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Hello! I've always wanted to ride across the United States between LA and New York, and since I recently decided to quit my job in Melbourne and emigrate to the UK, it's sort of on the way. Sort of. So why not? I quit my job in December and went back to my hometown of Perth for a glorious summer sleeping rent-free in Dad's spare bedroom and going to the beach every day. The plan was to go back to Melbourne for a bit to visit friends in mid-April, then fly to LA to buy a bike, ride it across the USA, sell it in New York (where my girlfriend would fly up and meet me) then fly to the UK together to start living in London.  Packing! I asked around on ADV rider and was pointed towards a guy named James who lives in LA and helps foreigners out with buying motorbikes. It was going to be a solo trip, but while I was in Perth, working out all the nuts and bolts, Dad had an epiphanic conversation with a taxi driver (as you do) and decided he wanted to come with me. OK. We were planning to buy a pair of KLRS off a guy called Cole, who lives in Colorado but was storing them in LA, and after talking to him for a bit it turned out it would be to our mutual advantage if we could transport them to the east coast for him. So we paid him a bit of cash, and after arriving in LA last week I went and picked them up with James and his wife Colleen. They've got a few miles under their belts already and come with useful stuff like seat covers and panniers, plus one of them is already lowered, which is good for Dad. So anyway. I got here a week beforehand to sort stuff out, Dad flew in on Saturday and 24 hours later James and Colleen took us for a ride up into the San Gabriel Mountains. I'd already been acclimatizing but for Dad it was a bit of a baptism of fire to ride along LA freeways on the way to the mountains. Everyone - literally everyone - goes 10 to 15 mph above the speed limit. What the gently caress is up with that?  In a word, amazing. Easily the best ride I've ever been on, despite the rough road surface. Snow in April! At times across the pass we we reaching elevations higher than Australia's highest mountain. And this is just behind LA - imagine the Sierra Nevadas!  I was actually legit jealous of Americans for having this kind of thing in their backyards. We went up to a place called Newcombs Ranch which was awesome. Whole spread of motorbikes out the front, from sports bikes to hipster cafe racers to Harley Davidsons. I was grinning as we walked in and filled with a panging sense of longing to live here and have access to the these kinds of places.  Route 66. Everybody above a certain age back home excitedly asks if you're going to ride Route 66 and it's easier to just sort of nod than explain that it's only famous because of a song and is actually a pretty featureless highway.  This is my Dad. He looks like a biker.  This is me. I look like a doofus.  We're sort of like the original odd couple. In fact in San Francisco Dad (moderately conservative) noted the amount of gay couples around and wondered aloud if everyone assumed we were a gay couple. I assured him that they certainly did.    Yesterday we cruised up the Big Sur coast. It reminded me a lot of the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, and I wanted to say the GOR was better, but the truth is Big Sur is probably a bit better than that. Not twice as better but maybe 1.5 times as better. That was it - that was all Australia had and you had to take that away from us too. Thanks America. Not even America, just California. We're in San Francisco tomorrow but will be heading to Tahoe/Yosemite tomorrow. 30 days to go!
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May 1, 2014 06:55
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Looks like you guys are having a blast...safe travels, sorry to miss you while you're in town.
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May 1, 2014 07:07
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I'm confused by the fact that you seem to have packed sneakers to change into when you get off the bike and take off your Chuck Taylors
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May 1, 2014 08:14
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Man, that's awesome. Hope I get a chance to do something like that one day. Have a great trip!
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May 1, 2014 11:46
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Hey, glad you got to check out the San Gabriels! I'm biased by living at the base of them, but they're awesome. A billion little side roads to sneak down with that KLR. freebooter posted:Everyone - literally everyone - goes 10 to 15 mph above the speed limit. What the gently caress is up with that? We're all so inundated by stop-n-go traffic that when we get an opportunity to open up the gas, we just go crazy  The CHP takes that time to park on a trunk road and eat a burrito, glad to not be taking fender-bender reports in the fast lane in 105 degree heat (Mercedes cutting traffic at 90 be damned). Also, the 210 freeway right there where Angeles Crest spits out in La Crescenta has always been a racecourse - there's a CHP Station there too which makes it hairy, but I've been going ~20mph over the limit through there and had cruisers sneak up and pass me.Keep us updated, and good luck! If I was to give one tip, do your best to not eat at chain restaurants as you travel. Seek out the little small-town places.* *does not apply to In-N-Out or the one-time experience of Waffle House
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May 1, 2014 14:35
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Wow, that should be a fantastic trip! Do you guys have any must-see spots or a general route planned out yet? Or are you just going to try to hit as many highlights/national parks as you can along the way? There's such an unbelievable amount of stuff to see and do all throughout the country, especially out west... I'm really looking forward to your updates!
