Way back in December or thereabouts, I thought I'd investigate a joint in Mexican Hat, Utah as a potential spot for a RTE - "The Mexican Hat Lodge, home of the Swingin Steak" - I had seen the Alton Brown episode of "Feasting on Asphalt" that included the place, and I remembered riding through Mexican Hat on the way to WFO6 last July with TurboDave. So - this past weekend, having President's Day off, a willing wingman in the guise of BigDolma, and no common sense, we set off on our little adventure.
So - get yourself a mug of hot chocolate, preferably augmented by your favorite anti-freeze compound, (I find that Jack Daniel's works quite well) and settle in for a read. Or whatever.
[SIZE=12pt]Day One - [/SIZE]
BigD and Kaitsdad feel the cold.
Riding on Marbles
Swinging What?
Saturday AM - Oh Dark Hundred - I back my trusty steed out of the garage, quietly start her up so as to not disturb the neighbors that are, no doubt, deep in slumber, and then turn the handlebars till the tank bag hits the horn button, firing off the magnum blasters at about 120 decibels or so -
and then got the heck out of here before anyone opened their front door to show me their shotgun.
Heading north on the 57 I pull off on Diamond Bar Boulevard to meet up with BigD at the Chevron near his house, and he's waiting for me, like the punctual guy he is - so we head out - east on the 20 to the 15 North - we're taking a northerly route to avoid the recent snowfall in the southern route around Williams and Flagstaff Arizona.
Heading north on the 15, I notice that the temperature is falling quickly - what had been in the balmy high 30's at the start, was now rapidly descending towards the freezing point - and then, like a friggin ice cube dropping into my 64oz Big Gulp, it fell right past freezing into the high 20's - and I was trying to remember why I had packed my heated socks, instead of wearing them. :blink: At least my socks were nice and warm, tucked away in my seat bag, safe from the wind chill effect of 70mph wind.
Just before dawn, we stopped in Baker and visited Denny's - had some breakfast, hot coffee, examined the facilities, and then headed on out. North on through Lost Wages, Nevada, into Arizona for just a wee bit there, and then off of the 15 onto the 9, heading for Virgin, Utah. Or should I say THROUGH Virgin, Utah. This route showed warmer temperatures and drier roads than the southern route - and it was safer.
We drove through Zion National Park on Hwy89. At the entrance gate, I idled up to the guard kiosk, placed my right foot down preparing to lower the side stand to the left, and I proceeded to do my Lord of the Dance routine with my right foot on all the loose cinders that were strewn around to provide "TRACTION" to all the cages - but I managed to quickly clear a spot, and finding purchase, managed to NOT drop my bike.
However, I was dressed for it.
Dropping the bike, not the dance part.
Whatever.
As BigD and I continued on through the park, the road climbed up the mountains - switchback to switchback - and there was lots of compacted snow on those roads in the lee of the mountains - which is basically ice -
The park service had strewn red cinders on the 'snow/ice' to give traction - and the cinders embedded themselves in the ice due to the freeze/thaw cycles, as well as the cages compressing the mixture - so what we were riding on in several parts of the road was a ice sheet with stubbled cinders - a very interesting exercise in traction. So - very slow, 1st and 2nd gear, moving at maybe 10 to 15 mph, and uphill 15mph switchback turns - trying to keep the bikes upright as possible, literally at times turning the handlebars like a trike to move around the turns - (don't touch the brake, don't touch the brake, don't touch the brake) and we simply motored up those roads, with no mishaps. The road in the sunlight was warm and pretty much dry, so we were able to breathe between those icy stretches.
No front end washouts, no rear end slides, those FJR's just easily rolled up that road.
However, it would have been even more interesting coming DOWN the hill. That would have hurt.
And down the other side we went, moving east on Hwy89, traversing the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, dropping south east into Arizona for a bit, following Hwy89 through the Navaho Indian Reservation until it hit Hwy 160, then north on Hwy 163 which we followed north east back across the border into Utah, and finally, our destination along the San Juan River, Mexican Hat, Utah. Population 259. And a stray dog or two.
We arrived just before 6:00 PM local time.
Checking in, we found out that we were the first paying guests of the lodge this year. Woot.
Mexican Hat, Utah.
Eastbound from the Lodge parking lot:
Across the street:
And here's the Mexican Hat Lodge -
"Home of the Swinging Steak"
We unpacked the bikes, parked them on a concrete entryway to the Lodge, and took a few minutes to freshen up - then bundled up, and walked about 1/3 of a mile to the only place in town that was serving food - the San Juan Trading Post, a Navajo owned cafe, hotel, and trading post.
We had some sandwiches, coffee, and then BigD had a shot of Courvoisier, I had a Jack Daniels on the rocks - and the tab was $21.00 - plus tip. One of the least expensive meals we had.
Both in bed by 9 PM, and fast to sleep, visions of sugarplums danced in their ... darn. I'm confused again.
[SIZE=10pt]Day Two:[/SIZE]
Early to Rise
ASSUME THE POSITION
MAN, now THAT'S a big HOLE !
