July 2007

The plan was for a quick trip out to Utah and back. Sometimes road trips happen that way. You make up your mind just days before and once you commit it's all or nothing.
I was going to be alone on this road trip so I tried to take a different route than I've taken before.

This trip I decided I was going to take Hwy 50, "the loneliest highway in the world" all the way to Utah. I have not taken Hwy 50 on a bike yet.

Leave the house at 7am, gas up and hit Hwy 50, which is only 2 miles from my front door. I am terrible at getting the start photo. I'm usually 20 miles from the house before I think of it.

(Click on any picture to enlarge it.)

This morning I heading due east as the sun is rising. Not good for taking photos.

Here is another. I am finding it hard to see the road.

Sometime you can get interesting shots with the sun in your eyes.

For those of you that went to the rally at Kyburst, CA should remember this place.

I fly up Hwy 50 and before you know it I start coming down on to Lake Tahoe. (I'm sneaking through on the back roads.)

Tunnel alert!
Honk the horn, flash the lights and remove sunglasses.




I'm now just south of Carson City on Hwy 50. I've made it over the mountain and the sun has risen enough not to be directly in my eyes.

It's starting to get warm now, but I see a few clouds in the distance. If I can get beneath them they will provide much need shade.
I finally reach the cloud cover just in time I was already down to just a long sleeve T-shirt.

Street signs are a welcome site out here.

I leave all signs of life 10 miles east of Fallon, NV. There are no visible signs of human life out here. Not much traffic either.

Then you get to that next mountain ridge, cross over it and see another 20 miles of road. And those clouds to the right don't look so good.

Then I'm going through a little hole in the wall called Frenchman, NV and a see a WTF picture. I don't like the way those clouds are forming up.

I keep moving thinking I could get out from under the clouds. I really don't want to deal with rain.
There is a clear spot.




Now I'm starting to get sprinkles off and on. I am slowly getting closer to that clear spot.

Your typical rest stop along Hwy 50. This one was right next to US Naval Air base. I got to watch jets take off and land.

Back on the road into nothing. Keeping a close eye on the clouds because it can go either way.

Seems like the further I drive the less vegetation I see.





Finally reached the sun again. Strange how this morning I wanted nothing to do with the sun and now I am thanking the sun gods

It's nice out here except the straight roads.





Out here you are lucky you if you cross a mountain range between valleys. Then you will get a few sweepers and sometimes some shade. Today the temp is running in the low 80s, so the heat isn't the problem here.





Some heavy clouds just to my rights. When you get close to these down pours the winds kicks up in seconds.





A nice thing about Hwy 50 is you go through every small town there is. There isn't many.





Now I've got dark clouds all over me. The rain is back, yuk!





In the little town of Austin, NV the Hwy does a couple of horseshoe turns. You can see the Hwy below there.




Then the Hwy headed straight in to the dark clouds. No turns what so ever, just into the dark. It's the only road out here.

Then the road turned slightly north and I started heading along the edge of the storm. You can see the dark clouds on the right and the clear skies on the left.

Then the road turned back into the storm and it started raining. I stopped and dawned the rain suit. Had to pack the GPS and tank bag in my topbox to prevent things from getting wet. So no pictures for awhile.

The sky opened up and dropped water like there was no tomorrow. I finally had to pull over along the side of the road because I couldn't see anymore.
Then the rain turned to hail and the lighting and thunder started. I saw lighting strikes within a few hundred yards from me. I could almost feel the electricy in the air.
Once the rain stopped enough I hopped back on my bike and headed down the road. It continued to rain off and on until I pulled into Ely, NV. I decided I needed to get a room and warm up.

Of course once I got checked in the clouds parted and the sun came back out. There were still some dark clouds to the east so I stayed put.
Here is the view of Ely from my room.




And here you can see the dark clouds to the east.




I'm Ely and most of the town in NV they usually they have a first letter of the town posted on the biggest hill around. So, I'm a little confused why this town has the letters "PW"

I take a shower and get some dry clothes on and decide it's still early I should go explore this place.
Here is the biggest hotel in town. It called the Nevada Hotel/Casino. Yep, those are legit hotel rooms up there.

I ended up loosing 20 dollars and getting some dinner, then I headed back to my room. The next morning I didn't get going until 9am. I was in no hurry today.
Packed the bike and hit the road east.




After watching the weather the previous night I knew the area I was going through might have some scattered thunder storms. I was keeping a close eye on the clouds today. It sucks when you put your rain suit on after you get wet. I came over the first pass and the skies didn't look good.

As I headed down into the next valley I could see sunrays poking through the clouds.

Then I saw this. This gateway is made entirely out of antlers

I am not seeing very many cars out here. Which is a good thing, I think. I was very pleased when I came upon two other bikers. I gave the throttle a little more power and proceeded to catch up.

