Zion National Park

Zion Tunnel on a Harley-Davidson

Leave a Comment / Dunn Brothers, Family Rides / /

I havent been riding on the weekends this month like I normally do, just because of work and other commitments, as well as its been pretty cold lately.   This weekend it was warm, and earlier in the week Pat talked about trailering his bikes down to do some riding and leaving them here to do some exploring of southern utah.   Ive done that here ad naseum, as most of my friends think riding to zion is a day of hardcore riding, but Pat is different.    He’s like me, where he likes to explore and see new things make him curious and ride new roads to explore, so friday morning when it was confirmed that he was coming, It made my day.    He showed up with his kids and friday night we hooked up and made plans to show his wife zion the next day.    Robyn was ready to go too, and with my kids wanting to earn babysitting money, as well as a desire to have my kids get to know their cousins, the plan seemed to fit perfectly.   In the morning, we ride.

Mental note to self:  Always remember the smile on Pats face as he pulled up to the convenience store that friday on the fat boy, and how much fun he said he had on that bike.    Also remember he hole shotted me three times on highway 91, even if for a few feet.   Our tires both busted loose.

Robyn Me and Staci at Zion National Park
Robyn Me and Staci at Zion National Park

Pat slept in and we started later than I expected, but the timing was still perfect and noone cared we were getting on the road at 11.    I certainly didnt.    I was just excited to to go with the wives and have a good time.   I found a pair of leathers in my closet that quite frankly, I have no freaking clue where they came from, but I cut them to fit robyn and once we hit the harley shop got her the boots she wanted, so the day couldnt have started any better.     We left the dealership by noon and headed out towards Zion National Park.   The weather and the company was just right.  Good rides are effortless if the the people you are with are right.

We headed up through zion, through the tunnel.   Robyn took some video on the camera:   Heres on the switchbacks, stopping to take it all in:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM43pymbOMs&hl=en&fs=1]

As we headed through the tunnel:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwH2cxaUWBE&hl=en&fs=1]

The mid part of the Zion tunnel:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_O-4Pe7Rkc&hl=en&fs=1]

Coming out of the Zion Tunnel:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzNxm-Mpi1g&hl=en&fs=1]

we then rode through kanab, stopped at the buckskin tavern in Kanab for a couple, then to Pipe springs and on home.   Was a good riding day.   I gotta say, Staci is a GREAT rider.    She handles her bike better than any of my friends, keeps great formation and was a straight up pleasure to ride with.   Robyn and I both had a great time.  I want to do this a bunch more.   It was great to take robyn, and adding staci to the mix was perfect.    Their bikes are in my moms garage, so hopefully we can sneak a few more rides in over the next few fall and winter months.

Im feeling the pull to explore today pretty bad.   If I didnt have a meeting on monday I’d be on the road already.  I think next weekend I need to point my bike in a direction, pack my sleeping bag and sleep out under some familiar stars with a new skyline.    Im running out of time.    I need to feel that feeling of a new experience.   I can feel it right now.

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Dunn Bryce Canyon Ride

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So pat showed up last night, well prepared with a bottle of Glen Livet.  I had it in my head we were going riding that night and make it to bryce, so we could head up highway 12 the next morning and be back by night.    Then it started raining, so we had dinner, polished off a fine bottle of scotch and caught up.   It was great.   Pat is the first of my brothers to ever come down and stay in my home.  Skip did once, but camped in my driveway in his rig and that was cool too.    Even so, I love my brother and enjoy his company.   Friends are friends, but blood is blood.    I enjoy it when we get together.

So this morning we headed out with intentions of somewhere north.   On the way to zion, we pulled off in rockville and I showed him grafton, a local ghost town where butch cassidy and the sundance kid was filmed.   Remember the raindrops keep falling on my head scene?  That was filmed in grafton.   If you don’t, here it is:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H39CxyNfNOM&hl=en&fs=1]

Theres an old bridge in grafton thats pretty awesome.   Got some good pictures below.  Im too lazy right now to add them up here so you can check em out right now.

From there, we headed up to zion and went through the tunnel.   Thats always a nice ride, and hearing my bike thunder in the tunnel always is just a perfect sound.  Pat had never been through there, and it was a nice ride.  Headed up to mt Carmel and got our bearings, and I took a picture that I just have to post:

We wouldn't have it any other way....
We wouldn't have it any other way....

From Mt Carmel, we bolted north to bryce had lunch and pat split to head north and I headed back to mt Carmel and continued through to kanab, on my way home.

Stopped at the buckskin tavern for a minute.  never been in there, had a beer and headed south again through Fredonia and on to pipe springs.   Ive probably passed pipe springs a hundred times, and never really had more than a minor curiosity of what it was or all about, and since riding the fat boy for all those miles made my ass feel like it was sitting on a cinder block (or a bag of marbles as pat would put it), i decided to stop in and see it all.   It was pretty cool.  theres a fort there, and a whole history that was pretty significant to the area.   I eat that stuff up.

Then I headed home.   I had a good ride.   The fat boy is not in the same league as my street glide as far as riding long runs goes, but at least I felt I got to know her a bit and she is what she is.   She ran great, and she almost asked me to put some saddlebags on her, and my ass clearly asked me to get another seat, and even some freeway pegs.   I may do both.

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H.O.G. Run through Zion National Park

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Southern Utah Harley Owners Group does day runs almost every weekend, and at least one overnighter a month.   I’ve done maybe 3 runs with them.   Great bunch of guys, and very organized.

Megan, my oldest daughter went with me on this one.   Shes a great rider.   The weather was not looking all that great, and the original plan was to head through Zion National Park, and up to antimony.   We ended up running up through cedar city, and over Cedar mountain.  There was snow on the ground, but really wasnt cold.   We stopped in Kanab to get lunch, and the thunderheads looks pretty ominous, so we headed back through the park and home.

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Thunder in the Tunnel 07

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Every year, Zion Harley Davidson sponsors thunder in the tunnel.   This was the first year I’ve made the run from the dealership, up through Springdale, through Zion National Park through the tunnel, out to kanab and back through colorado City and then home.  Its a fun little poker run.

This year, Wendy, my 10 year old Daughter went with me.   She’s a fun kid.  Lots of energy, and I like how she looks at life.  She’s just got style.  She also refuses to smile for pictures, and I told her on this run, she didnt have to.  We’re harley davidson owners right?  Isnt there something in the manual about scowling and hiding how much fun you’re having in the name of looking bad and being cool?   I don’t quite pull it off, but maybe Wendy can.

We had a blast.

Theres nothing like the sound of 500 harley Davidsons booming through a 2 mile tunnel.  Wow.  It was awesome.  We left in the morning, and got back around 3 PM, had a nice lunch, and rode around with some friends.

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