2012 bike trip

August 8th 2012 The ride started out pretty good and cool.
By about 1030 it was in the triple digits in Texas.
I didn't stop except for fuel and 3 shady spots I found in almost 350 miles
above is shady spot number 1 at Newton,Texas.

.Shady spot number two,under a rail bridge.

The last shade before I got to Marlin,Tx...nice roadside park.

I pretty much stripped the bike,those are housing projects behind me....hope I still have wheels in the morning.

The railroad is everywhere...this is my motel neighbor.

334 miles for the first day.

That's my route in yellow.

August 9th 2012
I slept well and was ready to head out!
It was about 83 and low humidity.

 I stopped a good bit before 1130 and got some pics of the area.

The afternoon started getting hot,then it really got hot,and if that wasn't bad enough,it got really unbearable!

Shade is very hard to come by in west Texas and it's not often a cloud comes by to give you a break
But the 2 times I got a cloud,the temps dropped almost 5 degrees,and very welcome they were!

I pulled over under some shade here and a nice Texan stopped to make sure I didn't need anything.
I told him I was just borrowing some rare shade for a smoke and water break.
I watched him stop twice and pick up trash off the road way.....he must have "adopted a mile"

This was that that rare shade!

I was getting desperate and this is all there was!
A blast furnace would have been a cooling moment.

I'm starting to realize that this is just as not needed as a clock on a real bike ride,
but when I finally get to cooler west....I will use it in a few more pics!

GPS stats for day 2 not even 300 miles,but I survived the west Texas oven one more day.

Friday August 10.2012
I slept well and was able to leave out a little earlier than usual.
It was 78 degrees,which is like having AC on the bike and that lasted a couple of hours.
89 for most of mid morning till about 2pm,then it got up to 99 or so.
Much better today than yesterday!

I made a stop or two while it was cool.

 Sometimes the pics load out of sequence!

 My broken Tachometer bouncing around......Gonna be a long ride without it working.

It looked promising up ahead.

 To my east too!

 Road side history marker.

 Plateau

 

In super zoom

 Nice rest area near Clovis,NM

 Right along a BNSF ROW.

 Nothing here but farm country.

I'll live with that,I parked before I got heat wasted today.
I'm in Santa Rosa,NM

Today's tracks in Yellow.
BTW you can click any pic for a larger pic then hit the X to return.

Saturday August 11.2012 
78 degrees to start the ride today.

 It  started kinda flat.

 Then got better!

 Then flat again!

Nice plateau,to bad they messed up the view with windmills but that is the coming thing,
I'll get used to it.

81 at 10 am at 5300 feet.

 US84 to Las Vegas....Vegas,NM!lol

 Dirtbike trail!

 US 84 dead ended at I25 to my disappointment. So I slabbed north at 80 mph for what seemed like forever.
I took a chance and took county 161 west. 22 miles of just me in the wild on a very twisty narrow road.

 Misfire!

 It ended in Taos,NM
From there,I saved the camera and rode into Alamosa,CO,rode through a light shower and it felt great!
Rain storms were everywhere so I got a room in my least favorite city in the world,Alamosa,Co.

282.4 miles of very nice riding,I;ll take it!

Tracks for today.
Happy hour time.


Sunday August 12,2012 

It was 44 degrees when I woke up this morning!

And 68 when I rode out,a nice surprise except my gloves are at the house!

Just a few shots of the area I was riding through.

 Strange tree at a rest area.

 And a pretty one at the same place.
The traffic in Colorado on a weekend is worse than an Interstate,everyone is going somewhere
and in too much of a hurry for me.

I hope the pics show the beauty that I saw as I was sightseeing.

 Great spot for a home,hanging off the side of a mountain.

AND,he was a proud American!

 I had to pull over often to let the mad tailgaters go by,apparently I should have been doing 20 up from posted speed limit.

 Some mountain showers,tho I stayed dry.

I mad a bad choice and took US160 west through the high desert to Four Corners,
The UTE's have madea tourist trap of a national monument,I U turned at the pay booth.

All high Desert shots and back to 3 digit temps.

And todays bad choice of direction

Tomorrow it's back on track to north and west!

Monday August 13.2012

It started raining this morning after I packed up,so I waited it out and rode out at 930am.

78 degrees to start.

 US491 from Co to Utah.

 I came across this!

 See that little hole at the bottom?

Extreme Zoom shows it maybe a mine or maybe a natural cave?
If I coulda,I woulda!lol

 Really different looking around here!

Down into Moab on US191.

I'll let those shots speak for themselves,I don't have the words,just really glad I chanced on that route!
A storm was brewing and I got a room early in Wellington,Ut.
Just in time,the sky opened up and my bike got a needed washing.

