Day Eleven

It was cold last night! I’m not sure how cold – but our sleeping bags are rated 40 degrees and that wasn’t enough. We broke camp early. This is a picture of our camp site in Tuolumne Meadows Campground:



Breakfast was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We retraced our previous journey down Tioga Road to the West side of Yosemite. Graham took this picture of me all bundled up on the trip down.



We wound our way to the Bay Area passing just north of Modesto. The riding was varied as we passed out of the Sierra Nevada Mountains into the hot, dry valley then back into the cool temps of the Bay Area. As we approached the Bay Area the traffic was terrible – construction delays and I suppose typical big city traffic. I decided to go straight to one of the spots that I wanted to visit – Alice’s Restaurant near Woodside, CA. You might remember the 1969 song titled “Alice’s Restaurant” by Arlo Guthrie. It was actually a song about an “incident” in Stockbridge, MA. There is no real tie to the song except there was an Alice that did buy this store/restaurant and she adopted some of the lyrics from the song as her theme – “you can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant – except Alice”. It is a popular biker, hiker and local hangout. Graham and I had lunch – he had a Harley Burger and I had a metric bike burger of some kind – only because I wanted the mushrooms, onions and Swiss cheese. This is a picture of Alice’s Restaurant.



After two nights camping and no shower, we decided that a motel was in order. We drove to nearby Redwood City and found a Days Inn. I took a long cold shower, caught up on my postings, charged my phone, made phone calls and will do laundry later. Tomorrow will be in and around San Francisco then we will head up the coast. Total miles traveled to date: 3,148.

This was our day for Yosemite National Park. We decided to break camp early and try to get a campsite inside the Park. While I fixed breakfast (scrambled eggs and sausage links) Graham slept in. Our camp (the picture below from the pass road) was 15 miles from the Park.



It was cool during the night – no thermometer but it had to be in the low 40’s. We decided on Tuolumne Meadows Campground, just 10 miles inside the East entrance. In retrospect, we should have gone further down Tioga Road and been closer to Yosemite Valley. The reservation station opened at 8:00 a.m. and we were there by 8:05 and there was a long line – an indication of things to come – crowds. This is the peak tourist season. We set camp and unhitched the trailer – the first time I have been able to ride my motorcycle without the trailer.

I hadn’t realized how big Yosemite was. We decided to make the trek to Glacier Point, a must see according everything we read and people we talked to. We’re glad we did it, but construction delays, a managed lightening strike forest fire and heavy traffic made this 75 mile, 2.5 hour trip a very long ride. We stopped and took several pictures along the way. The following is a picture of Yosemite Valley.



At Glacier Point a nice European family took this picture of Graham and me.



Other pictures at Glacier Point:









By this time we were tired of the traffic and delays and decided to forgo the heart of Yosemite Valley. All told we traveled 160 miles inside the Park.

The last two nights we have been in bear country, which means protected food storage. In Yosemite it is 24 hour food and toiletry storage in a container like this one in our campsite. We haven’t seen any signs of bears – and don’t want to!





Dinner tonight was simple – out of the can or box – ravioli, macaroni, green beans, peaches. We packed up everything we could so that we could get an early morning start.

Day Nine

We stayed up to watch the All Star Game last night, too bad the N.L. lost. The nice thing about being on Pacific Coast Time is that the game ended long before we went to bed. So now we are 3 hours different than you folks back home. My appointment at Carson City Harley Davidson was at 9 a.m. We rode 65 miles and I prayed several times that the tire would hold out until we got there. Prayers were answered and it did. In less than 2 hours we were back on the road. Carson City H.D. is a big new store. Graham slobbered all over a Street Glide they had on the floor. We decided to eat an early lunch and picked a unique restaurant in Carson City named Red’s Old 395 Grill. If you’re ever in Carson City stop and eat there, the food is good and the atmosphere is tremendous – lots of antiques throughout including a steam engine in the middle of the place. They have 101 beers with 50 on tap. They even have a separate beer menu. If it wasn’t noon, we weren’t on motorcycles and we weren’t 200 miles away from our destination – I probably would have sampled a couple like Moose Drool Brown Ale or Rogue Dead Guy Ale.

