Blues Traveler
07-11-2006, 09:52 PM
This is my first attempt at a ride report. Sorry if I've misspelled anything.
305306307312
Had a GREAT trip up to Colorado and back. Probably my best trip ever. We had temps from 118? all the way dow into the high 20's.
We were all suppose to meet at the top of Cajon Summit at the Summit Cafe 50 miles away. 4 of us were suppose to meet for breakfast. Only three of us showed. George got bad info, 9:00 instead of the agreed 8:00. We ate and as we were suiting up to leave he showed up. Said he would eat later on. Nice ride across the desert. It was still cool and started to warm up as we were out between Barstow and Baker. George was hungry so we stopped at the Mad Greek were he had a quick Gyro. Mark and I got out the cooling vests. Baker has what is know as the worls biggest thermometer. It was just across the street and read 113?. When we headed out maybe 1/2 hr later it read 118?. We got into Las Vegas about noon. Checked in, unloaded the bikes , and got them tucked away for the rest of the day.
The Silverton Hotel and Casion is special. Attached to one end of the Casio floor is the biggest damn sporting goods store I have ever seen, "BASS PRO SHOP". I'll bet we spent 3 hours walking around looking at everything from boats to guns. Actually bought a new (Kershaw) poctet knife. Saw something I just had to have.
Day 2
313314315316317
318319320321
Up early, 5:00. Tim was already up and gone by 4:30. Said he would meet us at the event next Thurs., had his own route. Mark, George, and I were off to Mesquite to meet up with Lewis and his new girl friend Heidi. We had breakfast and once again headed out into the heat. Actually it never got too hot because of the overcast and Monsoon conditions. Brice Canyon was our destination by way of passing through Zion and what a GREAT ride it was. Once in Zion we kept the speed down and moved with the flow of traffic. In the park there is this one really long tunnel. On the other end is a turn out for pictures and such. We pull in and while still on my bike I here Mark say: That doesn't look good. I look over and under Georges KTM 950 ADV. is a whole lot of anti-freeze and what looks to be oil. George say: Lets go, need to get out of the park. As he rides by in front of me he looks to be loosing a lot of fluid as he passes in fromt of my bike. I follow in tow and kept waiting for him to pull over. What seems to be at least 50 miles later he is still going strong. Can't believe he's still chuggin along. We pull into a gas station and he say's everything is alright. Bike must have burped or something. Its temp. gauge has been normal for miles. The heat? altitude? maybe both? Anyway he's good to go.
Half an hour later we are in camp. Lewis is already there and settup. They took off and rode ahead while we stopped to visit a friend of Marks in St.George.
Day 3
Great camp! We hit the showers then went into town for dinner.
322323324325326
327328329330
Up again and packed. Todays plan is to ride through the park. Head up to Escalante for lunch turn around and make it to Page Arizona and spend the night at Lake Powell. Was a long time at Zion. Park had a strickly enforced speed limit of 35 mph. Once out of the park and on our way to Escalante we were able to dial it up to 60 mph. Every little town had a cop with radar sitting just around a curve where you wouldn't see them until its too late. We kept the speed down and obayed all speed limits through these small towns. My reward, 56.3 mpg WOW! Had breakfast and once again Lewis and Heidi rode off ahead. We caught up with them later as we approached Lake Powell. George took a short cut to the lake. He chose 47 miles of dirt and we went the long way around, 165 miles. Got to the gate and asked the Ranger: You see a big orange punkin of a bike come through? he replied: You must be the ones who wimped out and went the long way around. He's alrerady gone through, 20 minutes ago.
George had checked in and got his tent up. Was the first thing we did too and then headed to the lake for a well deserved swim. We were told the water level was down 87 ft. What a great place will have to come back again and stay longer. Lewis and Heidi were only along for one more days ride as they both needed to get back to work. They liked it so well at Lake Powell they decided to stay on more day.
We said our goodby's the next morning and headed out.
Day 4
331332334335
336
Monument Valley, another place I'd only seen in pictures and or on TV. What an awsome place. Once there we got camp settup (gouldings RV) and headed for the visitor center and entrance to the monuments. $5 got us in and we all took the 10 mile loop through the park. The loop was all dirt,rocks and soft deep sand. The front end on the GS sure doesn't like the soft stuff. Right off the bat my front end seemed to go where it wanted and stuck me and the bike into one of the walls. Didn't go down, just plowed in and could not go anywhere. Had I gotten off the bike it would have stood on its own. Put her in 1st and throttled right out of it. What a great bike. The 10 mile loop was great. Riding among these giants was awsome.