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May 2, 2014 03:43
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We spent a day in San Francisco doing the touristy stuff – Alcatraz, the cable cars. (Dad thought the cable cars were neat but being a Melburnian I sniffed my nose at their inadequacy.) I’d booked the cheapest hotel I could find at the last minute and found out later that it was in the Tenderloin, apparently a crime area, and after dark it certainly felt like it. We walked through Civic Square at sunset and I felt pretty uncomfortable. Not unsafe, exactly, but close enough – and this is meant to be one of America’s wealthiest cities. It sort of made me realise that Australia doesn’t have a substantial underclass like America. On the amusing side, some Salvation Army guys setting up a mobile soup kitchen asked if we wanted a meal. Hadn’t even been camping yet and already looked like bums. Anyway, the next day we hit the road for the Sierra Nevadas. After 150 miles through the urban sprawl of Sacramento we were once again in wonderful, windy mountain roads.  After Lake Tahoe we took a wrong turn and ended up at the state line, the sign being my first tip-off that we were going the wrong way. I’d previously said I wanted to get a photo of the bikes beneath every “Welcome to X” sign, because Australia only has six enormous states and I find crossing into a new one to be a novelty. Dad asked if I wanted to take a photo now. “No, because I was very careful to pull up short and not enter Nevada,” I said. You have to do things right, y'know?  Views amazing as always. California is God’s country.  We ended up in Mono Lake. This was the first night we camped. It’s kind of confusing; I’m told you can camp anywhere you want in any state forest or park managed by the BLM, but it’s hard to tell what exactly is managed by the BLM. Also sometimes they want permits which is difficult when you show up at 7pm and the ranger station is shut.  We ended up going up a creek and finding what looked like a semi-popular camping spot, with stone fire rings, and camped there. Went into Lee Vining to buy food to cook and the teenage cashier was vaguely reassuring about bears, telling us they were pretty much just after food and easily scared away. On the plus side, the rushing creek water drowned out Dad’s snoring. (After the first night we spent in a twin motel room, I asked him at breakfast the next day: “Did Mum divorce you because you snore? Because I would have.”) On the negative side, Mono Lake is at something like 5000 feet and it was so cold that we were on the verge of freezing to death. OK, maybe not that cold, but it was definitely cold enough that neither of us could sleep. I had on thermals, jeans, a few t-shirts, a hoody, my sleeping bag and ThermaRest, and still couldn’t sleep because my exposed face was so cold. I ended up putting my jacket lining over it, but then was drowning in my own exhaled CO2. We’d been told the Tioga Pass – the road over the mountains back west in Yosemite – was due to open the next day, but when we woke up, broke camp and rode past it, it was still closed. We had breakfast at a diner and asked, and they said it was due to open around noon. We figured we’d kill a few hours down at the lake, but when we rode past the pass entrance at 9.30am it had opened. So we got to be some of the first people to cross the pass this year...   ...which must surely be one of America’s best roads. Or maybe I’m biased because of the snow and stuff. I wish I’d taken more photos, but it’s one of those roads where you just don’t want to stop riding. It’s beautiful. Yosemite – not so great. Amazing, yeah, there’s a reason it’s a national park, but it’s one of those places (like Angkor Wat in Cambodia or Lijiang in China) which is seriously compromised by the amount of tourists there. We walked up to Yosemite Falls, paid $20 for a pair of sandwiches, and decided to keep moving. We'd considered camping there but it was booked solid, and in any case, gently caress paying to "camp" in a lot surrounded by 200 RVs. Kings Canyon was much more manageable – although we were about the same altitude as Mono, so we tried to book rooms in the lodge. No dice, but the clerk told us the general store was open for another 7 minutes so we scrambled over there to buy fleece sleeping bag liners. Dad jokingly asked about bears as we were leaving, and when the cashier told him that this was indeed bear country, Dad looked at him with an expression as though he’d made a really inappropriate remark and said, “gently caress off. You’re joking?” “It’s California,” I said, halfway out the door. “There are bears everywhere. Everywhere is bear country. Get over it.” Apparently a lot of them did indeed shuffle around camp at night, though I slept like a log inside my new fleece bag and didn’t hear any of them.  The next day we were further south, trying to cross the Sherman Pass. We came to a point where the road was closed with an iron barrier, but there was a side road next to it, and my brain (eager to find the most convenient explanation) suggested the side road must be the way over the Sherman Pass. That was how we ended up lost and riding around the southern Sierra Nevada for an hour and a half while the sun was setting. We ended up camping in a little waterfall gully, planning to turn back the next day.    The next day we looped south via Kernville and ended up in the desert. Still really amazed by California – that you can go from palm trees and beaches to snow-covered mountains to arid desert in the space of a few hours.  Death Valley was pretty neat. Then we were in Nevada properly this time.  Straight from the amazing splendour of California, into one of the worst rides of my life. It’s all very desolate and beautiful and that, but my God it was windy. Not since I was blown across three lanes of the Bolte Bridge and nearly went over the edge have I put up with such a windy ride – and this one lasted for hours, leaning 30 degrees to the right all the way to Vegas. So we were pretty exhausted after that and got lost going up and down the Strip because the Flamingo is doing construction on its normal entrance, and by the time we finally found the parking lot were were fed up. Fortunately my good buddy Mike happens to be in town on business, and came by to visit us just in time to help lug all our poo poo up to the room.  He even ironed my shirt while I had my first shower in three days. What a fellow.  We went and had dinner at the Harley Davidson cafe, which Dad found quite entertaining.  James said that on your first night in Vegas you will stay up until at least 3am no matter how tired you are. Mike went back to his hotel at 10 because he’s sharing a room with his boss and didn’t want to stumble in late and drunk; Dad went to bed about 2am; I stayed up until 6 or 7 playing blackjack with a bunch of Korean businessmen and a guy from Ulladulla, and won $300. Gambling is not normally one of my vices but it’s surprisingly easy to let the clock go round while you’re getting free drinks and doing inexplicably well. I was fairly drunk and disoriented when I stumbled out onto the Strip and it was daylight; then I wandered up and down for a bit before remembering I'd been gambling in my own hotel. Las Vegas is pretty amazing. I'm not sure what to think about it. I mean there's orphans in Africa and all that and yet we have a gigantic, unsustainable city of flashing neon leisure in the middle of the desert. It makes me either really ashamed or really proud of the human race. Probably both. We were only planning to stay 2 nights here but booked a third because three nights of camping left Dad half-dead and he wanted a bed again. Tomorrow we’ll probably head east past the Hoover Dam and up towards the Grand Canyon, then I think just sort of across the southern Utah and Colorado/northern Arizona and New Mexico area, which seems to be where all the national parks and stuff are. If you know any good rides or anything we absolutely shouldn't miss around there, let me know!
