Every year at the end of April or beginning of May Jayne and I take a trip to celebrate our anniversary. This year's trip was connected to last year's trip, in a roundabout way. Allow me to explain...
Our older daughter Kate lives down in San Antonio, and has been attending the University of Texas at San Antonio. This has been her senior year, and graduation was scheduled for May 9th. It seemed like a good excuse for a ride to Texas.
Initially, I thought it was going to be a solo ride. You see, last year's trip was from Seattle to Las Vegas for our niece Nicole's wedding. No, it wasn't that kind of Vegas wedding; she lives there. At any rate, that ride ended early with a crash 30 miles north of Vegas when the rear tire blew out on US 95. Rather than enjoy the wedding and reception, Jayne spent her vacation in University Hospital with some pretty significant injuries.
At least her family was all in town to entertain her.
Kate and Anna with Jayne on morphine.
I got off a lot more lightly, so I've been back on the bike since I got it back together in September. But Jayne hadn't gotten back on. Somewhere during the year she got tired of hearing how much I was enjoying riding again. And, after all, the Vegas trip was outstanding, right up to the crash.
So I was a bit surprised (but only a bit) when Jayne told me she would like to fly down to San Antonio, but ride back with me. Excellent!
On April the 25th I saddled up and left. It was snowing on all the passes east of Seattle, so I headed down I5 to Portland and then east on I84.
My intent for this trip was to spend as little time on the slab as possible, but I needed to be in the Salt Lake City area by early Sunday. So this part of the ride was nearly picture-free. But here's a shot of the 1150RS in Hood River, OR. Lunch was excellent, by the way.
The reason I needed to be near Salt Lake on Sunday was for an all-day Sport Touring Advanced Rider Training. The training was "adequate". (See my original blog post for my definition of "adequate")
One of the riders came in from Chicago to play; I had the second longest ride.
The post on beginnerbikers.org is spot on. The only thing I can add was the talk on flag signals at the rider's meeting first thing. It went something like this: "A green flag means that the track is clear and you may enter or continue. A standing yellow flag means that there is a hazard and you should reduce speed and not pass anyone. A waving yellow flag indicates that you should slow down and exit at the first opportunity. And a red flag means that there is an R6 on fire in the middle of turn one." The day before an R6 had gone down in the turn and fried.
I got to meet a couple from an online forum I'm a member of - bmwst.com. John and Julia were very nice; Julia was riding her 1150RT very nicely on the track, and John used my camera to get me some good shots to prove I was there.
Another of the groups there was canyonchasers.net. I was adopted by them and invited to lunch. My thanks to Kris and Dave especially for making me feel at home. My cornering skills improved noticeably that day. It was exhilarating to have the red-and-white stripes in the corners so close you could reach out and touch them.
I got some good advice at the end of the training day about interesting roads around Utah, especially from Shorty. That night found me in Provo, ready to head south-southeast.
Next day I headed up US6 to Price and then south on UT10. Just south of I70 I hit UT72 and prepared for some skills practice.
I was having a ball until I hit some good sized tar snakes while I was leaned over and felt the front tire slide out quite a bit. After that I moderated my style somewhat.
Down the other side I go, through Fremont and Torrey and then south on UT12. To the east is Capitol Reef:
Further down the road past Boulder is the Grand Staircase of the Escalante; at one point the top of the ridge is just as wide as the road - along the west side is Calf Creek Canyon, which looks intriguing.
I end the day in Escalante.
The next morning I'm out at the crack of 9, headed for Lower Calf Creek Canyon. I park at the campground and am able to leave the bike with the campground volunteer. The hike up the canyon is almost flat, but fun nonetheless. One of the side canyons has something interesting, an old Anasazi granary. It's the small rectangular cave just above the junction of the red and white sandstone near the center of the picture.
Lower Calf Creek Falls is about 2.5 miles from the trailhead and was worth the hike
Back on the bike and north back along UT12 and a stop for fuel in Torrey. At the Conoco station is this nice 1200GS Adventure:
I especially like the nose art - reminds me of the old Flying Tigers in WWII. The owner is Nick Gilroy, a Brit who is spending 6 months visiting every state capital.
