Home at Last!

Well, the final 200 miles was a cinch, and blissfully uneventful, although I swear I saw as much law enforcement in the last two hours as in the previous two days. Dave out to meet me in Safford, and we had breakfast at the Manor House. It was *much* more civilized coming home in 85 to 90 degree weather, rather than 103 or so weather.

I have to give Dave a tremendous amount of credit for putting together all the logistics and details of the trip, even if he didn't get full benifit of them, himself. It was a real pleasure spending time with everyone in the group, and I was sorry we didn't get more days to ride and visit.

After I bid Dave farewell, one of my first tasks was to do something about the dirt I've been complaining so mightily about the last few days. A hose only got it part way, and I spent over an hour or so working to scrub the rest free (or at least most of it, hopefully). You should be able to see the before and after pictuers below.

Click here for pictures.

Click here for a map of route.

~r

17 JUL: Cortez to Eagar, and Beyond! (well Safford actually)

After posting yesterday's blog, I called the Best Western in Eagar, AZ, to move it back a day (to today, rather than tomorrow.) Much to my surprise and chagrin, they were full. What?? What the heck is there in Eagar, to fill up a hotel, anyway?

So, I figured, I'd play it by ear, and see how I felt, as I passed Eagar, and then Alpine. I was feeling pretty good up until I started my descent into New Mexico, towards Glenwood. I've always done this ride in the early morning, and it always seemed cool enough. Well, it's a different story in the afternoon. It was about 91 degrees in Glenwood, which isn't too bad, but I knew that Safford was going to be the worst part.

I was feeling okay, once I started drinking about a quart or two of gatorade an hour. This didn't initially dawn on me until I left the interstate headed towards St. Johns, and started feeling kinda weird. I felt better after drinking downing one of the 500ml bottles of Gatorade. Fast forward a bit... By the time I reached Safford, it was 103, and I was feeling punchy, and decided discretion was the better part of valor. I'd been getting pretty tired, and riding on reflex, rather than paying full attention. Time to stop. Timing was probably fortuitous. No sooner had I finished my early dinner at the Manor House, and was in the lobby of the Best Western checking in, when one of those hellacious pre-rain storm dust storms blasted through. This one was a lot worse than others I had seen, and the poor bike got blasted by dust and debris for about 20 minutes, as I watched on from the lobby window. It was really blowing, and I was afraid it was going to tip over, but she held. Good thing I rembered Scott's tip on keeping it in gear. I thought about moving it, but this seemed like asking for a spill...

(I've still got to come up with a name for my bike. My old 65 Chevy Impala was named "Big Blue" by the family (okay the car was my parent's car, really). My friends called the Chevy the blue bomber, due to it's enormous size. I haven't quite figured out what the FJR would be called. Scott suggested "protein bar," after my favorite travel snack, but that wasn't quite what I had in mind... After today, I may have to call it "Dusty" or "Sandy." The pictures don't really do the dust storm justice, since I conveniently popped the camera back in the top case, just before the storm got significantly worse...

Dave's meeting me at the Manor House for breakfast. (I'm buying!) You can arm wrestle Kari over this, if you like.

Click here for map of route.

Click here for pictures.

~r

PS: Scott, hurry up with your blog, already. I'm sure it will be much funnier when you retell it :)

16 JUL: Glenwood Springs to Cortez, Colorado (aka the whole enchilada)

I know when I wrote my addendum to yesterday's blog, I suggested I'd shortcut some things. It's amazing what a good night's sleep, and a good breakfast (with coffee) can do for your morale. I opted for the "whole enchilada" so I wouldn't wonder what it would have been like.

Click here for route.

This diabolical route Dave devised included about 7 road changes, so I had to break out the tank bag, which up to this point I had just used as a sack to carry stuff in my top case. The tank bag has a map window, which holds the rand McNally laminated maps. Well, it's supposed to. As I was getting things prepped last night I discovered that the Colorado map is oriented with "horizontal" map sections (wider than higher) rather than "vertical." Unfortunately, it's not square and doesn't fit this way. I considered just mounting it at 90 degrees, and try to read it sideways, but then I got a little annoyed with the map, and got out the new swiss army soldier knife Kari got me, and did a little carving on it, taking off the 1/2 inch edge that was offending. (Who uses those reference numbers along the edge, anyway, right?)

