June 27 2006

Departed Salida @8:30am and made our way to Fairplay via Hwys 50,291,24 and 285. Stopped for coffee at the Fairplay Hotel, a neat old west type of hotel and then on to Hwy 9 over Hoosier Pass, through Breckenridge and over Swan Mountain arriving Summit County @ 12 noon, our starting point. Ride over!
Spent the rest of the afternoon loading bikes and baggage in to trailer for our drive to Connecticut. Next ride will be June 2008 British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado.

June 26 2006

Left Durango @8:00am headed north on HWY 550 the "Million Dollar Highway" to Silverton a unique and authentic mining/cowboy town via Coal Bank Pass and on to Ouray. The scenery between Durango and Silverton was once again awesome and became even more so between Silverton and Montrose where the road took many twists and turns and factor in some steep grades, rock cliffs, no guard rails, Red Mountain Pass and that gives you a pucker factor (at times) of 10.We stopped for a beer at the Golden Nugget (doesn't every western town have one?) in Ouray and headed to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison N.P. Once there we headed down to the bottom of the canyon, another pucker ride down and back up a 16% grade. Beautiful though, both top and bottom views. Now we are ready to spend the night in the town of Gunnison because we are starting to get some ice cold rain...wrong! They are having some sort of @#^*&#bike tour going through and there is not a @#^& 'room to be had! The closest room around is in Salida 65 miles to the east. Well off we go and while crossing over Monarch Pass, more ice cold rain! We are getting too old for this. Pulled in to the Days Inn Salida, nice place, nice people run it and went over to the Windmill for dinner, excellent restaurant.

June 25 2006

Departed Kayenta AZ @ 8:00 AM for Monument Valley and the Four Corners and our desination for the day, Durango CO. Once again beautiful scenery, pleasant riding conditions and the comfort zone improved as we proceeded to the northwest.

The sight of spectacular scenery and the unkempt homesites of the Navajo gives one a sense of conflict. It also gives credence to Dee Brown's tome "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" and our dismal treatment of the American Indian. The drive through this beautiful area is free but the Navajo Nation charges $5 at the visitor center and $3 at the Four Corners. After leaving this area we stopped at Goosenecks S.P. which affords a great view of the San Juan River. The river meanders through the canyon for 5 miles covering 1 linear mile. Stopped at the Four Corners Monument, put our feet in to four states at once, had our pictures taken and pushed on stopping for lunch at Blondies' in Cortez (very good) and on to Durango arriving @ 4:00 PM. Checked in to the Best Western and rode over to the Diamond Belle Saloon for cocktails. Didn't stay there though, bartender was inept and could not handle the crowd so after waiting 15 minutes and no drink we left. Found a neat place called Joel's Pub, nice atmosphere and friendly bartender. Hi Carol! Durango was OK but a little too yuppified however.

June 24 2006

We left Williams @7:00 AM and arrived at Grand Canyon N.P. @ 8:30AM.

We toured the park for about 5 hours. What can you say? The views were spectacular and the colors changed by the hour. Pictures do not do the Canyon justice. We exited the park via the east entrance through the Painted Desert enroute to Tuba City where we stopped for lunch. Once again the the temps became very hot in the low desert. We sighted some wild horses atop Black Mesa on HWY 160 near Kayenta where we would stop for the night. The scenery today ranged from 'moonscape' to red hues in the desert to rolling tree clotted hills reminiscent of Black Hills of South Dakota. Each day in this part of the country is spectacular in it's own way.

June 23 2006

We left Laughlin @ 7:00am stopped for breakfast at the Black Bear Cafe (excellent) in Bullhead City and proceede south on AZ Route 95 to Route 66 at Topock and east to Oatman a neat old west mining town with wild burros roaming the street. The route to and east of Oatman is very scenic and loaded with many switchbacks and hairpin turns. It is truly amazing to me that this is the same road that the 'Okies' and the fictional Joad family used to migrate west during the Great Depression.We passed through such towns as Hackberry ( a dump!)Truxton where we stopped at the Frontier Motel and Restaurant an old preserved Route 66 icon, on to Peach Springs and Seligman where we stopped for a beer at the Black Cat Saloon another biker bar. They all seem the same.We arrived in Williams and checked in at the Days Inn and rode down to Rod's Steak House for dinner which was excellent. In the morning we will visit the Grand Canyon.