Stopped at a market on the way back to camp and bought food and ice for dinner and drinks for later. At camp they had an indoor pool which we spent sometime in after a long hot day's ride.
Sunset brought out an unbelievable amount of bats. What a thrill as long as they stayed up above.
337338339340
George was leaving us at this point and joining another group who had plans of something like 240 miles of dirt to get to the event. All three of us left at the same time Mark out front and me taking up the rear. This would be the day that I got seperated from the group. I stopped for a quick pickure of Mexican Hat and never caught up with the others. Knowing where we were headed I took the shortest route and met up with Mark later that afternoon. We both crossed the Colorado River in Moab and headed into Arches nation Park. We had reservations and what looked to be an awsome campsite. It was but we had no supplies in the way of food and ice thinking there would be a small store to get these things. We deciced to ride back to Moab and get another place to stay. Found a GREAT little RV park with shade to pitch or tents under. They had these huge sand boxs with awnings over them to set up a tent. We were right next to the pool where once again we spent many hours. Afterwords we headed to the market. Charcoal, steak, Salmon (for me),veggies for steaming,orange juice, and ice. Even got use a couple of bagles and cream cheese for the next morn to have with our coffee.
What a great meal. Afterwords we headed over the showers to clean up for the next day. The best restrooms/showers I have ever seen and used at an RV park. Airconditioned, Thats right the restrooms were airconditioned. Great Place, need to remember this place.
Day 6
341342343344
345346
Pulled out early and headed up the 191 out of Moab. This is a really nice clean little highway that runs along the Colorado River. Today , the event in Buena Vist Co. We were following the river riding down stream. The walls of the canyon went straight up on bothsides of the river.
Later we stopped in Aspen for gas and a cup of coffee. Found a nice popular cafe on a courner across from city hall. On another courner, Gucci. Ah yes, the beautiful people. We sat outside in the shade sitting at one of there many tables with unbrellas. Seeing several young women in $500 pairs of high heels on mopeds pull up in from of Gucci's. Amazing how well they were able to pull that scooter up on the centerstand in heels. Some idle talk in line we found out from the realtor in front us that houses started at 1.3 million, usually sold in 3 days.
Any way, Buena Vista, next stop. Well, almost the last stop. We did have to stop at the top of Independence Pass., elevation 12,095 ft. My GS was running just great. never would have guessed we were up that high.
Colorado seems like another world. Pulling into the event I could see many bikes. We check in up front, told where not to camp and head up to where we could. The camping area was up on top. seemed to be a new area never used before. Th road to the top was almost straight up. Tim refused to ride his newly refurbished ST1100 to the top. Don't blame him as most of the bodywork was brand new. He parked at the bottom and carried his gear up. George reserved a cabin which wound up right in the middle of the road to the top. Me and Mark powered to the top and cruised around looking for a spot. DAMN! were there a lot of people here already. As we road around everyone seemed to be flipping us off. No worries thats the ADVrider wave. We saluted back. Best spot seemed to be right at the top of the road where we came in. First things first, a picnic table. The camp next to us had two. They were off riding somewhere So I walked over and quickly grabbed one. Moving fast I moved in and hoist it up above my head and move quickly towards our camp. This is followed up by retrieving the bences. Were set and both of us begin unloading our bikes onto the table. Camp always sets up fast. Once done we head back down the hill to see whats for dinner.
In a huge covered area with tables they were cooking and serving burgers,hot dogs, and brats all cooking on the grill. The keg of beer has been tapped and many are injoying the company, food, and beer.
Has been a long day and sleep comes early for many.
Day 7
347348349350351352353
354355356357
Reluctantly I agree to go along on a ride to a place called Tin Cup. When I bought the GS I said it was only to replace my ST for getting to and from camping, no dirt. But for the next three days I'd say the GS saw 2-300 miles of dirt roads and mountain passes, maybe more. The GS is no dirtbike by any means but it has no problem with fire roads and jeep trails. Sure there were a few times when I wished I was back on pavement but that was only at times when we were in some really rocky sections. Just had to go slow and try to pick the best route through the these sections.
358360361362
363364365366367368369
Breakfast in town and more passes. The Beemer supprised me as is handles all these roads just Great! Yes it can be a real pig in the soft stuff. But everything else it handled well.
Note to self: Stay out of the soft stuff and things will be fine.
