Mileage when I left the house 92,102
Monday April 6 2009 Hi 72 low 59 Blue Skies After getting back from my very satisfying trip to Alaska I started mulling over what I might want to do next. When I realized that the bike and I have been in 25 states I decided the next thing to do is ride through the rest of the states except Hawaii. So I am on my way to do that. This is the first real day of travel on my trip to see the rest of the states except Hawaii on the motorcycle. I left Alameda Ca. this morning. I drove across the Bay Bridge into San Francisco and headed South on highway one. I had forgotten how beautiful it is between SF and Santa Cruz traveling on Highway One. There just a string of State beaches along this stretch. The surfers were out in force enjoying some big surf. This stretch of road has not changed much except for some new homes in Pacifica and Half Moon Bay in the past 30 or more years. The old Fort Ord area is now big housing development with shop malls etc. I guess my old barracks are gone. It could not have been a more perfect weather for the ride down the coast. The sea was about as blue as it can get. There was hardly a cloud in the sky and the surf was high. It was hard to keep my eyes on the road as the white from the breaking waves was in perfect contrast to the blue sea. I could have taken a week easily to make this trip down the coast, which would still not be enough time to stop at all of the view points along the way. I took a number of photos as I road along. They are OK but not as good as if I stopped and put a little more effort into it. But right now I am on a mission to get on with this trip. The bike is running very well after giving me fits at home before leaving on the trip. Better to have the problems there than while traveling. The bike had 92,102 miles on it when I left my house. I am spending tonight in Ventura Ca. And then off to (you get to guess) Have a good day.... Phil..... Hi Gang Tuesday April 7th Hi 82 Low 52 Clear blue skies Left Ventura this morning and headed south to San Diego. Originally I was going to go slowly along the beaches but as there is rain predicted I decided to just take the freeways. Now I know why all the freeways in Northern Calif. are in such bad shape. All of the money is spent on the freeways in Southern Ca. Some are six lanes wide with an extra two lanes for commuters, except they work that way all of the time down here. They also have figured out how to pour concrete that is flat in Southern Ca. Caltrans should import the technology to Northern Ca. The goal today was to reach the most southerly and westerly place you can drive to. I think I found it in Coronado. I could see Mexico across the bay. I also walked down and stepped in the Pacific with my riding boots on. What come next? I feared ridding on the San Diego freeway before leaving. Freeway riding turned out to not be a frightening experience. There are no pot holes in the road so you can watch traffic and the drivers were very well behaved. This was also the first time I have used my GPS system while riding the bike. It took a missing a few turns to figure out what the graphics are telling me and after that it was just great. After my short stop in San Diego I headed north to work on the next part of this journey. I was traveling during the commute hour. Most of the time was spent traveling at seventy with traffic doing plus or minus 5 from that. A few minutes of stop and go. I am now in Victorville Ca.on Highway 15 on my way to Barstow. It got a little cold as I headed up into the high desert. When I was in Victorville in 1964 there were a few trailer courts and a few houses scattered in the hills plus a few small stores and a couple of gas stations. Now it is a major city. The scale of the shopping centers down here is just mind blowing. Everything is at least twice as big as in the Bay Area. I just wonder what all these malls are going to look like in 30 years. I can't help but think they will be very dated. It is interesting that so much of the best land along the shore line is for military purposes. I was watching a company of probably Marines on a training exercise. They were running, carrying a log that was at least 10 inches in diameter and long enough for a whole squad. As I was going buy then, somebody stumbled and they went down with log. Good way to learn about working as a team. Today was just about traveling and reaching goals. The were a few scenic moments but I am expecting more from tomorrow. Hope everyone is doing well..... Phil..... Hi Gang Wednesday April 8th Hi 92 Low 51 Clear blue skies High elevation 5400ft low elevation -280ft Left Victorville this morning and headed for Death Valley. I lived just over the hills from Death Valley in 1964 and 65 as a guest of my rich uncle Sam. Maybe not so rich anymore. It was just a perfect day for the ride with lots of white billowy clouds. It made for wonderful photos until the battery in my camera gave out just as I ran out of light at the end of the day. Stopped and walked out on the dry lake bed at Bad Water and contemplated the situation. I didn't come up with anything good. To much riding. I do love the scenery in the desert. I contemplated spending the night at the Furnace Creek camp ground but they were expecting rain plus I wanted to push on with my travels. I headed for Las Vegas and I am glad I did. The light was just right for taking photos as I was traveling. It was late afternoon and the warm tones on the rolling rocky hills along with the shadows just made it very worth while. All in all I was very glad I took the time and made the trip. The bike just keeps running better the more I ride it. I always thought the worst part of Las Vegas was all the people that are looking for something without working for it. Now I have seen something even more depressing. Miles and miles of high density housing out here in the desert. I just could not imagine living my life in one of those places. They were just big boxes with windows facing each other. I had my prime rib dinner in the a Casino. I went for a little bit of power walk to work off some off the calories after eating. I have a good plan for tomorrow. Have a great day Phil........ Hi Gang Thursday April 9th Hi 86 Low 58 Clear blue skies Some clouds 4 states
this trip I pressed on to Zion National park. Got there about 5:00 in the afternoon and the light was just right for talking photos. I made a trip up through the park and then back down stopping a talking photos as I went. I was just incredible to watch as the light kept changing. The best part everyone else was off eating etc. Almost had the place to myself. When I finally gave up and left the park because there was no light I made a big mistake. I should have gotten a very quick bite to eat and then started looking for the camp ground the ranger had suggested. When I found the camp ground I realized it was going to be 26 mile trip for something to eat. I decided to head for Hurricane Ut. Instead. I thought it was closer than it was. It was a nice ride at dusk. I quickly found a motel and then food. Internet did not work in the motel.
Made my third pass through Zion. Being overcast the lighting was totally different with softer shadows. These could be the best photos yet. Traffic was still relatively light. I could park at almost every view point except the one that I wanted to. When I left the park I headed for Kanab. I left Kanab on Alt 89. The road started to climb and got up to almost 8,000 feet. There were patches of snow alongside the road. Then there was a long descent with the Vermilion Cliffs on the far side of the Valley. They just kept turning more Vermilion the closer as I approached. I am starting to think that I am overdosing on red sandstone now, but each area is different from the last. Then it was on to Marble Canyon. There are some of the rocks are balanced on relatively little pillars. It is much stranger in person than in Photos. I had no desire to walk under them. Yes I know they have been there for thousand of years. Then up to Lees Ferry where the lunch raft trips down the Colorado river. This is the extreme end of the Grand Canyon National Park. I then continued onto Page, Arizona. I found a funky old motel with a good Internet connection. I am on the second floor and have a view of the weather coming in. There is a seventy percent chance of rain. I felt I needed to stop early today and get a good nights sleep for the ride tomorrow and start working on my plans for a few more days out. The weather will drive some of my decisions. Have a good day Phil..... Saturday April 11th Hi 67 low 42 Sun, rain, snow, hail, I was listening to the weather reports this morning and almost decided to stay another night in my motel. But then they put up the no vacancy sign so my decision was made for me. Don't you love the planning. I knew I was headed into winter weather. I did have to make one choice. Do I go to Antelope Canyon or Monument Valley. Antelope Canyon has been on my to do list for a long time as the photos from there are absolutely incredible but it depends on bright sun coming into the canyon to light up the sandstone. It just seemed photos in Monument Valley with all the weather moving through was just the right concept. I started to climb as soon as I left the Page area. Then it started to rain and then I realized it was now snowing. I stopped and weatherized myself and my gear and continued on. By the time I finished doing that it had stopped snowing and the sun had come out. But a few miles down the road it started raining and hailing again so my efforts were not wasted. I should mention that along the way there were some more incredible scenes and the light was changing so rapidly I had to be quick with the camera or loose the moment. Just one more wonderful scene after another. As soon as I made the turn onto 163 at Kayenta I could see the start of Monument Valley. There are just these most amazing Buttes standing tall out in the Valley. Mother nature has to be the worlds greatest artist. The juxtaposition could be no better if an art council worked the project for a lifetime. Everyone was stopping along the way and taking photos. I turned off onto the road into the valley and paid the Native American women my 5 dollars and entered valley. A half mile down the road there is big hotel and gift shop complex and a bunch of jeeps carrying tourist hear and there. Parked and went to see what the options were. There was an overlook were I was able to get a lot of great photos overlooking the valley. I could see all the jeeps traveling on the trail down below and could hear the guides leading the tourist in a singing contest between the various groups as they traveled. I then realized there were people traveling in there private cars on the same road. Of I went to find the entrance to trail. It was gravel, large rocks and sand trail. Not the thing the Yamaha is build for but I have all my experience traveling in Alaska so I forged ahead stopping every few minutes to take photos and just stand in awe of the beauty. There would be those moments when one of the buttes would be lit by the sun and the others would have the clouds over them. Just like the classic photos of this area that you can pay a lot of money for and here I am experiencing it first hand. It gave me chills. About 10 minutes into the ride I was going down this steep hill and the bike started fish tailing all over the place. I was on soft sand. I made to the bottom OK but I kept think I have to go back up that on the way back. I pressed on and did about a ten mile loop around many of the buttes. It was first and second gear the whole way and had to worry about the bike overheating because I was traveling so slowly. Must have stopped at least 30 time to take photos and just enjoy the scenery. What an experience. Then I came to the sand hill. There was a tour van in front of me and he was going up the slope and getting it sideways and spinning his wheels a lot. That was just the thing I needed to see at this moment. Game plan was just to go slowly and drag my feet as I went and it worked perfectly. I had to use my feet a few times to steady the bike but it went very well. Home free now, or so I thought. Just before the end there is a switch back and I knew I needed to go on the outside which would be on the wrong side of the road and there was a car coming so I stopped. Just as I stopped the bike rode up on a large rock that made the reach to ground to far and over I went. Ugh. I rolled over and came up on my feet to see the poor bike laying like road kill on its side. The couple in the car jumped out and were real concerned that I might have been injured but I was fine. The two of them helped me get the bike up right and I got the kick stand set and surveyed the damage. Nothing big. I got the bike fired up and headed off. I went to the lodge parking lot again and stopped and checked the bike again. I am now back in Kayenta at a Best Western. It was raining when I checked in and getting colder by the minute. Now I have to figure out where to go next... This is just to much fun... Have a good day..... May there be some sunshine in your life.. Phil...... Easter Sunday April 12th Hi 65 low 43 Sun, overcast, gusty wind, heavy
gusty cross winds I had a strong gusty wind as soon as I left Kayenta. It was to windy to ride and take photos. Even stopping was problematic. It let up for awhile and the ride became enjoyable again. Stopped at Four Corners and paid my $3 to go stand in four states at ounce. Another travel goal reached. It is very hard today to find things worth a photo after yesterday. I was driving through Cortez CO looking for a place to eat but everything was closed. Finally came to a local restaurant that was open. There were about 20 people leaving as I came in, all in there Easter finest. I stood there and held the door opened and they all thanked me in such a sincere way. I had probably the best meal of the trip so far for less then $12. Great salad bar. As I was leaving Cortez there was a flashing sign saying WARNING SEVERE WINTER WEATHER AHEAD. I just decided that was what they said yesterday and I had a great day. I then headed to Mesa Verde National Park. When I got to the park gate, I talk with ranger about the ride up. It was 23 miles one way but the road was clear and I should have no problem. They had six inches of snow yesterday but it was mostly melted now. So to the top of the mountain I shall go. I got to a little over 8,300 ft. The views were great with breaks in the clouds and with sun part of the time. Stopped at the reception center at the top and spoke with another ranger and toured their displays. But all I could think of were those black clouds off in the distance and the warning sign. So decided to do the driving loop and stopping at the various overlooks the ranger said were a must see. I could see the cliff dwelling on the other side of canyon and my little camera pulled them in quite close. These people picked a beautiful place to live but it must have been a lot of work to build the places on the side of the cliffs. I do want to come here with more time to spare. I had nice ride down the hill except for a few spots where the wind coming up the mountain made it exciting. I then continued onto Durango CO. where I decided to park it for the night. I am working on photos. I have the stuff all set to put on the web but the Internet service at the motels so far have not let me ftp to my web site. It will happen soon. Have a good one! Phil...... Monday April 13th Hi 72 low 48 Sunny with a few wispy clouds
The plan now is to head for Texas and then head East. I was able to get the photos on the web this morning. Now I have to figure out what the prize will be for the first person who tells me which photo should be labeled 3 sisters and 4 brothers. Please enjoy and give feed back..... The URL has to be just as written. Have a good one.... Tuesday April 14th Hi 88 low 55 Started overcast and slowly changed to
