 Thursday, May 3, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 6350 KM or 3946 Miles
Travelogue Total: 000 KM
Average Speed: 00 KM/H
Total Time on Sidecar: 0 Hours 00 Minutes
Goodbye Europe, hello North America. After a 7.5 hour flight, we arrived safe and sound in Toronto. The flight was only half full, so we got to stretch out a bit and not feel quite so cramped. Still, 7.5 hours is a long time!
Too bad we cannot count the mileage as part of our motorcycle travels.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 174 KM
Travelogue Total: 174 KM
Average Speed: 36 KM/H
Total Time on Sidecar: 4 Hours 50 Minutes
Our luck was with us as we found the cargo and customs area within walking distance of our hotel, saving us the expense (and hassle) of renting a car for the morning. We showed up at 8 am and drove away at 11:10 am. Then went for gas and a repacking session at the hotel before we hit the road.
 We finally got on the road at 1:30 only to stop and the first intersection and eat lunch. We made the mistake of going into downtown Toronto. Getting out of the city was difficult. The traffic going to the throughway was backed up for several kilometers and it took us three hours to go 70 kilometers after we got onto the highway. The picture at left was taken as we were driving out of downtown, at a time where the traffic was moving relatively well.
We headed south and east making for Niagara Falls. It has been eight years since we were at Niagara Falls; when we returned to the USA after our two years of working in Ireland. The theme park atmosphere has only gotten worse on the Canadian side of the border.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 332 KM
Travelogue Total: 506 KM
Average Speed: 46 KM/H
Total Time on Sidecar: 7 Hours 11 Minutes
We were exhausted yesterday evening and collapsed into bed before 10 PM. We woke before 6 in the morning and got things packed and left some of our stuff at the motel while we took two large bags across the border into the USA so we could ship them to Oregon. The bureaucracy of shipping things from outside the USA into the USA these days is out of control. By 9:30 our boxes were on their way and we had had breakfast.
 We stopped on the American side of the falls for some fotos and then crossed the border back into Canada. Given the way we were treated at the border by both the American and Canadian border policeman that we dealt with going each way, it is safe to say that these boys think that they alone are going to save the world from terrorism. We have never encountered anyone at a border crossing that was as rude and infuriating as these two men were. When you consider some of the borders we have crossed this is a very strong statement.
We do think this attitude however is probably very good for the drug smugglers because they don’t seem to care much about anything other than finding out where you are coming from and where you are going in the most rude manner possible. And then there are the questions about how many weapons you have with you. Right; someone on a mission to destroy the lives of people by shooting them with a gun is going to answer yes to such a question. Geesh. When we made this same crossing 8 years ago we were treated in a much more civil and friendly manner.
While that was the low point of the day the ride today was beautiful. We are obviously in the land of the riding lawnmower. The homeowners here have huge expanses of lush green lawn. Today, being Saturday and a gorgeous sunny day, found most homeowners outside riding along as they cut acres of grass. We concluded our day in Chatham, Ontario and will be back on the road tomorrow headed for southern Wisconsin.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 246 Miles
Travelogue Total: 560 Miles
Average Speed: 32 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 7 Hours 30 Minutes
Many of you will have noticed that we switched our distance/speed information, above, from kilometers to miles today. We have left the land of the kilometer (Europe and Canada) and entered the land of miles (the USA) today. As we were sitting at the border today, about 10 cars deep in 8 lanes, a car passed us in the next lane and asked (after seeing the many country flags on the back of the bike): “So, have you guys really been to all those states?” Verna replied, “Yes, we’ve been to all those countries.”
 The picture at left does a very good job of providing a summary of our day. All that black stuff in the threads of the screw is rubber from our rear tire. At our last rest stop for the day Verna noticed the screw head protruding from the rear tire. This gave Jim something to do when we reached our destination for the day, Goshen, Indiana.
It was the first time we have used our Stop-n-Go tire plugger. Our strategy of purchasing such an item to ward of flats has worked for seven years. Not a bad run of luck. Today our luck ran out. But, the tire was holding air and we were able to ride another 75 miles prior to stopping for the day. Our compact 12 Volt air pump also did its job and filled the tire with air after Jim had removed the offending screw and inserted the plug in the tire. We will check the air pressure in the tire in the morning to verify that it is holding air. If it is not we will have to find a tire repair shop and have the tire removed from the wheel and a patch installed over the hole.
