3500 miles, 5 days on the cbr's

[loingrader]

my brother brandon had just graduated from pharmacy school and was moving to milwaukee in a few weeks.  i had a baby on the way which was going to minimize the big road trips for awhile.  it was all the reason we needed to take a road trip.  sd, wy, ut, az, nv, az, ut, az, ut, nm, co, ut, co, ne, sd was the itinerary hitting every cool road and national park we could.

i rode my 2002 honda cbr1100xx that i've had for a few years.  i put twisted throttle, swmoto luggage racks on it for the givi luggage.  corbin seat, helibars, throttlemeister, zero gravity touring screen, buell pegs, avon storm tires.  6.3 gal tank.  easily 220 miles per tank.  brandon rode his (new to him) 2004 cbr600rr.  corbin seat, zg touring screen, throttlemeister, our custom givi topcase mount, buell pegs, avon storm tires.  his bike has came with a $2000 titanium exhaust which makes it run and sound awesome, but his mileage suffers a bit.  he was always a few mpg behind where i was on my xx which meant we had to be looking for fuel at about 150 miles.  i usually ride in front, he rides in the back and has the camera.


day 1 (may 2)
we left platte, sd at about 7am on may 2.  it was about 38 degrees but warmed up nicely to about 48 before the day was over.  brrrrr.  we hopped on i-90 and high tailed it to highway 16 just outside of rapid.  took 16 to custer and then into wyoming.  we hopped on 450 at newcastle and headed across thunder basin national grassland.  south to casper and then sw on hwy 220.  saw independence rock and devils gate on our way to rawlins.  we were dodging rain since we had entered wyoming, but the last 100 miles of i-80 was a solid downpour, and about 45 degrees.  nothing like passing miles of semi's in the pouring rain.  we were drenched and freezing as we looked for a hotel in rock springs, wy.  we found one close to a mexican resturaunt.  parked the bikes, unloaded our crap and hung up everything to start the drying process.  hit the mexican place for some tacos and tequila to warm up.  ended the day early.  the bikes looked like crap with all the road grime for the rest of the trip.

day 2
was a brisk morning as we headed off the interstate just west of rock springs.  we took 191 south thru the flaming gorge area.  at one point we were going about 120mph.  we pulled off the interstate for this pic.



30 seconds later a wyoming highway patrolman went flying by in his durango.  he saw us sitting there, turned around in the parking lot and then slowly went back the direction he had come from.  he must have been hiding on the side of the road when we went by and it took him awhile to catch up to us.  ticket dodged.  sweet.

south into utah we are met with this scene at the flaming gorge dam north of vernal.



we went from vernal to price and then took hwy 191 to hwy 24 on our way to hanksville.  lots of cool scenery.







captial reef national park.  i almost dumped the bike in this sand as i was trying to slow down too quickly and was loaded pretty heavy.



this is on highway 12 near escalante, ut in the dixie national forest.



continuing on hwy 12 to bryce canyon national park.



the rocks change color all the time.  it was so cool driving thru utah.  i'd never been there before.

more bryce canyon.



we got on interstate 15 near cedar city and were about 100 miles from vegas at about 8:30pm.  i'd never been and neither had he.  we stopped to get gas and pondered our situation.  stop for the night get some rest and get caught up for a big day tomorrow or head to sin city.  his bike isn't quite as comfy as mine and another 100 miles didn't seem like much fun to him so we swapped bikes and high tailed it to vegas.  it was pretty cool riding thru the nevada desert at night when we popped over a hill and millions of lights lay in the valley ahead of us.  ahhhh vegas.  we checked into the hotel room on the strip our dad had found for us an hour earlier.  $36 for the night.  we unloaded our crap at 10pm.  cooked supper in our room with the jetboil and then walked around the strip, and took some pictures...



and were on the road at 9am the next morning.

day 3

we headed back to utah to go thru zion national park.  the first park we actually had to pay for.  it was worth it even though we were thru the park in 20 minutes.  we had places to go!



some video of zion



we then got on hwy 89 on our way to page, az.  stopped to cook some lunch by the dam at lake powell.  it was hot, but we needed to keep eating the camp food we had brought cause we had brought way too much.  all the food and everything else brandon brought for the trip was in his topcase.  85% of it was food.  he travels pretty light.

