A Photo Retrospective

As mentioned earlier, the mileage was slightly off due to the way InstaTracker counts miles. Also, my speedo decided to not
be very accurate, off by a lot. So, I guess a more accurate way to do mileage is to actually pump the information into Google Maps and see what the results are. So the adjusted mileage is;

4761 Per Google Maps and the InstaTracker data

As I have had time to recoup, its now time to add some additional photos to the BLOG. Some are repeats, but some never made it into the pages. Please enjoy the photos. Stefan and I enjoyed taking them.

Day 1 – Oakland > Bishop – 286

Day 2 – Bishop > Vegas

Day 3 – Vegas > Monument Valley

Day 4 – Monument Valley > Santa Fe

Day 5 – A rest day > Santa Fe

Days 6 – 15 in the next few days.

Day 6 – Santa Fe > Boulder

Day 7 -Boulder a rest day

Day 8 – Boulder > Rock Springs

Day 9 – Rock Springs > Yellowstone

Day 10 – Yellowstone > Outside Glacier

Day 11 – Glacier > The rest of Montana

Day 12 – Spokane > Portland

Day 13 – Portland > Lost Coast

Day 14 – Heading Home

 

Still waiting for some final photos from Stefan

Day 14 – Down 1 & Home

Day 14 – July 20th

Total Mileage: 4153.3 miles or 6151.7 km

Actual Mileage : 394 Map

Total Mileage: 4761 miles or 7662 km

http://www.instamapper.com/trk?key=2298563660360845217

This was the home stretch. For most of the trip I didn’t know the roads and was mindful of my speed and my companions experience and safety. Not wanting to be too aggressive we had to ride within both of our limits. Now, now I was on home turf. From Crescent City down Highway 1, I was riding on roads I have been on many a time. Some, from Point Rays Station to the Golden Gate, I have maybe ridden 100 times. Back in my younger days, I was known to participate in the hooligan antics of the “Sunday Morning Ride”. The ride might be a more respectable event now since it has its own website, but not back then. Ah, fond memories.

But now was not the time to cut loose. The most dangerous time on a trip of this nature is to fall victim to the “home turf” temptations that were pulling on me now. Stefan and I have done 4000+ miles relative safely, and I didn’t want to toss it away now. I would deliver him to the end of the trip in 1 piece. I insisted that he lead the final part of the ride along the familiar roads that I know so well.

So, Stefan and I headed out of Crescent City at about 7ish. The weather was cold and foggy, typical summer weather for the west coast. As we pulled into Eureka for breakfast,  Stefan and I were both amazed at how cold we were. We went through Glacier, Yellowstone and up over the passes in the Rockies, all of which still had snow. We were rained on and rode through a driving thunder storm in  Montana, but none of these places left us as cold as the summer fog on the California coast. !?? Well, you know the saying,

“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco”

( Often incorrectly attributed to Samuel Clemens) seems to have some merit.

By noon, in typical California fashion, the clouds broke and the fog vanished. The ocean appeared and the surrounding vistas became more spectacular. There is a reason I live here, and these views of the ocean and the country side are one of the reasons why.

I unpack my belongings under the supervision of Olive and the assistance of Piper, our 5 year old  4 & 3/4 years old McNabb/Border Collie. They are both unimpressed with my trip and are more interested with the boundless number of smells coming from my luggage. Amazing what dirty socks will attract.

So the trip is over. I had an incredible time and I hope Stefan did. After the ride all I can think about is doing another. Maybe to Alaska or do the Canadian Highway, up to Yellow Knife and back. Not sure which one, but I am pretty certain it will be another.

Will my little 620 Ducati Multi be the bike for the trip? I’m not sure. My confidence in it is broken by the failure of the engine oil light. In this case, it was a good thing the light was incorrect, but it does leave a lingering taste, and not a good one. I guess I do have a few options. 1) rehab the multi and use the next year to access it’s viability. 2) get a BMW GS and succumb to the euro-adventure juggernaut. There is a certain gestalt about the whole BMW thing that is difficult to resist. We will see.

If I do another trip of this nature there are several additional items that need to be done to the motorcycle. 1) a cruise control is critical. 2) a taller windshield. Was cleaning the helmet shield about 3 times a  day. Stefan taller windscreen did a much better job of deflecting bugs than he maybe cleaned his screen once a day at the most. 3) bring along your heated gear just in case. Heated gloves on a rainy day is a blessing. 4) update your GPS and make sure its water resistant. 5) replace the Ducati cases with some real cases. Love the Italian flair for design, but the cases are perfect example of form over function.