full sun Started out with cool weather and slowly climbed up until there was snow along the road. Then back down to a rolling planes. There were just majestic golden rolling hills with snow covered peaks in the far distance. I was in New Mexico at the time. The little towns that I went through had a many deserted homes and businesses. Interestingly there were very few for sale signs. The speed limit was seventy but I traveled at 65. About every fifteen or twenty minutes some one would pass me. There is very little traffic. Then the wind came up. Again it was a cross wind and the tumble weeds just flew across the road in front of me. The wind just kept getting stronger as I went. I think it is effecting the bike more than when I drove through Texas last time, because I have my camping gear mounted up high on the bike. It is also very gusty. I was traveling parallel to train tracks most of the day and it was fun to watch all the trains go by. They were all going in the opposite direction. The wind also is killing my gas mileage by about 15%. As I moved from Texas to Oklahoma things started to get greener. They are predicting more strong winds for Wednesday but I am traveling in a pocket of good weather with the bad weather following me. I think this will work out just fine until I get to Carolinas and then I will just have to endure the weather for a few days. I see there is a major storm going through the areas I just went through. Just figured out I have lost another hour of sleep tonight. The problem with traveling East. Have a good one.... Phil..... Wednesday April 15th Hi 73 low 58 Started overcast and slowly changed
to full sun I continued driving East today on highway 40. It was very windy again for the first couple of hours but then the wind slowly subsided. The scenery slowly became more green as I traveled. I was not able to get much of hit on Oklahoma City as it was still very windy and I had to concentrate on the road. The road surface in and around Oklahoma City is very similar (rough) to roads in the SF Bay Area. Non of the areas I drove through in Oklahoma looked very prosperous. I did pass a series of large wind turbines that must have been cranking out a mega watt each. The winds died just about the time I entered Arkansas. As soon I entered Arkansas the area looked much more prosperous. There were many up scale homes and the businesses all looked like they were doing well. Where Oklahoma is very dry, Arkansas is quite wet with many areas that look like swamp, similar to Louisiana or Florida. Before I reached Little Rock another bike rider pulled up along side me and then seemed to settle in riding with me. We rode that way for about twenty miles and then he pulled off. We stopped and chatted for about half an hour. He was out trying to break in his brand new Honda ST1300. It turns out it just one of many motorcycle he owns. He was seventy years old, retired and rides all over the country. In swapping stories it came out he rides with a pistol in his pocket. It is easy to get a license to carry a concealed weapon in Arkansas. The Little Rock area looked similar to driving through Sacramento CA. I am now half way between Little Rock and West Memphis AR. It looks like the bad weather may catch up with me before I get out of here. I realized that in all my travels on this trip I have seen very few non white people. Now I wonder what tomorrow is going to bring..... I just realized I have been in half of the states on the bike now. Check out the photos if you have not done that yet... Just click on the
first photo and you then can do it as a slide show. Phil................. Thursday April 16th Hi 72 low 67 Started overcast and quickly changed
to full sun The highway was on the rough side when I started out in Arkansas but then changed to good pavement. Highway 40 must be the main trucking road across the country. There are more trucks than cars. When I got to Memphis switched to Alt 72 which took me into the Northern part of Mississippi. This turned into one of the nicest rides of the whole trip so far. The road was good, there was little traffic and scenery was totally unexpected. The highway started out as a two lane road for a few miles and then turned into a wide 4 lane road with grass down the middle and on both sides. There are all of these homes with a acre or more of green lawn. They were all mowed and looked great. The homes went from travel trailers to large mansions. Most of the homes were brick. There was no junk around the homes except were there was an actual junk yard because it was a mixture of private homes and businesses. This was just not one community but a stretch of road close to 150 miles long. Essentially from Memphis TN. to Huntsville AL. As I was approaching Huntsville there is a 20 mile stretch of road with the most heavy industry I have ever seen in one area. From chemical plants to large fabrication facilities. Huntsville is where mission control is for the space program and along side the freeway there is a replica of the Saturn Five rocket. You can it see for miles. I road through Huntsville at around 5:00 in commute traffic. Most of the time was spent traveling between 65 and 70 just traveling with traffic. Only a couple of times did traffic slow to between 35 and 45 for a couple of minutes. The lanes were wide and the road surface was very good. It was a comfortable ride. I stopped in Scottsboro, AL. While checking into the motel I talked with a couple who live in Alabama along the coast. They had never been in this part of the state but were as impressed with it as I was. It really is a beautiful area and is very clean and well kept. There is a bass fishing tournament going on in the area so parking lot is full of bass boats and fisherman. Chatted up one of fisherman and in conversation it came out that he was a retired bank president. So of course I had to ask him about the current banking crises. He blamed it all on the Carter and Clinton administrations and changes they made to the banking laws. This gentleman lives in Alabama but had been president of a bank in Minnesota. He believes Obama is a communist. It was an interesting conversation. I still can not get over all of the nicely kept homes on huge pieces of land I passed today. The one thing I forgot to mention is the double lane highway is posted 65 mph and the drive ways and side street feed directly onto the highway. It puts you on full alert when riding along at 65 mph and you see someone pulling up to the highway. I did not see any skid marks on the highway so I suspect that people understand their responsibilities and look before they pull out. I have to say I am doing a great job of staying one step ahead of the bad weather. Listening to weather tonight and seeing what is going on in places where I was just a few days ago. They are getting hit hard with rain, snow, hail and tornadoes. I am running out of energy and time to write this. Have a good one.... Phil...... Friday April 17th Hi 78 low 45 Sunny all day Road from Scottsboro AL to Cherokee, NC. via Knoxville TN so I would be able to ride through the Great Smoky National park. I thought this would be an easy trip but it was all in heavy traffic. The about a 45 minutes of stop and go in Knoxville and at least an hour to drive through Gatinburg TN. There was a major road closure in Knoxville that had traffic all balled up and Gatinburg was having a hot rod show. I probably should have stopped in Gatinburg and enjoyed the hot rod show but the skies were clear and it was still the right time of day for the direction I was traveling to ride through the Smoky Mountains. It was late in the day when I got into the Smoky Mountains but I road up to Clingsman dome over look which is over 5,000 feet. I got great sunset photos with a group of about 20 photographers mostly from a local photography club. But I had gambled on gas so had to coast down the mountain to conserve. Thank goodness, in park all of the bends are constant radius so what you see when you enter the corner is what you get. It is also like that in Arizona. In California they like to put in decreasing radius corners just to see if they can get you to go off the road. I arrived in Cherokee with about half a gallon of fuel left. All the rooms in the town where booked for the night but I was chatting with a couple of Harley riders in front of the motel for about 45 minutes and the manger came out and said he had a room open up so I quickly decided to spend the night. This is an up scale lodge but no Internet connection or Continental breakfast in the morning. Got a frozen burrito from the gas station for dinner. I need to ride into South Carolina tomorrow. Have a good one, Phil..... Saturday April 18th Hi 76 low 67 Sunny but with more clouds in the afternoon Left Cherokee this morning and headed South through rural parts of Georgia. As soon as I went from NC to GA there was an obvious downward trend in the economic out look of the area. There a fair number of abandoned buildings and businesses. The scenery was still beautiful. The trees are just getting their new leaves. In the fall there are all of the shades of red, orange and yellow that is so dramatic. In the spring there are many shades of green and yellow dotted with the white blossoms of the Dog Wood trees. There are a few trees with purple or red blossoms or leaves. There are also a few rhododendrons in blossom. It was just a perfect day to be riding a motorcycle and there were a lot of other people with the same idea. This is considered one of the prime areas to ride a motorcycle. I easily pasted a couple of thousands bikers today. Up tell today I had seen very few bikes that were not Harleys. Today there were all kinds of bikes and a fair number of trikes. Three wheeled motorcycles. When I had to stop for gas there were about twenty bikes in the gas station. At first I thought it was group but it was just that many people needing gas to ride scenic highway 11 in South Carolina. There were some high end gated communities along the Highway 11. You could see the 5000 sq ft plus homes placed here and there on the hill sides and there was the required man made waterfall by the guard gate. The foutains are also a requirement for the high rise condominiums in Miami, Florida. I stopped for a very late breakfast (2pm) at a Waffle House. This is a fast food chain through out the South. I got my calories for the day in one quick dose. For $6.95 I had two eggs, biscuits and gravy, two slices of toast, two small sausage patties, and hash browns. Half of the staff of about 10 people did not have all of their teeth and frequently it is their front teeth that are missing. This is very common in the Southern states. Some of it is economics I am sure but I also think that having all of your teeth is not important to these people. The fellow that checked me into my motel last night did not have all of his teeth and he was quite bright and was the brother in law of the owner. It is just a different culture. The one other thing I kept seeing all day were flee market or garage sales. Every little community had at least one area for a flee market and some more than one. It must be an important past time in this area. I have to stop at one and check it out and see what they are selling. I am now in a motel outside of Asheville NC. It is very likely that the storms that I have been staying ahead of are going to catch up with me tonight. I just hope we don't get any of the large hail that has been hitting some areas. I had the first thing break on bike today. My key fob broke and that is going to make it much harder to keep track of my keys. Have a good one..... Phil.............. Sunday April 19th Hi Gang. I took the day off today. I felt tired all day yesterday and I knew from the weather reports that it was going to rain today. So I just decided to take it easy and rest for a day. It did not rain hard today but did drizzle most of the day. They were predicting thunder storms for the afternoon. I just need to remember the weather stations are in the entertainment industry and they will exaggerate the situation to make it more dramatic. I have organized more photos to post. I will do that as soon as I get a connection that will let me do this. Have good one..... Phil.................. Monday April 20th Hi 66 low 45 Sunny but with more clouds in the afternoon It felt good to get back on the bike this morning. The rest was very worthwhile. I got the new photos posted. After going through the photos I have taken (over 3000 so far) there are so many things I have missed or I don't have a photo that captures the feeling I was looking for. I back tracked today so I could ride a stretch of highway known as The Dragon Tail. It is a section of Highway 28 in NC. that in parts is just one curve after another. It is one of the legendary motorcycle rides. The road was good the scenery was great and the riding was fantastic. Again the road was all constant radius turns, which is just so nice and so much safer to ride. Being Monday there was no traffic so was just able to enjoy the experience. I then headed for the Cherokee and the Blue Ridge Parkway. This is pretty much the Southern end of the Parkway. When I got on the park way the temperature started to drop quickly and then about every 15 minutes or so it would rain for a couple of minutes. Just enough to keep making a mess out of the windshield and make it hard to take photos. This is really nice riding on my bike as it is constant radius turns again and most of the time I can just cruise along at 45 mph which is the posted speed limit for the parkway. There are viewing spots about every mile on the average. I probably went through 10 tunnels today maybe more. For some reason it has the look of a WPA project. Unfortunately the rhododendrons are not in bloom yet and the trees at the higher elevations are just starting to get their leaves. The locals have pointed out that they have not had any real warm weather yet. I am hoping that some of the rhododendrons will be blooming when I get further north but at a lower elevation. Part of the road today was over 6000 ft. Unfortunately just as I was really getting into riding on the Parkway they have closed a portion of it for repairs. That made for a long detour which I made much longer by missing a sign marking the detour. I am now in Spruce Pine NC. I grabbed motel quickly when it started to rain heavily. It was also getting dark. Tomorrow will be spent trying to get as far up the Blue Ridge Parkway as possible. I hope to make it into Virginia as it is time to add a new state to my collection. Have a good one.......... Phil................ Tuesday April 21th Hi 67 low 41 Started out over cast, with some rain,
then cleared up When I left Spruce Pine NC this morning it was just drizzling a little. Ounce I finally got back on the Parkway the temperature started to drop and the sky turned black and it started to rain hard enough that I had to stop and put my camera away and change to rubber gloves. I got back on the bike and within 5 minutes the sky was mostly clear the rain stopped and the road was drying. I road the rest of the day in cool but beautiful weather with billowy cumulus clouds making for great photos. The Parkway has no stop signs for 469 miles and the area is immaculately groomed. Maximum speed is 45 mph with about 5% posted at 35 mph. It is just the most pristine country road that I could ever imagine traveling on. The road is narrow with no place to pull of the pavement except at the over looks of which there are many. There are no gas stations, places to eat or any signs telling you where to get gas or food. In some areas the grounds of the parkway extend for a mile or more from the road but in other areas it is a matter of a few hundred yards or less. There are some residences along the road and a few farms. But they are groomed to look like the rest of the Parkway. I road the whole day with out having another car in front of me. If I ever make this trip during the fall colors or when the rhododendrons are in bloom I bet I will look back on today's ride with amazement and fond memories. I normally buy gas every 160 to 190 miles. But I new I was getting very good gas mileage today so I extended the range. I stopped and chatted with a motorcyclist. Warren and I chatted for about a half hour and then I continued on my merry way and forgot all about buying gas. I suddenly realized I was past the 200 mile mark. I could see houses off to the side of the Parkway but there was no way to get off. It was about 10 miles further down before I was able to get off the Parkway. I got on a freeway and kept going and going and no gas stations. Finally at 226 mile mark I was able to get gas. The bike only took 4.5 gallons so there was enough for at least 30 more miles. I got better than 50 miles to the gallon. Wow! I have been averaging about 41mpg for the trip. I guess slowing down really does save gas. It has been a fantastic riding day since I did not run out of gas and the rain went away. The motel let me park under the front awning tonight in case it rains. The weather is still unstable. I forgot to mention that I had another big detour today. It was almost 30 miles to get back on the Parkway. I am now in Roanoke Virginia so the bike and I can add another state to the list. Tomorrow is going to be more of the same. When I finish riding the Blue Ridge Parkway I am going to ride the Highland Scenic Highway through West Virginia. Have a good one...... Phil..........
