Western Rally Road Trip August 2008
I left right after work on a Tuesday which is a little unusual. Well, not right after work, I had to double check my packing which took about an hour.
It's during this time I get excited starting a trip and I have to remind myself to slow down and be careful. One mishap and my whole trip could be ruined.
First Leg
It was hot during my packing and by the time I was finished I was soaked with sweat. The first breezes from the bike were a welcome friend..
It's starting to get late so I hit Hwy 50 and twist on the gas. I was trying to get to Ronnie's house before dark. I'm not usually fond of riding in the dark, but that's another story.
I stopped just above Lake Tahoe to take a “Beginning of Trip” picture.
I arrived at Ronnie's in Silver Springs, NV just before dark and I am beginning to feel that I was already getting behind on taking pictures so I took a few.
A word about Ronnie's house. It is my island away from my insane city life. I go there quite often just to get away. I thank Ronnie and Claudine for there hospitably and friendship.
Ronnie's bike is packed and ready to go. I bet it's been packed for days. He has nothing but time and loves to ride and work on his bike. No, I must be strong, use my self discipline, because with both bikes packed and ready to go it would be SO easy to say, “let's leave now!” and Ronnie would most likely say “OK.” Nope, we must do this right, and get a early start in the morning, that desert will be hot.
Neither Ronnie or I slept well that night, but we did manage to get up early the next morning (we didn't have much luck doing that for the rest of the trip, but what the heck we are on vacation.) We hopped on the bikes and were off.
North to Fernley on Hwy 95a then East on I80. Nothing but desert...boring desert...on super slab non the less.
I have this "love/hate" relationship with the desert. It can be the best of times or the worst of times. The best time to cross the desert is early in the morning. I recommend that time for everyone.
We stop about 60 miles up the road to do a check on the gear and see how everyone is doing.
It's cool for now, but soon it will heat up.
Another 30 miles down the road when I see my first signs of construction. A sign of much construction to come on my trip.
Kinda hard to see in this picture but we came upon a cattle drive. Yep, real live cowboys pushing cows along the freeway. There were about 7 or 8 cowboys and about 100 head of cattle. Very cool!
We pull into Winnamucca, NV just in time to get a late breakfast. That seems to have become a tradition for us when we head east, “Breakfast in Winnamucca!”
After our usual eggs over easy, sausage and hash brown (extra crispy for Ronnie) we get back on I80 heading East. We still have a long way to go before we get to Wells, NV, where we will turn North. We get down the road another 100 miles and pull over for a stretch.
While we were stopped I noticed this dilapidated house which was most likely a 100 years old or so and took a picture.
Then I notice someone had painted some graffiti on the side of it.
I purchased a new camera this year and I really like it. One of the features it has is a 10 opt zoom. While we were standing along the road I heard a helicopter, which is kinda weird out here in the middle of the desert, so I zoomed with my camera and took a picture. I was surprised it came out this nice.
Several hours later we finally hit Wells, NV and turned North on Hwy 93. More desert! There seems to be nothing out here for miles and miles. Keep going I guess.
Then out of no where appears Jackpot! Coming from the South it is a welcome site. Basiclly all there is here is a Casino, gas station and liquor store. Sweet! Just pass town you cross over into Idaho.
At the Idaho border.
We travel 60 miles up the road to see wonderful Idaho. Here it is!
OK, not much in southern Idaho, but it still has small towns! I notice on this trip some small towns are not so small anymore they are disappearing fast.
We arrive in Twin Fall, ID just before dark and checked into a Motel. Ronnie and I talked that night and decided we would try to get a early start (we did OK.).
The long part of the trip to Yellowstone was done and I was looking forward to tomorrow's ride, we will be leaving the heat of the desert.
We don't get started as early as we wanted, but we still have time on our side. Ronnie had called Vol210 to find out where he was (he was coming from Washington with Jmax99) and they agreed to meet in West Yellowstone. After some breakfast we hit the road.
It was about this time we needed to make a Walmart stop. Every road trip has at least one!
It was nice to see water again!
We met Vol210 and Jmax99 in West Yellowstone and we rode into the Park together. We had climbed in elevation and the weather had cooled off. Tall trees popping up on both sides of the road, very nice.
We arrived at our campground another hour in a half later.
After some confusion (alright a lot of confusion) about campsites we finally got everyone settled and in a campsite. We were scattered across several camp areas which wasn't fun. By the time we got our tents up other riders had came by.
That's Condolini, Jmax99, Czar (I think) and Blouvdozer.
That's Blouvdozer and Ronnie giving a Canadian salute!
Vol210 enjoying everyone else's banter. Always good to see Vol210!
Here is Blouvdozer telling the sign language joke. (he did a great job.)