Tuesday August 14.2012
It was a great ride with mild temps 68 to start and about 93 at the end.
I am at a real dive of a motel in Kemmerer,Wyoming,the birth place of J.C.Penny dept stores.
No AC  and the smoking room has no ashtray!!
Anywho,I'm beat so I'll post the pics and maybe add text in the morning,enjoy.

US 191 north of Wellington is very curvy and goes through 2 passes,one is 10000'.

Real pretty grave yard.

They even had a map,so you could find your loved ones.

Not sure how far Ouray was,but I was tempted!

Flaming Gorge Res. it was very low due to a mild winter here.

Back in Wyoming again!

 Deja Vu,I was here last year...looks like thhey are improving on it,I will have to compare shots to be sure.

From last year,notice the date!

Wednesday August 15.2012
It was a cool 55 degrees when I rode out(with no gloves)
8 days on the road and I aint gonna make it home tonight! (an old CW song)

 My motel neighbor.....the first time I saw an Umph Tiger out of a showroom!
It was I believe a Swedish couple,we tried to have a few conversations,between their accent and my cajun accent,we didn't get very far!
(never thought to get a pic of them,sorry Mary!)

My pretty ole cheap gal still looking sharp amongst the high class.

 The "Dive" looks good on the outside!

 Great idea,but west of this,it was non existent!

The last of Wyoming west.

 Idaho SW...I like this state! Great roads and great scenery if you stay north.

 At the border,  Wyoming is a proud state.

I found this great Oregon trail memorial,
I met a guy on a Harley,he spoke a little,but I know he felt threatened by my little Jap bike.
The BMW ass on the Dakar stopped,read and hauled ass,didn't even wave!! F'em!

 The rest was all boring Interstate highway,so no pics of that.

 That hour and 50 stopped was trying to warm my hands!

My goal is the 101/Pacific coast Highway,I want to go south just far enough to see the giant Redwoods
Till tomorrow...ride safe.

Thursday August 16.2012

I had a great ride on 2 lane  backroads thanks to Garmin's 24K Topo maps.

Lots of farm land around here.

Now it's getting better!

 Stopped for a smoke and I had company.

 I think she lost her Mom.

I'm not sure what she was,when she ran off it was like she was skipping instead of running on 4 legs.
Does anyone know for sure?

Waterfall into the Snake river.

Pond behind a rest area.

Very well groomed!

Oregon! They didn't have a welcome sign on US 20.

 An abandoned Rail Bridge over the Snake River,near the Oregon border.
I saw 3 metal bridges and 2 wooden trestles they left behind when they took up the rails.

 I was real low on fuel and I was worrying,GPS said fuel was way out of my range!
Then an unexpected sign says "fuel available" WHEW!

,
Another nice rest area much needed in this 100 degree day,

Friday, August17.2012

Well,Oregon is not what I expected! It's got mountains in the east but southwest,where I am now,
Is Piney woods,just like north Louisiana!
I didn't take too many pics today,no shoulders and straight boring road.

 Cool old west style barn.

 Farms in the valleys.

 A few hills on the top of the high desert.

 80 at about 11 am central time.

 I believe I had 40400 when I left?

 A trick I learned from my buddy Steve.

 This was an ancient river gorge,long gone!

 Here is the story of the ancient river.

 Here is the Piney woods SE of Bend,Oregon on US97.

 A humungus lake as I am getting into Klamath Falls,Or.

South of Bend,the temps dropped 10 degrees,from 98 to 88.

Saturday, August 18.2011,Day 11
I had a great ride today,California roads  must have been built by fellow riders.!
Mapsource 24K West found me a great route,

 Yep,that's snow on Mount Shasta.

 Ponderosa pines.

 One of the curveyist road I have ever been on!

A fellow rider.

Gazelle Calahan Rd.!

 That's the closet to the  edge I have ever been,I was really leaning the ole girl over!
LOKi would have ground off both pegs on these roads!

The lake CA3 was following.

 My treat after riding nothing but curver for a few hours.....blackberries!!

 A very small stream naturally fed these berries and the shade helped,because blackberries in mid August?
Not in Louisiana!

That East turn to Redding was a hot mistake...106 degrees!


Sunday August 19.2012
Hwy 299 is one of the twistiest roads you will ever be on and NARROW,you are close to rubbing a mirror on the mountain or another oncoming car!

 It follows the Trinity river to  the coast.

 I was surprised at how rugged these mountains were!

 That's the Trinity River.

 Rapids anyone?

 Big bike...HUGE Mountain.

 Rugged terrain.

 Giant Redwoods,some were cut down before they were protected.

 The Pacific Coast Highway is Not what I expected at all! In Louisiana the coast highway is straight and level as it follows the shore line.
Here it goes through extreme altitude changes and from fog to sunshine and from 52 to 72 degrees!!!
and I didn't think I would need my insulated cold suit(it's at home along with my gloves)

 Fog

 Looking back from where I came from.

