Chasing Coyote & Roadrunner

[V4 Rosso]

Excellent travel log, and what a great trip.

On the sign it also mentioned "slide shows" - I never thought to inquire about what that meant.

Too bad, I was wondering about that too The font they used looks modern so it seems not to be something that dates back to the time when motion pictures were still rare.

[Switchblade]

Lucky not much rain .....

[Cogswell]

http://goo.gl/maps/fKJjo

A side trip I took from Flagstaff was a quick run to Winslow, AZ to get a photo op at this famous landmark on E 2nd & Kinsley Street downtown. The plaza had a steady flow of visitors, making it difficult to get this shot. This location was a homepage photo a month or two back, and I couldn't resist taking a run to Winslow to get it. Out of sight to the right is a gift / curio shop that has an outdoor speaker that plays Eagles music non-stop. It was fine being a visitor - but I'll bet they get sick of hearing it.

In the next photo you get a better view of the guy "standing on the corner", waiting for the girl in the flatbed Ford to stop for him.

When researching the location of the plaza, looking on-line at posted photos I was taken aback . . . my father was a building contractor when I was in high school and he had this identical truck - a 1960 Ford, in this exact color scheme. It's what he taught me to drive in, so I had to get to Winslow for the photo-op with it . . . No girl in the truck though. It looks nicer in the photos than it does up close - the paint on it isn't all that great - but hey, it's for effect, not show. If we all looked that good after 53 years . . .

Winslow appeared to be a struggling community - lots of vacant commercial real estate - some of the signs proclaiming "For Sale Make Offer". Much of the housing was in need of repair, giving the impression that times are tough in the town. I suspect the plaza above is one of the few tourist attractions.

I'll bet there's an interesting story about how this town about 1/2 way between Flagstaff and Winslow got its name . . .

After leaving Winslow and returning to Flagstaff, it was then north on US 180. The road began climbing in to the pine forest that surrounds the city.

As time went on through this trip I got better at setting the throttle lock and grabbing the camera from the tank bag for an in-motion shot. That saved a lot of time when taking lots of photos.

Along the way there were some controlled burns going on - I suppose to clear out excessive underbrush. Signs were posted instructing not to report the fires . . .

The elevation continued to climb and the temperature to drop . . .

Soon enough though the forest gave way to more of an open plain with far fewer trees . . .

There are several national forests though . . .

The scenery was wonderful with virtually no traffic . . .

At the junction of US180 and SR64 is the Grand Canyon Valle airport, and a tourist attraction called "Bedrock City". These were in the parking lot . . .

I'm guessing some sort of surface to air missile or maybe a drone from the 1960's . . .

Yabba Dabba Doo . . .

Getting closer to the Grand Canyon Village, it is all too apparent that like so many of the other national parks, we are loving them to death. My recollection of going to places like this as a kid was that few services were available and that what buildings there were tended to blend in more and were much fewer and further between. That was sort of the attraction of the the parks - they were remote, and people were there to experience raw nature rather than fine dining, Starbucks and Wifi access . . . The experience now seems a lot more like going to the movies than to a natural wonder.

This was south of the park entrance . . .

Tomorrow I'll finish this leg (3rd day) with the Grand Canyon.

[Cogswell]

A few miles past the commercial development is the park entrance. Admission on the bike was $12. I'm not really sure what that goes to here . . . the sarcastic part of me believes that it's to fund the toll booths to collect the fee. Sign of the times I suppose.

Traffic was light - it was a Thursday, but the weekends are undboutedly more crowded.

The Grand Canyon is so well known, documented and visited that I won't throw in many photos. If you have not been there however, no description or photo can convey the sense of scale and texture of the canyon. From rim to rim it is 18 miles wide and about 1 mile deep. Few things that I have seen photos of have exceeded my expectations. This was one of them. When I rolled up to the first stop, I drew a breath - the view is awesome.

It seemed puzzling at first that there were so many California license plates on the cars. Milling about the view points for a while I noticed that I was hearing numerous languages - mostly from Europe. French, German, British accents, Russian, Czech - on and on. It dawned on me that the California cars were rentals - the Europeans were flying to LAX from Europe, renting cars and driving them to the Grand Canyon. Mine was the only bike I saw while in the park.

This was the name of the highway after leaving the East entrance to the South Rim road - not sure if it has something to do with Bushmaster Arms (their logo is not what's on this sign) - or what . . .