The ride on U.S. 50 from Carson City to South Lake Tahoe was four lane with lots of sweeping curves – a great motorcycle road. I have seen pictures of Lake Tahoe but they don’t compare to seeing it in person. The water is bright blue with mixtures of green. We stopped for a few minutes at one of the beaches, but other that that we passed right on through – too much tourism, shops and casinos.

We entered California at noon in downtown South Tahoe and left U.S. 50 just west of there to head south to Yosemite. We rode over Ebbetts Pass, elevation 8730 and Monitor Pass and took Hwy 395 to Lee Vining, CA. Ebbetts Pass was the most challenging pass we have ridden so far – sharp turns, great vistas, and very little traffic.

Graham took this picture of me at the top of Monitor Pass



Lee Vining is a few miles from the East entrance to Yosemite. Just outside of Lee Vining, we stopped at the National Park Service Info. Station to inquire about camping sites. We were strongly encouraged not to go into the park for camping since it was late afternoon and everything would be full. We were lucky to find a nearby National Forest Service Campground along the Tioga Road between Lee Vining and the East entrance. The dinner menu was steak on the open fire, baked beans and potato salad – quite a feast. We spent some time by the campfire and retired early. Tomorrow will be a big day – we’ll try to get as much of Yosemite in as possible, should be lots of pictures.

Day Eight

Day 8 began early. We woke up to very cool and windy morning, temps in the high 40’s. We put on our chaps and heavy coats for the first time. We rode a couple of miles down the road to Bicknell (Utah) for gas. Our route headed north to catch U.S 50 just north of Aurora, UT.




We left U.S. 50 in Colorado on Sunday to ride in the canyons of Utah. Now we are back on this highway and will stay on it until we swing down to Yosemite N.P.

U.S. 50 through Nevada is known as “The Loneliest Road in America”, but 50 through West Utah was lonelier. At one time we rode 25 miles before we saw another vehicle. Initially our plans were to ride to Eureka, NV and spend the night, but with 70 mph speed limits and nothing but open road ahead, we decided to keep going.

Here are a couple of pictures of Graham cruising down 50 in central Nevada at 70+ mph.





U.S. 50 through Nevada has nine mountain summits and passes through canyons and vast stretches of desert basins including sand dunes, salt flats and one of the world’s largest copper pits near Ely. It travels much the same general route as the early Pony Express Riders that rode to Sacramento, CA.


We needed to keep track of our gas and distances to major towns because there were stretches of 120 miles to the next gas station. We finished the day riding 565 miles, arriving at Fallon, NV at 5:15 p.m. I had decided long ago that we would be spending the night in a hotel so that we could watch the MLB All Star Game. Dinner was Arby’s.

In Eureka, NV, I checked the tire pressures on both bikes and found that my rear tire was wearing unusually fast. I had them checked before we left and was assured that it might have to be replaced before we got home but never thought it would wear so fast. I made a call to Carson City Harley Davidson (nearest H.D. dealer) and made an appointment for Wed. morning. We’ll be there when they open up and should be on the road again before noon.

We’re not sure what the next few days hold. We will spend some time in Lake Tahoe area and head to Yosemite N.P. We don’t have reservations, but hope that we can get a campsite. Not sure when the next posting will be – stay tuned. Ride safe and so will we.

Day Seven

Even though it was very hot when we went to bed, it did cool down enough for us to get a “decent” night’s sleep. Breakfast was scrambled eggs, sausages and apple juice. The mosquitoes were unbearable. As we were breaking camp, a young man, named Eden, from a few campsites away came over to visit and admire our motorcycles. He is from Australia and is taking a year to travel the U.S. We had a nice visit and I gave him our Blog site. He is doing something very similar and promised to send me his site – hope he does.

We had everything packed by 7:15 a.m. and decided to ride the La Sal Loop. All the reading and research I did about the Moab area suggested this was a must ride – and they were right. It was a 60 mile ride that took almost 2 hours. This is a picture of Graham overlooking Castle Valley.



