Two Lane Black Top...(well, mostly...)
It had been since "never" that I'd gone to visit my brother and his family. Since I just happened to have some time off work, and it was great weather, I knew it was time. Besides, riding my bike to work and back just wasn't quite enough lately.
So...

I ride a '96 Honda Shadow ACE, the vt1100. When I bought her in '03, she only had 52000 miles, and now she had only 67944 - only one thing to do - put more miles on the clock!

After I did the basic chores, like changing the oil, topping off the battery, putting in new spark plugs, and checking the tires - the rear was looking a little weak (it was fairly new when I bought the bike, 17000 miles ago, so I knew it was getting to be that time...) I also put the wind screen and the luggage rack/sissy bar back on.
I made sure I had all the appropriate tools, tire gauge, emergency stuff (like the tire plug/patch kit! and all the usual stuff wire, tape, etc), and even packed the battery tender for the trip! Along with the t-bag, I had my soft saddle bags stuffed full, my sleeping bag and pad, small cooler, and my "camel back" style back-pack/hydration pack (although, I didn't "wear" it, I just bungied it on top of the t-bag - also, my gps was in the top pocket, so it was facing the satellites).
As I rolled out about 0730 on a Tuesday from Cottonwood, Arizona (the weather channel told me I had good weather for at least a week), I had a happy feeling in my soul: I was going on a road trip, looking for adventure.
Day 1 Ride: Today, I put on about 600 miles, going as far as Hawthorne, Nevada. All the riding was good! Saw some sights I'd never seen before, and realized how wonderful that Mustang seat was! WOW! Had I stayed on the old stock Honda seat, I'd not have been able to go more than the usual 300 or so. Andy, Thanks again for the great deal!
The road conditions were excellent, a little construction going on here and there, but nothing major. I've never really liked being on the interstates, but, oh, well; traffic was smooth, not heavy...
It's always enjoyable to drive over Hoover dam, what a construction marvel it is! I was surprised at how many tourists were there, this time of year... and Las Vegas! another construction marvel... no time to gamble or see the city today, though...

Nevada, well, it reminds a lot of Wyoming, miles and miles of miles and miles! Again, the roads were wonderful! and the route I took today wasn't particularly full of scenery, but it is interesting country. I believe I saw what are called "Joshua trees" out there in a few places. Odd looking things...

The most outstanding thing I saw today was just as I was pulling into Hawthorne. I had read, while researching my route, that this was an old Navy ammo storage facility. Apparently, there have been a couple "mishaps" over the years, and the bunkers did their jobs perfectly - the explosions were held to going upward, rather than sideways, to prevent the neighboring bunkers from further damage. So, it was just getting dark as I pulled into town, and it was quite intersting to see the many, many bunkers along side the highway. Quite an eery sight!

(NOTE: this screen shot, and a couple others are from USA PHOTOMAPS, a great program if you're into GPS.)
It was too "cool" for me to consider camping out, so got a nice room at one of the local motels, and enjoyed a nice night's rest from my first day of riding. In fact, I used motels the whole trip - just seems a "necessity" after riding in coolish/cold weather...
Day 2 ride: It was quite chilly this a.m. as I rolled out. Passed by a very large "Walker Lake," and it looked like some fishing might have been in order... but I had places to go... Other than the lake, it was still pretty desolate "Nevada-like" country side, but that changed soon enough. (Note - there was about 10 miles of road construction going on here, but not a problem - just follow the pilot car over some pretty rough torn-up roadway).
As I rolled through some hills from the high-desert, I came into Yerrington, and was immediately hit by the strong smell of fresh-cut hay; lots of hay land in this neck of the woods, and lots of green color to go with it! I don't know if this was their last cutting or not, but looked like they might get another if the weather remains this pretty for much longer.
I had entertained going on into Carson City, but I met a fellow biker in Yerrington, who suggested that I go straight north to Fernley, and would be able to somewhat miss the hustle of Reno by taking a cutoff to the north; sounded good to me! (although, next time, will check out Carson, and Tahoe...) Turns out there was only about 35-40 miles of interstate to Sparks/Reno, and I found the cutoff to go north (I really have no problems with the "big road" but prefer to avoid if/when possible).
Not too far out of Reno, the countryside began changing quite a bit from my Nevada desert; it was still what I've always called "high desert," but that means more grass and sagebrush, also, the occasional pinion and juniper pines. Also noticeable, lots of horse trailers pulling down the road - I was coming into cattle country. Another section of construction, maybe a whole 10 minute wait for a pilot car to take us down a stretch...
Susanville, Cal, is a beautiful little town; of course, another gas stop and a break, and the weather remained wonderful! An occasional cloud, and even less wind here (I had run into quite a bit of headwind, not that it was terrible anywhere yet).

