Day 1 - Friday – 515 miles

Where to Begin …… Weeks of anticipation and on a MC journey longer than I had ever done before. More stunning than that, just turning 50 yr young, I had never seen the Rockys and the west. Man, what a sheltered life I was trying to break out of with my newfound love of long distance touring on motorcycles.
 

One of the hardest parts of this trip was trying to sort out pictures for this report.  I took 192 pictures (Yikes), and scanned in 73 of them.  Now how in the heck would I widdle it down to a couple dozen for the report.  ok, read on, I had to do the best I could.

Well, for starters, as you can see on the driveway in the background (it was actually raining), I was again faced with leaving the comfort of a dry garage and heading off into the rain. But, my excitement and anticipations far out weighed any setback, so I bid farewell to Sarah, gave her a hug and set out. As it went, I only had to ride through about 35 minutes of rain before it all cleared up. I met up with my son just as the rain subsided (at Illinois 39 and 64) and we headed off into the late morning flatlands of I80 into Iowa. I knew this would be the boring part, so I just cranked up the tunes and sat back to enjoy whatever might be enjoyable on the slab. I think we were both in a kind of boring zone and perked up a bit with the changing of the posted limit to 75 once hitting Nebraska. J

Chad sniffed out a real cool campsite next to a lake just outside Lincoln, Nebraska (just past Omaha). The campground actually had a marina and I had a traditional Cheeseburger/fries dinner at the marina restraunt before retiring for the night. Hey, this camping is cool! Nice weather, CHEEP, and actually a good nites sleep. Ya, my blow up mattress is a pain, but once blown up, it’s 6" thick and provides for a good bed.

Other pictures from day 1:
 campsite_1.jpg
 camp_1_sunrise.jpg
 camp1_sunrise_2.jpg
 

Day 2 – Saturday – 520 miles – 7hrs 15min saddle time

After that refreshing sleep last night, we drove a bit into town to gas up and hit the Corner Café for breakfast. I love those small town Cafés! Always a good meal and at good prices. But since we had another day of Lets get to Colorado, we had to hit the bricks. "Getting across Nebraska" is at least somewhat tolerable with 75mph posted, so once again, put on the tunes and sit back and enjoy the ST.

I remember passing some MEGGA acre cattle farms/processing centers with literally thousands of head of cattle. The wind was in the wrong direction also……. Whew!

I also remember that the ONLY farm crops that were living was those that were watered by those above ground traveling sprinkler systems. Any ground not serviced by them was parched and brown.

Once we passed the border into Colorado, the first thing I noticed was the VERY dry and barren landscape. A day before we arrived, they were still fighting 3 major forest fires. I wasn’t sure we were going to be detoured by any of this, and just purged on. We stopped at the Colorado welcome center and talked to a very nice hostes. She asked where we were headed and when Rockey Mt. Natl. Park was mentioned, she said, "Oh my, it’s closed". Right away, I thought the fires were taking their toll, but she said, it’s not the fires, they had SNOW last night! She gave us an 800 number to call in the morning for an OPEN/CLOSED status and told us this time of year, they usually clean up the roads soon after the snow stops.

Since we were both kind of getting used to the camping thing, and Chad didn’t get as good of a nights rest as I had gotten, we decided we needed a Motel’s hot shower and soft bed to put that 1000 miles behind us and give us a fresh start to our adventures now that we had finally gotten there.

Pictures from day 2:
 colorado_welcome_ctr.jpg
 colorado_welcome_ctr_2.jpg
 

Day 3 – Sunday – 493 miles – 9 hours 1 min saddle time

(I think this was my favorite day of the trip)

In the morning, we finally saw the mountains the the distance and saw the snow caps, etc. We were both like bubbly little kids. Wow. Just couldn’t wait to head out. We called the 800 number to find out RMNP was OPEN! Sooooo, onward.

One of my few regrets on this trip was not stopping to take a few more pictures on our journey to the entrance of RMNP. The high rock cliffs towering above the winding road were so incredibly beautiful, I forgot about picture taking and was spellbound.

As we climbed through the park, I kept thinking "where is the snow" and wondered if it had all melted. Soon enough, traces started showing up in the shadows of rocks and crevices and along the road. Once we really started getting higher, we really ran into the snow. Once again, the little boys in us came out and I was greeted with a snowball thrown at me by Chad and had to get some "Rocky Mountain High" pictures.