His adventures are at www.globalgilroy.com. I'm buying him a beer when he visits Washington this summer.
From Torrey travel was east on UT 24, enjoying Capitol Reef scenery and dodging RVs. At Hanksville, the turn was south on UT95 and then down UT261. Magnificent sights around many corners, and then I got to enjoy the Moki Dugway:
I'm not a fan of steep gravel roads on a street bike, but I just prayed to the tire gods and never went over the breakneck speed of 20 mph. Evening found me at Mexican Hat, staying at the San Juan trading post:
It's still an active trading post, trading food to the Navahos for blankets and jewelry.
Next morning I headed down US 163 and got this Forrest Gump picture of Monument Valley:
It was the last clear view I got of anything for several hours, since it was at that point that the wind decided to pick up significantly, it was enough to blow me across the centerline once before I turned onto US160. At the trading post I had met a Navaho who suggested that I visit Betatakin, a cliff dwelling ruin north of 160 on the Navaho National Monument. I was not able to get any good shots with the wind as strong as it was, but if you google Betatakin, you can get a sense of the magnificent setting.
From Betatakin it was back into the teeth of the wind enroute to Page. Actually, this wasn't so bad, since it was almost directly off my nose. The reason I wanted to get to Page was to go down in Lower Antelope Canyon, one of the many slot canyons in Utah and Arizona. Here's what it looks like on the surface:
You can step from one side of the canyon to the other. There are boxes of ropes on top in order to effect rescues in the case of flash floods.
The canyon itself is sandstone that has been formed over the millennia by floods, especially during the monsoon season. It creates magnificent sculptures:
My destination for the day was Flagstaff, and it was going to be an adventure getting there. Once I was southbound the wind was directly from my right, making me work hard to keep my lane. The steady wind was manageable, though I would estimate it at about 40 mph. The gusts, however measured up over 60 mph, according to the weather service. It was enough to deposit piles of sand on the highway that I really didn't want to hit, leaned over as I was. I would have loved to stop, but there wasn't much of a place to shelter along the way. South of Cameron the wind abated, but by the time I reached Flagstaff I was ready to stop and clean the sand out of my orifices.
Next morning I was off toward Phoenix, though it certainly was the scenic route. First down the canyon to Sedona (which was fun) and then up the road to Jerome. Sedona was just too cute for my taste but Jerome had some character:
It's an old mining town that has been invaded by artistic types. There are still some old ruins:
as well as more contemporary uses:
My original plan was to go through Prescott and then down 89 and US 60 to Phoenix, but it was stymied by construction in Prescott Valley. It was back to Jerome and then back via I17 to Mesa. My father-in-law Jim and his wife Bobbie live there and I wanted to say hi. They were just getting ready to pull up stakes for the season and head back to Washington.
My major reason for visiting Phoenix was to visit a good friend I didn't know I had, another member of bmwst.com named Tom Neumann. I had made contact with him when I was having problems posting trip pictures on the forum. He not only helped me out, he invited me to spend the night and took me out to dinner. You can meet him more thoroughly at his blog Tommy Neumann's Most Worthy Universe. Tommy wouldn't let me pay for dinner, which caused some conflict, but he told me a way I could pay him back when I got to San Antonio. More about that later. All in all, Tommy's hospitality was "adequate".
Tommy confirmed my plan to head up to Payson and then east on on AZ 260 to meet US60 to Socorro, NM. It was a beautiful ride through the mountains, and I was glad I had my grip warmers. Miles of the ride were though fairly recent burn that I assume was the Rodeo-Chedeski fire in 2002 which burned 480,000 acres and almost 500 structures. It was a sobering sight.
Not too long after I crossed into New Mexico I came upon Pie Town. This place is aptly named, since there are at least 3 places in town to get pie, and not much else. I stopped here
for a piece of BlueMoon pie (blueberries and peach- yum) and was given a frequent pie-er card!
Down the road a piece is the Very Large Array
a huge radio telescope complex which at it's maximum extent is more than 25 miles in diameter. It doesn't look like they were doing any research that day; it looks more like they were listening to KTEP in El Paso.