This route is worth every minute of the 8 hours it took. Much of the route had a 35 or 45 mph speed limit, which kept things a little slower than I would have otherwise like to have gone. Gotta check that throttle spring... seems to work in reverse at times, since it seems to keep wanting to go faster. :) Road conditions on 92 reminded me a bit of 191 in the AZ white mountains, with a little bit of stray small gravel pieces... just enough to keep you wondering what's around the next bend.

Note, I've been trying to annotate the pictures the last day or two. (Before I discoved the feature, I had been adding comments, but these aren't as visible in different modes).

I measured the route at 310 miles, and took about 8 hours, an hour less than google's estimate. (Of course I had a protein bar for lunch, unlike normal people.)

I can't count the number of number of amazing scenes I had to forgoe capturing for posterity due to Colorado's apparent aversion to paving nearly every single pullout in the state. The pullouts were pretty dicey looking, many with what appeared to be pea size gravel, of questionable consistency (sometimes deep tire tracks in them). They were frequently canted rather steeply away from the road, and some were littered with baseball sized rocks (or larger).

You really have to ride this one to get the full effect.

Next time I have to bring my tail-gunner to photograph everthing. She just looOOoves to do this. (I can see her eyes rolling, already). I use the universal signal for "take a picture of that" : Tapping her left knee, and pointing. Photography is easy if you have good help. (Point and shoot).

Click here for pictures.

Misc Facts: I can now put down the kickstand by feel, without looking, almost instinctively. I realized this a couple days ago.

Weather: Perfect. Temps ranged from 70 to 90 or so, once the sun came up.

PS: If anyone is having trouble seeing the pictures, let me know. I've changed the permissions to "unlisted" rather than "public", but I think (hope) you can still see them at the link above.

~r

15 JULY: Pinedale, WY to Glenwood Springs, CO

I hit the road about 7:30 after a good breakfast. Lots of boiled eggs, and oatmeal. Oh, and some french toast.

There was a nice hispanic gentleman in the parking lot, that came over and offered to take my picture, when he saw that I had a camera. Very nice of him.

Click here for a map of the route.

The weather was sunny, clear, and calm this morning, with the temperature being about 45 degrees. The rather straight road, with compartively featureless terrain was a nice change from all the extreme beauty I've been suffering from the past week or so :). Rather like cleansing your pallette before the next course. About lunchtime, I passed through Craig, and managed to miss the turn. Somehow the highway labled "40" sounded like an interstate. Yeah, I wished. I still had another hundred miles to go before getting to I-70. It only took me about 10 minutes to realize I didn't seem to be on a business route going back to the interstate.

South of Craig, the terrain grew increasingly more interesting, winding gently through some valleys with a bit more vegetation than the morning's ride. I hit a tiny sprinkle just as I reached the city of Rifle, but just enough to put spots in the dust. (This is irony. The bike is currently so caked in rain/dust/must at this point, you couldn't tell.)

As the afternoon wore on, I soon had to ditch the outer exo-portion of my jacket, and somewhat later the adventure pants. I had been holding out removing these, since it's a minor pain, and rain seemed to be on the horizon. About the time it hit 85 degrees or so, enough was enough, though.

I arrived in Glenwood at about 3:30PM

facts:

starting temperature 45 degrees

ending temperature 90 degrees

rain: only a tiny amount

Distance: 400, including minor detour (wrong turn) in Craig, CO.

Click here for pictures.

~r

Addendum: The trafic/pedestrian situation is about 5 times worse than Banff, which was scary for us riding motorcycles in town. People here are driving much faster through town (30-40 mph, perhaps)... crazy. I'm thinking about just making it a one night stay here, and pressing on to Cortez.

I just re-checked my front tread, and have a full 1 mm before getting to the wear bar, so should be good for another 3 thousand miles, let alone the 900 or so I have left.

PPS: This is the "original Plan A" for tomorrow: Click here.

Seems a bit long, and am thinking about shortcutting some. May go through Delta, instead of Sapinero, and Durango, rather than going by Telluride.

14 July: West Yellowstone to Pinedale, Wyoming

Click here for route.

As you'll see from the pictures, I was greeted by a lovely rainbow as I stepped out of the room, to go find breakfast. Yes, it was raining lightly. After eating about 6 eggs (mostly the white, after popping out the yolk), and a few other miscellaneous things, (Honest, honey, I don't recall what else there was... :) ).

