Day Two: Remedial Road Lessons... (Finally!)

Day Two of My Summer Trip...

I woke up around 7 The next morning feeling ratHer hung-over from the prevIous dayS dehydration on the road. I took my time, getting a shoWer & pAcking up to leave before making my way into the diner portion of the Store/office of the hotel. I fixed myself A cup of coffee and a plate of french toast and sat down to eat as the owner of the hotel was wanderinG aRound clEAning up The store. We exchanged pleasantries and began to chat while I ate & he cleaned. He asked where I was From and where I was headed. I coUld see a spark of memory in his eye when I told him and he started to regale me with his own tales of a younger life on the road. It seems he was an old sChool biKer from ArIzoNa who used to ride up into Utah every chance he Got. When the time came foR hIm to retire & plant himself in one spot, this was the only suitable location. They bought the lanD & startEd the hotel & store and were workIng on a full serviCe restAuraNt to go with iT.
As I finished my breakfast I asked him about the fastest Way back to I-15. He just kindA smIled and Told me thaT if I left the 89 I'd be dOing my trip a Great disservice. As he Outlined my pAth I would only be losinG about 30 minutes And the rIde would be much more eNjoyable to stay on the State Highway all the way to I-70. Well, who am I to argue with a great ride?
My God, was he ever right! The first thing I saw was , as he had told me, the Sevier river that runs backwards! He had told me that it was the only river in North America that runs South to North. I have found, though, that there are a handful of others, but regardless of exclusivity, this was both gorgeous and weird! I was riding leisurely along just south of Panguich, Ut, enjoying the beautiful landscape (and glad to be out of the desert!) when I noticed a couple of hot-air balloons rising up above the trees.

I pulled over to take a couple of photos and get a drink before continuing up the road. A little farther up the road I saw a couple more balloons, so I pulled back over for some more photos.


Now convinced I had seen a beautiful sight and had the pictures to prove it I started off again, sure that I wouldn't need to stop again. Boy, was I wrong. As I topped the hill & rounded a curve this is the sight that greeted me.


I couldn't wait to pull over to get the photos. I swear there must have been a thousand balloons in the area! A banner stretched across the road announced it as the "Panguich Valley Balloon Rally". I was passing through on it's last day.
Beside the road was a Utah Highway Patrol car with the Lights flashing. Apparently he was trying to keep people from pulling over to take pictures and causing what would pass for a traffic tie-up in Panguich. I got my photos and offered my apologies & headed on my way.
Pulling out the other side of town, I learned another valuable lesson. Never follow a pick up with a barking dog through a small town's residential district. After fueling up I fell in behind a farm truck with a farm dog that was very excited by all the balloons. He was bouncing around the truck bed from side to side barking his head off. He was a beautiful dog (I'm a dog person) and I was getting a kick out of watching him... Until we pulled in front of another dog's house. It seems the resident dog didn't like the truck dog barking in front of his house and he came out to let him know, chasing the truck barking his head off. I damn near ran him over. I was seriously afraid he was going to get caught up in my front wheel. The dog was all over the road, so maneuvering was not really an option, so I got yet another test of how fast I can shut Kate down when something goes awry.
After getting out of town, I had only open road & time to reflect through out the rest of Utah. I did stop at a view point off of I-70 to get some pictures of Devil's Canyon, but I must tell you that the best View of it was from the highway right after the view-point. Sadly, I was not willing to push my luck and as I was being followed by another of Utah's finest, I didn't pull over for those photos.
My next lesson of the day came when I pulled over for lunch & gas and decided to call the Harley dealership that I was planning to visit to see when they closed. The Atlas I got from Harley listed them as open on Sunday, but that seems to mean little to the dealers... They were closed.
So I satarted calling other dealerships along the way. I reached the folks at Aspen Valley Harley Davidson in Glenwood Springs and found that they were indeed open on Sunday, but in order to make it I was gonna have to push. So, I spent the remainder of the afternoon well focused on getting there on time. In the end I made it with a few minutes to spare.


