May 21st...
Eric and I had to work, Gary and Singh were already on their bikes in the SLC area waiting to meet up with us on the 22nd. After a painfully long day at work, Mandy drove me in to the airport where I met up with Eric for our flight. Hugs and kisses and we will see you in 16 days!
The flight was uneventful and we arrived in SLC around 0930 on the 22nd. No luggage to collect so we walked out and found Jamie waiting for us. Jamie works for BMW Motorcycles of Utah and arranged the storage of our bikes at her shop. I told her what time we were getting in to SLC and she offered to pick us up on the way to work! Funny thing is that she used to live in Wasilla herself. It is a small world for sure!
A short drive to the shop in Sandy, UT and Jamie got us settled with our bikes still in the crates and even brought us fresh coffee! The other shop guys were constantly offering to help and lending a hand as we were unpacking the bikes. Customer service was great!
Gary and Singh arrived while we were working on the bikes, it was good to see them and brought a sense of reality to the trip. After a short time with the bikes, Eric and I had them back together and ready to get new tires. We wheeled them around to the shop and turned them over to the mechanics. In no time they were brought back out sporting brand new Tourance tires. We tinkered with gear for a while, ate some food, watched the stunt rider Chris "Teach" McNeill and eventually worked up the nerve to head out!
We finally got out of the parking lot and managed to lose Singh within the first 1/4 mile! Eric, Gary and I headed directly to the gas station and Singh thought we hit the interstate... After leaving messages on his cell, he called us back and we headed out to meet him at Spanish Fork Rd. The trip was officially underway!
We caught up with Singh at the exit for Spanish Fork and promptly lost him again when he missed a light and we pulled off to double check our route against the map. We saw him drive by, but weren't able to catch him for about 15 miles past our turn! We HAD to get his intercom system up and running! The rest of us could talk to each other but he hadn't figured out the wiring on his bike yet. Finally we tracked him down and stuck him in the middle of the group. Our first photos were of a wind farm near Spanish Fork.
More to come as we put the pictures together!!