Mountains in the water!WTH?

 Curves on the 101(PCH)

Way different than the Gulf Of Mexico/Louisiana coast.
So here I am still trying to warm up in my motel room!
99 bucks for a NON dive room and clothes washing facilities in house.(I'm over due)

Not many miles,but twisties slow you down.

Monday,August 20.2012...day 13 of this trip.

With my cold weather gear at the Maison....I was shivering on the PCH this morning,it was 55 degrees for way too many hours!
At Coos Bay,I veered east to get warmed up some,it worked and I am now in Eugene,Or.

 The California portion of the PCH skirts the ocean.

 The Oregon portion is just uphill a little.

 But they have a few spots at the ocean.

 I got off the PCH in favor of a faster/warmer route

 It was a good choice,2 lane roads with much less traffic...just my kind of road.

 Oregon's version of moss on the trees

 Close ups to show my Louisiana guys,just how different it is from our moss.

 I found a sunshine spot here and had a snack of fruit.

 The rest was all I 5 north so no pics.

7 hours and only 265 miles! The PCH is slow and repairs cause many delays.

I hope to do some Washington roads if I can get around the fires?
 Tuesday,August 21.2012,day 14 of this ride.
I had a route planned to catch the North east part of Washington,but FN Oregon messed that up.
You see,I am a smoker,and it seems that Oregon has declared war on me,and it's funded with my tobacco tax.WTF?!
I rode 60+  miles to the next town for a FN room I could smoke in,now I'm in a really strange dive and still no smoking.
The only good part of this long day was the mountains and their passes,I was pissed off and taking those 35mph curves at 60+ and loving it.
I still have never scrapped a footpeg,but that must be a rush!
Now for the few pics I took:

Haze from all the wildfires out here.

Strange to me plant growing in gravel.

Tomorrows plan is to get the F out of Oregon at all costs.

Wednesday August 22.2012 
I spent most of the day in Hells Canyon,ID,the first part was at 20MPH for hours....I lost alot of time/miles there,but it was worth it!
I pulled off every chance I had to take photos,but the places to pull off safely were few and far between.

This is that 20MPH section:

Four deer or elk crossed here into the green brush,wish the camera would have been ready!

 I pulled off here to eat a snack of biscuits from the motel breakfast and a peach I bought from a roadside vendor a few miles back.

No records broken here!

I avoided the wildfires so far.

Thursday August 23.2012
 
The only way out of town was the Lolo Pass road,US12 East,

I had passed up this road on last years adventure.
The scenery is beautiful here,but the road is very mild compared to many other more challenging routes I have been on.

 Look at them there Deers!

The sign said wildlife crossing and I slowed down,because they were right!
It was hot and they were thirsty!

Day 17,August 24.2012

Had a great ride today,I got out earlier than lately!
I fought some fierce winds into Yellowstone NP,I almost lost the bike at two different stop signs,the wind was that fierce!

 From a wildfire a year or so ago.

The river was bone dry as were most all creeks and rivers up this way,,,a mild winter.

From Chief Joseph Highway.

 Mountains and Big Sky!

 After 45k she has proven to be worthy of touring the states.

More engine than frame!

Day 18,August 25.2012
Nice day today,it was about 65 on the rideout and was barely 85 when I stopped for the day.

 I must have a knack for picking a direction(most of the time)

 This is pretty chilly on a bike.

Adding up!

 From a rest area Near Wind River on US20

 Caves/erosion along Wind River

I asked if he was catching anything.....no reply,guess the water rushing drowned me out!

 Notice the road.....I am above and in anothher curve.The name Wind  River fits this place to a T!

A railroad I would love to ride on the opposite of the river.
The RR had 4 tunnels but the road only had 3,I wanted photos,but there was no place to park there.

 After the WR corridor,there was nothing but high desert.
I saw numerous deer elk and they just fed on the side of the road,like they were tame or something!
Damn camera was tucked away.

 I stopped at this free park to use a tree,till I noticed the kids playing on the "Rock in the Glen"

I was in pain all day due to my  Gout acting up in my left elbow.

That is quite an "egg"
I have my Indocine along,but it makes me dizzy......not a great combo on a bike!

Sunday August.26.2012

 Nebraska state line on US 20

 Abandoned Railroad i followed with my eye all day.

 Yep Neb. has mountains too!

 And plenty of flat grazing land too.

But I had the RR to keep me awake!

Too much talking and not enough riding,every time I stopped for fuel or at scenic pulloff,people just wanted to chat me up!

Monday August.27.2012 ,Day 20

I didn't take a lot of pics today,it was pretty hot in the afternoon,so I rode on.

