Once around.. edited as I go

[Stump]

Got started out on time with perfect weather. Left Las Vegas (home) up I15 to get to Zion Nat'l Park and on to first nights stop at Natural Bridges NP. Ended up going to Blanding UT due to Natural Bridges being full up (and on a Monday night.. who woulda thought?). The ride throu Bryce Vally and Capitol Reef NP was spectacular! 546 miles.

Day 2
Blanding to Chama NM. Started aout cool and got downright cold! Jus before Mexican Hat it was 34o, Brrrrr... but stopped at Mexican hat / San Jacinto bridge for B-fast.. good stuff in a interesting Cafe overlooking the small gorge. Monument Valley later in the morning... Magnificent. All the roads a hoot to drive on and I got lucky with very, very light traffic. took NM 64 across to Chamas NM and smpent the night in a nice RV/Camping place just at the junction NM 64 and NM 84. Great grub at a local Saloon and $2 Bass ale... Mmmm 344 miles.

Day 3
Up early, 39o out.. Think I have time for tea and oatmeal 'cause it's to dam* cold to ride yet. Fire up the Jetboil.. Cool Stove! when the temp gets above 45 I go out and break camp, head out on NM84 to Santa Fe. Nice territory, great road exept for the last 30 miles... just gets dull in that area goign from one town to the next in dull country. Take NM14 south from Santa Fe (Turquoise Trail) to join up on I40, turn right to get to Albuquerque. Nice short day, 165 miles. Staying at Aunt and Uncles for 2 nights...

Pics:

 

[NoBull]

Have some grub at Sadies down on Fourth. try the Carne Adovada if you like hot and spicy. Awesome food in Alb. Real NM mexican food is to die for... Hwy 64 between 84 and 285 is one of the coolest roads I have ever ridden...Im jealous..

 

[alan]

Nice writeup. I have also spent the night in a motel in Blanding while visiting the parks, wonder if we ended up in the same one? Don't remember which one my son and I stayed in though.

A beautiful area of the country.

 

[Stump]

Day 4
Albuquerque layover w/ my Aunt & Uncle. Double checking out bike and taking it easy.

Day 5
Albuquerque to Carlsbad NM. I 25 to NM380 to Smokey the Bears home "Capitan" NM 48 to Riadoso, Billy the Kids hang out area. Through the Mescalero Apache reservatio on NM 244 and NM 82 to Artesia. NM 285 to Carlsbad. BBQ for dinner, mmmm good with mustard/vineger sauce.
371 miles

Day 6
Carlsbad to the caverns and to "Living Desert" zoo/garden. Both well worth the $11 total. That hike down was a doozy.. my calves and knees were sore for the next 2 days!
54 miles

Day 7
Carlsbad to Big Bend. Man does it get windy at Guadalup NP! fought some over the top wind. Prolly over 45 mph I'd bet. Then off on Tx 54 through Van Horn, Marfa, and Alpine.. great ride. Turned off there to Tx 118 and had lunch at Kathys Krazy Kowgirl Kafe. If you get there the BBQ pork sandwich is excellant! Entered Big Bend NPand stayed the night up in the Chisos campground. Typical NP; no shower bot wonderful scenary and a night sky thats amazing
351 miles


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[Stump]

Day 8
Big Bend to Larado
Out of BBNP on 385 to Marathon then S on Tx 90 to Tx 277. Nice ride for about 70 miles then a N wind stsrts with the clouds. Rain asnd strong wind through Del Rio. Rain quits but wind stays to Larado. Nice road and interesting desert scenery
430 miles

Day 9
Larado to Port Lavaca
Tx 83 to Brownville then Tx 48 to South Padre Isl. Back on Tx 100 to 5 Tx 77 north to south of Corpus Christi then Tx 585 to Tx 365 and ovet the bridge to Padre Isl. North on Tx 351, is a great ride, cooler because of the ocean, to the free ferry ride off Mustang Island. Hook up to N Tx 35 to Port Lavaca
520 miles

Day 10
Port Lavaca to Gulfport, MS.
TX 35 up to TX 36 to hop onto Mustang Isl. And over toll bridge to Galveston Isl. What a mess from the storms! Took ferry to TX 87, linked up to TX 124 to TX 73 to Orange. I got on I 10 there only until LA 397 over to LA 14. I really enjoyed the rural road. LA 14 to US 90 all the way to N'orlens. Hopp onto the 10 all the way to US 49.
621 miles

Day 11
Gulfport, MS to Bonifay, FL
Hugged the ocean on US 90 to MS 188 to get to AL 193 and on to Dauphin Isl. Stayed on the island, ferried over to AL 180. It turns to FL 292, hooking to FL 173 and then FL 399 on the island. Got off at Navaro, bounced to US 98 to US 331 up to US 10 then east.
Had great BBQ pork in Fort Waltn Beach on the corner of Perry and 98. Yum!
263 miles
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[Phartz]

Great trip. I'm enjoyin' it.

