Vegas to Escalante Utah

This is the part of the trip where having all of the parks closed was going to be the most painful. The original plan was to ride through Zion and Bryce Canyon and load up on some nice pic's. Closing the parks meant that we could ride "through" Zion but stopping and taking pictures was specifically forbidden. Bryce was flat out closed and there was no way to even pass through.

We managed to nab a few posed shots just outside the gate to Zion...

What is wrong with this picture?

I get the whole 'the parks are closed because we don't have any money' thing, I really do. But how exactly does letting someone pull over at a wide spot in the road to take a picture cost anything to provide? It's not like they normally have a ranger posted at every place where someone might take a picture to lend you a hand. Yet here they went out of their way to PREVENT you from stopping. It makes no sense - which sadly, since we're talking about government thinking, actually does make sense.

How much does it cost them to leave this "parking area" open I wonder?

An even sadder part - the park rangers were out trolling for speeders. I guess when they were deciding what was "important" the gathering of revenue from visitors took precedent over actually, you know, taking care of visitors.

Still an amazing place to "visit"

Since I had to shoot while on the move most of my pic's are pretty similar but better than nothing. The roads in Zion are chip-seal and the rock is native to the area giving them a signature red color.

Natural sculpting...

A blind shot over my shoulder of John taking in the scenery...

Even while moving the whole time Zion is still a spectacular place to see. The massiveness of the rock formations doesn't really come through in pictures but in person it's quite humbling.

The rest of the ride wasn't a photo-friendly but Utah has some of the best motorcycle roads anywhere - smooth, scenic, twisty and just plain fun.  Since we skipped the parks we had extra time to kill on the way to Escalante so we added a loop though the Dixie National Forest. That loop took us west on 14, north on 148 towards Brain Head then back east on 143 to Panguitch. The views were awesome and the weather up there was pretty brisk with some good winds to make it a tad cool. The fall leaves were in full force at elevation which is not something I expected. 

From Panguitch we just hopped down to UT12 and east to Escalante, again arriving just before dark.  The original plan was to stay cabins at the Escalante Outfitters but they were booked so we opted for The Cowboy Country Inn just down the street. For the price it was very decent place to stay and if you're in Escalante I would recommend it. The amenities are pretty slim but the room was warm and the bed was one of the most comfortable I've ever found in a hotel. The rooms are each named and mine was called "The Antler Room" being decorated in a deer/elk theme...

Once situated we headed over to Escalante Outfitters for a bite to eat. I've eaten there on previous trips and it's one of those tiny places where the food is actually very good.

A calzone and salad...

A Polygamy Porter, a Utah original. Love the motto at the bottom! Good beer too...

... and a Chai Latte afterwards to warm my chilly bones before bed...

Vegas Baby!

The theme of the day was relaxation. With our trip through Sequoya squashed by government incompetence the ride was lot less eventful than planned but any day riding is a good day. Our route took us south around the Mohave Desert and Death Valley which meant we retraced some of our outbound route on the way back.

One thing I realized about California is that all of the action is on the coast. There is a an amazing amount of... well nothing, in this state. Miles and miles of desert with no humans in site (other than the ones driving through at least). The emptiness was good though since it was a big change from the frantic pace of the trip up to this point. Turning on the cruise control and letting the bike do most of the work while letting your mind wander, just a little, is a good thing. Motorcycle riding, at least when you do it right, takes some work. In a car you can just point it in the general direction you want to go and things just sort of take care of themselves without a lot of fuss. The bike is a little different animal however. Besides the glaringly obvious issue of getting run over by a careless driver there is a never ending stream of things to deal with when riding - wind, road debris or pot holes, rain, heat, cold, etc.. Normally you have to stay on hyper-alert all the time watching for anything that could be a problem because if it is a problem then it could be a really BIG problem. Getting a slight break from having to give absolute full attention to all of those things at once makes riding these long distances easier.

