I live in NJ but have a condo in Fountain Hills, AZ and keep a Roadstar out there. Last week I flew into Phoenix, and rode my bike the 500 miles up to Cedar City, UT to meet up and ride with some friends. Amazing trip, amazing scenery. Below is a link to my PhotoBucket account with all the pics and videos.

http://s422.photobucket.com/albums/pp301/moespeeds/UT%20Oct%202010/

And here are some of the highlights...

Thats nice man! thanks for shareing.

A couple of my buddies are out in Zion a week or so ago and got caught in the rain and snow flurries. They headed down to Lake Mead and it warmed up. Looks awesome.

OK, Utah it is for the M&G

By the looks of the pics, you had a great time. By the way, I see that white stuff and I'm from Central Texas. What was the temp.....Steve.

Very nice.

Thanks for posting the pics.

Doc

Well, I had never been north of the Grand Canyon, but when I used Google maps to plot my route up there, it read about 430 miles. I had a hellishly long day Fri. Woke up at 4AM NJ time to catch my 6:30 flight into PHX. Arrived 12 PHX time after a stopover in Chicago. Hopped on the bike and started going north, hoping to make the 8 hour ride by nightfall. One thing about riding in the remote areas out there, you don't wanna do it at night! I made it as far as Lake Powell before the sun set, and still had 150 miles to go. I decided to press on a little further, so I threw on my chaps and cold weather gear and got going. I got into Kanab, UT and it was in the mid to low 50's. By shear luck I pulled into a gas station and some guys in an RV started chatting with me, and informed me that my current route going Rt 14 directly to Cedar City was a really bad idea on a motorcycle at night. I had to go around the mountain, adding about 70 miles to my trip, but I made Cedar City around 11PM, temps were in the low 40's/high 30's. My total riding time was around 10 hours, going so far in the dark really slowed me down. I found out later that weekend that riding over Rt14 at night would have been disastrous. It goes up to almost 11k feet, and there was about 8" of snow on the side of the road that was melting during the day, running across the road, then freezing at night. That's the road you see in the snow pics. Temps during the day were in the mid to low 50's but at night would go below freezing up there. I've done a ton of riding around AZ, and have ridden in temps as low as 25 degrees, but it's gotta be dry!

I grew up in Utah. Back in my 20's I rode motocross there. I recall the trips every Easter to Nephi, UT where we rode at a place called "Little Sahara". It was a desert (blow sand mountains that moved with the wind). I never rode a street bike out there. Seeing these pictures as well as my current love for the Roadstar, I think I may just put that down on the bucket list! I can always stay with family while out there. YES on the M&G.

Nice Pictures and Story! Thanks for sharing.

Jim

Nice pics... Been there a couple times. It is similar to the Sierra Nevada's in that you don't want caught with your pants down. It's not uncommon to go from 75-80 degrees during the day to 30's at night. If there has been snow, it will melt and become ice exactly as he said. Have to pay attention to the weather and roads closely in the fall/winter and early spring. That's an awesome ride though. Some beautiful canyon walls and scenery!!!
(I'm looking at these pictures and cussing out the U.P.S. guy. Where's my starter!!!) lol