July 1st 2023 – Salt Lake City, UT

We left Phoenix together with Paul early in the morning. The temperatures should climb to 38 ℃/110 ℉ in the valley during the day. To avoid roads with speed limits unsuitable for the postie bike, we soon traveled on dirt roads through the mountains north of the city.

It was an amazing ride, but Katrine was very challenged by the heat and the road conditions.

Early afternoon she was done for and we decided to split up with Paul (who continued on dirt roads) and take an easier paved route. Late in the afternoon we met up with him briefly in Jerome. He wanted to wild camp. Katrine needed to recuperate so we decided to spend the night at a motel in Munds Park.

The next morning we met up with Paul again for breakfast in Williams. It’s a charming little town. The last one on Route 66 to be bypassed by I40.

Well fed and watered we continued north together. Soon we reached The Grand Canyon.

At one of the many stops along the canyon Paul noticed that the postie bike was leaking a bit of oil. When he undid the filler cap to measure the oil level, the oil came pouring out. The bike was running fine so he decided to continue. In the afternoon we reached Cameron. It was hot and the wind had picked up. Being outside was like standing in front of a giant hair dryer. We bought a permit to camp on Navajo land and spend the next couple of hours at Burger King waiting for the temperatures to become more manageable.

We had only just left Cameron when the postie bike cut out for a few seconds. We pull over. Paul needs to reevaluate the situation. His planned route to Alaska would take him into remote parts of the country and he had lost faith in his bike. He decided to call it quits. He had put a lot of effort into planning his trip and it was clearly not an easy decision to make.

We said our goodbyes. Paul headed home. Katrine and I left the tarmac to travel towards The Grand Canyon on gravel roads.

The plan was to reach a special camp spot at the rim where Little Colorado River joins the Colorado River. We were unable to get there before dark and ended up camping at another beautiful spot in the middle of nowhere. We put the tent up without the fly. The view of the night sky was amazing.

After a good night’s sleep we packed up camp and continued north on dirt roads through Navajo land. Great riding and stunning views.

Back on Tarmac we followed US89 north. Soon we crossed the border into Utah.  Early in the afternoon we stopped in the small town of Hatch. We got a room  at Hatch Station. I went for a run to get some exercise and to explore the area. I clearly felt that we were at almost 7000 feet elevation. Back from the run I cleaned one of the front fork’s dust seals on Katrine’s bike. It had been leaking ever so slightly.

For the first time since arriving in the US we woke to a slightly chilly morning. It was nice. Soon after we left Hatch we turned off US89 to follow Scenic Byway 12 through Bryce Canyon. We then turned north and stayed mostly on smaller secondary roads all the way to Salt Lake City. As we reached the city we got on the highway and zipped through traffic using the HOV lane. Late in the afternoon we arrived at Ron’s place right next to The Capitol Building. Ron is a good friend of ours. We got to know him 10 years ago when he was traveling through Denmark on his Super Ténéré and stayed with us for a while.

The first night Ron invited us out for beer and tacos at Fishers – a local micro brewery. Tasty food and tasty beer!The next day we did a 3 hour hike up into the hills behind the city. The trail starts right next to Ron’s place.

In the evening after dinner we enjoyed  a beer on the balcony when the neighbor called out inviting us over for wine and cookies. We accepted. It was fun and it became late before we got to bed.

We’ll be staying with Ron at least until early next week. His wife Anne, that we know from another trip they did to Denmark, is on a business trip to Paris. She’ll arrive back in SLC on Sunday and we would love to say hello. Besides that I need new tires for my bike. There is still plenty of meat back on my current tires, but the front is cupping really bad. It makes riding at certain speeds a pain in the ass. With help from Ron, I’ve managed to secure a set of Shinko 705 locally that I’ll get fitted on Monday.

For the next few days we’ll be hanging out in SLC, catching up with Ron and enjoying life.