This was a mammoth trip. Two men, two bikes, 5,300 miles in two weeks. 10 states visited, two worn out rear tires, two speeding tickets (93mph in a 65mph zone = $114) and one parking ticket (unpaid, it was bogus). We considered ourselves quite lucky with the speeding ticket. Ten minutes before the state patrol pursuit vehicle pulled us over we were doing 140 mph .....
It started out in Minneapolis, MN, on Thursday afternoon, went west to San Francisco, CA, and all the way back, returning late on a Monday night.
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| Where | Miles traveled (per DAY) |
Total miles |
| Minneapolis, MN | 0 | 0 |
| Sturgis, ND | 605 | 605 |
| D | 202 | 807 |
| Buffalo, WY | 201 | 1,008 |
| West Yellowstone, MO | 417 | 1,425 |
| Wells, | 456 | 1,881 |
| Reno, NV | 457 | 2,338 |
| CA Route 1 | 497 | 1,835 |
| San Loes, CA | 138 | 2,973 |
| Telluride, CO | 996 | 3,969 |
| Redstone, | 164 | 4,133 |
| Denver, CO | 208 | 4,341 |
| Council Bluffs, IO | 578 | 4,919 |
| Minneapolis, MN | 688 | 5,607 |
Yosemite Park, MO. |
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The roads there are pretty torturous, lots of short, sharp twisty bits. Lots of idiots in RV's crawling along towing a car. Not much passing space so it takes an AGE to get anywhere. Very pretty though. First night there we had to drive all around the park and ended up not staying in it. All the campsites were full, so we staying in a small town in Montana just outside the National Park. |
Me by a geyser. |
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| Nice and warm now. Stank a bit though. I wasn't smelling too fresh either now I think about it. |
Look! No hands! |
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This is fairly typical of Yosemite Park. Pretty pretty pretty. |
Butt City |
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They spelled the name of the town wrong on all the signs. It should of been "Butt". Population 59. What they did I have no idea. It was just another small village you flash through. No obvious reason for it's existence. Ranching probably, but we didn't see much livestock. Take a look at the road in the background. It was like that for hundreds and hundreds of miles. I had no idea there was so much land in America. And for the main part there is very little in between. In the more remote parts the police patrol it by helicopter. Oh, future note: Do not wear a white T-shirt when doing long distance motorcycle rides. |
| Golden Gate Bridge, CA. | |
| Here at last! The fog hung around the bridge most of the time we were there. Apparently the first sailors in the area never went into the bay because all they saw was a bunch of fog every time they sailed past it. |
San Francisco |
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San Francisco is a very nice city. The weather was nice, but strange. If you venture out of the city it gets cloudier and damper. Go towards the city and it gets dryer and colder. It was always sunny IN town, but as you leave it seems to cloud over. Weird. |
I am da' Terminator |
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Tim with SF in the background just as we were heading off to the Grand Canyon. The prison on the rock (begins in "A") is off to the left. The people in the white T-shirts are people who sell clothes out of the bin liners to the tourists. They stay behind the wall so they can stay out of sight of the police, or get away quick if chased. |
Smile for the camera |
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Two seconds after this picture was taken the woman turned round and slapped me for what my hand had just did ... |
Bridge in Fog |
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| Fortunately the fog lifted for the last day so we could see the bridge. When you drive over it the fog covers the road, but you can look up and see the structure. There is a large tanker coming down the river in the photo, but you can't see it. It slowly appeared out of the fog like a ghost ship, fog horn blowing. This was the last film in the camera, so I missed it. Ho hum, life goes on. |
Tim goes for a paddle in the Pacific Ocean |
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The water is a LOT colder than it looks. Ankle deep is about as far as you want to go. Dunno how those people are playing in the waves. |
Tim and I by the Grand Canyon: |
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Boy is it the biggest hole I've ever seen. Photographs don't do it justice, you just stand by it and go "Wow". Then you look at if for another 20 mins.. trying to comprehend it's size, then you go "wow" again. A Japanese tourist who spoke zero English took this photo. We had to do a lot of pointing to get the message across, but she got the idea in the end bless her. |
Rainbow bikes: |
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Spot the double rainbow. This was taken shortly after we left the Grand Canyon. We stopped off and changed into wet weather gear (read: a pair of waxed cotton rain pants that let in the water after 10 mins). We were dead lucky. It was the only rain we saw the whole two weeks on the road. Just outside the Grand Canyon is an Indian reservation (Navaho?). The only part of it we saw was the stalls at the side of the road selling jewelry, rugs and pottery. Nothing grows on that land, no crops, no animals, just dust, trailer homes and stray dogs. Boy did those people get screwed by the white man. |
That's it for the trip to California 1999!