Was that a sock that flew off your motorcycle?

And we are off!

Gene and Arlene, Michael’s parents, are accompanying us on part of our trip.

Michael packed and ready to go!

Me, packed and ready to go.

We pulled out of Grantsville and headed over to Tooele and then turned south. Stopped for coffee at Vernon and then crossed over the hills into Eureka. Gene and Arlene were leading the way, and I was second, with Michael bringing up the rear. All of a sudden, I see a black object fly out of the back of Gene’s bike. It looked like a glove, but it was so fast that I wasn’t sure. I pulled over as soon as I could and told Michael something flew off their bike. They were still riding ahead, unaware. We assumed that in an attempt to avoid loosing control of the bike from swerving, they had ran over something in the road, and kicked it up. Michael circled back and glanced at the object and saw it was a sock. Not wanting to pick up a strange sock in the middle of the road, he opted to ignore it and we caught up to his parents later up the road. Turns out it was Arlene’s sock. In a hurry to leave the house in the morning, she accidentally grabbed them off the dresser, thinking they were rolled up glove liners. When she got cold on the bike and realized they were socks, she attempted to put them on anyway when the wayward sock got away.

We rolled into Santaquin for lunch at The Family Tree. The temperatures were colder than Alaska and Michael was regretting not bringing his heated gear.

Santaquin stop for lunch.

My heated grips work on my BMW, so I was doing okay, but Michael blew out his grips a while back and has not corrected that. We rolled into Rocky Mountain ATV in Payson. Gene and Arlene added extra liners to their gear list, as well as replace the lost sock, and we were off to Salina, Utah. Just as we rolled into Salina, it started snowing. We pulled over and everyone put on another layer. I only had one layer to spare and we still needed to cross over an 8300 foot pass near Fish Lake. Brrrr! Arlene’s eyes were getting bigger. Gene rolled with it.

Snow in the air outside Salina, Utah.

The ride went downhill from there (as the road went uphill). The temperature started dropping rapidly, and soon we were riding at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The roads were wet, and there was ice fog cascading across the road. I was leading, and dropped my speed to match conditions and elevations. By the time we crossed at the top we were down to 45 mph. I did not want to find the slick icy spot on the road. Snow was on the sides of the road.

Gene helping Arlene with more layers.

We rolled into Torrey, Utah. We went straight to the Torrey Schoolhouse B&B. Arlene and Gene were shot. We got them inside and offered to go find food and bring it back to them. After calling around, we all decided chicken soup and strawberry shortcakes would do the trick. Michael and I added schnapps to the menu. Not camping, but close enough.

Arlene, at the end of the day, expressing how cold it was.