Recent ride to the Pacific photos Day by Day. I'll be adding when I can.

[..]

Roger from Ohio











Baboon head. I saw other animals but couldn't safely stop to photograph the rocks.



It was close to 100F so one beer at lunch time was gooooooooooooooooooooooooood



Food porn at last



After lunch





Mystery cars



Motels in Springdale next to Zion were $90 + a night

Super 8 in Hurricane 17 miles away was $84 for 2 nights



Remainder of the photos for this day can be seen here.

http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa197/britman45_photo/Bike%20Pacific%20Day%206%20Zion%20Canyon/

[Karen]

Thanks, Britman, I now have this irresistible urge to meander. Really enjoyed your trip.

[..]

PHOTOBUCKET.COM really is CRAP

So here's a direct link for the photos that keep disappearing.

http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa197/britman45_photo/Bike%20Pacific%20Day%207%20Zion%20UT%20to%20Merced%20CA%20625%20MILES/

Leaving Hurrican at sunrise I take a quick zip up I 15 and pass the trun off for Kolob Canyon. This si directly next to I 15.


A quick zip to Cedar City. Utah has deer fences built along side I 15. What a great service for the users.

Then it's west on Hwy 56 to cross into Nevada. At this point I've had enough frickin desert to last me a lifetime.



Then I get to Hwy 357 and to my surprise it's the Extraterrestrial Hwy

http://byways.org/explore/byways/2029/

7.2 gallons on the ST so no problem here.

They really mean it. No gas for 150 miles

Riderless BMW G800 on the side of the road.

I tooted my horn a few times and hung around for about 20 minutes in case the owner was sight seeign in the desert. No helmet so I assumed the owner had got a ride to somewhere.

[..]

PHOTOBUCKET.COM REALLY IS USELESS.

You can hear the ST engine whirring in the video.

Having seen very very few vehicles I was not going to take the slightest risk that the bike may not start.

View Extraterrestrial Hwy 375, NV. June 19, 2012	powered by Aeva

View Hwy 6, NV near Boundary Peak June 19, 2012	powered by Aeva

Eventually I cross into California


I turn on to Hwy 6 towards Mono Lake. At alst the road has some bends.

it also has a couple of signs that confirm I'm in California

Shortly after crossign tehstate line I see an "Adopt A Highway" sign. Normally these are associated with local business's, civic associations or local families.

This sign has 3 words underneath.

"Butterflies and Rainbows".

The next California sign is see is Orange and has the words "Highway Rehabilitation". WTF. Roads with alcohol or drugs problems? Maybe it's a little depressed?

Nope. It's a simple answer. There's road works ahead.


Trees, trees approaching Mono Lake

View Mono Lake, CA June 19, 2012	powered by Aeva

[Black Dog]

Wow Paul, what a ride 

Thanks for taking the time to share, and the comments fill in the questions, before they are asked 

I'm thinkin' all those miles beat the heck outta a bus full of screaming kids 

Black Dog

[R J]

Great pic's and what to look for in each one.

Had a question on something in the 1st link but done did fur getted what it were.  Oh well, nuttin gained and nuttin lost.

I might go back and try to figure out what it was I wondered about.

Well I remembered beore I got there.  Are those apples or tomatoes in your meals?  Looked like tomatoes in the early pictures, but the later ones look like apples.

This dumb old country boy is curious.

[csj]

The tomatoe and banana must get everything moving, and the
crunchy bar must glue it all back together.

[..]

The tomatoe and banana must get everything moving, and the
crunchy bar must glue it all back together.

There are perils to motorcycle touring. Deer being one.

Others are leg cramps due to dehydration and sweating thereby losing potassium.

A bannana and tomato every day help along with drinking plenty of water.

The grain bar is for extra fiber 

[..]

Mono Lake.



On to Yosemite.

Some words some may really disagree with me about.

Yosemite was a lot of trees with some very large rocky bits sticking out.

I'm sure it's a wonderful place for campers, climbers and hikers.

As a visual place it wasn't as spectacular as Yellowstone or Glacier National Park. Yes, I've ridden to and through both of those parks.

Approaching the east gate.

























Leaving Yosemite I rode along the South Fork of the Merced River. A beautiful ride along the river side.

BUT the hills were covered in tinder dry grass.













Stopping in Mariposa for gas the numerous deadbeats I saw walking the streets ecouraged me to keep heading west to Merced.

More dry grass.



Days Inn on Motel Drive in Merced, CA  



I didn't meet the rider from North Carolina

[..]

Via the Pacific Coast Highway

See link above for photos.

PHOTOBUCKET.COM is useless.

[wdvalk]

I would give my right n*# to be with you right now.The pch is on my list of must do,s

[..]

