Home and final thoughts

After 1745 miles in three days, we are finally home!  Considering the number of miles we knocked out since Colorado, we're only a little bit worse for wear.  A couple of final thoughts though...

First, thank you to my loving wife Lee Ann for her support in my decision to take this trip and to my P.I.C. Glenn for being the best riding partner ever!

If there's one truism about riding motorcycles it is that there is plenty of time to become deeply immersed in thought and ponder all sorts of things.  I figure it might be nice to share a couple of those that struck me during this trip.

The first of these is everybody should make time to travel across this country.  However you choose to do it, by motorcycle, car, bus, RV or whatever else you can come up with, get out and see this country.  Every time I travel, I am deeply amazed by what I see, smell, hear, touch and taste.  I promise you the same experience if you will only take that first step out the door.

When do you make it out there, talk to people.  Everybody has a story and striking up the simplest conversation can end up being a rewarding experience.  I remember talking to a lady who delivered cell phones into disaster areas for the federal government.  She was relating stories about her experiences in New Orleans and why she thought the city was dying.  While talking to her, I realized that she had a perspective that was forged in the incredibly difficult circumstances that she worked.  It was a perspective that I could never hope to gain by reading the newspaper, looking at photographs or even visiting New Orleans.

While in New Orleans, I was also struck by the value of teamwork and the power of a positive attitude.  The hotel that we stayed in there was in by far the worse neighborhood that we had been in.  Not only was crime rampant but the hotel was surrounded by the detritus of Katrina.  Just across the street was a shopping center that had never been rebuilt while residential neighborhoods several blocks over suffered from the same neglect.  Regardless of that, it was one of the places that Glenn and I most enjoyed staying at.  To a person, the staff there went out of their way to look after us.  They were friendly, engaging and always made us laugh.  It was a pleasure to stay there and a testament to something special they have going on there.

Now, a couple of thoughts for my fellow riders.

First, I'll give you my three favorite roads to ride on and if you're ever riding in that area, be sure to snug down your chin strap.

Number three is Highway 82 running from east of Aspen, Colorado to the continental divide at Independence Pass.  As you climb out of Aspen, you pass through amazing aspen and evergreen forests.  The road itself is twisty, narrow and offers spectacular views.  As you pass 10,000 feet, the turns become tighter and the drop offs steeper.  Finally, you top out at 12,000 feet and it's like sitting on top of the world!  Great ride with great views.

Number two is Highway 152 from Santa Clara, New Mexico to Caballo, New Mexico.  Hwy 152 runs through the Gila National Forest and is full of evergreen forests, rugged mountains and spectacular views.  The road itself is a 30-mile stretch of twisting road with curves as low as 15 mph safe speed and the occasional long straight stretch.  It will scratch every itch you've ever had for diving into corners.  One caveat however, when it's hot (like it was when we were there), the oil becomes separated from the asphalt and it can be a bit slick.  The best times to attack this road would be in the spring or fall when temperatures aren't quite so hot.

My absolute favorite road is Highway 118 from Big Bend National Park to Alpine, Texas.  It is 80 miles of wide-open desolate road where you might see another vehicle every 10-15 minutes.  The speed limit is 75 mph (like anybody cares...it is Texas) and subtle hills and slopes and allow for abundant numbers of 30 to 40 mph turns.  Where else can you roll into those sorts of turns at speed and still be legal?  Even the 50 to 60 mph curves were fun.  As an added bonus, you're treated to the west Texas desert which with its unique rock formations and mesas, is beautiful in its own way.  Truly my favorite road!

If you ever do decide to take a desert ride, I have a couple of other recommendations.  When it is hot, still wear your protective gear.  We wore full-face helmets and mesh jackets and what we found is that then you're riding in 100+ temperatures, the gear actually protects you from the heat.  Several times we rode without our jackets and having that hot air blowing directly on your skin while the sun beat down on you was much more miserable than wearing the jacket.  Every fellow rider we saw with an open face helmet had to find some way to protect their face.  Most had some kind of bandana that went right up to their glasses.