June 22 2006

We left the Ramada Inn Barstow @ 7:00am and traveled Route 66 from Daggett to Newberry Springs where we opted to get on I-40 to Ludlow because the road was in a state of major disrepair. From Ludlow we rode the old road to Essex stopping at Amboy the home of Roy's Cafe and Motel an icon on the old Route 66 days. We spoke with the caretaker and he said that construction is in it's early stages to restore the restaurant and motel to it's former glory. On to Needles, temperatures were ranging 110 - 118 degrees and Needles seemed to be the hottest. We stopped at the Red Dog Saloon (typical biker bar) for a beer and then to the Hungry Bear for lunch (good). After lunch we headed up the River Road to Laughlin a mini Las Vegas type gambling town (not impressed). Stopped at the America Legion Post 60 for couple of beers and checked in to the Colorado Belle/ Edgewater Hotel and Casino for the night.

June 21 2006

We departed Beatty NV @ 6:00am outfitted in leather jackets and gloves which we shed by 7:00am as we descended in to Death Valley. We stopped for coffee at the Furnace Creek General Store and on to Badwater Basin (282 feet below sea level) where we met up with the TV crew for the Weather Channel who were there because of the projected (128 degrees!) record or near record high temperatures today.It was 8:00am and 92 degrees already.We then pushed on to Shoshone CA and down to Baker and the Mojave Desert to Newberry Springs where we had lunch at the Bagdad Cafe on old Route 66 the setting of a movie of the same name starring Jack Palance. After lunch we rode on to Barstow where we arrived hot, tired and dirty and checked in to the Barstow Ramada Inn. After a few drinks and dinner (awful) at Vick's Sports Bar we turned in for the night. The next leg of our trip is to ride old Route 66 to the Grand Canyon with a detour to Laughlin NV.

June 20 2006

Departed Lee Vining @ 10:45am, we had to do some laundry. We headed south on RTE 395 and made a brief stop at the site of the Japanese Internment Camp (pic 1) in Owens Valley, a sad but necessary event (at the time) in our history. Continued south on RTE 395 to Lone Pine and RTE 136 to RTE 190 and the desolation (pic 2) of Death Valley engulfed us almost immediately. We stopped at the Panamint Springs "Resort"(pic 3) had a beer and decided to push on to Beatty Nevada for the night and tour Death Valley in the early morning. Good plan because after we left Panamint we encountered a car fire (pic 4) and the road was shut down for 2 and 1/2 hours! And there we were trying to find shade which we did behind a van and the fire department mulled around the scene with their heads up their asses and no one making a decision to let traffic proceed even though the fire had been extinguished in the first 15 minutes! We finally arrived in Beatty @7:30pm checked in to the Motel 6 (brand new and nice).

June 19 2006

Departed Oakhurst @9:00am after having breakfast at Katie's Country Kitchen (excellent) and headed for the southern entrance of Yosemite.I must have taken 25 pictures in the park and every one is awesome. I am running out of adjectives to describe the things we are seeing. We spent the entire day in the park and that was not enough. We had delayed our arrival at the park by two days because the Tioga Pass road was still snowbound. It was worth the wait. We headed over Tioga Pass to the east entrance/exit of the park to RTE 120 and Lee Vining CA where we had reservations at Murphey's motel (nice and clean). We arrived @7:00pm checked in and went to dinner at Bodie's Rib House (fair) and turned in for the night. Great day!

June 18 2006

Left South Lake Tahoe @ 9:00am and took RTE 88 across the Sierras via Kit Carson pass (pic1) to Amador County on the west side, had breakfast at Ham's Station (pic 2) near West Point CA (they have great french toast) and then along RTE49 through Gold Rush country passing through such towns as Angels Camp, Chinese Camp, Morman Bar (?), don't quite get that one, on in to Oakhurst which is near the southern entrance to Yosemite @ 4:30pm. Checked in to the Comfort Inn for the night.

Note: Left south Lake Tahoe in full leathers, temps were in the low 50's with less than 10% humidity and finished the day dressed in T-shirt.

The pics do not do justice to the scenery. Ya gotta be there.

