I’ve ridden past the turnout to Fish Lake probably dozens of times on my way to Torrey and Capital Reef. I didn’t know what I was missing, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

We hit the road about 9:00 am after enjoying breakfast at the hotel. the morning was colder than what we might have hoped, but with jackets and gloves plugged in, we were warm and comfortable as we headed out under beautiful blue skies. We had the road pretty much to ourselves as we cruised along Hwy 24.

After gassing up in Torrey, we decided to go into Capital Reef for a bit to enjoy the scenery. As a kid I wasn’t very impressed with southern Utah, but over the years I’ve really come to appreciate the natural forces at work that shaped the landscape. As we rode through the park it didn’t take very much to imagine we were looking up from the bottom of the inland sea at the sand dunes above.

We stopped for lunch at the Cafe Diablo on the west end of town. I was expecting Mexican food by the name and location, but the owners call it an innovative southwestern restaurant. The food was good, if a little pricy. I would have preferred honest to goodness Mexican food, but we enjoyed the meal (there weren’t any pickups out front). The place definitely caters to the tourists.

Heading west back toward Richfield, we decided to jump of 24 at Hwy 72 and headed toward Fish Lake. The ride around the lake is incredible in the fall colors. This is someplace I’m really excited to visit again. This late in the season the only thing we shared the road with were the livestock a cute young lady was urging down the road on horseback. I noticed a couple of small fishing boats on the lake who had braved the weather from the day before, but I don’t think we saw a car or another motorcycle.

We followed the road around the lake until we were back on Hwy 72 headed for Richfield. It was a little colder than we would have liked, but the day ended perfectly.

After cleaning up at the hotel, we went out to dinner and returned for another night of relaxation and games. Kelly and Chris introduced us to a new game played with dice, we’d never played before, that kept us going until it was time to hit the sack. We weren’t putting a lot of miles on the bikes this trip, but we really had a great time.