Bring plenty of water with you.  In Big Bend with the temperature at 116 degrees, we couldn't get enough water.  Same in Kansas when the temperature was 108.  The one piece of gear we both wished we would have taken with us was some kind of Camelbak.  Not only would they have been great while riding but we could have used them when we hiked also.

Lastly, know how far you can go on a tank of gas and where your gas stations are.  We ran into a fellow rider in Big Bend who was on a Sportster and he had two gas cans strapped onto the sides of the bike.  It can be several hundred miles between gas stations so he knew that he had to carry some with him.  Once in the desert, you quickly realize how isolated you are and how fast she can turn on you.  Best to give her a lot of respect!

Well, that's it!  I appreciate all of you who took the time to read this blog and keep up with our adventures during this trip.  I hope that we at least entertained you a little bit, showed you some good photos and maybe piqued your interest in the southwest.

Eric

Huntington, West Virginia

Another 700 mile day and we've made it to West Virginia!  With over 1400 miles down in two days, we're sore, tired, and anxious to get home.  No great observations today beyond it wasn't as hot and the trip went relatively smoothly.

Tomorrow we'll make it home but stay tuned for some final thoughts!

Independence, Missouri

We started out today in Colorado at about 55 degrees.  After over 700 miles of riding, we're in Missouri now and trying to cool off after riding through temperatures that reached 108 degrees.  Couple that with winds gusting past 35 mph, the trip at times on I-70 was miserable.  It was especially bad along the plains in Kansas where the winds and heat were extreme.  We did take a number of breaks during the ride though and that helped.  When we stopped for dinner, we did meet three guys who were riding BMWs across the country.  One of them was from Williamsburg and another from Maryland.  They rode out to their buddy's place near Las Angeles and now he's riding back with them to North Carolina.  Unfortunately, his 1200GT wouldn't start at the gas station/Subway and when we left, they were busy tearing off the fairing looking for a short.  Oh well, not a great endorsement for BMW!

Tomorrow, we keep pushing east...stay tuned!

Colorado

Once into Colorado, we journeyed east on I-70 before turning off onto Highway 82.  That took us through Aspen which was unbelievably crowded.  We tried to get lunch there but couldn't even find a parking spot.

We decided to press on and climbed 82 all the way to the Continental Divide at Independence Pass.  According to the sign we were at 12095 feet although my GPS had it at 12135 feet.  Regardless, it was a heck of a ride up the narrow winding road to get there.  Once on top, there was plenty of snow and mountains to see.

Unfortunately, it was impossible to get a good photo of the sign because the Harley riders kept parking their bikes in front of it and getting their picture taken.  Apparently it's quite the feat for a Harley to make it up to 12000 feet....  As you can see in the middle photo, it started to cloud up and we did get rained on enough to have to put our gear on.  50 degrees and raining blows...

We did finally arrive at our cabin in Buena Vista and settled into our cabin for the night.  Tomorrow we push east and plan to put down big miles as we transition onto mostly interstate travel.

Canyonlands and Arches National Parks

This morning we took off early in the morning and first rode over to the Canyonlands National Park.  We turned off of the main highway onto a desolate country road and rode that for 22 miles until we came to the rim of the Orange Cliffs Cararact Canyon.  We stopped at the Needles Overlook and were literally the only people there the entire time.  The overlook offered beautiful views of the entire canyon and we took lots of photos and crawled over the rocks for quite a while.

Looking out over the canyon, you are struck by the variety of colors present.  There are deep reds, yellows, white and shades of green.  Although we were there early, I'm still struck by the fact that we had the entire area to ourselves.

After leaving the canyon, we rode north through Moab and went into the Arches National Park.  We continued about 14 miles to the back of the park where we stopped at the Devil's Garden.  Simply put, during our ride there and a subsequent hike, we were treated to some of the most stunning and dramatic landscape that either one of us had ever seen. 

Because we had planned on riding to several other locations after Arches, we had only planned on taking a short 1.2 mile hike to the first of the arches.  Then in an apparently spontaneous plot to kill me, Glenn suggested that we hike the entire 7.5 miles.  All would be good though because he'd bring the single 1 liter bottle of water that we had.  A plot you say?  Take into consideration a couple of things; we're dressed in our riding clothes including long pants, we're at 7000 feet so walking up even moderate hills leaves you sucking for wind and the trail we'd hike is titled "Primative" and if you have acrophobia then the Park Service strongly recommends that you do not take the hike.  More on that later by the way.