The ride went ultra smooth and we rolled in to Las Vegas just before nightfall. We managed to snag a couple of rooms at the Paris Hotel on the strip for a bargain price of $59/night. After going through the long check-in process (long because we did a lot of walking to/from the bikes in the parking garage) I found myself in a very nice corner mini-suit.

Can't complain about the room...

... or the view...

... my room is right on the corner of that wing just left of the balloon about even with that row of lights a few floors from the top...

With the Bellagio fountains right across the street we had to run out and catch the show before dinner...

Dinner was $$$$ since we opted to eat at the Chef Ramsay Steak House at the Paris. I'm not a huge fan of those TV shows with the fabricated drama and painfully repetitive sound bites so I wasn't really keen on going to the place owned by one of those nimrod's. After trying and failing to get into any of the other options at the Paris (everything was full) we went for it.  Getting a seat in the dining area was a long wait but we could stake out a table in the bar area and get the same food and service. After a day of riding it was a good option.

The food was good and the beer was VERY good - a Samuel Smith's The Famous Taddy Porter. After picking up the tab for this dinner I was able to build up a credit with John so he ended up buying pretty much every meal for the rest of the trip :-)

My view of the place...

Salad, it would have been cheaper if that green stuff was money but it was good...

... and the amazingly rich pudding and ice cream dessert...

The next morning we dined at the cafe out next to sidewalk and watched the people show.  The weather was perfect and food wasn't bad either. A good start to the day (cheezy cell phone pic)...

Carmel to Yosemite

Monday meant the weekend and the races were over and so was our stay in Carmel. I wish we would have had a few more days to explore the area because we really didn't get to spend enough time doing the usual Monterey Peninsula things. I suppose that's excuse enough to head back that way next year!

The ride for the day took us up the coast to San Francisco for a ride across the Golden Gate Bridge. Hugging the ocean all the way on HWY 1 meant we would expect to encounter plenty of cool air, some fog and a wee bit of rain - we weren't disappointed since we got all of those things.  I was actually kind of happy about that. Motorcycle riding is supposed to be about experiencing what the world has to offer and if that means finding fog in an area known for fog then we got exactly what we came for!

We did manage to stop and nab a couple of pic's of the Pacific Ocean from the roadside:

John taking in the view...

My GTL and the ocean with some of that fog hovering at the shore.

I didn't manage to nab any pic's of the S.F. area because as luck would have it the bridge was totally fogged in.

Somehow I got lazy and didn't double check the routing we built and the route from the bridge to Yosemite took us back into San Francisco, across the Bay Bridge and then East - I thought we would be going east from the North end of the Golden Gate. That meant we got to ride through the middle of S.F. and experience all of the fun of the traffic that comes with that trip.  It's not my usual preferred route type but I suppose I can mark it off my list of things to do.  Taking pic's while navigating traffic and steep hills wasn't going to happen so again, no pictures from that part of the ride.

Getting to Yosemite was just a matter of heading east on the highway and plugging away. We weren't sure what to expect when we got there because massive forest fires had been burning for a couple of weeks. For all I knew it was still going to look like this (news photo)...

Fortunately most of the fire had been contained by the time we got there so what we saw were lots of scorched trees but it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. We ran into some fire fighters at the gas station just outside of the park who were covered in soot but they didn't look too worse for the wear so I figured things must be pretty much under control.

We stopped at the entrance and bought a couple of Annual Passes that would get us into all of the parks nationwide for the next year. I don't hit the parks all of that often but I don't mind supporting them and using the pass is infinitely easier than paying at every park.  The ride through the park was awesome. Perfect roads, amazing views and virtually no traffic. I suppose the fires and the fact it was a weekday kept the visitors to a minimum.

Resting at the gas station before entering the park...

A few pic's from inside the park...

