Hey David,
Great trip report. Thank you for sharing the details and the photos! Looked like you guys had a blast. Jealous...
TK
TK
So I went on a road trip at the beginning of the month and have been meaning to post my pics already but seeing as I took pics with a point & shoot camera plus my iPhone coz I wanted to update Facebook each night, it looks like I will never get around to merging them, so heres the camera ones.... we racked up a total of 2221 miles.--Thank you to Dan Pilcher, Martin Albright, Manuel, Norm, Doc and anyone else who pitched in with suggestions.My buddy Sean from high school back in England wanted to come over and rent a Harley or Indian to do a road trip with me. Well we soon found out that it would cost him like $2000+ to do so, so instead he bought a used 2005 Yamaha Roadstar from Erico for $3500 and he is storing it my house to use for the next three years.The first day he was here I took him to Red Rocks so he could get used to the bike but apparently its identical to his Vulcan 1700 so he really just needed to get used to which side of the street to be on :o) We also hit up some local bike shops for a few supplies, dry bag, bungee cords etc.1. Our first full day was setting off from Denver to Moab, we stopped in Glenwood Springs for lunch as I had to make a quick pitstop to the Rover dealer, this was the furthest West I had been so it was all new territory. We used Martins suggestion of Exit 214 through Cisco which was awesome and pretty much set the stage for upcoming days of killer views. Got to Moab, found a cheap motel $100, walked into town for Chinese food and had an early night.2. Up early next morning rode into Arches, there was no charge, hiked up to delicate arch and on the way out around 9:30am they were charging and the lines to get in backed up to the highway, yikes! After breakfast and checking out we heading south on 191 to Blanding, west on 95 up to Hanksville, we somehow missed the lake? and we stayed at the Boulder View motel in Torrey which had a cool Cowboy bar/Steak House across the street. It was the fourth motel that we tried, all others were booked up!3. Next day it was down Hwy 12 through Escalante into Bryce then through Zion, all were amazing. We stayed in St George for the night, it was a Saturday and the boxing match was on in Vegas, apperently there was only one place in town showing the fight but it had been sold out for weeks, we walked around, didn't find any bars, so we stayed in a shitty $58 motel and ate at a very pricey/posh steakhouse next door. Oh and just to be on the safe side, we booked a room at the Paris in Vegas for the next night.4. Destination Vegas had us jump on I-15 and the weather was still great. Around Moapa, my buddy shouted that he needed gas (SENA 20S, best gadget I have ever bought!) so we took the first gas sign we came up on, 169 tho after you get off it points to gas south in 5 miles, ha! Well on the way we seen a sign to the Hoover Dam 89 miles so we figured instead of jumping back on the interstate, we would continue south on 169, best idea yet! Unbeknown to us, it took us through a freshly tarmacked road in Lake Mead national park. There was absolutely nobody on this road and we took full advantage of that, tonning up a few times and I pretty much hauled ass as fast as I could handle around the bends until we reached the lake then traffic appeared, mostly trucks pulling boats. We got down to the Dam, they have a security check point but waved us through, we rode across to the other side, parked and did the tourist walk around. Couldn't find a bungee to copy James Bond tho :o) Check in was at 4pm but we got to Vegas at 1pm so we paid the extra $20 to drop bags in room and hit the strip. $8 for a can of Newcastle was my first beer, we ate at Outback and people watched. S,S&S at night and back out on the strip. It was my first time in Vegas and I wasn't impressed, not sure if it was coz the day after a boxing match but it was err, very ghetto! So as they say, wot happens in Vegas, stays... however we were up early the next day so we didn't get into too much trouble, ha!5. Headed south on 95 to 93 destination Kingman to Seligman on Route 66. Unfortunately this is where the weather turned bad and just got worser each day from then on. Around Truxton I mentioned to Sean that the rain was starting to hurt tho he had kevlar jeans on and couldn't feel what had turned into hail, we were zipping along at 65+ until we hit what was like riding through a slurpee river, luckily it didn't last too long and neither of us fell off but it was a hair raising experience for sure! We stopped in Seligman for tacky tourist gifts then headed on to the Grand Canyon south rim. Stayed only 40 mins then headed out trying to make Tuba City but it was dark, wet and windy so the first motel we seen was in Cameron and we spent the night there.6. Continued up 89 and along 160 to the Four Corners which was pretty crap, into Colorado, up to Cortez then east to Durango. It was around 5pm and sunny in Durango and the plan was to get to Ouray for the night but we didn't realize there were three passes to get over. On the first one it started raining and on the second it was snowing. Neither my Doc Martens or gloves were waterproof plus my glasses kept steaming up so with my visor cracked my face and the body parts that operate the bike were bloody freezing! Crawling along at 20mph wasn't fun plus both our gas lights were on so when we made it to Silverton we gassed up and stopped at the first motel.7. The next morning it was still snowing but after talking to a trucker, he said the roads were clear so we continued on over Red Mtn pass, Ouray was a blur and up to Montrose for breakfast. Checking I-70 cameras, Vail pass was snowpacked so we decided on 50 east over Monarch pass. Stopped at a gas station in Gunnison and it was suggested we skip Monarch as it was also snowpacked and to take 114 further south to Saguache at 285. We met some bikers heading our way and they said Kenosha pass was wet but clear so we finally made it back to Denver around 8pm. On Hamden near I-25 heading to Monaco some prick nearly wiped me out in his car then I got my tire stuck in a rut and nearly toppled over, ha, after all them miles without an issue. Sean flew out the next morning tho he had such a great time he is gonna be back with his daughter the end of August so we plan to hit Mt Rushmore then Riot Fest was just announced today with some great bands so he's gonna keep it local and explore around Denver.Just click on the link then select SlideshowCheers.
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