Neither! Wandering the US...

Turns out that I didn't do Alaska or Panama... long story as to why, but I decided instead to cruise out to San Francisco, do some of those great California Roads, and then head to Glacier National Park. Although... now that I'm sitting here north of San Francisco, I am looking at the map and the ferry timetable for the Bellingham-Valdez ferry on the Alaska Marine Highway.



I may just get a bug and decide to go north - although it would probably be a lot easier to plan it and have a little more time. I need to be back at work on the 15th... Hmmm.

So... news so far? Not much, motored across the US from Thursday to Sunday. Stopped to see the Rocky Mountain National Park again (awesome!), dropped my bike (again!), got stuck in the salt flats west of Salt Lake City (first time - never again!)...

I'll post more when I have a bit more time, but for now, some pics...

Read more!

Panama or Alaska?

I'm fairly sure that I'm going to do the Panama Canal this summer. But I have also been considering Alaska. Am taking the month of August off from work (God, do I have a great job or what? They're even gonna pay me while I'm gone... go figure!)

I went out out bought the latest edition of Milepost (ww.milepost.com), which is *the* guide to use if you are considering an Alaskan trip. And I also went out and bought a bunch of ITM maps for Mexico and Central America. Although I haven't even decided upon the desination, I figure I've already invested $200 or so in maps... Of course that means I *am* going to take a trip.

The interesting thing about this is that I have previously visited both Panama and Alaska - thanks to Uncle Sam when I was in my 20's. So... which way? North or South? Hmmm. I figure that any old fool can point an RV north (or maybe even a motorcycle...). But what about south? While I've visited Mexico, it's always been border towns. Mexico proper, Guatemala, El Savador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Hmmm. Sure sounds a lot more exciting than the US, Canada, and back to the US - Alaska.

Make no bones about it, of course. I'm going to do them both. The issue is which one will I do this year? I'm literally taking the entire month off - figure 35 days. What do you think? Alaska or Panama? Why? Any routes/tips/suggestions for either trip?

Read more!

Key West 2004

I got a new motorcycle recently - an 1150GS Aventure. Took a quick tour down to Key West to stretch its legs.

I left Chicago this morning around 9:00a and took mostly backroads and a few dirt roads here and there where it looked interesting. Crossed the Ohio River and pulled into Paducah, KY about 5:00p. Did about 400-425 miles today. Took it easy and enjoyed the ride. Used to riding an LT and am used to the wind pushing the LT around. The wind pushes me around on the GS. I may have to do something about getting a replacement windshield or get some tobinators (sp?) or something. All in all, though, great ride.

Added XM radio to the bike for the trip and it was well worth it.

Am doing Atlanta tomorrow and will take lots of pics in Tennessee - am gonna go find some fun areas near Monteagle. How could you not want to get lost in that area?


Didn't get a bunch of great pictures yesterday, but this one was pretty cool...



So I'm crusing down through Tennessee the other day and I pass through the Monteagle area and decide to explore. As you're coming down Interstate 24, the interstate splits, with each lane of traffic going around one side of the mountain. Near the bottom of the east bound side there's a run-away truck ramp and, interestingly enough, a dirt road that said something along the lines of "authorized vehciles only." Well, shit, if a GS ain't an authorized vehicle, nothing is. I cruised back and took dozens of photos. The road basically goes from one side of the "mountain" to the other - in reality, it's less than half a mile and fairly decent gravel/track. I suspect there's actually tons of gravel roads all over that place, but I was a little nervous about getitng busted and didn't stick around for that long.

Ah... the photos... I took the memory card out of the camera while it was still on. Damn. I'm gonna try to recover some of the images when I get back home, but for now, no Monteagle pictures.

After Monteagle I cruise down to Atlanta - which is where I grew up. I found myself downtown on I-75 around 4:00p on a Friday afternoon - big mistake! Nothing like Chicago traffic, but it sucked.



I get up kind of late on Saturday and motor off towards Key West. I make it as far as Ormand Park (north of Orlando - about another 400-450 miles) (which, btw, i'm finding out that my limit is about 400-500 miles per day on the GS - interestingly enough, I easily do 600-700-800 on the LT. Go figure.) So I make it to Ormand Park - even though the GS broke the sound barrier on the way down:



Weird, huh?

So I'm still not in Key West yet. And now I'm contemplating not going. I'm gonna try not to wimp out. Why? Snow in Chicago. Very cold temps in Chicago forecasted for my return. Damn. Was supposed to be in the thirties and no snow. The better half says that there's gonna be snow and single-digit temps for my forecasted return. I wonder if I should press on to Key West, spend my two nights there, and then return home? Kind of be a shame to not finish the last 1/10 of the trip. I'd sure as hell get better pictures there too.

Key West is a blast. Got lots of pictures - will post them tonight when I have time to get online. But... lots of snow and ice at home... am gonna ride as far north as possible and then truck it. I suppose I'll pick up a truck in b'ham, huntsville, nashville, or maybe southern il - but suspect a larger city would be better. have tried avis and hertz and can't find any truck info on their sites. i'm thinking pickup truck would be best, but may just go get a one-way uhaul. shit.

So today was a pretty good day – and it’s nowhere close to being over. It’s about 2:00p here and I’m gonna have a few drinks, maybe a nap, then some dinner and partying later on. My plans are to get up at about 4:00a and be on the road by 5:00a. The locals all say I won’t see any traffic out of the Keys on a Tuesday morning, but I want to try and do six or seven hundred miles tomorrow – may as well get an early start.

So… what have I done so far? Goofed off for the most part… went over to the beach this morning. Wanted to get the GS out on the sand but, for a small town, there are a shitload of cops in Key West. Go figure. I settled for some snapshots instead.





After visiting the lighthouse I decided to go over to the other side of the island – and what did I find? “The Western Union Schooner.” It’s the big ass boat to the left. And it is a big ass boat.



Finally, my temporary home. Sure wish home home looked like this – instead of the snow that is falling there now.



Haven’t decided how I’m gonna get home – figure I’ll motor north and worry about it when I get to a point where I can’t/won’t continue.

So… a close out to my Key West journey. First, I made it home safely exactly one week after I left. I had pretty much intended this to be a short vacation - a ride to get familiar with the new GS and to get away someplace warm for a few days. I didn't mind that the weather was forecast to be in the 20s and 30s - I have the Gerbings heated gear and have traveled in such weather before. There wasn't supposed to be any snow or single-digit temperatures… but that's the science of weather forecasting for you!

My journey down was fairly uneventful - I left Chicago on Thursday and made it to Paducah, KY that evening, and carried through to Atlanta on Friday. I certainly could have gone a bit more on Friday, but stopped to visit my sister as she was having a holiday party. Truth be told, I had a pretty good time on Friday and slept in on Saturday… off to a late start Saturday morning. The GS is running fine and I've clocked about 800 miles or so and I'm debating whether I even want to continue to Key West - no inkling of bad weather, I'm just wondering if I really want to ride balls to the wall and then turn around and ride balls to the walls back in time for Christmas. I hem and haw and think about it for another few hundred miles - but, of course, I'm pointed south while I'm thinking about it. There's not really a huge reason why I selected Key West - other than it was south and warm. Well, honest, I selected Key West because I couldn't do Mexico - I just bought the motorcycle and the IL DMV hasn't provided me with a new title with my name on it (something you need to get into Mexico). Anyhow, I'm headed south and have no real reason to go other than the ride. And the ride is a blast. I think about it a bit more and then decide to continue.

I pull into Key West on Sunday afternoon and find a really nice hotel right next to Duval Street. There's a hot tub and a heated pool. Wow! I'm there for two days. My wife (back home in Illinois with the kids! (what a great wife)) tells me there is snow and bitter temperatures forecasted for the next few days… oh oh. What the hell, I can always truck it, I can always park it in a self-storage facility and fly home. If Christmas wasn't right around the corner, I'd have just stayed in Key West through the end of the year.

So… I begin to motor home on Tuesday morning. I awake early and decide to get on the road before first light - I leave at 5:00a and am making great time. It's dark and I have a tinted visor on my helmet - and sunglasses. No regular glasses. No yellow-tinted glasses. Damn - note to self, bring a pair of clear glasses next time. I make great time through the keys (over 100 miles from Key West to Miami) and jump on the Florida Turnpike northbound.



