Old faithful

16th June.  Pinedale, WY to Big Sky, MT

Grand Tetons, WY

Cold start to the day at only 46deg F (8 degC), so in went the liner and on went the winter gloves.  The road heading into Hoback River was another ripper.  The views were stunning with steep pine covered mountains rising out of the valley I was travelling through.  The road followed a creek that turned into a river that flowed quite fast.  I wished there was a place where I could stop to take a photo.  It seems to be the case quite often that the most picturesque areas don't have any turn off areas to stop to take pics.  There must be a lot snow here in winter as all the houses have a steep pitch to the roofs.

Saw a big sign on the side of the road advising of Elk and Big Game in the area.  Sure enough I saw a moose off to the side of the road.  I thought the Elk was big back at Grand Canyon.. this thing was massive.

Up until now, the roads had been very quiet, which surprised me as the countryside here is fantastic.  That all changed as I turned onto the road into Jackson.  Jackson is an incredibly popular holiday spot and is packed to the gills.

The best part of Jackson, in my view anyway, is the road out of it as it's not long before the Grand Tetons come into view.  This mountain range just comes out of nowhere - no foothills, just pure mountain straight out of the ground (or water, in the case of Jenny Lake).  I don't think I could get sick of staring at the view of them.  On one of the tourist roads through the national park I followed a couple on a bike for a while.  The trees are very close to the road, so all I can see ahead is the road, trees, and a very thin strip of sky.  Following the bike in front of me is an eagle of some sort - almost following the road just as we are.  It was pretty cool for a minute or more.

Next up come Yellowstone National Park.  There's a bit of a queue to get through the pay station.  My impressions of Yellowstone this time around are way better than last time.  5 years ago, the trees seemed to be suffering from a disease of some sort and didn't look healthy at all.  Very different this time around, so the park seemed much more inviting this time around.

Always a danger around this park are the Bison Jams.  Whenever there are bison near the road, everything comes to a grinding halt and traffic drops to a crawl.  5 years ago it wasn't so bad as I wasn't here in the peak season (late August), so the jams weren't too bad.  This time around it was different.  I didn't get any photos.

I see the signs for Old Faithful and decided I'd better check it out this time.  5 years ago I had just missed the last time it erupted (or whatever it does) and would have had to wait another hour and didn't have the time.  Today I only had to wait 30 mins.

Gotta say it, didn't think it was worth the wait.  Especially seeing as I thought I was about to get dumped on with a storm.  In the background there was thunder and lightning and I was sure I was in for it.  So I was pretty keen to get away after Old Faithful did it's thing.  Unfortunately, it was like the final siren going off at the footy and nearly everyone headed for the car park at the same time.  Yep, another bumper to bumper traffic jam to get out of the area.

I had  about 60 miles to get to my overnight stop in Big Sky and had a few showers on the way.  Big Sky is beautiful.  The road follows the valley, so once again, I'm following a stream/river surrounded by mountains.

That night at the bar I was talking to the barmaid and when she heard I had come from West Yellowstone she asked did I have any trouble getting here.  I looked at her weirdly and said No, it's only 50 miles directly north - follow your nose type of stuff for an hour or so.  She said she had been talking to these ladies a few nights ago who were following a GPS and it sent them on a 4 hour trip for the same journey.  Paper maps are awesome!

Anyway, the beers were nice, they had a good range of single malts and great food.  Another pretty decent day - well, the end of the day was good!

near Hoback, WY

Grand Teton, WY

Grand Teton, WY

You guessed it, Grand Teton, WY

near Jenny Lake, Grand Teton, WY - love seeing these on a motorbike

Old Faithful, Yellowstone, WY

Miles today - 278
Total miles - 3496

Heaven

15th June.  Grand Junction, CO to Pinedale, WY

Ashley National Forest, UT (I think?)