Next, was Arches National Park. Although we didn’t stay long, we took in enough from a ride through the Park and a long, hot hike to Delicate Arch (both pictures below)







We had intended to make more stops in Arches NP and make stops in Canyonlands NP, but quite honestly we had seen enough canyons, rocks, gorges for awhile and decided to head south then west to get into central Utah. Our ride took us by Canyonlands, through White Canyon, across the northern portion of Glen Canyon Res. and through Capital Reef N.P. Although we only covered 360 miles, it was a hard day. Graham said it was the most difficult day of riding yet – I tend to agree. We made the decision early in the day to get a motel room for the night – it was a good choice. We stopped for the night just west of Capital Reef. Graham headed straight for the pool to cool off, while I spent a l o n g time in the cool shower. We had dinner at the motel, did some laundry, updated the Blog and watched the All Star Home Run Derby on TV.

Day Six

Pat fixed us a great send off breakfast and we reluctantly departed the cabin around 9 a.m. We posed as Pat took this picture as we left.



We stopped in Gunnison for groceries and ice (a daily necessity) and found out the grocery's deli had wireless service. While Graham packed the cooler and trailer with our groceries, I was able to download the postings for the past 3 days.

The entire day we had fantastic riding. It began by riding along the Blue Mesa and then on the North Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison to the towns of Crawford and Hotchkiss. This route was a little out of our way but the scenery was spectacular! We continued on through Delta and down to Montrose where we stopped in to visit J.D. and Rosie Herman, good friends of Brooks. I became acquainted with J.D. and Rosie many years ago. They owned and operated the Boat House in Taylor Park. We could have stayed and talked for hours but we still had 4 hours of riding to get to Moab, UT. We continued south out of Montrose to Ridgeway and over Dallas Divide, to Naturita and through the La Sal Mountains into Utah. We arrived in Moab at 6:00 p.m. after covering 350 miles and immediately drove to a camp site on the Colorado River. This is our first night camping and it was a unique experience. It was HOT when we arrived and sat up tent. The campsite is in a beautiful canyon with the Colorado River just a few feet from our campsite - but no running water or electricity. We were roughing it on this night – primitive camping.

Dinner on the Grill



We took a splash bath, fixed supper on the grill and went to bed early because the tent was the only safe haven from the mosquitoes. For dinner we had grilled brook trout that we brought from Taylor Park, a can of pork and beans and canned fruit, an excellent meal. There wasn't cell phone coverage in the canyon, so we rode into town and made calls and packed the cooler with ice. This should be an interesting night for sleeping.

Day Three, Four and Five

Sorry about the delay in posting. Wireless service was not available until Sunday.

Day three was another long day in the saddle. It began with a 6:30 a.m. start. We knew we were in for another hot day of riding because the weather report was for 90’s with a south wind. Our ride took us through Garden City, Kansas, La Junta, Co., Pueblo, Canon City, Salida, Gunnison and to our destination at Taylor Park.

Leaving Dodge City reminded me of an incident that occurred 32 years ago. Brother, Jay and his friend Brian Meeks (just graduated from high school) and I (just graduated from Purdue) were returning from a western state vacation driving our brother, Sam’s brand new Grand Torino Elite when we had a flat tire sometime after midnight between Garden City and Dodge City. Fortunately we had a spare. Unfortunately we only drove a few miles before we had another blowout. A long story made short – I hitch hiked into Dodge City and found someone to open up the tire store and sell me two new tires and drive me back to the car. The story also involved two underage passengers with a trunk load of Coors beer and a State Trooper that stopped to check on the disabled vehicle. Thankfully, we were allowed to continue without further incident. Now you know why I would remember this stretch of highway.

We made a stop in Pueblo to visit a classmate and friend of our next door neighbor, Sonny Myers. Last week while I was working on the bikes preparing for our trip, Sonny stopped by to visit. When he learned of our route, he mentioned that Calvin Johnson and his wife, Janie lived in Pueblo and that we ought to drop in and say hello. Sonny gave me his address and I immediately plugged it into my GPS. As we passed through Pueblo we were in need of a break so unannounced we dropped in on the Johnson’s. We had a very enjoyable visit and they were very gracious to take into their home a couple of rough looking bikers.