As I got closer the rear bike passed the front bike. This meant they were not together. I also noticed they were both Sport tourer bikes like mine. Imagine that, 3 bikes of the same type running into each other in the middle of the desert. It's a sign today is going to be good.

I first passed the first bike and waved. I then noticed he sped up to match my speed. These sport tourer guys are very competitive. Five minutes later I passed the second sport tourer and he sped up. Now there are 3 of us flying down the Hwy around 90 mph. We continue this for the next 27 miles. They would pass me, and I would pass them. None of use more than 3 car lengths from each other. Then we came into Hinckley, UT.

We all stopped at McDonalds had a bite to eat and told greatly exaggerated stories about our adventures.
After lunch we shook hands and parted ways. I turned off onto Hwy 6 to head northeast towards SLC, UT.

As I get closer to Eureka, UT I start to see a little green, which is a nice change about now. The skies are looking better also.

I can now see the very west side of the Rockies. I-15 should be over there somewhere.

Tunnel alert! You know the drill by now.

I hit I-15 and run into traffic. Seems like everyone is in a hurry here. Too busy avoiding cars to take pictures.
I get to the Hotel in Park City, UT around 3:30 pm and find Jim (vol210.) We get settled in our room and he says he wants to go ride the zipper? I looked at him kind of strange, then he explained to me that the zipper ride was getting into this harness and flying down a cable. Sounded good to me!
In the summer Park City makes money on their ski runs by setting up different rides. There is this sled ride, a coaster ride and the zipper.
Here is Jim of the ski lift going up the hill. He had just finished calling his daughter and telling her he was about to ride the zipper. I took this picture as proof.

From the lift you can see the sled ride on the right.







Here is the ski resort behind us.

Here is the Zipper ramp. There is a several cables going from here to the bottom of the hill. I am a little nervous.

They strap us in, make us put our feet on this padded door and then the door springs open and away you go! It only lasts about 15 seconds but what a blast!
Here is the bottom where you get off.

The next ride was a small coaster that looked like it went fast. It has single cars made out of plastic and what looked like skateboard wheels on it.
Here is Jim ahead of me. It's up to me to use my brakes and not run into him on the way down.

Here is Jim giving me the signal that he will not be using any brakes at all,...I think.

While riding the coaster up you can see the track (going down) and the Zipper above that with 2 riders on it.

Here I am going down and I've already caught up to Jim. Why is he going so slow?

What's he up to? He's just putting along like a snail on a cold sidewalk.

Now I see there is another car in front on him with a Woman and child in it. Soccer mom!

When we got to the bottom the gal who worked there saw how we were bunched up and ask Jim if he wanted to go again for free. I don't have to tell you what he said. I just followed for I too wanted another free ride.
Here we are crossing the bridge on the way up again.

This time we both came down with no brakes and I must tell you that was FUN! I like this ride.
Here is the view from a top of the ski slope.

Next was the Sled ride. I didn't have much luck with this ride because it took all my strength just to hold the brake off. Now Jim had a blast. He took one turn so fast that he left the track and rolled in the dirt. With a big smile he crawled back on and continued his way on down.
Then it was back to the room for the night. Today we hook up with Tim from Washington. He came down with Jim. We are going on a ride today, but I don't know where.
The weather is great!

We head out of Park City and up this hill, I think it was Hwy 248. Here is a lake just outside of town.

Here are the bikes on today’s ride. 3 is a great number for a group ride. That's Jim on the left and Tim in the middle. Tim is leading the way and doing a great job at it.

Once we cross this little pass we zoom thru the next valley.

We pull into Kamas, UT for some gas and then hit Hwy 32 for a short distance then onto Hwy 35 going southeast.
The road starts to climb up into the mountains, which is almost always a good thing.

Once we reached the top the road winds back and forth across the top.

A pit stop on the top. You can see we had some friends stop behind us also.

Then we fly down the other side enjoying all the twists along the way.

It's just beautiful out here. The weather is just as nice as the scenery.

Then we pulled into Hanna, UT. It was time to find a bite to eat and the only place for miles was just across the street.

We had a wonderful lunch and heard they called this place the Hanna Hilton. I liked it because of the picture of John Wayne in the front of the place. Jim and I later found out it serves a great breakfast.
Then it was time to head back. Along the way Tim turned off on this little road. I didn't catch the name of the road but it turned north and followed this little river.

We started seeing campsites and the mountains to our right became rock out crops.

I was liking this road. It wasn't in the best shape, with some gravel and pot holes but the views were terrific.

We went as far as we could (the road turned to dirt) then turned around. On the way back Jim saw this sign that read "Face Rock" and pointed up to his left. It gave me enough time to stop and take this picture.