A bright cool morning to start the day.  I would go through 3 states today, from Colorado, nip into Utah for a while, then into Wyoming.  Just out of a town called Loma in Colorado I started in on some hills that were just fantastic.  I don't think I've been  happier on a bike.  I was entering some pine forests, and boy, was it nice to see green again.  Some twisties as I started to climb over a mountain range, before dropping down into some grazing land on the other side.  Came across some farmers herding cattle along the road.

Throughout the day I would move between views of green pine trees, to rocky views, to bare grey/sand hills and then back to vast grazing lands. Passed through a town called Dinosaur which was having it's first day without rain for a week.

Had another great stretch of twisties out of Vernon - I was basically racing a couple of petrol tankers that must drive this road often, because they weren't being slouches. Thankfully the roads were basically empty, other than in towns, so I made some great time.

I was headed to Pinedale in Wyoming, which I had visited the last time I was in the US.  I had ridden through a few light showers on the way in and saw some deer.  Later that evening, I heard on the news that there was a supercell (storm) on the Wyoming-Idaho border which is where I was headed.  I certainly hoped I wouldn't see anything like that.  The run into Pinedale was uneventful with some very open plains riding with the Rockies in the distance  Great view all around.  I stayed at a lakeside lodge in a small cabin - it was pretty cool.  Again, some tasty local beers went down with my meal.  Another great day.

Between Loma and Rangely, CO

Miles today - 400
Total miles - 3218

Bikes and beers

14th June.  Moab, UT to Grand Junction, CO

Colorado River Gorge, UT

I started off the morning by missing my turn off and thought I was going to be on interstate all day. Glad I double checked, because the correct road followed the Colorado river for a while which was just awesome.  The road was fantastic as it followed the gorge.  All along it were recreation areas where you could float boats.  Plenty of people in rafts and kayaks.  The day was spot on as well -  not a cloud in the sky.

I still ended up on an interstate - posted limit was 80 mph (130 kmh), so naturally, most people were doing 85-90 mph.  Now I don't know what kind of fuel economy a 5.7L V8 SUV gets doing 80 mph, but I know it's not going to be great - it's going to be even worse when they're towing a huge caravan as well (I think I only saw 3 or 4 'normal' sized caravans the entire time in the US).  Then you've got the motor homes that are towing an SUV (these weigh over 3 tonnes).  I'm glad I'm not buying the fuel - even at US prices.

I stopped in at "Starvin Arvin's" for lunch which is a mini-chain of diners in Colorado.  I sat at the counter and was witness to the banter between the cooks and the waitresses - it was pretty funny the way they carried on.  "I'm not gonna cook this meal again just coz you haven't picked it up for the past 4 hours" - it had been sitting for about 2 mins.  Anyway, I ordered a 'small' BLT which had the waitress confused as she didn't realise they had a small BLT - I don't know what a big one looked like, but the small was big enough for me.

I then head through the Colorado Monument (I still don't know how a Monument differs from a National Park? - it was cheaper though).  I've got to be honest. By now, I'm well and truly suffering from rock fatigue.  Don't get me wrong, the views are still fantastic, but my eyes are getting tired of looking at brown rock formations.

On the way up to the top of the monument, I passed a lot of push bikes, heading up and down.  Later on I find out that it's the first day (or second) of Ride the Rockies which is a seven day organised ride through the Colorado Rockies - better them than me.  Anyway, Grand Junction is just filthy with pushies.  Part of the main drag is being cordoned off for a mini-street party, complete with beer and food tents and a live band.  It was a pretty good atmosphere to walk through.  I found a seat in front of a pub, ordered a beer, ordered another, had some great calamari, and by the fourth beer was pretty happy with how the day went.  The weather was still in the 30's into the evening.  Later on as I was walking back to my hotel I was introduced to this bloke who didn't believe my beard was only 18 months old - He reckoned I must've been Nordic or something and he had an 'interesting' philosophy on life.  It didn't help he was three sheets to the wind.  All in all, it was a pretty decent day.