It was quite cool today with a good stiff wind for most of the day. Although the ambient temperature was around 60, the wind chill was much below that. We had to use our electric jackets and gloves to keep warm. This evening we went for a walk in our fleece jackets and all the locals we saw were in short sleeves. We guess that says something about how cold it was here before now!
We were lucky tonight in finding a motel next to a Mexican market, so we got a treat for dinner: fresh carnitas with flour tortillas and salsa. Yum! The room is nice and quiet - at least until the train comes through! Here in middle-America you are never far from the railroad and they are much noisier here than in Europe. The whistle blows at every road crossing and the clackity-clack is hard to miss. Guess it could be a night for ear plugs.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 264 Miles
Travelogue Total: 824 Miles
Average Speed: 28 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 9 Hours 18 Minutes
A long day on the bike. And the traffic was terrible. But, there were some high points during the day.
We visited the town where Jim lived for 4.5 years as a child; Peotone, Illinois. The town has grown and the house he lived in is no longer there. A small shopping center now occupies the land where he lived.
But the best part of the day came at the end of our ride when we arrived at the home of Chuck and Kathy Joseph in Kansasville, Wisconsin. We will be here for a few days visiting and catching up since we last saw each other in Belgium three years ago.
Tuesday and Wednesday, May 8-9, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 0 Miles
Travelogue Total: 0 Miles
Average Speed: 0 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 0 Hours 0 Minutes
Two days off the bike, spent enjoying the company of our friends Chuck and Kathi Joseph. We spent a leisurely morning Tuesday seeing the local area where they live and catching up on recent events. Then we headed into Chicago (where Chuck grew up) late in the afternoon. We did a whirl-wind tour of Chicago’s highlights, spending the night in their condo. See our Chicago page for pictures and impressions.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 191 Miles
Travelogue Total: 1016 Miles
Average Speed: 45.5 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 5 Hours 15 Minutes
As we got up this morning, the lake was quiet and smooth, with only the sound of the coots in the air (photo right). This is a very inviting and peaceful place to remain, but unfortunately, we must be getting on the road or we will never make it to Oregon by June.
We managed to get our chores done, packed, and said our goodbyes to our wonderful hosts by 11:20 am. We had a fantastic stay and wish it could have been longer.
We headed west to the interstate to bypass all the Chicago traffic and hopefully make better time than we did coming up here. We were successful with our plan and had very little traffic all the way into Illinois. It was, however a rather straight ride today, with the only curves being 90 degree turns. We are in the middle of America and there is not a hill to be found. The good news about the flatlands is that we improved our gas mileage a bit. It was quite warm today (92 degrees F was the highest reading we saw) but with relatively low humidity, it didn’t feel too uncomfortable.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 277 Miles
Travelogue Total: 1293 Miles
Average Speed: 36.6 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 7 Hours 36 Minutes
Our bed for last night was probably the worst we have slept in - it was so soft we felt like we were sleeping in the mattress instead of on it. We did manage to get a fairly decent night’s sleep and got a fairly early start on the day. Jim is enjoying the American breakfasts but we have found they are so large, sharing one is more than enough for both of us.
Today was a “south” day as we did little other than go south. We did make a short stop in Hoopeston, Illinois where Verna’s stepfather was born and raised. The farmhouse is no longer there, although the old barn is. The rest of the yard is now home to 3 silos, a newer barn, a couple of big trucks and several rusting vehicles.
 We left Illinois and crossed into Indiana as we left Hoopeston and as we continued south, the landscape became increasingly forested and more rolling, rather than the open, flat fields of Illinois. The photo at left shows the typical road of southern Illinois: flat and straight. We even began experiencing real curves in the road (as opposed to only 90 degree angle turns at 4 way stop signs). We also came across several oddly-named towns, such as Roachdale (wonder where that name came from?), Rob Roy, Waveland, and of course, Loogootee where we stopped for the day.
We stopped in Waveland for lunch at a small restaurant. Verna ordered a small salad and diet cola and Jim ordered a BLT, coleslaw, and an ice tea. When we finished giving our order, the waitress replied: “That’s healthier than I would eat.” Admittedly, most in the restaurant ordered fries with their sandwich or burger.
