Day Twelve: The Death March

We left Fortuna, CA and headed north to Eureka in the 1/10th of a mile fog along the coast. It was a chilly 53 degrees, but soon heated up to 103 near Redding, CA. We got stuck in construction delays and curvy roads for miles on end. There is no good road from the coast to Boise!

We rode for 14 plus hours and logged a little over 700 miles today. I feel it right now. We would feel a little worse except that we ran into a bicyclist that started in Connecticut and was now on the Oregon/Cali state line! Wowza!

We did find the most desolate road in the country today! Highway 395 north from the state line of Oregon for the next 100 miles is nothing land!!! It was insane. We passed about 5 cars in over 100 miles. It had a stinky lake that stretched for 20 miles. PLUS, Robby said he had no radio station for 100 miles either. Not a road I wanna go down again.

We saw many beautiful sites today, but no time to photo. We took two photos at state signs and that was it. We ended our ride pulling into Lenny's garage and he had beer in hand! Good times.

We will be here for a couple of days, Robby is gonna jump out of a perfectly good airplane tomorrow! Insane!

Ciao.

Day Eleven, Part Two, Redwoods

We made it to Leggett, CA home of the Chandelier Tree that you can drive through. What a massive tree! It was really amazing. We each took turns driving through the tree and then I even took a video of Robby going through it. We saw an SUV with a big tour pack on the top that looked like it was gonna get stuck.

After that we headed up near the Avenue of Giants and drove through some incredibly tall and massive trees. It is truly like being surrounded by giants! Again, I wished I could just snap photos of what I am seeing all the time to share, but we couldn't and it was getting dark and cold so we pressed on to our hotel.

Tomorrow we are going to try to make it to Lenny's house in Idaho. Wish us luck, it is 690 miles.

We have over 3500 miles on us now. OVER HALF WAY!!!! The bike's compass should point to the big E from now on.

Ciao!

Day Eleven, Part One. San Fran

We started the day about 100 miles south of San Fran. When I woke up I saw that the high temp for San Fran was going to hit all the way from the current temp of 57 to 58 degrees. Wow! Gonna be a cold one. We slept in a bit, cause we are kind of worn out! Got a move on though and missed most all the traffic going into San Fran. We took the 101 straight into downtown. We were headed over the Golden Gate but we detoured to Fisherman's Wharf first for some photos of Alcatraz, the Sea Lions, Pier 39, and the like. It was fun, Robby hadn't seen any of that before. I kept wanting him to say "the Rock" like Sean Connery, but he wouldn't play along. ;-) We took several photos. They have all been posted to Facebook for those peeps.

We left the Pier to go to the Bridge and I realized I needed gas again. Finding a gas station in downtown San Fran is actually kind of hard. We found one and headed off through the Presidio and then over the bridge. The last half of the bridge was covered in a shroud of f0g. It was so cool. It was one of those times I wish I could have just stopped to take a photo, but unfortunately we could not.

After our foggy and chilly Golden Gate Bridge crossing we headed north to the Redwoods. The traffic came to a stand still and yet another "helpful" Californian told us that bikes can share the lane and go between the cars. I folded in my highway pegs and gave it a go. It was just a little to close for comfort for our big bikes though. If I had my V-rod I wouldn't have been so nervous. I was just waiting for a person texting while stuck in traffic to decided to change lanes and smash me. Not too much fun.

Traffic cleared some and we headed to Leggett to the drive through tree...see next post.

Day Ten: SoCal to Middle Cal...is that what they call it?

We got up early with Mike to go meet his brother and check out some cool airplanes. Of course this was AFTER we went to Starbucks to get some caffeine for the day. Had a fun morning, but we were off to travel west til we hit water and then north and had to get a move on.

Mike gave us directions to go through downtown LA for a more scenic route, but then stressed that we don't want to miss the road signs cause we could end up in a very bad place and get shot. After talking to someone who cares about me and being told that wasn't a bright idea, we opted for I10 straight to Santa Monica Pier. The traffic wasn't too bad until we got close and then it was the typical LA parking lot on the interstate.

