We woke up early but had to wait till the dealer opened up at 9, so it was nice to relax, although we would have rather been rolling in the morning to beat out any afternoon storms. As we had a 500 mile plus day if we wanted to be home.
We arrive at the dealership a little after 9 AM. we waited around the dealership, looking at bikes, eating popcorn and drinking coffee. We thought we would get rolling by about 10 -10:30. I could see clouds starting to accumulate.
A big cloud formation developing over Reno showing who is boss
Unfortunately, we did not get rolling till 12 pm when they finally got the bike ready. We quickly left town only to have a shower just hit us on the outskirts of Carson City 20 minutes after we left… oh well.
Once past the greater Carson area the road is fairly fast if it wasn’t for the construction areas and some trucks to pass. Our first gas stop is in Bridgeport, California in the high country of the Sierras. This small mountain town called Bridgeport used to be home of a fun motorcycle rally in every June during the summer solstice., but some rowdies ruined it one year.
The ride through the sierras was beautiful as they displayed their glory since we have had a wet and long winter here in California. Not any of the secondary passes were opened.
Once we pass, Mammoth Lakes, US 395 starts dropping in elevation for about 30 miles till you come to the town of Bishop California. It was 3pm and 90° . We gassed up and continue.
Two hours later and 112 miles later, we stopped outside of Ridgecrest, California to gas up. at this point it is only 150 miles to home and Ridgecrest seems like her backyard. We could have stopped, but the day was nice and we decided to continue for home.
We both arrived home around 8:30, 9 o’clock. In retrospect, it would have been nice to call it a day in Ridgecrest.
This ends phase 1 of our summer road trip. We will leave again in the middle of June for the rest of the 15 roads, the Cabot trail, and Sturgis.
As soon as I get my suitcase I left in Ely, Nevada, I’ll upload some pictures.
This ride is old hat for us. It’s part of a route enjoyed riding to/from Sturgis from Southern California. Too numerous to count how many times I’ve done it, but always enjoyable.
It started off partly cloudy and the air was crisp as we made our way through Capital Reef National Park and into Torrey Utah, where the next ride started.
Pointing to “You Are Here”
As we snakes our way to Bryce Canyon, the day gradually turned to more puffy clouds and when we arrived in Bryce we need to keep moving to keep ahead of some showers
Quick gas and pictures and we were on our way to Ely Nevada to the start of America’s Loneliest Highway, Route 50. We did catch one shower as we approached Beaver Utah but quickly dried off by the time we arrived in Beaver to top off our gas tanks to hit some long stretches in Nevada.
The 150 plus mile ride towards Ely Nevada was a treat. Even though it was about 1 pm, the sky and surrounding mountain landscape felt late afternoon or early evening as we saw dark clouds and showers all around us, but we were feeling drops every once in awhile. We hardly saw any vehicles on this stretch.
By 3 pm we pulled into a Ramada in Ely Nevada only to hear from Rick that his clutch was going under the suspicion of a leaky clutch. We attempted to fill the reservoir with DOT 4 but too much appeared to have drained as we struggle to get it to take more fluid.
We were 250 miles from Reno and 150 plus miles to the nearest dealer. When we went to sleep, the game plan was to ride 170 miles to a small town of Elko, Nevada in the morning to see if they could service the bike. Durning a restless night, Rick researches and decided if he maybe has only a few more pulls on the clutch, we would still do our loneliest ride towards Reno and go to that dealer, as every mile we clicked would be less in towing if he broke down. The bike ran great, it just was iffy if you could shift a lot.
It was a 300 mile stretch through Nevada, so we needed one gas stop and it worked out for the town of Austin Nevada to be right in the middle at 175 miles and it had gas!
In the nervous morning of ours we left Ely and got going on these sweeping long roads towards Reno. The roads had 35 to 50 mph curves in the passes and 70’s mph on the long straights in the basin.
The morning again was crisp as we were treated with beautiful snow capped desert mountains as we passed through numerous passes and large basin areas with zero people around. we reached elevations of 7500 feet to bottom out at about 6000 feet in the basins.
Just when we were about 20 miles from our gas stop at the half way point, I noticed that my bag with my luggage wasn’t on my bike… I left if in the lot at the hotel while we were prepping to leave that morning . It contained my clothes for when we checked into hotels for the evening and my 15 year old laptop. At our gas stop I called the hotel and they had retreated it, so I arranged for them to just ship it home for me.
