Southern Utah and Northern Arizona

Canyon Country

“Nobody goes up the mountain anymore,” laments Bob, my newfound, 76-year-old friend. “Everybody takes the highway. You got to go up the mountain!” Since this local character clearly has had much time to collect wisdom, I decide I best take him up on his advice.

Encounter in a Small Town

A short time earlier, I stopped at the information center of Monticello, a pleasant, little town in eastern Utah. Bob was riding past on his Honda 750, and in his sidecar was his longtime, canine companion, Ginger. Ginger, of course, is the reason I got to know the unusual couple, as when you're out on a tour, taking photos, a man with a dog in his sidecar is not the kind of thing you let pass by. The rather dignified yellow Lab was peeping out of the sidecar as if it were the most natural thing in the world – I just had to take a photo of her.

By way of explanation, Bob recalls, "I got her as a puppy in California. When a deer ran across the road, she jumped out in front of me, rolled a couple of times on the road, but was fine. Since then, she rides with me wherever I go." Bob offers to accompany me up the mountain and I take him up on it. When we stop to get his helmet, I glimpse both a motocross race-bike and a small dirt bike for single trails, sitting in Bob's garage. Seeing him jump around, I have no doubts that he still puts miles on both of them. I'm guessing that living here in Utah's mountains must keep residents extraordinarily fit....

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