A trip Report is more of a perception of where you've been than a
declaration of route numbers traveled on. I will try to convey the
personality of my travels with my 2 friend OMB (Old Man Bud) and 'Nip'
Morgan as we take a 2 week trip from Socal to Leadville, Co and back.
OMB, is older than dirt. He still loves his motos to distraction. He
once drove his VW bus into Mexico City with
his wife and 4 kids on Holiday. They had no concrete plans, but he
stopped at the first motorcycle shop that he came to (about 1950), and
as his wife says, "Even before he found them a hotel room or got the
family fed, he talked the Horex dealer into sponsoring him a 500cc
Horex to race up the Mtn that towers over Mexico City". She's still
pissed about that. Ha.
BTW, for background, OMB raced all the Catalina Grand Prixs back in the '50s, and 20 years of the hair and Hound events in the Los Angeles area. At one time there was a snow storm in the LA mtns and the night before he put 8 short lengths of motorcycle chain around his rear tire. ....and he actually built and sold swing arms kits for motorcycles in the late '40s for hardtail dirt bikes of the time.
So when I go somewhere moto, I always see if Bud, at 90 yrs old, still wants to go along. He always says, "Yes".
Nip, on the other hand is an old V65 Sabre rider who is a good rider/traveler......and he's one of the good guys. Bud and I met Nip
when we stopped for a short rest at the Park in Lone Pine, Ca We were on a Bonneville Salt Flats trip. He provided us a place
to stay the first night out on that trip, and has proved to be a good friend since then, as we stayed at his place on the western slope of the Sierras that night and a couple more times since then.
Bud and I wanted to cross the western desert at a little higher
elevation around Tonopah Nv, so Nip was contacted for a possible
overnight, and he was in the mood for a ride-about, and decided to
come along with us to Leadville Co. We were to meet an internet
groups of rider there from all over the USA.
I went to Bud's house the morning that we began our trip. I was
towing my Dualsport bike with my '84 V65 Sabre. Bud was riding his
'84 VT500 Ascot. Engine wise it is only half-a-bike, but can cruise
at 70+mph which is faster than I run my Sabre when towing. We loaded
up and hit the road at 9:30am.
The first surprise happened not 5 miles from Bud's place.....A car
pulled up along side us on the I-5 freeway just south Of Oceanside Ca
and tooted it's horn. I figured it was someone wanting to tell me
some of my pack was falling off my cycle.
But then the guys was familiar looking.....for Christ's sake it was
Milt Oberman....a long time moto friend from LA taking his grandson to
Legoland. Soon we had found an off ramp and pulled over for a howdy.
It was a 1 in a million odds
situation. Truth is stranger than fiction......but, although it was
good to see Milt, I would rather have won the lottery with my '1 in a
million' coincidence. Damn.
I decided to take us thru LA rather than the inland route thru
Riverside because the weather was hot. I don't think it was much cooler either way. We hit some
traffic in LA, but not bad,....gassed up a couple times and Hit the
highest temps of the day at Mojave Ca, maybe something about 105.
Gas Stop north of LA
It
probably dropped to high 90s at the Coso rest stop on 395. The green
grass and shade invited us to take a short nap. Felt good
Coso rest stop south of Lone Pine
Sierras from Coso
Nip called to see where we were. I said we'd be there soon, as we
were just 40 miles short of his place in Lone Pine. We hooked up at
Nip's about 5pm. The swamp cooler had cooled the place down nicely.
There was moisture in the air....
More sky
Nip loaded most of his stuff in that nice yellow dry bag. Nip's rig always looks tidy and nicely packed.
We compared what we were packing for the trip. Nip was going to
free camp with us which wasn't his norm, but he looked well prepared.
Just to put things in order, Nip is 64, Bud is 90, and I'm 70. We all
watch our pennies. :) Did I mention that McDonald's is our best friend?
Around 7pm we slipped out for something to eat at Micky D's a couple blocks away and
were probably in bed before 9. We'd get really started on our trip tomorrow.
We were up early. On the road by 8. First business was to gas up
at a station in Independence that had a Carl's Jr. We got breakfast there, then hit the
road in earnest. We took Westgard Pass thru Dyer toward Tonopah. It
was a nice ride thru Canyons, Mtns, farming flatlands, and outright
desert on the way to Tonopah. Tonopah is up at 5000+ft which kept the
temps sub 100, and with our cool vests we weren't heat stressed at
all.
After 2 minute ride north on 395 toward Independence.
On the way to Westgard Pass.....
A fellow can fill his camera with pics of mountains when riding out here all too easily.
Entering Westgard Pass going east out of Bishop....
Nip told us about a college out this way. It's a working ranch and they only accept the brightest of the bright. They encourage free thinking and innovative methods. Nip applied for a teaching job there to teach art. It's over there in that green sum'ers.
Coming out the east side of Westgard Pass. It was another 150 miles to Tonopah.
I checked to see if my towed bike was still there
After more then 12000 miles towing that bike, I'm finally getting used to it and trust it to follow me without upsetting me too much. Nowadays I carve thru the curves at a comfortable rate and cruise the highway at 60 to 70. The brakes that I added after my first trip was a big help with the confidence.
On toward small town Dyer
Downtown Dyer....we added a gallon of 5$ gas in Dyer
On toward Tonopah
It was 170 miles with no gas to Ely Nv or 165 miles to Ash Springs along the
exter-terrestrial Hwy of Nv, past area 51 and Groom Lake, ....and all that
stuff. After gassing up we choose the UFO HWY.
I should have cleaned the mirror. :)
Looking toward Area 51
Bud thinks his tank is 2.8 gals, right at half of mine. With his extreme MPG that is 10
miles total per tank from what I can do while towing. Bud get's 70 mpg when
traveling in the low 60s. Nip can get 200 miles from his 2001 Harley.
So theoretically we can make it to gas. A simple 10 mph headwind
would change everything dramatically. My ace in the hole was the 4 gals that my
Dualsport carries. In a pinch we could transfer gas from that bike.