Day 9
371
372373374375
Headed out to Leadville for breakfast. afterwords we gased up said goodby to Tim who had to work of the 3rd and did three more 12,000 ft. passes. The GS is just too damn much fun as long as you use good judgement as to where you go. The whole day we seemed to stay just ahead a several storm cells. We were back early, Market wanted to head back into town for some local car show in the center of town. I stayed behind to try and get things together for tomorrows ride towards home. As for lunch I broke out the box of Stag Chile and made myself up a quick meal. Afterword I rode down to the showers to clean up. Everyone gone was the perfect time to do some laundry and rinse out my new Cycleport suit in the shower.
This evening was the last meal put on by the orginizers. Great food and drink followed by desert and the some awards for those deserving. Awards for things like: Not bathing for the intire event, furthest traveled to the event, and a speacial award to the one person who would step forword and addmit to owning a Harley as a second bike. Just to mention a few.
Day 10
376377378379380
381382383384385
Up and time to break camp. George seemed a little antsie and headed out ahead of us. Said he'd call us when he got to interstate 70. There we would have breakfast and split up again. George needed to head to Lake Tahoe to meet with a client. Never heard from George so Mark and I headed to Vail where we sat down to a nice breakfast once again amoung the beautiful people. Seemed that all the locals had dogs and couldn't stand to have a meal without them close by, go figure.
Next stop Green River UT. We had reservations at the Ramada, it had an indoor pool and would be a very good thing after a day of riding in the heat. 20 miles from Green River Mark turns on his emergency flashers. Whats up? im thinking. At first he just keeps going. Maybe he hit the button by accedent? I pull up alongside and signal, whats up? He makes a motion that he has no throttle responce. All he could do to keep it up to speed. Green river off ramp his bike dies at the bottom. Mark say's the bike feels like its running on just 1 cylinder. He gets it to start and yep, thats what it sounds like to me. We limp over to the motel and mess with a wire he thinks he might have knocked of next to the secondary spark plug on the R/H side. Snap things back in place and the Beemer twin starts and sounds just fine. COOL!
We check in, cool off in the pool and decide to go into town and grab a burger at Ray's Tavern. Recomender by the people running the motel and just a couple of blocks back on the left. In route im riding staggered back to the left of Mark. Suddenly his bike sounds like a lifter just fell off on the L//H side. Mark kills it and pulls over. Damn Mark, that sure didn't sound good. He starts it up again and kills it quick as it sounds like its comming apart. One more try and it sounds great, idles ok and everything. He clicks it in gear and we head to the tavern. Had a GREAT burger with lots of iced tea and then headed back. Marks GS is still running fine but say's its still feels a little rough. Now we need to decide just what Marks options are for the next day. We are looking at at least 400 miles of desert between us and Las Vegas which is to be our next stop for the night before another 265 miles to home. We both decide its not worth spending a day out in the middle of nowhere in the heat waiting for tow truck. He calls BMW roadside assistance. Not a problem. They arange an 8:00 am pickup to take him and his bike 90+ miles back into Grand Junction to the nearest Beemer dealership. Me Im back on the road at 5:00 am. At about 8:00 I pull off in the town of Beaver. Beaver, sounds like a great place to eat, Ha!Ha! After breakfast and with a full tank a fuel, next stop Las Vegas. By 12:30 pm Im checked in and standing in my room. Marks already checked in with me and with his rental car should be here by 5:30 pm. Like clockwork he's on time but not until after a prank phone call telling me that the rental car broke down. Ha Ha, real funny as he's making the call from the parking lot just outside the casino.
Cleaned up we headed for the Bellagio on the strip for the all you can eat buffet, $38. Yep, all you can eat Alaskan King Crab Legs! And Im going to get my money's worth.
Day 11
Home, 265 miles away. I head out with a full tank of gas at 5:00 am. As I pull onto Interstate 15 the horizon is alive with flashes of lighting. Sky is dark and I can see big time rain in the distance. I got lucky and sort of stayed east of all this action. I did hit some light rain but it felt good as I sped along. Stopped at Denny's in Victorville and had a bite to eat and some coffee. Afterwords and just a half an hour later I was back on the 15 and headed for home. I was home and in the garage by 9:30 am. Beat the heat and still had plenty of time left on the 4th of July.
386 304
One week later I heard from someone who's talked with Mark and it seems his R1200GS Broke a piston on the L/H side. Will have to make a call and get the low down on just what happened with his bike. It did have just over 7000 miles on the clock and looks like new engine time for his new bike.