Being in my 50's, I've noticed over time that I tend to wake up earlier and earlier, due no doubt, to my limited bladder capacity. So, I get up at dawn, freshen up, and proceed to pack up the bike -
7:00 AM - notice who's bike is still covered? (yes, that's frost on the bikes - 27 degreesF)
Well, I wanted my coffee - so I pounded on BigD's bedroom door and got his butt out of bed - we hiked down to the San Juan Trading Post again, and had breakfast. Sausage and eggs om, sour dough toast, hash browns, coffee. Good riding food.
Back to the lodge, we geared up, motored to the pumps across the street, and headed on out -
and that's when we found it - the reason we were at the place we were at -
[SIZE=12pt]THE HAT !!! [/SIZE]
BigD is properly dressed - ATGATT - just in case that hat slips -
And then we continued East - off into the far Northeastern reaches of the Navajo Indian Reservation - to visit a place neither of us had been before.
See if you can guess:
Parking was NOT an issue - it was 39 degrees.
Multiple states visited, we then headed southwest, back along Hwy160 to Cameron - where we stopped for a late lunch of Mini Navajo Tacos at the Cameron Trading post - and if those suckers were the mini's, I'd hate to see what the regular sized ones were. Neither of us could finish them. And the slice of fresh Blueberry pie and coffee to finish of the lunch with was absolutely num num.
Then west we went, to visit that really huge hole in the ground - the Grand Canyon !!
We get there about 4:00 PM or so - walking out to the Desert View point, we're looking around, and these two really HOT Italian chicks (I'm thinking these girls were related to TurboDave's friends he met at the Death Vally ride in March of 2007 Turbo and his Babes) ask BigD to take their pic - which he does - and then they return the favor -
BigD - "Smile, these beautiful ladies are taking our picture"
Me - "can we get back to the bikes? I can't plug in my gear from here, ok See my little plug? If it looks like that, it's not conducting 'lectricty, and I'm cold.and there's white stuff on the ground all over the place here, and I'm whinning, whinning, whinning.."
Just about sunset, we head south to Williams, arriving about 7:30 PM.
And it's really cold. And dark. and it had snowed within the last 48 hours, and there's ice all over the place, and salt in the parking lots.
We found a room at the Econo Lodge - cleaned up, and walked across the street to Cruisers' 66 Cafe - and had dinner. No pics - at this point we're a bit cooked, so it was back to the room, and then to bed.
[SIZE=10pt]Day Three - [/SIZE]
Fast and Furious - straightaway home -
Up Monday morning, 19 degrees. Back to the Cafe for breakfast, and then homeward bound - West on Interstate 40 to the 15, over the Tajon Pass, and we parted ways around the 15 and 60 interchange.
Here's the final tally:
BigD, it was good riding with you - glad you could get out, having a new son at home and all, glad you could make it !!
So - get yourself a mug of hot chocolate, preferably augmented by your favorite anti-freeze compound, (I find that Jack Daniel's works quite well) and settle in for a read. Or whatever.
[SIZE=12pt]Day One - [/SIZE]
BigD and Kaitsdad feel the cold.
Riding on Marbles
Swinging What?
Saturday AM - Oh Dark Hundred - I back my trusty steed out of the garage, quietly start her up so as to not disturb the neighbors that are, no doubt, deep in slumber, and then turn the handlebars till the tank bag hits the horn button, firing off the magnum blasters at about 120 decibels or so -
and then got the heck out of here before anyone opened their front door to show me their shotgun.
Heading north on the 57 I pull off on Diamond Bar Boulevard to meet up with BigD at the Chevron near his house, and he's waiting for me, like the punctual guy he is - so we head out - east on the 20 to the 15 North - we're taking a northerly route to avoid the recent snowfall in the southern route around Williams and Flagstaff Arizona.
Heading north on the 15, I notice that the temperature is falling quickly - what had been in the balmy high 30's at the start, was now rapidly descending towards the freezing point - and then, like a friggin ice cube dropping into my 64oz Big Gulp, it fell right past freezing into the high 20's - and I was trying to remember why I had packed my heated socks, instead of wearing them. :blink: At least my socks were nice and warm, tucked away in my seat bag, safe from the wind chill effect of 70mph wind.
Just before dawn, we stopped in Baker and visited Denny's - had some breakfast, hot coffee, examined the facilities, and then headed on out. North on through Lost Wages, Nevada, into Arizona for just a wee bit there, and then off of the 15 onto the 9, heading for Virgin, Utah. Or should I say THROUGH Virgin, Utah. This route showed warmer temperatures and drier roads than the southern route - and it was safer.
We drove through Zion National Park on Hwy89. At the entrance gate, I idled up to the guard kiosk, placed my right foot down preparing to lower the side stand to the left, and I proceeded to do my Lord of the Dance routine with my right foot on all the loose cinders that were strewn around to provide "TRACTION" to all the cages - but I managed to quickly clear a spot, and finding purchase, managed to NOT drop my bike.
However, I was dressed for it.
Dropping the bike, not the dance part.
Whatever.