We made it to the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and headed north. We took the PCH up through Monterey, CA ,where we are now. Every once in a while you had to go over and pick up the 101 but the majority of the day was spent on the 1. It was a very twisty road after San Simeon north. About 60 miles of tight curves. Robby loved that. He got in the lead way before it turned curvy, but that was a mistake. He missed our turn twice. The first time I followed him and caught up and told him we needed to turn around, the second time I just went ahead and turned and figured he would miss me sometime and come back and find my brightly colored bike sitting here at the missed turn. It only took him a minute to miss me. ;-) I told him he was not ever allowed to point out any missed wildlife to me again since apparently we have figured out that I read the signs while he is looking for Bambi.

Robby left me behind when we got into the tight turns. You can sure tell he is 22 and doesn't have a mortgage or any of those thoughts of disibility pay while cornering. :-) Speedy! He pulled over to wait for me two or three times. Each time we put on more clothes. Crazy that yesterday when we left Vegas it was pushing up to going over 100 degrees and we were wearing as little as possible and today I had on four layers by the time we got here and my teeth were chattering.

We had a beautiful viewing day. Rob had never seen the Pacific Ocean so that was new for him. I asked him if he was excited and he said what do you want me to do cry, do a cart wheel? We did see a little seal that was floating on his back and flipping his flippers and sticking his tongue out at us when we stopped near Hearst Castle.

More tomorrow. Have around 3200 miles so far. I forgot to check the exact mileage before we came up.

Nite!

Day Nine: a Recap (longer blog)

Last night was just a little something to let everyone know we were still alive. ;-)

We got up very early in Vegas and left the very inviting digs that Brenda was letting us use. We were starting to fall in love with that house and the little casino that was in the neighborhood so we got up before dawn and left HOT Vegas and headed west.

We arrived at my friend Mike's house in Rancho Cucamonga around lunch time, which worked out great cause Mike took us to lunch! ;-) We then had to let him go do some stuff and we ended up catching a movie at the big mall just to stay cool. Met up with Mike again after the movie and went to dinner and to further Robby's education of beer. The kid only drinks Busch Light, which Mike (the beer conniseriour) thinks is just awful! We got a sampler of different beers at a little local brewery and made Robby pick a darker one. We texted his best friend with a photo and his bud thought he was drinking oil. Too funny.

We had a great visit with Mike. He has been off work for some time and I had missed seeing him. ;-) One of my best friends said this was my "visits to furloughed pilots around the country" tour, it kind of seems like it so far. ;-)

So other than the mention of the gun battle in the little short blog that about covers it for our Day Nine.

Now to write for day ten...

Day Nine...i think.

Am blgging from my phone. No Internet at the house. Staying just outside of LA at my friend Mike's house. On the way here we rode on Route 66 out of Barstow for 20 miles until we came to a police roadblock just outside of Victorville, CA. They told us to turn around that there was a stand off up ahead and they thought there was gonna be a gun fight. The road was closed cause they did not want us to get hit by a stray bullet.

Short blog cause these keys are too small. Nightingale is a bad influence with all the fancy froo froo beer.

Ciao

Day Eight: Vegas, 111 degrees here

We didn't do much today cause it was 111 degrees here today. We drove down to the Hoover Dam and took some photos and then came back and vegged for a while longer. We finally motivated to go to dinner early and then hit the local casino for a little more craps. Broke even. ;-)

Robby and I have decided we need to get back on the bikes, we miss it and we miss the silence.

More tomorrow. We are going to visit my friend Mike Nightingale in California. ;-)

Ciao!

Day Seven: Vegas!

Today was the day I introduced young Robby to many things.

1. Craps. I drew the craps table on a piece of paper after breakfast and quizzed him on possible rolls. We lounged around until afternoon and then got ready to hit the strip. Photo of us at the Casino (first time I have worn any makeup at all in a week, figured I should document that!) We had fun playing, won some, lost some. ;-)

2. Cirque Du Soleil. We got tickets to see Mystere' at Treasure Island. It was fabulous. Rob liked it a lot too. I had seen 'O' before and the tickets for it were about triple what Mystere' were so that was an easy choice. You gotta wonder what people are thinking when they design those costumes...or maybe I am just not artistic at all. The acrobatics were amazing though.