I completed the Blue Ridge Parkway ride and went into a town for gas and lunch. I found a local restaurant and had liver and onions. There was this old timer that kept eyeing me the whole time I was eating. He finally came over and we chatted for about half hour. He is the famous Rusty Nesbitt of Rusty's Hard Time Hollow. He clams to be in all of the hiking guide books. He lives on the Appalachian trail and takes in hikers for a living. He has had generals and congressman stay with him and any body else that comes a long. I will post his card with the photos the next time. He has had 12,000 visitors with some of them coming back and staying more than ounce. Payment is totally voluntary. A very interesting businesses model I must say. I then started up Skyline Drive which goes through Shenandoah National Park. The ranger at the gate said there was a 80% chance of more rain but even though it threatened a few times I had a cold but dry ride. I was able to take photos since it was not raining. I thought 45 mph was slow. Now the maximum speed is 35 mph. I don't think my fuel mileage will improve because at 35 I have to ride in 4th gear instead of 5th. I could just set the cruise control and ride along. I could take all of the corners at 35 mph. It would have been a very relaxed ride except every ounce in while there would be a big wind blast. I am definitely to early in the season. Most everything is closed. I did see one rhododendron with blooms today. About 5:30 pm I was trying to figure out what I was doing for the night. There was a National Parks Lodge that had rooms. I rented a primitive cabin for the night. It has everything except a phone and TV and no Internet access. I went out to start the bike to drive down to my cabin. There was nothing. No light, it was absolutely dead. I got a couple to help me push the bike back into my parking spot. I pulled the cover off the battery compartment and tightened the terminals and away I went. That may have been the coldest I felt all day. The wind is blowing pretty hard outside and this cabin has so many air leaks that the heater running full blast just about makes it comfortable with my jacket on. Oh yes, this is an adventure. I was hoping for a good sunset tonight but it did not materialize as the cloud cover was to thick. In hind sight, seeing it did not rain I wish I would have kept going because this trail riding is keeping me from getting on with my goal number one, to ride the bike in 49 states. Everyone says it is supposed to be warmer tomorrow and no rain. I am looking forward to it. I have a couple of more hours of riding to finish with the Skyline Drive and then I need to decide which direction to go next. I have plans laid out to go South and ride another famous motorcycle trail in West Virginia but it makes for about a hundred miles of back tracking and I know that cost me lot in North Carolina. As you can tell I have had to much time on my hands tonight... Have a good one............. Phil................ Thursday April 23th Hi 56 low 32 Sprinkles, Rain, Snow, Rain, Sun I walked up the hill for breakfast. I had a great view and nice conversation with the people around me. The best part was I could see clear skies with a few cumulus clouds. It was 46 deg when I took off. I finished out the ride along Skyline Drive. As I was riding along I saw a cut little dog along playing along side the road. I assumed it was lost. I slowed down to check it out and then realized it was not a dog but a very young bear. It snarled at me and making this very strange sound. I contemplated turning around and trying to get some photos and then remembered bears can run 35 mph and that is as fast as I can drive on this road. He was a cute little guy with a very bad attitude. A quick review of animal life I have seen along the way. One little bear, many deer, turkeys, one of what I believe to be a ground hog. I have a fuzzy picture of the ground hog. One wolf running into the woods as I road along. The usual squirrels and ground squirrels. I decided to head South again to ride highway 219 through West Virginia. I road down highway 42 to get to the starting point. This was just a rural farming and rural life scenery at its best. The grass is greener here than I have ever seen in California. I did get the answer a question that has been bugging me since I have been in this area. Does the grass just grow to a certain length or is it mowed. I saw a lot of people sitting on ridding mowers today. Now I know why you see all those ridding mowers advertised. Highway 219 is the best motorcycle riding road I have ridden yet. Just great winding road. They bank the corners here so it is easy to go quickly through sharp turns. I will not be going fast through the area though as there is a stripe of gravel down the center of the lane. They had a big snow storm two days ago and a lot of small gravel was put down for traction and the road has not been cleaned since. I used up some of my travel karma today. It was about 4:30 when I started up 219 and it had been suggested I should spend the night in Lewisburg WV because there were no chain motels along the road. What I didn't realize is how remote the area is and the fact that it is between tourist seasons so everything is closed. I was concerned that I wouldn't get anything to eat tonight. I found a bar and restaurant that was still open. I got a quick burger so I could continue on to find some place to stay or a place to camp. The waitress said there was a place that might be open just up the road. I get there and park the bike an nobody is around. No different than the other places I had checked out along the way. Just as I am getting back on the bike these to guys, obviously contractors walk up and ask what I wanted. Said I was looking for a room. Turns out the motel is theirs and they had an empty room they were working on. They said they would turn the power on so I could take a look. So we chat for about fifteen minutes and they would rather have cash instead of a credit card. ( I wonder why ). In any case we agreed that I would go back to the restaurant and get the money and they gave me a key to the room and said just leave the money in the freezer. So at least I have a warm place to stay and they will have some cold cash in the morning. I hope to get close enough to Washington DC tomorrow so it will be possible to ride in on Saturday when it is possible to get a parking place and take a few photos. I also need to get someplace where I can email again. Have a good one...... Phil.................... Friday April 24th Hi 74 low 45 Sunny all day with just a few cumulus
clouds. I went to shower this morning and turned on the water in the shower and sulfur smell was so strong that I decided I would skip it. I am sure I smell better for it. I continued on up highway 219. More great scenery but not as much fun to ride as yesterday. If I had kept going last night maybe another half hour to a real motel. Oh well.... Turned off 219 onto 50 and went through a corner of Maryland so there are only 21 more states I need to ride through. I had breakfast in a little local restaurant and had great conversation with a group of locals. I described to them what I had seen and heard yesterday and they said it definitely was a bear cub. The gentlemen where all retired and similar in age to myself based on their conversation about their time in the service. But I just feel so lucky to have my health because they were all having a hard time getting around for one reason or another. This is definitely a depressed area with a few wealthy people tossed in. I have passed a hundred or more abandoned buildings. There are also an amazing number of places that have burned to the ground. I suspect that in this area if you and your neighbors can not put the fire out, it is just about gone before the fire department can respond. There are very few for sale signs and most of the ones I have seen are for commercial buildings. So far I have missed all of the gravel traps on the road. I did feel the back end slide a little ounce. Stopped and check out some big wind turbines. They are huge, the blades must be at least 100 ft in length. I was probably a couple of hundred feet from one and was surprised how quit it was. It may be a different story in stronger winds. I am enjoying riding on these rural roads more than the freeways. Traffic has been very light. I seldom have been held up and more often I am looking for a place to pull over so some one can pass me. There are no shoulders to pull onto and almost all of the pull off places are gravel. That part is not motorcycle friendly but there are no pot holes. OK someone let the cat out of the bag. When I was riding down Constitution Avenue in Washington DC there is big sign that says Phil pull over here. I pull over and there is Barack standing there. He comes up and give me a big hug and says thanks for coming here to help with the economy. He asked what we should do about taxes. I explained that everyone needs to pay a little so we all have a vested interest in keeping the costs under control but make sure the system is fair... He says "done deal and thanks for stopping by" and I took off. Darn, I forgot to get a photo. So I drove down to the parking area by the Capitol building and get some photos of me and the bike in DC. I then realized that my wallet was gone. Sean and Rush were right. Barack was just after my money. I was crushed my trip ruined what I am going to do now. Well I still had a credit card and passport so I could get a motel room. I had a scary ride out of DC as it was getting dark and made many wrong turns because it impossible to watch the GPS, the pavement, the signs and the cars around me while the lane changes came fast and furious. Checked in to a motel and checked my email. There is an email from Jan saying that a nice lady had found my wallet and here is her phone number. Could it be that I just dropped my wallet and Barack is really a good guy and Sean and Rush are wrong. I phoned the number and had a wonderful conversation with Sioban and made arrangements to meet she and Greg the next day at their home. Aw, my trust in government has been restored. But I am still wondering who told Barack that I was going to be in town. I went to sleep thinking how much good karma can I afford to burn on this trip. Have a good one...... Phil.................
I got up this morning late as I had stayed up talking with family and sending emails so people new that I was OK. I programed the GPS to find Sioban and Greg's house and tried to clean myself up a little and headed out to meet the wonderful lady who was going to return my wallet to me. I arrived at their home and phoned as Sioban had asked. Greg answered and they were shopping with the hopes of working on their garden. They arrived in a Prius, a good sign. Sioban gave me my wallet and we started chatting. Greg is an attorney working on environmental issues and along Sioban. We had a lot of common interest and opinions about what is going on the world. Two and half hours later I left to continue my journey. Now when I felt for my wallet it was there, I felt whole again. Apparently when I paid my toll I had slipped the wallet into the side seam of the ridding leathers and not into my pocket. All I can say it picked a great place to fall. Now I backed tracked to where I had spent the night and then stopped for something cool to drink and tried to get honest with my self as to what it would be possible to do at this point in the day. Greg had made several wonderful suggestions on routes to take but I had to opp for the more direct route but one that would help complete my 49 state mission. I am now in Dover, Delaware a far cry from where I expected to be tonight and I will not be able to get an early start tomorrow as I need to watch the F-1 race in the morning before leaving. I took some photos while at a traffic light and when I sat down I could feel something on the seat. I forgot about and drove on until I found a motel. I checked in and when I came out there was the polarizing filter for my camera sitting on the seat of the bike. It must have fallen off and I just sat on it. This karma thing is getting scary folks. I will always be grateful to Sioban for tracking me down and returning my wallet. I hope I can connect with she and Greg again.... Have a good one.................... Twenty more to go..... Phil...................
I got up this morning and watched the F-1 race. There was a little thunder and some rain during the night but it was hot outside when I went out to load the bike up for the days ride. I had the GPS programed to take me to New York as quickly as possible. That meant I had to ride on the turn pike. So I get to the first toll both and find my 50cents and throw it in the basket and the bike just goes dead. Nothing. I walk it through the gate and off to side. I immediately assumed the worst because my good luck can not keep going on forever. So I wait for a quiet moment and list for the starter solenoid. No sound so I assume that it must be the starter switch again. The starter switch had failed in Alaska so I just made a quick assumption. I proceeded to disassemble the throttle grip and starter switch on the side of the road. Got it apart and could find nothing wrong. I put it back together again and in the process I am looking at the kill switch. Motorcycles have a kill switch so if all else fails you can stop the bike with the kill switch. I flipped the switch and the bike started right up and I have to assume I had huge brain fade. This whole process took at least and hour standing in 90 degree heat. I finally got up to speed and it felt great. Then I come to the next tool booth. There are all these signs saying the lane for tickets this lane for some kind of pass and I think there were a couple of other options. My overheated brain went into total panic. I finally decided to go for the ticket but I sure hoped there would be someone to tell me what to do. Nope, just a machine that spit it out this ticket. Oh just like a parking lot. So I start down the road and things are going just fine until I get to parking area. I must have parked about 20 times over the next hour. Finally we started going and I get to end and dam if they did not charge me extra for parking so long. I passed these housing developments with these large homes all stuffed together. There was sign saying starting under $250,000. Certainly a lot more home than what you can get in California for that amount of money. I found a motel room in New Jersey just short of New York and dropped all of extra gear. I got back on the bike and headed for the Lincoln Tunnel. As I got closer to the tunnel it got more like driving in Manhattan. If there is a space in front of you, you need to take the space or someone else will. It is hard to bluff a New Yorker with a motorcycle. I get up to the toll both and pay my $8 and start trying to get into the tunnel. This was a real dance, people would cut me so close that I was worried they would run over my feet. I finely get into the tunnel and all was more sane again. I rode around Manhattan for about 45 minutes, just enjoying the game with the taxis and other drivers. Road down 5th Avenue and then to Central Park. I wanted to find a parking place that I thought would be safe for the bike. I found the perfect place just across the street from the Trump Park Avenue building on Park Avenue. Good enough for Donald, good enough for me. I was hopping to run into him and challenge him on who is having the worst hair day. But I new I would loose because he would just announce he is the winner. I then walked back to Central Park and took some photos but unfortunately I was running out of light. I wonder down to Times Square taking photos along the way of the lights and buildings. There were a lot of people on the streets as it was warm and pleasant. Half the people were busy taking photos. I have only been in Manhattan in the winter months so this was a nice treat. I would say half of the conversations I heard were not in English. Many were in languages I did not recognize. In all of the tourist traps that I have been in most of people have been from Europe. A large number of English, Germans with French and Italians thrown in. It was just amazing to see so many people on the streets and to be able to walk around and feel completely safe in NY. I started to get nervous the last few blocks walking back to the bike but when I turned the corner there it was. Got out my riding gear and sat down and hit the starter button and the bike fired right. OK, I am out of here but the dash lights were real dim.... So I get off the bike and check the headlight. No head light. Shit..... So open up the back storage compartment and get out my head lamp for camping and start to work on the problem. First check the fuses and sure enough I had shorted something while working on the starting problem earlier in the day. Replaced the fuse and I was on my way. Time was critical as my bladder was very full and there are not a lot of public restrooms on Park Ave. I was back in my motel room in less than 20 minutes thanks to the GPS. Have a good one........ Phil.............. I left my motel this morning with a plan to take highway 95 to the Boston area. Programed the GPS and took off. I didn't realize I would just make a big loop around and then across the Washington Bridge back into NY. This was a repeat of the Lincoln tunnel drama. I think the GPS is programmed to do me in. It was a little less frightening this time, but it was a long, slow, stressful ride. Things finally started moving and traffic got up to 50 mph and there is bump in the road that was like a speed bump and there is no way to miss it. My GPS unit flew off it's mount and landed between my leg and the bike. I grabbed it and stashed it between my legs and kept going for awhile. I pulled off the interstate about 20 minutes later to relax for a minute and put the GPS back on its mount. Another instance of good luck. It turned out there was no easy way back onto the interstate. 20 minutes later I was underway again. Then I started going from state to state. Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts. The bike and I have now been in 34 states. There was nothing remarkable about Connecticut or Rhode Island from the Turnpike. I could see that the town along the water were very interesting. There were a many wooded areas along the turnpike with a few homes hidden in the trees. One thing had me curious were all of the rock fences that were build in the woods. I suspect the trees are second growth on old farm land and the fences represented the property lines at some point in the distant past. I found a motel just across the border from Rhode Island. There is a donut shop just a few doors down from the motel. There real business is selling is lottery tickets. I think there are over thirty different kinds of instant scratch off tickets and other kinds of lottery ticket hanging from the ceiling. You can also play Keno. There is a whole collection of businesses that are taking advantage of differences in state laws to bring them customers. Tomorrow is going to be spent taking care of the bike and exploring Boston. Have a good one..... Phil............ Tues April 28th Hi 94 low 80 Sunny No success getting the oil changed on the bike today. I am going to try some of the smaller bike shops along the way tomorrow. I visited Boston today. It was just to hot to enjoy it on the bike. The roads in the downtown area wander around so there is no grid pattern that makes any sense. I missed my final turn coming into town so I wound up driving through the Big Dig. As I come out of the tunnel there is a sign saying "U turn to return to Boston Fast Lane Required". I made the assumption that I needed to be in the fast lane to make the U turn. They got me again.... Fast Lane is a transponder for going through the toll both that was coming up. So quick move to the fast lane then back to right lane to make the U turn. The Boston traffic engineers for some reason like turns that are about 270 degrees. They just want to see how turned around they can get you. The GPS got me to the Commons area but it knows nothing about parking. Pulled into the first parking lot I came to. The women in the both panicked when I pulled up. No motorcycle are allowed in the garage. Fortunately nobody followed me in and I was able to back the bike up and get out of the garage. So I wondered around trying to figure out the rules for parking. The signs left me totally confused. I finally wound up stuck in traffic jam next to a police officer. I asked him where I could park the bike. He didn't know, but I should try and find a parking meter. Twenty minutes or more later I found a empty parking place. The meter was good for two hours. I fed the meter and then started the process of finding the Commons area again. What I noticed shortly after parking my bike were other bikes that were parked on the street with bike covers over them. It was like if there was a cover on the bike the parking patrol would not ticket it. After asking several people I got to the Commons. I came to the old cemetery with the graves of some of our founding fathers. Makes one stop and think about our history and to think that my foot steps have probably now crossed theirs. Wondered down to the commons and came across the start to the Freedom Trail which is marked with a red path painted on the road. The sign also explained that you need to buy a tour book or take one of the guided tours as there are no explanations along the trail. Free enterprise working with our national treasures, I love it. I wondered over to the gardens that the woman in the rest stop travel advisory booth had told be me about. The tulips were in full bloom with beds of single color. There were at least twenty of these beds all with different colors and types of Tulips. There is some great new and old architecture in Boston. The city is very clean and the people very well dressed. I was surprised at the Boston accent and attitude. There are some definite similarities to New Yorkers. I am particularly thinking of the police officer I spoke with. I am looking forward to coming back and spending more time in the area. Might even buy the guide book for the Freedom Trail to keep the economy going. LOL..... I just whish the day had been more about exploring Boston than just surviving the heat, traffic and my confusion. The ride back to the same motel was uneventful except for traffic. Have a good one............ Phil............... Wednesday April 29th Hi 63 low 56 Sunny I have been wondering North all day. I elected to not ride through Boston
again. I took 495 which is a 100 mile loop around Boston. It was definitely
a much more pleasant ride. Stopped at the welcoming center in New Hampshire.
