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V4S To Utah And The North Rim


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What is the cylinder case under your hard bag(left one as pictured from behind) ?

That is a Tool Tube. I usually carry a liter of extra gas in a MSR bottle there....and a perfect fit! . I travel a lot with bikes with big tanks and they are not looking for gas first I am! So it is insurance.

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Twisted Throttle sells them but I think welders supply guys have them cheaper.

http://www.twistedthrottle.com/twisted-throttle-tool-tube-w-mounting-kit

I also use bicycle under the seat bags for extra storage (tire repair kit etc) between the hard bags and the cowling on the bottom and run smaller storage bags on top of the cowling for misc cords/bungees and rags etc.

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What camping stove are you using? I have the MSR pocket which is small enough but I have to pack around canisters. A universal that also burns unleaded seems like a good match with some extra fuel on board.

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What camping stove are you using? I have the MSR pocket which is small enough but I have to pack around canisters. A universal that also burns unleaded seems like a good match with some extra fuel on board.

I am all about the gas especially in the tent. This is what we use. But I think it is discontinued now from Coleman. It is nice since you can break into two parts. I make him carry it as he has more room. I carry the extra gas for the stove, my bike and FIRE starter. I don't want propane canisters as you never know where/when you can get replacements etc.

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I also have a single burner Coleman multi fuel which I carry if solo. The best camp food I have had on tour is a six pack, a roasted chicken from the Supermarket and some chips. Veggies not required!!!!

Another shot of Tool Tube and you can barely make out the black bicycle bags. Fills in the space between the aftermarket hard bags and the cowling....6 gens need not!

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That changed on the way back on the Interstate. I have the proof...coming up.

But a lot of high altitude running helps and in the National Parks you just have to control yourself/righthand.I think after we got into Nevada I was in the mid forties most of the time. I have to be careful about gas since my buddy has 7.7 gallon tank and he does not worry about me. Out west range is a consideration and I have had several legs in excess of 200 miles between gas.

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Thumbs up for Cascade Design, the makers of Thermarest.

My 1979 self inflatable developped a small leak, they responded immediately by sending foc a repair kit and 2 tubes of Seamseal.

To reduce size and weight (backpacking back in the days) I had bought a "half length", supporting my body from shoulder to just above the knee. Never felt I missed anything.

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We rolled out and headed west to RT 89. Lots of wind today.

If I had not been in Utah for several days, the Red Rock at Red Canyon would have been a sure photo stop but I only snapped one.

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Then we cruised went down to RT17 to cross the mountains. The road climbs from the start with little traffic and some great turns. There is Lava in them thar hills!

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If I had a little more bandwidth I would have stopped in Duck Creek Village. There are several campgrounds in the area so if would be good place to camp to avoid the heat.

Navajo Lake just before the top.

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Love the high meadows but no serious wild flowers yet. The road reaches almost 10,000 ft. the highest point of our tour.

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You could always cut through Cedar Break if you could not resist more rocks. I have skied at Brian Head a couple of times and there is a sweet road down to Panguitch, which would be great route if you had the time and were traveling north.

We started descending towards Cedar City and the heat.

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BTW those tar snakes are only a problem over about 90 degrees. But now the slab beckons! The posted speed limit on Interstate 15 in Utah is 80 and we were keeping up with traffic. The VFR was purring and not really put off by the wind.

You have to love Las Vegas. This is why we skirted the place on the way out but we want to minimize the miles now as the barn is calling.

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This was a highlight of the City that never sleeps. I woulda lane split if I coulda!!!!! You miss "filtering" when it is 100 degrees and you are stalled on the skillet.

Things improved a bit ....yeah right!!!!! It was only 108 here with a vicious cross wind AND oh yes the sandstorm to keep us honest.

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Surprise....I was getting 34 mpg. I guess keeping up with the flow and the headwind/crosswind was payback for me bragging about my mileage.

We were done and pulled into the "resort" of Barstow after a 400 plus mile day. The Marines and the Army both have desert training bases here ...what does that tell you.

The next day, we arrived home about noon ..... it was a little over 70 in San Diego. The same old stuff!

Next Wrap-up

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It's amazing that the road at Cedar Breaks is over 10,000 feet elevation. The road from there to Panguitch was the most tar snake covered of my whole time in the area. Seems like if the pavement was that bad they could just re-pave it rather than drip that much tar over it. :pissed: Seemed like in Panguitch the chief form of recreation for teenagers is riding their quads and dirtbikes around town. No one seemed to mind.

Great photos - that whole area is a can't miss trip.

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Check you air filter probably full of sand .

I just changed it prior to the trip and really only had maybe ten miles of blowing sand. But I will check anyway. I suspect my mileage problem on the last leg was all about speed, lower altitudes and headwinds.

Which reminds me about another tour. One time I was coming back from Death Valley on a Sunday afternoon at dusk. So I rode my bike down 15 into the sun with a bunch of pissed off folks returning from Vegas after having lost all their money, no sleep and I hope just with a tiny hangover. Maybe that was worse than the turn north out of Hanksville.

Could you post up a larger map pic, or multiples, of your final route?

I will work on that too.

It's amazing that the road at Cedar Breaks is over 10,000 feet elevation. The road from there to Panguitch was the most tar snake covered of my whole time in the area. Seems like if the pavement was that bad they could just re-pave it rather than drip that much tar over it. :pissed: Seemed like in Panguitch the chief form of recreation for teenagers is riding their quads and dirtbikes around town. No one seemed to mind.

Great photos - that whole area is a can't miss trip.

