Hampton Boys South West Tour 2014

[SupraSabre]

Okay, I've been playing around with this for a month now, so I decided I would post it with a few of the pictures I have from the boys. I'll post one day at a time to keep it simple, with me starting with the Trip Planning and Prep.


Trip Planning and Preparations;
Being flexible has never been one of my better attributes, and my plans were all set for Northern California in September to attend the WeSTOC Event in Fortuna California. I already had all my reservations made and everything!

Then one day, Big Bro calls and says he wants to ride out to Colorado Springs to see his youngest son and family, which included his new granddaughter, which he hadn?t seen yet. So I thought for a moment and then said, why not, if he could wait until September (this was like in March) to make the ride. So he said that that sounds pretty good.

Within a day or two, my #2 son (Justin) calls to talk about meeting me in Fortuna and wanted to know my plans. We?ll I told him, that it looks like I?ll be riding out to Colorado Springs with Uncle Dave instead. The phone went silent and so I said, would you be interested in going? I know, what a dumb question!

Of course he says yes, and then asks if I had said anything to his brother, Bobby? ?Nope, last I heard Bobby was going to sell his Triumph Sprint ST.? So Justin calls Bobby and Bobby wants to go too. Okay, so how do I plan a ride without asking Brett to join us? Now I had all three boys interested in going.

I started planning routes and times when both Bobby and Brett informed me they could only be away for one week. I was planning at least ten days for the trip, since it was going to be to Colorado Springs. When I told Dave that all we had time to do was to spend one short day in CS, more like ride in late at night and ride out the next morning, Dave said he wanted to spend more time with his son. So he decided to leave a week early so he could spend the time out there.

And that?s when my original plans went out the window and I started on new ones. I cut the trip down to 8 days (Sunday 8/31 to Sunday ? 9/7) and when I went over the route with the three boys, they said, ??and why are we going to Colorado Springs?? To pick up Uncle Dave!? Why not have him meet us someplace?

Hum?.Okay, it looks like Montrose Colorado is directly west of CS and a good place for us to stop for the day. I then informed Dave I have a revolt on my hands and he?ll have to meet us in Montrose. That cut about 400 miles off our trip and made the eight days more doable.

Our route was:
Day One to Las Vegas, that was about 330 miles, and it would be hot.
Day Two would be up I15 to just past St. George Utah and turn to Hurricane so we could go through ZION NP, then ride up to and through Bryce Canyon NP and stay in the town of Tropic Utah, just east of Bryce.
Day Three would be up hwy12 to Torrey Utah, the east on 24 through Capital Reef NP, then a very long ride up to I70, heading east so we could go south on 191 to get to Moab and Arches NP.
Day Four was from Moab, south a few miles to go east into Colorado and take 141 north through what looks like a great canyon to ride through and make a stop in Gateway, on to near Whitewater and then head south to Montrose CO, where we would meet up with Dave.
Day Five was to continue south over the Million Dollar (550) highway into Durango and then west on 160 to Mesa Verde (Indian ruins) just before Cortez, where we will stay that night.
Day Six would be west to 4 Corners, then double back about 5 miles to catch roads that would take to the northern part of Monument Valley and stop in Kayenta for gas, before heading out to the Grand Canyon. After riding along the south rim, we would head south to Williams for the night.
Day Seven had us going for a short distance on I40, then catch US 66 (Route 66) into Kingman, then to Oatman and Laughlin NV for the night.
Day Eight, I had us going West out of Laughlin, then south on US95 and then catching Route 66 through Goffs and Amboy, stopping at Roy?s (Gas station). We would then head to Twenty-nine Palms and catch I10 west to SR79 and head south to my home.

Once I had the route and timing down (approximately how long it would take us each day), I started making reservations at hotels/motels. This proved to be interesting and I only did one at a time, so I wouldn?t get too confused!

As time went on, Bobby continued to think about dropping out, so I had to continue to encourage him. Then Brett decided that his bike would be too small for that kind of a ride, so I had to do some quick thinking and told him I would let him use the ST1300 I was restoring. That got him back on board.

Over the next several months, I was working my best to get this newly acquired bike back on the road. And although I tried as hard as I could, I figured around the first week in August, it wasn?t going to make it, so instead, I tore into my ?04 commuter bike and replaced all the coolant hoses and tried something new, Gates Thremoplastic clamps. They worked on the same theory as heat shrink does; only a little thicker.

So two weeks before the trip, I gave the bike to Brett and told him to put on 200 miles over the next week and the following weekend I had my buddy, Byron come down so we could put a new rear tire on it.

With that, my two bikes were pretty much ready for the trip. Justin replaced both of his tires, Dave did his and then had the forks seals replaced in CS. Bobby decided at the last minute to replace his tires too and proceeded to snap one of his right fork pinch bolts off when reinstalling his tire. I called around and found new fork pinch bolts at a San Diego Triumph Dealer and then tried to help him get the old bolt out. But that made it worse, so we left it like that for the trip. That night I found a used fork lower with bolts and seals for $25 on ebay, so I ordered them for Bobby and they were waiting for us when we got back from the trip.

Dave left on schedule, Sunday, 8/24, for Colorado Springs. He was able to get there in two days, after putting a very long day in between Ogden and Colorado Springs.

Justin left Oregon on the following Thursday, 8/28 (Bobby?s birthday) and had his bike (05 ST1300) in the back of his truck. He rolled in late morning on Friday. No problems!

This is day 2 (Las Vegas) thru day 7 (Laughlin)

 

[SupraSabre]

Saturday I was busy getting the rest of my stuff ready and Sunday morning we would all meet at my house around 7am (or was that 8am?).