June 17 2006

Left Fallon at 7:30 AM on HWY 50 to RTE 341 beautiful ride on 15% grades through old silver mining towns to Virginia City. The Cartwrights were not in town so we had lunch at Muldoon's Humdinger Cafe, it was just as interesting as the name implies, good food and pushed on traversing 11 miles of switchbacks down towards Reno.Took a couple of pictures under the arch . Reno I can take or leave and it seemed seedy so we left. Took I-80 to RTE 89 in California south to Squaw Valley (picture above right) then on to Tahoe City and around the east side of Lake Tahoe to South Lake Tahoe which to me represented a blight on an otherwise spectacular landscape. We had dinner at McP's (it was just OK) and spent the night at the Black Jack Motel (fair).

June 16 2006

Left Delta Utah @7:30 AM MDT,stopped at the Border Inn Baker Nevada for breakfast and then enjoyed a great ride along Hwy 50 the "Loneliest Road in America"which parallels the route of the Pony Express in Nevada. We passed through Ely a unique old western town, then stopped for lunch at the Owl Casino and Cafe in Eureka.
Along the highway we encountered literally millions of "Mormon crickets" so thick in some spots and being crushed by the traffic they created some very slick road conditions. Weather was perfect, the road straight as an arrow, the Stillwater Mountains in the distance we cruised through Austin and stopped for a beer at Cold Springs a former way station for the Pony Express. Friendly place with interesting people so we stayed for three! Left there and pushed on to Fallon, where we spent the night at the Stockman Hotel and Casino.Very nice hotel and we had a great steak dinner at the casino restaurant. We had a 411 mile day through the Great Basin in cold (mountain passes) and hot (desert) weather, Mormon crickets and great scenery. Sound like a good day? Yup, it was.

June 15 2006

Spent the morning contacting 'local' motorcycle shops
for repairs, no luck. Plan B, find a Harley dealer.
Closest is a 100 miles away in Orem. No way I can ride a 100 miles with the vise grips so I contract for a tow to the tune of $318.00! I must say that the towing company was very accommodating and tried to have my AAA membership pay but motorcycle and RV coverage was not available in my home area. I have since changed areas and now have coverage. Rode unceremoniously to Orem while Ed took the scenic route to Topomingos Harley Davidson. I would like to note here that they immediately put me first on the repair list when they found that we were touring. They made the necessary repair and upon their routine inspection determined that a rear tire replacement would be prudent seeing as how we had another 3,000 miles to travel. They had me back on the road within three hours! A top shelf operation. We arrived in Delta Utah @ 5:30PM checked in to the Best Western (very nice) and had dinner at another Mexican restaurant where there was a huge language barrier. If I didn't know better I would have thought we made a wrong turn and somehow ended up in Mexico. In fact when we were in Mexico we had less trouble communicating than in this restaurant! The staff however was very polite and after a fashion we 'sort of' got what we thought we were ordering. Ah well, the end of an expensive day. $639.00o just for the tow and repairs. A hell of a way to start a trip!
Note: Provo traffic very busy and the drivers proved to be discourteous (just like home!)Utah is definitely a land of extremes in all facets.

June 14 2006

Breakfast at the Mountain Lion Cafe (excellent) in Silverthorne and on the road (I-70) west at 9:10AM. The scenery ranged from awesome Rocky Mountain views between Vail and Glenwood Canyon to desert 'moonscape' in eastern Utah to goosebump views of huge canyons such as Eagle Canyon and Dragon's Tail Canyon and more in the San Rafael Mountains.We encountered winds of 40 to 50 mph for the entire trip. It made riding 'difficult' and tiring. My throttle cable snapped approximately 10 miles from our destination, Salina Utah. We juty rigged a set of vise grips on the remaining cable and limped in to Salina. We stayed at the Super 8 which was reasonable,new and clean. Dinner and drinks at El Mexicante (very good) and to bed.

June 13

Spent the day visiting with my daughter and grandsons, met up with our friend Basil who had come down from Cheyenne to visit us and had lunch at the Dillon Marina and spent the rest of the day preparing for our morning trip west.

Dinner was pizza which had been shipped west (long story) by a friend of my daughter and son-in-law who owns Modern Apizza in New Haven CT arguably the best pizza in the country. Check it out if you are ever in CT.