From the Grand Canyon it was north again on US 89 toward Marble Canyon. This stretch was the only place in the 1,325 miles that I encountered any rain. My luck had really held out - I was just one step ahead of the rain. Fortunately it didn't last long.

Along the way, the terrain became virtually un-populated with the exception of some very scattered Navajo settlements. I honestly don't know how these folks make it out there. I can't imagine they even have running water. Some of the dwellings don't appear to have been built up to any building codes - but somehow they survive.

These road side vending stands were very common - it's probably a main source of income for the locals - at least during the summer months.

I was really looking forward to Marble Canyon, as the photos I had seen of it were spectacular. I approached the bridge from the left side of the photo (from the south). The bridge in the foreground is a pedestrian bridge and the far one carries traffic. I pulled in to the vistor area on the left and took a few photos. The buildings on the left side are for vending, and there was a lot of that going on. The buildings on the right side were restrooms and a visitor's center.

Unfortunately at the site were some sort of gnats / fruitflies - and they were all over me. I used this as a water / lunch break, but I really didn't feel much like sticking around with those things swirling all around. They even got in my helmet as I was ready to leave.

As over whelming as the Grand Canyon was, this location was the opposite. The view from the air is the best one - there just weren't that many good vantage points to take a shot from the bridge.

This map gives an indication of the size of the Navajo lands in the southern Utah / Northern Arizona region

I looked straight down over the rail and saw this guy perched on one of the horizontal girders. Even after studying the photo for a while, I can't make up my mind if this was a vulture or a condor. Any bird experts out there . . . ?

I yelled down to him, "HEY - Number two - what are you doing down there?" He clearly heard me and turned his head so that he could look up at me . . . as if to say "WTF do YOU want??" This was one weird looking bird.

Besides the persistent gnats at the bridge, as I ate lunch I looked at the sky and realized time was running short. The term "you can smell the rain" came in to play here. The falling rain must stir up dust, pollen or whatever that can be smelled. Some inner sense told me "you need to get going". As I rolled out the lot and followed 89A southwest I could see what I had been smelling. A thunderstorm was headed northeast, right at me - heavy rains and air to ground lightning in the mix. The highway continued about 10 + miles directly toward the storm before turning northwest again, so it was time to put the hammer down. I didn't ride particularly fast on this trip, but at this point adrenaline took over and I made very good time. Once the highway changed direction and took me away from the storm, I relaxed once again. Lightning strikes are nothing to fool around with.

I'm sort of fascinated with all things abandoned - like the 49 Buick back in Bluff. Approaching the small town of Fredonia, AZ just south of the Utah border, I came across an abandoned motel - "The Shiprock". "The Shipwreck" would probably be more appropriate.

This was the fate of most all things Route 66 that existed between the '30's and '50's - eventually bypassed by newer and better things - reclaimed by either man or the Earth - someone's former livelihood now just a pile of junk.

There were some other old time neon motel signs that still haven't succumbed to modern times.

The last stop for the day was Kanab, UT for a fill up and then on back to the campground I had left 3 days before. Leaving Kanab headed north on US 89, along the way I saw this sign and could not pass it up for a photo. I had to wonder "what else goes on in that restaurant, anyway??"

[rangemaster]

To quote Winston Churchill when asked about his visit to the Grand Canyon: "It exceeded my expectations... and they were very great."

[Belfry]

Leaving Kanab headed north on US 89, along the way I saw this sign and could not pass it up for a photo. I had to wonder "what else goes on in that restaurant, anyway??"

I get a kick of out road signs in small town America (Canada's got some funny stuff too ...). I'm confused, and mildly aroused, by the image of Lucille Ball with extra long legs in high heels and a French maid's outfit. And I'm not sure pointing out that the pie is made by a "ho," is clever marketing--though maybe it works in Utah!

[dr.toto]

Great post! I agree with your Flagstaff comments. Most people have stretched your trip into a few more days. You and I could travel together.

[Cogswell]

I'm starting this post off a bit out of order, tying it to the end of the last one. I'm not sure if board rules prevent me from posting a photo of a semi-pornographic business sign, but hey, if it passed the review of the Utah DOT and local sign and zoning ordinances it must be OK for VFRD, right? I didn't go in to the restaurant (The Thunderbird), but there were plenty of cars around and customers going in and out, so it must be pretty popular. It stands (I was going to say "lays" - ) at Mt Carmel Junction, the intersection of US 89 and SR 9, which is the entrance road in to Zion Park. I'll get to Zion Park in my next (and last) installment. It was not the last part of the ride, but it will be a good way to close this post out.