The ride thru that area of Nv is full of interesting Sights The
road is up and down and twisty, and you can see forever....never any
pesky trees messing with the view. I like that.
There's one small town at mile 120, Rachel Nv. The A'Le'inn is
there at the access road to Groom Lake. [url]http://www.littlealeinn.com/[/url]
They have a combo Bar/cafe/store. They have lots of alien souveniers.
We stopped for a break and soda.....and to rewet out vests. While
there, an owner stopped to tell us that many motos get stuck there out
of gas......and that she stocks 5 gal cans of gas for folks in
desperation. That was good to know.
A'Le'Inn along the extra Terrestrial Hwy at Rachel Nv. Pick up your souvineers here.
While taking this break there were a couple little light squalls
come thru. The west is getting moist air from Mex this time of year
and anything is possible. The rain passed on and so did we.
We moved on down to the gas station at Ash Springs. Ash springs
is just a gas station without much else....but Nip told us that there
was a public hot springs in the patch of trees just across the street.
No kidding?? Damned if he wasn't right. We cruised on over there
and were delighted to find the neatest little spring fed swimming pool
that I'd ever seen. Clean water at about 90 degree. Bud and Nip
stripped down to their shots, and I being without the complications of
shorts went swimming in my Levis
Nip in Ash Springs...
In the heat it felt like Paradise. We lounged around there for an
hour...what an oasis.
About 6pm we moved on, all about finding a campsite in mind. We were headed
toward Caliente Nv with a small mtn range in between us and town.
When we got to those MTN we sent Bud into the lead to find us a
suitable camp site. But has always been the 'Kampmaster'. We'd send him off to find us a freecamp. Bud spotted a dirt road and told us to wait while
he went in to check it out. 50 yards later Bud had gone out of
sight. We heard his moto shut off, soon he walked back and waved us
on in.....
We'll, Bud wasn't waving us in to camp. He wanted us to
help him pick up his bike as he had dropped it in the soft
sand.....but by the time we found that out, me with my trailer and Nip
with his Harley, were already in the soft sand. That's where we spent the night
We picked up Bud's bike then I pulled up in there a little farther
and cut my trailer to close to a stump. I couldn't move till I
unhooked the trailer and moved it by hand. Nip pulled up in there,
too.
I was Stuck behind that stump for the night
The good news was that we were out of sight from the road and the
area was big enough to camp in. Looks like in spite of ourselves we
found a place to camp for the night. And there was plenty of firewood. Getting turned around and out of there in the morning would be
dealt with tomorrow.
The weather looked good for the night. I declared that there
would be no rain that night. I couldn't have been more wrong. :(
We quickly set up our beds and bags. Bud had taped 2 trash bags
together to make a waterproof bag to put his sleeping bag in. I had a Blue
Tarp that I lay on half of, and fold the other half over me for rain
Protection. Nip had a tent, but brought the wrong poles for it, or
some such complication We were set for the night....kinda.:wink:
A fire was built, we told some lies, and munched on snacks for
dinner. The fire was comforting as we watched the sky's lightshow, and
listened to thunder in the distance. Hummm,.... seems like that thunder
is getting louder......and the lightning is getting brighter.
The rain started about 9pm which sent us scurrying for our bed
rolls. The thunderclaps, lightning and rain went on for 2 hours.
Even though we all were partially wet, we slept thru most of the
night, and due to summer temps weren't cold .
The first night in the elements had proved to be very interesting.
The night took its sweet time to vanish with the morning light. I suppose being partially wet all night slows time down. Isn't that part of Einsteins theory or summat.
........but no use kicking or squawking, we began breaking camp for the new day.
The good news was that the rain had dampened the sand which made it easier to get back to the road. We were soon underway, and in a few minute we were in a cafe in Caliente for coffee and sustenance.
The Caliente train Station
We each ordered a full order of biscuits and gravy. We couldn't eat half of what they brought. Dang, if I'd been at home I'd have taken the left overs with me.
Caliente Nv has a great old train train station. There was lots of shipping goin on in the old days.
Today we were headed to Ceder City, Panguich, Escalente, and Boulder UT, prolly 250 miles at the most. That would leave us time to stop at the various attractions.
First stop was Ceder City for gas and Nip wanted to dry his sleeping bag at a laundry mat. That took an hour. From there we went up to 10000 ft and stopped at the Ceder Breaks national Monument. 'Breaks' is a description of a highly eroded area like the 'Bad Lands'. Note the National part of the Monument....that means free to geezers. Heh he.
Bud and Nip show off Supreme Point near the top of the mtn east of Cedar city.
OMB was a great one for taking naps. 10 to 20 minutes there at Supreme Point and we all felt a little better.
On we rode toward Brice and Escalante. It was a perfect day for riding. Bud and Nip were in new territory, which is all awesome in that part of Ut. I had promised to meet Tom, from Florida, at LD's house on Thursday, but being that today was Wednesday. I didn't see how that was going to happen at our present pace. I had managed to make a 1000 miles trip into a 1600 mile one by going thru Tonopah. That happens to me a lot.
Red Canyon as we approached Brice on HWY 12
It's hard to believe how red those cliffs are....
We gassed up in Escalante. While sitting there who should show up, but the Bike Doctor. I've been to Escalante 3 times and have met him three times. He wanted to fix our bikes for us if we should need anything,.... and take picture of my trailer. He remembered seeing me 2 years ago when I was there with Ara from www.oasisofmysoul.com .
While we BSed at the gas station, Bud drew my attention to a gas tank leak near his petcock. Closer inspection showed a constant, tiny spurt of gas coming from an itty bitty hole, and squirting on one of his spark plugs. Too bad we had filled the tank already. Emptying for repair would be that much harder if we had to take the tank off.
Desperate problems require desperate solution. I told Bud to push the bike into the shade, and I went into the gas station/hardware store, and took a look at his epoxy supplies. I found some 2 part Devcon that hardens in 5 minutes. $5 later I was mixing a batch on the ground beside Bud's bike. I mixed in a piece of napkin to give it some matt strength. I applied a glob over the leak and held pressure on it till it cured. Damned if it didn't work. We were back on the road in about a half hour.... Cool. Luck beats Good!