“O people will actually want to put something in these ? No, Never. !” in an Italian voice.

The final mileage is 4150 miles or so. In the next few day I will see if I can punch it into Google Maps and get a better reading on the actual mileage. In the big scheme of thing, the mileage isn’t important. The tracking of the route, at least most of it, is there.

I would like to say thank-you to all the people that made this trip a reality;

My wife Sandy – Just because.

Stefan – Great cousin and traveling companion.

My Mom – For hosting Stefan while he’s here.

My sister – Claudia, and her family, Don, Ian, and Austin – for hosting us in Boulder and the reason for the trip in the first place.

Kesley – For looking after the girls ( Kona, Piper, Lucy, & Olive) while we were out.

And everyone else that encouraged use and followed along on the BLOG.

Cheers

Vern

Day 13 – Portland and the Lost Coast

Day 13 – July 19th

Total Mileage: 3822.5 miles or 6151.7 km

Actual Mileage : 372 Map

Total Mileage: 4367 miles or 7028 km

http://www.instamapper.com/trk?key=3771107778132746978

Its interesting what you take pictures of while on a trip like this. There is one of the girl at the Shell station. She was running around in her official Shell uniform, pumping gas for everyone. Forgot that Oregon was a “no pump” state. You can not pump your own gas at the station. Thought it would be pretty cool to get a picture with her, since she did want to help, but motorcycles are exempt from the law.

The is also a photo of a glockenspiel….well not really. I guess its a Oregon version of one, but well worth the photo.

Tsunami Evacuation Zone – remainder that California, Oregon, and Washington are still on the “pacific ring of fire”. Spending the night in Crescent City, which suffered some minor damage in the recent 2011 tsunami. The 1964 Crescent City tsunami killed 10 people.

Day 12 – Washington And Other Thoughts

Day 12 – July 18th

Total Mileage: 3493.5 miles or 5622.2 km

Actual Mileage: 432 Map

Total Mileage: 3995 miles or 6429 km

http://www.instamapper.com/trk?key=9314430050267708809

Today was the trek through eastern Washington. Who knew that this part of Washington could easily be mistaken for the desert region of Wyoming?? Would have thought it would be greener and more trees and forests, nope, not at all.

Once into the western part of the state, Washington turns into what you expected, big forests, mountains, and beautiful vistas. Stefan mentioned that this part of Washington was as, or more beautiful than Yellowstone or Montana. I am a bit more fond of Montana.

Thoughts

One thing I have noticed while on this trip. If you’re not a motorcycle person, you can skip these deep thoughts. For you moto nuts read on. From my observations, if you travel across state borders, you need to own a BMW GS. It seems to be a prerequisite for an adventure rider. If you pass a group of riders on the back roads, they are typically all riding on the ubiquitous GS. You may see one in the group on a Suzuki V-Storm, or a BMW F650, but that’s it. This is speaking volumes for the Suzuki, to be accepted, somewhat, into the BMW fold.

The other pack of riders that you will run into are the Harley riders. These are typically broken down into distinct groups. The most common are the RUBS, rich urban bikers. They pull their chrome sleds out of the garage every other month or so. Head out to the National Parks and make a full day of the event to include polishing the chrome at every rest stop. The other group is the “Grizzle Adams” type. They have their entire life strapped to the tank and back of the bike. They aren’t riding fast, but they are steady. The bike looks like its been to the ends of the earth, but ready to do the round trip again.

All these GSs and the Harleys make me and my bike feel so inadequate.  Not sure it’s envy or a need to belong to a pack of my own. I am not typically a “be-longer” but this adventurer rider stuff is new to me. As thing are going, I might need to put on slightly more weight and grow some additional facial hair. The tattoo will be the easy part but I don’t know if I can pull off  “live free or die” inked across my chest.

Day 11 – Another Day In Montana, The Border, And Out.

Day 11 – July 17th

Total Mileage: 3123.1 miles or 5026.1 km

Actual Mileage : 374 Map

Total Mileage: 3563 miles or 5734 km

http://www.instamapper.com/trk?key=169389920117168753

Can someone say BIG state. I think this is the most time we have spent in any state.

The miles are getting up there, but the tracker is only counting the miles as the crow fly, from point to point. There are so many turns and curves on our journey, that I am confident the distance is likely 500+ more. My speedometer is off, so actual mileage is difficult to gauge. We will continue to use the InstaTracker as the official distance of record.

