Road Less Traveled - A Documentary by James Beatty

Day-23

July 29, 2006

Destination: Moab - only a sand stones throw from Monticello...

We began our day in Monticello Utah. After a quick breakfast we headed 40 miles north to Moab. The scenery as we approached Moab was breath-taking but it was just a hint of the spectacular scenery we would experience later in the day.

Once in Moab our first priority was to get the oil changed in the bikes and put on a new set of tires for Steven. We were given the name of a motorcycle shop in Moab by Sam Correro (www.transamtrail.com) who recommended this small shop, and so our first stop was to do some preventative maintenance on the bikes.

We met-up with Fred Hink, owner of Arrowhead Motorsports, a soft spoken, mild tempered man with a big heart. His motorcycle shop was exactly what we needed. “His shop is so interesting because he has a little house in a regular neighborhood, and then this big shop in the backyard” explains James. “It’s so wild”.

Fred happily agreed to let us use his shop to change the oil in our motorcycles while he put new two new tires on Steven’s bike. Everyone was busy working in the hot sun (another 100+ degree day) when Fred took our minds off the heat by telling us stories of his riding adventures in Utah, Colorado, and Nevada. He also described the Arches National Park, a planned stop for our crew after our bike maintenance. Finally the bikes were finished…or were they? While putting James’ bike back together, we discovered that the rear rack on his Honda had broken at one of the rack support mounts. Fortunately for us, Fred came to the rescue and offered to weld the broken mount. To top it all off, Fred wouldn’t accept any payment from James. To a struggling pocketbook it was a tremendous help for which we were all very grateful. What a guy…and all on his day off too! Fred was a true hero for us today.

We left Fred’s shop and headed off to Arches National Park in time to view the sun set. Arches N.P. was absolutely stunning. “The scenery was mind-blowing” said James. “If you haven’t been there, you should consider going. Wow!” The crew enjoyed climbing on the double arches where a shot from the Indiana Jones Trilogy was filmed. They saw the Balancing Rock and witnessed the sunset behind the Delicate Arch and the canyon it overlooks.

After sunset we all headed back into Moab for some food. We had been in contact with a friend of Michael’s who knows the riding trails of Moab very well and who is an excellent rider, and planned on meeting us at the restaurant. After we ordered dinner, Britton Purser arrived looking like a “Stealth Rider” with his all black dual-sport bike, all black riding gear and a white helmet. Britton was riding a KTM designed to race the Dakar – an amazing off-road race across Africa - considered by many to be one of the most, if not THE most difficult race in the world. He was pretty bad-ass and he had ridden an hour and a half just so he could ride the White Rim Trail with James, Steven and Michael the next morning. He had dinner with us and then stayed the night with us at the Apache Motel – famous for its western celebrities back in the 50’s. John Wayne always stayed there while filming in the area as did others such as John Ford.

Photography Copyright © 2006 Motorrad Media. All Rights Reserved.

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