We didn't have far to go as Boulder was only 30 miles up the road. Boulder is at the start of the Burr Trail, a road that goes about 75 miles down to Bullfrog on the Co River. We rode there stopping at the spectacular Capital Reef view point for a look see.
Capital Reef looking north
....and again looking south.
Soon we were at the Boulder grill for dinner. I couldn't help but notice the cool hat on the young man at the next table. Richard Petty or Mick Dundee would have been proud to own this guy's hat. Turns out it's made by the San Diego Hat company. I may own one myself someday.
The Boulder grill is a bit yuppie, and charged 11 bucks for there lowest Hamburger. The other restaurant a 100 yds East on Burr Trail Rd is a much better bet.
After Dinner we had enough time to ride 25 miles out the Burr Trail which is one of Utah's little known secret canyon drives. That's Burr Trail down there.
We located a side road where we camped without any of the drama from the night before. We made a nice campfire and took our leisure as we unwound from another great day on the road.
Breaking camp in the morning
We rode out Burr Trail till the canyon ended and the dirt road started as it dropped down the Burr Trail Dugway....
At the top of this Dugway, you can scream and get half a dozen echos back.
...... then turned around and went for breakfast in Boulder. Burr Trail is a delightful ride and eventually turns to dirt and will end up in Bullfrog if you go far enough.....but from Boulder there is 35 miles of pavement before the dirt.
Nip and Bud on Burr Trail
Nip's acting frisky after a good night's sleep :rofl
Red Cliffs of Burr Trail....As usual my pics don't do the Burr Trail justice.
After Breakfast in Boulder we continued toward Torrey and Hanksville.
Bud began life in 1920 in Ok. He was the youngest of 6 kids, and small
at about 5.6". I don't imagine he did too well in school, because he
had too many outside interests.
His family moved to Huntington Beach before his first birthday. For
instance, he learned to ride his brothers Harley at age 15 by
sneaking it out of the garage when his brother was working.
Not long after this, he got his own Harley VTwin.....only his was a
single, since it had had trouble with the rear cyl, and in those days
a fix was to take the piston and rod out, block off the crankcase and
run them as a single.
As he got older he started to run dirt enduro rallies all over the LA
hills. Imagine riding the dirt with a hardtail.
Soon he discovered girls, and that required a car....sorta. At 16 he
bought a Model A roadster along with a wrecked '32 Ford V8. Soon the
V8 was in the roadster, and a whole new world opened up.
So he was always an inventive guy. I'll give more excerpts of OMB's history
That's the Co River and it's colder than I wanted any part of.
life as we go along.
North from Boulder, there was some nice 9500 ft mtns to twist our way thru on the way to Torrey.
Then east thru a magnificent red cliff section to Hanksville where we connect to 95. Red Cliffs east of Torrey....My bikes still following and intact.
We stopped for gas in Hanksville. There were three 20 yr old bicycle gals in the gas station getting refreshed. They had ridden 55 miles from Torrey mostly all gradually sloped downhill all the way losing a 1000ft or so. They said they were dreading the ride back which was the same 55 heading up hill this time and at 90 degrees by now.
While we sat in that station I noticed an old defunct Hillman type of Station wagon sitting dead on the edge of the lot. I asked Nip or Bud if they knew what it was. As we spoke another tourist went over to look at it and take pictures. I asked him about it....in a German accent he said it was a German made Goliath. He also said that that car was rare in Germany. I wondered what it's story was, and how the hell did it get to Hanksville to die in the heat. It might just be the 'eighth' wonder of the world.
So on toward Blanding we continued. We would cross Lake Powell at Hite Ut prolly at 3000 ft......lower than we were at Hanksville. Temperature would surely be a factor there, even though we were using our cool vests. Yep, we stopped there for sodas and a dip in the Lake....Nert, Wrong, Some branch of the government has managed to slap a charge on the last 1/4 mile to the water. Did I mention it was 109 at the Hite store.
We'd rise back up to 7500 feet at Blanding in the next hour so that dropped the temp to reasonable. We gassed and lunched in Blanding then continued on the small roads to Montecello, Dove Creek, Edgar, Norwood. That's all Co now. At Norwood we found that the gas station, though closed after 6pm, would, thankfully, take our credit cards.
It was time to camp for the night. Some kids walking down the street told us that a National forest was just off to our south a few miles. That was all we needed to hear. We found the Natl Forest access road and headed for the hills. Not 100 feet past the forest boundary was a trail to a free campsite. We got in there about 7pm. Plenty of time for a nice camp setup, and to make a fire in the already made rock fire ring.
We even had time to enjoy my mp3 music player with speakers. Patsy Cline, Ray Charles, Roy Clark....etc. It doesn't get any better than that.
Even at around 9000 ft the temp was very comfortable. Under the shadow of Lone Cone Peak we felt like the masters of our souls.
.........We were officially a day late to LD's meet up, but we only had about 150 miles to complete tomorrow.
I always liked Bud's story about taking his roadster out to the El Mirage Dry lake to run it for top speed. I think he was about 19 at the time, that would be about 1939. He took his best girl along (His wife of nearly 70 years) to the Dry Lake with him. He said it was a big meet as one of the first belly tank streamliners was there to run. It ran 112 mph. Bud ran 99+ that day. He was very disappointed that he didn't join the 100 mph club. I guess he had taken the windshield and fenders off for his attempt, and left them at home. As the meet was about over a desert squall rolled through, and the dry lake became a sloppy mess of mud. He said that before he got off that lake his girl friend was covered in mud thrown off the nekid tires. He said it was a while before she got over that.
We got up after a night without rain, and a lot of stars. The stars at 9000ft are much brighter and more exhilarating than they are at sea level with a bunch of light pollution. It was chilly enough that a campfire felt good as we packed up.