I is interesting that every Turnpike exit sign also had a sign saying
that there is a New Hampshire liquor store at this exit. I then continued
to the welcoming center in Maine. While I was on the search I came to a beach on the Atlantic. I stopped and walked down to water and let the Atlantic wash over my riding boots. So now I have officially traveled coast to coast. I then wondered along to the Nubble Light House. There are just mile after mile of these very New England looking inns, motels, bed and breakfasts, and vacation rental homes but still no restaurants that were open. I did notice a lot of for sale signs on homes in the area with many of the sign having a rider saying New Price. Since leaving California, I have seen very few for sale signs on this trip so this was a big surprise. I finally found a restaurant that was opened and I had a very good meal. When I left the restaurant I noticed there were two more restaurants open in the next block. A few more miles down the road and I decided to head for the Turnpike because I now understand that Maine is a lot bigger state than I thought. I still don't understand the logic in how they decided the toll charges. It is different at every toll both so there is no way for me to plan ahead and I have get the bike into neutral gear when I pull up, then put the kick stand down, then take my gloves off, then pull out my wallet and fumble for the money, then place the change someplace, then make sure the wallet is really in my pocket, then put my gloves back on, then kick stand up before putting bike in gear, then put the bike in gear and take off. No one has honked at me yet. Because I know the toll for the bridges are home, I can plan ahead and have the money ready and available before I get to the toll booth. There are service centers along the Turnpike with a gas station and usually a McDonalds. I had just paid my toll and a few miles down the road there is a service exit and I wanted to stop and figure out where I wanted to spend the night. So I pull of and pull up next to the gas station to get out my Travelers coupon book and find what I was looking for and program the GPS to get me there. I then get back on the turnpike and there is toll both. The one just before $1.75 and this one is $1.00. I stop and pay my toll and as I am leaving I mention to the toll both operator I had just paid a few minutes ago and just pulled into the service area. He says I should have read the sign on the gas pump. They got me again. It is still fun and it is just the price of an education. I am spending the night in Augusta, Maine. After I checked in I spent some time working on the bike , just checking things. Have a good one................ Phil................................ A little quiz for today. Last night I saw something for the first time on this trip, that you use to see almost every night while traveling. What is it? Well the bike now has new oil in her. She still seems home sick. We are going to have a long talk this afternoon about what we want to do. The weather god has been shining for us today so there are a lot of options. The scenery keeps getting better as I travel north. There areas alongside the turnpike that remind me of the tundra in Alaska and Canada. I do not believe they have permafrost in Maine but the ground has the same bog like appearance. I switched from highway 95 to highway 1 in Houlton Maine. The women in the visitor center said it was 100 miles to Madawaska which is my goal for the day. I said that should take about 2 hours then. She said "no, it will take longer than that because there are a lot of small towns along the way". Yep! She was right, there are a lot of small towns and they keep you at 25, 30, 35 for a long time. It was about three and half hours to cover the distance. Northern Maine is potato country. Not like Idaho, it is made up of many small farms each with a nice farm house and out buildings. There are many of the classic old style barns in the area that are kept up and are still working barns today. In many cases the barns are attached to the house in some way. I guess in the winter no one would want to walk outside to go to the barn. I think the barns are more for storing farm equipment as I have seen no cattle or cows. All most every home has some kind of shop or work area adjacent to it or attached to the house. These are nice work areas and where the doors were up I could see actual space for work and not just storage space. The homes in North Carolina that were on big lots that were very well groomed but they had no work space attached to them or out buildings for project work. The farmers in Maine look like they make a good living based on their homes and the way they keep things up. I am now in Madawaska Maine and looking out the window of my room I can see the Canadian side of the river. The Canadian side looks to be a much larger community. Lots of lights and a few tall modern buildings. I am wondering whether I should ride into Canada tomorrow and look around a little. I certainly enjoyed my travels through Canada last year. I was warned by a gentleman who lives in the area that this is the French speaking part of Canada and they often will make no effort to help you or understand you if you do not speak French. So I turned on the TV and there is Dr. House speaking French. The gentleman also said there are people living in Maine that speak French and not English. He also feels very sad that he and his wife can not go back and forth from US to Canada as they did prior to 911. He says he knows some of the border guards for many years and yet they still need to go through all of the steps. Well in one sense I am glad they follow the rules but in another sense I think it is a sad commentary about the state of our current society. I am glad I pressed on today as the country side was very interesting and the people more friendly. The person who checked me into the motel said I was first motorcycle rider they have had this year. In another two weeks they will start opening the camp grounds . What in hell was thinking when I planned this trip. The planning had to revolve around the end date which is in early June. I need to be home for my 50th high school reunion. Have a good one............... Phil.......................
Well I got on the bike and started down the road with my passport in my jacket pocket. I had to work to find the road to Canada. It is like they are hiding it. More on that later. I found the bridge and road into Canada. I did not even have to take my helmet off at the border. Then road around trying to find the highway that I wanted to catch. My GPS has only the major roads in Canada. What I did not realize is, is that it actually stops working. It turns the map on display as I changed direction but nothing else had anything to do with what where I was going. Headed down the road and after traveling about forty miles the clouds lifted and I could get a bearing from the sun. I was going in the wrong direction . I stopped at a McDonalds so I could use a table to check the map on my computer. There was no English in the McDonalds except a poster on the door say thanks for coming. Yes I was really going in the wrong direction. I made a U turn and headed back and then kept going until I reached the St. Lawrence Sea Way. There was I cute little town at the junction. I road through town and down where I could take some photos of the water. It was so hazy that I was not able to see or photograph very much. I women came up to me while I was taking photos and spoke to me in French. She also spoke English very well and we conversed for a few minutes. Then I turned around and headed back. It was late now, as I had wasted so much time going in the wrong direction. I finally get back to the Canadian town across the river from Madawaska. And I start the process of trying to find the road back to the US. There are just a few US-1 highway sign with an arrow at the critical corners and they are not placed where you would expect to see them. I finally find the bridge and cross to the US side. Now, anyone who travels abroad with me knows that I get nervous at border crossing. Do not ask me why. I pull up as I have many times in the past. I hand the border patrol man my passport and wait to be welcomed home. That was not to be. He kept asking my questions and then asked me to pull around to back and that he would bring my passport into the building. So I pull around and park the bike. No one came out to talk with me so I wen into the building. There are three people inspecting my pass port. Then they have one of the agents take me out and go through the things on my bike. They keep asking me questions that made no real sense to me at the time. Then the leader of the group asks me if there is some wrong information on my passport. I tell them not to my knowledge. I have crossed boarders with the passport at least a dozen times. So they ask me to go to a private room in the back. Please sit in this chair. Then three of them stand there looking down at me. The leader tells me that my passport says I am a woman and asks if I have always been a man. All I could say is that I have always been a man. So that at least explained the private room. So we go back to the main room and they told me to make myself comfortable as they were going to need to do some checking. They spend more time going over my passport with an eye loop and working on a computer. One of the patrol people start down the list of questions again with where were you born, address etc. again. Finally the leader comes out again and says he has been talking with the State Department in Washington. Oh shit. And they decided to give me back passport after they photocopied it and my drivers license. What would have happened at this point if I had not gotten my wallet back in DC. Soiban, you really did save me.... Thanks so much again. Jan, thanks for sending me the email with Sioban's contact information. It is just amazing how things fall in place or can go oh so wrong. They had looked at the photos on my camera while I was having the bike searched and I had taken a couple of photos of the border crossing while waiting in line. I had to delete those photos because....... I gladly did that and then went out and very carefully repacked the bike. I new I was rattled and did not want to do something stupid. I road through Madawaska and headed for highway 11 which is a scenic drive though this parts of Maine. There were all of the cute (sort of Martha Stewart like) places along the road. They were mostly white with a few natural wood places thrown in. This was even more upscale than the places I pasted coming into Madawaska. It was now about six in the evening with about an hour and half of light left. I had know idea what was in front of me and that it was at least 3 hours riding time to where I new I could find a place to stay. Game plan quickly became, stop at the first motel you come to. I found one with 5 other bikes parked in front and the motel had a room. The woman at the counter said that when the other bikers walked in she was confused. She knew there was not enough snow for them to be on a snow mobile so she guessed they were on ATVs. She was surprised when they said they were riding motorcycles as the snow had just melted two days ago. I saw a lake next to road today that was still frozen over. Have a good one....... Phil.....
Remember the quiz question: Last night I saw something for the first time on this trip, that you use to see almost every night. What is it? Clue.... it probably costs less than a nickel. I looked at heading directly for Vermont this morning but decided to stop in Bangor and then take another side trip. The side trip this time would be to Bar Harbor. I continued down highway 11. The first twenty miles or so was on very rough road with lots of time spent driving 30 to 45 mph and I was getting concerned that Bangor was going to be a long day away. I continued passing more of the charming New England style homes. There must be some program to encourage people to keep their places up, as there is for the Blue Ridge Parkway. The road eventually improved and the speed limit was raised to 50 mph for most of the time. There were only a couple of what I would call real towns along the way. There were some places called towns where the homes were closer together and there was maybe a businesses or two. The bad part was these areas could be a couple of miles long and the speed limit would be 35 mph or some times even less. This is certainly different than West Virginia where you drive through fairly dense housing and businesses areas at 55 mph. I am not sure which I prefer. I had traveled about 120 miles from my motel and it was getting time for gas. I kept coming to gas stations OK but they were all closed. Some were obviously closed for good, some maybe closed until the summer season. One was obviously there for the commercial businesses and just was not open on Saturday. I still had enough gas to travel at least 50 more miles. At about the 170 mile mark I came to gas station so that problem was solved. I had also been looking for a place to eat at the same time and had no success. I did find one place that had food to go but no place to eat and wanted to sit down and eat and get warm. I finally come to restaurant and quickly realized it was the same place were I had eaten two days earlier. I enjoyed the second meal as much as the first. I have decided that the people in Maine are very similar to New Yorkers. Their accent is similar and they are as hard to engage in conversation. The bike riders in Maine seldom wave back when I give them the biker wave. It was the total opposite in North Carolina. There were a ton of riders and they all went out of their way to give you the wave. I suspect the people are hold up in the there homes all winter long and just get use to not talking with anyone. Just my thoughts. I found a motel in Bangor and checked in. I tossed my luggage into the room and headed out for Bar Harbor. I had about three hours of daylight and Bar Harbor is about 50 miles from Bangor. This trip was well worth it. Bar Harbor is a tourist trap kind of place but there are many beautiful older homes in the area. It was an absolutely gorgeous day by the time I got to Bar Harbor. Not a cloud in the sky, temperature in the mid 60's almost no wind. The bay was a deep blue with just a small swell. There were lobster and fishing boats anchored in the harbor. On the side streets you find all of the knickknack shops with every kind of light house lamp and widget you can imagine and the old man of sea characters. I was hoping to find one of the lobster shacks and try some Maine lobster. They were all closed, with some of them still boarded up. There were a few restaurants serving lobster but I had had a big lunch so that just did not seem appealing. So I head back to the bike. Then I learned how small this world really is. I recognized this young women walking along. Kaarin Gonez and I worked for the same group at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. She had moved on and now lives in Colorado. We chatted for awhile and she and her friend needed to get their walk in before dark and I needed to head back to my motel room. It was good to see Kaarin. I saw her last year at the 25 anniversary party for the Center for X-ray Optics. Finally a calm day with no major drama and the added excitement of meeting somebody I know from the other side of the country. I plan on heading for Vermont tomorrow. Have a good one Phil.......
