(Updated 05/27/08)

I’ve posted my pictures from the trip on Picasa. I tried to start posting updates on this blog on the first day from Springville, UT, using my Nokia internet tablet, but all my work tapping away on that tiny on-screen keyboard was lost and I was too pissed to try again. Not sure why WordPress didn’t automatically save the draft as it normally does in Firefox. Maybe it’s a javascript thing that is unsupported by the browser on the Nokia. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway…

What follows is a rough, day-by-day recounting of the highs and lows of my trip. It’s probably going to get long. I feel like rambling on. My updated/final maps can be seen on my TBA Wiki.

Day 1. Departure.

It was nice having the weekend to prepare for the trip. I didn’t feel a bit rushed. Thanks to Mother’s Day I didn’t leave until Monday morning. I had planned on grabbing a nice breakfast in Helena before leaving but a check of the weather, especially the Doppler, convinced me to head south immediately. This worked out well since Helena was reportedly pounded with bad weather not long after that.

I pretty much froze to death on the way to Butte. Somehow I managed to not get my Gerbing heated jacket liner plugged in all the way. The weather in Butte seemed mostly clear but cool. I stopped at the Harley dealer looking for Gerbing heated gloves but they didn’t have my size (and their Gerbing gear has Harley logos on it, naturally).

After grabbing an Egg McMuffin I stopped at Bob Wards looking for snowmobile gloves or something. I ended up with glove liners for my heavy gloves that look like they came from Michael Jackson’s glitter glove drawer. But they worked and they were cheap. I decided to gas up in Rocker, just west of Butte. I also wanted to put on my thermal underwear and Frogg Togg bib pants in preparation for Monida Pass. The Monida Pass Cam showed snow on the shoulders with wet surfaces between the lines. It had snowed overnight.

As I came out of the Flying J, looking and feeling like the kid from A Christmas Story or the Michelin Man, take your pick, it was snowing. Hard. A storm cell had moved in quickly from the north and this was just the edge of it. The sky was still light to the south so I scrambled to get my gloves and helmet on and got the F ‘out of Dodge.’

The rest of Montana was uneventful as I approached Monida Pass. To my relief it was clear and dry, despite the light snow flurries at the highest elevations. It was very cold but my jacket liner was humming away, keeping me toasty.

So I was twice chased out of Montana cities by snow. Heck, I was chased out of the state.

Idaho was uneventful, with minor showers here and there that I scoffed at wearing all those layers. I managed to reach my goal for the day, Ogden, UT, by about 5:30pm. With the weather cooperating and the sun still high in the sky, I forged ahead. As I blasted through SLC in the HOV lane at 80-85mph, I made excellent time to Provo, where I figured I would stop for the night. But then I saw it: a Cracker Barrel billboard. The restaurant was in Springville, UT, just a bit south of Provo. Sold! The Days Inn next door sealed the deal for the night. My total miles for Day 1 was about 538, a new single-day personal record (the previous record was around 460-475).

Day 2. Henderson.

Tuesday was fairly uneventful, save for the extremes in temperature, and having a tail wind most of the way. It was 37 degrees in Springville that morning and well over 90 in Mesquite, NV. I ate lunch at a Sonic Drive-In for the first time ever in Cedar City, UT. It’s no In-and-Out Burger, but I was curious because we get their commercials on cable TV in Montana but have no locations. Just shy of Mesquite I was attacked by a treacherous tumbleweed and thankful that I was still wearing my chaps. Thanks to the extra mileage rolled on the previous day, I made it to Vegas around 4pm.

While in Nevada I stayed with my cousin Jenny and her husband Shaun. When I arrived my uncle, my dad, and Mary (my dad’s S.O.) were waiting for me. It was good to see them all again. Unfortunately my uncle had to return to California that evening.

One other item of note. I had been stashing spare change in the outer left pocket of my all-weather Fieldsheer jacket and probably had about $5 worth of coins in that pocket. During my gas stop in Mesquite, NV, I switch from the Fieldsheer to my summer mesh jacket. I generally keep my spare jacket strapped to the dufflebag laying across my back seat. This time, all the change fell out between Mesquite and Henderson. It actually made me chuckle. This time.

Day 3. Old Friends. Newish Family.

Wednesday was pretty low key. I met a Triumph buddy, Mike (EADGBE), for lunch. My dad and I saw Speed Racer (I don’t care what people say, I liked it) at the IMAX theater in the Palms hotel, after which he turned $20 into $150 on the slots. I lost one of his $20s and I broke even on my own. Yes, I’m 41 and my dad still gives me money to play slots. That evening the fam and I went to P.F. Chang’s for dinner. Pretty good stuff. The lettuce wraps were incredible. After dinner I rode up to the Circus Circus to meet my friend Ade from England, face-to-face for the first time. He and his girlfriend Wendy were here for vacation and for the Triumph meet in Arizona.