As we tried to leave Bud told me that he was having trouble getting the ignition switch to turn on...... I took that to mean that the key was resisting turning and more or less blew the problem off.....but I thought we could hear more of this as time went on.
In fact,....now I remember Bud complaining about this last year on our Bonneville ride. Hummmm.....
We got the bikes running and left our Mtn paradise. We rode to Ridgeway and had Subway for lunch. Some local boys assured me that the route north thru Gunnison was much shorter to Westcliffe than the southern rt thru Durango.
We only had 150 miles to do.....3 hrs at the most, Right? Well, not if you are in beautiful Co. There are just too many reasons to stop and look at things. Such as the hr and a half we spent along the Arkansas River for a Bud nap.
Tom and LD rode out to meet us without success. They had a nice ride, but we were at least 2 hours behind schedule. Duh Sorry guys.
We arrived at LD's around 5pm. How's that for making a long ride out of a short one?
So we planned an over night dirt ride for the next day. LD has been searching for the perfect dualsport bike so he has 3 that ran. Two Kawi 250s and a Suzi 650. He generously offered the 250s to Nip and Bud while leaving one for himself. Tom had brought his 250 Kawi with him from Florida.
LD built his place there out of prefab built, house parts. Getting to his place require going up a 50 yard hill that has a sweeper in it. LD said they they had a hell of a time getting a crane in there to set the house sections. That hill is why he has such a beautiful view of the Sangre De Christo Mtns.
Later that evening LD got some steaks out of the freezer that Tom grilled on the outside BBQ. I had said earlier that it didn't get any better than that.....well that was true until then.
In the morning we got up. It turned out that LD was just too busy with a gravel shipment for his driveway to go riding with us so the 4 of us, Tom, Nip, Bud and I went for a ride up Hermits Trail in the Sangre de Christo range nearby.
Well, that didn't go too well, as something got in the float bowl needle that starved Bud's bike of gas when we started to climb. We nursed that along for a while, but eventually decided to nurse ourselves back to LD's for a carb cleaning.
By the time we got back the carb had fixed itself somehow. I love a self-fixing bike.....and to Boot LD was finished and his friend Dave was there on his DR650, so we loaded up and went for our overnight camp ride.
Tom and Nip were newish dirt riders. Tom has heard my Bullshit before and was careful to warn me, "Now remember, Pete, nothing too tough". I don't know why I get blamed for everything. Hell, I'm a recovering cancer patient, weak as a dishrag. I'm not likely to try anything tough. :(
Anyway, about 4pm we locate a free camp in the Natl forest about 20 miles from LD's house.
The road to get there was just the slightest bit challenging per Tom request. Just right for two 70 year olds, one 73, a 90, and the 64 year old kid, Nip.
Tom for his size is in good shape, he hikes the Appalachian Trail and goes to the gym. 73 year old Dave is a horse of a guy. It's amazing how much physical difference 6 geezers can have.
I wondered just how much this guy could eat. I thought it best to not give him a chance.
I'm really weak from past shoulder probs and recent Chemo, Bud is weak from old age, LD is weak from childhood polio, Nips in pretty good shape. Anyway none of that matters if you enjoy getting out into nature like we do....and we keep to the easy dirt roads.....mostly.
At camp, we had a nice fire, and compared camp stove. Tom, LD and I have our homade beer can Alcohol stoves. I'm experimenting with adding gasoline to my alcohol to make it burn hotter at altitude with some success. LD's stove is very good, but too complicated for my taste....Tom is moving toward a whisperLite stove.
Of course we didn't have anything to cook except coffee in the morning. :) But we all enjoy playing with our stoves. Ha
Forest scene at camp
As the evening approached we had several Deer wander near to our camp. They always look at us with that incredulous look as if to say, "What the F$ck are you doing here?".
Eventually, the sun went down and we went to sleep. There was only the slightest rain during the night. In the morning we decided to take a ride that would take us to Co's Great Sand Dune Park on a dirt road that LD had taken his Suburban on. The idea was Tom approved.
The weather was nice as we lit out for the day. We were on the road to the GSD when low and behold we came to a closed gate. The sign said closed due to fire further on. Oh Shit, what will we do now? We have the council together here.
Contemplating what to do about the fire closure
Hear's the sneaky part, as everyone had let their guard down because of the closure we were desperate for a new plan. Well, the Rainbow trail was nearby. The Rainbow trail is a 100 mile long trail that travels north and south along the east side of the Sangre de Cristo range. It's generally used by hikers or quads or OHV motos, but where we found it the trail was a very reasonable dirt trail. That helped with the seduction.
See that trail isn't bad.
We agreed to ride that a ways even though LD warned us that in other areas the trail was pretty challenging. Tom was iffy. I told him to go first with Nip. If it got too tough he could stop us all and we'd turn around and go back. Heh he.
A sign said that it was only 3 miles to another road intersection, cool, how hard could that be? I'm guessing the nice part lasted a mile before Tom came to a down hill that he went down, but would not be able to get back up, so that eliminated the possible turn around and go back idea.
You see even the very caution can get sucked into the vortexes of a seemingly casual dirt road. We were committed. Somehow Tom and Nip got out front when Bud fell down the first time, and LD and I had to help pick the bike up. It went downhill from there. LD fell a couple time. I fell a couple times, once trapping my foot under the bike, and I couldn't get the bike off me till LD helped me. Bud fell 3 or 4 more time in rocky downhills and uphills.
Here's where Bud launched his bike into a tree. :clap
This was all taking a toll on our energy reserves. Once, LD attempted to get his kickstand down. He had to lean the bike away from the stand....oh, oh, shit there went the bike over the other way almost into a small creek. A downed tree stopped the bike from going completely into the creek but it was upside down off the trail. Sorry, no picture...
Nothing stopped LD from going into the creek though. Heh, he. Well, he was wet and his ass was bruised, but nothing broken. However it did take all our strength and the rest of our reserves of energy to get that bike up and back on the trail. :(
I'm not shitting you. We were tired. Bud was scared to try the tougher parts now so I would ride his bike down or up the tough spots and then walk back to get mine. LD's DR650 was tiring his 135 lb body to a frazzle. We took to riding a half mile and laying down for 15 minutes. Where the hell was the end of this trail?