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May 7, 2014 01:29
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Snowdens Secret posted:I'm confused by the fact that you seem to have packed sneakers to change into when you get off the bike and take off your Chuck Taylors They're trail shoes, for if we do a bit of hiking in national parks. I know I should really be wearing boots but... eh. The Royal Nonesuch posted:Keep us updated, and good luck! If I was to give one tip, do your best to not eat at chain restaurants as you travel. Seek out the little small-town places.* I am absolutely loving the American diner experience. Especially the free coffee refill. I spent a lot of time travelling in Asia a few years ago, puzzling over weird picture labels in supermarkets and ending up eating dried roots or whatever. It's soooo nice to travel in an easy, familiar country, where I can get up in the morning, ride to a diner for a gigantic breakfast of bacon and eggs, and know that there'll be a clean Western toilet there. OSU_Matthew posted:Wow, that should be a fantastic trip! Do you guys have any must-see spots or a general route planned out yet? Or are you just going to try to hit as many highlights/national parks as you can along the way? Only a vagueish route. I highlighted some of it above. We'll probably swing south through New Mexico, and go east across Texas. I want to see New Orleans and Dad's girlfriend's brother lives in Alabama, so we'll visit him. Then up the Appalachians and the east coast to New York.
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May 7, 2014 01:36
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freebooter posted:Amazing I've never been out west, but I'm living vicariously through your posts. Please keep it up. And please enjoy every minute being with your dad -- unfortunately they have a tendency to croak before their due time. I assume you're still in Vegas tonight? If so, maybe find a last-minute show?
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May 7, 2014 01:40
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What are the next couple states you are going through?
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May 7, 2014 04:03
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mguirk the jerk posted:I've never been out west, but I'm living vicariously through your posts. Please keep it up. And please enjoy every minute being with your dad -- unfortunately they have a tendency to croak before their due time. I think people have a tendency to not visit things that are in their own country. A lot of Americans I've talked to are surprised that I've never gone to Uluru or up north to Kakadu or anything, but in the same way, a lot of people in California have never been to Yosemite. When it's right there you assume you'll go "some day." But you should do it. Take a week off work, burn a day there and back on the interstate, just ride around the mountains a bit. LingcodKilla posted:What are the next couple states you are going through? Arizona tomorrow, then probably looping around Utah/Colorado/New Mexico. Then Texas and going east across the South.
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May 7, 2014 07:02
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Just some thoughts about some cool stuff along your route-- The art scene in New Mexico is fantastic, tons of great galleries and exhibitions. Madrid is an old mining town that's essentially become an artist's commune--definitely worth a visit if you're out that way and enjoy that kind of stuff. Same goes for Mesa Verde--it's a national park with remnants of Native American cliff dwellings you can climb down and tour through. While you're in Colorado you absolutely need to visit Silverton and nearby Animus Forks. Silverton is the quintessential surviving mining town, with mine tours, train rides, and your KLRs would be perfect to hit the nearby ghost town of Animus Forks/Eureka. The ride out to Animus is a one lane dirt/gravel trail along the mountainside, with a precipitous drop into the river below. It's the perfect ride for a dual sport, and the scenery is utterly spectacular. Hell, pretty much the entirety of Colorado is spectacular. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animas_Forks,_Colorado On your way through Texas be sure to swing by Austin and San Antonio if you can... I'm sure Texas goons can give you more specific advice, but there's just so much to see and do in both places. Sixth Street in Austin, Alamo and river walk in San Antonio, plus the barbeque/Mexican food is plentiful and delicious. Also, be sure to eat as much as you possibly can in New Orleans! You pretty much can't go wrong by trying something new. Appalachia is another highlight--like everywhere else, there's just so much to see and do, but you should especially try for the Blue Ridge Parkway and Smoky Mountain National Forest. Those are just a few things that really stick out in my memory from past trips
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May 7, 2014 16:19
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Alamo and river walk are really the only noteworthy things in SA in my opinion.
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May 7, 2014 22:44
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mguirk the jerk posted:I'm living vicariously through your posts. Please keep it up. And please enjoy every minute being with your dad -- unfortunately they have a tendency to croak before their due time. Seconding everything in this post.
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May 7, 2014 23:00
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freebooter posted:Arizona tomorrow, then probably looping around Utah/Colorado/New Mexico. Then Texas and going east across the South. I went through UT, CO, AZ, and NM with my wife and a friend last summer. Some advice for out there: keep hydrated. Utah is hot as gently caress, but it's beautiful in its desolation. Arches and Zion NPs are both spectacular. I wish I could have seen Canyonlands or Bryce too. If you are planning on checking out Four Corners, I'm not going to discourage you, but bring cash to get in and prepare to stand in line for a photo. The roads in Navajo Nation are terrible, too. I blame all the road oscillation there for beating up my drive belt and snapping it that day. But it was worth the hassle to see Monument Valley, do not miss Monument Valley; coming in from the north gets you a fantastic, iconic panorama. Eat some indian fry bread too. Durango, CO is a cool little town with services and hotels and stuff. There's some pretty good beer at the Steamworks place. I didn't see much else in Colorado though, sadly; we came in from Montecello, UT and exited south of Pagosa Springs. I LOVED northern New Mexico. It's high, cool, green, and the roads were in great condition. I want to stay in/near Chama, NM for a few days and just ride around. Central NM, Albuquerque and Santa Fe, are less enjoyable sprawly, trafficy towns. We stayed a night in Roswell, which is a charming cow town in the middle of nowhere, and had awesome Mexican food at Los Cerritos on Taco Tuesday. Some of the most friendly folks we met on the trip were in Roswell. Texas on I-10 is hot and huge. For that matter, Texas on any route you take is hot and huge. On our way home out of Austin, we spent all drat day just getting to Lubbock. Texas is huge. Austin and San Antonio are good towns to visit. Check out 6th st. in Austin on a weekend. Did I mention Texas is huge?