we continued south on hwy 89.  24 miles south of page, az when 89 meets up with alt 89, you come thru this chasm in the rock and you are way up in the air and you can see the grand canyon stretching for hundreds of miles below and to the west of you.  it was awesome.  89 winds it's way down the side of the rock till you are on flat ground again.  we headed to the south rim of the grand canyon and the second national park we had to pay for.  we were there about 20 minutes as well.



we went back to hwy 89 and then took 160 to kayenta and then 163 to monument valley, which was awesome too.









it was dusk as we went thru mexican water, az.  we should have stayed the night here, but the more miles we went each day, the less we would have to go the next day.  we planned on staying in red mesa, 12 miles from mexican water.  there was nothing there.  ok, 18 more miles to teec nos pos.  nothing.  there's got to be a hotel or campground or something at the 4 corners monument (which we also wanted to see).  it was dark and the gate was closed when we went by and there was no place to stay.  we did get to ride a few miles in new mexico though, in the dark.

so now it is very dark.  not only are we missing out on the scenery, but we are having to dodge the night wildlife in the desert and mountains.  it was 40 more miles until we could finally stop for the night in cortez, colorado.  the only place still open was a denny's.  we ate and showered and hit the hay.

day 4

we took hwy 160 to durango and then headed north on hwy 550 to silverton, co.  what a cool mountain town.  550 between silverton and ouray is called the million dollar highway and the views were amazing.  there were patchy gravel spots and some snow on some of the curves so we had to be very cautious but it was so much fun. 



some video.



a pretty big ice chunk waiting for us around a corner.



we continued on hwy 550 to ridgway and then took hwy 62 to placerville and then stopped for lunch in bedrock colorado.  heading out of bedrock, my brother got on it, so i followed suit.  within seconds i had the tach pinned in 2nd gear and was doing about 100mph.  as i shifted into third, the front tire came off the ground about 4 inches and hung there till i eased off the throttle.  all the weight in the givi bags and the 160hp on tap made it pretty easy to pull the front tire up, but i'd never done it at 3 digit speeds before!

from bedrock we  headed northwest to la sal junction, ut.  we then headed north on hwy 191 to moab.  being a motorcycle/mountain bike/hiking/rock climbing/4 wheeler/4x4 fan, moab has always been on my list of places to see.  i could spend lifetimes in moab and never get sick of it, but we were there for about 30 minutes.  we skipped arches n.p. in the interest of time, knowing we would be back for a longer stay in the future.  from moab we took hwy 128 northeast to i-70.  hwy 128 was a cool, scenic road, even with the slow speed limit.  there were people doing all sorts of outdoor activities.



this is just past fisher towers on hwy 128.  i loved riding this day as we went back and forth across the colorado/utah border.  from alpine views to red desert and back again.  this picture shows some of both.



this is a desolate little highway near cisco, ut on our way to i-70.



we took i-70 50 miles into colorado and then we got off on highway 65.  this picture is near grand mesa, co as we wound our way up into the mountains.  you could see forever...



we took hwy 65 to hwy 92 and we planned to stay the night in hotchkiss, co as there was free camping at the fairgrounds.  the sun was still up and we had a hard time stopping at reasonable times, so we kept going.  it was here that brandon almost got very friendly with a small heard of deer on the road.  i saw them and slowed down.  he was daydreaming and went flying past me, and got darn close to a few of the little buggers.  my ability to consistently pay a little more attention than him is why i like to ride first.  that way he sees a big red tail light or blinker when he needs to start paying attention.  apparently this time my tail light wasn't quite big enough.  anyway, no harm, no foul.

we stopped for gas at crawford, co and it said the next gas was about 50 miles away in gunnison.  i talked to a guy on a bike and asked him about the road to gunnison.  he said it was amazing but would be a little dicey at night, with some patches of ice and LOTS of deer.  we didn't want to backtrack, and we were already thru crawford, and brandon really didn't want to stop yet so we were going to continue on to gunnison.  just a few miles past crawford we pass a state park on a beautiful lake with not a soul in sight except for 2 bikers camping.  it was a sign from God.  we had to stop.  it looked like a postcard.



the other 2 riders were from kansas.  one was on a klr and the other was on a big yamaha cruiser.  they had ridden from kansas to some little town west of vegas for a dual sport group lunch thing and were now on their way back.  they had been on many of the same roads as us, but they were taking a little more time to smell the roses.



