Its hard to sum up the experience.
There is so much that can be said and literally thousands of photo and and entire hard drive
of video that I would love to share.
It is so hard to believe it has come and gone.
The road to Silverton, Co.
Red Mountain Pass ( Jimmy's Favorite)
Silverton, Co.
Four Corners
Nowhere Land
The Canyon
Ouch
Hoover Dam
Vegas
111 degrees.
Lake Isapuddle, CA
Best Steak EVER!
The Coast
My feet
San Fran
The Big House
Cruise to the Coast
Day by Day
Thursday, Sept 11 –
It’s really going to happen.
The guys all show up.
Dave arrives in Denver –
overnights with Hannah in Boulder .
Jay arrives in Conifer.
Jay and Gary make three trips to secure bikes.
Jay and Gary didn’t vacuum.
Chris and Jim arrive in Conifer.
Shopping at Wal-Mart and Dick’s – Jay gets a “really nice
sleeping bag.”
It rains.
Cat jumps in window.
Zippered sheets – not nice.
Friday, Sept 12 –
Snow?
Conifer
It was about 30 degrees overnight.
Snow on the ground in the morning in Boulder and Conifer.
Jim discovers he has a Steeler bike, covers it with red
tape.
Jim fixes the grill.
Jim fixes the comms – right.
Cookout.
Friday night – we discover one of the new air mattresses is
not really an “air” mattress.
Saturday, Sept 13 – “I
hate you, Chris”
Conifer to Silverton ,
Colo.
8:45 a.m. – we’re off.
Beautiful ride over the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass.
Beautiful ride down Red Mountain
Hang glider soaring over the mountain across the street.
Casey gives a great tour of the Grand Imperial Hotel,
complete with bullet hole at the bar and a warning about “Dan the basement
man.”
The Handlebar Restaurant – two Cheri’s. Great dinner. Peach
cobbler, menu for the vision-impaired.
Sunday, Sept 14 – Ice
in the morning. Hair drier heat in the afternoon.
Silverton to Tuba
City , Arizona
Ice on the bike seats.
Brown Bear Breakfast – huge pancakes – the first of many on
this trip.
Climb out of Silverton.
“Hey guys. Did you know Colorado has mountains,” says Jim, who
notices scenery after a previous day of noticing the yellow line and the edge
of deep ravines.
Jay stands up to look over the edge with his helmet-mounted
Go-Pro.
Jim tells Tricia he is riding in the truck. She sees photos
of Red Mountain Pass
“Group intercom.”
Deer in the road.
Stop at 4 Corners and about 50 booths of jewelry for
sale. The real heat begins.
Very brief rain shower…the only rain of the trip for the
riders.
Brief stop at Monument
Valley
Gary, Jay and Dave hit the pool.
Monday, Sept 15 –
“Everything about it is grand.”
Hot, but nice ride to the Grand Canyon .
What a view.
The guy from “Ireland ,
in the U.K. ”
looks through the binoculars and declares: “Everything about it is grand!”
Jim: “Hey Dave, you’re in my shot.” Dave: “Jim, you have the
whole canyon.”
Jim, looking over the rim: “Can someone tie a rope around
me?” “No.”
Clueless driver with California
plates nearly takes Jay out. He signals “We’re number 1.”
Clueless driver nearly cuts Dave off. He signals, verbally,
that he is not pleased. Chris notes “Ah, open mic.” Comms shut down for vulgar
language.
IMAX movie. Neat story. $12 nap for some of us.
We return for sunset and join the 4 percent who go below the
rim, kind of.
Stop on the way back to the hotel to look at the stars.
Satellite. Milky Way. Amazing.
Dave discovers the Excursion has air conditioning.
Tuesday, Sept 16 –
Hot, hot, hot!
Williams to Las
Vegas
Hoover Dam - woman
overcome by heat. Time zones change in the middle of the dam. “What time is it?
What day is it? Where are we?”
What a sight.
Jim: “Hey Dave, you’re in my shot.” Dave: “Jim, you have a
whole damn dam.”
To Vegas – long hot ride. First encounters with real
traffic.
111 degrees on the bikes when we arrived.
Into the pool with Seal Team 5.
Panhandler on the way to dinner looking for a buck for
“medical marijuana and some munchies.
Bubba Gumps for dinner.
Big time in Vegas: pool, dinner, Dave losing 1 buck in the
casino on the way back to the condo, laundry (with a detergent incident) and
sleep.
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Not us. Outta there
bright and early.
Wednesday, Sept 17 –
“It’s more of nothing.”
“Oh, you mean Lake
Isapuddle
Jay and Jim tour downtown Las Vegas trying to get from the parking lot
to trailer.
Watching the temperature rise on the largest outdoor
thermometer 97, 98, 99.
How long to the ridge in the road. Multiple guesses…13 and a
half miles of straight road.
Jim after a turn onto another straight stretch. “It’s more
of nothing.”
Route 66
Riders wore long sleeves in the desert. It helped.