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May 9, 2014 00:38
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If you're coming through Houston on the way to New Orleans, give me a call, I have an extra room for you guys. I PM'ed you my info. I can't say that I'd really recommend coming through Houston, unfortunately. It's really flat, boring, humid, and like an LA that smells worse. The best way to ride would be through the pine woods and Sam Houston National Forest that are north of Houston to Louisiana, or maybe along the gulf coast.
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May 9, 2014 17:35
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Three nights is more than enough in Vegas. I ended up $250 ahead, but also bought a new iPhone for $700, largely because I’m well overdue for one and also because the headphone sockets on both my current iPhone and iPod are hosed, and it quickly became apparent in Nevada that America’s thousand of miles of empty desert highways will require music. We went east over the Hoover Dam, which gave me Half-Life flashbacks.  Here’s the Arizona state line, minus bikes because we couldn’t fit them in the crowded car park:  We detoured from the interstate to take Route 66 from Kingman to Seligman. For me it was a case of any excuse to get off a major highway, but for Dad it’s some kind of cultural touchstone. We stopped at Hackberry, a kitschy (but still interesting) old pit-stop full of souvenirs and memorabilia, and Dad bought a bunch of Route 66 stubby holders for his mates back home. I still don’t understand the older generation’s fascination with this road. For me it was always just a minor franchise of drive-through liquor stores in Western Australia with a particularly catchy jingle. (“Route 66! We bring liquor to your car! Route 66! You know we’re never far! Route 66... LIQUOR!”)  Beyond Seligman it started to get pretty brutal. Rainy, overcast skies, and winds which both unbalanced the bikes and cut to the bone. Fortunately we didn't get any more than drizzled upon; as any long-distance biker knows, wet weather gear is not so much attire to keep you dry as it is a magical talisman that wards off rain, while taking up space in your panniers.  I was surprised to find we were actually at something like 6,000 feet at we approached the Grand Canyon. But I guess it makes sense; it has to be deep and can’t really be below sea level because the river flows through it. We’d planned to camp somewhere in Kainab National Forest, but by the time we arrived in Williams we were both half frozen to death. We fuelled up and I rang the South Rim to see if there were any motel rooms available, and was thankfully successful. After unpacking all our stuff we wandered up to the restaurants along the rim for dinner. My first glimpse of the canyon was in those very last murky moments of dusk before everything goes properly dark. I could barely see anything but it was still amazing – a sense of a huge gap of nothingness ahead of you. I’m honestly glad that was my first impression of it, because in the daylight it’s still impressive but not quite as spooky as that sense of nothingness in front of you. It must have been absolutely amazing when the first explorers stumbled across it. It’s also one of those places impossible to capture in a photograph. You just have to visit.  Following a short hike along the rim we followed the roads east – would have skipped that hike, in fact, had I known there were so many great photo ops along the East Rim Drive – and looped north into Navajo territory and then up into Utah. Obligatory state line crossing:  We were aiming to make Zion by nightfall, and did so, but too late to see anything of the park. All the park campgrounds were full so we doubled back and stayed in the private one just outside the boundary.  Had a fairly crummy pine campfire, and Dad went to bed while I stayed up a bit later poking the fire. The teenage/early 20s people in the next campsite over were having a fairly vocal argument about faith and God. “Why say it here, if you don’t have the balls to say it in front of my aunt and my Mom?” raged one particular camper who’d clearly had too much too drink. Dad whispered over to me from his tent shortly into that argument. “Are you alright?” he asked. “You want me... you want me to come stand by the fire with you?” “Dad,” I said, “they’re college students. Not rednecks.” Dad’s three great fears on this trip are heights, bears and rednecks. We didn’t get shot overnight, but we did nearly freeze to death. Easily the coldest we’ve been since Mono Lake. You’d think that staying awake all night and barely getting a wink of sleep would be a good incentive to get up and get moving in the morning, but actually, the rising sun warms things up a bit, so by the time 8am rolls around you’re groggy and half-asleep and not in the mood to leave. I think we rolled out at about 10. Buffalo outside the park:  We hiked up to the Sentinel or Watchman or whatever it’s called in Zion National Park. Which is to say, Dad turned back halfway because of his overwhelming fear of heights, and I went all the way. It’s actually not all that great because it just overlooks the visitor centre and car park. The place is still beautiful though. One day I definitely want to come back to Zion and hike the Narrows.  That’s actually a recurring feeling on this trip, similar to one I had riding around Tasmania – it’s a great bike trip, but I feel like I should be parking a car and hiking for a few days. I’m not even much of a hiker, but there are some places in the world you should experience slowly, on foot. There were a whole bunch of bikers all throughout this part of Utah, participating in the Indian vs Harley race. Everyone was always happy to chat.  