Plenty more pictures in my Webshots. http://community.webshots.com/user/ownst1100
305306307312
Had a GREAT trip up to Colorado and back. Probably my best trip ever. We had temps from 118? all the way dow into the high 20's.
We were all suppose to meet at the top of Cajon Summit at the Summit Cafe 50 miles away. 4 of us were suppose to meet for breakfast. Only three of us showed. George got bad info, 9:00 instead of the agreed 8:00. We ate and as we were suiting up to leave he showed up. Said he would eat later on. Nice ride across the desert. It was still cool and started to warm up as we were out between Barstow and Baker. George was hungry so we stopped at the Mad Greek were he had a quick Gyro. Mark and I got out the cooling vests. Baker has what is know as the worls biggest thermometer. It was just across the street and read 113?. When we headed out maybe 1/2 hr later it read 118?. We got into Las Vegas about noon. Checked in, unloaded the bikes , and got them tucked away for the rest of the day.
The Silverton Hotel and Casion is special. Attached to one end of the Casio floor is the biggest damn sporting goods store I have ever seen, "BASS PRO SHOP". I'll bet we spent 3 hours walking around looking at everything from boats to guns. Actually bought a new (Kershaw) poctet knife. Saw something I just had to have.
Day 2
313314315316317
318319320321
Up early, 5:00. Tim was already up and gone by 4:30. Said he would meet us at the event next Thurs., had his own route. Mark, George, and I were off to Mesquite to meet up with Lewis and his new girl friend Heidi. We had breakfast and once again headed out into the heat. Actually it never got too hot because of the overcast and Monsoon conditions. Brice Canyon was our destination by way of passing through Zion and what a GREAT ride it was. Once in Zion we kept the speed down and moved with the flow of traffic. In the park there is this one really long tunnel. On the other end is a turn out for pictures and such. We pull in and while still on my bike I here Mark say: That doesn't look good. I look over and under Georges KTM 950 ADV. is a whole lot of anti-freeze and what looks to be oil. George say: Lets go, need to get out of the park. As he rides by in front of me he looks to be loosing a lot of fluid as he passes in fromt of my bike. I follow in tow and kept waiting for him to pull over. What seems to be at least 50 miles later he is still going strong. Can't believe he's still chuggin along. We pull into a gas station and he say's everything is alright. Bike must have burped or something. Its temp. gauge has been normal for miles. The heat? altitude? maybe both? Anyway he's good to go.
Half an hour later we are in camp. Lewis is already there and settup. They took off and rode ahead while we stopped to visit a friend of Marks in St.George.
Day 3
Great camp! We hit the showers then went into town for dinner.
322323324325326
327328329330
Up again and packed. Todays plan is to ride through the park. Head up to Escalante for lunch turn around and make it to Page Arizona and spend the night at Lake Powell. Was a long time at Zion. Park had a strickly enforced speed limit of 35 mph. Once out of the park and on our way to Escalante we were able to dial it up to 60 mph. Every little town had a cop with radar sitting just around a curve where you wouldn't see them until its too late. We kept the speed down and obayed all speed limits through these small towns. My reward, 56.3 mpg WOW! Had breakfast and once again Lewis and Heidi rode off ahead. We caught up with them later as we approached Lake Powell. George took a short cut to the lake. He chose 47 miles of dirt and we went the long way around, 165 miles. Got to the gate and asked the Ranger: You see a big orange punkin of a bike come through? he replied: You must be the ones who wimped out and went the long way around. He's alrerady gone through, 20 minutes ago.
George had checked in and got his tent up. Was the first thing we did too and then headed to the lake for a well deserved swim. We were told the water level was down 87 ft. What a great place will have to come back again and stay longer. Lewis and Heidi were only along for one more days ride as they both needed to get back to work. They liked it so well at Lake Powell they decided to stay on more day.
We said our goodby's the next morning and headed out.
Day 4
331332334335
336
Monument Valley, another place I'd only seen in pictures and or on TV. What an awsome place. Once there we got camp settup (gouldings RV) and headed for the visitor center and entrance to the monuments. $5 got us in and we all took the 10 mile loop through the park. The loop was all dirt,rocks and soft deep sand. The front end on the GS sure doesn't like the soft stuff. Right off the bat my front end seemed to go where it wanted and stuck me and the bike into one of the walls. Didn't go down, just plowed in and could not go anywhere. Had I gotten off the bike it would have stood on its own. Put her in 1st and throttled right out of it. What a great bike. The 10 mile loop was great. Riding among these giants was awsome.
