George and Eric's Motorcycle Adventures: Margot Was Right!

Today was quite an adventure. We opened the hotel restaurant at 7 a.m. and wolfed down granola and fruit and then hoofed it to the bus stop in order to catch the 7:30 shuttle to Zion National Park. We were amongst the first to arrive, making our ascent to Angel Landing (I'm calling it "Red Sox Landing" for the next week) a quiet and peaceful one. The trek was as strenous as it was billed. Margot told me two months ago to workout in prepartion. I wish I had listened. My quads and calves will be suffering for awhile.
The key to making it to the summit was to not look down. There were times when the trail was three feet wide and the drop was 2,000 feet. If you have a fear of heights, stay away. This place is not for you. That said, it was not as scary as rte. 15 with the hefty wind gusts. Every biker we have encountered has shared stories of their experience with the winds over the past week. Throughout the west the winds have been severe. Bikers have been grounded everywhere.
Back to the hike; the summit was magnificent (see photos and video below). I got a little grief for hiking with shorts with white socks. Even the Germans teased me. What's up with that? A Dutch guy came to my defense. He said that I could easily change the color of my socks in Photoshop. I might have to take him up on that.
Have any of you heard of the rock band "Killers"? The Dutch guy was their sound director and just finished a five week U.S. tour with them.
The descent was tough, made more so by the big crowds behind us. The round trip was about 3.5 hours, not bad for a couple of older guys. I think the youngsters were a bit suprised to see us coming off the top. A nice ego stroke for us.
30 minutes after we finished, the winds picked up, the temp dropped significantly and the rains began. I felt so bad for those people up there. There was no protection and the rocks must have been very slippery. I hope everyone was ok.
We intended to move on to Bryce Canyon today but the rain didn't subside until after 4 p.m., too late for us to leave, especially with the wet roads. It's only 90 miles but lots of hairpin turns; not suitable for inexperienced motorcyclist. So, we are here in Zion for another night.
We'll get up very early tomorrow to head to Bryce. The remaining question is whether we will then go to Capital Reef after that. Capital Reef is another 130 miles. Eric wants to go. I'm uncertain. That's a lot of riding and will require 400+ miles for our return to Las Vegas. That's a lot for two days. We'll see. Hopefully there is a compromise to be had.
Check out the Youtube videos below... I'm not sure the videos give justice to the challenge of our hike today. Check them out anyway.
Had a great dinner tonight at the Wicked Dog. The couple next to us got engaged. The guy got down on his knees in front of a packed dining room. She accepted and the place erupted with applause. I thought Eric might cry.

That's it for now. Until tomorrow...
- George

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Eric's take. Great hike. The top was so hairy that there were cables/chains that you grabbed to get yourself up this mini Matterhorn. Virtually unclimbable we thought at the summit until we were joined by three "stout" Amish women and a nice man who told us he was 87 which was not far off what I thought. But we had a great hike. On the way down I bet George that I would not use the same salutation to each group of the ascending throngs. But the truth is that there are only so many derivations of "hi there" or "howdy" so George won after 36 groups when I repeated "hi there" to a middle aged man who showed George a picture of his deceased wife that was pinned to his chest. The hike was in her honor, he said. Pretty moving actually.

Rare rain in the afternoon but it broke at 4 and we went for a nice ride leaving out of Zion toward Bryce. Had an eventful and a tasty dinner. The couple next to us proposed to each other in the dining room and there was some confusion in the applause and mayhem that followed after excited inquiry from our server as to whether George and I were "together" and might follow suit. Not this summer.

George says I can only say magnificent once a day so this is it. Off to Bryce and snow tomorrow Margot R: we will be very careful.

Videos;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwyThB-U_Sk&feature=youtube_gdata

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xnvb0JNbDQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_nUD9LptVA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMGWC9PCK7E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugss_Wb64sw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMsWK9kF-Jc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugss_Wb64sw