After stopping for lunch at a diner, Dad accidentally rode off with his $350 sunglasses sitting on the back of his bike. We went back and spent half an hour asking around if anyone had found them and rode up the highway slowly looking for them, and eventually found their mangled wreckage at the side of the road, run over by many cars. I felt sorry for him but still laughed. Bryce Canyon was beautiful. Here’s the obligatory photo that looks like the same photo everyone takes:  Utah definitely wins the prize for most surprising state. Somewhere I’d picked up the notion that it’s all flat and empty and rubbish, but it’s really amazing. There’s like five or six national parks stacked on top of each other and they’re all beautiful. Am I using that word a lot? Broken record? Blame Utah. Past Bryce Canyon, we went to Escalante and stopped off for fuel, groceries and food. We were planning to camp in the Dixie Forest north of Boulder. Whenever we get reception or wifi I’ve been using freecampsites.net to suss out good spots to camp. I am a firm believer that the only true camping is in the middle of nowhere with nobody else around, and that if you’re going to shell out $20 to pitch a tent in the middle of a bunch of other tents and RVs, you may as well pay a little extra and get a motel room. The thing is, that website is largely aimed at RV drivers, and they don’t have to worry about certain things that tent campers do. So a campsite which appears to be good may not be so good. Example: In Escalante we chatted to a biker named the Desert Doctor (who seems like a nice guy, by the way, and if you’re ever in the area you might want to make a note of his number in case anything happens.) He suggested we camp just north of Escalante and warned us that it got pretty mountainous north of Boulder. But I was stubborn and we still had an hour of daylight so I wanted to push on. The road between Escalanate and Boulder is surely one of the prettiest in America. We were in a hurry so we didn’t stop to take photos – here’s a Youtube video that doesn’t remotely do it justice. We were going through it at sunset, when the sky reflected the reds and purples and oranges of the rocky desert itself. Amazing. If you ever do it, definitely try to do it at sunset. Anyway, by the time we burned through Boulder and started heading the nine miles north to the camping spot I’d picked out, the last light of day was fading and the deer were starting to come out. But I was feeling good – we’d had an amazing sunset ride, stocked up on liquor, and were going to camp by a creek with a campfire. Here’s what RV drivers don’t have to worry about : cold. By the time we reached the spot I wanted to be, it was almost completely dark and we were at 9000 feet. The temperature was just above freezing and it was only 9.30pm.  “I’m never loving listening to you again,” Dad said. “I didn’t realise it would be this high,” I said. I’m Australian. When I look at a map, I just subconsciously assume it’s flat ground. I should have listened to the Desert Doctor. Probably a good rule of thumb to always listen to the locals. So we went back into town, turtling along at 30 miles an hour because the roads were swarming with deer. And all the motels we’d ridden past the first time suddenly had NO VACANCY signs. The helpful young stuff at the Burr Trail Grill rang around a bit for me, and eventually found us a room at some bed and breakfast. “Yeah, just go out of town like one mile, the road is called Salt Gulch or Hell’s Backbone or something, it’s another few miles down there...” We followed their directions and turned off the highway at what we thought was the right spot. With crappy motorbike headlights I caught a glimpse of a sign reading “GUEST RANCH” or something like that, and either "33 miles" or "3.3 miles." And then it was just us, and the darkness, and the cone of the headlights, and a slippery gravel road winding its way through scrubland. I was about ready to give up and camp at the edge of the road when we caught a glimpse of light in the darkness, and followed it to found ourselves at one of the best value rooms I’ve had while travelling – secluded log ranch, private suite on the top floor, blazing fast wifi, fireplace, free breakfast, all for $115. It irritated me that we’d shown up at 10.30pm and couldn’t get our money’s worth out of it, but whatever.  Next morning in daylight:  Seems like a very nice place for an extended stay (or even one night) if you’re ever in southern Utah. Just study their map carefully first. Boulder Mountain Guest Ranch. Next morning we went back through Boulder, back up the pass, back past the point where I’d intended to camp. Not far past there was a lot of snow on the ground. Going back to Boulder was definitely the right idea. (Well, listening to the Desert Doctor would have been the original right idea.) Grand Staircase was just a park we were planning to drive through to get to Monument Valley, but like all of Utah, it’s amazingly beautiful. I didn’t stop to take many photos because if you stop to take a photo of everything beautiful in Utah you’ll never get anywhere. We went down through Glen Canyon, also amazing:  Then we went down the Moki Dugway. This is basically a long set of gravel switchbacks descending a sheer cliff face that drops several miles down to the valley floor. I’m not afraid of heights, but I’m not ashamed to admit I did the entire thing in first gear and was ready to kiss the tarmac at the bottom. (I assume they keep it unpaved to deter people from going too fast.) Dad is afraid of heights, which is why I didn’t stop to take a photo – I was worried that if he stopped he wouldn’t be able to start again. Even I couldn’t stomach the view. The second last photo on this page probably captures it best: http://www.midwestroads.com/otherstates/mokidugway/. It still doesn’t come close, though. The word is "vertiginous." Down on the valley floor we went to Mexican Hat, and had one of the finest meals I’ve yet had in the US, at the grill place attached to the Mexican Hat Lodge. Give them your custom if you’re ever there. We went down into Monument Valley and drove around a bit taking photos. Didn’t do the whole 18-mile road or whatever it was, because after the Dugway we’d had enough of gravel and there was a storm blowing in.  Also it was what I refer to as Ha Long Bay Syndrome, from my motorbike trip up Vietnam. I saw all these limestone karst formations on the way north, and by the time I got to Ha Long Bay – which is by any objective standard amazing – it did nothing for me. Monument Valley is an amazing place as well, but after traversing southern Utah, my threshold for being amazed is quite high. We headed north a bit from there, and tonight we’re staying in a town called Bluff, still in Utah. Tomorrow we’re going to head into Colorado and hopefully get to the Telluride/Ouray/Silverton area. I have no idea if the passes are closed due to snow or whatever but we’ll drive in and have a look around anyway. Also, many thanks to the advice we've been given and even the offers of accommodation we've received - our plans are always up in the air so I don't know if we'll be heading through any of your areas, but it's always good to know you've got support in the world.