In all seriousness, even though it was hot, it was a tremendously rewarding experience to move that far through the park.  We were into areas that very few people will travel so many times we had the sights to ourselves.  Occasionally we did pass other hikers and they ranged from properly prepared to having no business being out there.  The formations were incredibly impressive and we took in arches, towers, canyons and vibrant colors of all shades. 

Back to the acrophobia and unprepared hikers....in the above photo, you're looking at a descent on a slickstone portion of the trail.  We came from the other direction so we were preparing to climb it while the folks pictured were trying to get down.  The fella in the middle wearing the white shirt was freaking out and wouldn't move from where he was.  First he tried to walk down but couldn't take a single step.  Then he tried to slide down on his butt and couldn't manage it.  Then he had the brilliant idea to slide his backpack down the rock first to lighten the load.  At first it wouldn't go so then he started to kick it.  That worked too well as the pack went tumbling down the rock dumping its contents on the way.  That included his water bottle which broke open spilling his water everywhere.  He finally tried walking again but was literally quaking in his shoes in fear and kept saying "I feel realy uncomfortable".  Even Glenn and I were trying to talk him down but finally his party split and one of his friends walked with him back the way they came.  At long last we had a clear path to get up the rocks and it was really no problem at all.  Below is a photo of a descent that we made at the 6 mile mark.  After coming down it, I would concede that if you have issues with heights, it would definately bother you.

If you look at the middle of the photo, you have to walk from the top down along the widest of the fingers.  Towards the bottom, you can see how the rock is turning black from all the boot scuffs.

Ultimately Glenn's plot failed and in fact may have backfired as he was worn down when we finally made it back to the bikes.

By this time, it was late afternoon and so we rode into Moab for a late lunch/early dinner.  We stopped at Pizza Hut and literally received no service.  We ultimately got up, left and rode across the street to a Mexican restaurant where they treated us like gold.  After that, it was back to the hotel for a welcome dose of air conditioning.

Tomorrow for the first time we turn our bikes east to start the trip home.  We're going to ride through portions of western Colorado including Aspen and take in the views.  We plan on camping at Buena Vista and then keep moving east from there.

Until then!





Monticello, Utah

Today we rode through New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah all in about 200 miles!  We started off early in Gallup and the temperature was a refreshing 51 degrees.  As we moved north, it got warmer but the day was never hot...what a change!

We did stop at the Four Corners Monument where the borders of the above four states all come together.  It was an interesting place inside of the Navajo Nation and we enjoyed our visit there. 

Once we cleared the monument, we continued north into Colorado.  By the time we rode through Cortez, the terrain became more lush and green.  It was a refreshing change from the desert and I didn't realize how much I'd missed seeing green!  We also started to see mountains large enough to still have snow on them.  One of many reasons why I think Colorado may be my favorite state!

Even our hotel has beautiful views.  Located at the base of Manti-La Sal National Forest, there are some really nice mountains to the rear of the building.

Tomorow we're going to take a long ride that will include the Canyonlands National Park, the Arches National Park, the White Canyon and Natural Bridges National Monument.  Between all of that, we should see some really nice stuff!  Hopefully, photos will follow...

Gallup, New Mexico

Not much to report today.  We rode about 320 miles up to the northern end of New Mexico.  We are right up against the Navajo Nation and right away you notice an obvious amount of poverty.  In some areas, there's an almost third world look to the place.  We'll only be here one night before riding up into Utah.

Once we got up onto I-40, our elevation above sea level averaged between 7000 and 7200 feet.  I haven't experienced interstate speeds on my bike at that altitude but once above about 6500 feet, the engine became a bit anemic.  Coupled with a very stiff headwind, the bike was noticeably slower to accelerate above 70 mph and even with full throttle, struggled to get above 80 mph.  Oh well, not much I can do about it!

Tomorrow, we'll go by the Four Corners Monument so we should have some good pics to post.