This is about another motorcycle adventure. My friend Donald flew to California, to join me in an attempt to put some more miles on my two Transalps. This is roughly the route that was taken:
Start: Fremont California, going north.
Oregon, heading east.
Idaho, heading east, towards Yellowstone.
Wyoming, diagonally north-west to south east.
Colorado, heading west.
Utah, heading south.
Arizona, touching the border at Monument Valley.
Back in Utah, going through the south-west.
Nevada, cutting through the south point.
California, first going north, then crossing the Sierra's and straight
west, back to Fremont.
The idea was to update this page while we were traveling but, as Murphy
dictates: "the worst time for your DSL line to go down....", and so it
went down....
Not only was the website off the air, it also caused me some trouble
(extra costs) to be able to email. One thing that did work was the wireless
internet connection through the cellphone, however....., I didn't see the
required digital signal too often...., only near large cities.
Note: All pictures are taken with a Canon D30 digital camera.
May 9: Donald arrived on San Francisco airport.
May 10:
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Today we've been playing around town a bit. Donald had to get to know the Transalp and also needed to cure his jet lag. |
May 11 , Fremont CA ~ Sebastopol CA , 89 miles :
 
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Fleamarket in the morning, where Donald looked up an old friend. After that, a quick spin on Skyline Blvd. In the afternoon we started our journey with a run up to Sebastopol (the first 89 miles), where we were invited for a party. |
May 12 , Sebastopol CA ~ Myers Flat CA , 224 miles:
 
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The first full day of riding. First Paul showed us some cool roads between Sebastopol and the coast and then we headed north along the coast. We ended up on a camp site on the Avenue of the Giants, just south of Eureka CA. |
May 13 , Myers Flat CA ~ Rogue Elk OR , 321 miles:
 
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Crossing from the coast across northern California and into the south of Oregon.We camped just north of Medford OR. |
May 14 , Rogue Elk OR ~ Prineville OR , 264 miles:
 
 
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Big attraction of the day: Crater Lake NP in south Oregon.
The coming night we camped a few miles east of Prineville OR. It was going to be the coldest night yet, with ice on the tent in the morning. |
May 15 , Prineville OR ~ Lowman ID , 330 miles:
 
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Moving east through Oregon and into Idaho. Thinking about the previous 'frosty' night, we picked a warm and comfy motel room for this night.... |
May 16 , Lowman ID ~ Sheridan MT , 345 miles:
 
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Today mainly backroads through the hart of Idaho. Here, traffic jams are caused by a different kind of "animal" than what I am used to in Silicon Valley! |
May 17 , Sheridan MT ~ West Yellowstone MT , 172 miles:
 
 
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Finally: Yellowstone !!!
We had only about 100 miles to go to reach West Yellowstone so we arrived at noon and quickly scored a motel room, after which we dove into the park. I have visited the park before, 4 years ago but now it seemed like there was much more wildlife. |
May 18 , West Yellowstone MT ~ Lander WY , 268 miles:
 
 
 
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Today we took the eastern route through Yellowstone, by the water falls
and the lake. Then south into Grand Tetons NP.
Crossing through Wyoming, of course we saw antilopes in the fields. It's funny how you only see them in Wyoming and nowhere else. Maybe it's just me.... We were invited for a cup-o-tea at the only Royal Enfield dealer in the whole state of Wyoming! Yes, the bike on the right is not a R.Enfield but I guess it's in the same class. |
May 19 , Lander WY ~ Loveland CO , 335 miles:
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Wyoming is rather flat and good for doing lots of miles. However....., in the south, roads can get pretty elevated, like at Medicine Bow, where you're going up to 11000 feet. |
May 20 , Loveland CO ~ Leadville CO , 208 miles:
 
 
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We camped in Loveland CO, right at the entrance to Rocky Mountain NP.
This spot had the best gras of the whole trip. It was almost like a golf
field!
We woke up with a very gray sky; not good.... But approaching the park, the gray suddenly ended and the weather was beautiful in the park itself. Lucky us!! Especially because right behind us a thunder storm went through the park. Actually our luck changed after leaving the park because we did get a piece of that storm and part of it was at 11000 feet; very cold.... And then the motel owner, where we spent the night, tells us that this was the first rain in seven months. :-( |
May 21 , Leadville CO ~ Moab UT , 312 miles:
 
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In the morning I was still admiring Colorado country real estate but
around noon, getting closer to the Utah border, we got into trouble: Sand
Storm!!!! Luckily we didn't pass through the center but still the
wind gusts were throwing us back and forth in our lane, causing dangerous
situations.
Our goal for the day was Moab so we could visit Arches NP the next morning. |
May 22 , Moab UT ~ Monument Valley UT/AZ , 183 miles:
 
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As planned, first a visit to Arches NP. Main attraction is of course Delicate Arch, if you're not afraid for a bit of a hike. Then we headed straight south where we camped in Goulding, in the middle of Monument Valley. |
May 23 , Monument Valley UT/AZ ~ Cedar City UT , 410 miles:
 
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A record distance today. We started early from Monument Valley and were treated on some beatiful sunlight on the valley. Then weather turned for the worse and I even got white with snow for a few minutes. Too bad we had to ride beautiful highway 12 in rather dark weather.... |
May 24 , Cedar City UT ~ Death Valley CA , 354 miles:
 
 
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Emailing with the laptop, using the cellphone as wireless modem.....,
it worked...., but only if you were getting a digital connection and this
happened only near or in large cities. Up to now I had only grabbed my
equipment when we were settled for the night, which was often way out of
range of cellulair connections. So I figured I was better off having my
equipment easily accessable durig the day, so I could do some emailing
whenever I passed through a large city. Why did I have to figure this out
on the for-last day.... :-(
Oh... and Death Valley is COOL... ehhhh, HOT !!! |
May 25 , Death Valley CA ~ June Lake CA , 306 miles:
 
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Aparently I didn't take that much pictures, riding east from Death
Valley and then north on Hwy 395. Maybe that's because I rode this road
numerous times before. I was hoping for more snow on the Sierra peaks but
May already seems to be too late....
Still...., camping that night was cold!! The night before we sweated out of our tents in Death Valley and now we froze our toes off in the Sierras. It's all part of the adventure I guess.... |
May 26 , June Lake CA ~ Fremont CA , 269 miles (Back Home):
 
 
 
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Remind me to never go into the mountains again on a holiday weekend!
It was almost impossible to find a place to camp last night and today we
got treated with traffic jams in Yosemite Valley. Oh well...., we had seen
so much nice scenery already that we didn't mind too much sharing a bit
of our last day with some fellow tourists.
And finally, back in Fremont!!!! According to the GPS we had covered 4396 miles. The trusty Transalps did it again! Eddy@vanKeulen.tzo.com
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