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May 11, 2014 06:07
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OSU_Matthew posted:While you're in Colorado you absolutely need to visit Silverton and nearby Animus Forks. Silverton is the quintessential surviving mining town, with mine tours, train rides, and your KLRs would be perfect to hit the nearby ghost town of Animus Forks/Eureka. The ride out to Animus is a one lane dirt/gravel trail along the mountainside, with a precipitous drop into the river below. It's the perfect ride for a dual sport, and the scenery is utterly spectacular. Hell, pretty much the entirety of Colorado is spectacular. I have heard of this and definitely want to do it. Dad will probably poo poo himself because of the height but that's OK. I'm just hoping it's not closed because of snow or anything - a lot of the passes in CA were and they are lower than some of the Colorado roads I'm pretty sure. quote:Appalachia is another highlight--like everywhere else, there's just so much to see and do, but you should especially try for the Blue Ridge Parkway and Smoky Mountain National Forest. The BR Parkway is definitely also on the list - one of the few things I have on the list for the east, actually, compared to the west. A guy in California also recommended something in Tennessee called the Dragon's Tail, or something like that? I forget, I have to google it. clutchpuck posted:I went through UT, CO, AZ, and NM with my wife and a friend last summer. Some advice for out there: keep hydrated. It's actually been seriously cold. Coming down into the relative warmth of Monument Valley today was the first time I took my jumper off since Death Valley, and I still had all the lining in my jacket. I honestly didn't expect America to still be this cold in late spring but I guess it's because it's at such high altitude in the west; we should be able to camp more once we get further south, but it looks like Colorado at least will be entirely motels. Which sucks both because it blows a hole in the budget and also because camping is just better. quote:Durango, CO is a cool little town with services and hotels and stuff. There's some pretty good beer at the Steamworks place. I didn't see much else in Colorado though, sadly; we came in from Montecello, UT and exited south of Pagosa Springs. Will bear all this in mind!
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May 11, 2014 06:16
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If you're struggling with the cold while camping, this is some really basic advice, but be sure to pick up a mummy style bag with a hood that you can cinch up. Also make sure you have adequate ground insulation, eg a self inflating foam pad (thermarest), or closed cell/ open cell foam pad. Another really great thing you can do to stay warm at night is to boil some water with your stove, put it in your water bottle, stuff that in a spare sock, and stick it between your legs on your femoral artery. It warms up your entire body throughout the night (obviously be very careful and make sure you have a nalgene type bottle that won't collapse and melt). This is the bag I carry for backpacking--I've slept comfortably into the single digits with it while in my hammock. http://wiggys.com/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=266&CFID=1506583&CFTOKEN=66901096 It's a bit heavy and bulky compared to down bags, but it's indestructible, you can store it compressed without it getting cold spots, you can toss it in a washing machine, it'll work while wet, and it's incredibly warm.
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May 11, 2014 14:10
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We've got thermarests, sleeping bags rated to about 5 celcius, and fleece liners we picked up at Kings Canyon... but still freezing. I think it's just because we're Australian, we're not remotely used to this kind of cold. Also we may head up to Moab today after all because it looks like it's raining and snowing in Colorado and won't clear until Wednesday.
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May 11, 2014 15:51
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Eh, I don't think it's necessarily just because you're Australian. Back home you lived near a coast, right? People who haven't lived in the high desert often have a mistaken idea of what the weather's going to be like. The key thing to remember is that deserts are defined by precipitation, not temperature, and with no large heat sink (body of water) nearby, the temperature can swing like crazy over a very short period of time. It'll be scorching in the day and then drop rapidly to uncomfortably cold at night because your only source of heat is the sun. In Phoenix in the winter it'll be 70 degrees in the day but puddles will freeze over at night, and that's just how it is. It's funny that you say you didn't expect "America" to be this cold, because America is absolutely not a single homogeneous climate. Even if you ignore Alaska and Hawaii the continental US has everything from tropical rainforests to dusty deserts to snowy mountains to woodland marshes. So you have a couple of things going for you - you're in a desert far away from any bodies of water that radiate heat at night - you're also far away from any cities where the asphalt provides a similar, albeit weaker, effect - you're at least a mile above sea level, where it's just naturally colder - it's the middle of May, which is still effectively winter in the mountains (you noticed this in Yosemite or Mono Lake or wherever when the road hadn't been opened for the year yet) - it's been an unusually long and cold winter in America this year Bags rated to 5C are summer-weight; can't do much about it now beyond getting liners like you have (though adding one of those silver heat-reflecting blankets to the mix would probably help a lot, and they're like 4 dollars at REI http://www.rei.com/search?query=survival+blanket) but really to be out in the high desert in May you want something rated at least to below freezing, and that's still not going to be enough should you get caught in a storm. Also, get some wool clothes. At least get wool socks and sleep with a hat on. That'll help.
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May 11, 2014 17:53
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Just one more thought about sleeping bag rating systems--they're usually utterly worthless. Most manufacturers lab test them with a heated pipe and measure the heat decay, which is a useless approximation to people, especially out in real-world circumstances. We also precipitate a lot at night, so you want to wear something breathable that is not cotton--cotton is about the worst thing you can wear outdoors, because it just soaks up moisture instead of wicking it away like wool or artificial fiber garments (eg fleece, or nylon/poly fiber stuff). Like Sagebrush mentioned, wool is fantastic. An extra wool or fleece blanket or two wouldn't take up a lot of space and would definitely help supplement what you've got. Just remember that rectangular bags without a hood or draft collar are typically pretty useless outside. Being outdoors and cold at night just sucks... Fortunately your route east should be substantially warmer at night once you hit the great plains/Texas.