Colorado River, UT

Exiting Colorado river gorge, UT

Colorado Monument, CO

Miles today - 143
Total miles - 2818

More rocks!

13th June.  Bluff, UT to Moab, UT

Poor pic of Balancing Rock, Arches NP, UT

Today turned out to be not so much fun.  For whatever reason, I only got about 2 hours sleep and it was going to be another hot day - mid-30's by lunch and people everywhere.  So you can imagine how happy I was :)

It was a short trip from Bluff to Moab - only 130 miles or so.  Arches National Park is only 10 mins out of Moab, so off I went.  As usual, the visitor centre had a tonne of info about the area and how the rock formations were shaped by wind and weather.  On the way into the centre, I passed a bloke on crutches with one leg covered in plaster, the other in bandages.  He made a comment to me, and his wife, "Ahh, proper motorcycle pants - that would've been smart" :)

Riding through the park was another exercise in slow cooking.  There were, again, a tonne of people everywhere with bumper to bumper traffic in some places.  I have to remember never to visit the US in June/July again - especially the parks anyway - they're just way too busy for my liking.

After a quick trip around the easily accessible viewing areas - great views by the way - I headed back to town, hoping to be able to check in to my hotel to get a shower and even a quick nap.  I was too early, and had to wait another 1.5 hours, so I went to the local tourist info to see what I could see.  I didn't see much.  I ended up laying down on a bench in front of the centre and closed my eyes 'for just a sec'.  I woke up about 30-40 mins later.

After checking into the hotel and having a shower, I went for a walk into town which was a km or so.  I have never seen so many Jeeps in one place.  There were Cherokees, Grand Cherokees, Wranglers, Rubicons.  Most were modified in some way.  There were also a heap of side-by-sides off-road vehicles which can be registered to drive on the road.  A few places in town were hiring them.  It would've been good to stay here for a few days so that I could hire one of these and explore some of the off-road parks around the place.  It was strange to see the contrast between the Harley rides (no helmets and minimal safety gear) and others such as adventure bike riders, and dirt-bike riders (full safety gear).  This is definitely an outdoor persons dream place - mountain biking, rock climbing, white water rafting/kayaking, dirtbikes, camping, hiking - it's all here.

Side-by-side

On the way into Moab, UT

Arches NP, UT

Park Avenue, Arches NP, UT

Miles today - 162
Total miles - 2675

Beep Beep!!

12th June.  Tusayan, AZ to Bluff, UT

Watchtower, Grand Canyon

So yesterday I mainly saw the western side of the south rim of the Grand Canyon, which turned out to be a good choice, as today I ended up seeing the western side on my way to Bluff in Utah.

Today was also the day that I discovered I had a panoramic function on my camera - there's nothing like testing out gear when you need it.

I stopped at a couple of viewing points of the canyon along the way.  The weather was, again, a bit on the warm side, but I'm not going to complain about warm weather.  The Watchtower is one of several places that were built in the 1930's to replicate an ancient structure.  It actually has a steel frame that is completely hidden by the stonework.  On the way out of the national park I saw some elk or deer on the side of the road.  Big bastards, would hate to hit one.

Went through a town called Tuba City - I don't know why, but the name intrigued me on the way into it.  It wasn't much of a city, rather a large town and appeared to have a large native American population.  All throughout the day, there were stalls on the side of the road where jewelery, pottery, blankets etc could be bought.  Most of the day I was in the Navajo Nation which has it's own government and laws.


On the way to Bluff, I went past Monument Valley National park and went in for a look.  This is a desert that has been 'used' in a lot of western movies and kinda looks like the scenery from the road runner cartoons.  Again, there were tours and hikes that could be done, but I just checked out the visitor centre and took some pics from the side of the road.  It turns out I had plenty of time today, but as usual, I kept moving.  I was nearly envious of the tour buses and their air conditioning.  It seems strange, but I saw a lot of familiar faces from the Grand Canyon yesterday.  I must have been shadowing a tour group.