We decided to stop for the day as we reached the edge of the rain storm we had been seeing in the distance most of the day. Luckily, most of the rain had already passed, but we didn’t want to take the chance and drive into it at the end of the day.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 271 Miles
Travelogue Total: 1563 Miles
Average Speed: 37.5 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 7 Hours 12 Minutes
 We finished our day in Manchester, Tennessee. It was a lovely day and a lovely ride. The weather has been very good to us and today was no exception. Lots of sunshine and not too hot; and the humidity has not been too bad. We began our day in Indiana, crossed the entire state of Kentucky, and made our third state, Tennessee, in one day. As we got into Kentucky, the roads remained quite straight, but they became increasingly hilly (photo above). The roadsides became much more woody and there was green everywhere.
For lunch today, we bypassed all the chain restaurants and tried a small cafe that advertised home cooking and BBQ. Verna tried a local specialty: BBQ on corn bread. She was not sure what to expect, but will try just about anything once. Anyway, it was very good and different from anything else we have ever had. It basically was two cornmeal pancakes with a layer of pulled pork in-between. The pork was tender and moist with a light, spicy sauce. It definitely would be worth having again.
Tomorrow we should arrive in Atlanta.
Sunday, May 13 - Monday, May 14, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 204 Miles
Travelogue Total: 1767 Miles
Average Speed: 31.6 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 6 Hours 26 Minutes
We arrived in Atlanta Sunday afternoon. The traffic was heavy and there were several crazies on the road that we tried to avoid. We were quite happy we arrived on a Sunday when the traffic was light! We had to drive through a residential area trying to find a hotel - the area was full of huge magnolia trees and the fragrance of magnolia blossom was thickly hanging in the warm moist air.
By Monday afternoon we had completed most of our business. We did not do a lot of sight seeing but we have discovered that there are a lot of buildings that appear to have been hotels that are now converted to apartments. The only thing we have been able to come up with is that these building were put up either as hotels of athletes residences for the Atlanta Olympics and were later converted to apartments.
Tomorrow we conclude our business by stopping by the local BMW dealer and purchasing some oil so we can change the oil in the engine. After that, we are on the road to Oregon.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 267 Miles
Travelogue Total: 2034 Miles
Average Speed: 32.1 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 8 Hours 16 Minutes
Our business concluded in Atlanta this morning, we stopped by Atlanta BMW on the way out of town and purchased some oil so Jim could change the oil in the engine this evening, which he did when we stopped in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The traffic leaving Atlanta was a challenge but we made it out alive. We have not seen traffic this bad since we were last in the San Francisco bay area.
 Our ride today was enjoyable but the quality of the air when we came through Huntsville, Alabama was really bad. We had talked about stopping there and visiting the NASA space center but we decided to get out of town in search of some cleaner air.
We took a small detour through the Little River Canyon National Preserve (photo left), a scenic byway along state highway 176. It was a small winding road following above the river as it cut its way through the canyon. Much of the river was not visible due to the thick forest growth. However, the road was as much a challenge as the scenery was pleasing. Jim said he hadn’t driven like that since we left Europe.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 247 Miles
Travelogue Total: 2280 Miles
Average Speed: 38.6 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 6 Hours 23 Minutes
We ride through Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and into Arkanasa today. We were about 5 minutes away from our motel when we had to stop and put on our rain gear. But, it only rained briefly and we did not get all that wet. It was cold all day and the rain gear helped keep us warm.
 We stopped in Tennessee to visit the home of The King, Elvis Presley. We took the tour of Graceland (photo of Jim in front of the mansion, right) and then continued on.
As a side note, we noticed the high incidence of armadillo road kills today (we counted at least 10). Up to now, we had seen only racoons and possums. We are definitely in armadillo land (we had heard they were migrating northward).
Our final stop for the day was in Newport, Arkansas. We walked into downtown to see what was there and what we found was a ghost town. Almost all of the businesses have closed and at least one old building had been taken down for the used brick. It was quite depressing to see what must have been, at one time, a thriving community.
At one corner we found a bronze plaque identifying this as the location of the Ben Franklin variety store that was bought (as a franchise) by Sam Walton in 1945. By 1950 it was the highest revenue producing Ben Franklin in the state. This experience gave him the start for Wal-Mart.