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May 11, 2014 18:44
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OSU_Matthew posted:We also precipitate a lot at night, I think you mean "perspire" but if not please post a video of this cause it sounds fascinating. e: and yeah wool is great stuff. If it gets rained on you'll smell like a sheep and if it gets soaked it's really heavy and takes forever to dry but as long as you can keep the stuff dry there isn't much that's better. As a side effect, the prickliness of the fibers makes you feel warm even when you aren't, or at least that's what my dad told me when I complained 
Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 19:02 on May 11, 2014 |
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May 11, 2014 18:57
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freebooter posted:The BR Parkway is definitely also on the list - one of the few things I have on the list for the east, actually, compared to the west. A guy in California also recommended something in Tennessee called the Dragon's Tail, or something like that? I forget, I have to google it. http://tailofthedragon.com/planyourtrip.html Also check out the Cherohala Skyway for a more relaxed, less knee-draggy ride. Make sure you fuel up if you do -- there's a stretch that's like 120 miles between gas stations, if I recall correctly. http://www.cherohala.org/ Another neat road in the area is the Blue Ridge Parkway: http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/
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May 11, 2014 19:55
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Sagebrush posted:I think you mean "perspire" but if not please post a video of this cause it sounds fascinating. Haha, derp... I'd like to blame that one on Swype, but it was just genuine stupidity on my part Loving the pictures and updates--thanks for sharing everything with us!
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May 11, 2014 20:20
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Your trip sounds absolutely amazing. I haven't ever had the time to go across country and not have someplace to be in too short a time. I'm hoping in the next year or so I can take a month and a half off and do the same.
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May 11, 2014 21:56
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Yea, do Deals Gap and Cherohala. You won't regret it, unless you hit it on the weekend and it's nice out, then it just turns into a chrome parade that parks in the corners.
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May 11, 2014 23:46
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Freebooter, it sounds as though you will be coming through the Smokies---if so, Knoxville TN shouldn't be too far out of your way (likely, I-40 and I-75th both cut through Knoxville!). As such, my wife and I would love to offer you and your pop a place to stay for a night or two. (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1578255?s=YqGJ for reference, we offer it up to you for free moon dollars as a sign of southern hospitality to a goon and his father for one wicked trip!) We might have have another renter in the time frame you'd be looking at cutting through here, but we have a blowup and some spare space we'd offer up at that point in the very least. If you'd be interested, hit me up at bauden11p@gmail.com without the numbers. We'd love to be a part of a great international KLR love story! Plus, we have an air compressor to pump-----you up! Also, I'd encourage you to check out airbnb (thread in the travel forum (link in my custom title)) to find other cheap places to stay Stateside! Dead Pressed fucked around with this message at 03:17 on May 12, 2014 |
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May 12, 2014 03:00
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This thread is fantastic and you and your dad are fantastic. Keep postin' m8
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May 12, 2014 06:12
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Well, Colorado's snowed out, so yesterday we came up to Moab instead. Got rained on the whole way but it was only an hour and a half, and then we sank the rest of the day at the Moab Brewery. I still really want to do the million dollar highway and the whole Ouray/Silverton/Animus forks thing, so we'll try to wait it out. Thinking of heading to Ridgway tomorrow, and then on Wednesday Silverton and Ouray are meant to be warmer. Dead Pressed posted:Freebooter, it sounds as though you will be coming through the Smokies---if so, Knoxville TN shouldn't be too far out of your way (likely, I-40 and I-75th both cut through Knoxville!). As such, my wife and I would love to offer you and your pop a place to stay for a night or two. (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1578255?s=YqGJ for reference, we offer it up to you for free moon dollars as a sign of southern hospitality to a goon and his father for one wicked trip!) We might have have another renter in the time frame you'd be looking at cutting through here, but we have a blowup and some spare space we'd offer up at that point in the very least. If you'd be interested, hit me up at bauden11p@gmail.com without the numbers. We'd love to be a part of a great international KLR love story! Plus, we have an air compressor to pump-----you up! Cheers! Not sure if we'll be going that way exactly, since this snowstorm has thrown a spanner in the time budget, but I'll let you know. I got a PM from someone also offering a place to stay near Knoxville and a buddy mechanic of his, and since we need to get the tyres replaced and bikes serviced before dropping them off in NJ, it looks like Knoxville might be worth the detour.
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May 12, 2014 22:20
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Things melt out pretty quickly in CO, and the big highways tend to get serviced pretty well by the Department of Transportation, so they should clear up quickly as soon as it stops snowing, figure probably by mid/late Wednesday or definitely by Thursday. Also, highway 141 along the western edge of the state is one of the most unfairly overlooked roads in CO.
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May 13, 2014 03:54
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Dang. We're heading to Ridgway tomorrow and it looks like we'll join the 141 south of what looks like the interesting part. It's meant to be clearing up a bit tomorrow and sunny on Wednesday. I'm hoping on Wednesday we can ride south through the mountains. We may have to delay a day for it to clear, but this is one of the last things I'm really looking forward to before we hit the flatlands, so I don't mind waiting a day or two and having to cut out some of the South.
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May 13, 2014 05:33
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Don't know if you'll make it as far north as Fort Collins, but there's good beer up here.