I'm not sure how well you can see it on the blog, but in the photo of the gas station, you can just make out the snow capped mountain under the corner of the canopy. I had never thought that I would be riding in places that still had snow on the ground, but I did!
I had been having wonderful luck with the weather so far, And just a couple of miles East of Glenwood Springs, that luck ran out. I started feeling water drops that I thought were splashes from the river beside the highway, as the sun was still shining bright and there were only a few clouds visible. The drops however got bigger and more frequent as the clouds started to show themselves, Culminating in a full-blown rainstorm. At this point I didn't have any rain gear except for my Leather, which I pulled over to don, thinking to myself that my next opportunity I was going to purchase a full set of rain gear. I pulled into Limon, Co. just after sunset and found a hotel. I was told by the clerk to park my bike right outside the door as there would be someone in the lobby all night & they would keep a close eye on her for me. Thanking her I lugged all of my gear (Is that why they call it "luggage?) to my room and spread my leather out to dry before taking a quick shower & heading across the road for food. After a great plate of grilled liver, ,a couple of Sam Adams and a quick game of pool, I could not wait to get back to the room to go to sleep. As much as I was enjoying the ride, I was definitely ready to arrive the next day...
Day three will follow soon, I hope you're enjoying the ride!
I'll catch you on the road!

Holy Hell, I Want One!!!

I want to start off this post by offering an apology to all who have posted comments recently. I don't get on Blogger to check my comments, I do that on My email. I get on Blogger to write my posts, and then go to your blogs to read yours. I don't spend my time reading what I wrote, You know? Anyway, For some reason my Email provider has been dropping all incoming mail into spam which I rarely check because... well I hate spam (The Email kind, I actually really like the meat kind)
Anyway. I am now aware of the problem and will be more precise in checking. I hope you are all well and I am glad you didn't forget me!


Now...
You have to understand... My first Harley was a sportster...I love the bikes. I realize they're not practical for someone like myself who wants to take off on long rides with a passenger in some semblance of comfort, but they're fast, light, maneuverable and an all out blast to play on. I sold that bike so that I could afford to move my family to Southern California in a kind of "Gift of the Magi" scenario... I sold my Harley so I could move somewhere that has a 12 month riding season. It turned out to be the best move I ever made. I got to work in a dealership for a year, then found a job that would allow me to afford a New Bike, and with my kids getting bigger I needed a bigger bike. But in my heart of hearts there will always be a soft spot for sporties! I've found several models that I like over the years, but I don't have the available cash or the space for another bike... But If I did...



This would definitely be the Bike. The new Throw-Back to the Old school XR750. Harley's new XR1200. The Official description is ...
"Drawing significant design influences from the successful Harley-Davidson XR750 motorcycles that set new standards for dirt track racing success over the last 30 years, the XR1200 features technical innovation to provide potent street performance and handling. In fact, Harley-Davidson dirt track racing legends Scott Parker and Rich King participated in the XR1200 development, along with European GP racing champion Adrien Morillas. The 1200cc Evolution V-Twin cranks out 90 hp with high torque. Rubber mounted to a new frame with a cast aluminum swingarm, the engine delivers exhilarating performance and responsive handling with less vibration. A unique upswept, high-volume 2-1-2 straight shot exhaust system includes dual mufflers and is finished in satin chrome. A sport-tuned Showa® suspension with inverted 43 mm front forks and twin preload adjustable shocks combines with lightweight black cast three-spoke wheels to make the XR1200 ride and corner with feeling. Specially designed Dunlop® Qualifier D209 tires connect the rider to the road, while Nissin® four-piston calipers and large dual disc front brakes provide stopping power."



I have a feeling you'll need saddlebags just to hold the Balls this thing has!
I hope you all have a happy and safe Thanksgiving (In the U.S.) & I'll catch you on the road!

Happy Veterans Day!