I would give my right n*# to be with you right now.The pch is on my list of must do,s

You can keep it cause I'm in Roswell, GA right now

[..]

I would give my right n*# to be with you right now.The pch is on my list of must do,s

My next west coast trip (I hope) will be a fly to Portland and then rent a bike to ride south along the coast.

[Super Santa]

Those trees you asked about are Eucalyptus.

[ValkFlyer]

The trees you asked about are called Eucalyptus, not a native species although you'll see them all over CA.  Interesting story about how they got here but I won't steal your thread.  Fantastic Job on the pics!!!!!!!!

Your quicker on the draw EB, must be that Texas blood

[..]

Those trees you asked about are Eucalyptus.

Myabe that's what I smelt rather than the alfalfa truck ahead of me?

[..]

Don't let the ocean views take all your attention. Look inland. These canyons are amazing. So many different flowers due to the constant damp air.













Over the shoulder lucky pelican photo



As I crested a rise in the road my attetion was drawn to a series of long smooth rocks breaking hrough a sandybeach and all pointingout to sea.

Wow the sea must have been breakingover those for millions of years to make them so smooth. I wonder what kind of rocks they are. So different to the rest of the area.

I then noticed the large parking lot with tourist coaches, motorhomes, cars etc.

Doh!      

They are seals.

Then joy.

Fricking elephant seals. I've never seen elephans seals in the wild.  

View Elephant Seals Pacific Coast hwy, CA June 20	powered by Aeva

2 Elephant Seal PCH, CA June 20, 2012	powered by Aeva

3 Elephant Seal PCH, CA June 20, 2012	powered by Aeva

[..]

I stopped at a mercado in Los Banos, CA to buy my bannana and tomato.

It amused me to see that most of the produce had "Grown in Mexico" labels on when I was standing in one of the largest agricultural areas in the USA.

[..]

6,047 miles
 
133 gallons
 
$455.20 for fuel
 
$3.42 avg
 
45 mpg avg
 
29 gas / pee stops. Does not include food / water stops.
 

Hottest temp 109 F east of paso Robles, CA
 
Coolest temp 51F west of Clayton, NM
 
Most expensive gas. Needles, CA $4.89. May both gas station owners grow boils on their gentials. I took one gallon.
 
Cheapest gas $2.97 south Memphis, TN
 
Two must see roads
 
Hwy 261 south to north Utah.
 
Hwy 325 north from Calupin Volcano, NM to Folsom to Hwy 72 to Raton, NM
 
Zion Park is still the most beautiful place in contineNtal USA
 
Windiest. I 40 west Oaklahoma. Got blown from right to left lane. If there had been a vehicle in the left lane I would be dead, dead, dead.

[Michael K (Az.)]

Britman, there is a gas station in Big Sur that, last July charged me $5.34 a Gal.! He gets boils also!

[..]

I continued south on PCH laughing at the amount of cars that reeked of grass smoke. I can imagine ze Cherman tourists; of which there were many driving rental cars and small RV's; giggling and saying things like "Lottie but you must smoke some marijuana whilst in CA and on this road".

At Hwy 46 I turned east to start the long ride home.

East of Paso Robles, CA it was 109F hot and the countryside was full of vineyards.



Once away from the rolling hills and back on the flaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat







Until there were more hills covered in bone dry dead grass.







I arrived in Tehachapi at 7 ready to rest, drink and eat.



Around the corner was the "Las Palmas" Mexican cantina.

Cold beer, cold water



They called this crap a salad. Iceberg lettuce with a watery blue cheese dressing.



At this point I should have cancelled the Chicken/Steak fajiats but I was hungry.

They too were crap. I'm not a fan of Mexican food and this is why. Most of it looks like it has come out of a central commissary and been pre chewed. It's bland pap.

Poor ingredients badly cooked.





So I had a



to cheer me up.

[..]

Tehachapi, CA to Holbrook, AZ via southern rim of the Grand Canyon
 432 miles

East of Paso Robles I entered wine country with many winerys lining Hwy 46. The rolling hills were again covered in bone dry grass.



Then it was back to the flat.







A 50 mile ride up to the tourist hell that lines the road before the Grand Canyon.


Give me your tired, your unwashed,
Your chattering masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched tourists of your teeming shore.
And dump them on the south side of the Grand Canyon.

The north rim is far more attractive with far fewer tourist coaches and loud mouthed ignoramuses wandering around showing their pallid skin and smelly arm pits.

View 1 South Rim, Grand Canyon, AZ June 21, 2012	powered by Aeva

View 2 Grand Canyon June 21, 2012	powered by Aeva

A small aircraft museum on the way to the south rim

PHOTOBUCKET SUCKS

IT HAS BECOME VERY UNSTABLE OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS. I THINK I'M GETTING MESSED WITH IN AN ATTEMPT TO MAKE ME SIGN UP FOR THE PAID SERVICE.