Our motel for the night won the distinction of being the worst place we have stayed so far in our journey. It was the only motel in town, so there wasn’t a lot of choice. It appears to have been recently purchased and undergoing improvements, but this family is facing an uphill battle.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 224 Miles
Travelogue Total: 2505 Miles
Average Speed: 36.9 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 6 Hours 04 Minutes
The start of today’s ride was through flat farmland, vast fields of rice, corn, wheat and soy beans. We were watching for a place to have breakfast, but rolled through small towns with virtually no commerce. Our favorite town name today: Oil Trough. We finally found a small cafe in Mountain View, the proclaimed “Folk Music Capital of the World.” So we checked their web site and found we were going to miss their Annual Bean Festival and Outhouse Race. Maybe next year :-).
 Today’s ride was wonderful. We spent most of the day riding through the Ozark Mountains (photo, left) and finished our day in Eureka Springs. The weather was fantastic and we did not encounter much traffic. The scenery was very nice, but there were lots of trees (Michael). The Ozarks are a range of ridges running southwest to northeast. So our day was spent going over a ridge, then riding north up a long green valley, then up and over another ridge. The highest we climbed was about 2200 feet. But lots of twisting, turning roads. We’ll be remembering this as we drone on through flat Kansas in the upcoming days.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 257 Miles
Travelogue Total: 2762 Miles
Average Speed: 38.7 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 6 Hours 38 Minutes
 Goodbye Arkansas, hello Kansas (with a short journey across the corner of Missouri). It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine and blue skies. The temperature was perfect on the bike. Our greatest surprise was to learn that eastern Kansas is not as flat as a table top. This made today’s ride much more enjoyable, even though the roads were as straight as they could be. The bad news is that we both are reacting to pollens and other things in the air that we are not accustomed to. As we were rolling by one ranch, a group of cowboys began rounding up a small herd of cattle (photo above). Is the the West, or what?
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 257 Miles
Travelogue Total: 3019 Miles
Average Speed: 37.8 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 6 Hours 47 Minutes
Today the wind Gods delivered their vengeance in exchange for being so nice to us up until now on our journey. All through Europe and, until today, in North America we have had very little wind. We cannot say that now. We had a wind from the south blowing against our left side all day. At the end of the day Jim’s neck muscles were exhausted from fighting the wind buffeting his helmet. The good news is that the sidecar handles the cross wind very well.
 The morning’s ride was quite pleasant along the Gypsum Hills Byway (Highway 160, photo left). Once again, we were surprised by the beautiful landscape we found in southern Kansas. The red, eroded hills, the rolling terrain, and the lush green grasses and trees made for a very enjoyable ride.
After we stopped for lunch we rode north towards Greensburg, Kansas. This poor town was completely destroyed by a tornado week before last. We passed two farms on the way north that must have also been in the path of the tornado. The only thing left standing was the bottom half of their trees. Buildings were non existent. There was lots of rubble stacked up in the yards. A huge tractor was upside-down and the crushed cars had been neatly lined up in a row. Large trees were completely uprooted or their substantial trunks split in half.
When we arrived at the intersection on the highway where we were to turn right to travel the two miles into the town we were greeted by at least 6 Kansas State Police officers. The only people being let into the town are rescue workers. We turned in the opposite direction, West, which was our intended route. It was pure happenstance that we came as close to the town as we did. Neither of us realized that our path today would take us that close to the path of destruction. From the pictures we saw on the television the devastation was just as we witnessed at the two farms we saw. Very sad indeed.
After getting settled this evening, we walked to a local store, cutting across a field where we surprised 2 snakes amorously entwined on the warm concrete drainage ditch. We don’t know what kind they were, but they weren’t rattlesnakes, we’re sure. We quickly changed our course and left them to complete their activity.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 236 Miles
Travelogue Total: 3255 Miles
Average Speed: 41.4 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 5 Hours 40 Minutes
Today we left Kansas and entered Colorado. More flat prairie, some wheat and corn fields (with huge center-pivot watering systems), lots of cattle ranches. For the last 2 days we have seen our share of feed lots - large areas designed for fattening up the cattle before slaughter. Some of them covered perhaps 100 acres or more. Evidently only Texas tops Kansas in the number of cattle processed per year.
As we entered Colorado, we noticed the beginning of the sage brush growing along with the grasses. As we pressed on, the scrub brush became more prominent and even some small cactus began appearing. All this time, we were slowly gaining altitude. In Kansas, we began at about 1,000 feet at the east end of the state and crossed into Colorado at the west end at just over 3,000 feet. We ended today at 6,191 feet.
After lunch, we headed southward a bit and left all civilization behind for about 75 miles. Soon we spotted our first antelope along side the road, then later saw 2 more. “Home, home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play...”