I just wanted to take a minute to offer my own Heartfelt thanks to all of those who have put so much on the line so that I could be free to write this blog. Our entire country owes you a huge debt of grattitude. Whether your service is in the past or the present, in war or in peace, I thank you all!

Harley's "Build It To Win it" Sweepstakes

Hey Ya'all !
I'm a little late in posting this one, But in case you haven't heard, Harley has a new promotion going. In the “Build It to and Win It” sweepstakes, contestants can customize a Harley-Davidson 2009 model and enter it to win the bike they designed. Using the Genuine Motor Accessories Customizer, Anyone can choose a Harley-Davidson model and then select from hundreds of custom options, including Color Shop custom paint sets, Screamin’ Eagle performance components, hand and foot controls, custom front end parts and decorative collections, and place them on a virtual motorcycle. As the bike is created, each new component appears on a picture of the virtual motorcycle, so a customizer can see exactly what the finished custom Harley-Davidson will look like. After customizing, the bikes can then be saved in a personal profile “Garage,” along with a convenient, printable list of each component with its part number and price.

A contestant can customize, save and enter up to ten 2009 models between Oct. 15 - Nov. 6 and each will be entered to win. Representatives from the company will randomly select one bike, which will be awarded to the Grand Prize winner after the Nov. 6 deadline.
SO, Now I'm off to the customizer... I'm thinking "Night Glide"!
Hope you're all well & ride ready!
Catch you on the Road

Harley Davidson & Adventures In Chrome

Hey folks! I know, It's been a while.... I'm sorry, Life gets in the way some times, and if I have to choose between riding & writing about riding, I'm goin' for a ride!
That having been said, I will return with the rest of the details about my ride this summer as well as details on another event from this year, but I still have to clear some hurdles before I can share that.
What I do want to share right now is that I'm working on a relationship with Harley that will benefit all who are truly into the Bikes and the Company, This will include Company released information brought directly to riders. How cool is that? Hmmm Maybe I should ask about some gear, maybe some new upgrades for Kate in exchange for road reviews? I'd be more than happy to try out, say a high back King & Queen seat for the Softail Custom, just saying...
Seriously Folks, I'm not sure yet, myself, exactly what all this new relationship will entail, but I will say that its starting off on the right foot... or feet, or more specifically legs. Yeah, Marisa Miller's Legs to be perfectly clear.
Marisa will evidently be the poster girl for the V-rod Muscle. Now you all know The V-rod is not my favorite ( Water-cooled?) but I don't judge and I have noticed that the line is developing quite the dedicated following. And Now they bring Marisa into the Mix. Hmmm. I think they just got another follower. Here's a little tidbit from behind the scenes, and you can see for yourself...



Now the only thing I can see that's wrong with that girl is that she Told us about her family members who ride, but she never said she did.

Hey, Marisa, I bet we could find some volunteers to teach you.

Hey, Does anyone know the name of that song? I want that for my iPod.

I'll be back soon, Keep the shiny side up & I'll catch you on the road

Lessons from the Road (Or "The Learning Curve)

I've been trying to post this for a couple of weeks. I actually started writing from the road, but that didn't work out too well. Forgive me the absence, I'll try posting this and subsequent Motorcycling events in smaller issues, more often. I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July... I'll Catch you on the Road! Camron ____________________________________________________________________

I took this picture Friday (June 27) after the bike was done for the night to show you the starting point for the ride. I finished packing afterward and spent the evening with my family, or tried to at least. My sons are apparently too old to want to spend time with me just because I'm leaving town.
I got up early Saturday and went through & made sure I had packed everything I needed. I usually forget at least one thing, but so far this trip I haven't figured out what it could be. After I got everything packed & loaded, we woke the boys up & I took the whole family to Breakfast. As Much as I had been looking forward to the trip, I was finding plenty of reasons to take a couple of more minutes. Just trying to figure out
what I forgot before I got too far away.