It was just a perfect Sunday ride today. I traveled across Maine headed West. Most of this travel was through rural country side with the scenery looking pretty similar to yesterday. I do not understand all of the large barns. I have seen no cows or any other kind of live stock. I wonder if this was dairy or cattle country but the economics of the industry has ended that. I know they raise potatoes in much of Maine. I am so early in the season that there are no crops coming up at the moment. I mentioned that the bikers were very reluctant to flash the bikers sign. Well I guess that applies to the Saturday riders as the Sunday riders were friendly and waved. I then traveled across New Hampshire. I stopped at the rest stop and visitors center and talked with the gentleman behind the desk. I altered my route base on information he gave me and headed out. I was traveling through the White Mountains. I think the route he suggested would have been good in the fall but I think my original plan would have been better today. I did see Mount Washington off in the distance. The road up the mountain is closed until mid may. went through the ski country and high end resort areas. This was definitely and upscale area. There were also these areas that looked like a block in Disney Land. Other areas with giant water slides and pee wee golf etc. There are many very picturesque little towns with many old brick buildings. Most of the homes and resorts are painted white. They must sell a hundred gallons of white paint for every gallon of paint with color in New Hampshire and Maine. At least in New Hampshire they don't slow you down to 25 mph for a few miles for a few homes along the road. I noticed a biker sitting on the side of the road so I pulled over to see if I could help. It was a Harley and the rider was riding with out a helmet. He said his motorcycle had just blown up as he was going down the road. I lent him my cell phone so he could phone for help. He phoned his wife or girl friend and asked her to call the towing company and to come and pick him up. He was not exactly polite in the conversation with her. I said lets go down an take a look at the problem with his bike. He had a little bit oil coming from the carburetor area. Probably just condensation from the crank case ventilation system. He tried starting it and it fired up for a second and then shut down. He said the gas was low but there should be enough. Well motors that have blown up don't start back up. This guy had just run out of gas but I decided that since he was rude with his women I would just leave well enough alone and let him figure it out. Maybe the tow truck driver will be kind to him and put some gas in his tank. I continued on towards Vermont. I have not ridden through the ski areas or tourist areas of Vermont but what I have seen in Vermont looks even more prosperous than New Hampshire and the roads are better. I am spending the night in Burlington Vermont. It has been a day with no drama. A guy needs that every now and then. Have a good one Phil................. Monday May 4th Hi 64 low 52 Sunny slowly turning to overcast by end
of day. I started the day by sticking my waffle to the waffle maker this morning.
It took the motel clerk about 10 minutes to clean up the mess. I hope
that is the drama for the day.... Did a little bike maintenance The bike and I are now both senior citizens. The bike turned a 100,000 miles today and is running better than ever. I looked at my watch this morning and I had been traveling for over two hours and had gone less than 30 miles. Much of that time was spent waiting for the ferry and the ferry ride across Lake Champlain. The conditions could have not been nicer. Temperature in the mid 60's with just enough breeze to blow the haze from the lake. Maybe the bike and I should take the ferry to Hawaii. After the ferry ride I rode to Lake Placid, the scene of the winter Olympics sometime in the past. It is now the training grounds for the our Olympic skiers. I came across these two huge structures sticking up into the sky. As I got closer I could see that they were the ski jumps. I always thought ski jumpers were crazy but now after seeing the jumps in person I know they must have a death wish. I wanted to get closer but there were cops all over the place. I think the State Department told them I was coming to town. I took several side roads trying to get a photo of the jumps and each time there would be an officer in an SUV watching me. Maybe Obama was looking for me today....LOL Because I had wondered around the GPS sent me through some of the back roads as I was leaving town. As soon as I got off the main tourist roads the poor economic status of the this area was obvious with many very run down homes with people living in them. I then headed for Adirondack Park. This is an interesting area that is very beautiful. I noticed signs coming into some of the cities saying building permits required in this city and of course that implies that building permits are not required for other areas. What you see as you travel are some homes that look great and others that are mishmash of stuff. Maybe an old travel travel trailer with a building that has been added to it. In some ways it reminded me of an Indian reservation. In some areas there were a many homes with the laundry hanging on the line to dry. I passed a number of large industrial facilities that have been closed for some time. They were in total decay. I think it is the History channel that is doing this special on life after humans. It is what would happen if all of sudden humans disappeared from the face of the earth. These old factories reminded me of that program. This afternoon, I am riding along enjoying the scenery and reflecting on what is going on in the world. I am traveling on nice pavement over rolling hills and the GPS tells me I am to turn right shortly. I come up over crest and I am checking out an old motel and all of sudden realize there is no road in front of me. At first I thought I had to turn right but then realized the road was going left. I made it just fine but that has to be the biggest scare of the trip. I think my brain is getting tired from all of the stimulus.... The trees are finally starting to get some of leaves on them. The streams are full and the water falls are full. There are many little water falls alongside the road that will probably be gone in another month. I continued on to Liverpool NY which is just outside of Syracuse NY. During that last ride in the a mater of about twenty minutes the temperature went from 62 to 52 back to 62 degrees. It was perfectly flat, and I could see no reason for it. After writing this I looked at the map and the road got close to Lake Ontario for a short period of time. Have a good one..... Phil........
I traveled from Syracuse to Niagara Falls NY today. It is a lot easier riding a toll road than driving on the country roads as there is just a lot less to deal with but that also means less to see. I got a room early in the day and unloaded my extra stuff and headed for the Falls. I think the ghost of my father was playing with the GPS this afternoon. I missed a turn and then it took me through all of the industrial areas. When my family was traveling we always seemed to get lost and wonder through the industrial area. My dad love it and the rest of us would put up with it. On the way to the falls I passed many old motels and had to think about all of the newly weds that came to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon. What is it about the falls that brings couples here for special moments? I wondered if I was going to find out. I finally got to the park entrance and came to parking area. The gentleman at the gate asked me how long I expected to stay. I said for 2 to 3 hours. He said if I had planed to stay for less than thirty minutes he would have just let me in. I paid my eight bucks and drove in and parked right next to a police car. I figured if they were looking for me they would not think to look for me there. As I started walking towards the falls I am saying to myself, I do not understand what is special about this place. It looks like any other urban park. I walked down to the a overlook and there was a couple who had just got married right there at the falls. So this place has not lost it charm. The bride and groom were dressed like they might be for any wedding in a church. I walked down to the American falls and took some photos trying to figure out what would be the best shot under the circumstances. Darn I should have taken the guard up on his thirty minute offer. I now felt like I needed to stay because I had paid, so I headed for the observation deck which was probably a mile away as the path goes and stopping to take photos as I went. I walked up to the entrance of the observation deck and this women asks me "what do you want". I said "what is there to do here". She said the The Maid of the Mist is getting set for the last trip of the day. So I bought a ticket went out on the platform down the elevator and got my blue poncho to wear. Waited for about 15 minutes with an interesting mix of people. Probably one third each of East Indians, Chinese and or Japanese, and Caucasians. I had my little water proof Pentax camera with me I did not have to worry about taking photos in the mist and had put a soft cloth in pocket before leaving the bike. I took a bunch of photos and some movies with both cameras. The skipper did a great job of holding the boat stead in the strong currents when we got close to the falls. Now I was glad I had paid the for parking. Interestingly there is just one boat operating from the American side. On the Canadian side they had three boats going and they were each just as loaded as the American boat. The parking lot was almost empty where I parked the bike. After the boat trip I walked back to were I had started and down to another overlook. This overlook gave some views of the Horseshoe Falls. I could of gotten excited about trying to figure out a way to go over the falls and survive but there is a bunch rocks just were you would land. A six year old boy went over the falls in 1960 with just a life jacket on and survived with minor injuries. Looks like a one in a million to me. Now I need to start working on the plans for tomorrow and figure out what the weather is going to be doing. Have a good one....... Phil..............
I headed South this morning for Pennsylvania. I rode through the North West corner of Pennsylvania. I rode through the Allegheny National Forest route 66. I keep being amazed how rural parts of the East are. I rode again for about an hour looking for a gas station and a place to eat. I would go through towns and there would not be a gas station or one that was open. The towns were real cute with many very well kept homes. I did not explore the crossing roads looking for gas or food. In the rural areas of Pennsylvania they like 45 mph. I found gas and about twenty minutes later found a restaurant that was open and stopped for a late lunch. I sat by myself the whole time. Boring........Another five minutes down the road I came to some restaurants with many cars parked around them and looked more like the places I normally look for. I continued on until 66 ran into Interstate 80. I had the GPS programmed for motels in the area but it was still early in the day so I decided to head East on I-80. I stopped at the first rest stop I came to and as I was leaving I was going to clean my windscreen but decided that would just make it rain for sure as the skies had been turning darker for the last hour. Before I got back up to speed it was sprinkling. I had a fleeting thought, that I could just keep on this road and be home in a few days. I stopped at the first rest stop in Ohio and got a new motel discount book and quickly picked a place for the night. It was raining more and harder as I traveled. I got to the motel and checked in and the bike put under it cover and re-treated to my room. I got settled in the room and looked out the window and it was pouring rain. I stopped just in time. I was going to walk to dinner but almost decided to go with out but around 9:30 the rain let up and walked over to the truck stop for a bite to eat. The conversations in the truck stop were great to listen in on. These guy just love to bullshit each other. I now have 10 states left I think, I can only find 8 new ones to through. I need to make sure that I have not missed something this side of the Mississippi. Have a good one....... Phil..........................
Leaving Cleveland I could see that the sky was getting darker and I was wondering if I was riding into rain again. Sure enough I was riding into a rain storm and this time I had no place in mind to stay. I realized that I would be getting into Toledo just about the start of the commute time so quickly found a motel. Shortly after getting settled in my room the rain stopped and so............. Looking at the Accuweather website I can see there is another storm coming my way and all I can do is hope that it blows through overnight. Have a good one................. Phil................... PS new photos. I tried to pick photos that best represented the trip. Sorry that the New York photos are out of order. I have taken almost 7000 photos so far so it a project to pick.
Eight more states to go. Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska. IA, ID, IL, IN, MN, ND, SD, NE I should have ridden through Idaho on my way back from Alaska. It was on my mind but I was running out of rear tire and did not want to travel any further than needed to get home. I hope you have checked out the new photos. I left my room this morning headed for Michigan. I was not sure what the plan was going to be ounce I got there. I stopped at the visitors center, after crossing into Michigan and talked with the young man behind the counter. He suggested that I need to ride through Grand Rapids. So off I went. This may be a mistake as I spent all of my time on the freeway and there was not a lot to see along the way. The farms are larger here and there is still that nice farm houses and barns. There was an old barn with a sign on the roof that said "save the old barns" with a phone number. What I did notice is there are no economy cars in Michigan. When was the last time you saw a 4 wheel drive Taurus in California. In fact out side of the Washington DC area almost of the cars are large American cars, SUV and trucks. In New York there were a lot of big Mercedes and BMW's. In Canada I stopped in the parking lot of a large K-mark like store and the lot was full of small or mid size cars. Many of them American models. The price of gasoline is much higher in Canada, on the order of $4 dollars per gallon. I thought gas would be cheap in Michigan but it is about 10 cent more per gallon than what I have been paying in most places. It was perfect riding weather today. I did not rain on me but there was section of the road that was wet from rain earlier. Just enough spray to make a mess out of the windscreen. Most of the freeway was posted at 70 mph with people traveling closer to 80 mph. I putted along at seventy. These were some of the smoothest concrete roads I have ever driven on. Yes concrete can be done right. Corn is by far the most popular crop. I have seen mostly corn all the way from Texas to South Carolina to Maine to Michigan. No wonder our food is full of corn and most of the gas I have purchased outside of California has 10% ethanol. I hope the ethanol does not hurt the bike. It seems to run just fine. I am just coming to the realization that I have not been moving along quickly enough to make my schedule so I will have to pick the up the pace. These 250 to 300 miles days are not going to get the job done. Have a good one....... Phil................