On a side note: When my cousin Jenny was very young, my parents and I moved to Montana, so she and I really never got to know each other growing up. In fact, last Fall, the day before her wedding to Shaun was the first time I saw her in decades. Of course, the time around the wedding was nuts so it was good that we had this time to hang out. It really is like finding long lost family members.

Day 4. Chores.

Thursday was also low key. I did laundry, fixed my cousin’s computer, and gathered up all my gear for the next leg of my journey on Friday. Lunch brought the requisite Double-Double with grilled onions at In-and-Out Burger. My trip would not have been complete without at least one trip to In-and-Out. ::sigh:: After an excellent Indian curry chicken dinner whipped up by Shaun, I headed up to the Crown and Anchor, an English-pub themed bar to meet Mike, Ade and Wendy for drinks and pub trivia.

Day 5. Stranded in the Desert.

After breakfast with Mike, Ade and Wendy, I was back on the road with Ade and Wendy in tow on their rented Harley Electraglide (“This is shit!” “Is the front wheel connected?” “It just doesn’t stop!”). Mike escorted us as far as Boulder City; he wasn’t attending the meet in Prescott. Crossing over the Hoover Dam, we got a good view of the impressive new bypass, currently under construction.

In all my trip planning and maps, I never would’ve guessed that an entire town would be without power for 6 hours in the middle of the day. Further, I never would’ve guessed that the power would’ve been shut off about an hour before I arrived, desperately in need of gas. But alas, this was the case in Bagdad, AZ. And this was a planned outage. No power = no gas. We made a run for Hillside, AZ, another 18 miles down the road, but it had no services what-so-ever. So I ran out of gas a mere 40 miles from Prescott. Luckily we had cell service (and it wasn’t super hot out) and I was able to call our host Dwight and have him come rescue me. No, I won’t ever hear the end of it.

I wasn’t the only one to have an “incident” that day. Ade managed to leave the gas cap from his Harley at the gas station in Kingman, AZ. But that wasn’t a show stopper for him.

Arriving at Dwight’s house in Prescott, I finally got to put more faces to BonnevilleAmerica.com names: wrwallpi (Bob), FCtush (Mike), Becky (with her boyfriend(?) Ron), Fasteddy (with his family), Satxron (Ron), DanB (the designated young pup, two years my junior) and Salmaglie (Derek, with his wife Linda). They were joined by our hosts Dwight and Judie, along with Bob (Habuba) and Amy (AmyLee), Ade and Wendy (Wenster), and BigBill. In all we had 13 bikes attending. That night Derek and Linda cooked up a feast for all in attendance.

Day 6. The Grand Canyon Ride.

Becky was acting Ride Captain for the day’s festivities. She had quite the route planned out as well as a gallery tour at the Grand Canyon. The ride went smooth but I didn’t have the best day. First, I didn’t get a lot of sleep the previous night. I blame it more on the late night caffeine than I do on my snoring and farting roommates in Dwight’s loft. Second, I’ve never ridden with that large of a group. I don’t like it and I don’t do well. I prefer solo riding or a small group of like-minded and like-experienced riders. And poor Becky had to contend with keeping this group moving and on schedule. She did an admirable job.

I’d never been to the Grand Canyon before and guess what? It’s a big effin’ hole. Surprise, surprise. I didn’t go on the gallery tour, partially because I wanted to hang out with Ade and Wendy (who also skipped the tour) but partially because I was in full-on zombie mode due to my lack of sleep. Said tour ran long and we didn’t get back to Dwight’s until dark.

When we arrived I noticed that my tail light lens was missing. The assembly was intact and functional, just no lens. Retracing events in my mind it was clear that it fell off during the last 60 miles or so of the 300+ mile ride. We ended up covering it with that red lens repair tape available just about everywhere. Now we’re lookin’ white trash, but the tape works until I can get a replacement lens (I’ve already got a line on a used one, but new ones aren’t that expensive).

That night was very subdued for me. I could barely stay awake for the raffle. I should have gone to bed; I didn’t win anything. I felt a little bad for hitting the rack early, but I wasn’t much good company at that point anyway. It was more important to me to try and get a good night’s sleep for the trip home.

Day 7. The Long Road Home

Sunday morning I set off once again with Ade and Wendy. We traveled together as far as Interstate 40, where they turned west for Vegas and I turned east towards Flagstaff, to catch the road north towards Lake Powell. I was pretty gun shy about pushing my range on fuel, so I gassed up every 60-90 miles. I turned to my reserve once, but just as I was pulling into a gas station. By Page, AZ, near Lake Powell, I was roasting in the heat. But I did manage to make it to my goal for the day of Richfield, UT, about 435 miles from Prescott. Nothing else really significant to report this day.