By the time we got out of there, I can't remember a time that I've ever been so tired. Did I mention hungry? That coffee this morning wasn't doing it. That 3 miles trail must have taken 2 hrs.
We all limped back to Westcliffe and had the most welcome Subway sandwich and cold drink that I'd ever had in all my life.
Finally back at the house we were telling the lies about how we conquered the Rainbow trail to LD's wife Anne.
Nothing more interesting happened for the rest of the day.....except this deer photo near LD's house from his balcony.
The boys hanging out together
I forgot to tell you about Bud in Blanding. Bud had been out of hearing aid batteries for about a day by the time we got there. I resolved to find some for him. We went to a super market, No dice, a convience store, no dice.
Then I figured out that a pharmacy probably would have one. Voila, at the drug store a nice Indian clerk help us find them.....a 16 pack. Cool.
As he fitted a new battery out front in the shade, the Indian maid came out and offered to take a couple pics with our camera. How nice.
Bud installing hearing aid.....he shakes a bit
Bud gets the girl......
We all got up that Thursday morning. In the three days that we'd been around LD's our gear was all over hell. Gathering it all up took more time than usual, and we hadn't fully recovered from yesterdays ride thru hell on the Rainbow trail.
Squalls were in the air....
Squalls were in the air....
Finally, we were ready to leave.....but LD said that we should ride the backway 10 miles out to the road for a last dualsport ride before leaving. So we did that. Palma Canyon or summat. Very nice. Look at this picture of paradise at the junction to the paved road.
Here's a live map of the day's ride. https://goo.gl/maps/oeAiXxiuS6E4XH1E6
Here's a live map of the day's ride. https://goo.gl/maps/oeAiXxiuS6E4XH1E6
So then we were really ready to move on to Leadville's Sugarloaf Campground where we would be meeting about 20 riders from all over the states. These guys are from the Sabre/Magna (sabmaggot) internet list that has kept in touch since it was started back in about '95.
Most have moved on to newer bikes, but there were still 6 of the first Generation of Honda V4s that showed up. Most of us had met before at one time or another. Quite a cool bunch of folks.
Nip, Bud and I moved out of LD's new deep graveled driveway without getting stuck or falling down. We were going to visit St Elmo Co as it was on the Way. We'd see both Tom And LD in Leadville later.
We stopped in Salida under the big 'S' on the mountain to watch some kayakers practice in the water feature installed there on the Arkansas River.
Next was St Elmo. It is a neat old mining town from the 1880s that is very interesting. We had a hot dog at the general store there...doesn't everybody. Oh, and we watched the chipmunks that were being fed by kids across from the store. Then we walked around town and took pictures.
We'd just finished our hotdog.
Parking right in front of the store...Woohoo
Some kind of working cargo sled
Then we moved on. I made a wrong turn onto 285 just north of Buena Vista. I pulled into a multi-pump gas station and selected the only pump that said go inside with your credit card. Grrr....but ok, I can do that. We gassed up and leave. About 15 miles up the road I discover my routing error and get us turned around and back on track after consulting my map. That is a nice canyon on that section of road going east from Buena Vista on 285, though. :) I needed north on 24.
50 miles later we are in camp in Leadville. About 5 other SabMaggots are already in camp. Hellos and handshakes were had as we pitched our camps. The Majority of folks would be in Tomorrow, Friday.
Among them was Tom Blum who is famous for his travels with Vermin, an ADVrider from ADVrider.com, in Mexico.
There's my Blue tarp setup...
More of the Thursday arrivals
We BSed each other till it was time to get some food at around 5pm. 10 or so of us went to town for a burger for dinner. That's when I found out that I had no Credit card and had left it at that last gas station 50 miles away. Damn.
I had unloaded my bike of all the saddle bags and such for a couple of day's riding in the area, and I had 2uped Bud to town behind me. So after my burger, I fixed Bud up with Carl Custer to take him back to camp while I beelined it back to that gas station hoping that it would be there.
Damn the bike felt good when running unloaded. I had to fight with myself to keep the speed down. Sure enough, the credit card was waiting for me. The attendant wondered what became of me. I signed the charge ticket and made my way back to camp. All was well, and I wouldn't have to admit to my wife that I'd lost another Credit Card. Future trips depended on that. Ha.
The rest of the evening was spent lining up what rides to do the next day. It looked like we might get some rain that night, but none materialized.
We had said that kickstands would be up at 0900 in the morning. So much for that idea. But the group of 5 riders that I was in, did take off for Independence Pass and Aspen by 10am. That is a great 60 mile ride from Leadville to Independence Pass and 125 back again, If you go thru Glenwood Springs on I-70. It was only about an hour to the top of Independence pass where we stopped for pictures, of course.
On the way to Independence Pass
Me showing off
At the top
Down the western slope to Aspen is just as good, but Aspen is a traffic nightmare, and was that day as well. On the way to Aspen, we stopped at a pull out to view a bit of the creek by the side of the road. Some kids were jumping into a deep pool there. It was quite a place.
Down the western slope
The old swimming hole is about 5 miles down the slope toward Aspen after there was some runoff build up big enough to cut a canyon thru these rocks.
The girls were the only ones with the cajones to jump.
The water looked cold to me.....but it did look like fun. :)
After giving up on Lunch in Aspen we went back to camp, and had a general good time with the rest of the riders that had showed up from all over. It was a general good time.
Other riders went all sorts of places on the next day on Friday, Jack Smith made a 450 mile run that included Black Canyon.
Then there were riders that had some trouble. Matt was having charging problems on his 82 Magna, and that bike has been Steady Eddie over the years. Kent, also had charging problems crop up while out on his 20xx FJR1300. He was 10 miles from town when he called for help. DeWayne took my bike trailer out to get him with his pickup truck. The FJR fit on the trailer just fine and was soon back at camp for repairs.
