April 19th; So our evening at Mesquite was uneventful, other than it being a pet friendly hotel and listening to dogs barking for a while. We caught about an hour of a local band in the lounge, and called it a night. The next morning we start a new adventure, first we rode north on I-15 to St George and found Zion Harley closed (Sunday), I’d have to catch them on my trip through when I ride home. So we chose to hit Zion National Park, however, the signage needs some updating (hard to see, easy to miss!). Not seeing the signs we rode about 20 miles out and back before we finally were back on track and pointed towards the park.
We rode for maybe an hour total (including our 40 mile screw-up) before arriving at the gate, and our luck got better, as I’m wrestling $24 out of my wallet, the ranger says it’s FREE today (I should’ve bet keno or something for breakfast). So we rode through the park, snapping a few pics and decided to take Hwy 89A back into AZ, to see the north entrance to the Grand Canyon, the Vermillion Cliffs and Marble Canyon, before rolling into Page, AZ. I had wanted to see the assumably fascinating sights (They’re listed on the map, and sound so grand that they must be worth seeing?), maybe a nice place to eat. Nope, we rode up and up and up to an elevation of 8,000 Ft passing the “closed” north GC entrance, and then a while later found ourselves being dropped into a valley surrounded by some of the steeps and such you see in movies and pictures of Arizona. Next we’re approaching the Vermillion Cliffs/Marble Canyon area, in past rides we’ve always opted to ride Hwy 89 straight into Page, but I always wondered at what might be on the lower hwy… Turns out there’s nothing on it, well there’s some Cliffs, I didn’t see any Marble Canyons, and most importantly there was NOWHERE to eat. So we fueled up, grabbed a Power Bar and the little Indian Trading Post, and proceeded on to Page. We got to Page around 7:00 pm and got checked in to the Rodeway Inn, most folks know I prefer function over glitz when it comes to accommodations. A good roof, a patio, parking close by all are important to me. 
Alright, that’s not the Rodeway Inn, but some cool Indian ruins we found and had to take the picture. Another 50 miles and we got to the motel. It was high on function and well placed for grabbing dinner and drinks, and we were able to get some laundry done too. The best part was the cool patio on each unit, we decided to grab Subway for dinner, get some beer from Safeway, and chillax on the patio while we did the laundry. The weather was pleasant and the staff were very accomodating. If you find yourself in Page, we’d recommend the Rodeway Inn.
Next up more Grand Canyon Fun…
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