Meantime, I realized that I've now spent more time writing this post up than I did actually riding it - I had a feeling that might be the way it went, as getting the photos and timeline organized is time consuming . . . my brain just can't go as fast as the 800 . . . and I only have so much time every day to create these.

So on this, my 4th and final day of riding this trip, I had a short run from Panguitch, UT down US89 to reach the two roads I wanted to ride that day - Utah route 9 in to Zion, and Utah 14 West to Utah 143, which is a scenic byway.

http://goo.gl/maps/GIJqZ

As I said, I made the Zion Loop first, then made the 143 byway loop to close out the ride in Panguitch, but I'm going to reverse those so the post ends with Zion Park. This day's ride was barely 200 miles, but it was so photo packed that it took me all day long to do it.

At the turnoff of on to 14, there were numerous warning signs posted about the severity of the curves along the way and for trucks to turn around - so I wondered what I was getting in to.

The road began to climb immediately, and did not abate for what I was to find out a good many miles ahead. I had no idea that the terrain in the area was at such altitude (I'll keep the summit a secret for now . . .) or what lay ahead. Referencing the map, between SR14 and 143 is 148, which has a very dark grey shaded area to its west. On Google maps I saw nothing indicating what that is . . . maybe some sort of gravel quarry or something? I figured I was going to find out . . .

Along the road, there were numerous trial heads, mostly for ATV's, which seems to be one of the chief forms of recreation in Utah (the pie shop not withstanding . . . ). It wasn't far up the road that I encountered a small natural lake and the first a many lava formations.

Navajo lake looked man made - or at least modified by humans . . . but the information was that it was created by local lava flows.

Many of the trees surrounding the lake were dead, begging the question of what's happening to them.

I had gone maybe 10 miles, and when I checked the altimeter, this was the reading . . . 9,219. I know that's not a lot by the standards of those of you in Colorado, but for the rest of us and what I was expecting, it was up there!

I made another stop at a story board that explains how the lava flows were formed . . .

As I rounded the bend, I found out what the "grey area" to the west of route 148 on the map actually is:

I had no idea what that meant or if it was worth seeing . . .

I pulled up to a turnout that had a ranger station with a fee booth where plenty of folks were paying the ranger to take a walk past behind the building to - what - I had no idea. I sat for a moment and pondered whether to do the same, but time and mileage had taken its toll on my motivation, so I decided that I would ride on and just take in whatever I could see from the road.

While sitting there, a man riding this bike pulled up next to me and struck up a conversation, commenting that he liked the 800. I thought that rare from a Harley rider, many of whom seem to only see other Harley's. He claimed that his bike had 105,000 miles on it - if so, it was very well kept.

Motoring on a few more miles, I rounded a bend and got my first look at what people had been paying admission to see . . .

Turns out "Cedar Breaks" is sort of a mini version of Bryce Canyon, with many of the same types of formations (hoodoos, spires, etc). The ranger station I had passed is about the center top of the photo above on the canyon rim. I did some reading on the name, and it turns out that "Cedar" was what the first to discover the canyon mistook the local trees (I think juniper) for and "Breaks" for the way the canyon just "breaks" off from the surrounding terrain.

In the following photos, I stood at one of the lookout points with my back to the canyon, then rotated myself just about the width of a photo the camera could take, then repeated until I got to the canyon to give an idea of how abrupt this is. Just follow the photos down in succession . . .

This is an impressive monument . . . one of the information signs mentioned that the canyon is about 2,500 feet deep. One false step and it would have probably have been impossible to climb back out. No doubt more than one person has met their fate that way here. I wonder what the first primitive peoples thought of these places. They could not have understood how they came to be - so it probably became part of the their cultural ceremonies to explain it.

Another shot of the altimeter . . . 10,237. The highest I got in the area was 10,517. I had no idea that this area was up this high - and despite the skiing, that Utah had such elevations.

There was also some very interesting grasses in the area - it almost looks like paintbrushes growing out of the ground. It had almost a strange pink hue to it.

So in the end, Cedar Breaks was a good destination. I had no idea.

The final part of this stretch was down the remainder of 143 to Panguitch. While it is scenic, the road surface was a nightmare. If you are in the area on your bike, the stretch of 143 from Cedar Breaks to Panguitch, UT is to be avoided. I have never in my life seen so many tar snakes. And these were not your garden variety ones either. These were applied with gusto - so heavy that the tar formed a 'dome' - humped up an inch or two above the asphalt. I had a pickup truck full of furniture behind me and I finally waved him past as I was sliding all over the road and was actually holding him up. The tar snakes alternated with some freshly laid oil/gravel ("chip seal" in this part of the country). The whole way I was cursing the head of the Utah DOT - whoever it is, they are obviously not a motorcyclist.