The day ended in Albuquerque, a place I hadn't been to in more than 40 years. It's a lot more than the 25 mile long 4 block wide town it was back then.
From Albuquerque, it was north through Santa Fe, where I almost literally ran into a group of riders on old Indians (motorcycles, not Native Americans). I thought they were just a local club, but they turned out to be a group from The Netherlands on their bikes. Sweeet! I just wish I could have gotten a good picture.
The ride up through Alamosa and Salida was gorgeous, so of course it was here that my camera batteries gave up the ghost. I thought 3 charged batteries would be enough for the trip, but I was wrong. I wasn't able to get any more pictures until I picked up a charger in Colorado Springs.
I lived in Colorado Springs until 1965, but it was much different back then. The population was only 30,000 when we left and now it has more than 400,000. I wanted to see how it had changed, so I spent a day exploring town. One thing I noticed was the lack of high rise construction downtown, allowing it to retain some of the small town feel. The other reason I went to the Springs was to go to Kisan Technologies.
I have one of their tireAlert systems on my bike, but I hadn't been able to get it adjusted to my satisfaction, and they said they would take care of it while I was in town.
They're in a nice neighborhood - The Broadmoor Resort is just down the street.
The resort has been a 5 star attraction since the late 1800's.
Andy and Hong did their magic on my bike and I was back on the road.
The next two days have to be some of the most boring riding I have ever done; 890 miles, mostly through west Texas and not a reason to stop, except to sleep. The best part of this section was that it ended in San Antonio, and I got to see my family. Jayne and I stayed at a B+B called Inn on the Riverwalk that is owned by friends of ours, Scott and Johanna. Scott is a champion bullrider by avocation, while Johanna is a very good artist of several flavors. The Inn was a good base to start from, an old Victorian house with lots of charm situated at the south end of the Riverwalk.
The next few days were a blur of graduation activities.
Me, Kate and Jayne
Kate and Shane
It was great to see the kids and family; the only down side was the temperature - it was 102 degrees on Saturday.Our days and nights were filled with activities, including one evening when we went out with Larry and Louise from BMWST for dinner. We had never met, except online. I think I startled Louise when I said, "Tommy Neumann said I should give you this" and then gave her a big hug. At least I wasn't too sweaty. I was horrendously underdressed, though, in my BMW t-shirt, shorts and sandals. After all we were at Landry's, a very nice establishment indeed. Next time I'll do my homework better. Here is where I paid Tommy Neumann back for his hospitality. You see, apparently Larry is notorious for always picking up the tab. Tommy had told me I could pay back his hospitality by beating Larry to the check when we went out to dinner. When the waiter came with the damages, Larry and I both went for the check at the same time. My setup was just a little bit better, such that I snatched the check out of the startled waiter's hand. I think he expected fisticuffs. He stepped back as though to say, "Whoa, let me out of the way first!" It all ended amicably enough, after I filled Larry in on the backstory. Jayne and I thoroughly enjoyed the dinner and most especially the company.
The trip from San Antonio back home started on Sunday the 11th. This time Jayne was on the back. We traveled up through the Hill Country, easily one of the prettiest areas of Texas. Lunch was in Mason at the Mason Jar, packed to the gills with families enjoying Mother's Day brunch. Further up the road we passed through Big Spring, which is notable for being featured in the movie Midnight Cowboy, the site of the former Big Spring Bombardier School and the current home of Big Spring State Hospital, a mental institution. This last association is responsible, I believe for our next encounter. Just outside of town as we reach our cruising speed of 80+ mph, a crazy suicidal magpie flew into the left side of our windscreen. To say it disintegrated would be an accurate description. In fact, Jayne was unaware that it was a bird. Through the Autocomm I hear her ask, "Did we just ride through a bunch of butterflies?" My reply -"No dear, those are bird parts." The left side of the windscreen and my helmet are covered in bird guts, requiring a hose down at the next gas station.
The next day found us traveling from Levelland, Texas to Vaughn, New Mexico.
We would have gone quite a bit further, but the wind got truly obnoxious, so we holed up. I can't say that Vaughn is a place I care to return to. Tuesday was much better, with the wind laying down, lots of antelope to see near the road, and the transition from desert to mountains.