3. In and Out Burger. He had never heard of it...seriously? We ran through there on the way home and he now loves their fries. ;-) He was thrown, just like I was the first time, when they asked him at the drive up if we were gonna eat in the car. If you aren't familiar, they pack it up in an easy to eat out of tray if you say yes to eating in the car. ;-)

We didn't even start up the bikes today! What a needed rest day though. Thanks AGAIN Brenda for the use of your car. You are the best!

Tomorrow is Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam, gotta get to bed. Nite!

Day Six: Antelope Canyon, Bryce, and VEGAS

We started out this morning up bright and early just to find that Antelope Canyon didn't open until 9a.m. and we were on Pacific time! So we had breakfast and then just laid around the room for a couple of hours. Very much against our plan to ride before it got too hot!

We went to Antelope Canyon (which was one of my MUST DO things) and toured it. I took so many photos! I think I took 35 photos. It was gorgeous. We did the Lower Antelope Canyon because the website we looked up said you would not have a tour guide, well that must be old info, cause we had one. Then when we went through the wide spaces and then into the very tiny spaces we climbed the ladder and walked back outside. What a mistake. My fault completely. I didn't want to "swim upstream" back through the next group to get out and decided we should walk a half mile in 95 degree heat in the sand uphill. Not my best move.

The rest of the day I felt pretty out of it cause of the heat-stroke like walk we did. When we got up to Utah again and headed toward Bryce Canyon we saw that it was raining over Bryce Canyon. We took some photos outside the gate to the park and saw some sites, bought the postcards, and then headed south to Vegas. Didn't want to risk our rain-slickened roads with the whole stopping for photos all through Bryce.

The closer we got to Vegas the hotter it got. By the time we got to my friend Brenda's house we were drenched with sweat. My friend was nice enough to let us use her house in a nice community that has its own casino. We showered and got dressed up and went to the casino for dinner and then gambled. I lost 20 bucks right away on the slots and then found the one and only craps table. I taught Robby how to play and was up and down. Left even on the table. That is a good night I suppose. We are going to give it another whirl tomorrow. ;-)

We have tickets to a Cirque Du Soleil show tomorrow night and plan on sleeping in tomorrow! So nice to sleep past 6a.m. on vacation, who would have thought it?

We are up to 2494 miles!!!! OUCH. A third of the way done with our trip!

Day Five: Arches Natl Park, 4 Corners, Page

I have had a hard time getting radio stations out here so I have listened to my mix CD at least a dozen times today, so here are the lyrics for the day:

Somewhere on a desert highway
She rides a Harley-Davidson
Her long blonde hair flyin in the wind
Shes been runnin half her life
The chrome and steel she rides
Collidin with the very air she breathes
The air she breathes.

A little Neil Young, of course my hair isn't blonde anymore and since I promised my family I would wear the helmet this whole ride, it sure isn't blowing in the wind like I would love it to do.

We started the day by forgetting to go to the gas station before we hit Arches National Park. That was dumb. We still got to see some absolutely beautiful sites and took tons of photos (posted on Facebook) throughout Arches. We ran into a couple from Quebec on their Harley that had already been out for three weeks and they had just gone through Death Valley! Crazy French people. ;-)

We headed south toward Four Corners after touring Arches. It was quite a long ride and was starting to get really hot again. Four Corners is a cool place because it is one of a kind, but like the Ball of Twine, a long drive for something that was a bit of a let down.

On the way west it started raining on us, raining hard! We were so hot it was ok though. We thought it was funny that is was pouring down on us in the desert. The roads got very very slick after the rain. I compare it to stepping down on a bowl of garlic and oil spaghetti. Twice when I stopped to take photos after the rain I almost dropped the bike when I lost my footing. Not so much fun. Robby had a hard time getting his off the kickstand (much like I had a time on Pike's Peak and he helped me) and I offered to help. He said he would rather die than have help from me getting his bike upright. ;-)

Headed to Monument Valley we stopped at a McD's for a drink and a snack and there was a native American guy selling tennis shoes or just asking for money. I said I would buy him some food, but not giving him money. He said ok, I will take a large french fry, lots of ketchup, and a large diet coke. Apparently beggars CAN be choosers. We fed him and then took off toward Monument Valley. What a gorgeous place! I think God did pretty good with this part of the world. ;-) There is a rock that looks like a mitten and it is called Mitten Rock. I told Robby that I wanted to take a picture of the Mitten Rock and he said, "geez, you are naming the rocks now!" I had to buy him a postcard that had the name of Mitten Rock on it to prove that I am not crazy.