This is a day about just surviving and getting down the road. It was raining when I left this morning. Not enough to cause me to put on all my rain gear. Which turned out to be unfortunate as I must have left my rain jacket in the motel. I also wear it to stay warm when it gets around 50 degrees or less. So when I stopped to put it on about an hour down the road it was not with me. Originally I was going to try and ride around Chicago but the traffic was light and so I decided to ride through the Chicago on Highway 94. In the process I went through Indiana. I did the usual stop at the first rest stop to checkout the visitors center. That done and on to the Illinois visitor center. Then the ride through the Chicago area. I was not depending on the GPS for this but just going by road signs as all I had to do was stay on 94. I had been cruising between seventy and seventy five. It is interesting that when you get to any large metropolitan area the speed limit does not seem to be important. Ridding through Indiana there were some construction areas label 55 and so I started to slow down. Turns out everyone kept cruising at 70. On a bike you have to go with the flow. When I got to Chicago the speed limit was 55 and I was traveling 70 or better and most of the traffic was passing me. Then all of a sudden traffic slowed to crawl and I did stop and go for about 45 minutes never getting out of low gear. Ugh............ It did give me an opportunity to snap some photos from the freeway but even that was hard to do. We would never stop for long. Maybe15 seconds and move 50 ft and stop again. I could not see the Great Lakes from the freeway. As a general rule traffic was well behaved so it was not an overly stressful ride plus I had the experience of going through the tunnel and over the bridge in NY. Traffic finally got moving again and we were again doing 70 in the 55 but now the road surface would have these bumps in it about every 15 seconds that were a big jolt for me and the bike. My camping gear kept shifting and it required me to pull off and straighten it on the bike. I think these bumps must be weather induced, with it probably being the cold that does it. I stopped and got a bite to eat in Illinois and then kept going making the usual visitor center stop in Wisconsin. I finally called it a day about 30 miles miles short of Madison Wisconsin. After checking into the motel asked about places to buy a new rain jacket and was sent to the local Walmart. What a Walmart. The produce section looked like one of the fancy Safeways at home. I got my days exercise just walking to the sporting good department. It was a much warmer ride back to the motel which I discovered has the Speed channel so I get to watch the F-1 race. The race starts at 6:30 am local time so I get a short night. I noticed that tomorrow I will get another hour of sleep as I have changed time zones and joy of traveling West. Have a good one........... Phil...................... Sunday May 10th Hi 62 low 55 Partly sunny with high winds for some of
the time I traveled from Watertown, Wisconsin to Charles City, Iowa. I traveled mostly on local highway 18 which is just 2 lane road. I had spent some time in Madison Wisconsin about 20 years ago for work. Then it seemed to be just a sleepy college town. I did not drive through the town proper but on the out skirts. I went for miles through new housing and businesses developments. I don't think I saw a building that was twenty years old. This area has changed completely from the time I was in the area. I noticed that in Wisconsin the cars on the road looked like California with a mixture of small and medium size cares along with big pickups and SUV. As I traveled further West through Wisconsin the farms got bigger but still with a well cared for farm homes and a large barn complex. The most common crop is still corn but there was also what I believe to be soybeans. There were a few small dairy operations. The farms are mostly immaculately cared for with the barns freshly painted the fields carefully plowed. For some reason I just love the appearance this farming rural life style. I saw one store that I think you would only see in Wisconsin, "Alcohol and Cheese Store". It is always wine and cheese in California. The towns along the way were a mixture of old and new buildings with an obvious effort to preserve the old. As I got to the west side of Wisconsin the terrain became a little more hilly and then I was riding along a river. Eventually I crossed the river into Iowa. I did not realize at the time that I had just crossed the Mississippi river. So now I am West of the Mississippi. I then worked my way back to 18 and traveled further into Iowa. The farms are getting larger but still the classic big farm house and barn complex. These are not the big corporate farms that I have seen in other areas were there might be an old farm house in disrepair and a corporate logo on a warehouse or the silo. I am now trying to figure out whether to go North to the Dakotas and Minnesota or South to Nebraska and then I need to figure out how to ride through Idaho and then I want to loop back through Colorado before heading home. Time to get some rest. I just did a quick check on my Streets and Trips map and have about 6000 more miles to go if I want to complete the things I want to do with out any real side trips and 20 days to do it. That is an average of 300 mile days. Have a good one........... Phil............... I over slept this morning so I had no time in the morning to figure out my route for the day so I just headed West for a couple of hours and then stopped for a break and got the laptop out and figured out the rest of the day. The plan was to ride into Nebraska today that way when I get to Idaho I can head straight home if that is what I need to do at the time and I will still have completed the 49 state goal. As I headed West on 18 the farms just keep getting bigger and there were fewer and fewer farm houses. The farms just became more corporate as I went. Interestingly there were no corporate logos on the silos. Even though it is a very rural area it does not have the same sense of being rural like in Maine or West Virginia. At least here when I come to a town there is a gas station and place to eat and usually much more. When I finally turned of 18 I was headed to Sioux City, Iowa. This put me on a new 4 lane highway. The GPS unit went bonkers because it had me out in the middle of fields. Every ounce in awhile the new road would coincide with the old road and it would get happy for awhile. This road is beautifully laid concrete. More evidence that it can be done right and it was nice to be traveling at 65 mph for awhile. In Iowa all of the two lane road is posted 55 mph maximum. As I was leaving Sioux City I crossed into Nebraska. I then zig zag ed my across Nebraska to Norfolk, Nebraska. In Nebraska the freeway was labeled 60 mph but so is most of the two lane road. I was expecting Nebraska to be flat like Iowa but the area I traveled through was very hilly. Maybe 750 ft of elevation change. There were areas with brown grass and oak trees that reminded me of California. It was still the large farms with very few farm houses and some of the ones obviously had nothing to do with the farm. There were no provisions for irrigating the fields in Wisconsin or Iowa but a few of the farms in Nebraska had irrigating equipment. When I arrived in Norfolk I road all the way through town looking for a motel. There was one that was closed down and one very funky looking one. On the other side of town I could see that there was another highway joining the one that I was on and so switched highways and road back into town. There were plenty of choices and I am glad that I did not panic and pick the funky place. Enough of this heading west, tomorrow I am going to head north for awhile. Have a good one............... Phil......................
The weather looked promising this morning. I could see that the rain looked like it would mis me and the wind would be pushing me along. Well there was no rain. GOOD.... But this was a day about the wind. As any sailor knows when you are pointing into the wind it is rough sailing and when you turn down wind everything turns quiet and it is a nice day sailing. I headed down the road this morning and it was just wonderful putting along and everything was good and then the road made a 90 degree turn to the right and all of sudden it was like being in a gale wind. The wind kept blowing the visor up on helmet and was afraid I was going to lose it. I carefully planned where I might be able to stop. I found a wind shadow from a farm house and the trees around. I carefully stopped the bike and got out my roll of packing tape and taped my visor closed. I then headed down the road. I have ridden in heavy winds before but never as hard and as gusty as this. At one point I was riding down wind at 55 mph and I put my arm straight out and I could not feel any wind on it. The leaves blowing across the road often appeared to be traveling as fast as I was. That was the drama for the day. As I headed north the farms just keep getting bigger. I then entered South Dakota and did manage to get a photo of the Welcome to South Dakota sign because I was going down wind at that time. I did a short ride through the South East corner of South Dakota and rode into Minnesota. Now this is not the last of South Dakota because there are a few things in South Dakota that I want to check out but that will happen later. I was not able to get a photo of the Welcome to Minnesota sign because the wind was coming from the side. The farms in Minnesota are even larger. They are now to the point where you can not see all of the boundaries at one time. There are now cattle yards as the cattle are being raised in buildings or stock yards. These are not range fed cattle. I have not seen any dairy cows. Many of the farm house, have their own collection of animals, including sheep, cattle and hogs and probably a few dairy cows. These look more a like a 4-H effort. I stopped for my dinner in a chafe Sioux Falls Minnesota. There was a bike rider in chafe and he was very surprised to see someone on a bike today. I had an interesting conversation with a gentleman in the booth next to me. He is a full blooded Indian that was taken off the reservation and put into foster care to give him a better chance of being a success in life. He still hates the American government for that. He joined the Army and was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and then joined the Air Force Reserve and retired as a full colonel. He is now working for a company that transports and assembles the wind turbines. He pointed out that all of the blades and the all of the sophisticated stuff is build in Germany and then brought here and assembled. The support columns are build in Fargo North Dakota. There is supposed to be sever weather coming through tonight. I would love to wake up tonight and watch a good thunder storm. That is an old family tradition. There were no thunder storms over night just some rain. Have a good one................ Phil...................... Wednesday May 13th Hi 66 low 53 Sunny all day with cumulus clouds scattered
across the sky I headed out this morning with moderate winds. When I got to the first stop I realized the clutch was not working properly. I was already going down the highway at this point so decided to keep going until I came to a place that was protected from the wind to work on the problem. About 45 minutes later came to another town and found place next to gas station but on the street in a safe place and pretty well protected from the wind. Pulled the cover off the clutch master cylinder and checked the fluid level. It was still flow. Since I had brought stuff to be able to bleed the system I decided to bleed the system. The clutch then failed completely and nothing seemed right because the fluid level was not going down in the master cylinder. Back to rule number one while on an adventure. DO NOT PANIC About five minutes later I realized the nice guys that had discovered my clutch fluid was low had put the fluid in the wrong place. I pulled out the rubber diaphragm that keeps air from fluid and put the fluid where is supposed to be and everything made sense and 10 minutes later I was on my way with a working clutch. As I traveled north the farms continued to get bigger. I also discovered why they call Minnesota the land of 10,000 lakes. But it has to be the land of 100,000 ponds. There are just ponds everywhere but I suspect many of these dry up during the summer. There are a fair number of egrets hanging around the lakes and ponds. As I passed some of the larger lakes I wished I had my windsurfing gear with me. It just looked like perfect sailing conditions. I continued on and finally reached Fargo North Dakota. I was expecting Fargo to be some kind of sleepy country town. The majority of Fargo look like LA or San Jose California. Just a bunch of new shopping centers, large buildings, plenty of chain restaurants and big box stores with all kinds of high density living and lots of traffic. I did find the old downtown area and checked out the sand bag clean up process. I could not find anyone in Fargo that had time to talk with me about what went during the flooding issue. So I said good by and continued east and then south. It was 107 miles from where I bought gas in Fargo to Jamestown. I burned as much gas I would normally on the trip in 150 miles at the speeds I was traveling. That is the effect of the head wind. I tapped my visor closed at Jamestown and bought gas and headed south. The wind was just as bad as yesterday and I was starting to get cold. I found truck parked in rest stop that I could use for a wind block and got out my rain jacket to break the wind. Being more comfortable made dealing with the wind much easier and continued on down the road. This was still corn country with a little soy bean thrown in and the farms are still getting larger but now there are a few areas with grazing cattle. When I reached South Dakota it suddenly switched to wheat with a little corn hear and there. I continued to zig-zag across South Dakota and decided to call it a day in Faulkton, South Dakota. The temperature was dropping rapidly and I was getting chilled. All in all it was a good days ride with lots of wonderful prairie scenes. In the motel I ran into a guy from Fargo and we had a little discussion about the flooding. I had checked out the right area but the sandbagging was higher than I could have imagined. We had a little discussion about the weather and it was his opinion that there is no such thing as global warming and that this was just a freak event. Just the normal ebb and flow in the weather. Just a quick word on gas prices today. It is $1.56 for E-85 gas and $2.19 for regular. Government subsidies in action. Have a good one....... Phil......................... Thursday May 14th Hi 77 low 44 Sunny to overcast. It was a cold ride this morning with the temperature in the mid 40's for the first couple of hours and in the low 50's until the late afternoon. I traveled east from Faulkton on 212 and then headed south on 63. I picked this route to ride through the Indian reservation plus it looked like more interesting terrain. I stopped and had a bite to eat at a local fast food place at the intersection of the two roads. All the locals were talking about the storm that had come through the area with high winds and soft ball size hail. I am sure glad I missed all of that excitement. Some where along the road headed south I missed a corner and found I had spent a half hour on the wrong road. I stopped and got the laptop out to look at the map and see what to do next. Put everything away and started to take off. The front wheel was in some soft gravel on a side slope. When I started forward the wheel slid to side and when I turned the wheel more it just slid out from under me. So there I am in the middle of nowhere and the bike is laying on its side. I pulled the luggage off and backed up to it started to lift. Nothing moved. So I reset myself and gave it all I had and I was able to get it up. But then I had to get on it while balancing the bike. I fired it up and moved it forward slowly with both feet on the ground. I was able to get it back on the road. Loaded up my stuff and headed down the road. The scenery in the Indian reservation was much more varied than what I have been riding through the last few days. This was rolling hills that reminded me of foothills of California. The Indians were mainly cattle ranchers though there were a few corn farms. I finally made it to the Badlands National Park. The Badlands exceeded all my expectations. I was planing on just doing a quick ride through the park but it was so spectacular that I rode through the park and then turned around a rode back through. I was riding into the sun on the first trip which is poor for taking photos. On the second pass the light just kept getting better. The Badlands is made up of these big carefully eroded hill sides that make a many strange kind of formations. The texture and color keeps changing with location and with the light. I probably took one hundred photos in one location over about twenty minutes because the light kept changing. There was one other guy running around doing the same thing. Everyone else took a few photos and moved on to the next overlook. I wanted to stay for sunset but it was after 7 and I did not have a plan for what I was going to do for the night. I headed for Wall South Dakota home of the world famous Wall Drug store. I got a room in the town of Wall and headed to Wall Drug. They were closed. Bummer..... I wanted to get that done tonight. For the last 50 miles I have been seeing signs for Wall Drug and the motel clerk told me that I had to go to Wall Drug if I was going this way. According to one sign, they have seating for more than 500 in their cafeteria. There is a huge parking lot just for the tour buses. I just wanted to add some detail to something I said yesterday. E-85 is the fuel made with up to 85% alcohol. It is something that GM and the corn farmers pushed for. GM got a bunch of credits for their flex fuel vehicles and the alcohol is made from corn. The wind was better most of the time today. It is hard not to hang onto the hand grips with a death grip in the wind. What I discovered, is when the bike healed over in the wind I can actually ride with no hands. The bike is amazingly stable. It is the gusts that make it hard to ride and noise the buffeting of my helmet. Earplugs help with the noise but it is still very annoying. Have a good one...... Phil.................... Friday May 15th Hi 56 low 42 Sun with many clouds and some short showers.
I was awaken this morning with the sounds of the wind out side my room. I laid there with my eyes closed trying to go back to sleep and then realized I could see the image of the windscreen. I have been looking through the windscreen so much that it is burned into my vision. I decided to walk to Wall Drug before leaving my motel but when I got to door of the motel I got big surprise. It was raining. Went back and got my new rain jacket and headed for Wall Drug. It is just a large tourist trap that has been very cleverly marked. Interestingly many walls of the place are decorated with the founders family photos plus photos of important visitors. There is a shoe shop with easily 300 different kinds cowboy boots. There are all of the usual souvenir trinkets many with the Wall Drug logo. There are the dinosaurs for the kids, and all the old west stuff for the adults. In reality it is a series of shops that occupy almost a whole city square block. I did not see a drug counter anywhere. I then got on the bike and headed for Mount Rushmore with a little extended detour through Rapid City. It was a great ride up into the Black Hills to Mount Rushmore. I came around a bend in the road and locked up and there they were. There was a pull off so I stopped to take a photo before I proceeded. About the time I put the camera up to take a photo it started to hail. Got my photo but could not get the image of those baseball size hail stones out of head. Then came the big surprise. $10 dollars to park the bike. But now I have a tag on my bike good for the rest of the year. They have a beautifully granite path leading up to viewing spot. I finally get to place were everyone gets their photo taken with Mount Rushmore in the background. I take a few photos but the lighting is all wrong. The shadows are to harsh so I just hang out for awhile and the light keeps changing. What really disappointed me is there is no information about what you are looking at in the view area. There is a large plaque with the names of the contributors to conservation effort. There was a school choir performing Steven Foster songs. Then it was time to move and ride through the more of the Black Hills and the to Sturgis. The road kept climbing to around 6000 ft and the temperature dropped to 42 degrees. Burr. This ride reminded of the pine forests in California, especially along highway 50 coming from Lake Tahoe. I then came to the town of Deadwood which is another great tourist attraction in the area. It is also a ski resort area that has capitalized on the the Western theme. The one thing this whole area needs is some kind of sign ordnance as there are bill boards everywhere. Some where in this ride I came upon a family of mountain goats. There were a few hanging out on the rock cliff that had been cut for the the road with a little goat that was just showing off climbing up and down the slop. I rode on to Sturgis where there is a big motorcycle rally every hear. Something like a 100,000 bikers come to the area. It must be a big money maker because there are many very large bar complexes that are closed until the big event. It was my plan to have dinner in Sturgis and I though it would be fun to go to one of the biker bars. I found one with a few bikes parked in front and went in. There were a bunch of people drinking beer and there was a menu but I did not see anyone eating. So I left and found another similar place and I could see food on peoples table so sat down. There was only one thing on the menu. Grilled steak. I though time to eat some of this good beef I have seen out in the field. It was a piece of steak that was about as tough as it gets but at least the vegetables and potato were good. The only other place to eat in Sturgis were the classic fast food places. I left Sturgis and headed west and called it quits in Sundance, Wyoming. I did not get very far down the road today. You may not hear from me tomorrow because maybe I will camp with the bears in Yellowstone. I am not saying that I expect to be eaten by the bears but there is no Internet connections in the park. Maybe things will be different this year. Have a good one............ Phil................