Turned out to be a great day for riding, wide open vistas and terrific weather.  At one stage I was following a BMW adventure bike for about 50 miles and it felt good to be with another bike for a while.  Towards the end of the day, I encountered a section of road that had a tonne of patched cracks on the road.  Rather than patch the road entirely, only the cracks were re-sealed.  This was OK when the cracks crossed the road, it just felt like crossing small tram tracks, but when they followed the road, it was another story - especially around corners.  When the cracks followed the road, the bike became quite unstable -  to the point that I stopped twice to check that I didn't have a puncture, or that the wheel wasn't coming off (something I've had some experience of).  Both times I was OK, but it was a scary feeling for a bit.

Bluff is a very small town/village of only 300 or so, yet it has two motels and a couple of cafes.

Desert View, Grand Canyon, AZ

Monument Valley,  UT

Monument Valley, UT

Miles today - 240
Total miles - 2513

Hole-y sh!t

11th June.  Kingman, AZ to Tusayan, AZ

Grand Canyon, AZ

Warm day, again, today for the trip to Tusayan, which is a small village about 15 mins from the southern rim of the Grand Canyon.  Expecting 103 degF.  Thankfully it cooled down in the arvo for when I was wandering around the canyon.

Started off from Kingman on Route 66.  Saw a tonne of bikes on the road today - mostly Harley's, or cruisers.  Wasn't much of an interesting ride really.  Went through a few towns that are set up for tourists with kitschy attractions - well, I thought so anyway, and didn't bother stopping.

Wish I had've taken the time to take a photo of the sky - the clouds were amazing.  Hundreds of individual 'cotton bud' clouds.

Along the way, I came across a couple of series of signs.  In each series were 6 signs, each of which were spaced about 500m, or so.from each other.  They'd combine to make up a slogan on 5 of them, ending with a "Burma Shave" logo at the end.  An example was. "Don't Lose", "Your Head", "To Gain a Minute", "You Need Your Head", "Your Brains Are In It", "Burma Shave".  I reckon I saw about 4 or 5 of them.  Kept me entertained for a while.  I've since discovered that Burma Shave is an old company from the 40's or 50's that's been re-invigorated using the old slogans.

Burma Shave, Route 66

After Route 66, I hit the interstate, which was pretty boring.  The only good thing you can say about the interstates, is that they get you to where you're going - much like the Hume Hwy, only a bit quicker  - 75 mph, which means most people are doing 80+. (130 kmh)

Somewhere along the way I realised that I had moved from Pacific Standard time into Mountain time.  I think it must've been yesterday when I entered Arizona, but I only worked it out when I was checking into my hotel today.  So I've gained an hour - I think?

There's a shuttle bus that runs from Tusayan into the Grand Canyon village, so I jumped on to it to see what I could see.  They have a pretty good series of different shuttle buses that run different routes every 10-15 mins along the southern rim of the canyon.  According to a film I watched at the visitor centre, they get around 5 million visitors a year into the canyon.  From what I could see, they do it pretty well too.

Now, I've seen a stack of photo's and videos of the Grand Canyon, but it's one of those things you really have to see in order to gain any kind of appreciation for the sheer scale of the place - it's bloody huge.  Not only does this country have awesome mountains, they have bloody big holes as well.  My photographic skills don't do it any justice at all.

Grand Canyon, AZ

I couldn't help but think of the explorers who discovered this place.  Can you imagine coming across this on horseback, with wagons in tow?  I reckon I would've just sat down and cried.  It would've made for one helluva detour.  It's 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and over a mile deep.  It's another one of those places where it would've been great to have at least 3 or 4 days, rather than one, to explore properly.  There's a stack of hikes, 4WD tours, flyovers, river trips - you name it, you can do it.

Miles today - 184
Total miles - 2273

What a dam nice view.. or should that be a nice dam view??