 

[Mellow]

+1 sounds like a lot of fun.. keep it up.

 

[DAS]

What route did you take from Zion to Arches? Burr trail per chance? And why back track from Blanding to Mexican Hat unless just to see all that beautiful red rock down there.

 

[Stump]

I used UT89 to UT12 to UT42 to UT95. I follewed the National Scenic byway dots on my map.

The reason was that I miswrote the park .. I said Archs when I should have wrote Natural Bridges NP. I did Blanding and then Mexicsn Hat is cause I'd planned on staying at Natural Bridges that Monday night but it was full up. So I drove to Blanding for the night instead. That road between Natural Bridges and Mexican Hat had warnings about 20 miled of it being unpaved. Not the road for me! I've edited the original post to get the names right. <doh>
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[Stump]

Day 12
Bonifey to Live Oak, FL
US 90 all the way, stayed off the Interstate and enjoyed the old road and small towns along the way. Had a great set of doughnuts in Quincy and some cookies in a cafe in Madison at "Tupolo Bakery and Cafe". Smelled the Star Jasmin blooming. Nice area to ride in and beautiful weather.
210 Miles

Day 13
Lay day, goofed off and saw the sights in Live Oak Fl.

Day 14
Live Oak to Franklin, NC. I chose to go up on NC 441. An great road with light traffic. Again its all about the small towns and quite roads. Had my first BBQed pork sandwich with the coleslaw served in the sandwich. MMMM good! As I got to North Carolina I got a few drops of rain but after getting a motel in Franklin and getting bqack from dinner.. whoosh! Down it came! Great timing!
418 miles

Day 15
Franklin to Lexington VA
Blue Ridge Parkway, Baby!! After a 30 mile detour it was 8.5 hours oup on the ridge being chased but never caught by the rain. Lovely indeed! It began on a wet, slippery road abut as the day progressed the road dried and life was good.
427 miles

Day 16
Lexington to Fort Belvoir, VA
Finished BRP in fog and mist. Loved it all and got off at the end, headed off east on I 64. Got off on 213 that changed to 20 so I could drive the Virginia rural roads... again, worth it!! Nice roads and no traffic. Stayed on 20 until US 1 and drove that to Fort Belvoir.
192 miles

 

[alan]

"Had a great set of doughnuts in Quincy and some cookies in a cafe in Madison at "Tupolo Bakery and Cafe"."

So, how many pounds have ya put on this trip???

 

[Stump]

Days 17 - 22
Visited DC and area. Crab for dinner in Georgetown. Time to switch from BBQ I think. Went to Mt Vernon and Arlington. Enjoyed some time with old friends. Got caught up with laundry and cleaned the bike!
75 miles

Day 23
Fort Belvoir to Newburgh, NY.
Left early to beat the traffic going up 1 to 495 headed east. In Maryland I took scenic route 213 and enjoyed not sharing the road through the farming area. Joined up w/ I95 up to Trenton. Up the Deleware River on 20 and had a great late b-fast of potato pancakes at a cafe near Frenchtown or Milford. Joined up to PE 191 to US 6 and headed east. Grest roads, scenic and twisty in places along the rivers. Linked onto I84 at Germantown taking it to Newburgh.
409 miles

Day 24
Newburgh to Hebron, CT
Back on I84 to the first information center and called Kempo. He got me on a scenic road, US 7 north. Up 7 to US 44 east was very pretty with nice sweeperd and good road. Off to CT 177 south to I 691 east to CT 66 to Hebron.
207 miles

Day 25
Layday, short ride to New London
Took 85 down to I95 then north on 12 to sub. museum & USS Nautilus. Spent an hour enjoying looking at submarine history. Retaced rout back to Kempos hous in the rain. People started to show up for CampSTOC and spent the rest of the watcging it, hsving a few beers, and talking trash.
59 miles

Day 26
group ride to Hogback Mountain, Vermont.
Backroads through Massachusetts, through Quabbin Resavour, up to Mohawk trail, up to Hogback Mountain and then back to Todds house.
309 miles.