I gave the bike a spit bath this morning so it looks a little better. It has been looking pretty sad the last couple of days and the wet roads yesterday just took it over the top. I then headed to Devil's Tower which is a large butte in Wyoming in the middle of nowhere, very similar to the ones in Monument Valley except it is in the forest. There were about twenty climber on the Tower. Climbing that tower would be my worst nightmare. I did the walk around the tower which was probably a mistake as it cost me a more time than should have spent. There were about 10 mini minor cars in the parking lot and a few of them I recognized from the Bad Lands. When I was leaving there were a group with Mustangs circling the parking lot waiting for the mini to leave. The parking lot was full which is the first time this trip that I have had a full parking lot anywhere. I then headed for Yellowstone and had decided on taking route 16 from Buffalo Wyoming. It turned out to be such a great choice. Just beautiful winding road with a 65 mph speed limit and great pavement and no traffic. The scenery was great and with a 9200 ft pass with snow all around. Most of the day has been with out any wind. This has to be in the top few days for just pure riding joy on this trip. After I came down from the pass I was traveling through rolling farm land. There were a verity of crops and the sky was just that big sky the Montana and Wyoming are famous for. I realized that traveling across the mid west you have never have the mountains in the distance to act a goal for your travels. I ran of time to get to Yellowstone so elected to spend the night in Cody. Everything was just fine until about 10 and then there were a bunch of bikers roaring up and down the street in front of the motel. Damm motorcycle riders anyway. I will be off to Yellowstone in the morning with a full day to explore. This will be the third year in a row that I have visited Yellowstone. It will be interesting to see the changes as this will be the first time in the spring. Have a good one....... Phil............. Sunday May 17th Hi 70 low 53 Sunny all day with a few clouds in the sky I left Cody this morning headed for Yellowstone. I have never been through the eastern side of the park before. This turned out to be one of the most scenic days of the whole trip. As I traveled west and as the road kept climbing there was more snow next to the road and in the mountains. There was the contrast of the snow, red rocks in some places, green pine trees, the blue sky and in an interesting way the bare tree left by a forest fire. The roads were great and no traffic. There were so many places to get great photos. I miss my polarizing filter for the camera as it just cuts the reflections off the water and the leaves, plus it make the blue sky darker. I have now been in Yellowstone every year for the last three years. I stopped at one of the mud puts that I have checked out on the other two trips and things have definitely changed. There seemed to be more activity with a large pool where there used to be just bubbling mud. It could be the difference of the season as I have only been here in the late summer or early fall. Lake Yellowstone is still frozen over. The falls in the Yellowstone Grand Canyon were spectacular but not all of the viewing points were open. There is still a lot of snow on the ground. I took the Norris Canyon road over to the west side of the park. The bison are hanging out along the road in places and they are a problem on the bike. I stopped and waited for about 10 minutes for this one to decide which side of the road he was going to walk down. He finally seemed to be on a steady course so slipped past. It makes me real nervous if I am stuck in a group of cars. The bison do not seem to pay any attention to the cars or bikes. I saw a fox while going over the pass into the park. He was climbing up a slope next to the road but he went over the crest before I could get a photo. I just putted along trying to take all the beauty while taking a photo here and there. I then came to the Old Faithful area where I stopped and the first thing I did is check in with the rangers about camping. The camp ground I was headed for was filling up and was expected to be full before I could get there. But the Madison camp ground had plenty of camp sights so that became my plan. I went out and watched Old Faithful do it thing with probably 500 people. After that I headed for the cafeteria with half of the crowd. I was concerned that it would take forever to get something to eat but most of the people were just going to their rooms and the cafeteria was almost empty. What a surprise. Got my dinner and headed for the camp ground. Got a camp sight and setup the tent and settled in. I had to search the bike and my suit case for things that bears like to eat. I will put all of the stuff in a bear box before I go to bed. There are four young girls in the camp sight next to me that have kept me entertained as listening to them plan there trip and what they are going to do next. Sounds like they are traveling across the country. It is 9:45 now and it just started to get cold about 15 minutes ago. What amazing weather. Well it is time to go snuggle in and see if I can survive the cold tonight. Have a good one...... phil.............
I was able to stay reasonably warm all night and got a fairly good night sleep in the tent. It was sure nice to wake up during the night and just hear the sounds of nature. It seemed to take for ever to get things together to leave the campsite. I then had to head back to Old Faithful area to get breakfasts and gas. I had forgot to buy gas when I was there yesterday. I was to late for breakfasts and to early for lunch. I waited for lunch and then bought gas. After much internal debate and looking at the map I decided to head out for the Grand Teton National Park. My only problem was I kept getting engaged in conversations and not making much progress. When I finally did get going I kept stopping to take photos. Then did another long walk around a group of hot springs on the edge of Lake Yellowstone. When I got back to my bike there were two other motorcycle sitting next to it. I was checking out the Harley and the gentleman walked up that owned the bike and we started talking. About 20 minutes later the other bike owner walked up. He was riding a go fast Honda or Susuki. Not your typical cruising bike but he is putting in 600 mile days. Anyway Mike the Harley rider and I took off after probably an hour and a half of discussion. We went in different directions as I wanted to back track and get some of photos of a frozen lake that I had missed. I then headed for the Grand Tetons and as the sign advised there was a 20 minute stop for road construction and there was Mike about 3 cars ahead of me so we chatted some more. Then we kept meeting up at various view points when we got into the Tetons. I asked Mike if he wanted to split a motel room for the night and since he had been camping thought it was great idea. We rode to Jackson Wyoming and got a room. We both did the shower thing and then we headed to a laundromat. We spent 15 minutes getting the Easy Card to work as the machines did not take quarters. Then we walked toChines restaurant and had a quick dinner finished drying our stuff and rode back to the motel. We then proceeded to sit and chat until midnight. I did not cover much ground today but it sure was an enjoyable day..... Have a good one........... Phil................ CHANGED MY OIL TODAY........
Mike and I left the motel after eating our leftovers from the night before and headed in different directions only to wind up at the pull off where you can take photos in front of the sign that says Grand Tetons Nation Park. Mike was busy taking photos of two young girls in front of sign when I pulled up. We then took turns taking photos of each other front of the sign and then we headed off. I got my photos with the sun shining on the mountains and then headed out a road into to the hills just at random. This gave me a chance to get some photos of the mountains from a different perspective. I then headed back to Jackson and continued on south and then headed west to Idaho. I had picked a route into Idaho that was on very rural roads. I went through this little town and just out side the town there was the sign. Entering Idaho... "Mission complete". I have now ridden in 49 states. I wanted to stop and take photos but the wind was blowing so hard I new I could not put the camera on a tripod and there was no place to park the bike except on the road. There was so little traffic that parking on the road probably would not have been a problem. More great mountain and farm scenery. The roads were in great condition and it was just very enjoyable riding. I went through several small towns were essentially abandoned. There were also some large mining operations along the way as I went through the town of Soda Springs, Idaho. I then continued back to Wyoming for the next challenge of the trip. I stopped in Cokeville, Wyoming for dinner and while there programmed the GPS for Green River, Wyoming and headed out following the directions on the GPS. Green river was 90 miles away which meant I would get there at dusk. That seemed OK. Well the GPS took me on a very scenic trip but it was getting dark and it kept wanting to send me down dirt roads. I have not seen any deer all day but a lot of prong horned antelope. I finally pulled over and got out the laptop to see if I could figure out exactly were I was. I could tell that I was not close to Green Rive but was on a road north of it. I continued down the road and came to a small town with no motel but a gas station. Now the GPS was telling 10 more miles to Green River and I had enough fuel for 30 more miles but I decided to buy gas anyway even though it was eating into my daylight time. I then headed south and there were a few signs saying motel in 40 miles. At this point it was getting dark and all I could think about were animals on the road. Green River never did come up and forty miles later I pulled into Rock Springs, Wyoming. I found a motel at around 10:30 and called it quits for a day. Have a good one....... Phil............... Wednesday May 20th Hi 87 low 51 Sunny, cloudy, thunder showers. There was not a cloud in the sky this morning when I got up and went for coffee. I then worked on my log and trip planning for awhile and then went to start loading the bike. The wind was blowing like mad and then it started to rain. I finally decided to just load up anyway and by the time I was ready to go the rain had pretty much stopped and I was on my way. I was following the directions of the GPS again but I had made a mental note of the roads that I should be on. (there were only 2). As soon as turned south on 191 the scenery became very interesting and varied. This is the Flaming Gorge National Recreation area. This was one of the those days were the scenery changed completely every few minutes. Red hills, green hills, trees, sage brush, clear skies, cumulus clouds, up over 8000 ft, steep descents into the valley. It got cold, it got hot, there was the dam, the lake, funny little towns and it all was wonderful. I then head east on from Vernal Utah 40. Again the scenery just kept changing. I should mention that all of the roads were very good. I had stopped to take photos at an overlook and as I was walking back to the bike I could see two prong horned antelope laying down in the sage brush. I took a few photos and then moved closer. They just laid there and now were watching me closely. I approached to within maybe 100 feet and I made some noise thinking I could get a couple of photos as they ran away. They just stood up and groomed each other for minute and then started eating while keeping an eye me. I hope I got some good photos. I left them to their lunch and headed out again. I keep being told to watch out for the deer and elk. I have not seen a deer or an elk but I must have seen 100 prong horned antelope today. Most of them were out in pastures eating along with the cattle. I stopped in Vernal Colorado and got a bite to eat and then continued east on 40 (yes two Vernals in one day). I could see two thunder and lightening storms ahead of me. The road was going between them but then the road slowly drifted to the one on the right and I got into the rain. Big huge rain drops but the air smelled so good. I had stopped a few minutes earlier to put on my rain jack to stay warm as the temperature was dropping. It had been 87 degrees about 20 minutes earlier. The rain was off and on and the temperature dropped down to 51 degrees and there were big wind gusts. This is certainly not California weather. I stopped in Craig CO. for something to drink and wound up chatting with a couple for at least an hour. They are retired and very active with the local motorcycle people. They each have their own bike. They were not big fans of Harleys or Harley riders but some of their best riding friends road Harleys. Maybe it is just good people are good people no mater how the part their hair or what kind of motorcycle they ride. I have not seen any great farm houses in days. There must not be any family farms. I continued on to Steamboat Springs Colorado. The river flowing by the motel is almost up to the parking lot as all of the rivers are at, or close to peak flow for the year. Have a good one........ Phil........... Thursday May 21th Hi 87 low 51 Cloud with light rain at times. Today started with two fire alarms in the motel at around 4:30 in the morning. The alarm was so loud it was hard to figure out what to do. It was not clear what the problem was but somebody may have pulled the alarm switch in the lobby but also there were problems with the alarm panel. That was the reason for the second alarm. When I finally got going in the morning I continued my trek east on high 40. The temperature was in the mid 60's and the sky was overcast. The towns along this stretch of 40 all geared for the ski season and the summer season. The summer activities are rafting, biking, (pedal kind) probably horse back riding being among the top. The road then started to climb and the temperature started dropping. I stopped for a cup of coffee to keep me alert and put on warmer cloths. Then I started over Berthoud Pass which is over 11,300 ft. Just as I got to the summit it started raining. At least it was not snow, the temperature at the low point was 42 degrees. Unfortunately there were no places to stop and take photos. I got to highway 70 and head west to Georgetown and stopped at a rest stop. They claimed to have WIFI but all I could get was a week signal. It then started to rain harder and I decided to go find a motel room and try and figure out what I am going to do next. I am feeling this strong call to head home and it would be great to spend some time with Jan. This joy ride has to end some time soon and I need to start preparing for my 50th high school reunion. I have another set of photos ready to post and will do so when I can ftp. Have a good one...... Phil........... Thursday May 21th Hi 66 low 43 Cloud with patches of sun, sprinkles,
then thunder storm Hi Gang I phoned the Mount Evans ranger station this morning and they said the road was open. What they didn't say was that it was only open about half way up. I gathered up my stuff and took off in a hurry because the skies were partly cloudy and it had not rained all night. I got to the ranger station about 11;00 or so and got my ticket to ride. There were some incredible views along the road. It is just amazing you just keep climbing 9000 ft. 10,000 ft 11,000 ft 12,000 ft. Where they finally would not let me go any further it was 12,806 ft according to the ranger. Mount Evans has the highest paved road in North America at 14,264 ft. It would have been a gas to go all the way up. The bike was running just fine. Looking down from the mountain and I could see thunder showers off in the distance. I stopped four or five times on the way up to take photos but skipped one view point because I wanted to make sure that I got as far as possible before the weather changed. Just before I had to stop there was a big sign saying damaged road us extreme caution. Sure enough the road was badly torn up and I am putting along over the large bumps and stuff and when I realized some idiot was trying to pass me over the double yellow line. I just hope they could not read English. The parking lot where they stopped us had not been plowed and the snow clearing equipment had just come down from the top of the mountain and were blocking the road so I had to pull into the parking lot. I managed to get the bike to a safe place to park and got off for a few minutes then I had to turn the bike around in the snow. The weather was changing rapidly and I heard the crew of the snow clearing equipment tell the ranger that they would not open the road today as it was already snowing on top. I decided to head back right away as there were clouds and fog moving in and I wanted to get some photos from the view point that I had passed. With some careful planing and using me feet as skis was able to get turned around and back on the road. I got to the view point and took my photos and headed back down the mountain. There would be breaks in the clouds and I would grab a photo here and there. At one point a car was following me and I pull off to let a car pass me. The pull off appeared to be paved. Wrong It was just a thin layer of gravel on top of mud. I managed to stop the bike and not fall. After the car passed I eased the bike back on the road and headed down. I am getting better at this stuff. There was a gift shop and restaurant just past the ranger station on the way down. I decided to go in and sit with my laptop and figure out what I was going to do for the rest of the day. I ordered a coffee and a hot dog from the bartender and got out the laptop. We started chatting and I said that I was thinking of heading for Colorado Springs and that I wanted to ride to the top of Pikes Peak. He said I need to talk to the manager of this place and called her over. I turned out that her family had managed the restaurant and gift shops on Pikes Peak for over a hundred years. She had lived on Pikes Peak until about twenty years ago when she started managing this place. So after some discussion about the how parks are operated now and stuff, I asked about a scenic route to Colorado Springs. She tried to explain it to me looking at the laptop but then went got a map and proceeded to give me this detail route. I then sat there and programmed the GPS to follow the route she suggested. This made for a great days ride. Not a lot of distance but a lot of scenery. I was in and out of civilization several times on the trip. There were a couple of official sign along the road saying "in case of flooding climb to higher ground" I never would have thought of that. LOL Why can't we let natural selection have a chance now and then? It started to rain harder when I got to Colorado Springs and then I could see the lightening and hear the thunder. I saw my first motel but I was in the wrong lane to make the turn so had to go about another half mile to turn around which involved a series of long lights. By the time I got head in the right direction I was totally drenched. I got to the motel and they had a room. While I was waiting for the lights to change I could feel the water running between my legs. I had put the bike cover on it and done everything I was going to do outside before I went into the room to get out of my wet cloths. This would not have been so bad except I not dressed for heavy rain. Any way my jeans looked like I had a bad accident. Then I discovered that all of my jeans were in the bike and the only dry thing I had in the room was my swim suit. So I fell asleep watching TV. I awoke and went to dinner and came back and fired up the laptop and posted the new photos on the web site. Then I checked my email and there was an Email saying that our friend Chuck was taking Jan to the hospital with kidney stones. I phoned Chuck immediately and he was with Jan and so Jan I were able to talk. I am now going to be headed home in a big hurry. It should take two days as there are around 1300 miles to go. Pikes Peak will be there for another day..... The photos are a little mixed up in their order. I did not expect to take over 10,000 photos but I have and so the order is now wrong. I tried to pick photos the represent what I have seen plus being a fairly good photos. Have a good one..... Phil......