I think that got everyone so excited that they wanted to go soak their feet in the river.

When you ride a bike for days on end it doesn't get much better than this.

Here is a picture of Jim flying up the Hwy on the return trip to Park City.

Here is Jim doing 70 mph. Even from here I can see he is enjoying himself.

Here is Tim doing 75 mph. These sport tourer guys speed up if you try to pass them.

We got back to the Hotel and rested in our rooms for awhile. Then Jim and Tim had to go to the Yamaha dinner and I went out on my own. Had a Mexican dinner and decided to go explore the surrounding hills. Found a great little road and then decided to go back and get Jim. After he returned we decided to go back up and have our evening stogie overlooking Park City. I didn't get very much light in the picture.

The next morning we were to meet Ted Bell, BoulvDozer, byufa, ndough, Jimco and others. Jim and I took turns getting lost on our way over the Walmart parking lot where we were all meeting.
I was suprised when to total number in today’s ride was over 10 bikes. I think there were 12 or 13 total. All kinds of bikes, cruisers, sport tourers, multi-purpose bikes, and street/dirt bikes. We could of been a great commercial for what a biker could be.
Today’s ride will take us on Hwy 150 and loop us around.
On the weekends they launch hot air balloons out of Park City. You can see one in the picture in the upper right hand side.

Here are a few riders behind me.

And a few in front of me.

The road slowly twisted through a couple of meadows then climbed up into the Rocky Mountains.

Of course a pit stop at the top and all the camera's come out.

And on the left is....ummm...can't tell with the helmet on. Well in the yellow jacket is ummm...stupid helmet I can't who that is either.

There's MIKE!

This is the road we just came up on. Very nice!

Here are those meadows we passed.

Then it is back on the road. The road gently wound it way across the tops of hills and down through valleys. The weather was holding up and I was having a great time.

Then we started going through little forests of burch trees.

And somewhere along the line we picked up two more riders.

Then it was time for me to try my pass and take pictures ride. (Kids don't try this at home. It's hard to get the camera level, you might get hurt and your parents will be really mad at you for ridding a motorcycle in the house at 60 mph.)

I can see from my photos the sun is in the wrong place.

Here's a KLR bike. It did a great job keeping up with us.

Another KLR bike.

A VStorm, very nice bikes.

I zoomed ahead of the group so I could get a photo or two of the group going by.

Here are a few more riders...wait a minute these guys are not with our group.

While we were getting gas a WFT picture appeared.

Here are the two Utah Mikes. Is that a Spiderman outfit?

Back on the road after lunch to finish the second half of the loop.

It was about this time Jim and myself felt it was time to stretch out our legs and open the bikes up a little. So we broke pack and gave the throttle a good twist.

We flew through these light twisties and up a canyon. After we crested the pass we pulled over to wait for the rest of the group. I wasn't long before they came flying over the hill.

Good time for a group photo.

No, give me your best pose!

Here is part of the group going over their GPS, umm, I mean map with Mike in the back of the group saying "I'm not lost."

Here is a sample of the different types of bikes on this ride.

Back on the road the clouds started creeping in.

Then is started raining. Not to bad at first.

Then the skies open up and water came down upon us. Lucky for us we came upon a gas station, which became a shelter for many bikes.

After about 15 minutes the rain left as quickly as it arrived. Back on the road.

We got back to Park City and split up. It was good to see the Utah boys again.
When we got back to our room we got a call from Phloyd from Texas and he was in town and wanted to get together for a beer. He showed up and we went to Main St. to look for this brewery. Walked a lot up hill looking and finally found it. From there it was back to our room for a cold one.

Sunday
This was go home day. Tim, Jim and myself were on the road by 6am. I was heading west and Tim and Jim were heading North. We said our good-byes and I was off. I stopped just outside the hotel and put my music on and cranked it up. The sun was behind me and I was going to try and keep it there.
Here is the ski jump leaving Park City.

I love riding early in the morning with the sun at my back and the music playing.

Heading down the canyon towards SLC,

My view from the cockpit. I'm doing just under 70 mph and it's as smooth as silk.

Once I pass SLC on I-80 it becomes very straight super slab. I have this all the way home (697 miles.)

I started following some rail road tracks and saw a train up ahead. It was flying also and I slowly caught up to it. It took me 10 minutes to pull ahead.

You have to consider we both are cruising around 80 mph down the road and I have to pass all this.

It gets pretty boring out her but I did get a better picture of the ball tower in the salt flats. This is almost a WTF picture.

The rest of the trip home was very boring except just before Reno I had this little street bike come up and pass me. I fell in right behind and followed them for the next 20 miles.
Not bored anymore.

I arrived home just after 4pm and unpacked.

Another Great Trip!!!