Rick pulled into the gas station in Austin and kicked it into neutral. It just so happen the gas station was located on a downward slope so when leaving he coasted downhill and kicked it into gear and we were on our way again, me lighter and Rick closer to Reno.
“Where’s Waldo?” Can you find where I left the suitcase?
It was a beautiful ride and was peaceful as the planned ride was a success for ride #10 and as we made it the Reno Dealer without a tow.
Reno Dealer
Rick got his bike checked in as we arrived about 1 pm. I bought a t-shirt and a pair of pants at the dealer and we checked into the Grand Sierra Resort hotel and casino for the day/evening.
GSR
Later that day as we relaxed at the hotel, the dealer called Rick and came up with a game plan to get him rolling tomorrow so we can get home. Our last goal for this phase 1 summer ride was #11, but upon review, the road is currently on restricted times to cross that pass as they are busy removing a slide, and it wasn’t really convenient at this time to ride it as most of it would be under a one way lane supervision. So as of now we completed 8 of the 15 needed, and 20 of our plan. tomorrow we should be heading home.
Since I don’t have laptop right now, picture sharing is limited , I’ll update when I get my laptop back.
We dried out with a couple of cups of coffee and chatted it up with the hotel owner. She said Colorado has now ended it’s 10 year drought and all the rivers are full and reservoirs topped off.
After a nice dinner at a local steakhouse and a good nights sleep, our clothes dried out by the time morning arrived . We packed up and started our ride 7, San Juan highway aka CO145 to Telluride.
Documenting that we were indeed in Cortez
It was 7 am by the time we left Cortez on a crisp morning. Both of us had long johns on, and I had my electric vest on and fired up as we climbed into the Rockies.
We stopped a couple of times for Rick to change his gloves. We road along a river and the river was really flowing. The aspen tress here were just budding. After all, it is only middle of May. I usually come through here during summer.
As we climbed the temps dropped. We continue the climb till we reached the high meadows with beautiful vista of snowed capped mountains. The temps were in the low 30’s with snow still next to the roadway.
We finally start our decent when we past Telluride and finished our ride in Placerville and took our pics in front of the post office.
From there it was off to Moab Utah 130 miles away to start ride 8, The Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric highway.
The ride to Moab was a heading back westward towards drier weather and hotter temps. It was a great downhill run into some canyon valleys before we climbed again to get through a pass to highway US190. The town of Moab has really grown up since I was here last. We arrive in Moab around 12 to document and start the ride through this canyon.
This was a nice ride through the canyons along the Colorado river before we popped out the canyon and came to Interstate 70. From there it was west to Green River to stop for the day at a familiar hotel along the river.
Today we thought we could get two rides in because of where our next rides are, but Mother Nature had other plans. We left the reservation about 8 am and after a few stops along the roadside to adjust things, we were ready to start this ride. It was cloudy when we woke up, but the streets were dry. But you could see showers all around us.
Monument Valley
We road through the valley and took some photos and 50 miles later in Mexican Hat Utah and we were done with this ride. Next ride starts in Cortez CO 180 miles away and goes through Telluride CO to Placerville CO – easy if the weather can hold, which is always iffy in the Rockies.
The ride to Cortez
We get within 12 miles from Cortez and see a wall of water out in the distance. So we stop on the side of the road to get our gear buttoned up and want to get to town to make some decisions….
Well, we approach the wall of water and seem to get through the first wave as it then lets up a bit and I could pick up some speed. Then it start coming down harder.. we slow down, we see lighten and hear the booms all around us.
I see what I thought was white foam on the side of the road as the road was getting covered in heavy water and we were getting pelted. I feel the bike get a little goosy under me, thinking I was starting a bit of hydroplaning. Then I see we are actually getting pelted with hail! And that was not white foam and was not hydroplaning but the small hail was like marbles under the tires and the road was COVERED now with hail – it all happened and came so fast. We ease to the side of the road while feeling the tires moving under us.
Hail at noon
Even on the side of the road, traction on your feet to try to keep the bike upright was giving way under the hailstones….
We wait about 10 minutes getting soaked as the hail storm turns back to a downpour and the slush on the road starts to melt. But the damage was done as we were cold with wet gloves and decided to stay in Cortez for the day and night, dry out and start early tomorrow.
