A week ago Eric and I were talking about how we hadn't gone on any good motorcycle cruises yet this year.  So we decided that we would ride the Mirror Lake highway yesterday.  We started inviting other riders to join us, but in the end it was just Eric and I.  We started from his house and first went along Wasatch Blvd towards Draper.  Then it was up and over Traverse Mountain to drop down into Alpine.  We stopped in Highland for me to gas up as I didn't start with a full tank.   We grabbed a bite to eat in the Iceberg that was built into the gas station.  Then it was up and over the Alpine Loop.

The Alpine Loop was pretty uneventfull.  I did scrape a peg on one turn going down, but otherwise I kept everything very smooth.  At the end of the loop we turned and went up Provo Canyon to Heber.  We went straight through then made the right to head over to Francis.  On the road up I felt my phone ringing so we stopped at the Jordanelle overlook for me to check who called and call them back.  We discussed how we were feeling before going on.  It seemed like we may have chosen a long ride and our butts weren't in shape for it.  We decided to continue on.

Then came the event.

As we were going along the road to Francis, we passed a couple cars that were just going very slow along that road.  Then once I got in front, suddenly there was a black shape in the corner of my eye.  Before I knew it, it hit me right in front of my left eye!  A bird had just hit the visor of my helmet at 60 MPH!  If I did not have my helmet on, and my visor down, I would have crashed.  The adrenaline immediately surged.  I couldn't believe what had just happened.  I was shaking my head as I went back over it in my mind.

When we stopped in Kamas I relayed the story to Eric.  He didn't see a thing.  I added some gas to my bike since I have a smaller tank, to make sure I would make it to the next gas station.  Then it was over Mirror Lake Highway.  We just cruised along the road.  We stopped shortly after Provo River falls overlook, but it didn't last long as we were immediately swarmed by mosquitos.  As we got going again the turns were perfect.  We had just accelerated up to 50MPH, and it was a perfect speed to lean into those turns.  Right, left, right, left.  Perfect.  The road started to have longer straights which ended those as we headed to the summit of Bald Mountain pass.

From there it was all downhill.  Past Mirror Lake.  Past the boy scout camps.  Then to the long straight.  The last 35 miles or so to Evanston were long, straight, and flat.  My butt was killing me, and I was eagerly waiting arriving at Evanston to stop for gas and dinner.  Finally we got to town.  First off we filled up the gas tanks.  Had I not filled up in Kamas I would have made it to Evanston, but it would have been close.

We drove along the business loop, then stopped at an italian resturant for dinner.  I had Chicken Marsalla, which had a very strong marsalla flavor.  You could definitely tell we weren't in Utah.  Eric ordered Chicken Parmesan.  Now normally you expect a piece of chicken the size of a boneless skinless breast you can get in any store.  This piece on Eric's plate was literally the size of four of them in one!  It must have been a 20-24oz. piece of chicken.  I have never seen anything like it!  Eric finished it, and we got back on the road.  We were ready to just get home so we stuck to I-80 for the entire ride back.  My left leg had a bit of cramping, so we stopped for 10 minutes at Jeremy Ranch, then continued all the way home.  My butt was completely killing me.  I pretty much had the techincal motorcycle medical condition referred to as monkey butt.  You can figure it out...