 I still can't get over that Abandoned RR walking trail......you can walk all across Neb. and into Wyoming!

 The first and as far as I'm concerned,the ONLY rest area in Nebraska.

 Not a very spectacular tree either.

This Oak was almost bigger than my bike.

A paper map would have prevented those wasted miles after I missed a turn,and tried to get back on track

Tuesday,August28.2012,day 21

Today's ride was in some really strange winds,it would push me left,then right,then head on,then it would come up behind and push me! 
There weren't many places to pull over safely  for pics .

 South Eastern Neb. is rolling farm land.

 A nice homestead, I thought.

 Kansas is farm land too,but more rolling.

 This wind mill was really spinning in this wind!

I'm waiting to see what Issac is gonna do to decide on my route back home.


Wednesday,August 29.2012
I got out of Neb and moved south to wait out the rain band reports.
I got a couple of pics on the way,but with no shoulders and not a level pull off anywhere,I think I did ok.

 This was an old road bridge that caught my eye,so I turned around,

 1923!

 The newer replacement bridge....not as pretty!

Dam above the old bridge.
I  am 2 days from home,depending on the storm and how wide I need to skirt the rain bands.

Total time is wrong,I forgot turn it off hen I got a room.

I enjoyed the ride....but home sounds pretty good after all this time!

Day 23 August.30.2012
No pics today just riding to try to beat the weather bands from Issac.
I missed a few showers that were just ahead of me,there was a big wind from my east,not sure if it was normal or Issac.

Day 24 August.30.2012
Home coming ride!
I rode on alot of wet roads but didn't get wet until Leblanc,La.,I was hot so I didn't worry about the rain gear!
After I dried off,I caught another shower between Eunice and home.
The storm brought in those stinky,nasty love bugs,so I did my part in killing a few million.

GPS total  miles was 6,863,more than 1000 more than last years trip!
I'll add some more details as the fuel and motel and food bills get here to give you a better idea of what it takes for a ride this long

  I totaled my fuel tickets for this ride,I averaged 52.490 MPG<here are the details :
 53.297 Huntington,Tx  3.599 gal
46.432     Hamilton,Tx  3.659 gal
54.174       Abilene,Tx  3.459 gal
51.847        Snyder,Tx  3.459 gal
56.266     Littlefield,Tx  3.349 gal
60.638 Ft Sumner,NM  3.599 gal
53.012 Las Vegas,NM  3.489 gal
54.081    Ranchos,NM  3.499 gal
48.617      Alamosa,Co  3.599 gal
63.195      Durango,Co  3.569 gal
53.800         Cortez,Co  3.539 gal
58.898    Cres Junc,Co  4.599 gal
49.349          Helper,UT  3.559 gal
59.237     Roosevelt,UT  3.599 gal
59.507          Manila,UT  3.489 gal
41.772    Kemmerer,Wy  3.639 gal
63.407 Lava Hot Spr,ID  3.579 gal
52.093      Twin Falls,ID  3.599 gal
54.395    Grand View,ID  3.659 gal
57.022              ????,Or  3.959 gal
56.697 Klamath Falls,Or  3.999 gal
51.873             Weed,Ca  4.159 gal
58.864    Weaverville,Ca  4.229 gal
57.262         Redding,Ca  4.139 gal
55.758    Mckinlyville,Ca  4.399 gal
49.097            Harbor,Or  4.099 gal
55.355           Coquille,Or 3.959 gal
56.573 Cottage Grove,Or  4.199 gal
49.592              Sisters,Or 4.099 gal
61.266 Mount Vernon,Or  4.049 gal
50.220               Baker,Id  3.729 gal
53.936      Grangeville,Id  3.749 gal
45.629               ????,Id   3.839 gal
56.891                Lolo,Mt  3.579 gal
58.846            Helena,Mt  3.499 gal
54.347       Livingston,Mt  3.549 gal
51.834           Gardine,Mt  3.799 gal
60.460              Cody,Wy  3.599 gal       
47.761       Shoshoni,Wy  3.699 gal
55.290          Casper,Wy  3.399 gal
58.560         Chadron,Ne  3.719 gal
51.889        Valentine,Ne  3.849 gal
48.923             Oneal,Ne  3.759 gal
51.279   S.Sioux City,Ne  3.779 gal
51.115           Wahoo,Ne  3.749 gal
46.197        Marysville,Ks 3.699 gal
45.270                Alma,Ks 3.699 gal
51.680            Severy,Ks  3.799 gal
51.231           Konawa,Ok 3.709 gal
50.545          Palestine,Tx 3.749 gal
52.861              Jasper,Tx 3.699 gal

A few are missing and another few had no miles written on them?!







Motels were about 55-60 average and I came home with the majority of my cash reserve still intact.