Not hard enough or long enough for the Toggs and the smell of a first rain on the highway was a treat. Must have seen a dozen CHP vehicles on I-5, north and southbound through the central valley of CA. Only a couple were running radar when I passed and most were already busy handing out performance awards. Luckily, my Valentine 1 paid for itself over and over on this trip in every state. The closest call was in NV and there, I've never had a fear of the HP. This time it was a female officer coming at me on a desolate section of two lane. A real desolate section. Heard the V1 go off and slammed the brakes hard a couple times reducing my speed enough for her to keep going I guess. Great organization the NHP!
At some rest stop east of Baker CA, before heading out into the desert on the last leg to Vegas, I took a pic of what passes for a tree out there.
Desert Elm? :) I had another short ride in the rain right about there and then again way out in the desert. 
Found an overpass luckily, and waited it out for about twenty minutes. Needed a break anyway. Next stop, Las Vegas! Lots of traffic but I found my way around most of it and stayed at a motel down the street from the MGM Grand and the Hooter's Casino. 534 miles. Oh yeah, some guy tried to sell me an 18K gold ring with what appeared to be a 4-5 carat zircon in the middle. Said he stole it and it did have a Zales tag on it.
Said he'd take $200 for it. Purportedly worth thousands he said... 
Next morning I headed towards the Hoover Dam and finally saw a few motorcycles, mostly cruisers. In fact, V twin cruisers still dominate the long distance (LD) riding community. Far more than Wings, BMWs, sports tourers or dual purpose bikes. I saw no CBXs as usual, but no Hayabusas either. Figured I'd see at least one LD Busa. Weather was great at the Dam and the new bridge approaches are finished, just not the actual bridge. Too crowded there as I'd also find out at the Canyon, but first, Route 66. For me, it was a disappointment. No more to see than from the freeway except for a few tattered remains of gas stops and cafes along the way. What was a real surprise was finding a 'sobriety checkpoint' on a Sunday morning, before noon, on a desolate section of Route 66! Must have been 6-8 AHP cars and 2-3 Indian cop cars in a joint effort. They waved me through but were talking to a bunch of people in stopped cars. Very strange way to spend tax payer's money.
Aahhh, the Grand Canyon! The ride to the Canyon from the freeway is a bit long but not bad. Lots of passing opportunities. At the Canyon the traffic was just like Los Angeles freeway traffic, only slower...would have been awful in a car. Luckily, I wasn't in a car!
Parked easily and walked over to the rim Man, what a sight. Hopefully the pics will give you an idea of what I saw, but I doubt it. Its just too vast! Walked up and down the S. Rim and then rode east to Desert View before turning back. Stopped many times for another view. What views! What vistas! What colors! Very late in the day I decided to ride back to the motel. Tomorrow I'll head NE through Monument Valley UT on the way around NW to Torrey for the night. Torrey is right next to the Capitol Reef NP, a NP I'd never heard of. This whole area is a canyon. I suppose the Grand Canyon is the biggest and deepest but everywhere there are canyons, deep and shallow, large and small. Took lots of pics to show the vastness of the topography. Crossing it on foot, on horseback or in a wagon must have really been something! Monument Valley! Its really pretty much the whole way, monuments I mean. They're everywhere along the route I took. Put my camera in my pocket for easier access and quick stops for pics from the road.
Looks like someone managed to buy one of the 'monunents' and built his house right under it! Some, are right next to the road as at least one of the pictures should show. No need to ride out on one of the many dirt roads to see what's there. They're everywhere! Certainly better than a plain desert with nothing but sagebrush and cactus (hello Nevada)! I ran across a very interesting road between Mexican Hat and Hanksville UT. There must have been a half dozen warning signs, saying no wide loads, trucks, RVs, long vehicles et cetera due to the three miles of unpaved road and 5 mph switchbacks. 5 mph? A car will idle at or near 10 mph so 5 should be a real test of throttle control, especially on an uphill unpaved road. Turned out that section was only two miles long and on the switchbacks, there was some kind of old pavement still present so the corners weren't bad at all. See the pics of the different levels of the road? Saw some good views of the road approaching this area too. They call this area the Valley of the Gods and Muley Pt. Overlook. What a sight!
After a night in Torrey I headed south through Escalante on the way through Bryce Canyon NP. Turns out you really can't ride through the park as its 17 miles in and 17 miles out, the same entrance. So, I wasted no time there (the whole area looks the same) and headed south past Kanab and Fredonia to the north rim of the Canyon. It had been two days since I was at the south rim where it was very crowded the day before Memorial Day. Not so at the north rim. Much less traffic but frankly, I preferred the south rim view points. Seemed to be more of them. If I was going to stay a few days, I would pick the north rim just because of the Lodge and the cabins available there...right on the rim. The views are spectacular. Have I used that term before? It fits. The weather couldn't have been better either. Just perfect. At day's end I rode another 80 miles or so back to Kanab UT for the night. Next morning I'll head through Zion NP and find a way across Nevada.
Zion NP is really nice. The road through only covers the south section but its a great ride. You have to take a park bus for the northern scenery. Rode through a little town named Virgin just outside the park. Yep, Virgin Utah. Some of the road signs seemed kind of funny with a town named Virgin. Decided to take the freeway back to Vegas and then northwest across and back to California. Talk about vast wasteland! The wind was a problem too. Never seemed to stop. Headwinds, tailwinds and nasty crosswinds. I took 95 north out of Vegas and headed towards 266 and 168 into CA. Never been that way before. Crossed over Magruder Mountain at around 9,000'. Never knew a mountain range so high existed so close to the Sierras that I was heading towards. Cold and desolate up there. Flew by the 168 cutoff and found myself ten miles later heading back into Nevada. Quick check of the map and I headed back to 168 and the way into CA. What a beautiful valley I rode into after the mountain pass where it was COLD and snowing a bit. Its in the Inyo National Forest just east and south of 395 and Mammoth Lakes where I stayed my last night on the road. Cold and snowing there too but it didn't stick...thankfully!
Called Yosemite NP and learned the Tioga Pass had just been opened so I rode west over it instead of the Sonora Pass to the north. Hadn't been over the Tioga in a year or more so it was a treat. LOTS of snow up there as the pics should show. Ice covered lakes and ponds at all the high altitudes inside Yosemite. Any brave ice skaters out there? Just beautiful...and did I mention it was COLD up there? Here I travel though four states and the coldest and most snow I run across is back in California. Once out of Yosemite I continue on westward to home. Got there in mid afternoon. Total of about 2,600 miles in five and a half days.
Hope you like the pics. I put them in my Photobucket account because there are so many of them (148 pics)!!! When the page loads with small pics, 3 or 4 across, click on each individual pic and on some systems, once it loads you can click on it again for a larger view.
http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i87/j ... ?start=all