The start out of Las Cruces was clear and sunny, 2 1/2 hours later we we starting ride number 5 on the list, Coronado Trail.
This is a unique ride as you start outside and drive through a huge, huge copper mine that is active. The road snakes up the mountain and you just see massive equipment and massive tailings that are mountains!
After the climb you continue snaking through and climbing in the pine forest of this mountain range. You never know that this is Arizona as you always think desert. We had cool weather and beautiful vistas. We took it slow through the tight curves and towards the end of the ride we had great downhill sweepers. And at the end we were back in Springerville, AZ where we were a few days ago.
Documenting the end of ride #5
After that we headed for ride #6 which is Monument Valley in Arizona and Utah. We got caught in a storm and waited it out at a gas station. This was the sign to the rest rooms
We ended the day on the reservation at a Best Western in Chinle Arizona.
Apparently we needed some sleep. We have been waking up at 5ish, but today we woke up at 6:30 and to a pretty sunrise. Weather called for cloudy skies with chance of showers.
I didn’t know what to expect from Big Ben National Park. Have not heard much about it except it’s location, so I was interested on what we would see. It was an amazing place to see. If you ask me what is it like, I would comment think Death Valley/Zion/Capital Reef National Parks – it reminded me of all three of those. The vastness of Death Valley, the Canyons of Zion, and the feel of Capital Reef. I will definitely come back to explore more.
The nearest accommodation’s are in two towns that are 100 miles from the park. So it takes about 1 1/2 hours to get to the entrance. It was overcast as we road there with just a smattering of water felt. The high cloud cover was actually great as it kept the temperature lower. This is a desert area so the time to visit is the winter/spring months.
For our ride, we only needed to ride the road (only road) that takes you 33 miles to the end and back. We entered the park and documented our start at the entrance.
You climb at first through some big valleys and then you are treated with a desert vista as you descend into a vast valley with reefs and slot canyon out in the distant. At one point the road was flooded and we went through it after we determined the depth.
At the end is a vast slot canyon – that slot canyon is Mexico. After chatting with the ranger we headed back out and started our march to our next ride, which for us starts in Three Way AZ.
Again, fast long stretches’ of roads to get out. We decided to take the interstate to get out of Texas. We made it through El Paso and made the push to Las Cruces NM in order to get some sopapillas for dinner.
Day four started riding at 5:30 AM to get to Medina Texas. 120 miles later we started documenting a ride for the Texas Twisted Sister ride.
This part of Texas is hill country for Texas. It reminded me a lot of riding in Northern California, but not as much traffic on the roads here. Beautiful countryside, tight twisties in some spots, and some great weather for riding today.
The 3 Rural Route roads all had their unique character, with my favorite being the last one. It reminded me of riding the mouse trap roller coaster at the local fair. up and down, and some steep grades in short distances.
After we completed the twisted sisters, it was about 1:30 pm and our goal was to try to get to Alpine Texas for ride number 4 – big bend national park.but it was all dependent on the weather and so far it was good.
The roads in Texas are fast. Two lane roads with barely a shoulder have speed limits of 75mph. 1 1/2 hour later we were in Del Rio where we had to make a decision. Do we want to go to the next town 200 miles away with hotels or stay put. The weather look good so we decided even though it was 3 o’clock let’s do the 200 miles…..
The next 200 miles was a beautiful road with hardly anybody on it. New blacktop with long straights, sweeping curves, and gentle climbs in and out of some canyons. Three hours later we arrive in Alpine and settle in for the night.
The day started at 5:30 a.m. when we had scraps of daylight. Our attempt was to try to make Medina if we could to start our first official ride. But we were leaving it flexible due to weather as it usually rains in the afternoon.
It was a clear Chris morning temperatures in the high 50s as we started and we get to see the sunrise.and as the tea progressed, it warmed up, and the skies remain relatively clear till about 2:30 PM and we had one small shower.
We have been avoiding the interstate, to enjoy the back roads. When it came time to cross over interstate 10 120 miles from Medina, with a big black cloud to where we were heading, we just started decided to stay in Sonora, Texas, where there are plenty of hotels here.
Tomorrow will head to Medina and start her documentation of her first ride on the list which is number 3 the Texas twisted sisters.