10th June. Las Vegas, NV to Kingman, AZ

Today was a quick day, just 117 miles in quite warm weather, mainly on the interstate.  I paid a quick visit to the strip again from some brekky, and another wander around.  The place looks very different early in the morning, very subdued.  I headed off around lunch, which meant gearing up in some warm weather - and it only got warmer in stop-start traffic as I tried to exit Vegas.  I think they were heading for 100 degF.

On the way to Kingman, I see the signs for Hoover Dam and think I'd better have a dam look.  It wasn't much fun, as the traffic is bumper to bumper off the highway.  There's a security inspection prior to riding into the dam area, which basically involved just stopping in front of a 'guard' and then being waved through.  About the only vehicles being stopped were RVs.  I guess they thought that you can't pack enough explosives on a bike, or in a car, to do any damage to the dam?  There were about 4 or 5 police vehicles at different points throughout the dam area, so I guess they do take security kinda seriously.

I didn't get a dam tour (and didn't ask the dam guide any dam questions - apologies to Vegas Vacation) as there were too many dam people for my liking, and also because I was bloody hot and uncomfortable.  There's one problem with touring on a motorcycle, well maybe more than one, but stopping while dressed in full gear when it's 90-100 is just no fun.  None.  Zero.  And I don't think I was going to enjoy wandering around on a tour in my riding gear.  I rode up to a vantage point and had a look around, but pretty much rode out straight away - I didn't even bother with any photos.  I was pretty happy to be in the wind again, despite it still being quite warm.

Even though I've seen it before, I still can't get used to seeing motorcycle riders without helmets.  I guess I just don't understand the desire not to wear one - I feel naked on a bike without my gloves, let alone without a helmet.  Some of them do make a concession to head gear and are at least wearing a bandana!  Of course, a lot of them complement this with more safety gear such as t-shirt, shorts, and thongs.

As I enter Kingman I see a few signs that point out that I'm now on the original Route 66, which I'll be on for a little while tomorrow.

Miles today - 117
Total miles - 2206

Interlude

Ok, this will be brief.  I've been slacker than normal with updates as I deal with a small issue.

You need a passport to fly internationally, right?

Yeah, thought so.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...

9th June. Mammoth Lakes, CA to Las Vegas, NV

I set off from Mammoth Lakes on the interstate for an hour or so - fairly humdrum stuff.  It was another beautiful day - plenty of blue sky for the most part.

Once I passed through Lone Pine, I started on to Death Valley - how hot can it really be?  I guess I'd find out soon enough.  In the distance, the sky had started to turn grey and look stormy - I didn't know if I should be praying for rain or not?  Nothing eventuated other than some very light showers towards the end of the day.

After some interesting twisties, the road started to dip into the valley.  It started to warm up reasonably quickly - not that it was cold earlier anyway.  Some names of towns/stops in Death Valley - Stovepipe Wells, Furnace Creek, Hell's Gate, etc.  I get the impression it gets hot.  Fuel (gas!) gets expensive as well.  I saw one place advertise it at $5.20 per gallon.  Normal prices, depending on the state, vary from $2.60ish to $3.30ish per gallon.  The record temp for Death Vally is 134 degF.  That's 57 in real temperature speak!!!  You can keep that to yourself.

Once in the valley, the road started to straighten out, and develop woops.  Umm.. if you don't follow motocross, that may not make a heap of sense... look at the pic below - you may have to click on it to see the 'woops' better.  They made the road interesting in a weird sort of way and gave it a type of rhythm that nearly became hypnotising.  There wasn't a tonne of traffic, but I was enjoying the road - in a bizarre kind of way.

Death Valley - somewhere

The temp had increased a fair bit - to the point that it was actually cooler to have my jacket fully zipped, and to have my visor fully closed.  As soon as I cracked the visor a little bit, it became harder to breathe - not incredibly so, but it was way easier with the visor down.  I had to stop at Furnace Creek to pay for a park pass - the temp was showing 107 degF (42 degC).  I could have done without knowing that.  I don't know how those tough dudes on the Harley's would have handled the heat with an open faced helmet and short sleeves.

