Reunion tour- Don’t ride in October

I-40 W> I-15 S> CA18 W> CA138 W> 14S> 126 W>101N. That’s what it was supposed to be at 525 miles. BUT IT WAS THIS INSTEAD. I-40 W> I-15 S> I-15N> I-15 S > then I lost track> 215 W> 134W> 170> 101 at 587 miles

Total miles= 2,044

Ever so sadly I had to say goodbye to my friend the SPOT GPS. Poor old fashioned GPS you were a steady friend— if not fussy. It died right as I was leaving Monticello UT. It sent one text and that was the end of it. I guess a shelf life of 10+ years isn’t too bad. Personally, I think the rain, sun, and cold did it in over all that time.

I left AZ early because I wanted to get home early. The first hour was cold but bearable. After about 1.5 hours I started fidgeting with my cramp buster. That is this amazing piece of plastic that you can rest your palm on so your wrist and arm doesn’t cramp but it twists the throttle. Of course the fidgeting caused it to ever so slowly fall from the grip and directly onto the I-40. I considered stopping and trying to find it but thought it would be futile and perhaps a tad dangerous. I wish now that I had risked it. My hand and forearm are achy. I purchased another one immediately once I unpacked.

After 2 hours the ride was much nicer but very boring. I did not plan this trip well at all! Once I arrived in California the wind was like a series of kangaroo kicks. Relentless.

Now on to how I got lost following the GPS. When I left in the morning I plugged in to my Tom Tom to take me to Santa Clarita so as I’m lazily driving along on the I-15 I first see the sign for the 18 to Palmdale. I think to myself as I fly by “Isn’t that my turn?” But I’m directionally illiterate and I trust the GPS and continue on the 15 until I see a sign that also makes me think I should be exiting. But at this point I am lane splitting and just trying to get through the snarl of traffic. Once I pop out and the lanes are clear I pull off and sure enough I have definitely missed my exits. Now this is where it gets really embarrassing. So I go into my Tom Tom history and click on my pre-entered home (surrounded by all the other pre-entered rides I had added). But I push the directions just above which leads me to Rick and Laura’s old home. Yup. And did I notice this? Nope.

Well I obviously did notice it but not quickly enough. Once I realize my stupid error I plug in my address, turn around, and spend a lot of time lane splitting until I arrived safely home. I did not plan this trip well.

I will not be entertaining questions on this topic. Don’t even ask Rickina!

After arriving home, tired, hungry, and a little worse for the wear I unpacked and looked at my souvenirs.

There you have it!

Lessons learned:

Don’t ride in October; remember the directions and don’t miss your exits; don’t fidget with important equipment while in motion; buy a new SPOT already; plan the ride and leave the open expanses to cars; a smooshed penny makes everything worthwhile

Reunion tour blah blah blah – Day 4

US 191 > US 160 W> I-40 W. 369 miles

The day was crisp to say the least. I headed out to the Hole N’ The Rock for my smooshed penny (which I did get) and a picture of my beloved Bernadette R and myself.

And that is just what it was. And a zoo and a house made of rock too

After leaving I had to backtrack 40 miles in the crisp air to head toward Flagstaff. Was it worth it? Hmmm. Not certain. But I did get a smooshed penny mind you.

The ride was uneventful. So much expanse. Enough with the expanse. What does a gal have to do to get a billboard. It never ends.

I did stop in Bluff UT at the aptly named Bluff Fort. It was really interesting. Rickina would have loved it if there was a train there. The guides were very informative and everyone is so nice in Utah. I could never live there. I couldn’t live up to the standards.

An original log cabin home. So sparse.

A re-creation of a teepee. So sparse.

The guides told me about the REAL Hole ‘N The Rock, which he was quick to tell me that the one I saw was simply a tourist destination. Apparently the early settlers crossed through a true hole in the rock after 6 weeks of traveling. I wanted to ask him “well sure, but did they get a smooshed penny?” But he didn’t seem like the joking kind.

The ride was uneventful. So much rain. Why more rain? Enough with the rain . I saw the skies close in and thought I had a chance of beating it. But no. I did not. Ten miles of torrential downpour. I know that may not sound like much. But step into your shower, fully clothed, then run at 70 MPH, and then let me know your thoughts.

Don’t ride in October. That should be the title of this blog.

I arrived in Flagstaff safe and sound. I cannot say as much for my SPOT GPS. It died. It will not connect to any GPS signal. Maybe it got fried in the downpour…ha ha. — time to buy a new one

Once in my severely overpriced hotel in a severely overcrowded city (when did that happen?) I met up with my high school friend. We had a lovely meal. Caught up on over 40 years of life experience. How the time flies!

