Greetings from California to Kansas
When last we wrote we were safely tucked away in Victorville, California, poised for the final 46 mile assault into the Los Angeles East Valley and the finish of the 2011 Iron Butt Rally. We made it safely into and (later) out of the urban agglomeration known as greater Los Angeles. The Iron Butt Rally concluded on Friday morning last. It was a great rally. The basics of the rally included a ride to all 48 states to be a "finisher" with points gained by going to Alaska (3 folks), going to the four corners of the contuguous 48 states (Blaine, Madewaska, Key West, and San Yisidro) (numerous folks), and assorted bonus points to visiting the capitols of states vs just entering and obtaining a receipt somewhere/anywhere in a state. Paul worked as a scorer and Voni assumed her unofficial duties as the official IBR greeter as each rider arrived at the finish.
We departed Ontario, CA on Saturday morning. Paul at first thought that we had somehow missed the evacuation order for the LA basin as we headed northeast on I-15. Traffic was flowing briskly as many lanes wide as there were lanes, and at times eager drivers chose the truck-only slow vehicle lane on the right to pass on the right. But as he later realized, it was only the rush of gamblers headed out on Saturday of a three-day July 4th weekend. Half of the cars tried to get off at Primm, Nevada, clogging the off ramp and the right hand lane for a while. The rest of the cars sped onward to Las Vegas.
When we arrived in Las Vegas it was only 108 degrees at about 10:00 a.m. but we quickly checked in to our hotel and its air conditioned comfort. On Sunday morning as we headed north toward St. George, Utah it appeared as if everybody stayed in Vegas to go to church because the highway was deserted, or at least sparsely occupied. We headed east from St. George by way of Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, and several other of the canyon National Parks and monuments including the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. This area is simply impossible to describe. You need to go see it. We did discover that everybody who didn't stop in Vegas for the weekend had arrived to line up at the tunnel in Zion National Park.
It was at the tunnel that Voni's motorcycle decided to misbehave. For reasons we have only guessed at, it decided it wanted to stall every time she slowed to a crawl, as in every time the cars ahead slowed to a crawl. It would always restart but stall again soon. We spent several occasions beside the road which was thankfully fairly well equipped with pull-outs and parking areas. Once we got out of the park and traffic began to actually flow again the misbehavior stopped. It is getting new tires and fork seals at Engle Motors in Kansas City on Friday next, and maybe their diagnostic computer can shed some light on its antics. We hope so.
Departing Zion we headed north on 89 and then did the arching loop east and north on 12, camping in the National Forest just south of Torrey, Utah. Then east on 24 and south and east on 95 to Blanding, followed by a zig and zag north and east and north and east into and in Colorado. We rode both the famed 141 and 145 eventually stopping at Ridgeway State Park north of Ridgeway. We could hear but not see the fireworks being set off at Ouray, 15 miles to our south. We celebrated nature's own fireworks by watching a glorious sunset, and the rise of a silvery sliver of crescent moon.
Leaving Ridgeway we rode north to Montrose and then east on 50 until we could turn north to connect to U.S. 24 at Buena Vista. From Colorado Springs we tried to head straight east on 94 but turned north at Punkin Center when advised that US 40 was closed ahead, right where we wanted to be going. Oh well. After a stint on the dread Interstate we again connected to US 24, only dropping south to Hays for the purpose of an inexpensive place to spend the night.
We discovered that the vast expanse of eastern Colorado and western Kansas known in professional planning literature as the "empty quarter" is really rather nice when it isn't hot, isn't windy, and isn't being hammered by thunderstorms. While I-70 isn't at all exciting we found the backroads at least pleasantly boring in a calm sort of way. The temperatures were mostly in the 60s and 70s, but did reach the high 80s as we reached Hays. There was a breeze but by Kansas standards it really was quite calm with sub 20 mph winds. We rode under a cloud cover most of the day.
Tomorrow we will ride to Lawrence to spend some time at Mike's. We'll get tires and stuff at Engles on Friday and then northward on Saturday to Iowa to see Melanie and the grandboys, Noah and Brody, for a few days. From there it will be onward eastward to Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania for Camp Gears and the BMW Owners of American National Rally.