So this trip winds down . . . having returned to the campground the prior evening from the Grand Canyon, I asked the proprietors if they thought seeing Zion was worth it. In unison they both said "oh yes!" So I took their advice and made it part of my final day. Their advice did not disappoint. I'll post that up tomorrow.

[AB-Oz]

thanks for the pix and the stories to go with them, I toured through those areas back in 94 in a cage, I've got my photos tucked away somewhere, this has prompted me to have a look for them. But now I'm off to get some pie...

[Lorne]

What a great story and lovely photos, especially the opening shot of Monument Valley. I definitely have to use my camera more often.

[BonusVFR]

Excellent report.

I have UT back on the radar after a few years elsewhere so this review just starts the juices flowing again. Thanks!

You did a lot in four days and there is more to see of course. And your ride pointed out things that I have missed in the past on my AZ and UT adventures. Trucks and trailers do make sense if you are on a time budget and I often make them part of the planning process as well. They just give you more options.

For those contemplating this well documented trip but with a little more time in hand consider:

1. Bryce Canyon ...you do not have to go far into the NP to get the flavor and a MC will fit anywhere. There is NP camping just inside the gate. Be prepared for cold if you camp though as you are at altitude.

2. If you are in the Mexican Hat area the San Juan Inn pictured on the River is worth the stop and there is an excellent BBQ place you just up the road. What should not be missed is Goosenecks SP just north of town.

If you like adventure evaluate the Moki Dugway too...........but you better like dirt!

Of course, Zion and Arches should be mulled over ........but you see the trip is starting to grow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is the problem out West!

One thing, I still kick myself for is going north out of Hanksville. Take Cogs route as it is far superior in every way.

Thanks again for a fantastic tale.

[AB-Oz]

yeah a big plus for Bryce canyon is you can walk in and out of it pretty easily, there are some great things to see down at ground level

[Cogswell]

Excellent report.

I have UT back on the radar after a few years elsewhere so this review just starts the juices flowing again. Thanks!

You did a lot in four days and there is more to see of course. And your ride pointed out things that I have missed in the past on my AZ and UT adventures. Trucks and trailers do make sense if you are on a time budget and I often make them part of the planning process as well. They just give you more options.

For those contemplating this well documented trip but with a little more time in hand consider:

1. Bryce Canyon ...you do not have to go far into the NP to get the flavor and a MC will fit anywhere. There is NP camping just inside the gate. Be prepared for cold if you camp though as you are at altitude.

2. If you are in the Mexican Hat area the San Juan Inn pictured on the River is worth the stop and there is an excellent BBQ place you just up the road. What should not be missed is Goosenecks SP just north of town.

If you like adventure evaluate the Moki Dugway too...........but you better like dirt!

Of course, Zion and Arches should be mulled over ........but you see the trip is starting to grow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is the problem out West!

One thing, I still kick myself for is going north out of Hanksville. Take Cogs route as it is far superior in every way.

Thanks again for a fantastic tale.

Before I close this post out, I wanted to reply to and thank the kind words and good advice given by BonusVFR above. There is more to see than I did and reported on here - I passed over Bryce consciously due to time, and Goosenecks would also be fantastic. Spend the night at the Inn at Mexican hat and look around the area. So if you have the time, give yourself a week to ride the area - stop and take more photos, and add more to your schedule. Bonus is right - there is just so much to see and so many great roads . . . it can add up to a lot. My best advice though, is just GO. This place is awesome in every way.

The whole trip in and out of Zion is just 50 miles. It took me hours though . . .

http://goo.gl/maps/2s7j4

So it might seem odd that my first pic is of "Leaving Zion National Park" - and that was due to construction. As I entered the park, the road machinery you can see tucked in behind the sign was out in full force, and the traffic controllers allowed me no opportunity to get a photo on the way in.

Admission was $12 just like the Grand Canyon, no big deal. The booth operator was an older guy - and kind of gave me a knowing wink and nod as I rolled away from the booth as if to say "you have no idea what you're in for".

