Moto Trip 2009

The next few days, actually 4 days of my trip was about visiting family and friends. Chicago: The toll roads gave me a hard time, not fun paying tool on a motorcycle, especially when the toll is $0.60! The routine was something like, stop bike-> take gloves off, fish for change-> pay the bloke-> put gloves on and head off. Traffic was bad, it was Friday evening so that probably added...nice dose of a Bay Area reminder. I stayed with a cousin and Aunt in Chicago. Was nice catching up with them. Detroit: I stayed with an ex-roomate and good friend from the Bay Area who now lives with his family in Detroit. Parts of Detroit are a little depressing, ghost towns/sections, some of them seem really bad. Feel bad for the people who are going through job loss in an industry that is not doing well. Windsor, Canada: Windsor is a small town the other side of the border from Detroit. About 30mins, 2 ways 2 cross over, the bridge and a tunnel. I 1st went the tunnel route only to find when I...

I spent one night in Sioux Falls. Cutting across SD on Hwy 90, was , well uninspiring...but had to be done. Thankfully the freeway isn't all that boring. A ton of bugs, bees and other insects kept me and the windshield busy :) Corn fields line the entire freeway of about 900 miles or more. In some places, I would squeegee the windshield and 30 mins later it would be completely splattered I didn't do much in Sioux Falls, but had to figure out how the city got its name, voila, the falls in Sioux Falls. Kinda nice to have a falls smack dab in the middle of town One of the earliest buildings in the area...a mill that was built on the river/falls to harness the energy of the water drive the machinery. Apparently they shut down within a couple of years of opening :( Why Rochester? A special guest had flown all the way to meet me and cheer me on. For those who don't know him, this is my BIL, Jon, another...

Rough terrain, the story is that the discoverers found it inhospitable and a nightmare to cross and hence the name 'Badlands', apparently the natives had a similar name. Interesting to know that over the years they actually found paths through the area. Lots of hikes, picnic spots (if this type of scenery is your thing), if you have a capable off-road vehicle you can do a few trails too. Some of the hills/mounds have an interesting coloration...mineral induced...this one is a lookout called Yellow lookout or some such thing Badlands is probably the last place that i saw another CA license plate, it wouldn't be until NY/NJ when I would see my next set. About here is when I started getting 'CA, that is a looong way off!' kind of comment from people. I was barely at the half way point :)

In the parking lot at Mt Rushmore, I met a couple on this Honda Goldwing. They were headed from Penn to Seattle, apparently they have everything they need in the trailer. They have about 90,000 miles on the thing and they go every where on it...pretty cool huh? For the kiddies - Dinosaur Park...a small park on the outskirts of Rapid City, SD....all of the models are life size I made it to Sturgis!! I didn't spend much time there, the famous Harley annual rally was 2 weeks before I got there. Amazing how much of what in the town is Harley and bikes related. I just wanted to to visit the Hall of Fame museum...really good collection of motorcycles There are 2 floors of restored and unique motorcycles, apparently they are all donated for display by the owners, so every year a few change.

The roads that lead to Mount Rushmore....more than one way to get there. As Yogi Berra would have said, if you come to the fork in the road, take it. For everyone who has had a good laugh at his malapropisms, you should know that when he made the famous quote, the situation was that he was giving directions to get to get to his home in NJ and what he meant was that both sides of fork in the road actually lead to his house, hence the 'take the fork'. Guess being slightly less articulate has its downside :) 87 is Iron Mountain hwy, all you bikers out there, this is one of the coolest rides that I did on the trip. In the far distance, where the tree lines meet above the road is actually the monument...zoomed in shot below Nice road eh? It is on roads such as this that I missed my R1...hardly any traffic, a little narrow, road surface okay-ish Really nice details.....to give you some idea of size, each eye is about 11 feet across

The other cave in the SD area around Custer. I guess this is the more popular one since it is visually more impressive. Gets its name from the fact that in parts the cave sparkles from the jewel like formations. I believe that the discoverers, like most people who moved West seeking gold were initially disappointed, but then thought that these were precious and they'd struck it big...little did they know at the time. Popcorn anyone? Might not be easy to read but this type is called Nailhead spar...actually does look deceptively precious Off the cave walls...again, my camera couldn't do justice. I'd recommend a visit for sure. Interesting to learn how micro-life forms in caves are an important aspect of medical research. Didn't know that from Carlsbad caves (New Mexico), a group of scientists were able to extract bio-thingies that help with cancer research - guess evolving in super harsh conditions does that.