I have to stop and put on my heated jacket liner and plug in my heated gloves - no idea how cold it was, but it was chilly enough that I thought a few hundred miles of lowering my body temp wouldn't be a good idea.

So there I am hauling ass up the Turnpike and am nearing Orlando. A small car hauls ass past me doing at least 110+, weaving in and out of traffic. Not so long later there's a horrific accident - a car traveling northbound has wiped out and crossed the median and crashed into a car traveling southbound. Yep, you guessed it, the same car. Somebody has to be dead - the entire car is demolished. Southbound traffic was tied up for hours - I probably passed 25 miles of traffic that was absolutely stopped. I later checked the Orlando newspapers on the net and found that the passenger in the car was dead, the driver was critical, and the driver of the car that was traveling southbound was critical too. Damn shame. They say speed kills - they're right. This wasn't a performance car; it was some little piece of crap that completely fell apart at the accident scene. Now some young kid has killed her pal, damaged the lives of a bunch of innocent people, and has probably put herself in debt from which she'll never be able to recover.

Here's a view of the southbound traffic - little did I know at the time that it was an omen of things to come…



Despite the excitement, I make pretty good time and made it to just south of Atlanta on Tuesday - about 800 miles. I was thinking that I would get a UHaul in Nashville as I wanted to ride for as long as possible. When checking the web in Key West I saw that I would be able to get a UHaul in Nashville for about $195. The same truck in Atlanta was $400. I decided to get one in Nashville! So I'm in a hotel south of Atlanta Tuesday night and discover that neither UHaul or Budget has trucks in Nashville anymore! Ouch!! The rate from Atlanta has gone up to about $700. Double ouch!! I then pick Chattanooga and there's nothing there either; however the Budget online system tells me that I can get a truck in Rome, Georgia for $205. Deal! I make it to Rome (slightly north of Atlanta) and get settled with a 10-ft truck. I then go out and try to figure out how to get the GS in the truck… ah… there's no ramp on this truck! I go back inside and the fella behind the counter (a good ole' country boy) assures me there is a ramp on the 10' truck. I'm thinking that I'm some type of dumbass and we go back out to look. Nope, no ramp. He upgrades me to the 15' truck for no charge. At the time I thought that was pretty nice of him, but it sure cost a lot in fuel charges to get that thing home to Chicago. I also later realized how screwed I would be if I damaged/wrecked the truck as my auto insurance would cover a 10' truck, but not a 15' truck!! (note to self - try and stay away from trucks in the future!). Anyway, I get loaded up and get ready to go. I simply rode the GS up the ramp and in the truck. It was a little nerve-wracking, but, what the hell, I got a good start and was in the back of the truck before I knew it. I tied her down and off I went. The rain starts ten minutes after I left the lot - not really a big deal for me as I don't mind riding in the rain, but I figured as long as I was gonna have to haul her, it was nice that I was dry.



I hit Nashville a few hours later and run into traffic… even though I live in Chicago and have to deal with some pretty shitty traffic, I can't stand sitting in traffic in any city… Just as I leave Nashville and get on the road towards Fort Campbell I notice the first few snowflakes. It really doesn't look too bad - and I'm a big tough guy who has spent the last 15 years in Chicago - how bad can it be? Famous last words.





The snow begins to fall, and, worse, it begins to accumulate…



Wednesday night was pretty unsettling - the pictures don't even begin to do justice to how whacked the roads were. Earlier in the day, just outside of Nashville, I secured a reservation at the same hotel in Paducah where I had overnighted on the way down, although I decided fairly early in the evening that I would stop at the next hotel due to the road conditions. All were sold out. Shit. I kept going. Probably shouldn't have. I plodded on at about 10-15-20 miles an hour. It literally took me five hours to travel the last fifty miles. Hindsight is 20/20 and perhaps I should have been a bit more vigilant in trying to find a room off the interstate, but I didn't want to wander too far from the highway in case I were to get stuck…

I cannot tell you how many cars and trucks sped past me while I plodding along at a snail's pace. Many, many, many of them ended up in the ditch. I later heard that the Army was actually flying their helicopters up and down the highway that night rescuing people stranded in their vehicles. I realized that I would stand a pretty good chance of being dead if I put the truck in a ditch or flipped it - it was pretty hair-raising. Damn. Double damn.

I roll into the Drury Inn in Paducah pretty late - there were all sorts of pissed off people in the lobby because there were no rooms at the Inn… I cannot tell you how thankful I was that I had called earlier. Oh yes, did I mention that the truck had no heat? Shit.

Thursday morning I get up and it's no longer snowing, but the temp is pretty chilly - 10/15 degrees. Brrrr. I sit in the lobby and have breakfast for a while and wait for the snow to come out. I talk to an older couple in the lobby who were stuck in their car for about two hours before somebody came by and rescued them - they actually made it to the hotel in the early evening and were thankful to be alive. No kidding.

I get ready to go…



I'm thinking that the day can't possibly be as bad as the night and start to motor down the interstate. I notice that most of the cars have orange stickers on the antenna or the windshield - I can only guess that this probably means that somebody has checked the car and there's nobody inside. Ah, but not every car. I realize that some of these cars still have people in them - that some of them are trying to get their cars out of the snow. There's no freaken' way that these people spent the night in their cars. I realize that people are still driving off the damn road - speeding. Wow. Foolish.



I count over 300 cars in the ditch between Paducah and Mt Vernon, Illinois. Many of them occupied and recent - Jesus… it's amazing that people don't slow down. I'm no uptight ninny when it comes to speeding, but I just can't believe that people are still driving so fast and loosing their ass in a ditch. It reminds me that I need to be extra careful and that my insurance probably isn't going to cover an accident.

All in all, not exactly the warm sunny destination I had in mind when I set off on my journey south… but, having said all this, it was kind of a neat adventure. The new GS performed like a champ and the Key West part of the trip was really a lot of fun. The ride home was a different kind of a challenge, but still a cool opportunity to go off and bond with my GS.

Read more!

Photos...

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to use this blog. I thought I'd post some of the trip photos - I may later incorporate them into the individual posts, but enjoy for now!


http://twentyninewest.com/images/pch/slides/

Read more!

Pacific Coast Highway 2004

Welcome to my trip report for the August 2004 trip. If you've found this page by mistake, my name is Daniel Brewster and I'm really into long-distance motorcycle rides and try to take at least one fun trip a year. I'm 39, married with two kids and a great wife, and live in Chicago. The best part about all of it is the family is incredibly tolerant of me taking off on trips every now and again.

In 2002 I toured from Chicago to Yellowstone and back with two pals, Antoine and Adam. The group trip was really fantastic and we stopped at a bunch of parks - Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain National Park, the Badlands, Mt Rushmore, and a few other cool spots. We had so much fun we decided to do a joint trip each year. In 2003 we talked about another trip out west but it never materialized due to work schedules and all that. Although unable to embark on a joint trip, I managed to pull off a visit to the Grand Canyon via Chicago to Phoenix and back in 2003. In 2004 we talked about doing a long trip and just found that it wasn't going to work - money, time off from work, etc. Well, never one to give up when I set my sights on something, I thought about combining another work trip. Happenstance has it that I need to be in Reno for a work meeting for a few days in August... hmmm... why not combine this with a motorcycle trip? And if I'm going all the way to Reno, why not go all the way over to the left coast and see some of California from the motorcycle? Good idea, I thought. I dusted off Microsoft Streets & Trips and started planning a route.


Here's a high-level overview of my intended route - I'll probably make changes along the way and try to see interesting sights off the slab (interstate). The yellow areas out west are some State Routes that look interesting...



I leave on August 6th early in the morning. I'm still putting together last minute details and will update the site with all the stuff I'm bringing with me, as well as other logistical details.

This blogging software, btw, is new to me, so I may edit and rearrange the posting order to make it easier to read/follow. Since I know I want to include photos in my posts, I'm going to create a bunch of "templates" that cover my intended route and will simply edit them while on the road when I'm able to get access to the net. Check out the "day1, day2, etc." posts for more info.


Pacific Coast Highway 2004 110v power on the road

So I'm getting ready to do a marathon (to me) cross-country trip and I've been giving a lot of thought to power while on the road. My concern is this - I'm camping a good bit of the way and I want to be able to relax at the end of the day and use the laptop (I guess I can live without the net for awhile...!) to update my journal, edit digital images, listen to my mp3 library, charge my camera batteries, etc., etc. I went out and got a 140w 12v power inverter from radio shack and a few other odds and ends.

