toshiro

Badass, and for stopping for the Harley guy.

ragnaroek

i'm on the edge of my seat over here... finish your report

Jasper_db1

Unfortunately I'm now in Dallas, TX on business until the end of the month so you guys are going to have to wait

JDMguy88

I recently did the drive from IL to Denver, we did most of it at night (since there was nothing to see anyway ) left at 7pm chicago time and arrived in Denver around noon of the next day. It was easily the worst part of the trip from chicago to Newport Beach.

BoostLE

Jasper's brother here and I've been on the edge of my seat waiting for the pics since we returned! Patience patience I guess.

The trip was awesome on many different levels. I got to learn a whole lot about how to control a motorcycle and how to ride in all sorts of conditions. This was my first two-wheeled adventure and I'm still a n00b when it comes motorcicles. We rode through 30+ mph winds, rain, a little hail, darkness, swarms of some nasty bugs, and what felt like near-freezing temps. I also learned that a fully loaded KLR with a 180lb me on top does not like creeping along in traffic! Thankfully I didn't tip over but I felt like a circus grizzly riding a toddlers bicycle a few times wobbling all over the damn place.

Motorcycling is such a badass way of traveling, even if you can't do more than 70mph on the freeway. You're out in the open...err buffeting...air and there's no cage to restrict your view. There's also something almost magical about the way a bike leans into a corner and stringing a bunch of them together around Lake Mead was the most fun I've had on a twisty road. Yeah an S2000 with RA1's has a lot more grip, but it's just not the same.

Awaiting the rest of the report...

Jasper_db1

When I get back from Dallas, I'll finish this up.

MSchu

Your the man Han. That's a great picture you painted for those of us that couldn't make

Jasper_db1

I'm skipping Day's 4-5 since we spent almost all of our time at Miller Motorsports Park watching the racing and related activities. The Ducati models were HOT and may require another thread. Sorry for the lack of pictures in this part of the story. We were chasing daylight and really had to make tracks.

Anyway - At the end of Day 5, we decided to head south immediately from the race track instead of hanging around SLC that evening. The reason was that we had missed seeing Bryce on the way up and wanted to buy some time to see it on the way home. We blasted down I-15 as quickly as we could and stopped for gas and food in South Salt Lake City which reminded me a bit of Santa Ana, CA. With a belly full of so-so Mexican food, we got back on I-15 and exited in Nephi to pickup US-89. The plan was to spend the night in Nephi and push on in the morning but the bikes were running great and we had a few more hours of dusk to work with. Map in hand, we spotted a little town called Ephraim south of where US-132 and US-89 intersect. US-132 is beautiful. The sun was setting behind us which lit farms and pastures ahead in a wonderful evening glow. We passed through a little town called Moroni where I nearly ran over a dog that ran towards the street. Han said there were actually two!

We get into Ephraim and I dive for the first "Motel" I see. The place looked like a set of a horror film where two asian guys on motorcycles are cannibalized by the native zombies so we hit the road and found a great hotel in the middle of nowhere! $90 was a smoking deal as far as I was concerned and the gal was nice enough to give us a room with near a door and a view to the parking lot.

I think we were both getting grumpy from being on the road for but hot showers and soft beds made all the difference in the world.

The view from our hotel room At the Willow Creek In. There's a 30' cable wrapped around the bikes and that light post:


The next morning we hit the road early after the complimentary breakfast at the hotel. If you guys pass through that area and need a bike friendly place to spend the night, I can't recommend The Willow Creek Inn enough. The roads were clear, clean, and smooth and we got some excellent riding in.

We stopped to take a break along the side of the road since I figured if my bladder was full, Han's was too


We had traveled about 70 miles from the hotel at this point and I figure I was good for another 70 or so and we were sure to hit a gas station by then. Boy was I wrong! We passed a gas station about 5 min after the picture above but kept going since we had a plan. The town we got to next had a gas station but none of the pumps we working. A nice sign told us there was gas at the next town. We get to the next town and the gas station was boarded up with a sign telling us to go to the next town. I was at 138 or so miles on the meter and the next town was 20+ miles away. I might JUST make it.

I don't:


With 161 miles showing, the YZF hesitates then the engine cuts out. I paddle it to the shoulder completely out of gas. You can make Panguitch, UT in the background!

The KLR's got much longer legs so Han rides ahead to find gas. I guess he found some but I don't see a red can anywhere:


So the story is that the gas station is run by a family and the daughter is totally hot so Han got a bit distracted Surprisingly, the gas station doesn't sell any gas cans and don't have any to loan so this is the solution he came up with:


That's right - a Monster Energy can full of gas! I lol'd when I saw it since I read a thread about a squid on gixxerforum putting NOS energy drink in his bike thinking it was octane booster. It turns out the ME can is build very well and has a resealable cap!