Tomorrow time to go home and take a vacation from my vacation.

Reunion tour to mere visit tour – Day 3 (this title is way too long)

I-15 N> 20E> 89N> UT62> 24E> I-70 E> 191 S 370 miles

I started out later than usual but as Rickina kept reminding me it was going to be very cold. He loves to talk about weather (it scares him 😉 ) so it is pretty lucky, for him, that he didn’t come today because it poured. But more on that later…

I left at 9am and it WAS cold. However, I had literally put on every sweater I owned. So it wasn’t so bad. I went through numerous towns called: Circleville, Hanksville, blah blah ville. Everything was —-ville. I really wanted to see a sign for Hooterville. But, alas no such town. Now how did they ever get away with naming a show “Hooterville”? How did the censors miss that? These are the things I think about while riding alone. If Rick and Laura had been with me I would have had a big discussion about this very thing.

In time I came by Butch Cassidy’s childhood home (which Laura and Rick and I visited when we went to Yellowstone). I recalled how I rode around the home and it was 3 inches of gravel. I didn’t mean to do it but was impressed I made it. Well now the entire parking area is paved. Of course it is!

As I rode through Capitol Reef National Park it was so beautiful. They were doing construction and it was still amazing (this was before the rain)

Just before the real weather hit I had pulled over and figured I didn’t need so many sweaters (I would later regret that) so I stopped at a rest area (called Hog Springs or was it Hogville Springs?) and decided Bernadette Raquel deserved a picture

Now on to the weather: It was cold. It was rainy. It rained lightly. It poured and then the skies opened…

This was on my left and right

After wondering if it was truly raining and then remembering to watch for slick spots, for the oils, all I could think about is that Rick would have been livid. I would have had to listen to his chastisements, sarcasm, and 1,000 “told you so’s” for 40 minutes. Ugh 😩 Laura would be sneezing.

Eventually the weather cleared and blue skies appeared all the way into Monticello. Tomorrow off to Flagstaff AZ but first to the Hole N’ The Rock to get a smooshed penny. Got to have me a smooshed penny! My gypsies tell me Moab is fantastic.

Reunion tour to mere visit tour – Day 2

US 6 E> NV 375 S> 93 N> NV319 E> UT 56E 291 miles

The amazing part of this day is that I rode 195 miles on one tank of gas and had 12 miles left before empty. But lets start from the top….Before I left Tonopah I remembered that I forgot to take a picture of the property next to my motel for the evening

Maybe that’s why my nights sleep was awful?

I am not joking. It was a horrible nights sleep. Not because of the cemetery, mind you, but because the hotel room was horrible. I’m pretty certain there was mold and other unmentionables. Next time I would stay at the travel lodge down the road. BUT, I did get the best souvenirs 😉 Ever.

Now back to proper timeline chronology…I left earlier than I had intended as I knew the ride would be short and I wanted out of that joint. While daydreaming I came up with numerous hysterical blog posts. But, due to nearly running my tank dry, and the fear of pushing my motorcycle like in the Wild Hogs movie I can only recall 2 pithy quips. The first was the sheer boredom of the ride until a stream of cows came wandering across the road directly in front of me and then stood to stare at me as if I had somehow annoyed them. The second recollection is that even though the scenery was monotonous (see below)

It was a million times more beautiful than the Kansas landscape. Chew on that!

All of that- and so many more observations – fell out of my head as I saw the “next gas” signs in three digits. At mile number 160 things got dicey. At mile 185 I thought I may be pushing Bernadette into Caliente (which is one of the places I went on my very first motorcycle ride ten years ago). At mile 195 I made it with 12 miles to spare and literally couldn’t recall my zip code when finally gassing up. It took me 3 tries!

The rest of the ride into Utah and my visit with Rick and Laura was easy sailing. Seeing them and their new digs is always a treat. I just wish they could go with me as I travel east to all the kitschy stops I have planned. Next year!

Reunion Tour to mere visit Tour – Day 1

101>126E>14N>395N>6E. 426 miles

I need to start this post by saying that I have literally only ridden 10 miles since Rick, Laura and I rode to Cambria at the end of May. Additionally, that ride was a total of 455 miles- so I may have bitten off a bit much for today.

Luckily everything worked out well. The weather, the traffic, my nerves, my new Sena, and of course my fabulous motorcycle responded like a champ.

I did have a learning curve with my fancy new technology since my old Sena camera stopped working. But I love this one I can talk to it and tell it to turn things off and on (like the camera which is very convenient) as well as use my phone (I haven’t done that of course so that may just be theoretical). Who wants to talk to on the phone when riding? I just don’t understand.