There are a # of really nice twisties in the SD area around Custer City. Pine Needles Highway, Iron Mountain (the approach to Mt Rushmore). Pretty good quality surface, low traffic...if you go off the road no one will know :) The rides lone are worth 3-4 days...me thinks, me will go back some day to just do the rides :) The place was already getting cold in the middle of September, to give you an idea, early mornings could be in the 40s

After Rocky Mountain, I stayed one night in the small town called Cheyenne, WY...nothing to report from there, except maybe...the lady at the front desk of the hotel that I stayed at had never been north of the hotel. Now, this is interesting only because the town was all of 3 exits! The next morning I headed out towards Custer City in SD. Custer is kind of central to all the attractions in that part of SD (Crazy Horse monument, Mount Rushmore, a couple of caves and a few fabulous ride) I made Custer City my base for the next couple of days since there was plenty to see and rides to be done. 1st stop: Wind Caves...specialty/uniqueness is that it accounts for about 95% of all 'box work' found in the world. I'd been to a few caves before but hadn't seen anything like it. Easier to describe as a honeycomb structure, the photo doesn't do justice to the cave. I love caves :) nice and cool Wildlife outside Wind Caves, warning signs not to approach them since they could ...

So, although I haven't been very good with updating this here blogthingamajig, I have been having a lot of fun. After Aspen and a few places south of there, I headed through Colorado Springs, Denver...didn't stop in either of those places...and on towards Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park. For some reason, Denver seemed 'new', hard to put into word, but the roads, buildings and other things in a typically human infested city seemed cleaner and newer than I am used to in the Bay Area. I stopped for the night in a suburb of Denver called Westmininster. The next morning, I headed towards Rocky, it was a great ride the whole way through. Estes Park at the base of the park is kinda the town before you drive up the Rocky. The ride to the peak of the mountain, is in one, inadequate word, astounding. I hadnt been told by the folks at the visitor center all the little details that came as a pleasant surprise. For one, there are sheer drops on some stretches of the road, also that it...

Apologies, I haven't been very good with the blog, but should catch up tonight. Since my last post, I have been through the Rocky Mountain nat'l park in Colorado, South Dakota (Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Wind Cave, Jewel Cave, Badlands) and am currently in Rochester, MN...why Rochester....will tell you in the next post :)

Colorado: Aspen and Royal Gorge Bridge Of the states that I have crossed so far, Colorado was consistently scenic and really nice. A little after you cross over from Utah to Colorado, the ride becomes nicer. There is a stream running alongside Hwy 70, people rafting...a repeating theme (roadside stream/river and rafting), through much of CO that I got to see. I spent the night in Carbondale, lovely little town, weather was a nice change from the heat in Utah. The photo below is from my hotel room. That was what it was like all the way to Aspen and beyond. Farmers market day in Aspen. Aspen is very beautiful, no wonder the rich and famous like to hang out there. Very nice feel to the place. Everyone seems to be on their a-game when it comes to dress fashion, you could tell that this place provided a sizeable line-item to Abercrombie's, Hollister's or DG's accounting books :) So...I succumbed and took the gondola ride to the top of Aspen. One of the longest that I have been...

Arches National Park: Boy was it hot!! 103-105F. As you can imagine, I made it a quick tour, just couldnt take the heat with all the gear on and having to take it off, put it back on, repeat. Also, it wasnt a scenic ride getting there. Dont get me wrong, it is a nice place...iff (mathematicians take note) the weather is nicer or you are in an airconditioned car :) The one below is called Balanced Rock A sample of the naturally formed arches that give the park its name. There are a few, I got to see 3

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I would need a whole lotta words to describe the ride, but, here is a shot at keeping it short. The loneliest hwy, hwy 50, is truly just that...great stretches of no traffic, very basic scenery, but good in a different kind of way. Great opportunity to let the mind go blank. I have decided that I don't like freeways, the 2-lane country roads that wind their way through varying scenery and small towns is my kinda thing. Asok, if you are reading this we should get up to Tahoe some time, nice roads there. Can't say it was fun after that and until I got to Zion. Zion to Bryce is really nice, a long dark tunnel (no lighting) and the kind of sheer drops and twists and turns that get the excitement quotient up. Bryce to Torrey is amazing! Zion was at 103 F, Bryce around the 80's and on the way to Torrey, I actually saw snow by the side of the road. That was probably the most dramatic swing of weather I had seen in one 6 hour stretch...I guess I got pasteurized along the way :) Tor...

Day 3: Zion and Bryce This is beginning of the 'Narrows', probably the top hike/destination in Zion. You can actually keep hiking through in the water till you get to a place that is really narrow and just has the sheer walls of the rocks on either side..I didnt do it since it would have taken a lot more time. The best way to describe Zion is that it is like being IN the canyon of Grand Canyon. You are always looking up at the canyon walls as opposed looking down into them as in the Grand Canyon. Really nice, worth spending upto a couple of days Bryce!! I think at this point Bryce gets my top spot....very different, canyons will be canyons, but, hoodoos, now that is something