After breakfast we went out to the parking lot for a couple of pics and said our farewells, then I started off... well, after a quick circle down by the beach to see the pacific one more time before I left.
I finally hit the highway about 8:00 A.M. & enjoyed cool fair weather until after 11:00. Then it started getting warm. I had a slight fuel issue in the area of Calico Ca. When My light came on I pulled off & asked about fuel at a convenience store. Met an old time/Bike enthusiast who assured me he had a Classic Norton Commando at home. We chatted for a few with him giving me advice on motorcycling, such as never have anything but leather between you & the pavement if you go down (Seems he went down in a down parka once... It was snowing feathers for four blocks down the road!) before he told me the closest gas was 6 miles back, and the closest gas ahead of me was well farther than I can make it with the fuel light on. (It comes on when there is aprox 1 gallon in the tank.) My best MPG ever was 53, and the next gast waS 58 miles ahead. Too close for me to chance, so I went back. The closest station that he was telling me about had all the card readers taped off, so I went inside to pay and was informed that the station was completely out of gas. Back on the bike for 5 more miles of backtracking through the California desert. This time in order to reach the next exit, I had to go through the inspection station where they make sure you don't have any illegal vegetation on your vehicle...
Fun Fun Fun. After I got gassed up I figured out that I better not use the light as my stop guage and I started paying a LOT more attention to my fuel level.
This put me a little behind where I wanted to be, but I still rode into Red Rock Harley-Davidson at about 1:00. I was getting a bit dehydrated, because I was just stupid enough to decide to send the hydration pack home with my wife from Denny's instead of wearing it out. So, I stayed put & had lunch & got plenty to drink before heading back out.
While my next planned stop was supposed to be Zion Harley-Davidson, I decided to stop a bit more often for water breaks, and generally used any excuse to do so. Like taking a couple of pictures of the Nevada desert (Mojave?) scenery...
After a couple of these stops, I rolled into Zion Harley-Davidson in Washington, Utah with about 10 minutes to spare till closing time. However the staff were wonderfully accommodating and helped me find what I was looking for (T-shirt, Water, Directions) With no hurry whatsoever . Great People. They gave me directions and a map showing how to get through Zion National park,

And told me most of the riders usually do Bryce Canyon as part of the same ride, But as it was sunset already as I went through Zion, I decided not to do Bryce Canyon.


Zion, However is a truly magnificent place.

For the first time in my trip, I had a deeply spiritual connection between myself and the land around me that was channeled through Kate.

At this precise moment I realized that Heaven does exist and it's not a far off fantasy place. It's right under your nose if you just open yourself up & look for it.


Mother Nature's pallet has endless colors to be sure.
Shortly after coming out of Zion, with the sun dropping more into the horizon, I began to wonder how much longer I should ride. I had decided to stay on the 89 all the way to I-70. Several miles down the road I saw a Doe grazing beside the road and caught the tingling sensation that maybe I should start looking for a hotel.
After passing several and deciding to push just a little farther, I rounded a curve to find a Buck in the middle of a road crossing, being followed by four more Bucks and three Does. I started down-shifting in a hurry and found myself watching one of the bucks approach me straight on from the side. He was so close I could reach out and touch his nose before he turned to run parallel with me for several yards before I left him behind. With this as my wake-up call I slowed my speed tremendously and started to look in earnest for the next available hotel.
I came upon the "Mountain Harvest Resort", a quaint little lodge of Log-cabin style buildings & pulled into the gravel parking lot.
Pulling off my helmet I walked into the convenience store/ office and proceeded to the counter.
The lady behind the counter asked, "how's it going?"
To which, I replied, "That depends... Do you have any rooms?"
"Yes, They're all double rooms..."
I cut her off. "I don't care. I'll take it"
I'm not usually a rude individual, but in this particular instance the road had won this round and I was not myself.
I paid the woman for the room and asked about food. The only open restaurant in town was another mile down the road, SO I unpacked in a hurry & left for it in the dying light.
I would find out later that the resort is owned by a former biker & his family. He used to live in Arizona and ride up to this part of Utah a lot. So when the time came
I returned to my room well after dark and retired for the night, many lessons learned.