Riding the 14 is such a ugly slog. I really have to figure out how to trailer to the start of future rides. I seem to always stop at the seedy gas stations. Every time. today was no exception. But I have to say everyone is so nice at those stations. I think they may be angels. Well except for those two guys in Cleveland they were drug dealers 😂 but the angels seem to come and go so quickly. When I was riding across country I met this guy who gave me a lovely presentation box of 7 wooden Buddhas. He said they would keep me safe. I turned to thank him and he was gone. Today a guy kept walking to and from his car. We struck up a conversation about my bike and he gave me a prayer card to keep me safe. As soon as he did that he was gone. Maybe I look unsafe. Does this happen to other people?

I pondered these interactions while I plunged forward into the taupe expanse that is the 14 and 395. Other than some cars and trucks who just had to pass and came into my lane like I was invisible the ride was uneventfully ugly. But Tonopah was within reach and this is what my ride was like in a nutshell

Beige

Technicolor

Yes, I’m staying at the Clown Motel. It is FANTASTIC

The lobby

LOL. Right up my alley

Tomorrow off to see and Rick and Laura’s retirement money pit 😁 I am told they DO NOT have an Evel Knieval jump ramp driveway. So excited to see them and their new mansion!

Cambria ride (AKA Lets just do U turns) Day 3

153 miles

356 miles total and almost all of it twisty. Unfortunately you cannot tell from the map how much backtracking we did–but it is there!

The weather was surprisingly, and luckily, cooperative and the ride clear of most cars (given it was Memorial Day). Since Rick said he was never coming back to California, after they move to Utah, we had to get every road in today

We began on Santa Rosa Creek Road out of Cambria. Now that was a duplicitous little road! At first twisty and paved to perfection. Then, just as soon, became goaty and rutty.

After much deliberation we gave it 🐐🐐🐐out of 5 goats.

Beautiful vistas

Look at that road. What a mess and that wasn’t even the worst of it

We then transitioned to the 46. Goodness that was boring. We then picked up the 41. I used to drive that road every day to work and I honestly recall it having more of a foliage canopy. I guess I upgraded my memory of that road. But overall it was a very nice ride even with a couple of slow poke cars.

Next was the 101 for a fast transition to Foxen Canyon Road. Always a pleasure and then the 154 with a twisty ending on the 192.

You better come back and ride with me my friends!!!

Oh, and eat too!!!

Cambia ride day 2

158 miles and 4 Uturns. Three of the Uturns were in 10 minutes of leaving out hotel. Literally the first was because Laura went right while I was waiting for them on the left side of the road. The second was because Rick went left on the 1 and not right. And the third was because I said go right for the gas station when we should have gone left. The final one was Ricks fault so he won! Someone had to break the tie

The day was spectacular. Nice turns. Minimal traffic for a holiday weekend and cooperative weather that was only mildly cold. We stopped for pictures quite a bit so that was lovely.

All in all today’s ride made me remember why I love to ride

PCH 1 never stops being amazing

Rickina and Laura take me on Mr. Toads wild ride

As Rick and Laura are leaving California (and apparently never returning) Rick decided he wanted to ride every road in pretty much a willy-nilly fashion

Odometer at leaving my house was 10,765 and we ended in Cambria at 10,968. How you ask? Because we backtracked to see a ghost train come through Gaviota and we HAD to take the 41 which had us doing a loop around beautiful Atascadero only to return to truly beautiful Morro Bay. Now anyone who knows me knows that I am directionally challenged – so imagine my chagrin as I pondered why in the world we couldn’t seem to get past Morro Bay. Rick!

Rick so sad that he couldn’t get a perfect shot of the tressel bridge

But wait- I have an idea

Let’s trudge through brush and loose rocks and gravel, all in motorcycle boots, to the opposite side of the bridge. 😂. Unfortunately we missed the train by two hours but this was pretty. Maybe, when I am feeling nostalgic I will go out and catch that train for you Rick! Catch that train for YOU Rick

Tomorrow off to Big Sur. 75 miles. Let’s see how far we go…

Arizona Ghost Town Tour: day 6 (what a fright!)

Miles = 455

Total trip miles=1,914

Wild animals running across the road in front of Rick= 1 deer

Smooshed penny = 1 (from yesterday)

Curves= in short supply. Rick stopped counting after 33 in over 150 miles

Quote of the trip= as we were saying our goodbyes to Laura’s mom Kate and her Aunt Deb her Aunt says to me, “I look forward to reading your podcast.” How precious is that?

We rode the 72>62>10 (nearly being blown off the road at that interchange. What a horrid experience)>210>134>101>Home!