Day One: Sunday August 31

Destination: Las Vegas

When Bobby was ready to leave his house Sunday morning, he discovered a flood coming from the hill above his driveway. He called and said he had to take care of it before leaving. Chris got a text about ten minutes later that it was a sprinkler controller that had been set before Bobby bought the house and just had to turn it off.

I was getting my bike loaded when Brett finally showed up, he never got the second text about Bobby fixing his problem and was on his way!

I wanted to get away early because I knew we would be seeing a lot of heat. Well, a couple of hours late, so we would see some warm temps! The four of us took off, with me in the lead and Justin riding sweep. We decided that Justin could ride sweep, since he has more experience riding distance and his and my radios could communicate, whereas Bobby?s radio didn?t work at all, just got a lot of noise and Brett?s radio worked a little, sometimes.

We rode north so we could catch I215, but we hadn?t even gone ? mile when I pulled off into a school parking lot to change some settings on my Autocom.

I took the boys up Winchester for a few miles before turning and catching Leon road to Scott road , then I215 north. We had gone about 50 miles when I thought about stopping at Chaparral Motorsports to look at radios?I was already tired of dealing with non working ones? After looking over prices ($300 for what we needed) I decided that some would ride without one!



Back on I215 to catch I15 heading to Barstow.

We pulled off at the Outlets area just shy of Barstow to fill up and take a break. It was already getting hot!



Again back on I15 and the traffic was a constant reminder why I hated I15 to Vegas! Even on a Sunday, there were too many idiots heading to Vegas and that caught me off guard, since I wasn?t expecting that much traffic, even though it was Labor Day weekend.

As we approached Baker, the boys were ready for another break. We pulled off and I looked until I saw some shade near a gas station where we could hang out for a bit. It seems to me it was about 101F there.



Our last leg was from Baker to Vegas and the boys had already taken out their cooling vests. I thought it would have been great to do so too, but I hate getting wet like you do when you wear them.

We continued on I15 and once getting into Vegas, we took I215, then I515 over to Boulder Highway where our Hotel rooms were waiting. As we were approaching our hotel (Sam?s Town), the temp had climbed to 108F. Lucky for us, the parking was in a garage and we found parking a little farther away from the entrance than I would like, but it worked.



Both Bobby and Justin decided that Brett would be rooming with me, so Brett and I had a room just down the hallway from them.

While doing the entertainment thing (while in Vegas) I decided I needed a new Sam?s Club Player?s card (I forgot mine) so I picked one up along with one of their leashes. I put it in the same pocket as my bike keys. Big mistake! Later on, the boys wanted to go out to the bikes to lock them altogether when I realized I didn?t have my bike keys in my pocket! I went back to my room and couldn?t find them there either, so I got Brett?s keys (his keys had the same ?ST-Owner?s white key tab that my keys for the 2010 had.) and went to Security to ask if they had anyone turn them in. They did and when he saw the key tab I had, there was no question whose keys they were.

After waiting there for five or ten minutes, another guard came in and had me sign a copy of my CA license and sent us on our way. Obviously the other guy was having computer problems and couldn?t print out the proper form!

At least they had them, but I wasn?t that worried, I had my second set with me, I just didn?t want to lose the first set!

For running 95% freeway, our ride was uneventful and the boys did great for their first leg of the ride!

Total miles for the day was about: 335

 

[SupraSabre]

Day 2 Monday September 1

Destination: ZION NP, Bryce Canyon NP and overnight stay in Tropic Utah.

On our second day we were heading up I15 to Hurricane Utah and on into ZION NP and on to Bryce Canyon and then stay overnight in Tropic Utah. Again I knew we were going to hit the heat, so we took off as early as we could eat some breakfast and get the bikes loaded.

I15 between Las Vegas and the Arizona border is not exactly what you would call exciting. And it wasn’t. We made a stop at Wally World in Mesquite NV, and then on to the Virgin Gorge, St. George and then Hurricane, where we gassed up and had lunch. The temps were in the upper 90Fs and lower 100Fs. Anyway you looked at it, it was HOT!

Note: Exactly one week later, after we went over I15 from Las Vegas through Mesquite, near the town of Moapa Valley, there was an extremely bad rain storm that had a river running between the north and south bound lanes of the freeway and had washed out an entire section of I15, in both directions! It took them almost two weeks to clean it up and get the road’s four lanes re-opened in both directions! Timing is everything!
After lunch we rode to ZION,



got our passes and continued on through the park. It always amazes me to ride through with the high walls. As we climbed in altitude, it was getting a bit cooler, so that was nice! It didn’t take too long to get through the park and catching Hwy 89 to the north to find Hwy 12 to Bryce Canyon.

89 was a nice little road. Some where’s along it, we stopped and took a break.



Then it was on to Hwy 12, which we found and then followed it to Bryce Canyon. Since we already had our passes, we were able to get through pretty fast at the gate, then on into the park. Not too far from the entrance we spotted a number of deer, grazing in the forests. At least they were not near the road.

It took a little while to get to the end of the road, where we dismounted and took a number of pictures of the canyon to the east. (Pictures…sheesh, I have so many to go through! )



Then it was back on the bikes and go out the way we came. During one curve, I saw a big doe not too far off the road. I tapped my horn and she ran off into the forest. As we passed one of the “special spots”, the boys were not interested in getting off their bikes to see, so I did and got the only picture of the Bryce Canyon Natural Bridge.

