Ride Wrap

Well, that's the ride over. What a blast. here's a bit of a wrap.......

The Planning:

I'm not sure how the plan really started or evolved, it was going to be a ride to celebrate my 50th birthday, and that is how it is still panning out in a way...I turn 51 later this month.
The initial idea or notion was hatched some time ago, and after quite a few months of planning, it came to fruition.

Originally it was going to be the famous Route 66, that is often featured on travel programs and any nostalgic show about travelling across America. After some time scouring and reading many US bike forums, and scenic routes, etc, we determined that we would only do the lower portion of Route 66, and due to the fact that the Sturgis Rally was having it's 75th Anniversary, we wanted to capture a bit of that experience also. When we looked into dates, we found if we spent a few early days at Sturgis, we could head on down to the Salt Flats of Bonneville Utah and also attend a bit of Speed Week, which is run by the Southern Californian Timing Association, SCTA, and people from all walks of life take anything with wheels to see how fast it will run on the 4 1/2 miles of flat salt lake.

With those two events in mind, we set out linking up any scenic route which would have us heading in these general directions, for the scheduled dates. We also looked into major items we wanted to see, which included Yellowstone National park (although I was fearful of meeting a bear on the road) and Monument Valley in southern Utah, the scene of many westerns and run pretty much entirely by Navajo Indians these days. Also add Las Vegas for a spot of RnR off the bikes for a day or two.

Unfortunately the Speed Week event was not to be, due to wet weather and quite an amount of moisture on the salt flats, which ended up in the event being cancelled for the second year in succession. With that, we ended up with an extra day up our sleeves, so we pencilled in the wonderful Mesa Verde National Park, and an overnight stay in Cortez, CO.

We bought Sena S20 communicators for the ride, they attach on the helmets. You can talk bike to bike for up to two kilometres (claimed) and you can pair with your phone, listen to music and just start talking to communicate with the other bike. You easily get a days ride on one charge. I believe you can pair up to eight units at once, but that could be interesting.

The Ride:

Upon arrival at Chicago we were presently surprised to see two bikes in great condition, a 2015 Street Glide, and a 2014 Electra Glide (we went for Harleys, felt it was the right thing to do). These bikes ran faultlessly for the entire trip, from a couple of cold morning starts around Yellowstone, to a couple of continuous 90 MPH runs across deserts and salt flats, in fairly high heat. A real testament to the air cooled V-twin. They're not sports bikes by any means, but given the choice to ride across the country again, I'd jump on one right away. The Electra Glides were probably the most common we saw attending the Sturgis Rally, followed by Road Kings.

The daily details are in the Blog already, but we both enjoyed the whole experience. The main thing was meeting characters along the way, and swiftly learning that middle America is nothing like the America we see on TV. No mention of Kardashians, or Jenners, or trashy stories about celebrities. The bikers heading to (and at) Sturgis were the friendliest bunch you would meet, while fuelling up at Gas Stations, or walking around the campsites and festival areas of the Buffalo Chip at Sturgis. People genuinely looked out for each other, with no aggro or rudeness seen. After attending many large music festivals and sporting events in Australia, it is interesting to see the contrast in relation to crowd control, and the different attitudes of the Sturgis attendees. For example, in Australia, at a large event, they will only sell mid strength beers and spirits and then sometimes enforce drinking areas. Sturgis: you could buy double shots (free pour) of Bourbon, Whisky and the like, and roam around to your hearts content. Not to mention no-one staying at the Buffalo Chip was searched for anything. So plenty of alcohol, but no pushing in the crowds, everyone relaxed, moving out of peoples way, very little security presence, everything just worked well. As we overheard one guy say "I feel there is more chance of being stabbed in my local church than here". Admittedly I felt the general age was from 30-ish up to 60+, with many couples.