There were a lot of things to see along the way, as with all National Parks, but I couldn't be bothered stopping for some reason?  At one point, the road dropped to 100 feet below sea level.  The lowest point in the US is in Death Valley at 282 feet below - but I either missed it, or didn't ride along that road.

I ended up going through a town called Pahrump.  For some reason, I started singing "The Little Drummer Boy" for the next 20 mins.  You know the part in the song that goes "parr rumpa pum pum".  Maybe you don't?  Maybe the heat affected me more that I thought and I should've turned on some music... moving on.

Next highlight was Vegas baby.  I tried to guess my way to the strip, but got mixed up in the freeways that crisscross the city.  When I stopped to get my bearings, I was only about 5 mins away.  Not a bad guess.

Anyway, once I hit the strip I was blown away.  It was wild - especially coming from the desert.  The weather was still reasonably warm in the stop/start traffic, but I didn't mind that much.  People everywhere, huge building-sized video screens advertising the latest attractions and performers, buildings of all shapes and sizes - it was a lot to take in all at once.

I found my hotel easily - a block and a half off the strip.  Once i got cleaned up, I went for a walk along the strip.  The first order of business was to get my glasses fixed as I still only had the one nose-rest after losing one in Merced.  Once I got it fixed I was a lot more comfortable.  I walked through a stack of casinos and shops.

Some of the casinos are amazing.  I think it's the Venetian and Palazzo casinos which have a canal system that works its way through the casinos and also outside - complete with gondolas and opera singing boatmen - it was impressive.  I ended up walking around from about 3:30pm to 11:30pm and was pretty knackered after an evening of pizza, a few beers and a full day of riding as well.  It's the kind of place that would've been good to have a couple more days and to also have a few other people to knock around with.

I didn't take any decent photo's of Vegas - just watch a few episodes of CSI or watch Ocean's 11.

Miles today - 330
Total miles - 2089

Yosemite

Yosemite Village

8th June. Merced, CA to Mammoth Lakes, CA

So today started off in a crummy way.  I gave brekky a miss in the hotel as there was a tour group staying there and they had decided to get to breakfast 5 mins before me.  There were only 2 people taking orders and preparing meals and it looked like it was going to take an age to get served and I wanted to hit the road before it got too hot.

I tried to fill up the bike at the servo, but got stuffed around by the pay-at-the-pump system not accepting my card.  During this, I had managed to lose one of the nose rests from my specs and it felt like it 30 degC already.  To say I wasn't happy was an understatement.

I was headed east, directly into the sun without a cloud in the sky. The ride was pretty uneventful until I got to Yosemite, when all hell broke loose - well, not exactly, but the place was flat out busy with cars and buses everwhere.  I've developed an intense hatred of tour buses.  They're slow, and full of people that will ruin a view, or a cafe in about 2 mins flat when they're unloaded.  It felt like everyone from California was at Yosemite today.

I can see why they'd be here though - it's an incredibly beautiful place.  The view from up high are great, and things are just as impressive from the ground.  Traffic was pretty busy, and the day hadn't got any cooler - it didn't feel like there was a breath of wind either.

I've got a new bike helmet intercom thingo that I'm still coming to grips with.  I've worked out how to stream music via bluetooth OK.  However, I found out today that is has voice commands.  How did I find that out?  Well, traffic is bumper to bumper, I'm about 30 mins away from becoming a well done pot roast in a slow cooker and this idiot decides to stop, turn, and then indicate.  I go off my nut at the clown in front of me and the music stopped and the FM radio started searching for channels.  I think this happened 3 times today - I need to work out how to turn it off I think.

I was incredibly jealous of the group of people who were floating down the river on inner tubes.  I nearly jumped into the river fully clothed.  The campgrounds were very full - tents were nearly stacked on top of each other - so much for getting away from it all.