Stopped at a market on the way back to camp and bought food and ice for dinner and drinks for later. At camp they had an indoor pool which we spent sometime in after a long hot day's ride.
Sunset brought out an unbelievable amount of bats. What a thrill as long as they stayed up above.
337338339340
George was leaving us at this point and joining another group who had plans of something like 240 miles of dirt to get to the event. All three of us left at the same time Mark out front and me taking up the rear. This would be the day that I got seperated from the group. I stopped for a quick pickure of Mexican Hat and never caught up with the others. Knowing where we were headed I took the shortest route and met up with Mark later that afternoon. We both crossed the Colorado River in Moab and headed into Arches nation Park. We had reservations and what looked to be an awsome campsite. It was but we had no supplies in the way of food and ice thinking there would be a small store to get these things. We deciced to ride back to Moab and get another place to stay. Found a GREAT little RV park with shade to pitch or tents under. They had these huge sand boxs with awnings over them to set up a tent. We were right next to the pool where once again we spent many hours. Afterwords we headed to the market. Charcoal, steak, Salmon (for me),veggies for steaming,orange juice, and ice. Even got use a couple of bagles and cream cheese for the next morn to have with our coffee.
What a great meal. Afterwords we headed over the showers to clean up for the next day. The best restrooms/showers I have ever seen and used at an RV park. Airconditioned, Thats right the restrooms were airconditioned. Great Place, need to remember this place.
Day 6
341342343344
345346
Pulled out early and headed up the 191 out of Moab. This is a really nice clean little highway that runs along the Colorado River. Today , the event in Buena Vist Co. We were following the river riding down stream. The walls of the canyon went straight up on bothsides of the river.
Later we stopped in Aspen for gas and a cup of coffee. Found a nice popular cafe on a courner across from city hall. On another courner, Gucci. Ah yes, the beautiful people. We sat outside in the shade sitting at one of there many tables with unbrellas. Seeing several young women in $500 pairs of high heels on mopeds pull up in from of Gucci's. Amazing how well they were able to pull that scooter up on the centerstand in heels. Some idle talk in line we found out from the realtor in front us that houses started at 1.3 million, usually sold in 3 days.
Any way, Buena Vista, next stop. Well, almost the last stop. We did have to stop at the top of Independence Pass., elevation 12,095 ft. My GS was running just great. never would have guessed we were up that high.
Colorado seems like another world. Pulling into the event I could see many bikes. We check in up front, told where not to camp and head up to where we could. The camping area was up on top. seemed to be a new area never used before. Th road to the top was almost straight up. Tim refused to ride his newly refurbished ST1100 to the top. Don't blame him as most of the bodywork was brand new. He parked at the bottom and carried his gear up. George reserved a cabin which wound up right in the middle of the road to the top. Me and Mark powered to the top and cruised around looking for a spot. DAMN! were there a lot of people here already. As we road around everyone seemed to be flipping us off. No worries thats the ADVrider wave. We saluted back. Best spot seemed to be right at the top of the road where we came in. First things first, a picnic table. The camp next to us had two. They were off riding somewhere So I walked over and quickly grabbed one. Moving fast I moved in and hoist it up above my head and move quickly towards our camp. This is followed up by retrieving the bences. Were set and both of us begin unloading our bikes onto the table. Camp always sets up fast. Once done we head back down the hill to see whats for dinner.
In a huge covered area with tables they were cooking and serving burgers,hot dogs, and brats all cooking on the grill. The keg of beer has been tapped and many are injoying the company, food, and beer.
Has been a long day and sleep comes early for many.
Day 7
347348349350351352353
354355356357
Reluctantly I agree to go along on a ride to a place called Tin Cup. When I bought the GS I said it was only to replace my ST for getting to and from camping, no dirt. But for the next three days I'd say the GS saw 2-300 miles of dirt roads and mountain passes, maybe more. The GS is no dirtbike by any means but it has no problem with fire roads and jeep trails. Sure there were a few times when I wished I was back on pavement but that was only at times when we were in some really rocky sections. Just had to go slow and try to pick the best route through the these sections.
358360361362
363364365366367368369
Breakfast in town and more passes. The Beemer supprised me as is handles all these roads just Great! Yes it can be a real pig in the soft stuff. But everything else it handled well.
Note to self: Stay out of the soft stuff and things will be fine.