I loaded for bear, and donned my adventure pants and jacket (minus clammy feeling liner) but with the Frogg Toggs on top. After getting onto the park proper, it immediately stopped raining, and in fact didn't rain for the rest of the day. The Frogg Toggs came off. It was cool, but the relatively lower speed of driving around the park (not more than 45, and much less if some yahoo happened to spy an animal out the window of their car) made for warmer feeling riding.

I can see where our hard earned dollars are going, (or someone's grandkid's, at any rate). Exiting the park at the south end soon brought plenty of construction, gravel roads, potholes, mud, etc. I was beginning to worry I'd never make it out of there. Finally, the construction relented.

The road through the Grand Tetons was as impressive as I remembered. See my pictures for some idea.

The road from Jackson to Pinedale was amazing. The terrain on the surrounding hillsides varried from rugged mountains in the distance, to rolling closer hills, both with and without pine trees, etc. Of course there was a major river nearby for the first parts, and the second parts were more farmland.

I've got to hunt for some grub. The front desk clerk was rather curt, and I don't think I'd get a good recommendation for a restaurant from someone so surly.

Click here for pictures.

~r

PS: If you're one of the "splitters," give me a call, I'd love to hear how yesterday went, and make sure you guys got in okay. It couldn't have been much messier than mine. (I HOPE!!) :)

Arrived at West Yellowstone

Click here for route.

Well, this morning I made my farewells to the others, who were headed on to Cour d'Alene.

I had good weather for riding today..... for about 20 to 30 minutes. Turns out I was headed into some of the nastiest weather I've ever riden in. It was raining hard, and a pretty darn windy, also.

Weather cleared about 45 minutes later, although it seemed like hours. It cleared by the time I got the the interstate, but then got just as bad as I approached Butte. The weather didn't last as long, but the rain seemed to be accompanied with some really bad gusts. After getting through Butte, the weather cleared, for the most part, and warmed noticiably.

Note to self: The Alter-ego jacket can handle 45 degree weather, or rain, but not both very well. It was a little brisk. It didn't help that I was already a little damp when I donned my rain gear. Electric seat and grips helped, though.

After getting on 191 headed off the interstate to Yellowstone, it was quite sunny, but the high wind continued, much to my annoyance.

Click here for pictures.

Arrived in Kalispell, Montana

I'm going to keep this short, since the day was long. We rode 483 miles today, and didn't get in until about 9pm. Actually this isn't quite fair, since we arrived at the hotel about 3pm, and then took off for a ride to Glacier National Park after checking in. This was a slight variation of the original plan, since we didn't loop through Glacier from the far side, in case it got too late, or the weather turned bad. Actually it held out well.

Among the intereting things that happened was a moment in the parking lot. I noticed a typical Harley/Biker-looking guy walking with purpose directly at me, and I thought "uh oh, looks like trouble." (I didn't remember cutting anyone off, but who knows). I was quite surprised when he came up and quite amiably started asking me about the FJR, and why I decided to get that, rather than a Honda ST1300, and the like. I guess you can't judge a book by its cover. :) Even stranger, another friend of his walked up and said he was thinking about one too. We talked about motorcycles for at least 10 minutes before I managed to break away, and find the facilities, so to speak.

Click here for approximate route.

Click here for pictures.

~r

Extra Day in Banff, Canada

Today was a wet one, but not for the usual reasons. We were going to make a liesurely start (for shopping, etc) and start at 8:30am for the continental breakfast, but the fire alarm went off about 6:30ish. Turns out it was a false alarm. What wasn't a false alarm was all the water that the sprinker system sprayed out on the 3rd floor, which made it's way within an hour to all the floors. We were on the bottom, and pretty soon the walls and floors on the interior "hallway" side were soaked. Maintenance guys showed up with wet vacs and later indistrial squirrel cadge fans. It was a little unnerving to come back from walking around to find the patio door wide open (with only the non-locked screen door closed.) Everything still appears to be here

After breakfast, we walked into town, and then took a bus up to the gondola, which goes to a local mountain top. The attached pictures show a lot of this.

Click here for pictures.

Scott finally re-connected with the web, after his long ALCAN hiway jaunt. He's blogging this thing too: http://sandback-roadtrip.blogspot.com/ (Note, that he is still catching up, and hasn't quite got it completely up to date, yet.)