We did take a quick detour to the Canadian border just to see what we could see. Not much there except a few electron radiation sniffing thingies on our side, and a sniffing beagle on the Canadian side ( not really about the Canadian side, just made it up. The radiation sniffing thingies on our side is true)

Day 10 – It Must Be Montana

Day 10 – July 16th

Total Mileage: 2795.9 miles or 4499.5 km

Actual Mileage : 407 Map

Total Mileage: 3189 miles or 5132 km

http://www.instamapper.com/trk?key=1425947881292098288

The ride up from Yellowstone to Glacier was pretty amazing. I have a dear friend that wants to move to Montana. Prior to this I thought she was nuts ( no offense meant ). Now, after riding through some amazing country, I understand. The pictures do not do it justice. The sky is different up here.

Day 9 – Yellowstone

Day 9 – 15th July

Total Mileage: 2418.8 miles or 3892.6 km

Actual Mileage: 306 Map

Total Mileage: 2782 miles or 4477 km

http://www.instamapper.com/trk?key=11703729385995773110

Today was one of the shortest days of the trip but was definitely one of the most gorgeous. Been to Yosemite, been to Tahoe, and some of the other national parks. Been to parks and mountain ranges all over the planet, but Yellowstone is by far heads and shoulders above the rest. Amazing.

And on this amazing day, what happens, my camera craps out ?!!! Claudia, I think you hurt it’s feelings. Yes, its old and has a tiny screen, and took relatively crappy pictures, but at least it was a camera. Well, not any more. Good thing that Stefan had his.

Also, today was our first run in with the LAW. In my haste to find gas, we, well more like I, had to make a u-turn to get back to one of the only gas stations within Yellowstone. My u-turn took me about 10 feet into Yellowstone and off the paved road.

dass es verboten

Not a big deal if the LAW doesn’t catch you..o, your the LAW…coming by at the worst time…oops. Lights, step off the bike sir, show me your papers. Ugh.

Mr. LAW was not too bad, he did want to see all my stuff. Asked if I had any weapons on me ( since it is NOW legal to carry firearms in national parks ??!!). It is a bit disconcerting to have your name come across the speaker of the ranger’s cruiser in well enunciated terms.

“Mr. Victor  Echo  Romeo  November ….” “No priors….”

Good thing for me the “turn out” was well used. My off road excursion was minor within the context of the existing damage. I was fully expecting to get a ticket for my actions, but for some reason, and my “no priors”, Mr. LAW let me off with a warning. I thanked him and we went our separate ways.

Day 8 – “o..no”…

Day 8 -14th July

Total Mileage: 2158.9 miles or 3474 km

Actual Mileage: 370 Map

Total Mileage: 2476 miles or 3948.7 km

http://www.instamapper.com/trk?key=672185122397264824

As some of you may have noticed, I am about a day behind with my BLOG. Writing about stuff that happened the day before. If your tracking us, it might be a bit strange to see the post showing up a day later than it should. Sorry. Will attempt to do better.

We got a late start out of Boulder. Had to go to the farmers market. Pretty nice as farmers markets go. If your in Boulder, stick around for the Saturday farmer’s market, well worth it.

The delay did put us into the heart of the tourist traffic heading up to Nederland and over into Rocky Mountain National Park. Not that we are not tourist also, it just puts a cramp into the ride up and over the mountain.

The delay getting out of the Rockies put us into the heart of the weather in Wyoming. The weather was pretty foreboding  for most of the day. We did count ourselves lucky to get over the Rockies before the weather, but you could tell it was coming in. Our luck ran out as we high tailed it from Rawlins to Rock Springs. We even pulled off once or twice since it was coming down pretty hard. If you know me, rain is not typically an issue for me, but this was a bit much.

The rain, the late start, the tourist traffic all contributed to our late entry into Rock Springs. We have been averaging a 5:30ish arrival. Tonight it was 9:30pm. Don’t like arriving so late since it opens up soooo many different variables and compounds the risks involved. Want this to be as safe and adventure as possible…within reason at least.

This was also the first time on this trip that I have one of those;

“o, no….”

moments. You know the ones. Its the feeling you get when you blow by the cop parked at the side of the road and your going sub-sonic. The cop knows it, you know it, your just waiting for the cruiser to roll and the lights to start flashing and the sirens to come on. Well that didn’t happen, but its just an example of the feeling you get. Mine was a bit different.

