Passes & Canyons Blog

Getting sick on a motorcycle trip is the worst.

There’s not much that puts more of a crimp in a vacation than getting sick. That was certainly the case with me on this recent aborted (for me) RMMRC California ride.

Getting sick on a motorcycle trip has got to be worse than so many other forms of travel. If you’re in a car with a couple other people you can just crash in the back seat and be miserable. Or if you’re on an airplane you can just be miserable while you fly. There’s nothing expected of you. Heck, I got sick on an airplane once and passed out. That would be a disaster on a motorcycle. You could die.

On a motorcycle you are the sole party responsible for operating the vehicle and if, for example, you get nauseous out in the middle of nowhere good luck getting stopped in time so you don’t puke in your helmet. And then you’re sick but you can’t exactly just choose to stay where you are–you have to get to somewhere.

So right from the start of this trip I was not feeling great but managed to keep going. It was only the morning of the third day when it hit me hard and I had to go back to the motel. Being sick away from home and all alone is nobody’s idea of fun. But I really want to give credit to the managers of the Snuggle Inn in Loa, Utah, for being as hospitable as anyone could possibly be. They offered me their car to drive to a nearby clinic and even offered to drive me there if need be, plus they were very solicitous of me and my needs every time I ventured out of my room. That mattered a lot! I will always be thankful to them for all they did.

Of course, terminating a trip in the middle of the trip has its own issues. I had to cancel all my motel reservations for the remainder of the trip or else I would have been charged for them. As for the motel for the third night, I just had to eat that because it was too late to cancel. But for the rest I got on the phone and made a bunch of calls.

All went well there except for one place. I reached someone at the desk and told the guy what I wanted to do and he asked me to call back after 3 p.m. because their computer was down at the moment. So after three I called and all I got was a recording saying they were not able to answer the phone now and no, you cannot leave a message. Call back later. I called back several times and got the same recording.

This reservation was not for several days yet so there was no rush, but once I got home a couple days later it was drawing much nearer so I called again. This time I got a fellow who sounded like the same guy I originally talked to but this time he told me I would need to cancel my reservation through Expedia. I’ve encountered this before and as has been the case before I explained to him that I did not book my stay through Expedia, I booked it directly through the desk by phone.

He said I should call Comfort Inn corporate or something and I said why should I do that? Why can’t you do it right now? He said call back at 2:30. I was angry. I shouted at him asking why I should call back at 2:30 when I had him on the phone right now?!! He canceled it. Jerk. He sounded Pakistani or something and I just suspect his rating and/or pay is tied to how much cash he brings in and a cancellation means less cash coming in, so he tries to foist the cancellation off on some other poor soul. Who gives a damn about the customer?

So yeah, being sick on the road is a bummer in more ways than one. But when it happens you just have to deal with it the best you can. I hope I don’t have to deal with that again any time soon.

Biker Quote for Today

“I saw Jesus so many times I started using him as a braking marker.” – Kenny Roberts

At a rest stop along I-70 in Utah.

I spent a day sick in bed in Loa, Utah, while the other RMMRC guys continued on their California trip. By the next day I felt able to ride so I planned to turn back eastward, to Grand Junction, where my brother lives. I hoped I wouldn’t start out and then 50 miles along start feeling just as sick as I did just before we were set to roll the day before. But if I did I figured I’d just struggle my way to Green River and get a motel there.

From Loa I needed to take Utah 72 to I-70 and then go east on I-70. I had no idea what to expect on 72 but it was a lovely, somewhat cool, morning and a nice day to ride. Plus, this little two-lane was so unbusy that I think I saw three cars the whole time I was on it.

The road wandered through several small farming/ranching towns, through some very nice valleys, and then started climbing, but not a lot. At least it didn’t seem like we were climbing a lot. Already cool, it got cooler and with some alarm I wondered if my electric vest was starting to die. I’ve had it for a long time; nothing lasts forever. Then I came to a sign announcing the summit of Hogan Pass, at just a few feet under 9,000. Wow, no wonder I was cold.

They have several vista points on top of Hogan Pass and the vista is worth the stops. This is just beautiful country. And from here it was downhill all the way.

I ran on a ways and then very abruptly found myself at I-70, running parallel to the highway until we reached an interchange. Then it was I-70 to Green River. The wind was blowing pretty hard, promising a less than pleasant ride.

I stopped at a rest area before Green River because I was feeling a little rocky but 20 minutes of lying in the sun on a nice smooth rock helped me feel better. In Green River I ordered a bowl of soup in a restaurant but couldn’t get it down. I did drink a glass of milk, and then I lay on their lawn another while till I was again feeling good enough to ride. After that I made it all the way to my brother’s.

In fact, I was feeling pretty good when I got to Fruita, where I needed to leave the slab to take the more direct back road to my brother’s house. I considered going on as far as Eagle to where my friends Willie and Jungle live but decided while I might feel good now, another two hours on the road might not leave me feeling good at all. Let’s just take the wins when you’ve got them.

And yeah, even hanging there at Rick’s, by the time two hours had passed I was not feeling good at all. Wise choice.

Feeling reasonably good the next day I came on home. The ride across the mountains on I-70 was uneventful with really nothing to report. And there I was at home 5 days after leaving on what was to have been a 15-day trip. But man was I glad to be home and it was another 4 days before I felt halfway decent again.

Biker Quote for Today

It’s a beautiful world. Get out there and discover it.

Heading to Loa the day before.

On the morning we were pulling out of Denver on this RMMRC California trip my body did not want to get out of bed. I forced myself and figured I’d get fully awake after a while. And I did. Then we rode to Fruita–not a hard day’s ride at all–and I was exhausted. I crashed before dinner and then after dinner crashed again, getting a good, long night’s sleep.

On Day Two I was glad we had a short day ahead because that allowed me to sleep late–because I was still not feeling wonderful. Then the ride to Loa was not at all hard but when we got there I crashed again. After dinner I was back in bed and during the night I had a fever and chills. Around 2 a.m. the fever seemed to break and I felt better but I did not get much sleep the rest of the night. But come morning I figured the worst was over so at 9:30 I was in the saddle ready to ride.

Just then I was overcome with a wave of sickness and sprawled across my tank, telling the guys via our Cardos that “I can’t do this. I’m going back to the motel.” This was no longer a 15-day trip for me.

Back at the Snuggle Inn I walked in and up to the desk and before I could say a word the guy at the desk looked at me and asked, “Is your heart OK? Are you having a heart attack?” That’s how bad I felt, and I guess it showed.

I was pretty sure it was not a heart attack because I had spoken to Judy the night before and she had told me that the same day I didn’t want to get out of bed to go on this ride, after I left she spent the whole day in bed, apparently suffering from the same thing I was. But these super kind folks at the Snuggle Inn were incredibly solicitous of my condition, offering to loan me their car to drive to a nearby clinic or even to drive me there themselves if need be. All I wanted at the moment though was to get back in bed.

And except for going down the street a block to the grocery store so I’d have something to eat, that was all I did the rest of that day. The guys went on to St. George as planned and my room in St. George was paid for but empty because it was too late for me to cancel. Meanwhile, later in the day as I was feeling at least a little better, I made a bunch of phone calls cancelling all my other reservations for this trip.

I considered mapping out a very different trip for myself that would bring me back with the group on their return but really all I wanted was to get home. Being sick on the road is the worst.

Biker Quote for Today

Any idiot can ride a motorcycle but it takes a special kind of idiot to ride 1,000 miles in one day.