Pueblo is at the eastern slope of the Rockies, so the next 4 ½ hours of riding were a welcome change of pace – we even stopped and put on our jackets for the ride over Monarch Pass. We stopped and took this picture for folks back home at Maysville Enterprises.



Maysville, CO. is about the same size as Maysville, IN except no GPC and no Maysville Enterprises (that we could find).

The ride up the river canyon from Almont to Taylor Park is special on a motorcycle. The weather was perfect and there was practically no traffic. We arrived at Cousin, Brooks’ cabin at 5:15 Mountain time and were greeted by Brooks, Pat Miller and their friends Tony and Phillip DeLarosa. Brooks had over 200 people at his cabin the night before for his annual Taylor Park Hog Roast. Tony and Phillip were the only leftovers from the night before. Pat (Brooks’ significant other} will be here the length of our stay. Pat is a special person and we always enjoy her company.

After unpacking, getting the dirt and grime off, fed and watered – I have to admit that I was spent. Not sure what the rest of the clan did, but I went to bed. No riding for awhile as we enjoy the Rockies, some fishing and helping Brooks on projects around the cabin. All in all, a safe, long and tiring day. More on Taylor Park and the cabin in the next posting.




Day four was a relaxing day in Taylor Park. The weather was perfect for this time of the year. Today the low was 35 degrees and the high was in the upper 70’s. The cabin is at 9500 ft. elevation, so these temps are normal for the short summer months. Several of you that are following this blog are familiar with Taylor Park and as Brooks calls it – “The Shack”. Our family has been vacationing here since the mid 70’s. Brooks is always so generous and welcoming. Literally hundreds of family and friends from the Freelandville/Knox County, IN area have visited the cabin and have been treated to Brooks’ hospitality. He is a special person - and not just because he is a cousin – I can honestly say he is the most fun, caring and giving person I know. This is a picture of Brooks, Pat, Graham and I in front of the cabin, and the view looking out the picture windows.






Brooks and I spent most of the day running errands and working on projects so he can resume building his rock wall in front of the cabin. This has been a multi-year project that by the time it is finished will rival the work of the Egyptian pyramids. Later in the day I went fishing for brook trout in the beaver ponds above Tincup but equipment malfunction and a sudden thunder storm kept me from catching dinner. Graham lounged around most of the day and caught up on his rest. No riding today.




Day five began with the weekly, Saturday morning cleaning of the cabin. It doesn’t take too long if everyone pitches in. This was a fishing morning for me. The pressure was on because we were planning a fish fry for the evening meal. I fished one of my favorite spots that have several beaver ponds (Kenny Roberts, Brother Jay, Craig King, Justin Singleton and probably many others know exactly where I’m talking about. The Brook trout made me work hard but within 2 hours I had my limit. This picture is for my good friend and fishing buddy back home – Kenny Roberts – SON!!!!



Graham decided to ride his bike to Crested Butte to spend most of the day. Crested Butte was an old mining town that has turned into a very nice ski resort in the winter and in the summer is a tourist town full of a lot of ski bums and mountain bike riders trying to make ends meet until winter rolls around. Graham says it is one of his favorite towns to visit. When Graham returned we cleaned the bikes and trailer and prepped them for tomorrow’s departure. Dinner was a feast – creek fried taters, trout on the grill, cornbread and watermelon. The fish always taste better when you catch them.

Brooks helped me map out an alternate more scenic route to Moab, Utah. He was also helpful in suggesting a camping spot just outside Moab. Our ride tomorrow will be 7 hours and will cover approximately 324 miles through some of the most scenic country that Colorado has to offer. So far we have ridden 1250 miles (1/6 of the trip completed).
It has been a great two days at Taylor Park. Thanks, Brooks and Pat for making our stay so enjoyable. No doubt it will be one of the highlights of the trip.