Playing in the Desert

Hey, Ya'all... Remember me?
I thought you might get a kick out of my trip last weekend (June 13-15).
My wife's family has a time-share in Palm springs that they all like to go to every year (in the summer for some reason). Well, the family Matriarch decided she's done with it & intends to let go of the time-share. This being the last year, My wife decided to take the kids along with her & her Mother, her mother's friend and My Brother-in-law & his family. Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I agreed to ride out for the weekend. Since I have to work and I already have my vacation scheduled, I had to come home Sunday night. And since my trip was kind of a quick one, I got to take the bike!
My wife decided to wait until after I got off of work on Friday to leave so she could follow me out.
I should preface this by telling you that I had JUST gotten my new Leather T-bag and chaps from Fox Creek Leather... A truly fantastic outfitter if ever there was one. Everything I've bought from them so far has been the highest quality. I cannot extol their service enough. Scarlett, If you read this, You're a doll. The chaps were a perfect fit, no trimming required.
OK, where was I... Palm Springs... How was it? Hot!, Duh!. Rode up the 15N to the 215N, Then to the 60 east... We stopped here at a Wendy's for a quick drink then got back on the highway, Followed the 60 to the 10 East, then to the 111. That takes you right into Palm Springs. We stay right on the outskirts of the city.
After we got checked in, we went to dinner & then back to the hotel to swim for a little bit.
Ya know, that's really all there is to do in Palm Springs... Swim. Too hot for anything else.
I did get up Saturday morning and take Kate for a ride to Palm Springs Harley. I didn't even get a shirt. The only special thing I saw there was a Beautifully painted leather patch. Even that didn't fit me, personally, but it was nice. After that I couldn't WAIT to get back to the pool.
Saturday we had a cook out, with the whole family coming over... Can you guess who got stuck with grill-duty? Alone? While everyone else was chatting in the room, I got to cook for them all on a hot grill in the desert heat. Frankly, I got the better end of the deal. Shhhh.
After the food it was back in the pool. Sunday we went to a local restaurant for breakfast for Father's Day... For sake of interest I'll just skip to the part where I get to ride home...


I Geared up & prepared to leave at about 5 PM Sunday. It only took another half hour to get everything taken care of & leave. I filled up with Gas at Palm Springs Shell at 5:38, Then Hit the road... Thinking ahead, I grabbed the camera.


I HAD to show you...
First off, for those who are Eco conscious, on the highway leading into Palm Springs, there is a HUGE wind farm, where they use modern wind mill turbines to harvest energy from mother nature in a way that is nearly completely nature-friendly. I just think they look cool as hell! So, I stopped & took several pics of Kate with these as a background. This is my favorite...


SHortly after remounting & getting back on the road, I caught the 10W. About two exits down the road there is a place to stop where the (ancient) past comes alive. If you've ever seen Pee Wee's Big adventure, these should look familiar...


Yes, I know, I have to have Kate in all of my Pictures... It's a quirk I have... I don't mind.


After several minutes of taking photos we again got back on the highway. I thought I'd just bee-line home from there, but just a little ways down the 60W I found myself traveling through a pass that gave way to a beautiful view. I had to stop one more time to share this with you...
After several attempts to get this pic without passing cars in the background, I realized how much daylight I was losing and I wanted to get home & get something to eat., SO I got serious & went home.


I pulled into the gas station down the street at 7:34. 1 hour & 56 minutes to ride back when it took us 2 1/2 hours to get out there... & I stopped more!
Not bad, 300 miles in the desert for the weekend.
Now, I'm ready for my next trip. I leave Saturday morning for the 2,000 mile trip from San Diego to Kansas City. Yes, I'm taking my camera... Yes, I'm taking my laptop, and Yes, I'll be posting from the road...
Till then, Keep the shiny side up. I'll catch you on the Road...