I ride a BMW K1200LT and it has a six disc CD changer in one of the side cases that takes up a lot of room. I've finally decided to remove the CD changer and had planned to use that space for my power solution. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that the bracket that held the CD changer might prove useful - the inverter has a fan on it and it needs (I assume) some space so it doesn't overheat. I've also never really been happy with the power solution for my XM radio. I originally wired the XM radio to the power spot on right ride side of the bike thinking that it was switched - ah, no, it's not. Every time I got off the bike I would have to open the sidecase and disconnect the little m/f cable going into the brain box for my XM radio. A pain...

As I was thinking about the power, I thought it would be nice if I had switched power back there - yeah, I know I *could* have found a switched connection on the bike somewhere, but I decided to put together a power bridge that had a manual switch. The power bridge would power my XM radio, the power inverter, the radar detector, and a few spares. I took power off the battery and put a fuse inline and created a "power box."

The power box is screwed under the old CD changer bracket and the entire thing is switched. One lead comes out and powers the XM radio (so I don't have to tinker with that little connector anymore.) A second lead comes out and powers the inverter - once I had everything together and turned on, I realized that the fan on the inverter comes on whenever it has power... I thought it would do that only under load. I'm probably going to add another switch that makes the inverter separately switched so I don't have to have that on and generating heat when it is not being used (anybody know if that will drain my battery if there is nothing plugged into it? I think so - eventually. Good thing I took my time and used connectors instead of just wrapping the wire around the screw on the power bridge - it'll take five minutes to add a new switch for the power inverter.).

Here's a photo of the guts of my "power box"


The power strip on the top is for power - the one on the bottom is a spare and could be used for power or it could be used for audio - more on that later.

Making the box took me about an hour or two. Installing it on the bike took about an hour. I had to take the right side panel off the bike due to how I had previously wired the XM solution and because I wanted to run a cable from my new power box along the right side of the bike, around the gas tank, and up through the front forks and along the right handlebar to provide power/audio to an Escort 8500. I used a regular RJ11 phone cord to go from the power box to the radar. I suppose I could have purchased the extra special version from Escort - it's something like $10 and looks just like the $2 version I got at Radio Shack. Hmmm, hope I don't find out that the $8 would have kept my 8500 from melting down!

Since I used the RJ11 cable to the radar detector, I thought it would be kind of neat to just put a RJ11 phone jack in my powerbox. Believe it or not, I didn't think about this up front and had already put the posts in the box - ah, such is life. The phone jack went outside the power box but still under the CD changer case. I'm currently just running power to the phone jack, but am already thinking about what I want to do with the audio out from the radar detector. That signal will come down the other pair of the RJ11 phone cable, so I'm thinking that I could easily put in a powered speaker or something that will really blast/bleep/whatever when it gets a signal. I'm also contemplating hooking up a $2 LED and putting it on my dash somewhere - a hell of a lot less expensive than that sexy HARD system that I was thinking about.

Here's a view of the installation (the laser detector is just sitting there - it's not serving any role... although it would be neat to put in a detector that supported remote antennas).




And a close up:




The nice thing about this is that my laptop and a few other chargers for my cameras will fit in the case perfectly - I'll only charge one at a time, but can easily see simply changing the plug for the charging device at a gas stop.

Cool, huh?

(oh yeah, since I'm camping most of the way, I'm going to bring a 25ft extension cord so I can plug in when I happen to be in a KOA or someplace that offers power... may as well get something for that $20/night camping fee!)



Pacific Coast Highway 2004 Pre Trip Planning

Well, it's the day before the big day. Today is Thursday, August 5th, and I plan to leave the Chicago area around 6:00a tomorrow morning.

The last several weeks have been spent planning routes and thinking about what I want to see while on the road. I've given serious thought to how much "stuff" to bring along on my journey and started with a grand plan that I would have two waterproof bags strapped to my K1200LT. Believe it or not, I've succeeded in doing just that - but I had kind of thought one bag would have my camping gear in it and the other bag would have my clothes. Ah, well, it didn't really work out that way. I'm attending a work function for a few days in Reno, so I needed to bring work clothes (nice shorts, nice shirts - hey, it *is* Reno...!), as well as my laptop. Of course I probably wouldn't have left the laptop behind anyway.

Without going into way too much information, here's a brief rundown on what I've brought along:

* Laptop * Digital SLR * A bunch of Nikon camera lenses (I'm into pictures...) * Compact P&S Digital Camera * 25-ft extension cord (for power when camping at KOA) * Firstgear HT Air jacket * HT Air pants * Liners for both * 2 coolmax t-shirts * 3 lycra shorts (no seams!) * boots * gloves * heated vest & pants * clear & dark visor for helmet * 3 pair sunglasses * sleeping bag * camelback waterbag * thermarest sleeping pad * poncho liner * eureka tent * ground cloth for tent * 2 pair blue jean shorts * 2 polo shirts * loafers * cell phone * ham radio * national park pass * shaving gear

There's more, but you get the idea. The laptops & cameras and one or two other fragile items ended up in the side cases or the top case, everything else ended up in these two big red waterproof bags I've got. I've been rained on in a huge downpour for an hour and these things stay waterproof - very cool.

I recently added a RAM mount for my radar detector - hopefully I'll hear the darn thing when it goes off. One of these days I'm going to figure out how to wire a large buzzer to it so it blasts when it goes off. I tried to interface it with my XM radio by getting a Y cable and feeding both the radar earpiece and the XM output into the amp for the radio. You EE types probably already know that wasn't going to work very well - it didn't. I wish I had thought of screwing around with it a week or two... ah, such is life.

So I get everything packed up and ready to go - here are a few shots of the bike ready to go. Bailey wants to go too.





I've decided to attempt an Iron Butt ride on the outbound leg (outbound to Reno). I typically do 500 miles a day, but the Iron Butt people have this idea of an endurance contest that clocks up 1000 miles in 24 hours. I've been close before - 925, 950 miles, something like that, but I've never taken the time to document the process. I'm gonna document the start this time - we'll see if I feel like actually doing it. Visit www.ironbutt.com if you feel the need to learn more about this crazy thing. Of course the only reason I'm doing it is because everybody will think I'm cool if I do. Plus that snazzy little license plate holder. I feel kind of like Homer Simpson who just has to finish that porterhouse at the all you can eat place. Anyway, check back here in a few days and you'll see whether or not I made the 1000 miles in a day. I'd need to go from Chicago to at least Rawlins, WY tomorrow. I think it can be done... hmmm. We'll see.



Pacific Coast Highway 2004 Day 1 - Chicago to Rawlins, Wy - 1127 miles

Today was a long day, but the miles seemed to fly by. As planned, I completed the Iron Butt 1000-mile “Saddle Sore” riding contest. The idea behind this is to ride 1000-miles within a twenty-four hour period.

Day1
Like most riders who accomplish this ride, I planned 1100 or so miles – just to be on the safe side. I completed the ride in about 15 hours. I left the Chicago area around 6:00a and navigated through a few country roads to Interstate 88 and took 88 west to Interstate 80. I’m still riding on Interstate 80 as I pen this, but am ready to branch off into the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area – but more on that in Day 2!