View 3 Grand Canyon June 21, 2012	powered by Aeva

View 4 Grand Canyon June 21, 2012	powered by Aeva

I'M DONE WITH PHOTOBUCKET IT'S CRAP. I must have wasted 5 or 6 hours fighting with it doing this ride report.

Any suggestions for another service?

Webshots???

[..]

NOW PHOTOBUCKET HAS LOCKED UP ITS WEB PAGE.

I just signed up with webshots. Hopefully that will be easier to use. Fingers crossed.

[..]

WTF  

I'm in webshots at the upload page and I keep getting an error message telling me I've used the wrong password.

HTF Can I be on the upload page with images selected to upload  if I used the WRONG f'in password.


F this. No more photos I f'in give up fighting with poorly serviced web sites.

The remaining 2 days ride home went fine.

I did 684 miles on day 10 and 1,002 miles on Day 11.

Was going to stop overnight in Tupelo, MS but I picked up a rabbit runnign ahead of me doing 90mph so I tucked in behind them. Then I picked up another rabbit running 90 to 100mph all the way to Birmingham, AL. At which point I was only about 135 miles from home.

Traffic on I20 east was runnigna t 80 to 100mph so it didn't take me long to get home after a water / restroom stop in Leeds, AL.

Clipped a dead furry thing on the side of its bulky body on the interstate approaching metro Atlanta which made the bike wobble for a few yards

The idiots in charge of the Atlanta government have cut off the street lights on I20 and the Interstate ring road I285 to save money whilst the f wits continue to build a $75 million dollar tramway that will fail. A tram way to run from Centennial Park in downtown to the MLK center. A route that the local bus service stopped servicing because of no riders.

More Democratic misuse of tax payers money.

Had  a few beers here on Friday night. The bar was a converted double wide.

Longhorn Bar Elk City, OK June 23, 2012	powered by Aeva

The front door had a hasp and padlock to secure it. However the patrons were really nice. A couple of riders. One with a crotch rocket, another a H-D.

[..]

I turned over 100,000 miles on the ST on the way home.

No I didn't get a photo of the magic moment.

That would have meant stopping on the side of I40. I don't trust other interstate users enough to offer myself as a target. 

[..]

I had down loaded 1 audio book to my Andriod before leaving.

The Gods of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs

I listened to part of this riding across bleak Nevada and then once on my homeward route across AZ and NM.

It really helped relieve some of the interstate zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz and suprisingly I didn't find it a distraction. I had decided if it interfered with my riding I would not listen to it.

I would NOT recommend an audio book on a busy interstate.

At the beginning of I40 in Barstow, CA there's a sign stating 2,554 miles to Wilmington, NC

[..]

http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa197/britman45_photo/Bike%20Pacific%20Day%209/

Sunrise leaving Holbrook, AZ
I wont leave at sunride riding into the sun again. Too darn blindingly bright.



Denny's breakfast in Gallup, TX



The Wal Mart by the side of the road in Gallup does NOT sell tomatoes???

The semi buried VW beetles are in Conway, TX



The restored gas / service station is the Visitors center in Shamrock, OK

[..]

Not very many interesting photos. I was too busy zipping along

http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa197/britman45_photo/Bike%20Pacific%20Day%2011/

As I previoulsy wrote this 3 liter cooler made the whole trip enjoyable. Filling it with ice every morning gave me cold/cool/tepid water to drink most of the day.

If empty I would buy a large bottle of water to refill it and ask the store clerk if I could add some ice to keep it cool. Not one said no.

Rest stop in OK



Here's a woman enjoying life  



Bugs, bugs, bugs. I washed the windshield once when I was in Hurricane, UT

[LadyDraco]

Good RR Paul...
 Glad the deer encounter was not worse...

 

[santa]

How much do you think you spent on hotels and meals??
Santa

[..]

How much do you think you spent on hotels and meals??
Santa

Motels varied in price from $42 a night in Elk City, OK to $80 a night in Clayton, NM

I do shop around each evening. I could have got cheaper in Clayton, NM but didn't like the vibe from the cheaper place.

As to food each day. I ate at the motel if they offered anything for breakfsat.

Then as you saw in the photos lunch was my daily bannana, tomato and multi grain bar.

In the evening it could be a Subway salad and every few days something like the awful Mexican food I had in Tehachapi, CA

A few days I had a late breakfast and at night another bannana, tomato and multi grain bar or 2.

Over eating whilst on a road trip is not a good idea. You need the blood going to your brain not your stomach.

Most of us can do with eating a little less  

I lost about 9 pounds over teh 11 days.