Photos at http://altairhouse.com/49state4/ Hi Gang Jan past the kidney stone and is doing fine at home but is still needing to rest. I discovered this morning that the rain yesterday killed my GPS unit. I looked at the map and made a mental note of the roads I need to be on to get home. Unfortunately I missed one important road change so went 20 miles in the wrong direction. I still miss the GPS to verify that I am on the correct road. The parts (24 and 50) of Colorado that I have been riding through has many fields with the most dramatic shades of yellow green. Where the fields in West Virginia were a beautiful dark green with very little yellow in it. The aspens now have most of their leaves. The young leaves are a light shade of yellow green and because the leaves are still small the groves are diaphanous so the white bark of the trunks still stands out. I find myself wanting to take a photo of every grove next to the road. I was concerned about Memorial Day traffic when I started out this morning but it has not been bad. I have seen at least 6 people pulled over getting tickets even though everyone is pretty much traveling at the speed limit. The camp grounds that were empty when I was going the other way are now full or over full. I got into Grand Junction CO. around 5:00 pm with plenty of time to keep riding but I was concerned about where I was going to stay the night. There are only a few motels on the eastern side of Utah so I decided to call it a day early and play it safe. It was not raining when I stopped at the motel but the clerk was so slow that it took over a half hour to get registered and by then everything on the bike was sopping wet. There is a large slow moving low in the area creating a lot of unstable weather. I hope by the end of the day tomorrow I will be out of this wet weather and be able to camp at least ounce more before I get home. I should say that I have not seen any tent campers today. I am looking forward to riding on highway 50 across Utah tomorrow. Have a good one......... Phil............... Sunday May 24th Hi 76 low 66 Mostly sunny, sprinkles, thunder storms
in the distance Hi Gang (See note at end on viewing photos). Well another change in direction. I talked with Jan this morning and she doing much better. We discussed what I should do next and it was decided I would continue on the trip for a few days. I was in Green River Utah when we talked so I backed tracked a little and headed for Moab and Arches National Park. I got side tracked and went to Canyonland National Park. Canyonland is amazing. In many ways I prefer it to the Grand Canyon. The weather and the light kept changing and there where thunder storms headed our way. I was at the grand overview looking back towards the ranger station and could see one of the thunder storms go through that area. I talked with the ranger as I was leaving and he said they had heavy rain and hail. I missed it all. Most of the cliffs are red sandstone and when they are wet they are very red. I talked with some locals and they were amazed how green everything is. There has been a series of thunder storms coming through the area and it is not typical for this time of year. A biker that I met at an overview said he was staying at a Hostel in town and gave me very good directions. I looked up the hostel and got a space to put my tent up for $7 dollars. I was gambling on there being not a lot more rain. I went and had dinner and then came back and went to the common room where I intended to write my log. After 10 minutes of writing I was full engaged in conversation with the people around. The kid across from me is from England and touring around the country and we got talking cameras, travel etc. When I was headed to my room he said that had to rent a room with 3 beds because the dorm was full and said I was welcome to use one of the beds. That sounded like a safer bet than the tent and the restroom was only down the hall not 200 feet away. Note: Some times the web browsers are changing the url after you double click the url in the email. Check the url in the navigational window. If it not the same as in the email manually change the url. Have a good one....... Phil.................... Monday May 25th Hi 76 low 52 Mostly sunny then thunder storm with heavy
rain
I finished in the park about 4:30 and headed for highway 128 so I could ride through the valley with the Colorado River on one side and the cliffs all around. There was some threatening weather off in the distance. I headed up the gorge and it was as good as people told me it would be. After about 10 minutes of riding it got real windy. I figured that it was probably going to rain some time soon so I started looking for a place to pull over. There was nothing except gravel turn outs. In hind sight I should have just used one of these as a few minutes down the road it started to rain hard and by the time I pulled off onto a paved area it was a downpour. I was drenched by the time I got my rain jacket on and changed to my rubber gloves. It was very difficult to work in the wind and the rain. I then started the bike up and headed back to town. Along the way I decided to head for Green River ounce I got back to the main road. The rain stopped shortly before town and made the right turn and headed for Green River. Now I could get up to sixty five at which speed I stay pretty dry. I was hoping that I would dry out enough that when I got into town they would rent me a motel room. I was lucky at the first motel and when I got my stuff into the room and looked in the mirror I said "how could that lady have rented me a room". My hair was a total mess and I looked pretty bad. The one good thing about all of the rain is that it washed the mud spots off the knees of my leathers. I decided that tonight was the night for a hot tub. It sure felt good followed by a long hot shower. The dryer for the motel is across the hall from my room and it has been going all night. I was not the only one that got all wet. I was talking with a woman in the lobby and she and her family were going to stay in Moab tonight but all of the lights were out in town and they decided to head to Green River. I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day Weekend................ Have a good one............. Phil................. Tuesday May 26th Hi 76 low 60 Sunny all day with cumulus clouds. Hi Gang, I left Green River headed west on 70. I came to the first view point and stopped to check the bike out, which is my usual morning routine. What I found was yet another view of a canyon that was almost as good as the ones in the National Parks. This process continued for the next 100 miles or so, each view point would be another display of natures creativity. I was snapping photos so quickly that the camera would seldom auto shut off. So I am traveling along at 70 mph and there are just all of the these beautiful works of nature. The last few days have been a mental overload trying to look at all of the amazing shapes, colors and textures. Eventually the sand stone sculptures were behind me and then I was traveling though various kinds of forest and farm lands. High way 70 ends when it runs into highway 15 which runs more or less north and south. I wanted to get to highway 50 at this point. I stopped at the first pull off on 15 and got out a map and checked my route. I had stopped at the place where I needed to turn. So I head back onto the freeway and road worker stops me and tells me the on ramp is closed and that I need to take the frontage road. I follow his instructions and a half mile down the road I come to the road I intended to take. If I had gotten on the freeway I would have missed it. I think good luck is better than a GPS. I then followed the signs for 50. I came to a gas station and bought gas even though had at least 80 miles worth left. When I left that station there was not another gas station until I had traveled 145 miles and there were no warning signs. I stopped in Ely and had dinner and filled my gas tank and then south on 6. As I was leaving town there was a sign saying next gas 167 miles. Now they say highway 50 across Nevada is the most loneliest road in the world. Well on 50 I passed a many other motorcycles, cars and trucks. On this stretch of 6 there was a time that I did not see another vehicle for at least a half hour. I was really glad that I selected this route. There was such beauty in the emptiness. I kept wondering what was at the end of the dirt roads that take off from this high way. There would be a sign with what sounded like a cities name. I would love to visit this area again with a group that was prepared to explore the area. I wonder what life is like for the people that live out here. I passed a sign saying missile test range. I think this may be where amateur rocket enthusiasts get to lunch their home made rockets. I continued on to Tonopah Nv and got room. A day without rain, wind or heavy traffic, good roads and wonderful and varied scenery. How good can it be. Have a good one...... Phil................. Wednesday May 27th Hi 94 low 53 Sunny most of day. A little rain and
hail I left Tonopah headed for Bishop CA. but the none of the road signs gave me any confidence that I was headed in the right direction. I had to backtrack to where I came into town and check the sign at that intersection. OK, I mis the GPS. The ride to Bishop was through more wonderful rural desert. As I got closer to Bishop there were more farms and industrial activities. I stopped in Bishop and got a large drink as it was now getting hot (mid 80's) and then headed out of town on 395 headed north through the Owens valley. I had the east side of Sierras on my left and the high desert to my right. I made a quick stop at Mammoth and checked the area out for a future ski trip. Like most of the other ski areas that I have been through on this trip it is very oriented to the high end consumer. I then continued north and trying to decided it I wanted to ride into Yosemite over Tioga pass or head to Reno. I decided to ride to Reno and but when I got to intersection for Yosemite the bike just turned and headed that way. I passed several groups of riders coming down from the pass and so I let the Yamaha have its way and up we went. It is very early in the season for the high elevations of Yosemite. None of the camp grounds were open. The large granite hill sides contrasted with the green trees and the snow, making for many wonderful sights. There was very little traffic but a lot of the pull offs are gravel and slopped the wrong way for stopping with the bike. I made a mental note that I need to come back to this area again, at this time of year because I could see the potential for a lot of wonderful photographs. Each area of this trip has it own type of beauty and I started to try and figure out which was the most spectacular. I suspect that is not a fair question because each is different and beauty is really in the eye and mind of the observer. When I got to the junction that says valley floor this way or San Francisco this way I had to make a choice. Did I head to the valley floor to observe Yosemite Falls at what must be close to making flow or do I head home. Again the Yamaha made the decision for me and headed to SF. We were both feeling weary from the trip and looking forward to a day off from this hectic adventure. I got to the exit of the park and they were checking to make sure that you had paid to be in the park. The ranger asked me what kind of pass I had and it took me about 15 seconds to come up with the answer. Yes I was ready for a day off. Shortly after leaving the park it started to rain and then hail. Some of the hail was large enough that it hurt when it hit me on the arm through my riding jacket and rain jacket. It was all over in a couple of minutes and then then it started get warmer. I could smell and see the smoke from a forest fire which gave the sky that eerie cast of blue and now some sunset colors as it was late in the day. At some point 120 splits and there is a twisty section or a very steep straight section. By accident I took the twisty section and what a great motorcycle road. Great pavement and just one corner after another. This was as good as any motorcycle road that I had been on the whole trip and I met no traffic. It then continued to get hotter until it reached 94 degrees which if my memory is right is the warmest it has been on the whole trip. When I got to Manteca and got on 205 I was quickly reminded of what it is like to ride in the Bay Area. Traveling seventy, seventy five in a sixty five mile per hour zone with some cars going by doing close to 90 and weaving through traffic. Oh yes to be home. I had to stop in Albany to put on my rain jacket because the temperature had dropped to 53 degrees. The same temperature as the top of Tioga pass. Oh how cool is the San Francisco bay fog. The rest was just the usual drive home from the bay area. When I shut off the bike in front of my garage door at about 9:30 at night, I just sat there thought how lucky to make this trip safely and all of the wonderful people who helped make this possible. A special thanks to Sioban for finding my wallet and putting in the effort to track me down. To Barry and Val my wonderful neighbors for taking care of mail and the place. I also blame this trip on Barry as he was the one that got me excited about motorcycles again. And a special thanks to Jan for taking care of all of our personal businesses while I was on my adventure and my lucky hot heart rock. HOME SAFE AND SOUND. I had a great adventure and now back to the real world.... I want to do a couple of follow up emails with a more thoughtful summary of the tip, I will redo the photographs on the web plus put my log as file for anyone who might care..... Thanks for listening and your encouragement along the way. This log was an important part of keeping my sanity. TV in a motel room is a bore, at least mostly. Have a good one...... Phil..................... A little post trip note: The starter on the bike quit working a week after getting home. I discovered the starter motor was full of corrosion when I opened it up. It took two efforts to get all of it problems solved. And now the bike starts better than it ever has.
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