I had wondered all along how my SarahT1100 would run at the higher altitudes (being carburated and not fuel injected), and was assured by other fellow ST1100 listers that I would have no problems. Well, she did quite well. The only minor flaw was that I lost one gear worth of power. In other words, for example, to feel the usual 3^rd gear power, I would have to be in 2^nd, and so on. I was happy to hear that Chad’s VFR (being fuel injected) saw zero degradation.

Had to stop at the top at the Alpine visitors center to get some souvenirs for the family and had to start jamming them into my already overloaded rig.

I told Chad I wanted to ride up Mt. Evans, the highest driveable peak in the US (almost 15,000 feet – almost 3 miles high)! I had no clue what was coming next. We stopped at a subway and decided to take our lunch up 3 miles and eat up there.

About 2 miles (vertically up), I started to feel a little funny. Being petrified of heights, I was starting to have trouble with the fear factor and started talking to myself in my helmet about how nuts this was. With not even an inch of runoff skirting past the edge of the blacktop and sheer drop off cliffs in MANY places, I was not only getting more scared, but started to feel queasy. Once I finally got to the top, and met up with Chad, I told him I had to sit down for a minute and collect my senses. I sat down on the rocks and asked him if the damn mountain was shaking. (I actually thought it was!!) I was a basket case and finally made it over to a placard explaining about altitude sickness. I had it bad. I forced myself to start breathing faster, as suggested to get more oxygen. It really helped. I was also petrified knowing I had to descend down that scary road to get back to safety!!! L We descended down to Summet Lake and ate our Subways there. The food was helping bring me back to reality and stability J I had done it though, and am a survivor of the adventure. Chad told me that look on my face at the top and the white face told the whole story of how I was feeling. (What a wimp) J
 

A very pretty picture after leaving mt. evans

We also made it through Independence Pass and saw some more very nice scenery. A 5 minute brush with what looked like megga rain, gave us our introduction to brief mountain rains that you shouldn’t waste time changing gloves, etc. As I reminisce about that road, it is one that I will re-visit some day, despite Chads uncertainty of its value. It was heavy with trees, which is something that I cherish.

We found a campground in Redstone and had an interesting night to say the least. The ground was pure rock with no way to pound in steaks. And of course, rain was threatening and then came the wind. Chads tent almost blew away! We started gathering huge rocks to attach to our tiedowns and put our rigs outside both tents as tiepoints. There, now we have shelter. But now comes the rain. Ok, lets ckeck out our shelter. Good news. The Eureka’s held up superbly with not a trace of a leak. It rained hard most of the night. Lucky for us, the morning brought a clearing and we were able to pack up camp in no rain! The tents were a little damp, but (they will dry the next night).

Other pictures from day 3: (oops, to many pixs.  I told you this was my favorite day)
 yes_first_glimpse_of_mountains.jpg
 before_RMNP.jpg
 going_up_RMNP1.jpg
 going_up_RMNP2.jpg
 going_up_RMNP3.jpg
 going_up_RMNP5.jpg
 going_up_RMNP6.jpg
 ST_in_RMNP.jpg
 CRT_in_RMNP.jpg
 mt_evans.jpg
 summet_lake1.jpg
 summet_lake2.jpg
 elk.jpg
 brook1.jpg
 brook3_vert.jpg
 chad_up_ahead.jpg
 tent_rock_tiedown.jpg
 tent_rock_next_morning.jpg
 

Day 4 – Monday – 374 miles – 7 hours 35 minutes saddle time

Day 4 would bring us more incredible scenery and the RED mountains. Wow. Talk about red rock. At one point, we came upon cattle on the road that had escaped and broken through the gate. The farmhands were already on the scene on their horses, attempting to do the "round-up". Had to take a shot of Chad. You’ve heard of "running with the bulls" over in Spain. Guess Chad thought "riding with the cows" was a good thing to do. J

This day also brought an EXTREMELY scenic ride through Black Canyon of the Gunnison. The road between Ouray and Durango was absolutely Beautiful!