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May 14, 2014 00:24
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OK, massive snowstorms hit Colorado, so we decided to wait them out a day or two and head up to Moab after all. Unfortunately the same storm front was causing rain all over Utah. It was only about 90 minutes up to Moab – longest 90 minutes of my life. By the time we got to Moab we were both soaked through, couldn’t feel our hands or feet, and it was actually physically painful for me to get off my bike in the parking lot of the motel I’d reserved, because my legs had locked up in position. “If they aren’t ready for us to check in, I’m going to cry,” I said, although both of us were laughing, I think because we were so relieved we didn’t have to ride in the freezing rain anymore. After getting changed we drank the rest of the day away at the Moab Brewery – literally, from about 2pm to the point where they were putting the chairs on the tables. This isn’t as bad as it sounds because Utah has extremely strict liquor laws and all draft beer can only be 3.2% strength. We sat there and sank five pints each and wondered why we didn’t feel drunk. Also the waitress made me walk back to the hotel in the rain to get my passport because my Australian driver’s license isn’t valid proof of age in Utah, even though it’s apparently valid for me to drive on. Priorities.  Dad paid this bartender to take a photo with him because he was fascinated by his hair. The phrase “only in America” may have been used. Dad comes from a small, conservative city in Australia and is easily impressed. The next morning he was fairly hungover, so I went up to Arches National Park. I was tempted to go to Canyonlands and check out the White Rim but apparently that is not a one-day thing and also I was a bit hungover myself. Here is the famous arch. Honestly it’s probably not worth the two-hour round trip uphill hike.  Arches was far and away the busiest national park I’ve yet been to. I mean, Yosemite was crowded, but the roads didn’t seem to be. I guess it’s a driving oriented park. The next day we headed east into the bikes’ home state, Colorado! Do not be fooled by the sunshine, I had trouble feeling my hands, even with the heated grips on.  Still snow from the recent storms.  I’d booked a place to stay in Ridgway – we easily could have made it further, but according to the weather forecast it was still below freezing up in Ouray and Silverton. In the middle of the day. So Ridgway it was. After getting lunch we wandered up to the local brewery. I do love that tiny American towns all have their own breweries.  Here’s me and Baz, one of the locals we met at the brewery. He later took us down to one of Colorado’s unique, cutting-edge-of-history tourist attractions...  ...and then the distillery near our hotel, run by local chap Joe, who showed us around the machinery and gave us a few drops of raw vodka.  So that ended up being a big night as well. Dad was utterly wrecked the next morning. I really don’t think he had much more to drink than me. Obviously he just can’t handle his liquor as well as I can. I left him to his misery and took a ride up to Ouray, which is only fifteen minutes away and has some nice scenery.   Here’s Box Canyon Falls, which has old mining equipment sitting around in it.  The next morning we went and had breakfast at Barry’s workplace, the Chipeta Lodge, which looked amazing. For some reason when I’d looked it up the Ridgway Lodge seemed to be the only place to stay in town, but there’s heaps of them. I have to do this trip again on day know that I know all these good places and people. This is the view from the Chipeta’s rooftop bar - yes, they have a rooftop bar:  We went up to Ouray and hung around for a bit because there were roadworks on the Million Dollar Highway south to Silverton; apparently there was a massive landslide in winter and they’ve spent months scaling the mountain surface above the road to make it safe. It’s open for one hour in the middle of the day, and you still have to sit behind a bunch of traffic and wait your turn.  Didn’t stop to take any photos once on the highway itself, because there are signs everywhere warning that you shouldn’t because of avalanches, but it’s definitely one of the best roads in the country. Silverton itself is a neat little Wild West town, and Dad appreciated this:  I wanted to check out what I think is called the Alpine Loop, the offroad trail that goes through ghost towns like Animas Fork, but Dad’s crippling phobia of heights + the recent snowstorms + the fact that I’m told it’s only open in “summer” + the entrance to it being behind all the construction equipment for the DOT guys, added up to us not attempting it. I’ll come back one day and do it in August. That’s actually one of my regrets about this trip – we are doing it way too early in the year. We’ve been camping four nights out of more than two weeks, because it’s simply too loving cold in most of the West. Tonight, for example, we headed for the Sand Dunes National Park and were intending to camp but there was snow on the ground and it was going to get down to freezing point overnight. I mean, it’s not like we’ll actually die, but we won’t get any sleep or remotely enjoy the experience. I would rather shell out the money for a cheap motel. Hopefully once we hit the lowlands it will be warmer and we can try to recoup some of our lost budget. Which is to say my lost budget. I'm down to three grand and I still have to spend two weeks in New York and then go start a new life in London. Dad is aware of this and keeps trying to pay for everything, but I've made it clear that I want to pay my fair share, largely because he will be my creditor of first resort if I'm broke by the time I get to London. Here’s the obligatory photo I snapped at the beautiful-but-freezing sand dunes before we drove back across fifty miles of desolate prairie into Alamosa for the night.  Tomorrow we’re going to head south into New Mexico. I’m hoping it will be warmer but I know for a fact the northern half won’t be.
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May 16, 2014 06:35
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Those photos don't work dude.
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May 16, 2014 07:30
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Cool trip man! Love the updates.freebooter posted:
Said the Australian Jamie Hyneman impersonator.
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May 16, 2014 09:05
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freebooter posted:Tomorrow we’re going to head south into New Mexico. I’m hoping it will be warmer but I know for a fact the northern half won’t be. New Mexico is nice, lots of things to see and do. Are you going to stay "northern" and cut east or go all the way down through the state? Going South after Albuquerque is a boring ride but there's White Sands\ Alamagordo\ Trinity bomb test site down there as destinations. Going east just about anywhere into Texas will be mostly flat and straight. If you come through Dallas there's a small contingent of CA Biek enthusiats, hit the Dallas goon thread and let us know if if you get close.
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May 16, 2014 14:42
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So did your Australian drivers license work at the dispensary?
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May 16, 2014 16:31
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These photographs are absolutely beautiful. It makes me feel guilty i've lived in the west my whole life and have never done this, while someone else is crossing oceans to get it done. I really should plan a trip like this.
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May 19, 2014 15:32
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| # ? May 7, 2024 10:26 |
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Amazing trip, I actually went the other way, from Florida to California this summer, and so far you have managed to most of the same places as I did. Enjoy the breweries now, that is largely a western US thing. and I hope you stopped to buy a joint while in Colorado, if for no other reason than to say you did it.
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May 19, 2014 18:20
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