Day 5 - Thursday

We slept in today and used our full allotment of check out time. We worked out where we wanted to go today and settled on Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. It seemed like a reasonable ride after the endurance run we did the day before. The Gorge sits on the northern border of Utah and the southwest corner of Wyoming.



We headed out of town on Route 40 heading for the town of Dinosaur, CO. Looked like a good breakpoint for lunch. It was a gorgeous day and the views very good.

Driving along Route 40

Gassing up at the "Go Fer" gas station

Speed limits on the 2 lane routes is posted at 65 and we were doing a comfortable cruise. As we're rolling down the road I notice a very large bird gliding towards me on about a 45 degree approach and descending rapidly. It keeps coming and soon I can identify that it is a HUGE Golden Eagle. I am admiring the bird when I realize that it is still coming and now it is apparent that we are on a collision course. Suddenly I had a vision of the time the Great Horned Owl committed a similar act on the front of Jenne's car. We think it was going for something on the side of the road and was so focused on the prey it didn't see her car. The giant bird keeps coming and it's now at bike level and I have to cram on the brakes hard. It's like the bird didn't even see me and it too turned up at the last moment. Believe me, I can describe in detail what the feathers on the underside of a Golden Eagle look like.

A little further down the road we encountered another Golden Eagle. This time it was gliding on the wind just off my left. I matched it's pace at about 50 mph we cruised down the road for a ways before it broke off. Very cool and not as dramatic as the encounter with the previous one.

We roll into the town of Dinosaur looking for lunch and need to gas the bikes.

It's a real town!

There was a gas station there (places are far and few between out here) so we topped off and set out to look for lunch. That was a little more challenging as it turned out. There was only one place to eat and we weren't sure it was even open for business.

Lunch in Dinosaur

Surprisingly, we had a decent lunch there, but were concerned about the food. Anyways, nothing to worry about and we continued on to Flaming Gorge.

Along the was the skys darkened and it looked like we were going to get wet. It's hard to judge how far off a storm due to the vastness of space out here so we stopped and opted for the rain gear. Turns out that we barely saw a drop, storm blew past and we were in clear skies again.

It was raining on someones parade, but not ours.

Snack break with the hippie.

We were rolling into the Gorge area now the roads got very twisty. Nice riding! Didn't stop for many pics, just enjoyed the ride. Here are a couple of links though that describe the area....

http://www.utah.com/nationalsites/flaming_gorge.htm


http://www.wyomingtourism.org/overview/Flaming-Gorge-Recreation-Area/32475




On the way in we started seeing wildlife. First was a antelope just standing on the side of the road. Next we saw a young elk in velvet. More eagles, hawks, etc. Enjoying every minute of it. Oh yeah, still cruising though the twisties.





Heading out of the north side of the park we hit the high desert and the wind was blowing me all over the place. It seems to have a mind of it's own. Doesn't blow constantly but hits you in gusts. Every canyon you come around it's waiting to hit you again.





We continued on into the town of Green River, WY. We grabbed a room and dinner then turned in. All in all, a great day.



Day 5 = 286 miles