Once we got back to the entrance to the park, we stopped and gassed up. It was then on to Tropic Utah, a few miles down the road for our motel for the night.



Total miles for the day was about: 308


BTW, if you are noticing a pattern of these pictures, my son, Bobby was busy taking Selfies at the stops, and since he included most of us in them, and I could get them off Facebook, just made it easier me to add these pictures in, I'll add some others later.

 

[SupraSabre]

Day 3 Tuesday September 2

Destination: Hwy 12, Arches NP and overnight stay in Moab Utah.

After a good night’s rest, we were ready to tackle the next leg of our ride. The plan was to head northeast on Hwy 12 and see what everyone was talking about this road when I was planning the trip! And they were right.

It started out as a nice leisurely two lane road through some excellent scenery. We were soon passing Escalante and later stopped at a look out, overlooking a very interesting canyon and the road below us.



Lots of twists and turns! As we continued on Hwy 12, you could see canyons on the leftside of the road, and then at one point we were looking down both sides of the road into deep canyons, and there was not much of a shoulder for the road on either side. The traffic was light heading our direction, so we didn’t have to worry about passing much; we just took our time and enjoyed the scenery as we went. Hwy 12 runs into Hwy 24 at Torrey Utah. There we gassed up and took a lunch break.



We were heading east on Hwy 24 and that would take us through Capital Reef NP. We didn’t make any stops, but there was plenty to see. Even after the park, the road continued to be interesting for the next 45+ miles. Then Hwy 24 meets up with Hwy 95 and for the next 40+ miles, the interesting turned into hot, straight and boring. We were actually glad to see I70, as we turned east. After taking a short break in Green River, we got back on I70, looking for Hwy 191 so we could head south, down to Moab and Arches NP.

The first few miles of Hwy 191 was not too exciting, but it improved the farther south we went. We were hoping to ride through Canyonlands NP, but it was getting late and I thought it would be better to go to our motel first, and then we would go to Arches, and then if we had the time, we would ride through Canyonlands NP.

It’s great having a GPS that you can program ahead of time. I punched in our motel and it took us right to it… not exactly one of the better ones, but it was okay. After unloading our gear, we found a gas station for Bobby to fill his tank, while the rest of us waited, since we were still fine on gas, just love the range on these ST1300s! And it was off to Arches we went!

As we followed the road to the farthest point into the park, we saw a lot of great scenery. Some of it was just amazing! Once we found the last parking lot, we decided to hike a short distance so we could see some of the Arches. The first arch was a good 1/3 of a mile in and I told the boys, okay, I saw an Arch, let’s go. Besides Bobby wanted to go see the “Delicate Arch”, the one you see on the Utah license plates. The Sun was getting low to the west, so I knew we needed to make tracks!

I wasn’t sure how far back the road to it was, but we found it and started heading down to it. When we got to the parking lot, you still had to hike to see it. As we started on the trail, the moment I could see it, still at a distance, I zoomed in with my camera and was able to fill the frame, so I figured that was good enough for me, so I headed back to the bikes, while the boys went on.



This was a picture off my cellphone from my good camera.

When they got back, we gear up and headed out with the Sun dropping behind the mountains to our west.

It still took us a bit to get out of the park and it was getting darker and all I could think of was coming across a dear or two. Thank goodness we didn’t see any. Once out of the park we headed back to Moab for dinner and refueling. I had Bobby top off because the road we would be taking in the morning would be long and not too many services available. We then headed back to our rooms.

I had taken a bunch of pictures, having my camera mounted on the ramball and just swiveled it around to get pictures. It didn’t work out real good. Most of the pictures were blurred. Glad I didn’t do it for Monument Valley!

Total miles for the day was about: 321

 

[SupraSabre]

Day 4 Wednesday September 3

Destination: CO 141(North), south US50 and overnight stay in Montrose Colorado, where we would meet up with Dave.

There was no breakfast to be had at this motel, so we packed up and rode down 191 until we saw a McDonald?s. While there, Bobby found that his Credit Cards had been locked and he couldn?t use them, so he spent about an hour trying to get them taken care of. That pretty much killed any quick departure from Moab.

Once we were on our way, we followed 191 south for about 20 miles until we came to Hwy 46 and turned east. That highway turned in to 90 in CO, where we had to stop for construction. They were re-topping the road with tar and pea gravel! Oh Joy! NOT!!!

We then caught CO Hwy 141 and headed north up thru a narrow river valley that had high cliffs on both sides of the road. Very interesting road and I know the boys loved it too. Back in the late 1800?s and early 1900?s there was a lot of mining there. You could still see some of the old structures from that era.

I knew this was going to be a long road with little stopping, which it was. Our first stop was just along the river and we were soon getting eaten alive by mosquitos, so we departed as soon as we could. When we came to the Resort town of Gateway, we found a gas station/General Store. I think Bobby filled up, the rest of us were fine? like most of the trip? So we took a little break and had some snacks while we were staying cool! I started talking to the gal that was there running the store, come to find out, the town is pretty much owned by the resort, including the gas station and she was there just filling in for the guy that runs the store, who was out to lunch at the time. She actually works in the accounting office of the resort, but enjoys running the store when she does to break up the day for her.

After our break, we continued north until we hit US50, where we turned south. We were just a few miles south of Grand Junction, but I didn?t want to turn north, only to double back and head back south, besides we all had plenty of gas, so there was no real reason to. The first town we hit was Delta, about 30 miles south of where we turned off of 141.

