After the trading post of “Gap”, I had another choice – between US-89 and US-89A. My 1952 map only shows US-89, which is now 89A. The current alignment of 89 was built when Glen Canyon Dam was constructed in the early 60s. So I decided to stay true to the map, and took what is now 89A. I crossed the Colorado River at Lees Ferry, and then wound across the desert and up onto the Kiabab Plateau. The higher elevation, cool air, and scent of the pine trees was heaven to me.The road dropped down off the Plateau and into the border town of Fredonia, AZ, and Kanab, UT, where we met up with US-89 again. Crossing into Utah I jumped up an hour in time since Utah observes Daylight Time. I was getting hungry too, since I’d only had a Cliff Bar in Flagstaff for lunch. I decided to stop and eat in Kanab, and found a nice little restaurant called “Grandma Tina’s Café”. I parked the bike in the shade and wandered in. It turns out it was primarily Italian, and I had a wonderful cheese torilini with strawberry shortcake for desert. It was still early, and I wanted to get closer to Salt Lake, so I looked at the map. As I said, this stretch of road is very familiar, and I knew that when Brigham Young colonized the area in the 1850s, he set up towns a day’s ride apart – roughly every 12-15 miles. I figured I’d find something up road. About that time I got a text from Tony who asked where I was, so I told him and asked him to look on line for a hotel in Panguitch. He texted back that there was nothing in my stable of Choice Brand Hotels, or Holiday Inn Express, or Best Western. Yikes! There was a Best Western at Bryce Canyon, which was a few miles off of 89, and I figured would be a great place to stay. I called, and they were booked. I was starting to think I’d end up staying in Kanab when Tina herself said she knew of a good motel in Panguitch and gave me the number.
I called up to the “Color Country Motel” and found out they had a vacancy, and they had wireless Internet too! So I told her I’d be there in a couple of hours and headed out up the highway. I think this was my favorite part of the ride today. The temperature was just right, and the sun was starting to go down, which makes the colors so vibrant and vivid. The rocks were red, the trees green, and the sky a cloudless blue. There was no one on the road except me, as I roared through the small towns between Kanab and Panguitch – each with a small Mormon chapel, and no more than a few houses. This was the main road for years between Mormon settlements in this valley and down into Arizona, and it doesn’t look or feel like it’s changed in the 20 years since I last drove it.I pulled into Panguitch and found the “Color Country” – an old 1940s roadside joint, with an actual “key” not a key-card for entry into my “cabin”. It’s small, I don’t expect Norman Bates to show up, but it’s of that genre. I like it. The office and my cabin are decorated with framed completed and mounted jigsaw puzzles covered in layers of varnish. It’s very down home. It lets me pretend it’s 1950 and I’m still at least a day’s drive from Salt Lake City. I wonder if that Nash Metropolitan on the lot in Coos Bay is still for sale....