The shadows were getting long and it got dark before we made it out of the park so we did some fun downhill slaloming as we worked our way toward Fresno. Tooling along in 6th gear with virtually no throttle, never touching the brakes, while sweeping through an endless series of smooth turns while the engine quietly hummed for minutes at a time was almost surreal.  Eventually we did make it to our hotel in Fresno and after a quick bite at the local iHop (nothing but the best) it was time for good nights sleep before heading out toward Sequoya National Park in the morning.

Thank you Mr. President

Before heading off to sleep I checked my email and found a rather saddening bit of news - all of the National Parks would be closing at midnight because our government leaders are too inept to work out their differences. Blame who you want but for me the guy in charge gets the credit so he gets the blame too. That Annual Pass isn't looking like such a great investment now.

I thought about making a quick call to the White House to fix the situation but decided that having a dozen or so 'men in black' knocking on my door at 2 am wasn't going to help anything. Basically suck it up, curse the fools in D.C. and plow forward with a smile is all we could do.

Carmel

Carmel California is an interesting place. A tiny little town right on the ocean that's both upscale and laid back at the same time. I suppose it's fitting that a place like that would have Clint Eastwood as the mayor eventually.

We chose to stay there because it's got some great places to eat withing walking distance of anywhere and it's a short ride to the race track. We rented a little place called "Marley Cottage" that was in the middle of town.  Pam found it and and it was perfect. With parking a real challenge in town we had our own driveway that even had a gate so we could close up the drive if we wanted!  The place was nice and clean and very comfortable.

While we were there we ate very well. I don't remember the names of the places. I would look them up on Facebook but when I try to load my page it just hangs the browser so I'll continue my pattern of ignoring that place for the most part. Suffice it to say that I would chose this place again next year if we get a chance to ride out for the races.

The one place I clearly do remember was the visit to have dinner and drinks with my Sister and her Beau. They were staying at a house on the other side of the bay that had a rooftop view of the ocean. Dinner ended up being tortilla chips & dip and some awesome margaritas while watching humpback whales in the ocean from the roof. Yeah, life is good.

John and Pam...

Me and Pam...

World Superbike Races

The weekend is all about the races. The main event are the World Superbike races - there are two at every event - with some AMA races tossed into fill out the weekend. I've never been to Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca so I didn't know what to expect. I liked the place. It's basically a big bowl shaped valley with a racetrack carved out on the inside. But this is a road racing track not a big round oval like you see the NASCAR guys twirling around. The track climbs up and down the sides of the valley and has massive elevation changes. Mazda Raceway is famous for "The Corkscrew". The official webpage describes it this way...

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is an 11-turn, 2.238-mile jewel of a road course on California’s beautiful central coast. While the track is a favorite of racers and fans worldwide, many focus on one specific section—officially Turns 8 and 8A—or more commonly known as The Corkscrew.

The Corkscrew is a one-of-a-kind turn in motorsports. Here’s what makes the hard-left, hard-right combination so spectacular:

At the apex to Turn 8 (the lefthander and entry to The Corkscrew), the elevation change is a 12 percent drop. By the time a race car reaches the apex of Turn 8A (the righthander), the elevation is at its steepest – an 18 percent drop. The Corkscrew drops 59 feet between the entrance of Turn 8 to the exit of Turn 8A—the equivalent of a 5½ story drop—in only 450 feet of track length. From Turn 8 to Turn 9, the elevation falls 109 feet, or just over 10 stories.

I got this video on my phone of the guys riding through The Corkscrew during practice...

Riding the Parade Lap

As part of the BMW package I bought we got to ride on the track as part of what they call a 'parade lap'. 

Our bikes lined up for the parade lap...

Normally on a parade lap you ride around slow (like a parade). Not this one, we FLEW around the track. I was interested in seeing The Corkscrew from a riders perspective and doing it at more than a casual pace was exciting. The drop was dramatic for sure but what gets you is how sharp the first turn really is. With no visual reference to the next turn (it's hidden by the crest of the hill until you're already about to head over the side) you have to just "know" where to aim. The first time through was a real eye-opener. We actually got to ride two laps so knowing what to expect the second time around really helped. Now I want to do a track day there!