Since we decided to again camp, we were searching for campsites. Being a little inexperience at finding campsites, we actually wasted about 75 miles. We finally, with the assistance of a park ranger, ended up at the McPhee Reservoir campground. Man, what a beautiful campsite. Strange that the camping experiences were about as enjoyable and memorable as all the touring scenery. Our selected campsite was only accessible by a long walking path, and I decided the rigs could safely maneuver the path to be next to our tents. Wow, I hope I can re-visit that campsite again some day. J

Other pictures from day 4:
 gunnason1.jpg
 gunnason2.jpg
 chad_never_saw_me_on_hill.jpg
 way_down_there.jpg
 blue_mesa_dam.jpg
 lake_view.jpg
 another_stream.jpg
 red_mountain.jpg
 road_switchback.jpg
 campsite_down_this_path.jpg
 path_campsite.jpg
 

Day 5 - Tuesday – 493 miles – 7 hours 47 minutes saddle time

This days plans were to get to the Grand Canyon. Today it got hot. To hot. It was 95+, but nobody said it was gonna be cool in the desert. Our first stop, of course was at 4-corners. It was neet, but not to memorable. Had to take the pictures standing in 4 states at the same time. Then, backtrack back to hwy 41 so we could travel through monument valley. That was quite scenic and recommended for all those who haven’t seen it.

We had lunch at a Burger King and since I needed more film, swung over to the general store. Don’t really want to get into it, but we think Chad almost had an incident with a group of suspicious Aztec Indians. I came out of the store and on my way back to the bikes (where Chad was not paying attention and studying maps) just in the nick of time. We ran into bad conditions and Indian beggars more than once this day. I think we were in an area of high crime and very poor Indians. (just across the border in AZ)

The Grand Canyon was a slight disappointment to me, considering the long roads and time it took just to get there. Highly commercialized things and sights is a turn off anyway to me. But, I saw it with my own eyes and is something I wanted to do, dispite the long drive. I was disappointed not being able to find anyplace to buy Sarah a T-shirt of the canyon, so moved on. We just wanted to get north to the border for our next day’s ventures. Because of the extreme heat, we both decided an air conditioned motel room was on the ticket. We ended up in Page, AZ (near Lake Powell) in a fricken flea-bag motel that stunk and had dinner at Pizza Hut. (first time on this trip Tad!)

Other pictures from day 5:
 grand_canyon.jpg
 grand_canyon2.jpg
 4_corners.jpg
 monument_valley1.jpg
 monument_valley2.jpg   Looks Kinda Hot doesn't it .....   IT WAS!
 monument_valley3.jpg
 welcomr_az.jpg  Wow - We're in Arizona on 2-wheels :-)
 

Day 6 – Wednesday – 266 miles – 4 hours 27 minutes saddle time

Wow, low milage and riding time. Is something amiss here?

Well, YES

Chad woke up to tell me he thought he had to puke. I also didn’t feel good, but a little better than him. We decided to hit the road anyway and make the best of it.

Headed north to see Bryce Canyon (impressive) and Lake Powell. Very scenic and LOTS of Boats being pulled by cars. Must be a popular place. Lake Powell has lots of rock monuments in the lake!

Headed up 89 then east on 12 toward Bryce Canyon. That’s when things went down hill. Came up upon Chad on the side of the road finishing up on and emergency stop, puking his guts out. (or should I say puking up that damned Pizza from last night). Yes, we were both food poisined by the Sleezy Pizza Hut in Page Az. (Chad has since written a letter to Pizza Hut and is awaiting a response) I eventually (about an hour after CRT), ended up in the same boat, almost not getting my helmet off in time. With me, let's just say it was a little worse than Chad (and leave it at that). Funny, when you’re that sick, you don’t really give a damn about your sanity and what passer-bys see. Man, I was SICK! We ended up in a motel up the road (really nice Days Inn) and were finally able to get some WATER to stay down. I almost had heat stroke, with the skin starting to tingle! We were both under the covers shivering at 4pm! I must have woke up a gillion times only to down another half bottle of water.

A special thank you goes out here to my son who was a vital helper on my recovery, parking bikes, carrying all my crap up to the room, getting ice and water, etc. Chad got sick first, but mine lasted longer. Damn…. Another one of those age things, and slower recovery time. L

Other pictures from day 6:
 Chad_riding_past_L_Powell.jpg
 bryce_canyon.jpg
 flatlands1.jpg
 after_flatlands.jpg
 is_this_really_a_post_card.jpg
 more_flatlands.jpg
 rct_fron_of_rock.jpg
 

Day 7 – Thursday – 464 miles – 7 hours 14 minutes saddle time

I attribute the pizza hut delay to why we never made it north into Montana and the Teatons where we had originally planned on going. Drat…..Damn you Pizza Hut!! Because the next morning had us recovering, but still not totally with it, we decided to just head back into Colorado and enjoy some more of that scenery and leave the northern route to another trip. It turned out to be very hot (again 95+), which made the recovery a little tough, but managable.