This began my favorite ride so far; Susanville to I-5. The road was lined with big pines, the road was in good shape, the road had beautiful scenery! Nothing like riding through the mountains. At another construction stop (pilot car wait), I met a couple fellow bikers who were returning to Seattle, Wa; they'd gone down the coast to San Francisco, and had a lovely ride! Great couple of guys to visit with; we rode together nearly all the rest of the way to the interstate.

And to say nothing of Mt Shasta - quite the hill!!

I-5 was very, very nice! In great condition, and not heavy with traffic, it was actually enjoyable to ride. My guess is that it was about 95 miles to my actual destination from Weed, and the weather, again, was perfect! Now out of the mountains, I had to take off my jacket, well, for awhile - Siskyou Summit (the "highest point on I-5") got a little cool, so, not being afraid! I put the ol' coat on again...


Well, I arrived in Central Point at about 5:30pm, just in time, it turns out, for a cold pop, and the joy of seeing my brother and his family! After a 400 mile ride today, (and too many years) my bro, his wife and daughter were sure a sight for sore eyes!

(this shot taken a few days later up at Crater Lake. Read on for more about "the snow"

While here, I located the Naumes Motorcycle shop in Medford, took my bike in to visit about the tires - the rear was "too far gone to be safe" so, fortunately, they had the tire I wanted: I got the same thing, a Metzeler ME880 (FYI, I paid $135, and $45 for mounting - I believe it was a fair, if not a good price). The shop manager convinced me the front tire was in good shape and had lots of tread left (I was a little concerned about the numerous little "cracks" but he even took me out and showed me his bike with a relatively new tire, same "cracks!" he said that was very normal...) I thank them for their honesty and very good service! (yep, a plug! I'd go to them again.)
Now, the riding was done for a few days, I won't run on with the family chat and doings, except for one thing; they took me up to the famous "Crater Lake" and boy was that a site! Actually, there was no lake at all,

well, none we could see! The ranger said he had to charge us to enter, even though we probably wouldn't see the lake, as it was so socked in and SNOWING! Man, what a pleasant surprise! Coming out of Arizona, I'd not really considered that October was, sort of, in a few words, THE RETURN OF WINTER! to many parts of the world - and it sure was here!

There was a large painting of what looked to be a lake hanging over the mantle, not sure if that was of an imaginary place or not... (!)


the Rogue River
Day 1 ride, going home: I sadly departed around 0830, after having spent a wonderful 5 days with family, and after having watched the weather for awhile - Sunday and Monday both were very cloudy and rainy; the weatherman said Tuesday would be "abundant sunshine" although there was a huge cold system down from Canada; Minnesota, Montana, and even down into Denver, there was snow flying!
As I left Central Point, heading over to Klamath Falls, I again followed a windy 2 lane blacktop over some very pretty countryside - I was pretty disappointed to find myself on pure black ice on the pass! (Lake of the Woods, Hwy 140). Doing about 40mph (I sort of anticipated possibility of ice), I felt my rear end do a little fishtail, so of course immediately rolled gently off the throttle: I found myself riding for the next 10 or so miles on the wide shoulder, where I at least found some gravel. I had a snowplow pass me by, blade was up as there was no snow on the road, but he was spreading sand... It's not much fun to ride at 5mph with both feet stuck out to the sides (just in case) for 10 miles! but, I made way... It was so cold near the top I stopped to warm my gloves up by the exhaust - Thank the powers that be for warm pipes!

On through Klamath Falls, I was impressed to see the huge lake, with 38-gazillion ducks, and pelicans! Brother Bruce told me he thought the mascot for the local hi-school was the Pelican, no wonder...
I made my way through Lakeview OR,

then south back into Cal, thru Alturas, and a cutoff to bypass Susanville, and back into Nevada and into north Reno, I found a Super8 to give my money to for a good night's sleep.
Day 2 ride, going home: Rise and shine early to another really cold morning, I made my way east on the big road, found my way back to Fernley, then found a different route thru Fallon. Highway 50 is a great road! Very well maintained, and not much traffic, I crossed several of those big ol' basins, interspersed with a few hills... Austin (a Pony Express landmark) and Eureka were a couple really cool little towns, both nestled right into the hills with really windy roads heading thru. Love them twisties!! Ely is a very nice smallish town, the weather sure was nice here! Out of the flats meant out of the breezes, so really enjoyed a stop here...