Day 27-28
Laydays @ CampSTOC, hanging out and on Sunday packing out to overnight on Todds couch. That even came with a grilled steak dinner! Todd & Michele are the best!
16 miles

Day 29
Hebron to Ellsworth MA.
CT 6 to 32 to I84 to Mass.turn pike to I495 to bypass Boston. Hooked into I95 to US 1 in Maine.
Man is US 1 slow.l towns had lights set to stop u. Handled it but as the temps stayed at only 50 degrees I got really cold. Stopped for late lunch of lobster roll and coffee soth of Portland. By Rockland I was ggetting shudders and yawns pretty bad so opted for a motel in Ellsworth. Grabbed some good clam chowder and crab cakes to complete my warm up
361 miles
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[Stump]

Day 30
Ellsworth to Rivere-de-Loup, Canada
Went for a looksee to the "Seawall",the eastern most part of Acadia NP. so up US 1 TO US 95 into Canada to CA 2 to Rivere-du-Loup. US1 was 3/4 good and 1/4 BAD road.. Whole right side in bad parts torn up and almost unridable. Pretty scenery tho with some amaxing veiws when you break ou of the trees. Canada 2 very nice road, but ultimately just mire slab. Got real cold by 6pm.
419 miles

Day 31
Rivere-de- Loup to Ottawa.
Took the ferry across St Lawrence the CA 138 to Quebec, then CA 20 to Montreal to CA 40 to CA 417 to Ottawa.
Started dat just plain cold, then got drizzel and cold but after I put on every bit of cold weather gear I had, wore it for about an hour, took ut all off 'cause the sun came out and up temp went to 67! Sheesh!
I had a great welcome by Brian "Shantman" in Ottawa, complete with a welcome to Ottawa beer! Great dinner at local bar and a place to sleep tonight!
436 miles

Day 32
Lay day, touristy stuff with shantyman "Brian". See some of Ottawa. Good stuff at Museum of Civilization, great kabobs by Brian for dinner.. Listen to some Irish music at a pub.

Day 33
Ottowa to Chatham, Mich.
Kings Road 17 to Sault ste Marie, I 75 to M 28.
Great ride thtough rural Canada along the Ottowa river. Lost 45 minutes at border crossing. Getting gas just after turning west on M 28 I get stupid and have a in place tip ever.. No harm just embarrassed. Learned U.P. is flat and roads are straight! 11 hours of ride today.
648 miles

Day 34
Chatham to Grand Rapids, MI.
M 28 to US 2, decided to go up and do the scenic drive WI 13. then rejoined US 2 and stayed on it.
The day started cold and stayed around 55 untill mid day.
The drive on WI 13 was fun as the road had some elevation changes and a few sweepers. But not great views other than of rural settings. US 2 is straight and its all about getting down the road. I do enjoy watching the geology and vegitation changes. Spring JUST getting started.
414 miles
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[Stump]

Day 35
Grand Rapids to Dickenson, ND
Dodging weather.. US 169 to Brainerd then west on US 10 to Moorhead. Switch over to I94 the rest of the day.
Huge front and associated storms in central ND so i went south on 169 and enjoyed the ride through the farm land along the Mississippi valley, letting the storms move N.E. Mostly worked.. Only had to stop in Fargo for an hour to let it POUR. Wet roads and wind but no rain for the day. Had a huge temp change mid day (74 to 55) and fog at Bismark. I was looking forward to the rolling hills west but the wind clocked to the north and blew 25+ making just driving diffucult, forget sight seeing.
541 miles

Day 36
Dickenson to Great Falls, MT
I94 to MT 200S to MT 200
Back off the slab to primary roads, Yay! MT200 was a joy and even posted at 70! Had a tail wind all day to boot. Great land to look at all day too. Started in the Badlands, went to the prairie/grasslands, then the foothills and river valley of the Missouri. I loved it. And no rain escept for an afternoon cloudburst I waited out in Lewistown, MT.
442 miles

