By this time I think that you’ve probably seen the pictures and video from this year’s Memorial Day Tour. In case you have not, I encourage you to search them out on this site, the BMCU website, and the BMCU Facebook page. But before you do that, here’s a quick report regarding the event.
Saturday morning, 0800, most of this year’s Tour Group met in Sandy at the Shops of South Towne. After those folks had checked in, received their personal swag bag, Trip packet, and Tour Jacket, a brief group meeting was held to go over some last minute changes to the weekend. Then we were off on a slower speed blast on I-15 south to Spanish Fork to meet with the rest of the Tour Group and to top up our gas tanks.
The climb up the mountain on US 6 was smooth except for all the vehicles and trucks that thought they wanted to pass us, but decided to slow down and take a closer look at our group of 16. I must say, we did present a very colorful collection of British vehicles.
In competition with us was the incredibly awesome colors that the desert presented. The reds, yellows, greens, purples and …you get the idea, made the trip a veritable feast for our eyes.
Moab was our stop for a quick lunch before leaving for our destination, Monticello, UT, and the Inn at the Canyons. I even had over $5,000 worth of rooms charged to my credit card! Talk about a wake up call! Fortunately, between the hotel, American Express and myself, the problem was resolved and everyone was checked in.
An interesting item concerning Monticello; since it is a small town, there are not many restaurants and they may or may not be open when you think you want to eat. No problem with this group. We ate very well and were accepted with open arms at The Granary, Jaroen Thai Cuisine, and Gustavo’s Mexican. In fact, The Granary actually shut down so they could accommodate our group. Thanks, Kent!
Sunday saw us on the road to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. The cliff dwellings were examples of architecture that has with stood the test of time. With more excellent weather and smooth roads throughout the park, we had a perfect adventure. We were back to our Monticello base camp in time for a tasty Thai dinner and for the annual Unplugged Concert by Mike & Drew. These two guys are great musicians and put on a wonderful show. Everyone was laughing and clapping and demanding more when they called it quits for another year.
For those of us who stayed an additional night, Memorial Day was a drive south and west to Natural Bridges National Monument. Looping through the Monument gave us an opportunity to see these wonders and take pictures. The next stop was one I had kept secret from the group until the previous night and most had no idea what I was talking about. Actually, they were more concerned about the 2-3 miles of dirt road that I had mentioned. We were cruising along through a scenic pinion and cedar forest when we slowed to a stop at the start of the dirt road. The road seemed to disappear! Actually, the Moki Dugway is a series of switchbacks that dropped us 1200′ down off the high desert plateau we had been on!
The Goosenecks State Park was our next stop to look down onto the San Juan River which was another 1000′ below us. No, we did not go down to the river!
To say that we took over Gustavo’s Mexican restaurant for dinner would be an accurate statement. Sure glad they were happy to see us and the dinner was scrumptious. I had the largest burrito I have ever seen!!!
The extra day-ers reluctantly headed north on Tuesday. We had one more lunch together at the Balanced Rock Eatery in Helper. After lunch, we headed down Spanish Fork Canyon and back to the reality of a normal life. At the mouth of the canyon, various members left the group to find their way home, until it was just Jill and myself making our way home with no British cars behind us for the first time in four days. It was a fantastic Tour.
If you’ve ever thought about going on the Memorial Day Tour, DO IT! You’ll be happy you did.
Our 2024 Memorial Day Tour will be using the very popular Torrey, in south central UT, for our base camp. Keep an eye out for emails letting you know details about the next Tour and what to do to join us.