We were getting a little hungry, so I punched in food on the GPS and a KFC came up, I thought great, let?s go have some KFC! WRONG! They had closed that location a month and a half before. So we located some shade and just hung out there for about 30 to 40 minutes for a break and back on US50 we went. Montrose was only about 20 miles further south.

Just as we were entering Montrose, Dave called me on my cellphone to let me know he was at the motel. We arrived three minutes later. After we checked in, we decided to go get something to eat (since we didn?t earlier). I punched up another KFC close by and headed there. It was also closed! Actually it was turned into a fancy restaurant or something; we really didn?t want any part of?so it was back to McDonald?s. After we finished, the boys informed me they were done with MickyD?s for the rest of the trip! Okay?.

When we got back to the motel, Bobby told Justin that his headlights weren?t on. So Justin pulled his bike into some shade and started trying to figure what was going on. I had suggested looking at the starter switch right off the bat, but Justin wasn?t buying that so he started on the left side controls, thinking maybe it was the Hi/Lo beam switch. Nope, so he started tearing into the modulator, meaning we had to pull off the instrument pod, and then pulled off the right side fairing. We continued testing wires and lights with no luck,



I finally decided to pull the starter switch apart and when I pressed down on it, the headlights came on! HUH? How did you do that? Come to find out, what I had heard several times on the forum, the starter switch is held together with a small nylon holder. The one side had cracked and wasn?t holding the switch together, allowing the contacts to lose connection. After getting the rest of the bike back together, we started looking at what we could do to fix it. We tried to superglue it, but of course that didn?t work. So while Justin was coming up with another idea, I figured I better get down to Autozone to see what they had that might work.

While at Autozone, I got a call from Justin, he had melted a couple of holes in the switch housing and wire tied the switch down. I bought some repair parts and figured that way, if Justin?s fix didn?t work, we could still fix it so it would work with the parts I bought. But actually, Justin?s fix worked all the way back to my house, where I gave him a used, but in good shape, replacement switch.

We talked a bit after that before retiring for the night.

Total miles for the day was about: 231

I'll add some more pictures later for Day 4, this was all I could find from the boys off their Facebook pages for this day.

 

[SupraSabre]

Day 5 Thursday September 4

Destination: US550 to Durango, Mesa Verde NP and overnight stay in Cortez CO.

When I was planning the trip, I kept hearing that CO US550, the ?Million Dollar Highway? was a must do. I kept envisioning this great four lane highway into the mountains, having great views? Hey, they did it for I80 across the Serra?s, so why not? Wrong! It was a little two lane road that snaked up through the mountains! It had spectacular views, but some of those curves were tight and no rails in many places!

After the motel breakfast, we loaded up the bikes and headed out of town. Because of the temperatures we had been experiencing most of the trip, I didn?t think I needed my jacket liner on. But because of the cloud cover, as we were leaving town, I kept thinking, maybe I did. The farther south we went, the more I was convinced I needed it, but no one else was complaining, and I didn?t want to stop, because trying to get these guys moving is not that easy?even for a ?brief? stop!

So south we went! The first 35 miles was through some nice country roads. Then we came to the little picturesque town of Ouray CO. It had that Old Mining Town feel and with the majestic mountains all around, it looked to be the perfect example of one of the old mining towns that survived the mine closings. Just looked it up on Wikipedia?Interesting little place.



And when leaving Ouray to the south, the road changes dramatically! That is where the ?Million Dollar? Highway begins! And it begins with a few hairpin turns. (I never trust roads I don?t know?you just never know when you could hit sand or water on a mountain road). Up a few miles is the Bear Creek Falls overlook. A stop worth making and I almost passed it up. Back on the road again and we were now behind a number of vehicles including a tractor-trailer rig leading the way.

Now the rig had a great opportunity to pull over, but refused, so as we were topping a ridge, I could see that the road was clear enough for me to pass the line of cages and get ahead of the tractor-trailer. That way I could radio the guys to start passing. When I looked behind me, they were all following me, so I poured on the coals a little more so we could all get around them.



For quite a while after that, the road was clear for us, although we did stumble on a single vehicle here and there, which we made short work of by passing. There were a couple of times that Bobby and Justin would get stuck behind one of them, but that was mostly because Bobby didn?t have a radio and could not hear me, when I would tell them that it was clear to pass.



As we continued to climb, it continued to get colder! Now where was that liner?...besides, still in my saddlebag! The highest pass that I saw we went over was 11,100 feet. Temperature was around 55F degrees, sure wished I had my liner on!

As we continued south, I saw a gas station/general store, and I knew the boys were ready for a break. As we took our break, Justin and Brett had a little disagreement and before I knew it, Justin had taken off. Great, that?s all we needed! Just before getting back on the road, I called Justin to find out where he was, and he had stopped about 10 miles down the road at a parking area. Okay, we?ll pick him up as we go by. The rest of the ?Million Dollar Hwy? was typical mountain roads and was, just sit back and enjoy, although traffic did pick up a little and the temperature started going back up.



As we were approaching Durango, I was trying to determine where Hwy 160 would be and my GPS decided to reset itself?again! It seems to happen when I?m pushing on the lower left corner of the unit. So I was basically blind, but continued down 550 through town. I then saw a sign for US160 west, so we were soon on 160 and a few miles down the road we saw a large gas station/General Store, so we stopped there and took a ?quick? break.

The farther west we went, the more clouds we saw. Mesa Verde was about 35 miles away and Cortez was another 10. About 20 miles down the road; we started getting some rain, so I pulled off at a service station, and we all donned our rain gear. As we were approaching Mesa Verde, the rain started falling a little harder, so I stopped at the top of the off ramp that goes to the park and asked if they wanted to see it in spite of the rain? Everyone said ?Yes?, so I turned into the park.