Here is Rangler's bike. He did a excellent job with the lights. Plus it gave me a chance to try out the new camera with night time shots. Taking pictures of leds lights on a bike is not easy for your average digital camera.
We all turned in early, I know I was tired. Could have been the Corona's....naw I was just tried.
Fridays Ride
The next day we had a ride that Vol210 was leading...oops, Jim don't lead. What I meant was that Vol210 told us about a ride that we could go on and follow him, but he wasn't leading! Six of us jumped on our bikes and headed out for some breakfast at the Village and then out the Northeast gate. We got about 3 miles down the road just outside the gate when we stopped for our first time.
It was good to get out of the park because of the traffic. Every time an animal (buffalo, deer, elk, moose, etc) appears people stop dead in the middle of the road. Some even leave their cars and walk out into the field. It made for some frustrating riding, good thing I have good friends with me.
That's when I noticed that pointy Mountain in the background. Looks like a Witch's Hat. I thought about that mountain all day. (Note to self, I need to find out the name of that mountain.) Turns out it's call “Jim Smith Peak.”
Very cool mountain. This is also where the group broke up into 2 groups. 3 wanted to go fast and 3 wanted to go slow and take pictures. It wasn't a problem with anyone (that's a sign of a good riding group) so the first group took off. Ronnie, Blouvdozer and myself were the slow group. I'm glad I took pictures because I had no idea that the road ahead of me was going to be as fantastic as it was.
My instructions were to meet the other group in Red Lodge, MT. After giving the fast group a 5 minute head start I said lets mount up!
Mike is always ready to go...
Taking a picture back where we came from, you can see the Jim mountain in the background.
We are starting to get into some canyon by this time. I'm also keeping a eye on the clouds, the weather out here can dump rain on you around every turn.
We climb and climb and come to this place called “The top of the world” which was this high valley with a little settlement in it. I'm guessing it was was around 8000 feet by now and the temps were dropping. The amazing thing I remember is from here we went up, up, up! Another 2500 feet! Now I can say I went to the top of the world, and from there I went to the top of the world.
The road up to this point had some twisties, but mostly sweepers, nothing serious. It was also about this time I looked down at my GPS and saw the road do this...
Umm, this should be interesting. And it was! The road twists with switchbacks while climbing in elevation. I suddenly felt like I was in the Swiss Alps!
You can see the road below in the above picture. This road got narrow and I didn't see any guard rails at all. I had to stop to take pictures, no way was I going to be doing this one handed while riding.
This is well over 10,000 feet and above the tree line. I really felt like I was at the top of the world.
Here is a great picture looking back towards Yellowstone Park.
Once you reach the pass you follow the top of the ridge giving you some great views. It was one of those places you kept wanting to stop, but you knew it would get better up the road. We came to this look out, with a parking lot and we walked out to get a view.
This looks like Glacier Park. Looking the other way you can see the road we will be taking way down there.
From here we headed down, down, down. With switchbacks every quarter mile or so. It's a great pass!
I highly recommend this road for riding.
We finally arrived in Red Lodge to a worried group of 3 riders. I guess we had taken longer than expected and they began to worry. But, once they saw us we all smiled and got a bite to eat. From here we took Hwy 308 to begin the loop back. We were also running out of time so we all blasted off to make up time. By the time we got to Cooke City the rain had started and it was pouring (no pictures in the rain.)
It only rained for 30 minutes or so but we did get wet and then had to drive over that dirt construction roads which muddied up the bikes pretty good. As we entered the park it was dark. We still had 50 miles to go at 45 mph. Ahhhh, I hate Yellowstone. I blasted up ahead to see if I could get back before they stopped selling firewood. I didn't make it and we had to go to bed cold and damp.
The next morning Condolli and Vol Intruder dropped by. Vol Intruder had been in a accident and was walking with a limp. He didn't let being all bruised up stop him from doing his road trip. I have a whole new respect for him now. Hope your doing well Vol Intruder. Condolli was a lot of fun and she was ridding a BMW GS (I was jealous.)
Then several other riders started showing up (out campsite seems to have been chosen as the central hub.) Ronnie got Hiway Thunder's T-Shirt out for everyone to sign.
Here is Vol Intruder and Ronnie talking about bikes.
Yep, get more than 2 bikers together and what does every talk about?
These guys can do this all day long. Just keep the coffee coming.
Here is Blouvdozer showing Condo and Wood Welder his camera technique.
"You hold the thing out in front of you."
We had a vintage BMW show up and it was very cool to look at. That's it on the left side.