Baker NV just couldn't come soon enough, the basins were long and flat, roads excellent, but I got a whole days worth of crosswinds; Milford, Utah, same thing - I just couldn't get there quick enough! I didn't want to stop even long enough to stop the cold air flowing over me, cause I knew it would be too hard to get back in the saddle again! Two of the basins, after coming out of the several small hilly "passes" as they call 'em, showed a tremendously long road. I guesstimated each of two of them to be at least 8 miles across, but I was wrong, they were 12, and 15 miles, the straightest road I think I've ever seen... At least I could look forward to the "hills" at the other end, where I knew I'd get out of some of the wind...

Fortunately, Milford had one motel, and a vacancy! The plumbing had just broken, so I had no hot water in my room; but the owner had an empty "smoking" room that did have hot water, so I was able to get a nice hot shower, and JEEZ was that the ticket!
Day 3 ride, last day going home: This was another of those "my favorite ride" days. Really cold in the am, I found my way into Cedar City, & the wonderful ride up to the Cedar Breaks. WOW! what a pretty road, and even better scenery! Hwy 14 going up to the Breaks is truly a ride thru some gorgeous scenery. I think the high point I reached (by GPS) was 9899msl, there were clear blue skies, and scenery that went on forever!


On a little further, I found Navajo lake, which is a lava basin that naturally loses water thru fault cracks... there is no outlet/stream, and it's refilled each year by the snowmelt.

Beautiful thing to see!
Long Valley Jct, and I finally felt that I was back in the southern part of the trip - that warm weather was a very good thing!
Only 40 miles to Kanab, I found some green grass at a new, small golf course, with a really pretty fountain, and the contrast of the blue sky and red rocks really gave me a feeling of being "almost there."

Only another 75 or so miles, I'd be back to Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon dam; it was pretty to see it, although I'd been here many times - still an impressive part of the world to see and ride through. Water level in the pond is still very low, but they say it's up from the past few years. Here, I took off my fleece undercoat, and began to really feel I was back in Arizona.

Heading south and across the reservation, I stopped at Gray Mountain for gas, and saw an eery site: seems there was quite a fire going on to the east of me, there was not a single cloud in the sky, but there was a huge smoke "cloud" that made quite a bit of shade from the sun. The fire/smoke plume reminded me of pix I've seen of bomb blasts... pretty weird...

And the San Francisco Peaks, this is the huge landmark that let's ya know you're near Flagstaff - an old volcano remnant... a great ski and hiking area, it's a source of great spirit power to the local Indians.

So, on through Flagstaff, and back on down Oak Creek Canyon, I stopped at the top to remove the jacket for one final short leg home. It was quite cool in the canyon, but sure felt good, knowing that in another 30 miles, I'd be back in the furnace again.



All told, after 1085 miles going, and 1313 miles returning, I put on a total of 2398 for the actual trip. The odometer total at home said 2439 miles (I had a few "mess around" miles on the way, not included in the route).
Gas mileage was acceptable: I figured out 38.95 overall average, with one leg and lots of headwind to be 30.8, and the best leg, coming down from Page, AZ, got me almost 45mpg! I most often rode about 75mph, with a few 85's here and there, and of course a few "way lower" so think I did pretty good!

What to take along? well, it's always fun to learn new things. I had way more stuff than I needed, like the snacks in the little cooler, the sleeping bag, and even the rain gear - although I think you Must have all those things, as well as all the other "what if" stuff, just in case. I also had my maint. manual, as well as a couple other books to read, again, really nice to have, just in case, but never did any reading! I had to use a couple of my bungies, short ones, to close my chaps around the ankles to keep the wind out on those long cold stretches: nice to have extra bungies!
The only problem now is, where to go next! I discovered there's a lot of road in this country, and I CAN'T WAIT TO GET ON IT AGAIN! I know there are lots more adventures to be had! and those adventures are waiting for us all!!!