Photos here:
http://s320.photobucket.com/albums/... MT/2011 Summer 7 Ontario CA to CO/?start=all
Voni and Paul
When last we wrote we were safely tucked away in Victorville, California, poised for the final 46 mile assault into the Los Angeles East Valley and the finish of the 2011 Iron Butt Rally. We made it safely into and (later) out of the urban agglomeration known as greater Los Angeles. The Iron Butt Rally concluded on Friday morning last. It was a great rally. The basics of the rally included a ride to all 48 states to be a "finisher" with points gained by going to Alaska (3 folks), going to the four corners of the contuguous 48 states (Blaine, Madewaska, Key West, and San Yisidro) (numerous folks), and assorted bonus points to visiting the capitols of states vs just entering and obtaining a receipt somewhere/anywhere in a state. Paul worked as a scorer and Voni assumed her unofficial duties as the official IBR greeter as each rider arrived at the finish.
We departed Ontario, CA on Saturday morning. Paul at first thought that we had somehow missed the evacuation order for the LA basin as we headed northeast on I-15. Traffic was flowing briskly as many lanes wide as there were lanes, and at times eager drivers chose the truck-only slow vehicle lane on the right to pass on the right. But as he later realized, it was only the rush of gamblers headed out on Saturday of a three-day July 4th weekend. Half of the cars tried to get off at Primm, Nevada, clogging the off ramp and the right hand lane for a while. The rest of the cars sped onward to Las Vegas.
When we arrived in Las Vegas it was only 108 degrees at about 10:00 a.m. but we quickly checked in to our hotel and its air conditioned comfort. On Sunday morning as we headed north toward St. George, Utah it appeared as if everybody stayed in Vegas to go to church because the highway was deserted, or at least sparsely occupied. We headed east from St. George by way of Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, and several other of the canyon National Parks and monuments including the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. This area is simply impossible to describe. You need to go see it. We did discover that everybody who didn't stop in Vegas for the weekend had arrived to line up at the tunnel in Zion National Park.
It was at the tunnel that Voni's motorcycle decided to misbehave. For reasons we have only guessed at, it decided it wanted to stall every time she slowed to a crawl, as in every time the cars ahead slowed to a crawl. It would always restart but stall again soon. We spent several occasions beside the road which was thankfully fairly well equipped with pull-outs and parking areas. Once we got out of the park and traffic began to actually flow again the misbehavior stopped. It is getting new tires and fork seals at Engle Motors in Kansas City on Friday next, and maybe their diagnostic computer can shed some light on its antics. We hope so.
Departing Zion we headed north on 89 and then did the arching loop east and north on 12, camping in the National Forest just south of Torrey, Utah. Then east on 24 and south and east on 95 to Blanding, followed by a zig and zag north and east and north and east into and in Colorado. We rode both the famed 141 and 145 eventually stopping at Ridgeway State Park north of Ridgeway. We could hear but not see the fireworks being set off at Ouray, 15 miles to our south. We celebrated nature's own fireworks by watching a glorious sunset, and the rise of a silvery sliver of crescent moon.
Leaving Ridgeway we rode north to Montrose and then east on 50 until we could turn north to connect to U.S. 24 at Buena Vista. From Colorado Springs we tried to head straight east on 94 but turned north at Punkin Center when advised that US 40 was closed ahead, right where we wanted to be going. Oh well. After a stint on the dread Interstate we again connected to US 24, only dropping south to Hays for the purpose of an inexpensive place to spend the night.
We discovered that the vast expanse of eastern Colorado and western Kansas known in professional planning literature as the "empty quarter" is really rather nice when it isn't hot, isn't windy, and isn't being hammered by thunderstorms. While I-70 isn't at all exciting we found the backroads at least pleasantly boring in a calm sort of way. The temperatures were mostly in the 60s and 70s, but did reach the high 80s as we reached Hays. There was a breeze but by Kansas standards it really was quite calm with sub 20 mph winds. We rode under a cloud cover most of the day.
Tomorrow we will ride to Lawrence to spend some time at Mike's. We'll get tires and stuff at Engles on Friday and then northward on Saturday to Iowa to see Melanie and the grandboys, Noah and Brody, for a few days. From there it will be onward eastward to Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania for Camp Gears and the BMW Owners of American National Rally.
Photos here:
http://s320.photobucket.com/albums/... MT/2011 Summer 7 Ontario CA to CO/?start=all
Voni and Paul