I didn't post this until 2006 even though it happened in 2004. I didn't know about blogs back in 2004 and then I forgot about it until I was looking at some old photos. It's nice looking at old photos, especially when they are about you.

This would be the longest trip I have ever taken, by far. This was my second road trip so I was still a moderate newbe. I did a trip to Hemet last year and it taught me many lessons about long distance riding. It also opened my eyes to the joys of riding.

The Plan

This year's plan is to pick up Ronnie (Riding buddy from web site) in Nevada, then we would head south on 95a and then cut across the Extraterrestrial Hwy to Utah, then weave our way into Colorado.
It should be a piece of cake That's the 10 second version, believe me you don't want to hear the 24 minute version

I left mid morning and was in no hurry. I was only going to Ronnie’s house about 3 to 4 hours away and the mood I was in it would most likely be 4. The plan was for me to spend the night once I got there and we would get a early start the next morning. Didn’t work out that way.

The ride over the hill was fantantic. It always is, you go from 800 to 7,000 ft then back down to 4000 ft with in an hour and a half. Twisties great views the whole way.


I pulled into Ronnie's place about 3pm and he met me out in front of his house. He had a big smile and looked ready to go. He was very excited about this trip and so was I. Like two boys waiting to open their presents on Christmas morning.

He said “Oh, hey, I bought my wife a new bike. Then lead me out to the barn where it was stored. He showed me Claudine’s pretty red Honda Rebel 250. Then he looked at me and said,
“Hell, why not start now?”

I had just taken my gloves off, my butt still warm from the saddle. My brain kicked into high gear and calculated how many hours of day light were left and how far we could get before dark. At that moment it made good sense to me. Why not?

I said “Let's go!”

So, we spend the next hour packing Ronnie’s bike and we were off!

It is such a high for me at the begining of a trip. You know there is a unknown adventure awaiting you and you also know there is…good,.. bad,.. ugly…and great!

The bike on the left is Ronnie's bike and a cute Red and cream Honda 250 belongs to Ronnie's wife Cladine (great woman.)







We are off, we have packed the bikes, checked the list and started the engines. This is always a very exciting moment for me. We ride down the dirt road to 9th ave where we hit pavment and turn south onto the main Highway when all of a sudden Ronnie stops. What's up...I'm thinking, we are not even a mile down the road a problem already?
Ronnie’s speedo isn't working. We break out the tools, remove the console and see the plug socket has come undone. Reassimble and bang, it works again. First problem out of the way in less than 2 minutes.

We get about an hour down the road when Ronnie needs feeding. Ronnie is nice to have around when it is time to eat because he knows a good place to eat in every town in the entire state of Nevada. And at the next little town he leads me into this little Chinese restaurant. Umm, Chinese, ...why are we stopping again?

And wouldn't you know it, Ronnie just so happens to know the owner of this little place. But then again Ronnie knows alot of people in Nevada.

We sat, we ate, we laugh… and did I say free lunch!!! It’s great to know people, who know people.

After lunch I felt we needed to get some miles under our belt. It seemed like we got a late start and I had this push from within to move, move, move.

Well I guess it’s time I posted a picture of this crazy guy from Nevada, here is Ronnie.

He's quite the guy. Old school, funny, easy going, tough, will to crack up a tool set and will follow you anywhere you lead him.

Just make sure you cook his hash browns extra crispy...

It’s not long before I get what I wanted, open road. Not many cars out here and I like it that way. I always wondered how the cowboys did it, cross this great wasteland. This is what I think about when I'm out here.

Ummm...wonder what Ronnie thinks about?

2 hours have passed and we are still on the same road. The only road. Over every ridge you can see another 10 miles of road. It's vast out here.

The whole state is like this. Miles and miles and miles of lonely road...

60 miles into our tank we find our turn off. Hwy 375 the Extraterrestrial Hwy. Also, the sun is only an hour or so away from setting. The only life we find at the turn is this.

Here is the famous ET Hwy sign.