The Gang

One of the fun parts of the trip was that I met up with my Sister and her guy Tom at the races. Neither of them had been to a motorcycle race so it was a new experience for them but mostly it was a chance to catch up with family.

The only one missing from that pic is John. He was gone right then getting a new set of sunglasses because his broke while doing the Land Rover test drive. Who knew it would be so dangerous to just play around.  The only shot I have of him is while he's driving - you'll have to trust me, he's in there...

As usual Pam and I were snuggled up during the races...

The Races

The races were awesome with lots of close fighting for all of the podium positions. We got some good photos of the action, enjoy....

The only disappointing part of the race was the lack of a walk through the actual pit's. They announced a pit walk for those of us carrying paddock passes but the guards at the gates kept us behind the fences away from the hot pit area so it wasn't nearly as fun. We did stumble onto Tom Sykes (the current leader in the championship) giving an interview...

The Ride to California

As I mentioned earlier we did an Iron Butt ride on the first day. The Iron Butt organization actually has a whole slew of different rides that one can be certified for but the 'entry level' and most basic ride is called the Saddle Sore 1000. Basically it's 1,000 miles in under 24 hours. In the United States with our massive Interstate system that isn't too hard to do - assuming you can stand riding for 1,000 miles in the first place. The certification requires that you provide some very specific proof that you did indeed ride the whole 1,000 miles:

• Signed witness forms for the start and end of the ride
• A computer generated time/date for the start and end as well as for every fuel stop along the way
• Maps showing the route
• A few other odd's and ends

We took off at around 5:30AM CST and planned to reach Kingman, AZ between 9:00PM and Midnight. The first leg took us all the way to Childress, TX before refueling. The K1600 can easily do 225 - 300 miles on a tank depending on how you ride. My knees and butt however like to stop more often than that. From Childress we we went on to Amarillo, then Santa Rosa, Albuquerque, and Gallup, NM. From there it was to Flagstaff and finally Kingman ,AZ.

We arrived at about 11:00PM at the hotel and checked-in to get our timestamps. We got the old gal working the desk to sign our witness forms but I'm not sure she really 'got it'. If the Iron Butt guys actually call her to verify we were there I'll be shocked if she remembers us.

Our pile of proof I need to mail in...

Day 2 was easier since it was more like 600 miles. That is until...

The last 70 miles or so was a ride up Hwy 1 on the coast into Carmel. What neither of us knew was that Hwy 1 south of Carmel is not anything like it is on the North side of the city. The northern part is just a highway with mostly gentle sweepers. On the south however it's tight, twisty low speed switchbacks on the cliffs. If we had known that we would have gotten there before dark!

Riding that road at night was a serious bit of work. It was cold, pitch black and to top it off there were deer on the road. I nearly ran a couple down but one rule I never break on the road is to never out-ride my sight lines. I was able to spot the deer just in time to brake hard and swerve to the side. The rest of the ride was just plodding through the dark twisty night until we reached Carmel.

Our cottage was not available until the next night so John and I stayed at a cool little European style hotel in town called the Normandy Inn. We had to park in the loading zone out front since the parking inside was full but the room was warm and I slept great.

At least we can't say the ride up to now had been boring and it was only two days in.

The Best Laid Plans...

Well this blog ended up being more of a historical document than a live account of the trip. The only way to make something like this worth reading is with pictures, lots of pictures. No one wants to read a big block of text about what I saw. Unfortunately my scheme for uploading pictures took a fatal blow when we lost the little WiFi adapter for my camera. Without that I didn't have a way to upload pictures from anything except the phone - it uploads them to Picassa on Google automatically. Of course my phone wasn't always handy to use as a camera so here we are.

The other complication came when our illustrious leaders in DC decided to shut down the National Parks as part of a stand-off over who's more wrong in the budget fight. The end result is that I spent $80 on an Annual Park Pass only to have them close the parks 7 hours later - nice.

And yet the trip was a blast! More to come.