Further North: Highway 139

  So after Fred gets the new tires on, I'm complaining about having to ride through Salt Lake City on the bike to get north.  Oh no, says Fred, ride up to I-70, ride east on I-70 to 139, and ride it up to Vernal, and north from there.  I look at the map, and see that if I go north from Vernal, I can hit Yellowstone again.  Good idea, and I put Plan 139 into operation.  It was an excellent plan, even with I-70 in it.

  I don't have pictures, because I was just riding and enjoying it.  You get on 139 at a little town named Loma, which seems pleasant enough, even if a soccer-mom didn't recognize my motorcycle as another motor vehicle with rights to the space it occupies on the public highway.  The fun doesn't start until you get out of the grass (and therfore oil) lands and up into the hills.  Then it gets exciting.  Up a mountain pass with twists and turns and uphill all tthe way.  The switchbacks were just that:  180 degree turns, all posted at 25 - 35 mph.  On one, with a severe drop-off at the apex, was one of those signs markig the site of a fatal accident.  This sign was for a motorcyclist, with the admonition to "ride safe."  It focused my attention very tightly.

  A mile or two up the hill, I came across another sign, this one that pushed the pucker factor to 11: "Open Range Watch For Cattle."  What?  I have to watch for homeless cows AND steer this 600 pound bike (950 pounds with rider and gear) through tight corners?  There are only so many options when a 950 pound rolling object encounters a semi-stationary 1200 pound object on a roadway when the former is in motion and the latter is not, and all but one of those options ends with a loud "splat" and a bucket of pain.

  But I made it up and down the pass, into beautiful ranchland, and finally to Rangely, Colorado.  But before we get to the two stories about Rangely, I want to emphasize that Highway 139 is worth the ride.  It is both fun and beautiful, and we can't ask for more than that.