Mo and Steve had pulled into camp, giving us a little class with their 2 very fine 84 VF1000F V4s on a nice trailer pulled behind a beautiful late model Mustang. They had gone for a ride, and Steve had sudden death syndrome happen to his bike....It died at speed and never fired again. Eventually, 'Big Red Mo' was able to retrieve Steve and his bike with their trailer.
Jack Smith (left)......BRM (Right)
[BTW, Kent got his FJR back to North Carolina by buying a car battery (and strapping it to the passenger seat) that would fit in the Mustang who lived in NC also. Kent took the fuse out of the headlight to minimize electrical use of running his motorcycle. He then rode along with the Mustang switching batteries with the Mustang when necessary. Pretty clever, I thought.]
I thought that I could diagnose the VF1000F's problem but was completely stumped after examining the beast. This is what I found....
1. I was able to pull #1 & #3 Sparkplugs. There was compression
there, but to my fingers it felt weak....maybe half what there should
have been...just IMHO.
2. I drained #4's float bowl into a beer can bottom. There was the
proper amount of fuel in that Float bowl.
3. There was plenty of battery to grind the starter/engine for testing.
4. I pulled the screws used for carb sync on #1 & #3. There was
zero vacuum there during engine rotation with the starter.
5. Also no vacuum at the carb intakes in the air box.
6. It had spark on #3 & #4. I didn't test the other 2.
I gave up further testing.......What could the matter be???
[Infomation came out months later when Steve tore the engine down that one of the two timing chains had broken. It bent valves and ruined the crank case as well.]
So Saturday came and went with many cycles filing in and back out in a frenzy to get as many Co roads under their belts as possible. Many riders had to be back to work on Monday or Tuesday....in the east.
Jack Smith had done an SS1000 on the way to Leadville and was going to attempt a BBG 1500 on the way back to Pittsburgh.
On Sat I didn't ride so I could rest up from more than a week of riding every day. I kept having thoughts about Steve's VFKF. Nothing shed any additional light on his bike's malady.
The camp mascot wanted my chips.
Later we all went to Quincy's steakhouse for dinner. Seems they have Steak or prime rib for 8 (small) or 10 dollars (larger). That was very good for a pleasant change in our diets.
Have you ever seen such a bunch of old riders
After dinner a few beers were had around the campfire. That was fun.....then Zzzzzzz happened.
After dinner a few beers were had around the campfire. That was fun.....then Zzzzzzz happened.
Skyset at Surgarloaf camp
Double rainbow
Tomorrow we would head home.....there was still much to see. Muley point, Moki Dugway, Navajo Natl Monument.......
Eventually, it was time for all good things to come to an end. Nearly everyone was scrambling to break camp Sunday morning. Bud was packing away, as he warned me again about his Ignition switch.... This time I went over and tried the switch myself.
Hummmm.....the switch turned to the on position easily, but the dash lights didn't come on....That's different than what I thought he was talking about. Turning the switch on 5 or 6 more times produced dash lights. Oh,...the common ignition switch problem....damn, I hoped that I wouldn't have to deal with that by the side of the road.
So about 10am Nip, Bud and I hit the long trail home. I vowed to shorten the trip home as I'd added 600 miles to the outward bound journey. Still, I had no real plan. I was way worried about crossing the hot desert. I limited the heat abuse on the trip out, but didn't want to bungle into any sustained 110+ degree riding on the way back.
We started off North toward I-70 at Minturn. We'd be needing gas around there. The ride to there was beautimus of course. I was looking right when the gas station went by on the left. Oh well, there'd be gas at I-70 a couple miles down the road, no doubt. Bud would soon hit reserve, but he had at least 30 miles after that.
Usually, I keep tabs on Bud's where-abouts in my mirrors. This time I had let myself get a 1/4 mile out front as I turned onto the freeway, but I did see a couple bikes way back there. I'd go slow and they would catch up, I thought. Nert, Bud had fallen back when he went on reserve, and that unnerved him on the gas subject.....and with me out of sight, he decided to stop at the freeway entrance.
I didn't know what was going on so I waited by the side of the road some 2 or three miles west on the freeway. Eventually, I figured I had to go back.....maybe those 2 bikes I'd seen weren't them. They had no cell phones. I went 5 miles before I could find a turnaround and head back. Then the couple miles back to that gas station in Minturn looking for Bud. No Bud, but I was there so I gassed up.
Now I really didn't know what to do. I could see this really becoming a disaster. I knew that Nip was with Bud and would take care of him, but Bud was my responsibility. I could see the possibility of never finding Bud. Maybe he had crashed before Minturn....maybe they had decided to find me on down the freeway. Shit, shit, shit.....why wasn't I paying more attention?
Well, about that time I hear Half-a-bike pull into the station. Bud had decided to backtrack and get gas leaving Nip to answer questions if I should show up there at the fwy where the'd been waiting. I was way relieved to make the reunion with the Budmeister. I resolved to watch Budman like a hawk from then on. Reunion with Nip at Minturn near I-70
Glenwood Canyon on I-70
Railroad on the left and double-decker I-70 on the right. They've even color matched the Hwy concrete to the stone walls.
So we are running down the freeway toward Glenwood Springs, and I pull off at a gas station for coffee or summat. Nip's been thinking. He was raised till a young man in Kansas, and he decides that he wants to go back as he's so close and dig up some family and buddies from the old days. He had mentioned it before, and we all were independent of one another, so I respected his choice. After our refreshment Nip lit out for Larado, Kansas. I was sorry to see him go, he had been a good travel partner and new friend. A fact of life is that you don't make many new friends once you hit the golden years.
I had no idea how Nip being gone would make keeping track of Bud that much harder....
I had no idea how Nip being gone would make keeping track of Bud that much harder....
50 mile down I-70 I spied a rest area by the Co R. We stopped for Bud's afternoon siesta. While we were sitting there Tom Whitelaw rumbled in for a break as well. It was like old home week. I hadn't seen Tom for over 4 hrs. :) Although we were going the same direction, Tom was traveling fast so we couldn't ride together, but it's always nice to stumble onto a friend.