Everyone started mumbling about a ride for the day and I decided to take the day off. With the ride out yesterday, getting rained on every afternoon and sleeping in a small tent has made me tired. Plus I really needed a shower. So everyone except a few of us left for a ride south towards Jackson. I headed up, took a shower changed clothes and was sitting at the picnic table when Vol210 said “Lets go catch them.”
I've had this challenge put to me before and I never seem to be able to turn it down (I need to work on that.) So three of us jump on our bikes and head out. We made good time down past the Tetons and was just pulling into Jackson when Vol210 turned into this parking lot. I was last in line so I hadn't seen the other group. Then I noticed a motorcycle laying on the ground about 30 feet away and thought to myself, “Someone is having a bad day.” Then I looked again and suddenly realized that it was a bike from our group. It was Rangler's bike. Rangler was pulling out of the parking lot when the car in front of him suddenly back up. The car's rear bumber went up on his front wheel and messed up his front fender and folks.
By the time I got the camera out they had picked up the bike. It looks like a young rich kid backs into a young biker, which is not bad but when young biker has several other bikers right behind him....bad, very bad!
Everyone kept there cool, including Rangler, SEE!
It took forever for the police to show up and the young rich kid was getting very nervous. But finally the police did show, then the kid's mom and dad and all the T's were crossed and the i's dotted.
From here we went into Jackson for some food. All that standing around made us hungry. Vol210 recommended this great place that was famous for it female looking plate of food. I don't see it...
From there is was back to camp before the afternoon rains came. We missed the rains but the winds kicked our asses.
We all sat around the fire that night and told a few stories then went to bed. The next morning was Sunday and everyone was heading home. Blouvdozer, Ronnie and myself were heading south to SLC, UT. We all said our good buys and departed. We got a late start but the weather was very nice.
Todays route:
We stopped to get a shot in front of the Grand Tetons!
Ah, I remembered my new camera has a great zoom so here is a close up.
We stopped in Jackson for some late breakfast and headed south on Hwy 89. While getting gas in Montpelier, UT I noticed this across the street. Nice little town.
Then back on Hwy 89
I love the small towns on 89. Some of them are disappearing because of growth so I enjoy them when I can.
Hwy 89 is a great bike road. It's not the most scenic road but for a nice gentle pace across the land it can not be beat.
.Then we came to Bear Lake. I'm bet it was very was remote at one time, but I see many houses there now. Still very beautiful.
Then down Logan Canyon. I had been on the road before, but coming from the other direction. From this way it was much nicer. We stopped at this underground spings. The place where water comes up from the ground and it was very nice here.
Here is where it comes up from underground.
By the time we got the the bottom of the canyon the sun was setting and right in our eyes. Utah has some beautiful sunsets!
We spent the night at Blouvdozer's house (he's a super guy and I'm proud to call him my friend.) I needed to get my tire replaced and he drove us all over getting parts and service. Special Thanks to you Mike!
That afternoon Ronnie and I were ready to hit the road again. We were getting started very late. We got as far as Spanish Fort, UT, which had a very nice motel. Here is Ronnie showing his pleasure for my choice.
We unpacked and it gave me time to try some night time shots with the new camera. I went out right at sunset.
Not much to take a picture of but I think my night time shot turned out pretty good.
Todays Route:
We get a good early start the next morning with breakfast right next door to the motel. I love breakfast while on the road.
We went southwest on Hwy 6 and into the high desert. After the first few valleys we started dropping down into the Mesa area.
It was shaping up to be a hot day and after being rained on in Yellowstone I was almost looking forward to it.
Out here in the desert Ronnie almost looks like an alien.
Just outside of Moab the rock turns red. We arrive in Moab and stop at my favorite store for some cold drinks. Next to the store is a bike shop with this painted on it.
It's always good to get into red rock country, at least for a few days.
It was getting really hot by now and I spotted a car wash in town. It cleaned up the bikes pretty good, which they really needed it because of days riding in the rain, plus it cooled us off.
From here it was back on the road until we came to this.
I never did see the hole in the rock.
The roads from here began winding down into canyons on one side and back up the other side.
Oh, here is the hole.
We wonder out of the red rock country and into the Southern Mesa area.
We pulled into this little town called Four Corners and got a room (barely.) Seems like there was a big funeral that day and most of the Hotels were booked. We did finally get our room when I spotted a some dinasours across the street.
Time to eat where could we go.
Well I'll worry about that after I unpack my bike. The big chore at the end of every day was unpacking. On very hot days this was labor intensive.
I found a place for dinner.
Sunset from the balcony of my hotel.
After dinner we hit the sack. The heat had drained all the energy from us, we prayed to the sleep gods.
The next morning we were us at the crack of dawn and determined to get a early start. Here we are already 80 miles down the road and the sun is just coming up.
But we still have a long way to go.