That's a good warning for folks taking RT 143 to Panguitch. A couple of quick slides takes the fun out of it. We had a few moments with snakes on parts of 95 out of Blanding especially right before Glen Canyon. As my picture shows 14 has a few tar spots too but it was pretty cool at that time.

Southern Utah should be on everybody's bucket list. It has been a few years since I rode Utah and it was all I remembered. Incredible ride!

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Just got back from there with the family in the RV. Great area, with lots to see. I only averaged 8 MPG towing the trailer over all those passes, but at least gas is cheaper in Utah. We did Zion, Bryce, Grand Staircase/ Escalante and Kodachrome parks. Didn't have enough vacation time to make it to the North Rim, but now I regret it. We Must have crossed paths, I just got back to San Diego yesterday. I did see a red 6th gen at Bryce on the 4th.

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Just got back from there with the family in the RV. Great area, with lots to see. I only averaged 8 MPG towing the trailer over all those passes, but at least gas is cheaper in Utah. We did Zion, Bryce, Grand Staircase/ Escalante and Kodachrome parks. Didn't have enough vacation time to make it to the North Rim, but now I regret it. We Must have crossed paths, I just got back to San Diego yesterday. I did see a red 6th gen at Bryce on the 4th.

Did you take the bike too? This area is tough to beat but difficult to see it all ..... maybe in two weeks. I did combine a family vacation with a MC/bicycle tour to the South Rim a few years back.

Camping in May in Flagstaff was great until..............

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The snow and then a cabin based on the Chief of Staff's strong recommendations.....Yes Dear!!!!

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We did make it to the South Rim on the Wings of a Goldwing!

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Combining MCs and a family vacation is worthy of a thread in itself.

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I posted up in the downloads forum my route in gpx format. Hopefully it will work for you guys. This should work in most on line and gps systems.

AS regards trip planning, today Microsoft announced that Street & Trips will no longer be updated. My world is a changing....again! Not sure if I will buy the 2013 addition while it is still out there or go with one of the online offerings from Goggle or Bing. Sometimes you just do not have an Internet connection but some of the apps you can at least download the maps to the tablet/phone/pc!

This comes on the heal of the fact that for some time, I have been resisting converting over from Garmin's Mapsource (PC) to their new iteration called Basecamp (PC & MAC). Both of these offline applications are powerful tools that work well with traditional GPS platforms like my Zumo. So it seems like I am in a rut!

http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/files/file/215-bonusvfrutah2014/

Let me know if you have any issues with route. I can also post up the native Streets & Trips est file if anybody needs it.

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My trip was a little over 2,000 miles and took 8 days and included two days doing easy National Park loops. A 2K trip is just about right although, I have taken many longer tours including a 4,000 mile 3 week tour on a KLR in Alaska. I racked up a 56.4 mile an hour moving average which is not too bad since I motored sedately in three NPs. My mileage ranged from 34 to 57 mpg. On the bike, I saw temps vary from 50 to 113 degrees. While I did not use my heated vest as I had anticipated, I for sure opted for the cooling garment on several days. I was as high as 10,000 feet and as low as about -100 ft (below sea level).

As has been my norm of late, I camped 4 nights out of the 7. This tour was on budget. As we pitched our tents at about 8K ft evening temps were just about perfect for camping and two nights at each camp site reduced the setup/pack up hassle.

Probably our best day was the ride from Blanding Utah to Bryce which took in RT 95, 24 & 12. These rank among the best roads I have ever been on and scored high in both the twisty and scenic categories. The North Rim especially the side trip to Cape Royal Point scored very high marks as well.

One of my trip goals was to evaluate whether the VFR still serves my needs. It does however my assessment is still not complete. Upon my return, I had planned to take a 4K mile trip to South Dakota on my Wing to evaluate which bike is best for me. Unfortunately, I was unable to do the ride as I got sick just before shoving off. Frankly I did not want to ride in 100+ degree temps with a 100+ temp for the first couple of days.....so there you have it. So my VFR status is TBD. I will review several bikes in the fall to include those in the large 1200cc adventure class.

As regards my electronic warfare modifications, I still need some fine tuning as regards my setup but the Redline is a tool that will be with me in all future MC tours. When I returned I did some further tweaking but was not able to do another full on test due to circumstances noted above.

Now let me think about my next tour to get it all right! But I have to say this kind of stuff really floats my boat. It is about sweet roads, incredible scenery and an adventure! If you have not tried it do it and do wait for the perfect plan or ideal time as things never work out according to plan.

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Another tour and place but LETS GO!!!!

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This is a high! Jump on!

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V4 nirvana and this has got me all charged up for the next time.

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PS My RWB buddy is safe and sound and reports that he is done with MC sport touring and has returned all his camping gear.

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Always enjoy your ride reports and pics, looking forward to the next one. Can you point to the gpx file, I couldn't locate it.

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Hate to hear about your RWB buddy. And thanks for the ride report .

Sometimes touring especially the camping gig is not for everybody. Folks have a different way of doing things. Do what you enjoy but also try new adventures. When I got my VFR I had no idea of how my riding would play out. My first getting my toe wet trips (not event tours) led to "harder" stuff. Frankly it was serendipitous that I so enjoy VFRing around the West!

Trip reports are a good source for me to develop the possibilities for my next adventure so I enjoy outlining my trips for others to consider.

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Always enjoy your ride reports and pics, looking forward to the next one. Can you point to the gpx file, I couldn't locate it.

Glad you enjoyed it.

PM me with what type of file you want. .est....Microsoft Street and Trips, .gpx generic Garmin or .gbd Zumo Garmin

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