Why the 1000-mile contest? More to see if I could do it than anything else, I suppose. I had done long days before, but never 1000-miles. And I had never documented those trips – the start time is the date/time stamp on a gas or ATM receipt. I fueled up near home and was presented with a 6:06a departure time. My motorcycle, the BMW K1200LT, can go about 200 miles per tank of gas, although I try to never go more than 150 miles. The bike weighs in at 800 lbs or so – I’d hate to have to push it down the road! I didn’t take any breaks for the first few fuel stops, but then did take time to stretch and walk around for 15 minutes or so once I hit the 500 mile mark. Things were going very well at this point and I thought that I could continue on with no problem… but as the day progressed, I began to find myself yawning and thinking of other things – not desirable traits for a long-distance motorcyclist…! A few yawns weren’t going to kill me, so I decided to move on – with the proviso that I would stop if I found my attention wandering. Part of the issue, I think, was just the simple boredom of the scenery. Apologies to those of you who happen to live in Western Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska… there’s not much to see. The roads are all pretty flat and there’s nothing but farm after farm. Yeah, I suppose we could talk about the stockyards in Nebraska, but, ah, you can smell them way before you see them and then you see them – and they seem to go on for miles and miles. Lisa Simpson sure would be disappointed. Things picked up in the western half of Nebraska – I was getting closer to my goal and was feeling pretty good. 600 miles turned into 700 into 800, and so on. I exercised pretty good fuel management during this leg of the trip, but I did pass by one station yesterday and a nagging thought started in the back of my mind, “turn around and get gas.” Nah, I thought, I’ve got plenty of gas. Shoot – all I can say is not long later it seemed I wasn’t going to make Laramie, WY. Good thing two people with a sense of humor built a gas station at Buford, WY. There was a sign at the exit ramp that said “Buford, WY Population 2.” The station was closed when I rolled up, but they had a pay at the pump situation. Phew. I cruised Laramie and rolled into Rawlins, WY about 90 minutes later. The first place I stopped did not have pay at the pump and I really wanted an “official” end time for the Iron Butt thing. I went on to the next gas station and got one. The kid at the station didn’t want to be my witness (it’s an Iron Butt thing – visit their website for more info… www.ironbutt.com). Thankfully Michelle at the Day’s Inn had no problem being my witness, so I settled in for the night. I had planned (and still do) to camp on a lot of this trip, but 1127 miles later, I thought I deserved a well nights rest. The room was seventy bucks! So much for a low-cost trip. The room was so-so, the bed was uncomfortable. Too late, I thought, I should have slept on the floor. I’m really going to be better about this camping thing as I go along!

Photos from the trip to follow...


Pacific Coast Highway 2004 Day 2 - Rawlins, WY to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area - 197 miles

I slept in today! Why not? I departed Rawlings around noon and motored down Interstate 80 towards Rock Springs, WY. So I’m cruising down Interstate 80 and I see a sign that says “Continental Divide 7000 ft” – I motored right on by and almost instantly began to regret not getting a photo. I knew I would traverse the divide several times (think twisty roads) on the way back – still, though, it felt wrong.


As I’m going down Interstate 80 I see one of those great American sights – a train with two locomotives and about 100 freight cars. I quickly pass by the train and get up the road five or six miles and find an exit and am able to position myself pretty close to the tracks to get some pictures. I’m shooting my photos with the compact Sony S500, and wish I had taken the time to unload the Nikon D100 and all the stuff that goes with that… the S500 will have to do (it’s a great camera). As the train comes around the bend, the engineer sees me and gets on the train whistle – it was cool. My friend Tom – a certifiable train nut would have enjoyed it. The engineer let the whistle go a few times and then really laid it on – it was a long, piercing, soulful sound. You had to be there – but it was very cool.

I load back up and get on the road and see two bicyclists going down the side of the road – in the middle of the desert! As I’m contemplating this (about 85 degrees at the moment), I see another sign that says “Continental Divide” – I’m not passing up this opportunity twice – remember I’m really not on that much of a schedule. I turned around and came back to the sign at the same time the bicyclists made the sign. Hanley and Marty are both in their sixties and are biking across the country! They started in New York – wow! They’re going to the west coast too – although I’m certain I’ll beat them by a mile. We laughed for a few minutes, shot a few pictures, and then bid each other safe travels. Man.

I have no particular destination in mind, other than I have to be in Reno for work on Monday night. I’ve been tinkering with the map software and have decided that I want to visit the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. Using MapPoint, I discovered there were two ways to visit the Gorge – the east or west route. I considered doing the western route, but stopped at a huge Harley store and asked a few folks and everyone said the eastern route was better. I thought I’d fuel up with a hamburger, so I stopped at the local Burger King – which is where I sit now and write in my journal. Everybody here thinks the eastern route is better too!

So, it’s several hours later as I sit near the campfire to continue in my journal. It was an interesting afternoon. I left the Burger King around 2:00p or so and had a wonderful ride down US191. It’s a very pretty ride and the traffic is sporadic – I’d go thirty or forty minutes and not see anybody, and then I’d see six or eight cars or bikes in a row. I had already decided to stop when I see something interesting, so this ride was full of brief stops for a photo break. The route from Interstate 80 to the dam at Flaming Gorge is only about 50 miles – and it took me at least two hours to make the trip… yes, I was taking lots of pictures. So I just entered into Utah and there was a Caddy in front of me poking along. In a very nice way, I blasted past the guy, gave him a wave, and road up a great big hill and around a few curves. What’s this I see? Off to my right is a fantastic view of the lake at the Gorge – I have to stop. Of course I’ve already rolled past the entrance to the cutout, so I look both ways and then begin a very low-speed u-turn. Now, you have to understand something about this motorcycle – it’s heavy. It’s top heavy. You also have to understand something about u-turns – you gotta be careful even when the ground is flat. You gotta be extra careful when it’s a two-lane road out in the country and you’re on a hill. Also, you gotta understand – there are two types of motorcyclists out there: those who have dropped their bikes and those who will drop their bike one day. Well, sad to say, I moved from one club to the other today. The good news is it really was more of a very slow controlled descent into the ground as I eased her down. I could come up with all sorts of great explanations about how such a thing happened to an obviously talented motorcyclist, or I could tell you there was sand on the ground, or… bla bla bla. I joined the other club today. So… there I am. In the middle of the desert, on a hill, wondering how the hell I’m gonna get this thing right-side-up. Let’s not forget that the bike weighs about 800 lbs – and that’s before you add in all your camping stuff. I figured I was looking at close to 1000 lbs of stuff. There was no way I was going to be able to get this thing up. I gave thought to taking everything off it and trying again, but it was on a hill and then I’d still be dealing with the 800 lbs. It wasn’t gonna help. So, there I am, thinking about what to do, wondering how long it will take for somebody to come along. The guy in the Caddy roles up and I’m thinking that grandpa is gonna hop out and yell out me for speeding and then wrecking – it actually looked a whole heck of a lot worse than it was. Thankfully it’s a young guy who walks up with a smile and helps me right her right side up. Of course by this time, there’s a virtual traffic jam – two or three cars from both sides have stopped. One little old lady is running around with her cell phone asking if she should call 911 and wondering where “he” is. It took me a minute, but I finally realized that I was the “he” she was looking for. I think she was looking for somebody lying by the side of the road. Sorry to disappoint and all. I thank everyone for their help and gently motor on back to the overlook to get some pictures.

As you can imagine, it was a pretty interesting afternoon. I roll through a small town called “Dutch John” and stop to see the dam at Flaming Gorge. Pretty cool, great views. I roll over the damn and around a few curves and up a pretty big hill and I see a campground run by the National Park (or State Park?) system. It’s still relatively early – around 5:00p. I’ve only done 197 miles today. I think about it for a few second and decide to pull in to investigate. Despite all my pretensions to the contrary the camping thing and I are somewhat new to one another. Yeah, I camped when I was a kid. Yeah, I slept out in the woods when I was in the Army (but I had an M16 with me then…), Yeah, I thought that this was a pretty snazzy campground as those things go. And likely a lot better than what I would find by the side of the road in the middle of Utah three or four hours later. I decided to call it a day. That, by the way, is one of the best parts about riding a motorcycle. I pull in, find a spot, pay my $14 for the night and get settled in. I buy a bundle of wood ($5) from the guy running the place and pitch my tent. I’ve got a nice fire pit, a picnic table, a cleared area for my tent, and – best of all – a concrete slab for part the LT. And, oh yeah, uh, “facilities.” Pretty cool. I unload everything and get setup and then ride a few miles down the road to the “Lodge” and do some grocery shopping. They’ve got a fancy schmancy restaurant attached to it, but Gene (the guy running the place) has already clued me in that they’re gonna want something like nine bucks for a so-so hamburger. I bought some groceries and motor back to the campsite. It’s still pretty light out (it’s 8:15p mountain time as I write this and the sun is just now thinking about peaking below the ridge across the way), so I’m not quite ready for dinner. I sit at the table and finish reading one of the books I brought along and then I took a walk around the campsite and said hello to some of my neighbors. This is apparently a pretty good place to hang out if you’re camping and you’ve got a boat – at least 25% of the people here have boats or empty trailers with them. Anyway, I get back to the tent and it’s still somewhat early, so I decided to lie down in the tent and take a nap. Man, what a life.