Most roads cross canyons in Nevada, but this road heads south-east in a canyon. It goes for miles and miles. About 75 miles in we finally see some form of life and not a moment too soon. Our tanks are almost empty and it’s getting dark. But we come across this little town which consisted of a bar, a shack with two pumps out front and couple of mobile homes. Also, luck was with us because as we pulled into the station we pulled up to a car that was sitting at the pump. Now the car had arrived 15 minutes earlier and the station was closed. They went to the bar next door who then called the lady who owned the station and she had to walk from her mobile home to the pumps. We had arrived just as she was unlocking the pumps.

We head off from here and drive into the night. Just trying to make miles. No pictures, no stops, just driving. Once it gets dark in Nevada it can become a game of dodge ball. All kinds of critters start crossing the road. Some time around 11pm we pull into Cedar City. We stop at the first Hotel, get a room and crashed. Sleep comes easy on the road.

Next morning we were up bright and early. I thought for sure Ronnie would be worn out from all the riding done on the previous day, but he was ready!

This is where we spend the night in Cedar City.

From here we hit I-15 and head south. This is Utah and the scenery is quickly changing. The browns turn to this burnt orange color. Quite pretty. Weather is wonderful.

It had been years since seeing Utah, and I remember it being wonderful. Our first stop this morning was Zion Nt Park. Mornings don’t get better than this.

Now this is riding…. We must be getting close to Zion.

Wait a gift shop, we need to stop. Now I’m starting to feel like a tourist. Of course Ronnie had to get his picture taken with the lady working the counter.

After picking up a few refrigerator magnets we head into the Park.

Nice weather for a ride through Zion.

As soon as you enter the park you see this. Wow!

You can see the road on the right heading up the hill.

We quickly found out we had to stop around almost every turn to take pictures.

This view is looking back down on the road we just came up. Nice eh?

This place is magical. With words like ooou, wow and fantantic for discriptions. It brought out the kid in both of us. I could'nt get enough of this place.

Nice!

This hole is a air vent for a tunnel carved through the rock.

This was a tunnel over a mile long. Yep, it was orange also.

I’m amazed that even the roads are orange here in the park.

It doesn’t take very long to get through the park and it’s back on open road.

Now we are crossing Utah on our way to AZ. Ronnie’s beard was very long on this trip and kept flapping in the wind. He looked like a crazy man every time we stopped.

We have to cross back over into AZ before we turn north towards CO. Of course we had to stop at the state line.

The bridge at Lake Powell Dam.

This next picture has a little story behind it. We are at Lake Powell Dam and they have a visitor’s center right next to the dam. I thought I could run in take a picture of the dam and get out quickly. Didn’t turn out that way. Because of 9/11 dams now have strict security. I almost had to do a strip search to get in because all the metal on my chaps and vest. Fifteen minutes later I was able to get to the window and take this picture then turn around and exited. Didn’t even turn out that good. Next time I will skip that part.

This turned out to be a great stopping place because of the shade. Not much shade in this part of the world.

The country out here is extremely nice. I could travel through here again and again.

This is Indian country. You cross several reservations and every gas station always had a old skinny dog out front. We have pan handlers here, they have dogs.

This is also red rock county. The sunsets are to die for!

We finally make it to the New Mexico border but it’s now dark and I’m not sure where the next town is.

Hey, just a few feet up the road is “Four Corners.” But it’s dark still and the park is closed. Make a note to stop here on the way back.
We drove on through the night until we reached the motel. Tired and worn out we checked in and crashed. No more pictures until the next morning we Ronnie and I get to find out just who showed up for this year’s rally.

All the bikes the next morning…nice turn out.

I’m not sure what the agenda is for this day except that we are going on a ride. This is only my second rally and not sure what to expect.

And before I know it we are off and running!

This is our first stop of this ride. I still don’t know where we are going, but I don’t really care.

Back on the road again. They have nice roads in CO.

It’s not long before we start winding up through the mountains. Up and up and up as my smile gets bigger and bigger. We finally reach the summit and I realize I didn’t bring my gloves. The temp was just find at the base of the mountain. Clouds are starting to roll in.

Back on the road and we start to head down the other side towards a little town called Silverton. Never heard of it but it sounds nice.