While Bud napped, a sidecar BMW came in with his Goldwinged partner. We sniffed bikes and he told us all about the BMW rally he was coming from. He was a nice old coot. Soon Bud was revived and we rolled westward.
So Bud and I blazed on toward Grand Junction. Gassing there, once again Bud had ignition problems. The bike started a few times and then the motor stalled as the lights went out. Eventually, it stayed running.....that is until I entered the freeway a quarter mile away. But Bud didn't make it more than 50 yds up the onramp before his bike went dead. Me, I'm a mile down the freeway before I notice him missing, Shit, I lost him again. I figure he might have missed the freeway entrance and was wandering around town somewhere, and this time without Nip to keep track of him. Damn!
Well, I found him on the onramp, scheesh....and some switch jiggling got him underway permanently this time. I decided to get back to the little roads where I could turn around and go get him if necessary without dealing with mega traffic and freeway turnarounds. We would go past Fruita and turn south toward Moab on Hwy 128. 128 is a great road that goes along about 35 miles of the Colorado River thru a magnificent red cliff gorge.
Approaching the Co R on 128 in Ut
Bud had been watching the Co R all the way down I-70 and he had a cooling swim on his mind. I had talked him out of it until now, but once he saw the river again it was now a must do.
Evening was working on us, and no sooner did we get to the Co River, and a BLM campground appeared. We stopped for pictures and a dip, but decided to spend the night. $6, I can do that. Hang the cost.
So Bug got cooled off....me? not so much.....Bud said the water was colder than crap. Heh he.
We took lots of Pics of the cliffs at the campsite....did I mention that the stars are spectacular out there in the clean air.......
That white thunderhead cloud was awesome in person.
There was trouble brewing up ahead for tomorrow.......
Bud got out of the Navy before the war was over, and started
Art School on the GI Bill. Of course, he had 3 of his four kids by
then to complicate things. He did several years of school, then he
landed a job doing all the illustration for Bell Auto parts catalog. That was
before 1950.
As always he continued with his Hare and Hounds races around the LA
mtns. He can't remember much about yesterday, but he remembers every
mile he put in on those Mtns. Ha.
Anyway, he got the chance to go to the Bonneville speed meets for
several years in those days with the Bell catalog people. I took him to a Bonneville speed meet last Sept (2009). He told me lots about the old days. Bell Auto Parts was a huge hotrod supplier in those days. They sold everything to do with cars and racing. Since then Bell has broken up into a dozen company, but in those days Bell was the shiznits.
One night we went to dinner at the freeway near the
Salt Flats. Bud spotted another old geezer with an old (prolly 50+ yr
old) Bell Tshirt on. We invited him to sit with us a while. I really
enjoyed listening to the two of them go on about the old days.....and
it turns out that this 80 yr old was starting a Belly Tank Lakester as
we spoke. The guy lived in Salina Ut. I'd love to go see what he was
building or better yet watch him run it when it's finished. And I
have no doubt that he was serious.
Bud continues working for Bell and in the late '40s riders were
realizing that hardtail rear ends on their Motos needed to be improved somehow.
It must have been mind-boggling at that time to engineer a suspension that had to compensate for a chain drive. With Bud's new marketing knowledge from Bell, Bud built and began to sell a swing arm kit that you could add to your motorcycle. Can you imagine that?
He'd go down to the AC Delco shock factory and sort thru the barrels of
rejected shocks to find shocks for his kits. Bud still never ceases to
amaze me.
Art School on the GI Bill. Of course, he had 3 of his four kids by
then to complicate things. He did several years of school, then he
landed a job doing all the illustration for Bell Auto parts catalog. That was
before 1950.
As always he continued with his Hare and Hounds races around the LA
mtns. He can't remember much about yesterday, but he remembers every
mile he put in on those Mtns. Ha.
Anyway, he got the chance to go to the Bonneville speed meets for
several years in those days with the Bell catalog people. I took him to a Bonneville speed meet last Sept (2009). He told me lots about the old days. Bell Auto Parts was a huge hotrod supplier in those days. They sold everything to do with cars and racing. Since then Bell has broken up into a dozen company, but in those days Bell was the shiznits.
One night we went to dinner at the freeway near the
Salt Flats. Bud spotted another old geezer with an old (prolly 50+ yr
old) Bell Tshirt on. We invited him to sit with us a while. I really
enjoyed listening to the two of them go on about the old days.....and
it turns out that this 80 yr old was starting a Belly Tank Lakester as
we spoke. The guy lived in Salina Ut. I'd love to go see what he was
building or better yet watch him run it when it's finished. And I
have no doubt that he was serious.
Bud continues working for Bell and in the late '40s riders were
realizing that hardtail rear ends on their Motos needed to be improved somehow.
It must have been mind-boggling at that time to engineer a suspension that had to compensate for a chain drive. With Bud's new marketing knowledge from Bell, Bud built and began to sell a swing arm kit that you could add to your motorcycle. Can you imagine that?
He'd go down to the AC Delco shock factory and sort thru the barrels of
rejected shocks to find shocks for his kits. Bud still never ceases to
amaze me.
___________
Bud and I woke up rested from our nests there on the Colorado River some 30 miles northeast of Moab on hwy128. BTW, Bud sleeps on the ground with no mat or anything. He used to use bubble pack but not anymore. I sleep on an Air mattress. 'Tip of the day' is that I blow the air mat up with my exhaust from one of the bikes. If the muffler is cold it will blow the mat up in a minute or so....If the muffler is hot, that's another issue. :)
OMB's ignition switch didn't act up that morning.
We broke camp and headed to Moab for coffee. The early morning sun on the canyon walls was inspiring as well as beautiful. While we sat at Burger King with our coffee and biscuit, Bud said that he would like to get some contact cleaner and try to spray some into his Ig switch. I've reconditioned a half dozen Honda ignition switches of that era, and I couldn't imagine how any clearner could get where it needed to go, but why not try it?