Jim sees Red
Mountain
“How long are we on this road?” “Too long already.”
Tailgater cuts into the group along long, slow, windy road.
1-800-2 advise.
Dave almost takes out car in the lot.
Great steak dinner at the Paradise Cove Lodge.
Settling up with our Monopoly money.
Group meeting. Decided to cut the Yosemite
stop.
Thursday, Sept 18 –
Woo Hoo
Beautiful drive out of Lake Isabella
Miles of grooved road. Rough ride.
Lunch about 150 yards from the Pacific. Who knew?
First sight of the ocean. Cheers all around. California oldies on the
truck radio.
Mountain cliffs on the right. Ocean on the left.
Thick fog obscures ocean in many places. We find plenty of
scenic stops along Route 1 – which was just another winding mountain road.
Fog rolls up from the ocean, then over the road, just above
our heads.
Five guys enjoy sunset at Lover’s Point, Monterey . Hey, we got close during the ride!
Friday, Sept 19 – “…
in case they have a sprinkler system.”
Jim spies a skinny dipper across the street from the hotel.
Keeps his distance.
17-mile drive – NOT. Motorcycles not welcome.
Dave swims in the Pacific while the riders are banned from
17-mile drive.
Dave gets the trailer jammed at a gas station. Jim to the
rescue. Gas station wall gouged, fender bent.
Is it 172 Starlite or 127?
Drop two bikes at the “bakery.” Take tour. Get loaded down
with a ton of free bread.
Pull unsuspecting bakery customer into photo.
Head to Marin
Covenant Church
We drive over the Golden
Gate Bridge
We set up on church floor. Jay investigates sleeping
outside. Decides against it, ‘in case they have a sprinkler system?” Yep, they
did. It goes on 10 minutes later and drenches his would-be sleeping area.
Farsi service in the church.
We head to dinner with Angie. – “No, we don’t have any beach
peach beer.” “Oh, in bottle, yes we have beach peach beer.”
Dave discovers the leaky mattress still leaks.
Saturday, Sept. 20 –
Escape to Alcatraz
Huge omelets at breakfast (again). Hundreds of bike riders
going by.
The cliffs and heights over the bridge. They used to be a
fort. Who knew? Great view.
We pull into a parking garage, with about a tenth of an inch
of clearance. No problem!
Cable car ride. The guy trying to fit Gary and me into a
three-foot space. Not a pretty sight.
We stalk a guy who has an extra Alcatraz
ticket and get one for Angie.
Out to the Rock.
Sunset boat ride. Night time tour. Cells, 5x7 feet.
Sunday, Sept 21 –
Outta there!
Dave and Gary drop the boys off for the returns to reality.
Check in at the Best Western. Nope, we don’t have the rollaway
that we said we did. We help ourselves to free breakfast, usually offered to
last night’s guests. Nope, we don’t have the airport shuttle we said we did.
So, after five free breakfasts, Chris checks us out and we find another airport
spot.
Chris, Jay and Jim check in. Dave and Gary head for Angie’s,
then Denver .
Dave and Gary make it to Elko , Nevada
Monday, Sept 22 –
Flying east, driving east.
Chris, Jay and Jim fly back to Baltimore .
Gary and Dave drive from Nevada
to Denver .
Tuesday, Sept. 23 –
The final traveler returns home.
Dave flies back to NH.
All continue to wonder “What day is it? What time is it?
Where are we?”
A true adventure.
By the numbers...
172 Starlite Rd 127 Starlite Rd
By the numbers...
3 ½ years
5 guys
4 motorcycles
1 Excursion
1 trailer
18 wheels
1,884 miles
5 states
982 gallons of gas – truck both ways
180 gallons of gas –
bikes
Low temp – 30 degrees
High temp – 111 degrees
Low elevation – 0 feet
High elevation – 11,000 feet
0 nights at the Best Western San Francisco
5 free breakfasts at the Best Western San Francisco
0 beach peach beers – wait, 2 beach peach beers
½ ton of free bread
½ ton of jerky
1 intercom
1 apple pie
1 dollar lost at Vegas
1 skinny dipper
1 bullet hole
1 dam
1 satellite
1 milky way
1 Imax movie (12 dollar nap)
1 kidney stone
1 leaky air mattress
1 very short rain shower
1 1-finger salute
1 ‘open mic”
1 honest panhandler
1 dishonest panhandler
1-800-2-advise
1 low clearance garage – 6 people hold their breath
1 big slammer
1 bent trailer fender
1 loose horse
1 “bakery” tour
1 very surprised bakery customer
1 very close call with a sprinkler system
Tons of little canyons
1 grand canyon
2 trips to that grand canyon
2 cable cars
2 Cheri’s
4 corners
6 deer in the road – 1 deer minding his business eating
dinner
4,500 pounds of flour – extra gluten
Too many to count
-
bottles of water
-
protein bars
-
Way too many to count
-
photos
-
memories
-
beautiful sights
- Group intercom commands
