Day 7 - Las Vegas, NV to Bridgeport, CA

Neither Walt nor I slept very well last night. We got up about 5:30 this morning had a little breakfast and headed out to Area 51 and the Extraterrestrial Highway. We expected the ride through this part of Nevada would be long and hard. It wasn't. The weather was absolutely perfect. Warm when we were stopped but pleasantly cool while we were riding. There is a special kind of beauty that can exist out in this dry place. I was really surprised when out in the middle of nowhere there was a lake and ranch land with green pastures.

When we got out onto the Extraterrestrial Highway we only encountered a handful of cars. When we stopped for a break or to take a picture it was VERY quiet. Near the end of the ET segment we ran though many swarms of bugs. We got pelted by them. You can see what they did to the bikes and you can guess what our windshields looked like. When they hit our legs and arms it felt like being hit by small rocks. When they hit our helmets it makes a loud crack.

One thing similar between Nevada and Alaska.... just because you can find a place on the map with a name it doesn't mean you'll find anything there. It is important to get gas when you find it. The next gas could be one hundred miles away. Some of the little places named on the map only indicate a ranch is (or was) there.

We got into Tonopah a little after noon. This was supposed to be our stop for the night. Since it was early and we're on the final leg to getting home we decided to push on to Bridgeport which is on the eastern side of the Sierras. Our route took us past Mono Lake which is a very pretty turquoise color from a distance.

Tomorrow we cross over Sonora Pass and down through Twain Harte and will be wrapping up our trip.

The bugs hit our legs and arms as much as they hit our bikes. 

More cleanup work for Walt 

We ran into a few bug swarms 

Walt is safely back in California 

Almost home 

Came around a corner and this suddenly appeared 

Not much is out here 

Walt was there 

John was there 

Sign on the ET Highway 

Day 6 - Springdale, UT to Las Vegas, NV

Today we took the shuttle bus into the Zion canyon. This is the main part of the park from a visitors point of view. Previously I tried to give you an idea of the difference between Zion, Bryce, and the Grand Canyon. The big difference I now realize is that in Zion you are down in the canyon look up at everything. In the other canyons you are up high looking down into the canyon. If I make it back to Zion the first hike I'd like to do is to walk further up the river into the narrows of the canyon. This seems very popular based on where we saw the most people getting off the bus. There are hikes that take you up the canyon walls to the top of the rock formations too.

After leaving Springdale we rode to Las Vegas. Just a stopping point. Nothing interesting here but it is a day to do some laundry. The ride today was not as hot as previous days. Maybe we're getting used to the heat. It was only 100 degrees on the Nevada segment of our ride.

Tomorrow we head towards Area 51. If we don't show up at home in the next few days we've either been abducted by the aliens or the Feds have us locked up somewhere.

View from Weeping Rock 

Looking up... 

More of Walt's artistry 

Wildlife 

Walt's artistic shot of the river 

Riding the brick motorcycle 

End of the trail but you can walk further up in the river 

River walk trail 

The river walk trail 

Zion 

View from our breakfast table 

View from our room 

Flanigans Inn in Springdale 

Day 5 - Grand Canyon

Today was a trip to the Grand Canyon. Once again we had to ride though Zion to get to the highway that would take to the Grand Canyon. This is the same highway that took us to Bryce Canyon yesterday. Turn left... go to Bryce. Turn right... go to Grand Canyon.

The first hour or so of todays ride was mostly through high desert stuff. Not very pretty. Shortly after leaving Fredonia we started to climb in elevation. The landscape changed from desert to pine forest and mountain meadows. The ride from this point into the Grand Canyon is VERY beautiful. The road is in perfect condition - not a single bump.

Rather than go to the visitor center first we decided to head to Point Imperial and Cape Royal to see what views of the canyon were there. All of the pictures of the canyon are from those two areas. It was not at all what I expected the ride in to be like. We were in dense trees and bushes all the way to the edge of the canyon. Only at the very end did the canyon open up before us.

This was my first time to see the Grand Canyon. The first impression one gets is just the size. It is really, really, large. Large enough so I have some doubts about the theory that it was created by the river slowly eroding its way down. (That debate can be held later....) The drop off into the canyon is very rapid. Each time I looked over I held on to something and my legs still felt wobbly.....

You can see from the pictures that a storm was brewing on the south rim of the canyon. We decided after leaving Cape Royal that there was no time to go to the visitor center. Out running the storm was our priority. We succeeded in that we didn't get drenched by rain. However, the entire ride home (150 miles) was either raining on us, about to rain on us, or it had just finished raining. The windshields on our bikes blasted most of the rain away from our bodies so we stayed reasonably dry. Only our legs and arms got wet.

Remember when I mentioned the roads were perfect... we really appreciated that because we were going as fast as we could (safely).

By the time we got back to Springdale we were cold and sore because we didn't get to take the usual breaks we like to. Once we were back a nice hot shower helped greatly.

Tomorrow we'll be taking the shuttle bus into Zion Park. We have only ridden through the end of the park. All the stuff worth seeing can only be seen by taking a shuttle in. Then later in the day we'll start the return trip home.

Time to leave... 

John holding on again...