Just when I though we were done with red rock, when come into a canyon of RED rock!
But we still have a long way to go.
Seems like everywhere there is shade there are houses.
Just when we thought we were going to be hot, we hit cloud cover. Made it kind of eerie ridding in the desert.
Also made for some great pictures.
But we still have a long way to go.
Some more nice rock formations.
At last we leave red rock, I was ready for a change. It not sunny but hot and muggy. The wind does a pretty good job of cooling us down.
We head into canyon lands. We stopped at this one spot and walked out to the edge of the canyon wall.
From the other direction.
As were leaving I noticed the signs “Trucks use lower gears.” and smiled.
We went over the next ridge and wow, the whole canyon opened up.
Like a mini grand canyon, cool!
Then I saw the road......big smile!
This turned out to be a great ride. Another road I would recomend!!!!
We finally worked our way to Mesa, AZ and gave Hiway Thrunder a call. He was home and we arrived around 7pm. Hiway was out in the driveway waiting for us.
We all said our hellos and he gave us a cold drink. Ronnie gave him the T-Shirt and that put a smile on his face. Once thing about Mesa, AZ is it never cools down. Here we are at 8pm and the temps are still over 100 degrees.
Hiway gave Ronnie this old German helmet.....I like it on Ronnie.
We went to bed early then the next morning we packed and tried to get a quick start before it went from hot to “holly hell.” It was very difficult getting trough Phoenix, AZ because it's all expressways. By 9am we were already looking for shade.
Notice Ronnie is wearing a black T-shirt with short sleeves...he will regret that by the end of the day.
Our route today:
I did see a few small town charms along the way (I try to take pictures because they are disappearing fast.)
Ronnie and I notice the cactus in AZ. Ronnie kept trying to get a picture from his bike and was not having any luck. Another good time to try my new zoom.
At our next stop I noticed a Yucca tree and snapped a picture of it.
The reason we stopped here was it had shade. It was already about a 100 degrees and we hadn't seen a tree for the last 100 miles. This place had covered picnic tables.
Of course Ronnie took the bigger one. Ha Ha
Gas is cheap in AZ. Ummm, wonder if it has anything to do with McCain. Most likely not, but you never know.
We finally made it to Laughing, NV. Hiway had said you could get a cheap room here. He was right it cost us 39 dollars a night. Big place, we had to park about a mile from the room (not really a mile, but a long way.)
By the time we got our stuff into the cool room we were exhausted and covered with sweat. Our room was on the top floor in the hotel, at least we could see our bikes from our room.
(look for the yellow)
Here is the motel across the street. Camera does good at night.
We went to bed and arose early because our route was all desert and it was going to be HOT, HOT, HOT.
Sunrise at the motel.
We blew through Las Vegas and by the time we were passing the prison just north of Vegas it became hot. There is nothing out here. Not trees, no buildings, no shade! Keep moving. We kept driving only stopping for gas, drink and shade.
We stopped at this little place. Have you every been here?
They have a great shade tree in the back.
Ronnie went in to find something nice for his wife, Claudine, I notice these funny planes flying around all over the place. Must be a military base near by.
Next stop was the turn off to Hwy 375, the highway that goes by Area 51. They have this huge billboard announcing this on one side, and a add for a brothel on the other side. In fact this gas station has a restaurant in the front and a brothel in the back. And tour buses stop here. I know this because while Ronnie and I were sitting in the little shade there was when a tour bus pulled up with a Italian group.
Nevada's Joe. Get gas in the front and service in the back. Love the color!
That's our bikes in the shade....
Driving north on Hwy 95 you still hit a few little towns. Of course any thing that had shade by now was a welcome site.
We stopped at a McDonalds and ran into a bunch of Army guys driving in a convoy.
We were at this rest stop when I notice this run down old building across the street. Had to take a picture.
Here we are passing Hawthorne, NV. It is where they keep a lot of ammo for the Military. Lots of bunkers out there.
Here we are at Walker Lake, just north of Hawthorne. It was late enough in the day to stop for some more shade.
This is looking back from the way we came. Doesn't look so hot in the picture but it was.
And this is the way we have to go. I wasn't looking forward to getting back out in the Sun but I knew we were only a couple of hours from Ronnie's house.
From here we turned west onto Hwy 95a and headed directly into the sun. For the next 2 hours we drove blinded by the sun. By the time we finnally pulled into Ronnie's house I was ready for darkness.
Our trip was over, oh I still had another 3 hours to my house but I would have to make that trip until the next day. Now I could relax, get something cold to drink and cool off.
I was a great trip, again. I now have to think of another place to go next year. I'm tired of Yellowstone for now. Maybe in another 5 years or so.
That's it for now, see you on my next ride.
Polo