Memorable characters? The couple with the scooters at La Crosse, who chatted for a while, gave us a couple of good sightseeing tips, and then drove of beeping down the crowded road......The quirky guide at the Minuteman Missile sight, who we though was ex-services, (he knew so much detail) and at the end he confessed to being a Boy Scout Guide........Marshall and his cousin Reid, two local cowboys in the Wagon Wheel bar in Interior, who we had beers with, and made us feel like locals.....The four people from the next motel room at Interior, who we sat up with outside the room for a few hours chatting, ....The couples with their tent/RV site beside us at the Buffalo chip, and the two couples we shared a cab into Sturgis with.........The two brothers at Sturgis who we had a few drinks and shots with......Joe who bogged his brand new WRX on the Salt Flats at Bonneville, but couldn't stop thanking us for being the only ones who stopped to see if he was ok.....the Kiwi father and son who we met at Arches NP near Moab......The regulars at the 'Black Cat' in Seligman (now that was funny)........and a lot of others along the way, who were keen on knowing where we were heading, and "Where y'all from then?". American travellers seem to take a lot more interest in each other when they are on the road.

And the riding, well, we didn't tire of it. When we planned to ride, every day was a new adventure, and we looked forward to getting out on the bikes and getting underway. The weather gods smiled upon us, and on many occasions we thought we would be in for a drenching, only to see the road curl away, or the storm pass by. At Cody, we pulled into the motel, and locked our bikes, and then two minutes later it bucketed down.

I loved it, and I'd do it again. I have to thank Bill for being a great travelling companion, we had a great time, and enjoyed where the roads took us. And that's the big attraction.

I have to thank my brother Tony for buying me a Yamaha TY80 for my tenth birthday, which started a love of motorcycling that hasn't waned, I have nearly always had one since.

Lastly but certainly not least, also have to thank my lovely wife Nola for granting me the 'Leave Pass' and allowing me to tour some of the world without her....although  I don't think she would have enjoyed being on the back for 7212 kms.

If you want any hints or tips, feel free to drop us a line.

if your heading out on the road, ride safe.

And as they say in the states, 'Get Er Done'.

Cheers,

Tim

Vegas

Lost a few days here and I'll write what I can, there are a few blanks! I haven't wrote anything about our ride in which was extremely hot... I know in a previous post I had mentioned that around Evanston we were officially in the desert, but it's become quiet apparent that wasn't true.

The ride from Seligman dropped us down a few thousand feet and temperatures sky rocketed. It was incredibly uncomfortable as the forecast maximum for the donkey piss smelling town of Oatman (that we stopped in for lunch) was 48°C. Miners apparently brought donkeys here when they founded the town and now the locals say they are wild (but you can pay for food to feed them?!?). Worth a stop but maybe in spring! Check out the pics.

Moving on before the heat peaked for the day we jumped on the highway for Vegas. The whole experience at this stage was comparable to placing a motorbike inside a giant fan forced oven and sitting on it for a few hours wearing a jacket, jeans & full face helmet. Not pleasant and we stopped frequently to rehydrate.

Arrival in Sin city brought instant relief in the form of cold beer and the formula after this was pretty straightforward. Walk, look for happy hour sign, buy beer. Rinse and Repeat. First night for me was too big and I spent the next day debilitated, Dad flew the flag though and had a few beers.
Fremont Street was definetly a favourite for me as it looked like the old Vegas you see in the movies. Lots of flashing lights and plenty of street performers. Were a few rock bands playing live 80s music here in a tribute to the spandex era which was great, the area is setup really well for that type of thing with all the bars serving take out beers to make wandering the streets easier!
Last day was pretty good, went to the LA gun shop and fired a few WW II era machine guns, a 44 magnum hand gun (AKA Dirty Harry) which I struggled to pull the hammer back on with one hand and the also had a go at the big daddy, a .50 Cal rifle (how are we even allowed to do this?!?).
Quiet night that night as we planned to leave the next morning at 330 am in an attempt to beat the summer heat. Was still around 32 degrees though when we left!
The last leg of our trip is now over...
I'll update with some final thoughts soon,
Bill