i paid for our camp site and started unpacking stuff.  brandon took the 600rr back to crawford to get some beer and firewood.  it was priceless seeing him take 2 six packs and a bundle of firewood out of that big ol' givi topcase.  we had been hauling sleeping bags, sleeping pads, the jetboil, a few aluminum pots, utensils and a bunch of campfood for the entire trip, but this was the only night we ended up camping.  since we stopped so early this night (was not even dark yet) we fooled around with the camera a bit.





day 5

we heard our friends motor into crawford for coffee and then later head back past us towards the road to gunnison.  as i heard that klr thumpin off into the distance, i felt a little guilty for leaving my klr sitting at home.  there were a lot of fun trails we had passed that would have been a blast.  i had to remind myself that this trip was about seeing as much as possible in the time available and the klr would have not been the best steed for the job.  eventually we broke camp at about 10am.



the road to gunnison was pretty cool, and we were very glad that we saved it for daylight.  here's brandon trying to unload a little extra fluid into the "black canyon of the gunnison national park"



another picture of the black canyon.



east of gunnison, co we continued on highway 50 toward ponca springs, co.  this was our highest (of many) passes of the trip.  monarch pass.  11312 feet.  the snow was pretty deep up here.  most of the parking lot was covered by about 3 feet of it.



from ponca springs we headed north on hwy 24 and then hwy 91.  some more video.



hwy 91 took us back to i-80.  we took i-80 thru denver all the way to grand island, ne where we hopped on hwy 281 and headed north back to platte, sd.  we got home about 10pm.

none of the pics or video's or my lame descriptions do any of this trip justice.  it was awesome, and truly a blessing to share it with my brother, on our cbr's.  i often say that riding a motorcycle offroad is always more fun than riding on road, but the one thing pavement allows is the opportunity to see a lot of country in a short amount of time. 

-bret

[fringefan]

Thats an awesome ride. The wife and I mt biked monarch pass some years ago and I can tell you it was not what I was lead to believe it was.

[loingrader]

i couldn't believe how many people we saw on bicycles on the trip.  in colorado, in the mountains, everyone is on road bikes, in utah, everyone is on mountain bikes.

[The Yeti]

Awesome ride! And really cool you got to share it with your brother.  Has anyone ever told Brandon he looks a lot like Vin Diesel?






Surprised he didn't get asked for a signature or two in Vegas.    The resemblance (at least in this pic) is uncanny!

Great pics and video...how did you mount the camera for the videos, and what cam were you using?

[Hank]

Nice report, great trip!    You did a much better job of getting pictures than Paul and I did.
Your videos really look good.    Nice ice chunk.

[loingrader]

i've got an olympus sw 1030.

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1363

shockproof, freezeproof and waterproof to 33 feet.  the picture quality is not quite as good as our sony cybershot, but you can't kill this camera.  plus taking underwater video's while snorkeling in the virgin islands this winter was a blast.

when i got my xx it had a ram-mount installed which i promptly removed.  we dug the old ram mount out of a box of parts and mounted it to brandon's rr's front brake mount with the 2 bolts that hold it onto the clipon.  then we just got a bolt with the same thread as what is found on the bottom of every camera you see.  ran the bolt thru the ram mount and into the camera.  didn't cost us anything and worked great as long as the windscreen was fairly clean.

i will run the same setup on my klr this fall.

[The Yeti]

Yeah, I've got the Pentax W60, waterproof, etc. and had it on a ram mount on my bars.... but I stripped out the mounting hole! Anyone know how I can fix that??  I don't think I can without sending it in.....

[loingrader]

stripped out the threaded hole on the camera?  do they make helicoils that small? 

[The Yeti]

Yeah, on the camera. The threads are plastic, and I think I cross-threaded it once or twice, that combined with the vibration off-road just ripped the threads apart.

[loingrader]

if it was me, i would put some jb weld in the hole and find a bolt to thread into the jb weld.  spray the bolt with wd 40 or something and screw it into the jb weld.  remove it when the jb weld is tacky.  if that doesn't work i would find a short bolt.  cut the head off of it and jb weld the thing into the stripped out hole and leave it there.  use a nut on the end to attach to the ram mount.