Once again, the National Parks are incredibly well patronised and, ideally, you'd have more than half a day to check it out.  A week would be good.

After exiting Yosemite, I head towards Tioga Pass.  At one stage I had to wait 30 mins for some roadworks.  The car in front of me popped his tailgate and grabbed a can out of his esky.  He was decent enough to offer me one.  Had I known how long I'd be waiting, I would've taken him up on his offer.

Tioga Pass was stunning.  My mood had improved as the roads were free from idiots and much emptier.  After that, I had about 30 miles on the interstate to get to Mammoth Lakes.

Yosemite Village

Glacier Point (Yosemite)

Glacier Point (Yosemite)

Yosemite Village

Tioga Pass

Miles today - 250 miles
Total miles - 1759 miles

Cold to hot

7th June.  South Lake Tahoe, CA to Merced, CA

Cool morning to start the day.  Today I would be heading over the Sonora Pass (9500 feet)

.  This part of the mountains is home to a US Marines training facility, and I would see them throughout the morning in different parts of the mountain.

I realised why I had been seeing so many push bike riders yesterday - today is America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride.  One of the loops will do over 1500m of climbing.

I came across my first deer on the road this morning - it was well ahead of me and caused no drama.

The climb to Sonoma pass is incredibly steep and twisty and takes me back into the snowline.  I could nearly have done with having the thermal liner in my pants.  After the initial steepness of the climb, it evens out and becomes incredibly beautiful scenery.  I wished I'd had a GoPro as it would've been the best way to capture the scenery - as it was I didn't take any photos at all today.  I end up riding along some quite bare rocky mountains which transform into heavily forested terrain.  At one stage I follow a river which was pretty cool.

I passed a group of 5 or 6 Austin Healy 3000's (I think?) heading in the opposite direction.  I saw the same group yesterday.  They would have loved the section they were on now, but I"m not sure about the steep declines they were about to face.

The weather started to improve around lunch as the terrain flattened out, and before long I'm riding through quite open and undulating country that is not too different from back home.  There's not greenery at all, with all the paddocks looking like they've already been through a long summer.  Suddenly I'm surrounded by huge olive and vine plantations.

By the time I arrive in Merced it's 33 degC and ends up hitting 38 before the day ends.  I can't say I've gone from snow to 33 in one day, but there you go.  They're expecting 40 tomorrow morning,  but only 24 in Yosemite where I'm headed.  As much as I didn't really enjoy the hot weather when I was fully suited up in my riding gear, it was unreal to walk outside the hotel at 9pm and for it still to be in the low 30's.

Miles today - 220 miles
Total miles - 1509 miles

Yeah, keep right idiot.

5th-6th June.  Chester, CA to South Lake Tahoe, CA

Today started off with some good weather in the hills.  There were some thunderstorms in the distance, but nothing eventuated thankfully.

I fuelled up in a small town called Graeagle.  Usually, I like to pick a servo on the right hand side of the road - it makes it easier to get going again without having to cross traffic.  This was pretty much a one horse town, so I had to cross the road for the servo.  After filling up, and setting off again, I had a moment of brain fade and started to ride on the left hand side of the road.  For a moment I was confused as to why there were several cars coming straight for me - it took me a few seconds to wake up.  Surprisingly, I didn't hear any horns, but I had another break pretty much straight away.  I haven't done it since thankfully.

About half way to Tahoe, the scenery gave way to a valley and it was a nice change to see some flat land and open skies for a while.  Not long after this, I nearly started to head to Reno instead of Tahoe.  I think it's the first time on this trip that I had made a wrong turn.  I'm pretty sure I got lost every day for the first 7 days last time.

Lake Tahoe is an incredible lake surrounded by mountains.  There's also some serious money here as well with some very flash houses directly on the lake shore with some pricey looking boats moored near them. It's also incredibly touristy with people everywhere.

On the way into South Lake Tahoe, I passed a renaissance fair with people wandering around in medieval garb and swords and wooden boats - the lot.  Right in the middle of a forest.  Bizzare.