It’s about 7:00p and time for dinner. Come on now, ask yourself, when’s the last time you had toasted marshmallows? Very cool. I foraged around for a few minutes and found some dry brush and some kindling and came back to the fire pit and crossed my fingers. I had a very nice fire going within minutes. It’s nice to know that Boy Scout training paid off. Or maybe it was just the dry brush…! Either way, tent pitched, fire going, dinner time. A few roasted (ok, burned) hot dogs later, a handful of marshmallows, some more picture taking, and I’m ready for some work on the journal. I haven’t looked at the pictures yet – I’ll load them on the laptop in a few minutes and do that for another hour or so before bed. I expect I’ll be up with the sunrise (whenever that is) and then on the road shortly thereafter. By the way, I forgot to mention, I’m wearing bicyclist shorts (no seams) and coolmax t-shirts under my riding gear. Man, what a joy. I could go on and on and on about how comfortable they are – put it this way, at the end of the day, I’m feeling great – not hot, now sweaty, not, ah, gross. Anymore than usual that is. ? Also, I’m using a Camelback 3 liter hydration system – I have it strapped to my gear on the back of the bike and am able to take a sip whenever I feel the need. I went through the entire thing yesterday, and, man, was it the sweet sweet nectar of the gods. I filled the thing with water before I left home and left it in the fridge overnight – and then added ice right before I left Chicago. It stayed cooled all day long. I’ll never do a long trip without a camelback and the snazzy riding gear again. Oh yeah, the 110v charging system on the motorcycle worked fine today – I charged up the laptop from about 25% battery to full power during my ride. See my trip planning part for more info on that – www.twentyninewest.com/roadtrip.

Nite! See ‘ya tomorrow.

Because sometimes it's not important where you're going, it's where you've been that counts.


It happens to all of us eventually...


Home Sweet Home


Most handsome rider I've ever seen...



Pacific Coast Highway 2004 Day 3 - Flaming Gorge NRA to Wendover, NV - 319 miles

Before I hit the sack last night, I reviewed some of the photos I’ve taken so far and while there’s still a lot of reviewing and editing to go I’m pleased with what I have so far. I crashed in the tent and listened to MP3s for about an hour or so while eyeballing the photos.

Day3
I drift off to sleep pretty early and was so comfortable that I didn’t use the sleeping bag – I was wearing shorts & a t-shirt and just curled up in a poncho liner… ah, that was a mistake. Around three in the morning I wake up and realize that it was pretty cold, that I was pretty cold. The temp was in the mid-thirties. Ouch! I broke out the sleeping bag and dashed out to the bike to get a set of sweats. The awesome stillness and clarity of the night-sky was a sight to behold. If I hadn’t been so cold I would have figured out a way to snap a few shots… as it was, I was back in bed in a few minutes.

I wake (again) with the sunrise and have things packed and ready to go within half an hour or so. I load up and am cruising down SR40 (Utah), south of the Flaming Gorge Area, when I see movement off to the left side of the road. I hit the brakes just in time as some monster cow walks out into the road. Get this – the cow is walking on top of one of those cattle guards! Sheesh, I thought those were supposed to keep the livestock from crossing the road! I continue a lot slower than before and run into a small herd a few hundred feet up the road. I toot the horn a few times – some nervous looks, but no real movement. I slowly weave my way through them, conscious of the fact that one of them could knock me over in a heartbeat. I stop and take some pictures. Some bonehead in a Honda Civic comes up behind me, waits for about two seconds, and then guns it and blasts around me – he came really close to whacking a cow that ran in front of his POS car. Would have served him right. Anyway, I get going a few minutes later and continue to bump into cows for the next couple of miles. I cannot imagine what it would be like to run into a 1000-lb cow (how much do those things weigh anyway?) with an 800-lb motorcycle.

The next couple of hours were just spectacular. There were a lot of great curves, a lot of great scenery, and not a lot of traffic. I probably stopped every 15 minutes for pictures. It was one of the better motorcycle rides I’ve experienced. I found a great overlook on Route 44 that was positioned at the beginning of three or four switchbacks and sat there for half an hour and just watched the day go by. It was wonderful.

I motored up to Manila and crossed back into Wyoming and eventually got back on Interstate 80 pointed my way towards Salt Lake City. I found a Borders Bookstore and spent about an hour there and got online using the TMobile hotspot. I waited for the heat of the afternoon to pass and then got back on the road. I had planned to 500 miles or so today, but Interstate 80 west of SLC was hot and I was getting a little fatigued. Never one to keep pushing when tired (and this coming from a newly minted Iron Butt dude…), I decided to stop at the next town and find a campsite. The camping thing worked out so well last night, I was very comfortable with the idea of doing it again. Campgrounds like KOA are all over the place – and in this part of the country it’s also pretty easy to just find an isolated spot and pitch the tent. Well… I’m all ready to camp. I cross over the Utah/Nevada state line and see they have casinos all over the place. Rooms for $22. Hmmm. It’s not the Mirage. It’s not Pleasure Island. But it is $22. Heck, I paid $14 to camp last night. My resolve melts and I think that a hotel is a good thing. I pull in and get settled. Turns out they’re having a $3.49 dinner special – strip steak with all the fixings. Hmmm. Not bad.

Read more!

Grand Canyon 2003

The history… Dan, Antoine, and Adam have been talking about riding from Chicago to the Grand Canyon for at least a year. We all met a few years ago when we bought Harley’s and took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course – we all had the same skill level, we all had the passion, so it seemed somewhat natural that we would all end up riding together. The first few trips were local trips – down to Starved Rock State Park just south of Chicago, or up to Windsor across the bridge from Detroit. As we became more proficient in our riding skills, the trips became longer and longer. Along the way we all decided we liked BMWs better. The “first annual cross-country trip” was last August – we all did Chicago to Yellowstone and a bunch of other National Parks. It was cool. So it was pretty natural for us to start thinking about the “second annual cross-country trip.”

This vision… Where to go, where to go? The Grand Canyon was one of the first destinations discussed. So was Alaska, so was Europe, so was Key West. I suspect this is a roadmap of future annual trips…! We decided that the Grand Canyon was the place to go. I’m not quite sure how the decision was actually made – I probably had something to do with it as I can be a bit overbearing. Ha!

The challenge… When to go? We did the last one in August. I’m a sales guy and generally can’t take off two weeks early in the spring/summer as the end of the fiscal year is quickly approaching. We all went back and forth trying to find dates – what worked for one wouldn’t work for all. A June date was proposed – but wouldn’t work for me. A July date was proposed and didn’t work for Antoine. An August date was proposed – but conflicted with the CCR. It was beginning to look like we wouldn’t be able to plan a trip after all…

The surprise… At somewhat of a last minute notice, I discovered I had to be in Phoenix for a work-related function on May 5th and 6th. I started looking at airfare and then I thought, “wait a second… Phoenix is kind of close to the Grand Canyon.” Then I thought, “nah, it’ll never work”, and then I thought some more. I went back and forth for a few days and then shot the guys an email and asked them if they wanted to ride with me – I’d leave on May 1st and return to Chicago on the 10th or 11th. The bonus? They could shack up with me at some schwanky resort in Scottsdale. Unfortunately neither of them could get time away from work on such short notice. Those jobs have a way of getting in the way, don’t they?

So… that’s what brings me to the Holiday Inn Express in Marshfield, MO this evening. Triple A rate of $60 – not great, but not bad. It’s clean, nice, free HBO, and all the (well, most) comforts of home. I was going to leave Chicago at 6:00a this morning, but screwed around a bit and ended up leaving at 10:30a. About 500 miles, two gas stops, and eight hours later I role into Marshfield. I asked the gal at the desk if there was a place within walking distance that offered a beer and a hamburger. She told me I could get a six-pack and order a pizza! Ha! I did! Missouri is actually a very scenic place – I was pretty impressed with the drive. There were some slight hills on Interstate 44 – and even some pretty decent twisties. But… two problems. Nobody in this State seems to use their turn signal and I don’t think anybody really understands the purpose of the left lane. I mean, really, how hard is it to figure out that you don’t pace the car next to you for 10 miles? And I wasn’t tailgating or anything. Anyway, here I am. I didn’t stop to take pictures today – I do intend to document my trip and stop whenever I see something interesting along the way. I saw one or two interesting spots today but nothing really jumped out at me. I almost stopped and took photos of the Arch when cruising through downtown St Louis – but you all know what it looks like anyway. Oh yeah, I forgot my circular polarizer. Damn. Guess I’ll have to Photoshop all the pics. I took a few snaps at the hotel this evening.