Day 8. Home Already?

I had planned on mimicking my trip home last October: stop overnight in Richfield, UT, and Pocatello, ID. I had a great night sleep in Richfield and was rarin’ to go. I stopped in Salina, UT, for breakfast at Mom’s Cafe. I meant to stop there last year, as I’d seen it recommended online as one of the last great old fashioned diners in the country, but decided against it. It was okay, but not significantly better than what we have around here.

I made good time on this leg. Well that’s an understatement, I made GREAT time. But it was not without stress. First, I was freaking out because the night before I couldn’t find my digital camera in all my gear. I thought back to the spare change incident on Day two and assumed it fell out of the outside pocket of my Fieldsheer jacket while strapped to the back of my bike, just like the coins. Second, a semi-truck had a tire blow out right in front of me. I dodged the big chunks and got pelted with the smaller debris. That was …exciting. Yet another reason to wear a full-face helmet.

Much like the previous Monday, I reached my goal quite early and kept going. I had lunch in Blackfoot, ID, at around 4. Unlike Day One, however, if I didn’t stop for the night in Idaho Falls, there wasn’t suitable accommodations until Dillon, MT. I kept going anyway. Once in Dillon, MT, and with the sun still up but falling rapidly, there was no sense in getting a room a mere 120 miles from home. After Butte it was officially dusk and I had to watch out for creatures on the road. There was plenty of wildlife out and about, and plenty of fresh roadkill, but I had no direct encounters.

So I got home in two days instead of three. My new personal-best single day record is 635 miles. On my California trip my longest day was 437 miles, so this is a major improvement. And while somewhat sore and tired, I really didn’t feel bad. That must’ve been one heck of a night’s sleep at the Best Western in Richfield, UT. It also didn’t hurt that I had an excellent audiobook to listen to, “Shadow Divers.” I wanted to keep going because barely got through half the book.

Epilogue

I can’t say for sure I’ll be going to Prescott again next year. I really enjoyed seeing my family and bonding with my cousin and her husband during the first half of the trip. The Triumph gathering was fun but overall not my thing. Honestly, I’d rather take a solo tour around the southwest and visit all these people, then I could also visit people who couldn’t make the trip.

Random observations:

  • After riding behind Amy’s bike I’ve decided I really want her BUB slash-cut mufflers. What a beautimous, deep sound.
  • It appears I traveled the longest distance on two wheels to the event with San Antonio Ron a very close second. Of course, Ade and Wendy get the overall distance prize, coming from England.
  • I’m really considering ditching the belt drive. No matter how I adjust it, the damn thing squeaks. I’ll probably replace the belt one more time and see if it’s just the current belt. It may have been damaged the last time I had a passenger a couple years ago and we bottomed out the rear suspension, hard. But I’d hate to spend that kind of money and go to that much trouble (replacing a belt is not easy), only to decide it sucks and then have to spend $175-185 on a new chain and sprocket set (and then probably $150 on a Scottoiler). But I’m getting pretty pissed at it.
  • I have GOT to get the new tin done. My blacked out front end looks great but doesn’t go that well with the bright orange paint in my opinion. It’s begging for the new dark green paint scheme.
  • I noticed a few more cracks in my saddlebags. They need to be replaced soon. I will likely purchase a set of leather-wrapped Tsukayu hard bags.
  • With my greatly-extended daily range, my love for long distance touring has been cemented. But it also makes me virtually froth at the mouth for a Rocket III Classic with Corbin seats, saddlebags and fairing. I want more fuel range, more power and more protection. I can see a day when such a bike graces my garage, and the TBA is relegated to a nice little custom bike for showing, commuting, and local poker runs. That’s not a bad thing. Between Blackfoot and Idaho Falls my odometer rolled over 40000.0 miles (I need to download the picture off my phone – of course I stopped to shoot it). I’m starting to look ahead to a time when I don’t want to rack up 6000 miles a year average on the TBA.
  • I can envision attempting an Iron Butt ride in the next couple years. I know some of the Beemer guys organize them occasionally around here. I think they do a lap of Montana in 24 hours.
  • I found my digital camera in the inside chest pocket of my Fieldsheer after I got home. No such luck with the tail light lens.
  • Added 5/27/08: I think if I go in the future, I’m just going to go through Las Vegas both ways, even if I don’t stop in Vegas on the way back (turns out I only saved about 60 miles going through Page, AZ, and Kanab, UT). That’s only if I’m “riding the destination” or in a hurry, not “riding the ride” like I did on my way down to southern California last year. Of course, south and central Utah is much more scenic than just about anywhere in Nevada, but I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it this time. It’s kinda sad but circumstances are turning me into one of those super-slab-loving Harley and Goldwing dorks that I loathe so much, if only part time. That won’t be the case in British Columbia in July, however.