Day 37
Great Falls to Kalispell, MT
US 89 to St Mary, the backtrackin south on US 89 to MT 49 to US 2 west.
Grand Falls was a nice start, dry and 58, but the wind picked up as I got out on US 89. Luckily it stayed under 20 and a slight push off the left shoulder. The road was interesting, long straights along the valleys with twisties between. The last 15 or so miles into St Mary where hard, technical, serious stuff. Pavement uneven and changing. But the veiws of the front range were stupendous. Then i did MT 49! Yeozah! What a road... Not for the faint of heart.
248 miles

Day 38
Kalispell to Field Springs State Park, WA
I93 to US 12 (Lolo) to WA129
Finally got to warm weather, used mesh jacket, was 98 in Lewiston, Id / Clarkston, Wa.
Lolo construction ate rt mirror housing. 137 miles of turns, 3/4 downhill, my aching wrists!
282 miles

Day 39-44
Feild Springs State Park laydays
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[VFR]

Wow!! That was a ride!!! You covered some major territory and experienced the flavor of a lot of states. :bow1: I would love to do that one.

 

[Stump]

Day 45
Field Springs to Spokane
Straight up
Got a good day with comfortable temps for the drive through rolling hills and wheat fields.

Day 46
Layday in Spokane, got the new rear tire mounted. The Bridgestone 020f lasted just 10k.
157 miles

Day 47
Spokane to Bellingham, WA
US 395 to WA 20 to I5 "The Nothern Cascade Hiway", WA 20 was stunning! A very good ride indeed! Spokane to Omak was interesting but got hot in the central valleys.
4XX miles

Day 48
Bellingham to Port Angeles, WA
I5 to WA 16 to WA 3 to WA 104 to US 101
I5 in fron Bellingham to Tacoma isn't hard on the eyes and made for a quick 2+ hour drive. Spent 4 hours with friend over lunch and headed to the floating bridge across the Hood Canal.
240 miles

Day 49
Port Angeles to Lincoln City, OR
My first time running the out side of the Olympic Peninsula. Day started cool and overcaste with low clouds on the hill tops. Great riding weather! The scenery was great and I seemed to be THE traffic going Southbound until Astoria to Tillimook, where I got light but not bad traffic. The rest of the day was back to "all by my self" with clouds clearing some.
348 miles

Day 50
Lincoln City to Fort Bragg
US 101 to CA 1
Dreary start, drizzel and wet fog untill noon. Cleaeed up at Gold Beach, OR. to a glorious day on a spectacular view of the coast. Gold Beach to Cresecnt City was an awesome ride. The rest of the day stayed great and the scenery stayed superlative. The ride through Redwods SP was fast on great road with long sweeping turns. The turn from Leggett to CA 1 went to 22 miles in tight 10 to 35 mph twisties back to the Mendocino coast. If you haven't, you NEED to try this area out.
490 miles
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[Stump]

More NorCal coastal pics, starting at the Oregon Border and going south.

 

[Stump]

Day 51
Fort Bragg to San Jose, CA.
CA 1 to Valley Ford Road to Bodega Ave to US 101 to US 37 to I80 to I780 to I680 to US 101
Original plan was for doing US 1 all the way to San Jose but a weather change had put an onshore breeze at 35 knows across the Golden Gate bridge.. so I chose to bip inland to Petaluma and down inland on the backside of the coastal range to San Jose. Fort Bragg to Bodega was a fairly fast road with fun curves seperated by longer sweepers right along the coast. Great views and the weather was cool and clear. The bounce inland netted warmer temps and once on the I-state much faster speeds. got into San Jose early.
227 miles

Day 52
San Jose to Las Vegas, NV (home)
US 101 to I405 to I5 to I15
Decided I'd had enough fun and was gonna finish the our up.... I'd driven every possable route in SoCal and, as I'd planned TentSTOC but there was some substantial weather between San Jose and Yosemite, I just chose the fastest route home. US 101 was quite nice, good road and fast without much traffic. I missed all the traffic in LA basin, stopping only at Marina Del Rey (old sailing stomping ground) to pick up lunch. Hammered it down to San Diego and hit the border at "Border Park" before the run home. got home at 1030.. not so bad, 14.5 hours and 910 miles.
910 miles

 

[Mark]

Thanks for the tour... great pics and I sure hope Chris and I get to duplicate it someday!

Mark

 

[Phartz]

Ah, I recognize the Irish Beach vista point and the Point Arena Lighthouse. Used to ride my bicycle there all the time back in the 90s.

Nice trip report and pics!