 Thankfully today there was little wind to begin the day, eventually dying out completely. And we had clear blue skies until we reached the edge of the Rockies. In the photo to the right, we captured our first sighting of the Rockies and the rising storm clouds. Once again the weather gods smiled on us today and kept us dry. Tomorrow we may not be so lucky.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 125 Miles
Travelogue Total: 3380 Miles
Average Speed: 15.6 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 8 Hours 01 Minutes
We drove today to the Great Sand Dunes National Monument where the highest sand dunes in North America exist, nestled at the southern tip of the Sange de Cristo mountain range. From here, we decided to take the back road out of the park, along a primitive road (photo below).
 The road started easily enough, through some well-packed sand. Soon, however, the sand got deeper and the vehicle tracks left deep impressions. The tracks were packed hard, but our wheel base is narrower than that of the 4-wheeled vehicles, so the sidecar wheel kept getting stuck in the soft sand along the center. After several dig-outs and heavy-duty pushing, we could get the bike going again. We soon found that with Verna out of the sidecar, it was light enough to ride atop of the soft center mound. So, Jim would drive until he came to a flat spot, then wait for Verna who hiked along the road to meet him. This worked well enough for the 3 miles along the dune where the sand was the deepest.
After the dunes, we turned to follow Medano Creek where the road slowly became more rocky. However, the road had 11 or so major crossings of the creek. The first one we watched the ranger cross it and measured the depth on his truck to see how deep it was. It looked like we were okay, though it was going to be close. In we headed and on the way out, we got stuck! Verna jumped out and tried to push, but we couldn’t get enough traction. So we unload the loose items on the bike, got out the rope and pulley, tied off to a tree and got free with Verna pulling and Jim driving. Whew!
Since we were already wet by this time, for all the other crossings Verna walked across first to identiy the “high road” and any possible holes. Then Jim drove across, knowledge of the terrain under the water. Still, there were some close calls and some very deep water (photo above).
We were overjoyed when we realized we had finally crossed the last of the water. We began climbing in altitude and the road became very rocky. Then we hit an incline we just couldn’t get up. We tried the rope and pulley, digging, and pushing, but nothing worked. The effort, however, heated the clutch to the point it wouldn’t grab. Now the thunder and lightning came, the hail began to fall and the temperature dropped precipitously. So we rolled backward down the hill to the last level place and planned to look for a place to put the tent.
Thankfully, at this time, a local ranch crew drove up, on their way out. We talked them into pulling us up the next several inclines. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the crew at Wolf Springs Ranch. You are definitely life savers!
Wet and cold, we drove to the nearest town with motels and found ourselves a room. We washed the sand off of us and the bike and hung everything out to dry. Jim reattached the front brake line (which came loose during the last pulling exercise) and added more brake fluid so we had a front brake again. We were exhausted so got a hot cup of soup then went to bed.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 179 Miles
Travelogue Total: 3559 Miles
Average Speed: 31.0 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 5 Hours 44 Minutes
 Today we rose to mostly clear skies and headed off toward the Royal Gorge. The gorge is certainly impressive and definitely high. The suspension bridge is the highest in the world (1,053 feet (321 meters)) above the Arkansas River. Verna walked across to take pictures while Jim drove across the wooden-planked bridge (photo left). It is quite an impressive spot, marred only by the theme park aura. It is too bad that we can’t just enjoy the beauty of nature for what it is rather than needing to entertain visitors with rides and attractions. (However, there is a reduced rate if you leave the park within an hour). The view to the Arkansas River below is shown at below.
We continued our journey west and at a break spoke with a couple who had just crossed Monarch Pass, reporting snow and icy conditions. We donned rain gear and drove to Salida where we had to make a go/no-go decision. Looking ahead, it didn’t look too bad and we figured it would only get worse, so we skipped our lunch break and headed out. We climbed steadily with the clouds drawing ever nearer. It began snowing at just above 8,000 feet (2,434 meters) about 8 miles before the summit (11,312 feet or 3,447 meters) and we pressed on as the snow was melting on contact. The temperature dropped to freezing and the snow was freezing on our face shields while the inside fogged up. Thankfully we were warm with our electric jackets and gloves.
The ride down the west side seemed to take forever as we very slowly dropped in altitude. It continued to snow, occasionally turning to rain, but with little change in temperature. At Gunnison we stopped for the day to get out of the weather and let everything dry. We walked to the local cafe for a bite to eat and met a couple on a Gold Wing who were heading up the pass as we were coming down. They had to turn around and come back when they dropped the bike on the ice. Evidently our timing was good and we were lucky to get through.