Arizona

Covering off on two days at once here as yesterday wasn't very action packed. Started off with us leaving Monument Valley for Flagstaff which seemed like a bit of a weird place. It's our first Route 66 town and we stayed in the historical precinct which seemed a little dodgy. In hindsight, it was nothing compared to where we are now but I'll get to that later.
So, the ride from Monument Valley was quiet, through a lot of Indian reservation country and the roads were absolutely dead straight. We passed through many small towns this way that looked deserted, plenty of boarded up houses with half missing roofs. Not all of them were though and it was a little sad to see people living that way out in the middle of no where.
Had a scary moment on the bike that morning that reminded me of the importance of positioning your bike in the lane where a cars tyres would normally be. The roads were wet and there was a section of road covered in clay, probably from last night's rain. I managed to hit the fresh stuff which caused the bike to start squirming around at 70 mph. Not fun and one of those times when things could have went either way.
A little further down the road we hit Winslow, Arizona. The town appears to be barely functioning and the majority of traffic seems to be from Route 66 or people wanting to stand on that corner. It was our gateway to the interstate which would take us to Flagstaff at 90 mph though so after a quick bite to eat we were off again.
We had one more stop on the way to Flagstaff at the Barringer Crater which wasn't a planned stop but interesting nonetheless. The bloke who discovered the crater was caused by a meteor and wasn't the result of volcanic activity believed there was over a billion dollars worth of iron from the impactor buried somewhere underneath. His math was a little out and he spent 27 years funding drilling and digging trying to locate it but came up empty handed. Unfortunately for him he had no way of knowing that it had all mostly vaporised on impact. Doh!

Today we went north to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Stopped in at Cameron for breakfast which was nice. Again, semi -deserted town in the desert but had a massive Trading Post full of handmade goods from nearby reservations, lots of traditional bows and jewellery, usual tourist crap but good quality.
Next up was the Grand Canyon, which is impressive to say the least. We hopped between the different viewpoints to check out the view to the river 1.6 km's below. Unbelievable how many people were posing for selfies inches from the edge. Surprised to see a lot of prams and pushbikes only a metre or two from certain death as well. No one seemed too concerned but hey, maybe I'm just not used to the no fences thing yet.
In Seligman now and this place is... Different. Had a few at a local pub tonight and enjoyed the entertainment. They hit it hard around here and it was a great show! Appears to be another town struggling to survive on the trickle of route 66 traffic.

Vegas tomorrow for a few nights to wind down. The ride only has two days of riding left so it will all be over soon :-(

Until next time,
Bill

Monumental

Strangely enough today didn't include very many miles, a welcome relief from what is normal at the moment. We rode out of Cortez early and headed for the four corners. Stood on a plate that marked the point at which the four states, Utah - Arizona - Colorado - New Mexico all join. Not that exciting and it was raining a little so we took some pics and bailed.
Back on the road we passed by a small semi-deserted town, Bluff, which was interesting to say the least. Lots of vegetation taking back old houses and cars. Only a short stop before we left for the Mexican Hat, essentially a large balance rock in the shape of a hat (well obviously!) Again, not incredibly exciting (we have seen heaps of rocks in weird formations by now) but it was all building towards the peak of our day.
The Moki Dugway is a 3 mile unpaved road that ascends 1100 feet up the Cedar Mesa at a gradient of ~11%. It was originally built in the 1950's to haul uranium and is now maintained as state route 261... It's famous for its views over the Valley of the Gods and for being a bit of a white knuckle drive; it's only wide enough for one vehicle at most points and the cliff is always only a meter or two away, no barriers.
We approached from the bottom and noticed a heap of guys on bikes stopped on a ridge about 3/4 up. On our way down we stopped there after they had left and had the place to ourselves. Amazing views and eerily quiet. You could shout and then hear your voice echo for what seemed like forever along the cliff wall. We will have some videos later but for now, pics only.
After we descended it was only another 17 miles or so until we hit Monument Valley. We were planning on camping here but the weather forecast didn't seem to enticing so we got a last minute booking in the lodge. A good call as it really hammered down in the afternoon and we were able to watch the lightning show from the balcony (as opposed to weathering it out in a tent).