About 400ish more miles today. We are up to 2066 miles now. I am getting to be a pro at putting on lip gloss and not going into the oncoming traffic lane now. ;-)

Still having fun! Tomorrow is Antelope Canyon and Bryce Canyon and hopefully tomorrow night ending up in VEGAS baby!

Day Four, Colorado to Moab, UT

I take off time to time
With those crazy friends of mine
Head out on steel horses
With wheels and we ride

Cowboys like us sure do have fun
Racin’ the wind, chasin’ the sun
Take the long way around back to square one

This song played a lot today, but it was completely the song of the day. We had such a great ride today. We are up to 1650 miles so far and right now in Moab, Utah near Arches National Park.

This morning we got up and had a nice breakfast with Julie and her family. It is so nice to stay with friends and have a home cooked meal and laughs. Thanks Jules!

We hit the road for Utah. We rode through some of the most gorgeous views I have ever seen and I have been to five continents. It was amazing. Glenwood Canyon was the tops! Unfortunately we couldn't really pull over as much as we would have liked to take photos. I think maybe we should have brought someone as a rider just to take photos! ;-)

On the west side of the Rockies it started getting very hot. Right now in Moab it is 103. Supposed to be 102 tomorrow, so that is great that it is cooler! We plan on getting out at sun up to start our journey.

Off to the MOAB Brewery right now, Mike Nightingale suggested it, how does he know where every brewery in the world is??

Day Three, Colorado and Pike's Peak--Photo

Couldn't upload this last night for some reason...

Day Three, Colorado and Pike's Peak

This morning we headed south to Colorado Springs to go up Pike's Peak. Just as we were turning onto the Pike's Peak Highway off of Hwy 24 we saw an ambulance and several cops. There was an accident which involved a crushed motorcycle and a bloody guy laying on the road. I took this as a possible sign. Robby did not, so up we went. The first seven or so miles (of the total of 19) were paved and were really nice roads. Then we hit the dirt. We were told it was packed gravel, it was red dirt. We got behind some people in a mini van that thought the 15 MPH curves should be taken at 5 MPH, which destroys all momentum for your bike to stay upright. That was pretty bad when someone with four wheels couldn't make it around the corners any faster than that.

The road turned back to pavement at about mile marker 12 and then turned back to a sort of packed gravel around mile marker 14 or 15. We stayed in first and second gears most all the way up. The road got really really rough up near the top, the road was completely "washboarded" up near the top.

A little snow remained on the ground and it was a chilly 40 degrees up there. We stayed for a bit and had a famous Pike's Peak donut and then headed back down.

We cruised past Garden of the Gods and then off to meet my friend Jesse May that lives in Colorado Springs. We had a drink with him and then headed off to meet Jules and the kids for dinner with another friend of ours from the Postal days of flying, Erik Taylor.

It was a short mileage day, but still lots of riding and sightseeing. When we got home I took little Quinn for a Harley ride down the road, we have a great video of that I will try to post to Facebook.

We are still having fun. :-) Robby did have to help me get my bike upright from the kickstand when we parked on a weird incline today, he made sure to tell me to mention this. Since he is mentioning that though I think I should mention that he had to have help turning on the shower here at my friend's house. It is probably a good thing when we travel so far that we can't talk 90% of the time! :-)

Chris and Robby

Day Two: Part Two, the siphoning mishap

We were almost to my friend Julie's house, only 15 miles to go and we had a mishap. Off of I70 we took an exit that actually had NO FUEL stations at all. We didn't know this going into it or there would have been no mishap. :-) (that is the answer to Bob, Duke, and Mark~) I was up to 175 miles on my tank when we exited and unfortunately the nearest gas station was 30 miles. (This is something we found out later!) My bike will go almost 200 miles on a 5 gallon tank of gas. Today it went 199! If you notice in the photo above there is a water tower for the little town I ALMOST made it to. The last hill my bike coasted to a stop right near the top. Robby pulled up next to me laughing profusely. Lucky for Rob his tank is a 6 gallon tank. We decided that he should go to the little town and get some gas. I had stupidly assumed he would bring back a small can of gas. He did NOT!