Todays miles were some interesting scenery and some interstating on 70 back toward Colorado.

We ended up trying to camp, but when a swarm of about 50 (no kidding) misquettos were buzzing around me as I was attempting to set up tent, we both looked at each other and simultaneously said "motel". Once settled in, we actually went to Walmart Superstore and bought Fruit, bananas, milk (gotta have the milk once in a while), and had a healthy light dinner back in the room. The milk went down good, especially after the sickness.

Our motel was just outside Salida Co.

Day 8 – Friday – 579 Miles – 8 hours 49 minutes saddle time

Because we had aborted our Montana experience (I’m very sad and disappointed about this one), we looked at the map and decided to start our 1000 mile journey back home. Our trip on route 14, getting to the east border of Colorado was Extremely nice, with the road following the bubbling river for most of the trip.

We headed north from Ft. Collins to Cheyenne Wyoming and then turned on the dreaded 1000 mile stretch on 80 to get back home. On our trip back toward North Platt, Nebraska (where we would motel it for the night), the skies to our south turned black. We never got into rain, but we were wondering. At one point, my eyes bugged out and I had to speed up to point out to Chad the Tornado that had formed. It lasted about 5 minutes before disipating.

For some reason, I think I could have about done an Iron Butt, but Chad was tired so we stopped in N. Platt to rest up for the night. I think I was at this point just excited to be going home, but still had that nagging loss of not going north

Pictures from day 8:
 good_lookin_VFR.jpg
 rct_at_peace.jpg
 highest_colorado_peak.jpg
 last_decision_stop.jpg
 toward_end1.jpg
 rct_riding_in_postcard.jpg
 last_streem.jpg
 2_rigs_in_a_postcard.jpg

Day 9 – Saturday – 728 miles – 9hours 59 minutes saddle time

Wow, a record number of miles for a day for me. Basically slab, listen to music and try to keep dry. Yes, we finally caught back up to that storm that was threatning us the day before. It rained (hard) for about 5 hours. My gear held up nicely! My feet were bone dry, my legs were dry and just a small hint of moisture was starting to bleed through the zipper in my jacket. Bravo Teknic!
 
 

Summary

Now, the fact that I almost tipped my bike over into my van in the garage after 4378 miles was a final event to a very nice trip. (I said "almost" tipped over, people). With all the heavy gear on the ST and slippery feet from the rain, I had an aborted attempt to get her up on the center stand (man, I was just to week) and she started leaning away from me as she came down. I quickly instinctively turned the wheel into the direction of the tipping and saved a mess! Thank God! I then said the hell with the center stand and settled on the side stand. (yes, I then grabbed a beer out of the garage fridge!)

Chad and I had a couple of misunderstandings on the trip, but hell, I give anyone credit who can put up with me for 9 days. Thank you for BEING understanding and for sharing the trip with me.

All’s well that ends well, and all I can say is "Is it so strange to already want to get back on the road again?"

My ST ran flawless.   Prior to the trip, I had switched over to Synthetic oil (Spectrol 4 Blend 10w40) due to the number of miles I was planning on. The Oil actually (no fibbing) caused smoother shifting. I don’t think it was my imagination. The Excedras that I put on just prior to the trip were EXCELLENT. Not even half lifed yet, and NO front cupping! Minor headshake, but I think that is an inherant flaw in the ST’s that I have not been able to solve with 3 different tire mfg’s. My Corbin was a necessity and provided for a very nice ride. Yes, a few times we had sore butts. I don’t care what kind of seat you have, sitting for that many miles with your lady between your legs ( J ), anyone’s butt is gonna get a little sore! The ST didn’t like the high speeds on the interstates with regard to mpg, and at one point actually swallowed more gallons that Chads VFR at a fillup. (That pissed me off ) Pushing a headwind at high speeds dropped the mpg to right around 40 J I usually get high upper 40’s almost 50mpg.

I discovered the camping thing was a "good thing" and as a side benefit, it even started paying for itself.  Sometimes, however, a good motel is a welcome sight and a needed thing!

I can’t wait for my next trip to Wherever, and am sorry the brutal summer heat has come upon us. This usually puts a damper on trips till the fall. Guess I’ll have to keep an eye on the weather. Thank you Chad for all the route planning and map reading you contributed.