July 2 - Monday - Lehi UT to Grand Junction CO - 325 miles

I checked my weather forecast site mostly to see how hot it was going to be back home, but also to see how smug I could be, and uh-oh, looks like I am going to see some high temps, unless I stay up in elevation.
There are several non-interstate ways to get to Grand Junction and one backtracked where I came in last night, and the other looked too flat (and hot). I told the nice Google Maps lady the route I wanted to take, but as she has done before, once on the road she says she has found a quicker way, please tap "no thanks" if you want to continue on the original route. Well it takes all of my limbs to operate this motorcycle so there is no way I can tap anything. So for the next 20 minutes she tells me (politely) to turn around. I finally just turn her off and go with my hand scribbled notes in the tank bag. She is extremely helpful find the last few tricky turns in a city, but can't do big picture.

The main drag that connects Lehi to Orem and Provo is pretty busy, but I just take my time and double check all the signs. I had to loop around a block or two while and accident cleared but then I was on my way out of town. I saw 10 or so small wind turbines only about 150 ft off the ground all pointed into a canyon, all spinning, and sure enough, it was the canyon I was going through which meant a heavy headwind. Other than the wind, this road was great and wisked me out of the Salt Lake valley and into the dry rolling hills of central Utah.

The temperature was great, 60-70 all morning and did not get hot until the afternoon.
Coffee stop at a big gas station on an Indian reservation. An older native American guy saw the plate and chatted me up about where I was going, how dry it had been (which I thanked him for) and the upcoming July 4th day. Lots of American flags everywhere, reservation or not.
Then it got dryer and more sparse, but there is still something peaceful about sparse.
I filled the tank every time I had less than half a tank and a station presented itself.

Then it got really really sparse. No water, no cattle, no nothing. I turned Google back on when it was pretty obvious there was only one way (I know, then why use it), but she found a few interesting twisty roads up canyons where you can still see veins of coal exposed in the rock walls. There were coal mines up where starting in the late 1800's right up until oil took over. Same formula, discover coal, convince the railroad to come, extract the coal for 50 years, close the mine when trains convert to diesel.
It started getting hot as I crossed over into Colorado. Wester Colorado has surprised me a few times because it is very different than the Rocky Mountain stereotype. Last year my brother and I found Utah-like red rocks and canyons in mid-western Colorado. I just entered north western Colorado, and it if desolate like Utah.

The temperature got up the mid-90's and I finally started climbing into mountain passes with a lot more grass and trees growing. The temps dropped to the mid-802 and the road got really twisty and pretty again. Goodbye desert.
They had just re-paved the lower 80% of the road in this twisty pass which was a blast to ride down through, but the top part was really rough so you had to keep your speed down.
As I came down off this mountain range into the valley just west of Grand Junction, the temperature really rose. I saw it kiss 100 degF at one point but it settled in at 98 or 99 degrees. I was supposed to cross the railroad tracks somewhere near the motel, but The railroad guy stopped me and said the signaling stuff was "all messed up" and I couldn't cross the tracks. I told him I could weave through the gates, but that sounded iffy to him. He said there was another place a mile down the tracks.

It was 99 in the shade at the motel but the AC (thanks you engineers) worked great. Hannah called and we caught up on her boat adventure.
I walked down the street and had a light supper and met a wonderful couple travelling from Washington DC, loving retirement. Very pleasant evening chatting with them.
Hopefully it will cool off tonight. I should finish this up so I can get up early and get going. Boulder valley tomorrow to talk to the motorcycle shop guys about getting the X300 checked out so I can get back home. Also check in with my cousin Laura and catch up on family genealogy stuff.

Odometer = 26,326