In what turned out to be the last day of our motorcycle adventure, we woke to more rain and decided that if we could, we would try and make it through Oregon to Rod and Linda's place in Montesano, Washington. Despite the weather, the journey through the Redwoods was just gorgeous. Not only are the redwoods magnificent, but autumn had hit this part of the US and the colours were stunning - lots of yellows and reds as well as the various shades of green. It was a shame we could not do this journey on a sunny day but even so, parts of this journey were great. We knew we would not see too much scenery because of the rain so joined the I-5 freeway to get in as many miles as we could. We became temporarily geographically embarrassed in the freeway system at Portland and had to call on Nagging Nellie, the GPS to help us out.
After 480 wet miles, we arrived at Rod and Linda's just after 6.00pm tired, a little wet and also a little sad that this two wheeled part of our big adventure was over. The Gold Wing had performed magnificently and only went lame once - and carried us in comfort for 9000 miles from sea level to more than 10,000 ft, from near freezing to 40 degrees C plus (over 104 degrees F) conditions, and from cities to deserts.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair
The hotel in Fremont was about 30-40 miles or so from downtown San Francisco. Rather than risk riding the motorcycle in San Francisco traffic, we rode to the local BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station and caught the train. The first thing we did (of course) was to ride a cable car to Fisherman's Wharf. It was to be one of many cable car rides we took and Ric rode standing on the outside for all of them. He figured he may not get the chance again and besides, where else in the developed world can you legally ride on the outside of public transport? In the two days in the Bay area, we spent more time waiting in line for a cable car than we actually spent riding them. As you'd expect, they are very popular with tourists as well as being part of the normal commuter transport system. We learned too late that it is easier and faster to walk one or two stops from the ends of the line and then catch a car - they can almost always squeeze a couple more on and people are getting on and off all the time. We walked along Fisherman's Wharf (including the famous Pier 39), rode a tram, visited the Cable Car Museum, and experienced the Aquarium on the Bay. Jenny shopped at Bloomingdales (but passed on the $57 G-string) and we had dinner at Lori's Diner - a 1950's themed restaurant. We also walked up Hyde Street to Lombard St (supposedly the world's steepest street with the most sharp curves in it) and walked down Lombard St. It was about four blocks along from the waterfront but felt about 20 blocks up. It was a steep, steep walk!
We left fairly early the next day, continuing north as the forecast was for more bad weather. It was morning rush hour but thanks to the carpool lane (which we could use) we managed to navigate our way through the freeway system pretty easily. We even rode across the Golden Gate Bridge and Jenny did not scream all the way across.
Shortly after leaving San Francisco we again hit rain which continued for the rest of the day. We knew it was not going to get any better so pushed on and arrived in Crescent City near the Oregon state line wet through after travelling more than 400 miles. Our worst incident of the trip ocuured this day. We were travelling through a small town which had disused rail tracks anglng across the main street. We hit these tracks and both wheels started sliding sideways. It was a nerve racking fraction of a second before Ric managed to get the bike under control but it was the closest we had come to having an "off" in the whole journey. Once at Crescent City, we put on dry clothes, dried out our wet gear and decided to order in pizza!
We left fairly early the next day, continuing north as the forecast was for more bad weather. It was morning rush hour but thanks to the carpool lane (which we could use) we managed to navigate our way through the freeway system pretty easily. We even rode across the Golden Gate Bridge and Jenny did not scream all the way across.