Once through the gate, we regrouped and headed south to the ruins. Of course a (rented) motorhome was just in front of us and would not pull off into any of the pullouts, so I finally passed him and the rest followed me. I was taking it easy on the road since it was wet, but it didn?t mean we had to crawl all the way there! (That same motorhome came by us at one point when we had parked; Dave said the woman gave us a really nasty look! Gee, too bad, maybe next time they will pull over!

I had ridden through the park with Byron back in 2008 and knew that at one of the overlooks; you could see the ruins pretty good. Unfortunately, I picked the wrong overlook and didn?t see a whole lot from that first one. So we proceeded to the other overlook and sure enough, that was the one I was thinking of.



After spending some time there, getting pictures, we packed and headed out of the park. The rain started coming down harder and the roads were getting much wetter!

The whole time we were riding back out of the park, I was worried that Bobby was almost out of gas. As we came back out to Hwy US160, I saw a gas station on just the other side of the highway from the park. Bobby stopped, looked and then came riding over to me and said he was fine on gas, and really didn?t want to fill up with the high priced, low 87 octane stuff anyway. So we continued on to Cortez which was only about ten miles away.

As we pulled into the first recognizable gas station (Shell) that I saw We pulled in to gas up. Just before gassing up, I looked and noticed that our motel was just across the street! Also, there was a Denney?s, right next door to the gas station and a Walmart too! Cool, we were all set. After checking in and parking our bikes in front of our rooms, Bobby and Justin came out complaining that their room smelled like smoke, so they went back to the desk to see about changing rooms. They kicked Dave out of his room and put him in a room with only one bed. And they took over Dave?s room. Worked out just fine! Right after we unloaded the bikes, the rain stopped! Figures! We rested for a short time, and then walked over to Denny?s for dinner and then we all headed over to Walmart.

This is the same Walmart that back in 2008, on our trip to Taos NM, Byron and I stopped at so I could pick up a MP3 player, this happens to be the same MP3 player that Brett was using for this trip! Funny how things work out sometimes. After our little shopping trip, (I picked up a new hat; my white one was looking pretty bad), we headed back to our rooms and took it easy for the remainder of the evening.

Total miles for the day was about: 214

 

[SupraSabre]

Day 6 Friday September 5

Destination: Take US160 to Four Corners, back track 5 miles and head over to Mexican Hat from the north to Monument Valley, then take 160 to Tuba City for lunch and then over to the Grand Canyon and stay the night in Williams.

Once we got up and moving, we went to Denny?s for breakfast and then back to the bikes to load them up. Since we were all gassed up, we didn?t have to worry about that and were able to just hit the road. Of course, going through any town is a bit slow, and Cortez was no exception. It seemed like no sooner we hit the open highway, there was a bunch of construction going on. We had to wait at one point that seemed to last 15 minutes. Again going, but for about 20 miles, the speeds were slow.

When we peeled away, staying on 160, it seemed most went straight on US495. After passing a couple of slower vehicles, we were able to open it up a little.



As we pulled into Four Corners, I couldn?t help notice how different it looked. They built four line of open store fronts for the locals come to sell their wares. And the parking didn?t look to good either, so I went a little farther and found some flat area to park.

I didn?t even go over to the plaza area at first; I went down looking at all the trinkets they had to sell, looking for a shot glass of Four Corners, which I did find. Dave and the boys were looking at different things too. Then a bunch of excitement was happening near where we came in. A tarantula was walking across the sidewalk. So everyone was getting pictures of it.

At one point it started walking up a small wall, so Bobby took a selfie with the spider not too far from his head! Once we were all done looking around, we got back on the bikes and took off, out of the park. We doubled back about 5 miles to catch CO Hwy 41, which turned into Utah 162 and towards Mexican Hat. Utah 162 ran into US191 (same road we took from I70 to Moab), then took US163 to Mexican Hat and south through Monument Valley.

When Byron and I rode through Monument Valley in 2008, we went from the south to the north, and at one time I looked back in my mirror and saw a neat view of it. Ever since then I wanted to go from the north to the south, and this was my opportunity to do just that!

After stopping and taking a break at a gas station in Mexican Hat, we started down 163. What a sight!



This is the sight I saw in my mirrors last time! Why we came this way! Dave and I were busy taking pictures as we were riding and after about 15 to 20 miles, Bobby and Justin got bored and couldn?t take the slow pace we were doing (like 45 mph in a 55mph zone, we even had a few cars pass us), so they took off, leaving Brett, Dave and I to our pictures! I?m hoping most turned out. My battery ran out and since I didn?t want to stop and put another in my camera, I just continued down the highway until we got to the Chevron in Kayenta at US160, the same highway we had taken to get to Four Corners.

We gassed up and took a little break and then headed to Tuba City for lunch and then the Grand Canyon. As US160 unfolded before us, maybe because it was really hot then and after going through ZION, and down to Page, cutting over from Hwy98 and with Byron leading, I sure didn?t remember much of that road. It was a short stretch of 160 that were on before Kayenta, though. So going the other way, I found it a bit interesting and although pretty straight, it really wasn?t a bad road!

We finally arrived in Tuba City and I used my GPS to find lunch with?I found another KFC, but this time it was there! Lunchtime! While eating at a KFC, a couple of cops stopped by to pick up some guy that was totally out of it. They basically dragged him to their car and plopped him into the back seat and took him off. Bobby tried to get one of his infamous selfies, but the reflection of the window didn?t allow it.