Until next time!
Bill

Majestic Utah

Day 9 on the bikes finds us leaving Wendover at around 8am for possibly the longest leg of the route. A quick check of the oil before we fuel up and head back east on the I 80 interstate for Salt Lake City and beyond. Interstate riding from Wendover to Salt Lake consists of:
1/ Accelerate to 85-90 mph
2/ Set cruise control
3/ Turn on music
4/ Do not touch brake or throttle for next hour and a half.
The big bikes sit well and rock steady on the straight road at that speed, although the Street Glide can give a bit of buffeting.
Once again Bill did a superb job of navigating through the maze of Salt Lake Freeways, bringing us out in the right direction, all via his phone on his RAM handlebar mount.
We rode through the scenic Price Canyon, past an old power station and then stopped at Price for fuel for the bikes and ourselves. We filled up at Groggs bar and grill. Great little place.
We continued on to Moab, once again lucky to dodge surrounding rain clouds. Had a few at a very cool brewery, but we were both pretty tired after a long days ride. Back at the hotel I did a load of washing while Bill had an early night.

Day 10.
Early start at 7am to head to Arches National Park, which lived up to expectations with its fantastic natural arch formations and canyons. We climbed around on the rocks there like kids for a couple of hours. Great stuff.
We then moved off down the road to the Dead Horse Point lookout, where you stand hundreds of feet above the Colorado River and see where it winds so much that it almost cuts through to itself in a number of places.
The views from there are not to be missed and an added bonus was a nice coffee and roast meat roll at the coffee shop beside the lookout.
After Dead Horse Point it was back to Moab for fuel and then off to cross the State Line into Colorado as we push for a small place called Cortez, where we are staying for the night. We checked in at 2pm, set the alarm for 4pm and had a quick sleep, waking and once more jumping on the steeds and heading up the  nearby Mesa Verde N.P. Rode another wonderfully scenic twisting road to the location of the historic early cliff dwellings that reside there (there are houses everywhere under the ridges). As we are finding with US national parks,  we were allowed a significantly higher amount of access and climbing around and over features, than you would be in Australia.
This extends to very little or no fencing around cliff edges etc.
After our day of spectacular sights, we visited Denny's Diner for a meal. This evening is also significant in that is the first arvo/evening we haven't had a beer.

The motel is a bit dodgy,  so if I don't end up waking in the bath tonight missing a kidney,  you will hear from me later.
As you may have guessed,  Bill's had a night off the blog, but he will be posting up the pics.
Cheers,
Tim

Tour of Utah

Writing to you tonight from the Montego Bay casino in West Wendover, Nevada. Been a great day in the saddle even though it was a long one.
Day started off with a ride on national scenic state route 150 through Utah and around Reid's peak. Climbed up to almost 11,000 feet again today which means we were practically hugging the bike for warmth with our legs. Dad has left a fair amount of his boot on the exhaust as evidence.
After highway 150 we reached Park City, the site of the 2002 winter Olympics. Really cool town with a huge number of slopes (every hill was covered in grassy runs and chairlifts). Had lunch at the No Name Saloon which was pretty unique. One little spin out in the pub was the ceiling fans (I'm easily entertained), all of them were belt driven and connected to each other across the ceiling. Never seen anything like that before!
Leaving Park City we had two options for our trip to Wendover, jump on the nearest interstate or take a small winding road up over the range that would drop us right into Salt Lake City. Being on bikes we would have been crazy not to chose the latter, so off we went. Things started getting a little strange just as we took off as their were police everywhere and the roads closed.
Now I'm not sure if it was because we had GoPros on our head and perhaps we were mistaken as cameraman, or the first cop just made a massive blunder, but we were suddenly waved onto the road which most certainly should have been closed to us. We were now ridding with hundreds of cyclists competing in the Tour of Utah. The dialogue between dad and I was pretty humorous as it took us a fair amount of time to figure out we shouldn't be on the road, yet still, every police officer (and there were at least 50) just kept waving us on! Should have had strava turned on and took the KOM. 

After we cleared the mountains we landed on the interstate that goes through Salt Lake City, the road is absolutely mental. Seems to be planned by someone who loves chaos. 4-5 lanes continually merging and exiting at 70 mph which we managed to navigate without too much drama.
After the mess the road opened up to one huge straight across the salt flats at 80 mph. Went on for over an hour before we came to the Bonneville Salt Flats which are unfortunately under water for the second year in a row, so no speed week. Still didn't stop a young guy in a one day old 2016 WRX from trying to drive on them (see pic).

Until next time,
Bill