Day 9
371
372373374375
Headed out to Leadville for breakfast. afterwords we gased up said goodby to Tim who had to work of the 3rd and did three more 12,000 ft. passes. The GS is just too damn much fun as long as you use good judgement as to where you go. The whole day we seemed to stay just ahead a several storm cells. We were back early, Market wanted to head back into town for some local car show in the center of town. I stayed behind to try and get things together for tomorrows ride towards home. As for lunch I broke out the box of Stag Chile and made myself up a quick meal. Afterword I rode down to the showers to clean up. Everyone gone was the perfect time to do some laundry and rinse out my new Cycleport suit in the shower.
This evening was the last meal put on by the orginizers. Great food and drink followed by desert and the some awards for those deserving. Awards for things like: Not bathing for the intire event, furthest traveled to the event, and a speacial award to the one person who would step forword and addmit to owning a Harley as a second bike. Just to mention a few.
Day 10
376377378379380
381382383384385
Up and time to break camp. George seemed a little antsie and headed out ahead of us. Said he'd call us when he got to interstate 70. There we would have breakfast and split up again. George needed to head to Lake Tahoe to meet with a client. Never heard from George so Mark and I headed to Vail where we sat down to a nice breakfast once again amoung the beautiful people. Seemed that all the locals had dogs and couldn't stand to have a meal without them close by, go figure.
Next stop Green River UT. We had reservations at the Ramada, it had an indoor pool and would be a very good thing after a day of riding in the heat. 20 miles from Green River Mark turns on his emergency flashers. Whats up? im thinking. At first he just keeps going. Maybe he hit the button by accedent? I pull up alongside and signal, whats up? He makes a motion that he has no throttle responce. All he could do to keep it up to speed. Green river off ramp his bike dies at the bottom. Mark say's the bike feels like its running on just 1 cylinder. He gets it to start and yep, thats what it sounds like to me. We limp over to the motel and mess with a wire he thinks he might have knocked of next to the secondary spark plug on the R/H side. Snap things back in place and the Beemer twin starts and sounds just fine. COOL!
We check in, cool off in the pool and decide to go into town and grab a burger at Ray's Tavern. Recomender by the people running the motel and just a couple of blocks back on the left. In route im riding staggered back to the left of Mark. Suddenly his bike sounds like a lifter just fell off on the L//H side. Mark kills it and pulls over. Damn Mark, that sure didn't sound good. He starts it up again and kills it quick as it sounds like its comming apart. One more try and it sounds great, idles ok and everything. He clicks it in gear and we head to the tavern. Had a GREAT burger with lots of iced tea and then headed back. Marks GS is still running fine but say's its still feels a little rough. Now we need to decide just what Marks options are for the next day. We are looking at at least 400 miles of desert between us and Las Vegas which is to be our next stop for the night before another 265 miles to home. We both decide its not worth spending a day out in the middle of nowhere in the heat waiting for tow truck. He calls BMW roadside assistance. Not a problem. They arange an 8:00 am pickup to take him and his bike 90+ miles back into Grand Junction to the nearest Beemer dealership. Me Im back on the road at 5:00 am. At about 8:00 I pull off in the town of Beaver. Beaver, sounds like a great place to eat, Ha!Ha! After breakfast and with a full tank a fuel, next stop Las Vegas. By 12:30 pm Im checked in and standing in my room. Marks already checked in with me and with his rental car should be here by 5:30 pm. Like clockwork he's on time but not until after a prank phone call telling me that the rental car broke down. Ha Ha, real funny as he's making the call from the parking lot just outside the casino.
Cleaned up we headed for the Bellagio on the strip for the all you can eat buffet, $38. Yep, all you can eat Alaskan King Crab Legs! And Im going to get my money's worth.
Day 11
Home, 265 miles away. I head out with a full tank of gas at 5:00 am. As I pull onto Interstate 15 the horizon is alive with flashes of lighting. Sky is dark and I can see big time rain in the distance. I got lucky and sort of stayed east of all this action. I did hit some light rain but it felt good as I sped along. Stopped at Denny's in Victorville and had a bite to eat and some coffee. Afterwords and just a half an hour later I was back on the 15 and headed for home. I was home and in the garage by 9:30 am. Beat the heat and still had plenty of time left on the 4th of July.
386 304
One week later I heard from someone who's talked with Mark and it seems his R1200GS Broke a piston on the L/H side. Will have to make a call and get the low down on just what happened with his bike. It did have just over 7000 miles on the clock and looks like new engine time for his new bike.
Plenty more pictures in my Webshots. http://community.webshots.com/user/ownst1100