As we were trying to leave town, my GPS was playing games again and I had to fake the exit, after making a wrong turn, or should I say, missing the turn and going straight, only to turn around and head back to the intersection I just rode through. I got my bearings after that and we were on our way to the Grand Canyon.



As we were approaching our turn, we got caught in another road construction project. It delayed us probably 10 minutes and when we turned towards the Grand Canyon, there were not too many cars on the road, and those that were, we soon passed! One nice thing about coming into the Grand Canyon from the east is you get to see some of the canyons, long before you are even in the park. And the one big change I did see was that the locals had taken over all the good overlooks for their trinket sales! So we didn?t stop before getting into the park.

After taking a few pictures of us at the Grand Canyon entry sign, we rode through the gate (having the passes is great), and rode over to the Watchtower area, which as far as I?m concerned, one of the better observation areas in the whole park.



After spending about an hour there, first waiting on Dave, then waiting on Brett, we could see a nice little thunder storm approaching.

I kept thinking if we could leave NOW, we might avoid the rain. No such luck. The delays cost us some dry time, and although it followed us for a few miles, it finally stopped at our second stop. Our second stop was at Grandview point and unfortunately parking was not easy to come by, so when we did park, it was a little downhill.

After being there for a bit, we decided to head out and since our bikes didn?t have reverse, it was a little hard getting out of those spots. I was trying to do some fancy foot work to get my bike out of my parking spot, when some nice folks, understanding what we were trying to do, tried to help us out by waiting for us to get out of there. Right after I got out, some bozo was so intent in getting around those people waiting for us, that he dove into the spot we needed to get out with! I gave him a piece of my mind and then grabbed Dave?s hand rail on his bike and started pulling him backwards while letting the turkey know how what bozos they were! Boy was I pissed!

After helping Dave get out and I mounted back up on my bike and off we went, just as the rain came back. A little ways from there or before there, I can?t remember, there was a really big Elk, with a really big rack, sitting on the leftside of the road! Wow, I never saw an Elk that close before. Of course, the ?Oh my gosh, an animal? crowd had to stop in the middle of the road so NOBODY could get by them! Why are people so stupid?

By that time the boys were ?bored? and done with looking over deep holes in the ground and just wanted to move on, so off we went, south to Williams where our hotel was waiting?I thought. As we were leaving the park, there were a number of Elk in an area and it was interesting to see so many. We continued down until we hit Williams and started looking for our motel. At one point I looked and saw a Motel 6, so I pulled into it and went into register (after waiting in line for 10 to 15 minutes), only to find that this wasn?t our motel 6! HUH??? Ours was down the road about 1 ? blocks! Really???

Yep, it was and that is where we found it. After getting registered, Bobby and Justin grabbed a suitcase carrier and unloaded their stuff on to it. Once they were done I grabbed it and unload my gear! The boys were hungry and there were no restaurants to be found close by, so they walked over to the Safeway, across the street from the other motel 6 and got some food. I just grabbed some stuff from the vending machine and ate that. When I put my five dollars in, I got out three gold coins. Two, one dollar coins and a gold quarter. So I basically got rooked on $.75. Oh well?.

We all rested up the rest of the night, calling our wives like good husbands and that? We were doing that each and every night, so we would have a warm bed to come home to. As I was talking to Chris, I told her I could smell a skunk, but it didn?t seem close by. A few minutes later, I saw a skunk walking between the motel and a gas station next door. Glad it was over that direction instead close to me!


Total miles for the day was about: 379

 

[SupraSabre]

Day 7 & 8 and more pictures will have to wait until next week...sorry...

 

[SupraSabre]

Day 7 Saturday September 6

Destination: US Route 66, Kingman, Oatman and stay in Laughlin Nevada.

First business after loading up the bikes was to get gas and breakfast. The Boys decided they wanted Jack-in-the-Box and so we headed to JitB. After eating, we went to the other side of the freeway, where a Chevron was and gassed up.

(Bobby labeled this the Power Rangers...Blue Power Ranger#1, Blue Power Ranger #2, Red Power Ranger and Yellow Power Ranger! )

Heading west, we stayed on I40 for only a few miles before turning on to Route 66. With very little traffic, we were able to keep the speed up a few MPH above the limit (sometimes 55, sometimes 65mph). As we approached Seligman, I was surprised to see that it had a lot of the Route 66 Tourism fanfare that most of the towns we came across later, lacked! Of course, they were near the freeway, so that probably had something to do with it.



The night before, I saw some information on the Grand Canyon Caverns. I just figured that it would be someplace to check out. I finally saw the signs, so we pulled off and stopped at the hotel/Bar. After we started glancing around, we realized we weren?t in the right spot and one of the boys asked a guy that looked like he worked there, where was it? The BIG SIGN out front wasn?t enough for me to realize we had to ride up a road about a mile to get to it! DUH!

The road up to the caverns wasn?t the greatest, but at least it was paved. When we got there, there was a big non-gang Harley group hanging out. To get to the caverns, you have to walk through the caf?, then pay at the store and wait for the next group to go down. I was surprised that we had 18 people in our group.

The caverns were interesting to a point. Because of it being a ?dry? cavern, it did have some unique geological formations growing, but nothing I got really excited about. They did have a mummified bobcat and some giant sloth bones to see, along with a replica of a Giant Sloth. The caverns were worth seeing for the $20.