As BigD and I continued on through the park, the road climbed up the mountains - switchback to switchback - and there was lots of compacted snow on those roads in the lee of the mountains - which is basically ice -
The park service had strewn red cinders on the 'snow/ice' to give traction - and the cinders embedded themselves in the ice due to the freeze/thaw cycles, as well as the cages compressing the mixture - so what we were riding on in several parts of the road was a ice sheet with stubbled cinders - a very interesting exercise in traction. So - very slow, 1st and 2nd gear, moving at maybe 10 to 15 mph, and uphill 15mph switchback turns - trying to keep the bikes upright as possible, literally at times turning the handlebars like a trike to move around the turns - (don't touch the brake, don't touch the brake, don't touch the brake) and we simply motored up those roads, with no mishaps. The road in the sunlight was warm and pretty much dry, so we were able to breathe between those icy stretches.
No front end washouts, no rear end slides, those FJR's just easily rolled up that road.
However, it would have been even more interesting coming DOWN the hill. That would have hurt.
And down the other side we went, moving east on Hwy89, traversing the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, dropping south east into Arizona for a bit, following Hwy89 through the Navaho Indian Reservation until it hit Hwy 160, then north on Hwy 163 which we followed north east back across the border into Utah, and finally, our destination along the San Juan River, Mexican Hat, Utah. Population 259. And a stray dog or two.
We arrived just before 6:00 PM local time.
Checking in, we found out that we were the first paying guests of the lodge this year. Woot.
Mexican Hat, Utah.
Eastbound from the Lodge parking lot:
Across the street:
And here's the Mexican Hat Lodge -
"Home of the Swinging Steak"
We unpacked the bikes, parked them on a concrete entryway to the Lodge, and took a few minutes to freshen up - then bundled up, and walked about 1/3 of a mile to the only place in town that was serving food - the San Juan Trading Post, a Navajo owned cafe, hotel, and trading post.
We had some sandwiches, coffee, and then BigD had a shot of Courvoisier, I had a Jack Daniels on the rocks - and the tab was $21.00 - plus tip. One of the least expensive meals we had.
Both in bed by 9 PM, and fast to sleep, visions of sugarplums danced in their ... darn. I'm confused again.
[SIZE=10pt]Day Two:[/SIZE]
Early to Rise
ASSUME THE POSITION
MAN, now THAT'S a big HOLE !
Being in my 50's, I've noticed over time that I tend to wake up earlier and earlier, due no doubt, to my limited bladder capacity. So, I get up at dawn, freshen up, and proceed to pack up the bike -
7:00 AM - notice who's bike is still covered? (yes, that's frost on the bikes - 27 degreesF)
Well, I wanted my coffee - so I pounded on BigD's bedroom door and got his butt out of bed - we hiked down to the San Juan Trading Post again, and had breakfast. Sausage and eggs om, sour dough toast, hash browns, coffee. Good riding food.
Back to the lodge, we geared up, motored to the pumps across the street, and headed on out -
and that's when we found it - the reason we were at the place we were at -
[SIZE=12pt]THE HAT !!! [/SIZE]
BigD is properly dressed - ATGATT - just in case that hat slips -
And then we continued East - off into the far Northeastern reaches of the Navajo Indian Reservation - to visit a place neither of us had been before.
See if you can guess:
Parking was NOT an issue - it was 39 degrees.
Multiple states visited, we then headed southwest, back along Hwy160 to Cameron - where we stopped for a late lunch of Mini Navajo Tacos at the Cameron Trading post - and if those suckers were the mini's, I'd hate to see what the regular sized ones were. Neither of us could finish them. And the slice of fresh Blueberry pie and coffee to finish of the lunch with was absolutely num num.
Then west we went, to visit that really huge hole in the ground - the Grand Canyon !!
We get there about 4:00 PM or so - walking out to the Desert View point, we're looking around, and these two really HOT Italian chicks (I'm thinking these girls were related to TurboDave's friends he met at the Death Vally ride in March of 2007 Turbo and his Babes) ask BigD to take their pic - which he does - and then they return the favor -
BigD - "Smile, these beautiful ladies are taking our picture"
Me - "can we get back to the bikes? I can't plug in my gear from here, ok See my little plug? If it looks like that, it's not conducting 'lectricty, and I'm cold.and there's white stuff on the ground all over the place here, and I'm whinning, whinning, whinning.."
Just about sunset, we head south to Williams, arriving about 7:30 PM.
And it's really cold. And dark. and it had snowed within the last 48 hours, and there's ice all over the place, and salt in the parking lots.
We found a room at the Econo Lodge - cleaned up, and walked across the street to Cruisers' 66 Cafe - and had dinner. No pics - at this point we're a bit cooked, so it was back to the room, and then to bed.
[SIZE=10pt]Day Three - [/SIZE]
Fast and Furious - straightaway home -
Up Monday morning, 19 degrees. Back to the Cafe for breakfast, and then homeward bound - West on Interstate 40 to the 15, over the Tajon Pass, and we parted ways around the 15 and 60 interchange.
Here's the final tally:
BigD, it was good riding with you - glad you could get out, having a new son at home and all, glad you could make it !!
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