~r

Jasper to Banff

Got into Banff today. Beatiful weather. More later. (We're going to dinner)

Weather was gorgeous all day, being partly cloudy, a bit windy, and probaby 50 to 60 degrees, apart from some brisker moments going over the pass. Much more comfortable than preceeding days, and I actually took out the waterproof liner about mid-day and put on my warm weather gloves.

I shudder to think of how many photos are getting shot at each stop. There are at least four or five cameras going essentially non-stop after we set down. It was a relatively short day, in terms of miles, but at every bend in the road was another magnificent vista.

This was probably one of the best days yet, as far as scenery, weather, everything:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ronald6w/10JUL?feat=email#

Today's route.

~r

Arrived in Jasper, wetter, but not the worse for wear.

This was today's route.

This was my first day riding "formation" with other riders on the trip. Dave set a good even pace, even though his speedometer was "metrically challenged." Evidently years of military, and time overseas had made this type of conversion second nature to him.

Yet another gorgeous day of scenery. The weather held through the morning, but as we approached Jasper the rain began. It was a longer steadier rain than earlier days, although nothing torrential, or surprising about it. My bike was saying it was 54 degrees pretty much the whole day, although Dave later indicated it was getting into the mid 40s towards the end. Perhaps the bike's warmth was affecting the reading. It really didn't seem all *that* cold, but who knows.

We saw 3 or 4 bears, although I don't think I got any photos. We'll have to wait for the Dave's to get posted.

Dave's friend, Scott and his wife arrived just as we were finishing dinner and deciding which relatives to call to check up on their status. They were in good spirits, but it had been a long cold day.

We got plenty of pictures.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ronald6w/9JUL?feat=email#

~r

Arrived in Kamloops, BC, Canada

Well today seemed like a long day. A mere 387 miles or so, but much of it was on back highways, and the views were so gorgeous it seemed like I stopped for a lot of photos. Although, at times, it seemed criminal to continue moving, while passing other opportunities. The lack of shoulder helped, though. Evidently the locals don't spend a lot of time gawking at the sites, or at least not from the highway.

Pictures can be viewed here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ronald6w/8JUL?feat=email#

My first indication that I should dress for rain was waking up, peeking out the windows, and finding it raining. It had cleared off by the time I was loading, but seeing the weather forecast, and the actual rain gave me pause in dressing. I decided to add the waterproof (and airtight) liner to the Alter-ego jacket, and added the Moose "Adventure Pants" that I bought a number of years back. I must never have worn them, since they still had the tags on them. Good thing they still fit. The tags reminded me that they were waterproof, which was a good thing, since I hit a number of rain showers today. One in particular was especially nasty. I was passing through a tiny town, and it just let loose with the rain, and was even hailing I realized after a few moments. It was hard to make out the lines on the road, and there was a lot of water on the roads. I was only going maybe 25, but it was still a litle unnerving. A semi came from the other direction, and I was hit by the "rooster tail" coming from his tires. The bike jumped when I hit the wake, not so much from the water but from my sudden grab on the handlebars (and throttle) anticipating it.

Needless to say, the rain gear worked pretty well. I could feel the cold seeping through the zipper areas, with water coming to the outside of the inner waterproof liner. It was a little chillier than usual, but not too bad. It relented as soon as the major downpour let up. I could have used the frogg toggs, but the constant flapping is a bit of distraction, and I figured I'd need coverage on and off pretty much all day. (and I did).

As I drove, I noted that Canadians are not that different from Americans. I saw a number driving while talking on their cell phones, for instance.

It's somewhat sureal seeing the posted speedlimit at "100" or even "50 when children are present." Of course everthing is in kilometers per hour, so it's not as fast as it sounds. Also, I bought gas for $1.03 ..... (per liter!) So far the credit card has saved me from having to change money.

Checking into the hotel was a bit unnerving. First, there was no Best Western on the street it was supposed to be on. After resorting to using the GPS getting me within a few hundred feet, I stopped, and asked them what their street address was. Yes, sure enough I was in the right place. Evidently the hotel is now under a different arrangement, and not BW. Secondly, at first glance there appeared to be no reservations. (And Dave hadn't arrived yet, which was beginning to make me wonder). After a lot of asking questions and the nice lady digging through the paper files, in addition to the electronic system, it turned out that some notes had been taken on the back of one of the slips, showing that in fact there should have been a reservation. Luckily the hotel wasn't full, so I checked in. Not ten minutes later, the others showed up. (Whew!) I had been concerned that I might be at the wrong city, or something.

