Well, just got back from my Canyon Run...but, I didn't quite make it to the Big Ditch...still had a pretty good time tho...for the most part. Man, this was just one of them thar trips. As I mighta mentioned in previous posts, the ride out was just me and a bud to meet up with three others in Ouray, CO for a few days touring southern Utah with them before they went their own way on to Vegas and Cali. Well, I had ridden with this "bud" quite a bit, but only in groups with the wives along. On his own, this dude 'bout drove me bonkers. 'Bout five days into the ride, I cut him loose and he just went back home. I did meet up with the others, and we did have a grand time ridin the Million Dollar Highway and then tourin southern Utah...but, the good times were dampened a bit by several things...havin to cut a bud loose...ran over a small dog and killed it...almost constant winds and storms blowin thru...dude ran us out from under the awnin of an abandoned gas station where we had taken shelter from a hail storm, ******* didn't give a damn 'bout the storm, we were trespassin and had to go...developed a bit of vertigo or sumthin similar goin over Red Mountain Pass, which made that a bit interestin to say the least...blah blah blah.

But, the proverbial straw on the camel's back was my li'l run-in with a dumbass, totally whacked out red-dot Indian dude at a motel in Blanding, UT. When I split from the others...as planned...to head down to the North Rim, there were storms a howlin in the direction I was gonna originally take...so, I doubled back thru Glen Canyon to take a route down thru Monument Valley instead. When I get to Blanding, I hang a right and run smack into 'nuther storm a couple miles down that road...so bad it was 'bout to blow me off the road...sooooo, I turn 'round and ride a few miles back to Blanding. I fuel up, and a local tells me it's gonna be an all day thing...so, I decide to get a room early, and wait til the next day when the weather's gonna be nicer. The red-dot Indian gal at the desk could barely speak English, and says, "Manager gone, fifteen minute wait." So, I tell her I'll wait, and take a seat at the guest computer and pull up weather.com to take a look while I'm waitin on a room. The owner/manager walks up to me a few minutes later and asks, "You got room here?" I said, "No, but I want one." That's when he starts yellin at me to leave...computer only for guests. I told him if he'd give me 'bout five minutes, I'd be a guest. He just got madder and louder...so, I got up and told him to keep his damned room...I was leavin. That's when he started tellin me to wait for the police to pick me up. I said, "For what? Usin yer guest computer?" He said for all he knew I took register money while he was gone, and started screamin, "POLICE POLICE!" Then he said, "Yes, you take register money...POLICE POLICE!" I told him he was whacked and I wasn't waitin for nuttin. I went outside, got on my bike, and he comes after me like he's gonna grab me and hold me for the police. I was pretty hot by then, and told him he REALLY didn't wanna do that!!! He's damned lucky my desire NOT to spend the night in the local jail far outweighed my desire to beat him to a bloody pulp. He then turned and ran toward the front door with his hands up in the air and screamin, "POLICE POLICE" the whole way. That's when everything finally piled up, and I said, "F*ck it! I've had enuf...I'm goin home!!!!!!!" Three days and 2000 miles later, I'm sippin margaritas on my own deck...home five days early...and, happy as hell to be there.

Oh well...the five days in southwest CO and southern UT with my buds were good...and, I did see some sights I coulda only imagined before...but, after all my great rides, I guess I was due one like this, aye. BTW, if'n yer ever in Blanding, UT, avoid the Super 8...it's obviously an insane asylum in disguise, and the inmates are runnin it.