Or its the feeling you get when you’ve crash the family car because your prom date convinced you that she’s a good driver and really, really, wants to prove it. You relent, and the worst thing possible happens (well almost). In the days before cell phones, its the cop taking you to the closest 7-11 convenience store and you scrounging for coinage to make the dreaded call to mom/dad to have them come get you in what remaining vehicle the family may have. As Charlie Brown would say; “Ugh”. That’s not what happened so let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

This is what happened. So, we are traveling from Rawlings to Rock Springs and the weather is becoming an issue. Sprinkles became showers, showers became rain, and the rain turned into a deluge. Not to bad, very manageable. So I am riding along minding my business, managing the rain, and I notice the red engine light on the dash. Its flickering. Flickering engine oil lights are not a good thing. Is it really.?? !!

(someone suggested that I should commented as to why this “red” engine light is bad. It typically means that the bike engine has run out of oil and is within seconds of expiring and turning into a lump of worthless junk)

“o…no….”

I am 20 miles from civilization. 2100 miles from home. Its raining cats and dogs.

“o..no…!!”

It amazing what you think about in moments like this. You think of all the ways this could play out and ALL are not good.

“o…NO !”

So if this is going to end badly, lets just let it play out. I keep on driving on. The light is still flickering. I assure myself that if its really bad, the light will stay on solid. ( amazing how we lie to ourselves at moments like this (more amazing that we actually believe it )).

As I continue to ride, the rain subsides a bit. I also notice, to my sheer delight that the light flickers less and less. After 10 minutes of no rain, the flickering is also gone. Can this be ? Yes it can. Thank god for Italians and their inability to make good electronics. The rain happened to short out the contact for the oil pressure sending unit, causing the “flicker” and a 3 year reduction in my life expectancy due to stress.

Day 6 – Boulder – Half Way

Day 6

Actual Mileage : 486 Map

http://www.instamapper.com/trk?key=370069923540800690

The journey from Santa Fa to Boulder was not uneventful. We did start off in the wrong direction and headed to Las Vegas, CO. This would have been a quicker trip, if we wanted to do this trip totally by freeway and go through Denver. Not something we wanted to do. A quick adjustment to the route and we headed in the correct, but slightly longer, direction. We did stop in Taos for lunch at the Bent Street Cafe , a good bet for anyone that is looking for a good meal at a reasonable price.

One of the photos I took is a scene of a field of yellow flowers. Not quite sure what these flowers are, mustard, or something else. I only bring this up because we had some time to ponder this since we sat in road work traffic for about a half an hour. I forgot how hot fresh black top is when your just sitting there. If you have a chance, avoid 285 between Monte Vista and Saquache.

All these delays pushed back our arrival time to about 7pm, a bit later that we usually end our day. We were greeted by Claudia’s youngest son Austin.

Half Way

With the completion of the Boulder section of the trip, we are now half way.

Mileage to date: 1823  The Actual mileage so far using Google Maps and the exact route is : 2106 Miles

Day 7

Was a rest day in Boulder. The bikes needed it and so did we.

Yes, our behinds needed desperately as well a rest, being stressed too much. But never the less we took the bikes of the Elsborg family and ran then to the city. After having had a wonderful breakfast as a good layer for the coming, we tried out pretty fast the wines and cheese of the world and hit some coffee, having a very nice cappuccino. Besides looking at the interesting and lively street-live of Boulder with the really pretty inhabitants (worth a journey), we had to try out the other alcoholic beverages brewed in Boulder. So we ended up in a very progressive performance at the contemporary arts museum in Boulder. But unfortunately right in the break of this performance a kind of hunger and thirst appeared suddenly and we had to leave the place immediately in order to satisfy our needs. So my comment is: go to Boulder and you’ll get what you want…

-Stefan

Day 4 – 4 Corners

Day 4

Actual Mileage : 412 Map

http://www.instamapper.com/trk?key=7726859758161949182

This section of the trip was pretty spectacular. The weather was amazing. We has rain, we had a sand storm, we saw a lightning storm glowing off in the distance. In addition, the scenery in Arizona is beautiful.I do wish I had more pictures, unfortunately i had to put away the camera from the rain and the sand. Did get a few photos from the 4 corners area.

Sandy has an affinity for Santa Fe. Her most recent visit to the area just happens to be at the same time that Stefan and I will be in Santa Fe. Go Figure. What a great time for us to be in the area.

Day 5 is a rest and repair day.

The Versys’ cooling fan is not working. After the heat of Death Valley and the bike is still running, I don’t think it will be an issue for the rest of the trip.  After a bit of investigation, we were not able to solve the problem. Other than that, the bike appears to be working perfectly.

The Multi is having some minor issues. The front fork blew a seal, and the tail light is burning out. The tail light is not an issue and is an easy fix, but the seal will have to wait till we are back home.