[img]http://www.titleii.com/images/1K1200.jpg[/img]

It’s Friday morning, May 2nd. I woke up at 2:00a this morning – I guess the hotel wasn’t as comfortable as I thought! I gave serious thought to packing up and leaving super early but then thought about trying to hit the sack for a few more hours. It worked – I crashed until 6:00a and then watched the weather channel for a bit. After a quick breakfast I decided to get moving – my goal was to do at least 500 miles. I’d previously mapped out my entire route and have been hoping to stick to it as close as possible. I did consider doing a 1000-mile day so I could go get one of those Iron Butt plate holders – but will save that for another day.

http://www.titleii.com/images/8Map.jpg

I hit the road about 7:00a and made great time – really great time – I was averaging about 95 for the first three hours. Interstate 44 just screams at you to go fast. I quickly left Missouri behind and hit the Oklahoma state line. I didn’t realize it when planning but I-44 in Oklahoma is a toll-road – it cost me about eight bucks for the entire route. Not to mention that other fee that was incurred in Oklahoma. They say that the Oklahoma State Patrol doesn’t fool around. Well… all I can say is, “No kidding.” Ask me how I know.

http://www.titleii.com/images/4Ticket.jpg

So the copper pulls me over and tells me he’s been following me for 10-miles – sans lights, of course. He asks if I had seen him and I just looked at him with one of those, “do you think I’d have been speeding if I saw you” looks and he just grinned. I dig up the paperwork and am sitting in the front seat of his car – very impressive, btw. His cruiser was decked out with all the best gadgets - a super high resolution camera, radar, and all the radios and stuff that go along with it. I figured I’d begin with my, “Officer, I just wasn’t paying attention, I have no excuse.” He said, “Yep, you’re right.” I then tried the old, “I suppose the time to ask for forgiveness was before I started speeding.” He said, “Yep, you’re right.” This goes on and on for a few minutes and I hear nothing good. I finally decided to accept it in good grace… but not before one last try. I asked him if he would let me go if I made him laugh. He smiled and said, “Sure.” I looked him right in the eye and told him that the cocaine and the guns on the motorcycle weren’t mine. He just looked at me for a few seconds and then broke into a huge laugh. I couldn’t believe it! It worked. He then smiled and handed me this:

http://www.titleii.com/images/5Speed.jpg

Then he told me that he knocked the speed down a bit. Ha! I was just kidding, by the way, it wasn’t 195, it was 95. But when playing with Photoshop you just have to be creative. He told me that he knocked off a few miles per hour to keep me in the lower bracket. Great. I’ve got some other document that details how much – it’s something like $200. Kind of makes me wish I had invested in that RAM mount for my radar detector – which, I’m sad to say, is sitting home in my car. Ah, well, what the hell. You play you pay. Before I got out of the car I thanked him for dropping it down a bit – I said, “Ah, thanks. At least for half of this.” He was still laughing as he pulled away. What the hell – he was doing his job. I packed up and got back on the road and resolved to keep it around 80 or so.

I rolled through Oklahoma City and stopped to visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial. I’ve wanted to see this for some time – for a lot of reasons. First, because it is a historic site – and the events of April 19 will resonate with many of us forever. Second, because I wanted to try and gain a better understanding of what would cause someone to make the decisions that led to the bombing. What happened to Timothy McVeigh to make him flip all the switches in his head that led to Oklahoma City? I share no sympathies for his cause, or for his actions. But… and this is a big but, I understand the emotions around government interference. Around big brother. Around government crossing the line. I was as shocked about Waco and Ruby Ridge as the rest of us – but I believe our government has never properly answered for what happened either time. Third, I could envision a kinship to Timothy McVeigh under different circumstances. We’re both vets – we both served. We were about the same age. We felt passionate about some of the same things. Having said all this, let me reiterate – I don’t believe in what he did. I voice my opinions, I vote, I work for change. He did none of this. Why, I wondered?

The Oklahoma City National Memorial has a museum and is a sobering place. The tour starts on the third floor and begins a few minutes before the bombing. They have copies of the local newspapers and a tribute to the world before the bombing – typical suburbia. The tour then moves to a replica of the county clerks’ office, which was located across the street from the Murrah building. There was a public hearing underway and they were recording the hearing. The entire blast and the confusion that followed were recorded for posterity. It was bone-chilling. The rest of the tour walks you through the minutes, hours, day, and weeks afterward. It was a very touching and moving experience – and the tears were flowing. It’s well worth a visit if you’re in the area. Sadly, I left with no greater insight to the mind of terror; no better understanding of what makes one man take the path to evil.

http://www.titleii.com/images/6OKC.jpg

http://www.titleii.com/images/7OKC1.jpg

I had about 150 miles left on the agenda for the day, so I headed out towards Shamrock, Texas. I hit Shamrock, and like any cost-conscious traveler, I had to follow the signs to the “$21.95 Motel” – big mistake. It looked like there was a drug deal happening in the parking lot. I cruised around a bit more to check out the town and ended up back at the Best Western – it was right off the expressway and was really my first choice. I just had to go look around as I got here about 4:00p. It’s relatively new and is actually very nice. The rate was $69 or so – a bit more than I wanted to spend, but what the hell. There’s a pool that I may use a bit later. The gal at the front desk told me this was a dry county…! Good thing I had a few beers left over from last night. Dinner consisted of a gourmet meal from Taco Bell. If I don’t find a good place to eat tomorrow night I’m gonna scream. I’m optimistic that Gallup, NM will offer a few good eateries. Maybe Chinese. Maybe a steakhouse. Maybe Pizza Hut.

I headed out of Shamrock, TX and made inroads to Gallup, NM. The day was essentially highway riding, about 500 miles or so. I stopped at the Albuquerque BMW shop and was fairly impressed with their inventory - lots of bikes, even a Black LTC!, and a ton of great riding clothes. I gave serious consideration to purchasing a Kilimanjaro jacket - great selection, great colors, great prices. But then I thought I had a few thousand miles to go and already had a pretty decent leather jacket - what would I do with it? I could have fedexed it home, but thought it would work for my trip. Speaking of riding gear, what was I wearing? Boots, jeans, leather jacket, t-shirt, and leather chaps. Plus a silk helmet liner that I pulled up over most of my face to prevent sunburn - worked very well. The jacket and the chaps are holdovers from my Harley days (sold my Harley the other day, btw), but I'm still cool with wearing them as they work just fine. I ended up chatting with one of the sales reps for 15 or 20 minutes and then got back on the road - but I was still amazed at the number of bikes they had.

My final destination for the night was supposed to be in the Chambers, AZ area; however I couldn't find a decent hotel in the area when planning my trip. Rather than stay at the Chiefton Hotel in Chambers, I decided to stay in Gallup, NM at one of the brand motels. Well... I left Shamrock pretty early - something like 5:00a - and had only done 500 miles. Could I have done more? Sure. But I was thinking that the closer I got to Phoenix, the more expensive my hotel rooms would become. I rolled into Gallup around 1:30p or so. I pulled up to some hotel right at the hotel ramp - the Holiday Inn Express - and asked the gal at the front desk if I could check in. She looks at the clock and tells me that check-in is at 2:00p. Would I like to make a reservation? I couldn't believe it - I was tempted to ask if she would like to blow me, but I just laughed it off and told her I'd go across the street and get a room at the place next door. I went next door and they were more than happy to see me. I could not believe the wind in this town - it was blowing like you wouldn't believe. I asked the gal at the desk if the wind would be that strong all afternoon, all night. She just laughed and said yes. I then asked if the wind would continue from the same direction and she said yes. We figured out that it would be good if I could have a room on the downwind side of the hotel - with the hotel between me and the wind - I was really worried about the wind knocking over my LT.

