Road Less Traveled - A Documentary by James Beatty

Day-26

August 1, 2006

A lack of communication, missed check points, and a single incident created quite a bit of panic and chaos for all of us...

We awoke very early for what was expected to be an easy but long ride out to Fillmore, Utah. On our adventure, we have to learn not to rely on our expectations even if we think they are 99% sure. The day was easily our longest day so far and was by far the most trying for everybody. A lack of communication, missed check points, and a single bizarre insident created quite a bit of panic and chaos for all of us.

The day started out as any other. We woke up very early, only to leave many, many hours later. After breakfast we said good-bye to Britton and then began the bike preparations for the day. Michael would be riding in the chase vehicle today to have a day off the bike and to help with the off-trail footage. Because of this we had to transfer one of the bike-cams and some wiring from Michael’s bike to James’. There was also a number of different equipment components that we needed to have shipped to us, which required some coordination and careful planning of a drop-off location somewhere within the next couple of days. This took quite a bit longer than expected. We were finally off…6-1/2 hours after we awoke.

Because of the late start James and Steven decided they would not ride the entire trail because of the time restraints and instead selected a couple of key locations along the trail for the chase vehicle to meet up with them and get some footage. The first location was an amazing bridge that sat over 300 feet above a canyon where the trail ran through.

The second rendezvous location wasn’t as easy to locate, but after driving about 40 minutes, the chase vehicle spotted James and Steven on the trail just a few hundred feet from the main highway. The guys were repairing James’ leaking gas tank…again.

Once the repair was completed the guys were ready to ride and our next planned shot was to be of the guys riding the trail alongside the Interstate. There was a long stretch on which the chase vehicle would be driving right along side of them and they would cross under the highway to reach the other side. The scenery was spectacular all along the highway in this part of western Utah, but the frustrated crew in the chase vehicle couldn’t locate the riders. Several hours later, with no word from the brothers, another potentially trip-ending trail-side problem occurred for the riders, but the chase vehicle had no idea what the brothers were dealing with. It was now very late in the day and several hours without communication had the chase vehicle contemplating the next steps. Miles and miles of driving up and down the Interstate searching for a visual or verbal sign from the riders on our CB’s or cell phones came up empty. It’s was now several hours past sunset and the crew in the chase vehicle were getting more worried and struggling with what to do next, not knowing where the riders were and not knowing the reason or the severity of their delay. As early evening became late evening with still no word from the brothers, the options became very limited. Michael volunteered to take his motorcycle off the trailer and ride solo to where we expected the trail to meet with the road. That plan was voted down as it was too risky to let one rider go off on his own in the dark with little knowledge of how technical the trail might be. The last thing the crew need was the third rider missing too. Another option voted down was to call the authorities for a Search and Rescue, which at his point went against our agreed upon contingency plan. So we waited…and waited….and waited.

Feeling helpless, the crew decided to drive down the highway until they found reception for their cell phones in hopes that the riders tried to contact them. Michael waited at the rest stop, which was the designated rendezvous place, in case James and Steven showed up, while Chris and Mathew drove off in the chase vehicle hoping to get a signal on their cell phones. After driving nearly 40 minutes, Chris found what seemed like a one square foot area where he had faint reception on his cell phone. James left a message. It was from a few hours earlier. The message James left was very brief and in his haste, he failed to describe the situation they were in and didn’t explain where they were. Now the crew was getting really worried – and what the crew didn’t know at the time was that James and Steven were only a few miles away from them. Midnight came and went and now the chase crew was more worried than ever. Was it now time to call for a search and rescue? The crew took a vote on what to do next and decided to get take the chase vehicle on the trail and backtrack as far as we felt it was safe for the truck to go. With Michael in the driver’s seat, Chris suggested taking a portion of the path which James and Steven were not even supposed to be on, but was a direct route out to the Interstate. Ten miles down this isolated dirt road and after more than seven hours of tense waiting and worrying, Michael and Chris saw a single motorcycle headlight off in the distance. It was the two brothers riding two-up on Steven’s bike! The riders were finally found…minus one bike! What happened? Can the documentary continue? James and Steven led us back to the missing bike. It wasn’t good. This could easily end the trip right now. Seven-plus hours of frantic waiting turned into a happy reunion for all the Road Less Traveled riders and crew.

By 3:30 in the morning, we were all packed up and ready to move on. Michael, seeing the obvious exhaustion on the faces of the two brothers after all they had been through, convinced the brothers to put their bikes up on the trailer and catch up on much needed rest in the chase vehicle. With limited space on the trailer, Michael volunteered to ride his motorcycle the next 2-1/2 hours to the next planned destination, following the chase vehicle and arriving at the motel by 6:00am the next morning.