Zion is yet another canyon, but unlike Bryce, Grand or the others, this one has a road through it. I seriously doubt that if it weren't here now, the road would never be built today. So rather than looking from a 'stand off' distance, this is right up close. One thing about Zion though, is that some of it is closed off to their shuttle buses only. It is unfortunate that some of the park is closed off that way, but apparently the traffic through Zion had gotten so bad that traffic jams were quite a problem - and this was one of the ways they addressed that issue. The buses tended to be packed - standing room only, and the thought of boarding one in my gear was not very appealing, so I stuck to two wheels.

This guy was sort of a random photo - I had run in to a swarm of them earlier in the day and for the first time in my riding career, ducked down under the windscreen just to get away from the cloud of flying insects I was riding through - they made very distinct "thuds" as they hit my jacket - but upon later inspection, surprisingly left almost no mark or residue. I have no idea what these things are - but like the bird the day before at the bridge, they're really weird looking - and large.

Leaving the toll booth, the show starts almost immediately . . . The road is a dark red, much like so much of the terrain in southern Utah. I feel like I'm repeating myself, but the rocks in Zion were like so many others in the entire basin . . . strata through the rock often run at odds with each other - some horizontal, some and weird angles and some up and down, in this case giving the rock a checkerboard appearance.

One advantage in Zion is that with such narrow or non-existent shoulders, a bike can pull off for a look or a photo where a car never could - so there are a lot more opportunities for us to grab shots!

There are a couple of tunnels along the road to the West park entrance - this one (next 2 photos taken from the opposite ends) that you can see through, and then there's "THE TUNNEL" (those of you that have been there are familiar with what I'm talking about - I'll get to that later).

As I rode along, I was glad that the traffic was light and the speed limit low, as I was constantly looking and had to keep re-focusing on my riding. The scenery in this park is Ka-razy.

This formation I turned around and went back to in order to grab a pic - it looks like some giant taking art class has used its hand and squished some wet clay and set it down here for it to harden.

The road kept switching back on itself and the vistas just kept coming . . .

I wondered how long it would be before this rock slides off down on the road . . .

Note how the sediment layers in this rock have been turned to the vertical . . .

On the way down, I didn't get a chance to take any shots, but on the way back traffic stopped as I arrived at "THE TUNNEL":

The length - 1.1 miles - I can't recall ever having been through one that long. The Eisenhower Tunnel in CO is a half mile longer, but it's also far more spacious, and is lit. This tunnel is black, black, black. I shudder to think what they have to do if there is any kind of accident between cars in there - it must be a nightmare to get them out. The booths at each end of the tunnel stop traffic and group cars up in to lots of a dozen or so and then let them through.

The tunnel is exactly two lanes wide, and the signs clearly say NO STOPPING IN THE TUNNEL. The road surface in the tunnel appeared to be poured concrete and I could see a bit of a shine off it, and that was confirmed in my mind as I felt the rear tire skitter around a bit. If there was ever a place where smooth throttle control was called for, this was it . . . The entrances to the tunnel are at different elevations, and I'm still kicking myself for not having noted that from the GPS to figure out the difference - but it was substantial. It was notably downhill going East to West and uphill going back. The sound of the VFR going through the tunnel is amazing . . . it would have been even better to have had GDC's.

I wasn't quite sure what to do, as I had a dark visor on my helmet, and there are no lights in the tunnel except on the vehicles - it is one deep, dark hole.

So, I just raised the visor and took the dust and grit that came along, stopping at the other end to put some eyedrops in to clean the crud out of them.

There are 3 ventilation ports in the tunnel, and one of them can be seen from the road below. Imagine - right inside that wall a line of cars is progressing through solid rock . . .

Coming out of the tunnel on the East end, there was a turnout where I was able to stop to take a few photos. I got the stink eye from the booth worker, but I didn't linger long, so no hassles with the park police.

Back on the East side, there were still more strange formations, this one that looked like some kind of glazed pastry . . .

While waiting for some cars that wanted to pull in to a turnoff, I snapped a self-portrait . . .

These series of pics show clearly how convoluted the various striations in the rock become - in one place it looks almost as though a giant finger has carved a smooth depression horizontally across the face of the cliff.

I don't know if this formation had a name, but it was interesting.

This was my last photo inside the park as I was nearing the East entrance where I had entered about 4 hours before (I did stop at the visitors center, so that added some time. I wouldn't bother stopping there unless you either A. Need to use the facilities or B. Want to get a brochure or a map. Otherwise, there's not much there except throngs of people).

None of this even included the bus tour, or any hiking in the park, which can lead to things a lot more spectacular than this. Zion is definitely deserving of a full day, or if you want to hike, two.