Robby's viewpoint, I could have got a tank of gas for her, but I thought about it and thought this would be so much funnier to have her siphon it out of my tank.

SO, he got back and parked next to me, and we tried to siphon the gas out of his tank to mine. Unfortunately I had forgotten from my days of stealing gas from my mom's station wagon that the recipient tank has to be lower. I swallowed quite a bit of gas before I remembered this. All the while Robby was laughing and taking pictures. I drank a bottle of water and then filled it and got two bottles full in my tank and now we are at Jules' house and we have been fed and yet another person met us with BEER and Margaritas when we pulled in. I love my friends. :-)

We have logged 1049 miles so far.

Day TWO: Part ONE, our tribute to Michael Jackson

Robby and I had a fabulous night with 8 of my cousins over at Bryan and Bea's house. We all crashed out early though and got up at 445a.m. CST this morning and headed out to stay out of the rain. We headed a little north of I70 to go see the World's Largest Ball of Twine in Cawker City, KS. On the way I was messing with my Ipod again and had to turn it up and proceeded to take off my glove to do that and the light changed and I stuff the glove in my hoodie pocket. So for 30 miles we had an unintentional tribute to Michael Jackson while I rode along with one glove. The bad part was that it flew out of my hoodie pocket and Robby had to go back and get it for me. I was laughing too much to get it. :-)

The Ball of Twine was very large, but not as much fun as we thought it would be. We went to the Welcome Center and Gift Shop and it was closed. So we walked down to the Post Office to mail something and the postmaster said she was gonna see where the lady was that ran the gift shop. She looked out the window to see if her car was there and then mentioned to us that she had been in to get her mail today already so we knew she was alive. We got it opened so we could buy a post card. Gotta love small small towns.

On the way back to the Interstate we passed about 12 cars in two hours of driving. Robby said there was a lot of wildlife (edit by Robby: 3 deer on the road, chipmunk Chris almost ran over, and a herd of Buffalo), but for some reason I only saw the cows there were standing on the highway. Kansas, gotta love it.

Kansas

Our cute photo from Kansas...since we almost got killed crossing lanes to get this photo we had to include it. :-)

Day ONE

We left on time, strike that...Robby said we did NOT leave on time. He was ready to go and I was a mere 15 minutes late. We left his house at 720a.m. and then at 724a.m. we had to stop and retrieve my Ipod that fell off my bike. Then we stopped at the Welcome to Illinois sign to take a photo, at 729a.m. At this point Robby asked if we were ever going to make it there. :-)

At 734 Robby spotted a bunny crossing the highway and decided that was a bad omen. Fortunately it was not and we arrived in OLATHE, KS to my friend Bryan holding beers for us.

We rode 451 miles today and only about 3 of them were in the rain. We did get stopped at all the different "Welcome to" signs for the states of Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas (though Kansas required a three lane change within 500 feet to get to it in the rain!) Even though it was cloudy and cold and we even started out with layers of clothes including chaps I am already sunburned! I have FOUR bottles of sunscreen stuff in the bike, yet none on my body.

Tomorrow we head out for some MAJOR excitement to view the LARGEST BALL OF TWINE in the world. We may not be able to sleep tonight. :-)

Chris and Robby

All packed up and ready to GO WEST!

We are all packed up and ready to head west. ;-) Rob was just here and we took a photo of our hands for the before shot. The funny thing about riding motorcycles so far is that your fingers never get tanned and your hand is VERY tan by the time you finish. We wanted to do a before and after shot to laugh at later.

In a few minutes we are going to get together with some friends and family that want to see us off on the big voyage. I am really excited about it. Have been really pumped about the upcoming trip all day. I even rode my bike to church this morning!