Arrived in Coeur d'Alene, much cooler ride, no rain

Made it to Coeur d'Alene with no hitches. Wow, it was a long day, but I don't think I've had better scenery. The first half of the day involved carving up canyons, with a river running parallel. Some of the pictures show this, but don't do it justice. The second half of the day involved working my way through some of the most beautiful farmland I've seen. Rolling hills for as far as the eye can see, with bright green crops (not sure what type, but from a distance, it looks like grass, almost.) Hours of it. Unfortunately, I didn't get a shot of this. Never quite found a pullout next to the perfect field.

Weather was a bit chillier than I had become accustomed to the last few days. It was mid to low 50's for most of the morning, and I think hit a high of 72 or so. I had my "summer" gloves, with the glove liners added, to warm them up a bit during the morning. I had the Alter-ego jacket insert (exo-sert?) panel on all day, covering the mesh parts. This pretty much made things comfortable, although I used the e-seat, e-grips, and e-windshield, as needed to modulate the temperate a bit, as needed. It was a lot quieter with the shield up. I'd gotten used to it down, for cooling reasons.

Pictures from today can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/ronald6w/7JUL?feat=email#

I'll try to add comments to a few of them.

These pictures don't do justice to the trip.

This is today's route.

Click here for the map.

I'll write some more later this evening, after I work out. ;)

Monday - day at the lake

My friend Surat, the park ranger, and I just spent the day lounging around Lucky Peak Lake, watching motorboats and sailboats go by. It was nice to just stand still for a while. (Except for going to lunch, where we had some good food in restaurant in Idaho City (it's a tiny village, actually), named Trudy's Kitchen, up in the mountains about half an hour away.

The first three pictures are from yesterday in Nephi, UT, but the rest are today. Pretty boring stuff.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ronald6w/6JUL?feat=directlink

~r

Monday = Rest Day

I slept in until 6am, got up, and did some stationary laps in the hotel's modest pool. I recently got a swim tether, which essentially bungie cords you to a ladder or other object poolside, to keep you from swimming into the far side as you swim. It is the first time I had tried this, and it was definitely an odd sensation. A good analogy would be not just walking on a treadmill, but also having a rope pulling you backwards while you walked.

I've got to say that this is one of the nicest Best Westerns that I've been to. If you ever come through Boise, you should check out the Best Western Northwest Lodge.

After looking at the treads, and comparing notes from when they were new, I figure I'm probably about half way through the usable tread life, which is probably about what I had originally expected. (Meaning I can go a while longer (probably finish the trip on the tires, although I'll be keeping an eye on them.) A couple milimeters doesn't look like much though, especially compared to the mud and snow tires on my pickup truck.

Arrived in Boise. No rain, but hot

Last night I was skyping with Kari, and the power went out. (and stayed out for a couple hours). Had to call her back, on a "regular phone." Probably just as well, as it gave me an excuse to go to bed earlier than I would have otherwise. Too bad I couldn't figure out which lights were on, to turn them off before going to bed. It rained quite a bit that night. Luckily, it had stopped by morning.

I left this morning in a rather cool 63 degrees from Nephi, and it soon warmed up, with nary a cloud all day. It was a very comfortable 72 for most of the morning. Getting closer to Boise, it soon got to the low 90's. Not a lot of pictures, today, sorry. Just making good time on the interstates. I had to keep dropping my speed from the 80+ the bike seemed to want to go. Or perhaps it was my wrist. At least there wasn't any rain. Checked into the hotel, and a shower never felt better! Started laundry, so I can be done in time to have dinner with a high-school friend, who's now a park ranger up here near Boise.

Didn't mention this earlier, but my right knee has been a bit stiff. I guess I should stretch it out some more. Too bad there's not an emoticon for rolling eyes, since Kari is always on me to do this. Bah, young wippersnapper, leave me alone! :) LOL. The NSAID I'm giving it seems to help.

I was looking at the tires, and they seem to be wearing faster than I had anticipated. The front, one especially. I'm thinking that perhaps I should find a dealer between here and Kamloops to get some fresh rubber on the road, rather than worry about it. I've put in a query to my favorite resident expert, Deryle. We'll see what he says. (I've got about 1.5 mm to the wear bars on the front.) I'm guessing I've got another thousand or so, but want a second opinion.
~r

Picture, get your pictures

I'll be posting pictures here. It's too much of a pain uploading them into the blog one by one.