Our ride through Arizona

Lots of this leaving Arizona

Super cool bridge somewhere in the vast open road

Lots of this (and a big bug splat) in California

Lots of this on the 210 and some rain to boot!

The 62 where it interchanges to the 10 is the scariest thing ever. Worse than the 191. Worse than when we were in Europe and I dropped the bike in traffic on a curve as a Porsche flew past. Worse than the winds in Virginia City on Dash. I think Rick was trying to kill me and Laura was just collateral damage 😉. Those winds were so hard they drove us almost parallel to the ground from the right. The gusts drove you into the other lane which if you didn’t push to the left would have pushed you into dirt and gravel. It was frightening. There was no stopping or turning around. You just had to push through. Rick slowed to check on Laura (who I found out later had been blown close to the dirt emergency lane 2x) but I knew I couldn’t so I just pushed on until- of all things- there was a stop light at the top of the gusty ridge and of course it was red what stupid ass puts a stoplight there? A stupid ass that doesn’t ride a motorcycle that’s who! Almost dropped the bike stopping but my P90X3 workouts saved me and I pulled that bike upright like a body builder because you needed that much force in those wind gusts.

Once on the 10 it got better (relatively speaking) and I continued on toward home. Traffic wasn’t bad until, of course, it started sprinkling (which is worse than rain because all the oils come to the surface) but I was undeterred. Then traffic stopped on the 210 due to an accident so lane splitting it was. Then on the 101 another accident and more lane splitting (honestly my hands were aching) so I rode in the emergency lane I had about had it with lane splitting. Some of those cars have side view mirrors like elephant ears. What are they looking at Mars? I thought the ticket would be worth it. After merging into the fast lane (relatively speaking) I passed the accident and was up to speed. Nearing my ocean and seeing home only 15 miles in the distance the winds of over 25 mph appeared. Are you kidding me? And there I was again being tossed around with front winds that made me feel like I was going in reverse. It tossed me back and sideways at the same time. Unbelievable!

But I made it home safely and I still ❤️ motorcycling.

I wonder where the next trip will take me?

Arizona Ghost Town Tour: day 5

Miles = 223

Fights with Rick = daily 😉

Laura yelling at Rick and I = 1x 😳

79>60>88>202>101 (like five times looking for the 60) >74>60

The day started out very temperate which I was not used to. For roughly 90 miles we traveled a recently re-paved 79 with somewhat fresh oil on the newly laid asphalt.—always fun. To pass the time we talked about actors good and bad. I was heartened to know that others thought Bill Paxton was a horrible actor who speaks his lines without nuance or inflection. Laura added George Clooney to the list and so the morning passed until we reached the Goldfield Mine in Apache Junction.

The entrance. So excited!!

While waiting for the mine tour (which was not really worth the admittance fee) Laura couldn’t resist the Zipline and photobombed my picture while I was trying to catch the train. Geesh Laura.

This picture cracks me up

Here was the picture I was trying to take…

Some more pictures….

Superstition Mountain

Love me a tunnel or a wooden bridge

After having lunch where Laura’s mom Kate and her Aunt Deb joined us (they were two spicy characters. I liked them both immediately) we left for Chandler to see the train museum. Let the battle royale begin. We had a bit of a problem finding the museum as we were looking for a left hand turn when we were supposed to go right. After realizing our mistake and Rick thinking using my GPS was a good idea (he doesn’t like GPSs apparently and only trusts maps) so needing to make a U turn I didn’t feel good about it so I said no and he said yes just do it and I said that I SAID NO and he said it was a four lane road blah blah blah. Needless to say I did not do a U turn on this day and he took off at 1,000 mph leaving a trail of dust and I think a skid mark. Now in his defense he was correct. I could have made that turn easily but I kept imagining dropping my bike and getting run over by someone peeling out at 1000 mph. Meanwhile Laura was listening to this and pretty well tired of it. After Rick took off I just refused to move and then Laura told me to get going. I had some choice words about Rick and off we went. Finally finding the train museum Rick and I hugged it out. Then Laura told us both off and walked away. As she went to the restroom to steam Rick turned to me and said, “I guess she told us.” To which we both laughed. Laura didn’t laugh for at least another hour. Ha ha

The train museum was actually super cool and Rick surely does know his trains. It’s clearly rubbing off on Laura because she can train speak as well. I really never knew it was so complicated inside a locomotive I figured someone shoveled coal while some one else blew a whistle. Not so much. There are a ton of knobs and controls in there.

Ricks favorite locomotive

The rest of the day we just rode around looking for the 60 until we finally arrived at our hotel. Tomorrow we all go to our respective corners.

What a trip. Glad to have done it with my sister wife and Rick (though they may think otherwise)