And Jim got to change the oil in the final drive of the bike after we stopped today in order to make sure we did not have water mixed with the oil after all of our stream crossings yesterday. There were about a dozen drops of water in the oil so we were very lucky given the number of times it was completely submerged.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 261 Miles
Travelogue Total: 3820 Miles
Average Speed: 38.3 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 6 Hours 47 Minutes
We headed out today, intending to follow Highway 50 and visit the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park. Just before the park was the option to take Highway 92 which would lead to the north rim of the park. This sounded like a good idea to us as it is definitely the road less traveled. Our choice was soon rewarded as we climbed to about 7000 feet and saw the snow level above us at about 8000 feet. The road was clear and virtually free of traffic. The road wound around the mountain sides as it climbed higher, providing stunning views. The view into the canyon of the Gunnison river and the rugged San Joan mountains in the distance is shown below:
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It took us a bit longer to drive this way, but was worth it for the morning’s ride. We then took the turn off to drive into the park, but it soon turned to a dirt road. With the storms that passed through the night before, the dirt was now mud and quite slippery, making it difficult to negotiate the hills. Regrettably, we turned around and decided we must return some other time.
We spent the afternoon enjoying our ride through western Colorado, finally ending up in Green River, Utah. We were very close to Arches National Park where we visited many years ago and would love to visit again, but it was obvious with our time line that we could just not afford the time. In Green River, we did get a flavor of the type of landscape we so much enjoy. The colorful, eroded rock formations that define this area seem almost magical to us.
The photo above was taken from the bridge over the Green River, looking north.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 343 Miles
Travelogue Total: 4163 Miles
Average Speed: 43.4 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 7 Hours 53 Minutes
 We started early today, knowing that we had a long day ahead of us as we wanted to make it to Nevada by the end of the day. The first section of road for today’s ride is the longest stretch of interstate highway without services of any kind: 104 miles.
After about 70 miles, we came to the pass that cuts through mountains near Fremont Junction. The mountains here have lifted to the west due to fault activity. Erosion over the years have further sculpted the mountains into dramatic shapes. The photo above shows Jim and the bike just before the pass through the mountains. The road was cut through tons of rock, following a natural canyon that was so narrow, a man could not walk through without touching the sides.
As we climbed higher, fantastic panoramas of red sculpted rocks spanned all around us. This is definitely an area to which we will return when we have a month or so to simply explore the area in depth. The photo below simply does not do the landscape justice, but it was the best we could do at speed.
Although our direction today was west, we spent quite a bit of time traveling north and south along valleys as the highways were routed around the highest of the mountains. Even so, we crossed 3 high passes today, all over 7000 feet. Many people find this part of the world rather desolate, but we really enjoy the open, rugged environment. We found a pin in a shop in Ely that says: “I survived Highway 50, the loneliest road.” We didn’t find it lonely at all!
Friday, May 25, 2007
Today's statistics:
Total Distance: 263 Miles
Travelogue Total: 4425 Miles
Average Speed: 42.2 MPH
Total Time on Sidecar: 6 Hours 13 Minutes
We arrived in Fallon, Nevada in the late afternoon to warm temperatures after dropping below 4,000 feet of altitude for the first time in a week. This was also the first time we have been on the bike without most of the cold weather clothing we carry on our bodies; we stopped 60 miles east of Fallon and shed lots of cold weather clothing, including or electric jackets and gloves.
 It was a beautiful day for a ride. Riding through this part of Nevada is somewhat repetitive. We would ride through a valley for about 20 to 30 miles and then go up and over a mountain pass only to come down the other side and then repeat the process over and over again - for 11 passes. The highest passes were more than 7,000 feet and the lowest between 4,500 and 6,600 feet. All in all a lovely day. The photo above shows one such road as it cross the valley, leading to the mountains on the other side.
 Just before we arrived in Fallon, we noticed a rather large congregation of RVs next to a huge sand dune. This was Sand Mountain (photo above) and appears to be a favorite place to take your 4x4 vehicle for a little fun. From this point into Fallon the oncoming traffic was a steady stream of RVs, each towing several 4x4s on a trailer. And there were even more in town, driving through or filling up with gas.
Stay tuned for further adventures...
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