And Durango is a fine place for us to end the night.
Jayne fell in love with Durango, and we wouldn't mind retiring there. There is plenty of character and plenty of characters, if you know what I mean. The weather is predictably nice, especially if you like snow in the winter and spring. And there is an outstanding french bakery there, always a plus.
The next morning was spent at Mesa Verde, a fascinating collection of ancient cliff dwellings. One morning is not enough time to spend here.
US 491 from Cortez to Monticello is pretty straight, but the scenery is outstanding.
North from Monticello on US 191 we were headed toward Moab and Arches National Park. Near the intersection of UT 211 and 191 is Church Rock, a rather impressive monolith. The La Sal mountains are in the background.
We were making pretty good time until we got near the La Sal cutoff, where my next target car to pass
turned into this
so I had to behave myself.
The next morning found us in Green River, UT. We spent it poking around the John Wesley Powell Museum, learning the history of river exploration on the Green and Colorado Rivers, as well as the rest of the region. From Green River the trip took us up US 191 to Helper and on through the Indian Canyon Scenic Byway. Lots of nice twisties here and not much traffic made this a great ride. Indian Creek Pass at 9100 feet still had several feet of snow beside the road, but the pavement was clear. A ride down US 40 from Duchesne brought us to lunch in Park City at the No Name Saloon. A lot more time could have been spent there, but we had a ways to go before days end. Indeed, such was the need that we hopped on the interstate, something we had almost totally avoided to this point. I 70 took us to Evanston, WY and a turn north again on WY 89 back through the NE corner of Utah toward Montpelier, ID where we spent the night.
Idaho is one of those states that has a variety of climates due to it's mountainous character. The stretch from Montpelier to Pocatello constituted the early part of the next day and had plenty of green farms and ranches along the Portneuf River and then a short stretch of I 15. From there it was off across the high desert and moonlike landscape of Craters of the Moon - miles of raw lava and sparse vegetation. We took a short break in Arco at the city park next to the sail
of a nuclear submarine. Arco was where they did a lot of the testing for the early reactors that the Navy used in submarines and aircraft carriers, as well as the first reactor to produce electricity commercially. On a more somber note, it was also the site of America's only fatal nuclear accident in 1961. Arco was originally known as Root Hog, which I think has more character.
From Arco, it was on to Ketchum, the town nearest Sun Valley. We bummed around there part of the afternoon, eating a late lunch and then heading up ID 75 to Stanley for the night. There were plenty of twisties and still lots of snow at the higher elevations
Stanley is a delightful "town" way up in the mountains. There is a gas station/convenience store, a couple of resorts, a couple of river outfitters and assorted other characters. We found these cabins to stay in:
with a very nice view
The climate in the mountains is abrupt: When we went to bed, it was near 80F; when we got up there was ice on the bike. Respect for the frosty spots got us started just a bit more slowly down ID 21. It wasn't too long before we caught up to this fellow on an 1150GS, who we would end up following most of the way to Banks. We turned off ID21 onto the Banks-Lowman Road, a delightful road with a river to follow and very little traffic. At one point, we were stopped by some traffic of a different sort:
They were headed up here:
From Banks it was up ID 55 toward McCall. Lunch was at a delightful cafe at Cascade Lake which had a great collection of old medical tools and apothecary medicines. Shortly after McCall came the intersection with US 95, which we took all the way to Lewiston. From Lewiston, it was just a short jaunt across the river to Clarkston, where we spent the night. Back in Washington at last!
Next morning was the last day of the trip, sort of. When we started the bike up in the morning, Jayne noticed that a puddle of fluid was developing under the bike which proved to be gasoline. As much disassembly as I could do with the toolkit under the seat did not reveal an obvious cause.
Since we had 300+ miles to go to get home, and me finally having to get back to work, we called AAA to tow the bike to Mac's Cycles there in Clarkston while we rented a car to get us the rest of the way home. I think this was all due to the "US95 effect", since we had spent 120 miles on 95 the day before and we crashed on 95 last year just north of Las Vegas.