Once out of the park, it was once again time to put some distance under the tires. I hadn't gone far though, when I noticed along a straight stretch of the road a woman standing on the double yellow ahead of me clowning around. Her husband (BF?) was standing at the car which they had pulled off the road opposite from me and was taking her photograph. I thought WTH . . . WHY would he be taking a photograph of her standing out in the middle of the road like that?? I turned to look back over my shoulder to to see the line of sight of his camera, and saw something I hadn't expected . . .

If only I had a 7th gen . . .

From there it was back to the campground to my faithful truck quietly waiting for me, and a beautiful sunset.

While I don't often admit it, even to myself, I had been very fortunate in so many ways . . . to live in such a great place and time that allows me the means and the fantastic technology ride through all this and see it, to have the support of family and friends to make it possible, and to have dodged the weather 4 straight days in a row - after returning home, many of these locations were once again experiencing rain. It was almost as if a weather door opened when I arrived, and as I started riding, closing again behind me. Lastly I was fortunate to be back having had a safe ride.

If my photo count came in correctly, it's 237 - so hopefully I under-promised and over-delivered.

If you decide to ride this region, it would be good to do some weather research. In the summer months, the heating of the atmosphere causes clouds to form up, and over many of these areas thunderstorms crop up. A couple of people mentioned to me that "oh yeah - this is our monsoon season". Not sure if that's true or not - but it's worth looking in to. Accuweather.com has some very good data on the seasonality of rain - if I were to do this again, I would likely go either around Memorial Day or after Labor Day - not in July or August.

So I'll close out this post by sharing a secret about these ride reports. If you take a trip like this and come back and post it up, the secret is that you'll get more out of it than your readers will. If you force yourself to narrate your photos, you'll re-live the trip again in your mind and help cement the scenes and experiences you had in your memory. Another is that if you show just one person some part of the world they have never seen and inspire them to ride it, there's a lot of satisfaction in that too. So get out and ride. See you down the road.

[AB-Oz]

This formation I turned around and went back to in order to grab a pic - it looks like some giant taking art class has used its hand and squished some wet clay and set it down here for it to harden.

No, that is quite obviously a giant Hippo rising up thought the pimordial mud :)

nice finish to your story, thanks again for taking the time to post.

[panamawing]

Thanks! Love everything about this post. Been to some of the same places back in 06 for our family vacation in mini van pulling pop up camper from Nebraska to California and back! Don't recall any motorcycles in my rear view mirror, and I was trying to imagine riding a motorcycle instead of driving the van. Even might of took a few corners a little fast for the family's liking. Pretty desolate and amazing area!

[BonusVFR]

Great shots of Zion. The opposite of Bryce which looks down into the canyon the whole way.

For sure any of rides in the Big NPs can take some time. I spent a whole day just in Arches alone. Is it not about cornering but viewing and snapping.

Warning!!! Your comments about low light visibility in Zion tunnel are apropos. I think I was in Brian Head a few years back and we heard about a couple of riders who crashed in the tunnel and died. Apparently they were all wearing sunglasses and "carrying" some speed. Frankly there is no place to stop once you are in the maze.

Another trip expanding option to consider is the North Rim of Grand Canyon ............ a lot less folks but not open year round.

[Elfrider]

Awesome ride report. I have done some of this two years ago. May do some of this again as I head up to Salt Lake and Reno next month. Trying to get to the Air Races. Thanks for the post. I know how long this stuff takes. It is appreciated.

[choco]

Those images are amazing, I can only imagine what it was like to be riding through so much spectacular scenery. Great ride report Cogs. I'm going to get my wife to look at the pictures too.

[Cogswell]

Thanks for all the comments. I hope everyone enjoyed it. It was a fun trip and fun to come home each night and add another segment to the post.

I found this post on ADV rider that covers much of the same ground - some of the same places, except through the back country . Loads of photos. Looks like a lot of fun. I just might have to get myself a dual sport bike . . .

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=725976

[JETS]

Great report and well written. You had a good journey and shared it well. Thanks for the time and trouble for all our enjoyment. One of the best I have seen on here.

[Guest]

Nice pics! Where did you get that tank pad, kind sir?

[Cogswell]

Nice pics! Where did you get that tank pad, kind sir?

If you mean the bra - that's Mag-Knight. They cover well but can be tricky to get fitted properly. It's basically like a die cut refrigerator magnet. I did add to that a piece of hand cut Tech-Spec material for some added grip to the bra. Not the greatest looking but it does seem to help get a better grip on the tank.