaming for another break, so I stopped for another snack and a walk around while I snapped some pictures with the Utah sign.
One more stint on the bike, mercifully only 50 miles (80 km) and with the sun starting to set, I approached Ely. I found my motel right along the main drag. Some Harley riders out of Sacramento were out in front of the motel enjoying some adult beverages and tried to impress me with the amount of dead bugs on their bikes and their riding chops, having ridden from Green River. They stopped trying to show off when they caught a closer look at my bug-encrusted GS!
I walked over and grabbed some tasty pollo asada at the La Fiesta Mexican restaurant just up the road from the motel before returning and falling right asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. What a day! All told, with the diversions to Dinosaur National Monument, I had just over 560 miles on the clock for the day! Tomorrow, with any luck, I’d be sleeping in my own bed. Hooray!