This actually turned out to be a fortuitous event, as we would have missed a couple of important phone calls later that afternoon. The first was from a friend on the Enumclaw Fire Department wondering if we were dead. Apparently one of the neighbor thought we had died since he hadn't seen us for a couple of weeks. The second was much more important: My son Kenny called to say that he had been walking along the road when a nameless miscreant had thrown a car stereo out the window of a car, hitting him. Weird. His left hand was pretty well pulped, with multiple comminuted fractures and lacerations. His recovery from that event has been long and painful, delaying his graduation trip to Europe. It looks like there is a good chance he will make a complete recovery. There are no leads on who it was that assaulted him. Only the rhododendrons in our yard looked good:
All this complicated finishing the trip. It took a week for Mac's to get to the bike and get the leaky fuel lines changed out. It took another week for me to coordinate work and a reasonable airfare to get back to Lewiston. A short bus trip across the Snake got me back on my bike.
The ride the rest of the way home was delightful. US 12 had lots of sweepers through the Palouse and then again up to White Pass. The weather was perfect, with temps in the 80s. I have to say it got a lot cooler once over White Pass. There was substantial snow beside the road there. After White Pass it was north on WA 123 through Mt. Rainier National Park in the mist. There is still a lot of rough road left from the storms in 2006. At Cayuse Pass there was still 7 feet of snow on the roadside. Once over Cayuse, the mist disappeared and the familiar site of WA 410 led me back home.
From my start on April 25 until I got home on June 4 I had travelled 7174 miles, my longest trip on the bike to date, and one of my longest road trips ever. It won't be our last, though.
They were headed up here:
From Banks it was up ID 55 toward McCall. Lunch was at a delightful cafe at Cascade Lake which had a great collection of old medical tools and apothecary medicines. Shortly after McCall came the intersection with US 95, which we took all the way to Lewiston. From Lewiston, it was just a short jaunt across the river to Clarkston, where we spent the night. Back in Washington at last!
Next morning was the last day of the trip, sort of. When we started the bike up in the morning, Jayne noticed that a puddle of fluid was developing under the bike which proved to be gasoline. As much disassembly as I could do with the toolkit under the seat did not reveal an obvious cause.
Since we had 300+ miles to go to get home, and me finally having to get back to work, we called AAA to tow the bike to Mac's Cycles there in Clarkston while we rented a car to get us the rest of the way home. I think this was all due to the "US95 effect", since we had spent 120 miles on 95 the day before and we crashed on 95 last year just north of Las Vegas.
This actually turned out to be a fortuitous event, as we would have missed a couple of important phone calls later that afternoon. The first was from a friend on the Enumclaw Fire Department wondering if we were dead. Apparently one of the neighbor thought we had died since he hadn't seen us for a couple of weeks. The second was much more important: My son Kenny called to say that he had been walking along the road when a nameless miscreant had thrown a car stereo out the window of a car, hitting him. Weird. His left hand was pretty well pulped, with multiple comminuted fractures and lacerations. His recovery from that event has been long and painful, delaying his graduation trip to Europe. It looks like there is a good chance he will make a complete recovery. There are no leads on who it was that assaulted him. Only the rhododendrons in our yard looked good:
All this complicated finishing the trip. It took a week for Mac's to get to the bike and get the leaky fuel lines changed out. It took another week for me to coordinate work and a reasonable airfare to get back to Lewiston. A short bus trip across the Snake got me back on my bike.
The ride the rest of the way home was delightful. US 12 had lots of sweepers through the Palouse and then again up to White Pass. The weather was perfect, with temps in the 80s. I have to say it got a lot cooler once over White Pass. There was substantial snow beside the road there. After White Pass it was north on WA 123 through Mt. Rainier National Park in the mist. There is still a lot of rough road left from the storms in 2006. At Cayuse Pass there was still 7 feet of snow on the roadside. Once over Cayuse, the mist disappeared and the familiar site of WA 410 led me back home.
From my start on April 25 until I got home on June 4 I had travelled 7174 miles, my longest trip on the bike to date, and one of my longest road trips ever. It won't be our last, though.
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