After a nice rest in the caf?, we got back on our bikes and got ready to take off when I looked over at Dave and he was playing with his phone! I yelled to him that we were ready to go, so he put it up and a few minutes later, we were on our way back to Route 66. Since we took a break at the caverns, when we came to Peach Springs, which I thought would be filled with the Route 66 hype, but it wasn?t, in fact, it was a big disappointment, so instead of stopping there for a break, we continued on.

By then the temp was up to the mid 90F?s, so no one really wanted to stop anyway and as we passed the Hackberry Store that I thought was located closer to Peach Springs, it wasn?t, but down the road about 10 to 20 miles! And as we flew by it, it wasn?t even interesting enough to be stopping for. So we just continued on to Kingman.

After getting into Kingman, the boys spotted an Arby?s, so we stopped there to eat. After eating, we went across the street to a Chevron, to gas up and off we went again, following the Route 66 signs through Kingman, and on out to Oatman.



The ride from Kingman to Oatman was on quite a road. Or should I say the road was not that well maintained. It did have a few nice long straights, but most of it was winding around the hills. At one point, I hit an open, flat area were you could see for miles, so I opened it up a bit and hit about 107mph (according to my GPS), but as always I didn?t stay at that speed for more than a short distance. Dave and the boys all wondered what happened. Lol

We stopped at an overlook for a few minutes and could see all the way down the valley. After taking a few pictures, we were on our way again. The road was winding all over the hills we were traveling through, and we had to keep in mind where we were, I didn?t want anyone going over the edge or hitting a donkey.

As we approached Oatman, at first there were a couple of houses on the outskirts, but then the main drag. I couldn?t believe how many donkeys were in town. The other two times I had been there, I?ve only seen a few at any one time. But this time they were all over the town.



We walked through part of the town looking at things and at one store, I bought a shot glass and a hat and Dave bought a Dodgers hat! We then stopped by for an ice cream in a store that I don?t think the air-conditioning was working too well. As we were leaving, a couple of the donkeys were fighting, by chasing each other around the cars and all. It was funny to watch and I was sure one was going to dent a car.

When we got back to the bikes, most of the sidestands had gone through the asphalt and dug holes about an inch deep. Since mine was in the shade of Dave?s bike, its kickstand was still on the surface. At this point everyone decided to break out there cooling vests, except me. I just grabbed a neck cooler and got that wet.

Now my original thoughts were to leave Oatman the way we came, we would double back to Kingman and go into Laughlin from the east. I?ve gone both routes and knew it would be cooler, coming in from the east, since we would be going most down hill for a bunch of miles and not see the real heat until we got to Laughlin. But the boys didn?t want any part of that doubling back stuff, so it was on to Bullhead City and the 108F HEAT!

The road was long and had a speed limit of 45 most of the way. I kept our speed up around 62 or so. As we were approaching an area of houses, I lowered our speed down just in time. There was a cop sitting on the side of the road ready to pounce on any driver going too fast! That was a close one?Our only real, close encounter with any cops for the entire trip! Okay, we did have one other that could have been bad, but wasn?t?.that?s for the next day!

It didn?t take long to feel that heat! We had only 30 miles from Oatman to our motel, but since most of that was going through Bullhead City, it was HOT and HOTTER! I was glad to turn on the highway to Laughlin and then I could see our Hotel in the distance. As we were trying to find a place to park in the parking structure, we just kept going round and around! Finally on the 4th level there were some spots, so we pulled in and started unloading the bikes. I just left the tools on my bike, figuring that my cover would conceal them.



There were some benches as we got off the parking elevator, so I told everyone to wait there and I would go check us in. No sense in hauling all of our gear all over the hotel! As I was checking in, I had named Bobby and Justin in two of the rooms, besides myself. So I had to have them come down to the lobby to sign in.

We went back to Dave and Brett, still with the gear and found that our rooms were right around the corner from where the benches were and about 6 floors up, how lucky was that. Even though Chris and I had stayed there once before, I didn?t remember how the Hotel & Casino was laid out. That made it real easy for us to get to our rooms so we could all take it easy for a short time, before heading down for dinner at the buffet.

After dinner, Dave went upstairs to recover from the ride and the boys and I stayed downstairs and played for a bit. I actually found one machine that kept me entertained for a couple of hours at very little cost! I headed up to bed expecting to see Brett already there, but he wasn?t and by around 11, I was thinking that we need to get up early, might be a good idea to hit the sack soon, so I IM?d him. He came up soon after that, but I don?t think he saw my IM.

Total miles for the day was about: 197

 

[SupraSabre]

Day 8 Sunday September 7

Destination: US Route 66, HOME

We all woke up around the same time, and we were down at the buffet for our free breakfast even before it opened. Since that machine I was playing the night before, was close by, I went and played it until they opened. Just as I was down to my last 45 cents, I won over $8, but it took the machine a few minutes to give it to me, so I got to the buffet after everyone was already in there. But it was no big deal, I didn?t even have a line to deal with!

After eating, it was back to loading up the bikes and getting out as soon as we could. There were reports of thunder storms on our route home, so I was checking every chance I had to make sure the way was clear for us.

We gassed up first and then headed out of town going west, over 163 and then south on 95. There were few vehicles on the roads, so passing wasn?t a problem and I kept the speed around 70 to 75mph, just above the 65 mph speed limit. I wanted to get home before the afternoon thunderstorms hit.



We were soon off US95 and on Route 66 heading west to Goffs, passing a number of trains. I continued the pace and after passing under I40, I saw one of the US66 emblems painted on the road and thought, Bobby was looking for one of those, so after a few more miles I saw another one and motioned everyone to turn around and I pointed the emblems painted on the road and said this would be the perfect one since this part of the road is not traveled on much.