Can emptied into the tank, we ride the mile and a half to the gas station in Panguitch:

Jasper_db1

Gas tanks full, we thought about filling the Monster Energy can but were afraid it might not seal so we hit the road and ride onto Bryce.

At the first vista point we see just outside of Bryce Canyon NP. I think it's called Red Rock Canyon or something like that for good reason:


That was the last picture I was able to take since I had run down all my memory cards. We rode on towards the park entrance and stopped at Ruby's Inn for lunch:
(not my picture)


The cool thing is that they have a huge gift shop with photo services so I had them offload my memory cards onto DVD's. I didn't take any pictures of the area because it started to rain as we left the lodge towards the bikes. When we got to the park entrance, we were sitting in a downpour. We had every intention of camping in Bryce so we made it to the North Campsite and found a spot.

We decided against it when it started to hail!


With camping out of the question and since we were already wet, we rode to a few of the many view points inside the park:






So does this mean we can borrow your car?


We leave Bryce and head on to Zion with plans to find lodging in St. George just outside of the park.

The weather in Zion is much different than at Bryce. It was so hot we had to stop and take out the liners and base layers.

marmaladedad

Pix or it didn't happen!!!!!!!

MSchu

Ditto!

Stuff looks great Duy/Han... Zion Looks Stunning

toshiro

So did you already have that Monster can handy, or did he have to chug it before he could put gas in it? lol.

Jasper_db1

He chugged half of the can and buzzed all the way to Zion

I brought the camera into the gas station but the parents were wary of us so I couldn't get a shot.

MSchu

your not watching MJ at staples?


Here... use your imagination.

Jasper_db1

We leave Zion and ride onto Hurricane though patches of warm rain. We find the interstate and ride through St. George in the early afternoon and decide to push for Mesquite, NV instead of spending the night in St. George since it was hot and there was plenty of daylight left.

Just south of St. George, we entered the Virgin River Gorge again but this time we were riding into the sun and then the rain started. Winds drove the rain nearly parallel to the road surface and boy did the drops hit hard.

We finally make it to Mesquite hot, tired, and hungry. We locate a Best Western and put in for the night.

The next morning, we perform some basic maintenance on the bikes and find the KLR to be a bit low on water. We get that fixed, pack the bikes, and look over the map. Han knows this part of the state so he plots a route around Lake Mead and Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. The trip starts well but the temps quickly rise and then the road surface goes to hell. It turns out that the road had washed away and road crews were building the road bed. For the third time on this trip, we were behind a guide vehicle.

This is an oasis just after the first washed out section:


The roads inside Valley of Fire are spectacular! They remind me of the Angeles Crest HWY in the way the corners flow.

We stop to take in the sights after some more road construction.


The road from here clears up. Han's been here before and leads us to Callville Bay in Lake Mead where we get breakfast at the Marina. I order the typical eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash. When Han orders the burger special, the old lady behind the counter gave him the meanest look so he changed it to a breakfast plate! LOL

The people in the marina were really cool. A lady working there talked to us at length about her family's involvement with Land Speed Record attempts at Bonneville and then gave us some route suggestions around the lake. Good people are still out there :D

A view of Callville Bay (not my picture)


We ride around Lake Mead and nearly get run off the road by some lost tourists in a rental. I let them know they were number 1 with hand signals and move on. That was probably the only road incident of the trip (thank god).

We come out of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area and stop for gas in Boulder City, NV:


The last part of the journey was mad push home Via Henderson and then I-15 all the way home. We put 110 miles in and pull in for gas in Orange, CA where we shoot the **** with a guy on a DR650 for about 1/2 an hour in what seemed like the busiest Chevron station in the county telling him about our adventure.

For old time's sake, we ride home through Santiago Canyon, by Cook's Corner where the posers hang, and then down El Toro feeling like victorious knights returning home from battle.

We made it:


Some of the things that I learned on the trip are:

Take your time. I was grumpiest when we were pushing the distances and time on the saddle.
Bring lots of water and drink it.
Stop more often.
Take more pictures.

Thanks for riding along with us. I hope you enjoyed reading about or adventure as much as we enjoyed riding it.

polishrifle

Bravo!

05 600RR

Great pics, looked like a fun trip w/ beautiful scenery. Thanks for sharing.

VWkila

COOL! thanks for the blog.

ragnaroek

glad you guys had a great time and only dealt with 1 idiot in a car.

+1 on taking your time. i was typically stopping every 120 or so miles, and the difference in my mood compared to when i pushed that even to 150 miles was surprising. on my longer days i was cursing till i was blue in the face at everyone and everything

about the water - i would suggest investing in some sort of camel back. if your gear is loose enough they can be worn under your jacket and will help to regulate your core temperature. filling it up with ice water gives you a few hours of comfort when the outside temperatures are high. mine cost $11 from the local camping store, it's some super cheap 3L unit meant for kids.

definitely take more pictures. i had my camera packed away for most of my trip and now regret it. bleh.