To see all photos, (yesterday's and today's) click:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ronald6w/AZ2CanTrip09#

I'll be adding future ones here too.

~r

Look further below for my entry for the 4th. I'm adding pictures now, and they show at the top, since they're more recent. PS: When you click on the map link, you'll have to zoom out a ways to see most of the route.

Honestly, I dont' know why the south rim gets all the noteriety. Somehow I found the Eastern end more dramatic, somehow.

This is the gratuitous bike by the grand canyon shot.

Arrived in Nephi. Wonderful ride, even if the weather wasn't

Incidently, I don't think I've mentioned the route in detail. This is essentially the route that Dave worked out.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Sierra+Vista,+AZ&daddr=AZ-64/US-180+to:89/S+Lake+Powell+Blvd+to:I-15+N+to:I-84+W+to:Horseshoe+Bend+Rd/ID-55+to:ID-55/Main+St+to:US-95+to:ID-95+to:HWY-1+W+to:HWY-5/Yellowhead+Hwy+to:Yellowhead+Hwy+to:HWY-1+to:HWY-93/HWY-95+to:HWY-6+to:Lasalle+Rd/US-2+to:Gallatin+Rd/US-191+to:Gallatin+Rd/US-191/US-287+to:John+D+Rockefeller+Jr+Pkwy/US-191/US-287/US-89+to:W+Pine+St/US-191+to:Elk+St/US-191+to:I-80+E+to:I-70+E+to:CO-133+to:31.70013,-110.039062&hl=en&geocode=;FQRXJQIdtClR-Q;FWYoMwIdeAZb-Q;FaTYXQIdcsFV-Q;FaTKmAId9ukS-Q;Ffy5nwIdG7YT-Q;FWrioQIdji0U-Q;FSi3tAIdKOcQ-Q;FTm61QIdIxAI-Q;FWQ0BQMdOmfU-A;FeY7KAMdfrbh-A;FbqtJgMd5An2-A;Ff7HDgMdUq0H-Q;Fepy_wIdMKYX-Q;FdRb7wId76g2-Q;FTDe3wIdDEgw-Q;Fe-YtAIdzz1f-Q;FXKvqQIdJL5g-Q;FZxroAIdVBln-Q;FbIXjgIdgn9z-Q;FewdewIdqDt9-Q;FZKofAIdAOuT-Q;FeSpWwIdcqqZ-Q;FUz7UQId7DGY-Q;&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=24&sz=7&via=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23&sll=34.741612,-107.731934&sspn=6.254309,9.799805&ie=UTF8&z=7

I hope this link works.

I realized today, on my way from the South Rim, (Tusayan) to Nephi, that there were several stretches of road, that I had come to think of as boring, and I have no idea why, now that I think about it, since I've never been on them. Luckily for me, they were MUCH more interesting than I was expecting. I especially liked the stretch of 64 from the south rim, to 89. And I had also assumed the stretch of 89 from there to Kanab would be dull too. Wow, was I wrong. I took a few meager pictures. Unfortunately, there were way too much fabulous scenery, and precious few pullouts. (I'm partial to paved pull outs). I left at about 7am, and arrived in Nephi at about 5pm (az time) or 6pm "Utah" time. I think it was about 463 miles worth. For comparison, yesterday, I left at 6am, and arrived at 2:30pm, with 415 miles.

I hit some rain north of Kanab, and when I made the jump over to I-15 via 20, the rain let up. It was good, since the temperature had risen considerably, to a whopping 82. Doesn't sound bad, but under the rain gear (frogg toggs) it was getting a little warm. I wrapped my wallet and cell phone etc in zip lock and decided to take my chances. (Actually, the weather looked better to the north, so it seemed reasonable.)

The whole day was great scenery. Perhaps a little less so, when I got onto I-15, but I really made some good time, as compared to 89. North of Kanab the speed limit tends to vary, depending on whether you're coming through a community or not. The max speed along 89 was 65, and was frequently 35, or so. Whereas, along I-15, it was 80mph along some stretches, believe it or not, and 75 for the rest!

Morning preparation, departing from the Grand Canyon

Weather looks clear this morning. It's nicely brisk outside as I load my gear. Have you ever noticed that gear seems to expand, after being packed and repacked? After 99 degree weather, I'm hoping today is a piece of cake.