So we stopped and everyone was busy taking pictures for the next few minutes. There was one truck that went by, but the whole ten minutes we were there, that was it! After Bobby got his ?Selfie? with the emblem, he saw one of the trains we passed coming and he had to go get a video of it passing by. So Bobby ran over to the train bridge and at track level, and with the train passing him by only a few feet, he took his video of the train.



We mounted back up and we could see some of the clouds coming our way. They were still a ways off, but we were heading right to them!



We continued on the very straight Route 66 and we were at Amboy before we knew it. I pulled into the gas station, thinking it was closed and the guy came running out, asking us to move out of the gas lane, but cleared a spot for us to park under the shade , which we were thankful for. Even though the clouds were coming, they were still a ways off and the Sun was nice and hot! I think it was close to 100F, shade was good!



After drinking a Route Beer 66 (rootbeer), I was ready and the others were too. So off we went towards Twenty-nine Palms. It was south of Amboy, over what is called Sheep Hole Pass. Even though I was still maintaining a speed of about 70, we were passed a couple of times. I?ve never seen cops on this stretch of road, but I never take a chance.

As we dropped into the other side of the pass, we were able to continue our speeds. As we approached Twenty-nine Palms, we dropped back to a normal speed and kept it to the speed limits. Twenty-nine Palms to Yucca Valley is some 20 miles apart.

As we were going down one of the really steep hills, near Yucca Valley, I was keeping right around the 65 mph speed limit to avoid any CHP traps that seem to be there almost every time I have gone by. Before I knew, there goes Bobby chasing a car that was probably doing 80. I wasn?t about to go after him, and I wanted to stop at the Chevron near the bottom of the hill, so I figured if he was going to get gas, he better get back there! As I passed a spot, sure enough there was a CHP sitting there. But, thank goodness, the cop was looking down, like he was still writing up the last incident. So Bobby lucked out big time there! (Our second, close encounter)

I was so busy watching Bobby, trying to get his attention to come back to the gas station that I didn?t realize I rode right through a red turn light. Lucky me that the cop was still back there writing! Justin went after Bobby and Brett and Dave followed me into the gas station, after the light had turned green for them!

We took a short break and then headed down the hill to I10/Palm Springs. The farther down the hill we went, the clouds got darker and darker. Just as we hit I10, we also hit rain. The rain was coming down harder and harder as we were heading west on I10. Once we got to the Morongo Casino, the rain let up, but it was still cloudy and ugly!

As we approached I10, Dave kept saying he would like to go up to Idyllwild. After hitting the rain, I told him I didn?t think it would be a good idea to do that.

We continued west on I10 until we came to SR79 in Beaumont. Many years ago when Chris and I traveled from LA to Louisiana, Beaumont always seemed so far away from El Segundo. Funny now how close it is now, to our home in Murrieta. We headed south on 79 and turned on Ramona Express Way to avoid downtown Hemet and went down the west end of Hemet. Good thing too, we found out later that the east side of Hemet was hit with a lot of flooding. It was a very good thing we didn?t ride up to Idyllwild!

We got a few more drops on us as we were heading home, but nothing serious. As we were turning back on to 79 from Domenigoni Parkway, Brett went straight and the rest of us headed to my house. The ride was soon over as we all rode up to my garage. It was great to be home, but what a great ride we had and one that will be remembered, but probably won?t, I?m pretty sure, ever be repeated!

I was DONE!

Total miles for the day was about: 252

For a grand total of about 2,237 mile for our trip that started Sunday August 31st and went to September 7th!

 

[SupraSabre]

Epilog

I was glad we put this together, even though there were a few minor hiccups, but nothing we weren’t able to take care of. Bobby, Brett and Justin did great for such a long ride. Even though Justin rode from Murrieta to Beaverton last year, that ride was just over four days. This ride was a lot more grueling with eight days of riding.

I was concerned with Bobby and Brett, since neither had done a long ride like that and I know I was pushing them sometimes, riding longer than they would have liked, but we needed to be someplace at the end of the day and the only way to get there was to ride!

I just found that, for putting this together as far in advance that I did, scoping it down like we did and then picking August 31st through September 7th and having everyone chime in how we were going to hit all sorts of rain and real heat (put that at 95F and above), we avoided most of the rain and only had real heat a few hours out of a couple of days! We couldn’t have timed the weather better, because there was flooding in the areas that we rode through, the week before and the week after.

I was also really pleased with our bikes. Because we pretty much did the necessary maintenance on them, we didn’t have any issues other than Justin’s starter switch breaking on us and he was able to field fix it in the evening after all of our days riding, at the motel!

The bikes really did great and even though the others suffered some sort of Sore Butt, I didn’t, thanks to purchasing a Russell Day Long saddle from one of the guys on the ST-Owner’s forum. I was supposed to have a Laam saddle for the ride, but when I got it, it was too low, causing my knees to hurt and had me back too far. So the Russell came in very handy.

So, overall, what a great ride and I was pleased to be able to ride with three of my sons and have my brother for the last half of the ride! This just reinforces the fact that I love going on these type of rides and I plan on doing more of them.

This is a video that my son, Bobby put together of the ride:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXqk4sJyZ8g&feature=youtu.be

 

[SupraSabre]

I did it! I finally got my ride report and pictures done from our ride!

Hampton SouthwestTour-2014

 

[MajorTom]

Thanks for sharing your ride.

 

[SupraSabre]

Your welcome and thanks for reading it!