Once I got situated I decided to put on some shorts, a tshirt, and a baseball cap and go explore the town. There was a local mall next door and I hit up a bookstore and picked up a new book -- "No Second Chance" by Harlen Coben -- it was a great read. Then I looked around for an Applebees or a Chilies. Didn't happen. I ended up in the local TexMex place -- which was in the mall next to the place where they take pictures of your kids. This place was pretty interesting - although it was the third of May, the place was celebrating Cinco de Mayo full steam ahead... plenty of serious Mexican cantina music, plenty of Mexican beer, but not so many Mexicans. Plenty, more than plenty of American Indians - perhaps Navajo. I've never felt more white in my life - and this coming from a guy who grew up in the deep south and has been in plenty of situations in which I was the only white face. What was interesting is that I felt no ostracism. I actually felt pretty welcome - probably more of a social commentary on me than the folks I was drinking with. The guy next to me starts telling me that they are expecting a "Professional Bull Rider (PBR)" who will come ride the mechanical bull that night and the whole town is coming out to check this guy out. Now you gotta understand this - I'm sitting there, a late-30-something fat white guy with a buzzcut, blue jean shorts, a t-shirt, and a ballcap that says, "San Francisco" on it. From his perspective I'm looking more like a late-30-something queen going through a mid-life crisis than a Professional Bull Rider. But... I look right over at him and say, "yeah, i know, I'm the guy." His jaw drops and he says, "What?" and then turns to his 10 friends and starts talking in Navajo. All of them look at me and you can see the shock on their faces. They all start coming up to me and clapping me on the back and telling me what an honor it is to have a PBR in their town and that the whole town is coming out to see me ride that night. I entertained everyone with stories of bull riding from Texas to ESPN and back. Boy oh boy, did I have a blast. I bought a few rounds of drinks and they bought a few rounds of drinks. Damn - I sat in this place all afternoon. Finally one of the guys gets all serious and comes up to me and asks how I'm gonna ride the bull when I'm so trashed. I look around and notice that all of them are kinda concerned... really. I looked around and told them that I'd prove it and started towards the bull in the middle of the bar. I got right up next to it and then just laughed and told 'em that I was screwing with them and I had never even seen a bull!!! Man oh man - you could have heard a pin drop. Then everybody just laughed and we had another round.

I stayed for another few hours and had a blast - but never did see the PBR show up. Maybe they were yanking my chain?

I was in bed fairly early - remember I got to town fairly early too!! It rained that night and I woke about 4:00a. I hit the road by 5:00a and was on the way to Phoenix via Flagstaff.

So the next morning comes around and I'm up early and on the road. I left before sunrise and was enjoying the ride with no traffic what-so-ever. 30 or 40 miles down the road I hit Chambers, AZ - you remember, the place where I thought there was only one motel and no restaurants? I stopped in Gallup, NM because I thought there were more sights there (well, hell, I did have a good time), however this place, the Chiefton Motel, looked pretty nice. There were a bunch of fast food places nearby, a few bars, etc. I could have easily stopped there. But I guess I wouldn't have traded the Wind Talkers experience for anything - I really did have a good time.

So I'm cruising down Interstate 40 and I look over to my left and see a pretty cool photo - I figure that I've got to get a photo of this, so I pull over at the next exit and snap a bunch of shots. I climb back on the ride and realize that I've just gotten off at the exit to the Petrified Forest National Park. Hell, I think, I've got a NP pass - why not see what's what? I pull off and pass a ranger at the entrance to the park - we wave and I continue on. I get 1/2 mile up the road and find a big barrier that says the park is closed. Damn. We've gone through a time change and AZ doesn't recognize daylight savings, so I'm off by two hours. I go back to the ranger and he tells me the park won't open for 40 minutes. I figure I'm close so what the hell. We sit there and chat for a while and I share a cigar (ok, I didn't share *a* cigar, we both had one) and shot the shit for 40 minutes. A few other rangers show up and go open the gates and I cruise through the park. It was pretty cool. I took more photos than you can imagine, but took the "All About" photos while in the park:

http://www.titleii.com/images/AllAbout.jpg

You've got to remember stopping at the park was a spur of the moment thing for me - it wouldn't have even happened if I hadn't wanted to stop for photos. The ride through the park took me north of the Interstate (I-40) and then south of the interstate. I figured I could find a way south to Phoenix rather than getting back on 40 and hitting Flagstaff. This turned out to be a great decision and led to the best part of the trip. I ended up picking up US180 out of the pack and taking it NW to Holbrook. I jumped on 377 South to Heber to 260 West to Payson through the Tonto National Forest down to Scottsdale. Damn. This was probably some of the best riding I've ever done - lots of great scenery, lots of twisties, lots of bikes. WOW!! I wish I had stopped for more photos.

I hit Scottsdale and then the schwanky hotel the company was putting me up in for a few days and had a pretty good time. My only concern was figuring out how to secure my LT on a blacktop parking lot - I left my LT on a blacktop lot in the heat in Michigan last summer and it almost fell over - it sank down about 2" in the soft tar of the blacktop. I couldn't find a covered parking area, so finally compromised on parking it in a spot that was next to a concrete curb that has a concrete napkin around the curb - I left her on her side stand and prayed I wouldn't have any problems. I didn't. Thank God.

So the next few days go by slowly......... remember, this is a work trip. We have 10-hour days while we talk about this year and what next year will look like. All in all a good thing for the company. But the road was calling...

I ended up staying through Tuesday night and leaving first thing in the morning on Wednesday. My destination was the Grand Canyon Village - about 200 miles or so - an easy day. So I've tried to use my American Express for the entire trip - it'll make it easier for me to fill up at those pay-at-the-pump stations and will make it easier to pay for the hotels, etc. While I have cash - and probably enough for the entire trip - I'm planning on using "the card." Well, I may have forgotten to mention this, but the last few times I tried to use it, it was declined. Shit. I did have cash, I did have other plastic, but I was worried about this - what was going on? I've hard this card for 10+ years. I call AX at the first stop, somewhere back in Texas when it was first declined. The number is busy. Shit. I paid cash and moved on. I tried to use it at a gas station in some small town between Phoenix and Flagstaff (at the pump) and it didn't work... "See cashier." I see the cashier and he tells me that he has to keep the card... I'm thinking, "WTF???" Fortunately I had not given him the card. I found a payphone and called AX and they're like, "Oh, yes, we noticed that somebody was using your card all over the US and we wanted to make sure it was you. Yes, this was for your protection." While I can't disagree with the premise, I had to think "*American* Express?" Why the hell don't they call it "Illinois Express" if they're gonna get upset if I use it outside of Illinois? We square things away and I'm good to go. But that goober at the gas station was sure disappointed that he didn't get to keep my card.

I ended up hitting the Grand Canyon Village later that day - the SPIII Deluxe doesn't have great accuracy when it comes to roads in the CG area. But the scenery more than made up for the problems. I stayed at the El Tovar hotel on Wednesday night - it was nice, it was right next to the rim. Well worth a stay.

So I arrive at the El Tovar hotel a bit early and can't check in. They gladly check my bags and I'm off to visit the Grand Canyon. There's a trail not far from the hotel that is used by most tourists to get down in the Canyon -- the Bright Angel trail. I figure I may as well walk down a bit and take some photos. I see, across the valley/canyon, a mule train working its way up -- I take some snaps. I see some huge Condors land on a big outcropping and I figure if I sit there long enough I'll get some great photos of these Condors taking off. I scurry down off the side of the trail and plant my butt down. I'm there for 45 minutes or so. The mule train has slowly worked its way across the side of the canyon and is coming up behind me. I snap a few photos of the mule train and then the lead mule gets close. The lead mule, a pack guide, says, "Man, watch out, there's a bobcat behind you!" I jump up and turn around and, sure as shit, there's a bobcat sitting 20 feet away from me looking like a medium-sized dog or some super large cat. I freaked out. I jump up to the trail and get behind the mules. All of the tourists are taking photos (they'd probably have gotten some good shots of that cat eating me if they'd come along 10-minutes later). I figure, what the hell, let me get some shots as well. Here’s what I have:

http://www.titleii.com/images/ElTovar.jpg

Wow.

I ended up chatting with the mule train guy and he was like, "Man, I've worked here 15 years and have never seen a bobcat!!!" I asked him if I was going to get eaten and he just looked at me and shrugged. So I'm in the hotel bar later that evening and I'm showing the staff the shot on my PC and everybody freaks - nobody has ever seen a bobcat this close and none of them have heard of this close of a confrontation. Wow.