Just across the street was a Radio Shack so Bud went there and retrieved a can. The Ig switch is more accessible on his half-a-bike than my Sabre so that part was easier....and throughout the morning the contact cleaner seemed to help some. Cool, we would see as time went on.
In the back of my mind, was concentrating on taking a look-see at Muley Point, and showing Bud the Moki Dugway as well. I'd been skunked twice before at Muley, once by mud and once by snow, and thought that the 3rd time would be the charm. I'd make a determination whether or not to go on down to Mexican Hat After we had seen Muley point. It was likely to be hotter down there.
Well as many of you know, Muley Point is one of the great sights of the world. Once you get there you futilely try to capture the place on Camera. Click, Click, and more clicks, but to no avail. Here's my best effort.
Those Buttes in the background are 50 miles or more away in Monument Valley.
I always thought it'd be neat to spend the night sleeping on that rock. It's about 15ft X 60ft as I remember...don't know how I'd get on top though.
The weather was only moderately hot due to many clouds and thunderheads so we motored on thru Monument Valley To Kayenta
See the rain clouds??
Monument Valley is great... It looks like that cloud dropped out from the big cloud above leaving that blue sky.
I had an ig switch meld down in Anchorage with my Sabre in a Meyer parking lot. I fixed that one, but it's never a sure thing.
In Kayenta it died for good when we walked out of Micky D's at about
6pm. Oh Shit. That's strictly Indian land and motels will be at
least 75 bucks. Woe is me...... :(
The good news is that it's the same Honda switch that my 84 Sabre uses. More good news it that his switch was easier to get to than the switch is on my bike.
The good news is that it's the same Honda switch that my 84 Sabre uses. More good news it that his switch was easier to get to than the switch is on my bike.
So in the MD parking lot we started pulling his switch apart. Turned out a
bad contact had gotten things hot enough that the red wire (that brings all the juice from the battery) un-soldered
itself from the switch. Beautiful, just fucking beautiful. Most IG
switch repairs only require contact cleanup, but not soldering.
However, I did have one of those pen-sized Benzene torches with me
(first time ever). I'd never even lit one before, and couldn't keep
this one lit. It turned out that it was out of benzene fuel..... A nice
Indian gal in a pickup nearby told me to check the Ace hardware that
was a couple blocks away.
Sure enough, I got in the hardware store before it closed, and they had a refill for lighters that would fill my torch.
Woohoo, we were back in business.
While we worked on the bike, 3 Indian grifters hit us up for money,
and a fourth told us of a campground at the Navajo National monument
just up the road 30 miles. That was good news.
And another Indian was watching the goings on. I asked him if he
knew all the words that came from the Indian music played by a car
radio in the drive-thru lane nearby. He said he did, but that some of the
younger kids weren't keeping up with traditional languages. Also, he said there
were hundreds of top Indian recording artist making records out there,
just like we have in LA and Nashville.
But back to the repair.....I got that red wire to make a solid
solder connection with the switch base, and reassembled the switch
right the first time. I'd also scraped the corrosion off the switch contacts that caused the heat that caused the problem. Voila, a new switch....all by 8pm.
We had enough time to get to that Campground and bed down just barely beating the darkness, There was a thunderstorms in the area and one going on to the east, which seemed to be traveling north of us with bright lightning, and a 3 mile, 15 second delayed thunderclap arrival. That would put the edge of the storm at least a mile away. We thought that the rain would blow on by.
At our Campsite
That storm didn't blow by. It hit us square in the kisser. In fact, three storms hit us that night. The Ranger in the morning said about 2 inches of rain fell. We got soaked. My Blue tarp acted more like a mosquito net in regards to shedding water. Again it was warm so no real harm was done. But I am going to get a new tarp for sure. Ha
Before we left in the morning From The Navajo Natl. Monument (it was free camping by the way), I took a long walk over to the canyon rim and watched the sunrise. Wow!
Knarely old tree from my walk
Morning walk
Bud and I also walked down to the canyon viewpoint to view the Indian ruins in the cliff on the opposite Canyon wall. The visitor center offers an 8 mile walk to another ruin as well....that's not round trip distance...no thanks
Zoomed in a bit. There is a walking tour from the Visitor's Center that will take you down to get closer.
Indian Pottery at a roadside stand
We ran into that couple from the Moki Dugway at the Visitor Center. Turns out they didn't have the 'honies' to drive up that killer road. I'm sure he would have gone up, but he had lost control....too bad.
I strapped my soaked sleeping bag to my towed bike and aired it out as I rode. Bud did the same. They dried it out pretty well. At one point in our ride to Kingman Bud wanted to get down for a nap, so we pulled off I-40. We wandered off 30 yrds from the bikes for a bit of shade. A bum showed up to hitch a ride near our bikes. It bothered Bud so much that he couldn't sleep. I figured that if Bud was watching the fort....there'd be no problem if I nodded off. Heh he.
Bud trying to nap.....
About 5pm we pulled into the Value Inn in Kingman. We splurged at $42 for the night. I didn't like breaking our 'camping only' streak for the trip, but what the hell.
It turned out that we only spent a little over $400 each for the trip, and it was just too hot as we dropped down in altitude to enjoy a campout.
It turned out that we only spent a little over $400 each for the trip, and it was just too hot as we dropped down in altitude to enjoy a campout.
We rationalized that we deserve one night on sheets, and slept without guilt....or fear of thunderstorms. :)
We got up early to beat the heat and made a bee-line the last 350 miles to our homes in North San Diego County
About a hundred miles out in the mtns southwest of Palm Springs we got in another nap under some trees
Thanks for reading about OMB's Last Ride..
The rest of the story:
After this trip, I realized that I wasn't being fair to OMB's wife who was alone when I dragged Bud off on these trips. I left Bud alone after that. Bud lived to be 93 when a stomach aneurysm got him one day. Peg lived several year longer. That was the end of 2 beautiful people. I'll alway think fondly of Old Man Bud.