Okay, I went and saw (a bit) of The Grand Canyon. At first, I thought the whole shuttle process seemed like a good idea, but after seeing their map, I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't similar to amusment parks, where since not everyone can be served at the same time, they work out ways for you to be otherwise occupied, or delayed. At amusement parks, this entails, eating, drinking, waiting in line, watching cheezy shows, walking around, etc.

For the national parks, it appears the process to occupy your time will largely involve waiting for, and then riding shuttle busses around. It also seemed the arrangement was also designed to make you walk around. While this seems a little annoying, I suspect the average American could do with a little more exercise, I'll have to admit.

The purple bus (purple route) coming from "town" (Tusayan) drops you at what appears to be a new visitor center. From there you can walk about 5 minute, to get to another bus, which takes you further in (The Blue Route). If you wanted to go to hermits rest, you would then catch the Red route bus, from the far side of the blue route. (Blue route takes 60 minutes round trip, according to the signs.)

This reminds me a bit of Yosemite, where you need a PhD to figure out their bus system. At least the London Underground has widely available maps. I considered taking the blue and then red buses to make it out as far as Hermits rest. (For me, a lot of the process, is making the "full trip.") I took one look at the blue bus disgorging a herd of people from a standing room only situation, and decided that 5ish seemed a little too close for dinner, and I didn't want to be packed in like a sardine, only to spend half my time (at least) in a shuttle, rather than seeing things.

We'll have to plan a trip up here some time, (not the 4th of July) where we have a few days to linger, and navigate the new process.

PS: You probably figured out that my sequence of panaorama shots in my last post didn't quite sequence like I'd like. Hopefully you get the idea, though.

~r

Here's a shot "before" I left: (We'll see if I look so well rested when I get back :)

Just got checked into the hotel near The Grand Canyon (TGC). Looks like they're doing a "park-n-ride" thing at the TGC. Pretty soon we'll be lucky if we can watch it on web-cam.

Weather was about as ideal as I could hope for, without disrupting the seasonal norm. Temperatures varied fro 68, when I left, to a high of 99. It floated between 97 and 99 pretty much all the way through Phoneix, and what seemed like half way to Flagstaff.

The following sequence is a left to right panorama, showing how the weather changed as I rode

up from Phoneix to Flagstaff... (This is facing west, so the left one is looking towards Phoenix, the right, more towards flagstaff.

Just north of Flagstaff, I also snapped a shot of the mountains to the north, (whose name escapes me, momentarily.)

I think I'll go try to walk near TGC, since I'm here. :) Perhaps some more pictures later.

~r

The Beatles song "Good Morning" keeps rolling through my head. Of course Kari is up slightly before the alarm, rubbing my arm in that friendly way that says "Good morning" or perhaps it's "get up! bum!" :) Adrenaline kicks in as I think about the day ahead. Okay, I'm up!

It's currently 5:08AM, and I just had some protein powder pancakes, which taste much better than they sound. (Ingredients courtesy of my Kari's body-building-esqe diet.) Weather calls for scattered showers possible across my route, today. Hopefully I'll get enough advance warning to don the Frogg Toggs before getting anything too bad.

I ad the bags packed night before last. Wow, they feel heavy. I'd be worried about them snapping off the rails, except that during my last trip I discovered that their pretty-plastic looks were belied by some toughness which can ony be appreciated after something regrettable happens. Among the late additions, despite my comments in the previous post, is a 3.5 pound Hewlett-Packard "notebook." It's a bit like a "netbook" but just a tad bigger and heavier. Certainly lighter than a full laptop. HP, if you're reading this, perhaps you can do a "torture test" commercial (assuming it makes it). If not, it's still within the 90 day Costco return period....Love that return policy. Hopefully this will allow me to post some pictures as I go. The one advantage of making this trek solo is that I can pull over for pictures whenever I choose.

Dave sent me the URL for my "northern counterpart," Scott's trip http://www.sandback-roadtrip.blogspot.com/. This will give you some appreciation for our tour planner.

Scott and his wife will be doing a similar crazy-long drive (thanks Dave!) :), but from Alaska. You S.E.A.T. guys will appreciate that he's on a BMW, whereas I'll be making it on a humble FJR. At least if I break down, I'm not likely to get eaten by a bear, or carried off by mosquitoes. I should have arranged for him to bring me some souvenir to swap mid way at the meeting point.