I get in bed fairly early that night with every intention of getting up at 4:30a so I can see the sunrise and get some great pictures. Of course I'm more tired than I'll admit at 4:30a and end up sleeping in until 7:00a. I'm off along the road that leads to the east exit of the park. I stop a few times to snap photos and nearly kill myself at one scenic overlook. I climbed over a small wall, took some photos, and then clambered over the same wall to get back on the pavement and trip. I drop my camera bag and land on my face and my hands - and my face is about 1/2" from the remnants of a steel pole that used to hold up some sign - it's poking up out of the payments about six inches (think of an old sign post that is used to hold up a stop sign that is later chopped down). I just lay on the ground for a few minutes and thought about how screwed I'd have been if my head was 1/2 to the left. Damn.

I get on the road and make it through Tuba City on Highway 160 through Arizona and on the way to the "Four Corners" area. I thought it would be worth seeing... it wasn't. I ended up riding right past the Four Corners area as they had set up a bunch of tourist stuff. Go figure.

Today is Thursday - I ended up motoring through a ton of interesting sites, skipping one national park that I wanted to see (Mesa Verde NP) and ran on to Walsenburg, CO. Today was only 536 miles but it was an all day thing -- lots of state routes and twisties. A blast - but some of the roads were under construction and were literally two-lane jobs of nothing but gravel. Damn - I really tested the LT today. Fortunately the construction jobs were relatively short (a few miles).

I pulled into Walsenburg and asked if they had any restaurants in town that delivered... the lady behind the counter just laughed at me and told me there was an attached restaurant and that was that.

Go figure.

I wanted to add a few more comments to the Thursday part fo the trip - I'm on my way to Walsenburg, CO and I had to go over Wolf Creek Pass - didn't look like much on the maps, but it's getting colder and colder. It's something like 72 degrees at the bottom of the mountain. Half an hour later, numerous twisites later, and 35 degrees cooler, I'm at the top. There's falling snow and it's sticking to my visor & the windshield. There are snow plows doing their thing on top of the mountain.

I had to stop for photos...

http://www.titleii.com/images/snow.jpg

I crest the mountain (about 10 or 12 thousand feet or so) and then I'm off on the downward slide. There's still plenty of snow, and even some ice on the road that hasn't melted off. I pass through a few snow sheds and am a bit worried about not seeing ice on the road so I go through them pretty slow. The further I come down, the better the roads become. In no time at all I'm off to Walsenburg and the temp is back in the 70s. Do note that most mornings I had put on my heated jacket underneath a sweather and my leathers - it was well worth it on this day.

More later.

Read more!

Yellowstone National Park 2002

I'm moving a few posts to the blog from my posting library... I'll update the photos and links over the new few days...

So... this was the "Outwest" trip I talked about a few months ago. Me and two friends completed about a 4000-mile trip in 10-days or so back in August. The trip began in Chicago and went to Sturgis, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, and back to Chicago with a few stops along the way.


Here's the Microsoft Streets & Trip overview:

[photo]

Who rode along with the group? Dan (me), Antoine, and Adam. Dan rides a BMW K1200LT, Antoine rides a BWM K1200RS, and Adam rides a Harley RoadKing Classic. Pretty cool, huh?

We left Chicago on August 8, 2002 and intended to ride to Souix Falls, SD. The route was about 541 miles and was through Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and just over the South Dakota state line to Souix Falls. All in all, a very uneventful ride - we did highway riding most of the way. The Street Pilot III came in very handy on this trip, although we didn't use it much on this segment. Can't remember where we did the overnight - some local hotel. Us three rugged men had decided to camp out early on... but wimped at the last minute and decided to stay in hotels. Good choice!!! ha!

The next day, Friday, brought us into Sturgis, SD - just in time for a day or two of the Sturgis Rally. About 370 miles or so from Souix Falls to Sturgis. None of us had been to Sturgis so we decided that two nights would be good - although we had to stay in Rapid City, SD - about thirty miles down the road from Sturgis. It was highway driving again on Friday. We decided to cab into Sturgis Friday night so we could drink - pretty interesting night. We watched more than anything else and I got a pretty big kick out of watching all the stupid people tricks.

Saturday was a goof-off day - we thought we would do more Sturgis, but, frankly, I could only handle so much Sturgis. We ran down to Mount Rushmore and through the Bad Lands National Park.

[photo]

The ride down to Mount Rushmore was fantastic - there are some pretty decent highways in the area - we took the nice roads on the way down, but found some great roads with lots of twisties on the way back. We ended up going for a spin on Alt 16 and found one twist back after another going up and down mountains - although the roads were two-laned, most of the way, it seemed that every tunnel through the mountain was a single-lane road - pretty cool. There were a handful of situations in which we found a bunch of tourists who felt they had to drive 10 miles an hour up and down the roads - passing was a chore...! We ended up going south of Rushmore on 16A over to 359 and to Greyhound Gultch Road - well worth the ride.

Sunday was a ride back up to 90 to Sheridan, WY. This was an easy day - about 300 miles, again mostly highway riding.

[photo]

Monday was about 350 miles into Yellowstone National Park. Wow! If you've never been to Yellowstone, get on your bike right this second and get going. It's unbelievable. God - I'll do this trip again just for the Yellowstone portion. We took a ton of pictures in Yellowstone. (All of the pictures in this post are fairly low resolution and haven't been color corrected...!)

[photo]

We spent Monday night in Yellowstone and got over to Old Faithful around 7:00p or so - good time for pictures. Pretty neat if you've never seen it up close. So the three of us are sitting there waiting for it to go and the perfect little Ward Cleaver family comes up and sits next to us. Now keep in mind there is seating for about 1000 people and there are maybe 10 people waiting for this thing to go (we just missed the last one). Not that I'm antisocial, but it was a bit odd. Then the eight year old kid chimes in and starts out like an encyclopedia on how Old Faithful works. Pretty interesting until he starts telling us that the plumes and gas leaking from Old Faithful means "she's teasing us" and that "it'll spurt and spurt and spurt" until "it blows" - the three of us just couldn't tell if this kid was screwing with us or not. It was pretty surreal.

[photo]

Tuesday was a ride down through the Grand Teton National Park - another awesome place to visit if you've not seen it. About a three hundred mile day - give or take.

[photo]

Wednesday saw us go from Rock Springs, WY to Estes Park, CO. This was originally scheduled to be about 400 miles or so, but due to a wrong turn from the navigator (me... and also the guy with the GPS), we ended up having to backtrack about 75 miles or so. I wish I had kept a journal, or had documented this earlier, but somewhere before the Rocky Mountain National Park I took a wrong turn and the three of us ended up in a diner to figure out where the heck we were - maps, a laptop, and a GPS didn't seem to help much. To make a long story short the lady in the restaurant told us we could take a 20-mile gravel road to get back to where we were headed... and we did it. Ha! I think we all breathed a collective sigh of relief when we hit the paved road again... although there was some absolutely beautiful territory back there in the woods.

We cruised through the Rocky Mountain National Park and, with one exception, was a superb experience. The twisties were phenomenal. Traffic was generally pretty light, but turned into a pretty intense backup on the first major set of switchbacks on the west side of the park... turns out some guy on a Ducati lost it on a curve and bounced off a minivan and then into the wall. He looked pretty bad - unfortunately. There seemed to be a few folks working on him and there were a bunch of bikers trying to lend a hand, so we all carried on - I figuered that since none of us were medical-types,we might be causing more problems than not. We continue up the road about three of four miles to a great overlook and sat there and shook our heads with a bunch of other bikers - that's when we saw the life flight come in. I thought they were going to land in our rest stop but they seemed to have found a spot closer to the accident site. Bummer. The rest of the ride was somewhat sobering, yet the views were incredible. There's a pretty neat visitor center, the Alpine Visitor Center at the top of the the park - about 15,000 ft. The ride down the other side of the RMNP was staggering - there were so many places I wanted to stop and take pictures... but no place to stop. I can't believe that folks actually walked across that land years and years ago. Wow.

Thursday brought us to Omaha via the interstate system and Friday brought us back into Chicago.

Next year I'm doing the Grand Canyon. I'm going to factor RMNP into the ride - it's too awesome not to do it again.

danbrew

Read more!