I took a photo of Robby and his ride to the west coast. He wanted me to be sure to let everyone know that it is just the ride he is using to get there and that he doesn't actually ride a "geezer glider" himself. His bike is much cooler than that. :-) He is riding his dad's bike just for the radio benefits.

Off in the morning to Kansas City!

Three days to go!

We leave in 3 days for the longest and probably toughest ride we have ever done. I have been catching up with friends all around the country that want us to pop in and visit. It should be a really fun time and I am sure we will have many photos to share.

Just got my bike out of the shop today. New back tire and oil change and you know what is funny is that we will have to have another oil change by the time we get halfway through. Our planned route is up to 6700 miles now. I think all the updates on FB will start with elapsed mileage for the next few weeks. Maybe that should be followed with a scale of 1 to 10 on how sore our rear ends are too!

A quote by T.S. Eliot to get us motivated for the BIG trip:

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.

Ciao

July 9th (10th where I am), T-minus 10 days to the ride.

So my friend from California told me a "terrific" route from Vegas to San Fran. I plugged it all in my mapping site and found that it cuts right through Death Valley...well, I think I mentioned that yesterday...so anyway, I am reading this book tonight on the plane and it kind of makes me think that my friend from California wants me to die a horrible burning death.

This book, Ultra Marathon Man, talks about this guy's run through Death Valley. Here is an excerpt:

"Earlier this year, a European tourist had roasted to death in the mudflats beside the road. Apparently, he had walked out to take some pictures. The coroner's report noted that the corpse's feet were severely disfigured. Poor bastard had stepped through a narrow surface crust in a layer of molten-hot mud. He'd baked to death."

Nice huh? Another joyous quote:

"Besides rattlesnakes, there were scorpions and big tarantulas to watch out for on the dark road."

Robby and I ran over several bunnies a few years ago going through Wyoming late at night and I had a problem with that cause they are so cute and well, it was gross...but I have a serious phobia of spiders...we may have to re-route and I may have to rethink my friendship with Mike Nightingale. :-)

10 more days to go!

First Test-like blog

I have created this blog to share my trip out to California and back on my Harley. My good friend Robby Blagrave and I are headed out on July 20th for our 3 week, 6500 mile journey. We will try to updated this nightly about our travels for the day. Our tentative itinerary is to stay the first night in the Kansas City area visiting a friend of mine from flying and to also see eight of my cousins. We then plan on going to visit another friend of mine just south of Denver, CO the following night. If she lets us, we will stay two nights with her and get to visit with some friends around the Denver area. One of the two days we want to head up to Pike's Peak on the bikes. That should be fun and maybe we can even get a cool video of it posted. After a couple of nights in Colorado we want to head toward Southern Utah and the many parks there. Arches, Bryce Canyon, Four Corners to just name a few. I imagine even though the miles aren't many it will take us 3 days to cross Utah and make it to Vegas with all the stopping to take photos. Vegas will mean some gambling to try to pay for a our trip and some sightseeing to the Dam and Grand Canyon. Still haven't decided if we are going to ride to the Canyon or take a tour at this point.
Vegas westward to California routes us through Death Valley...yeah, I said Death Valley in late July/early August. That might be fun, but really I am thinking not. We have it planned to go through Yosemite Natl Park on a route my California friend shared with us. Our California days will include the Golden Gate Bridge, Redwoods, Sequoias, the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway), and even driving through a Redwood tree. The city of Leggett, CA has two or three trees you can drive through. That will be a Kodak (or in my case, Sony) moment!
From northern California we will head east through southern Oregon and over to Boise, ID to visit yet another one of my friends. We want him to take us jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, but we will have to see if that is going to happen or not. Crossing the gorgeous state of Wyoming will put us in Sturgis, SD just in time to catch the end of Bike Week. We plan on a few days there and then eastward bound toward home. Might get a stopover in Rockford to visit any work friends that are stuck there on the way home.
Follow along with us if you want to. It should be a helluva good time. We will also post to our facebook accounts with updates and photos too. This is my first time blogging and not sending out emails on a trip. Hope it works well. :-)

Ciao!