South Tahoe is right on the Nevada border.  Right on that stateline are two huge casinos that would dominate the skyline if wasn't for the ring of mountains that surround the whole area.  Traffic is pretty mad and it's obvious that this is a very popular holiday destination.

I had two nights here, so on the second day I did a lap through the Sierra Nevada ranges surrounding Tahoe.  I found one stretch of newly sealed road that was an absolute blast.  It would've been more fun on my VFR rather than the FJR as I really noticed it's weight as I tried to throw it around some of the tighter corners.

I now know the signal in the US for police up ahead.  If a biker pats his head, watch out up front.  It's saved me a few times now.  Also, I still reckon the US drivers are way more polite than Aussie ones.  I've lost count of the number of times that cars/SUVs have pulled over to let me through - even when they're already doing close to the speed limit themselves.  I don't reckon it's ever happened to me back home.

One of the passes though the mountains was Ebbett's Pass (8,700 feet) which was a bit hairy in places as it's not wide enough to have a centre line.  Given how big some of the SUVs are over here, I wasn't wild about coming around a corner face to face with a huge Ford or Dodge grill, so it was a slow trip through some pretty amazing country.  At the same time, I was again aware of how little armco is used in the National Parks.  It's a long way down some of these hills.

Somewhere along the way I turned right instead of left and found myself in Nevada when I should have been in California still.  It then decided to rain as I jumped on the highway back to Tahoe.  Once the rain cleared, the temperature started to rise, I saw on a time/temp display on a bank that it was 89F (31c), which wasn't so bad as long as I kept moving.

Miles today - 327 & 215 miles
Total miles - 1289 miles

Doh!

4th June.  Gold Beach, OR to Chester, CA

Today was to to be a pretty big day - ended up being 373 miles (600 kms), but I didn't realise it in the morning.  I stuffed around a bit, had a late brekky, and only looked at the map when I was done.  Needed to get my skates on, as within the 600 kms, there was some twisty mountain stuff to do which takes longer than I usually think.

From Gold Beach, I continued to head south along the coast into California.  The coast road continued to have some good views and roads, and I was pretty happy to see I'd be going through the Redwood forests.  I headed through the northern section which was pretty cool - the trees are absolutely huge.  I didn't stop to take any pictures as I was intending to go through the southern section via the scenic byway.  However, because I was in a bit of a hurry, and kinda travelling a bit fast, I managed to miss the exit off the main road.  I didn't realise this until I was well south of the forest.  To say I was ticked off is an understatement.  If I didn't have so far to go, I would've tried to back track.

At one point I was doing 75(ish) in a 65 zone and noticed a police car sitting on the other side of the road.  I thought for sure I was done, but nothing happened.  Cool.  Then about 40 minutes later, the same thing happened - yeah, I'm a slow learner.  Turns out, unless you're doing 15+ over the limit, you're not likely to get done.  I did slow down after the second time - for a while.

I ran into some roadworks that held me up for over 25 minutes.  It seemed much longer, but it was long enough as I could see some rain clouds heading my way.  After they let us through the roadworks, it did start to rain - which was a bit of a worry in places, as there was sand all over the road in different places.  Thankfully everyone else was going at a fairly slow pace, so all was good.

Towards the end of the ride, I entered the Lassan National Forest which was more tight and twisty mountain riding.  The road moved from < 1,000 feet of elevation up to 9,000 feet in pretty quick order.  Mt. Lassen's peak is at 10,300 feet.  Again, for reference, Mt. Kosciuszko is only 7,300 feet.  Naturally, it started to get colder with plenty of snow about on the ground.  There was also a partially frozen pond as well.  Thankfully, there wasn't as much cloud cover, so there were some pretty cool views in different places.

After Mount Lassen, I had a quick trip into Chester where I stayed for the night.

Miles today - 373 miles
Total miles - 837 miles