Shortly after leaving San Francisco we again hit rain which continued for the rest of the day. We knew it was not going to get any better so pushed on and arrived in Crescent City near the Oregon state line wet through after travelling more than 400 miles. Our worst incident of the trip ocuured this day. We were travelling through a small town which had disused rail tracks anglng across the main street. We hit these tracks and both wheels started sliding sideways. It was a nerve racking fraction of a second before Ric managed to get the bike under control but it was the closest we had come to having an "off" in the whole journey. Once at Crescent City, we put on dry clothes, dried out our wet gear and decided to order in pizza!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Castles In The Air
From Bakersfield, we followed the Coastal Highway north via Hearst Castle. Hearst Castle, built by William Randolph Hearst and now a national monument is a huge property comprising a number of structures including the main house, some guest houses, a huge outdoor pool, an indoor pool which is just as big, gardens and goodness knows what else. It is at around 1600' elevation and only about a mile from the coast so the views should be wonderful. Regrettably, we were in the clouds the whole time so did not see much of the estate. Jenny and I took one of the four tours but unfortunately, the weather was terrible – it rained the whole time. The "castle" is about five miles from the Visitors Centre on a road that winds its way steeply up the side of the hill. Jenny didn't like the trip much - nor the trip back down. The ride from Hearst Castle north was in dreadful weather along the Pacific Coast Road that had lots of sharp curves and at times climbed very high along bluffs on the coast. Again, this was not a favourite part of the trip for Jenny, not helped by knowing that Ric's visibility in the driving rain was pretty marginal at times. We stopped in Gilroy for the night, soaked to the skin despite our wet weather gear.
The weather was better for our brief journey to San Francisco and we checked in to a really nice hotel the AmeriSuites at Fremont, about 50 miles out of San Francisco.
We are having troubles uploading photos just now so keep checking and we'll get them uploaded as soon as we can.
The weather was better for our brief journey to San Francisco and we checked in to a really nice hotel the AmeriSuites at Fremont, about 50 miles out of San Francisco.
We are having troubles uploading photos just now so keep checking and we'll get them uploaded as soon as we can.
California Here We Come
On the trip from Las Vegas to Bakersfield, California, we suddenly came upon some road works. Normally, this is not worth mentioning but in this case, it was a case of mayhem on the I-15. Road workers were working on the large median strip and had closed off both inside lanes on the four lane highway. Something we have noticed throughout the States is that road construction crews regularly close off sections of the highway for a long distance, even if they are only working on a short section. This is understandable as road crews are hurt or killed by vehicles quite often and they deserve to have a safe working environment. However, having such large areas of road closed and dealing with the resultant snarled traffic can be very frustrating for drivers.
The I-15 is a very busy stretch of road and the traffic, which had been traveling steadily at about 75 mph, came suddenly to a near halt, backing up very quickly. We tuned the CB to Channel 19 to see if we could find out what the problem was (we could not initially see the road works). We spent the next 30 minutes or so being thoroughly entertained by the truckers who were talking on the CB. They were hilarious and it was clear that they too were frustrated at the lane closure but it was also clear that they were contemptuous of the behaviour of some of the car drivers some of whom were doing some very stupid and/or inconsiderate things. A couple of times, we heard some truckers organize a rolling block to prevent some idiot car driver from doing something stupid but they also used the CB to warn others of the approach of a police car so the officer would have a clear passage through the mayhem. It was all very entertaining.
The I-15 is a very busy stretch of road and the traffic, which had been traveling steadily at about 75 mph, came suddenly to a near halt, backing up very quickly. We tuned the CB to Channel 19 to see if we could find out what the problem was (we could not initially see the road works). We spent the next 30 minutes or so being thoroughly entertained by the truckers who were talking on the CB. They were hilarious and it was clear that they too were frustrated at the lane closure but it was also clear that they were contemptuous of the behaviour of some of the car drivers some of whom were doing some very stupid and/or inconsiderate things. A couple of times, we heard some truckers organize a rolling block to prevent some idiot car driver from doing something stupid but they also used the CB to warn others of the approach of a police car so the officer would have a clear passage through the mayhem. It was all very entertaining.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Bright Light City
We spent two nights in Las Vegas. It is what you expect - really busy (the traffic is nuts!) and bright and exciting. The photo above shows one of the hotels - Caesars Palace (apart from the street in the photo,it is ALL just Caesers Palace!). We really liked our stay. We stayed in a casino hotel (of course) about a mile as the crow flies from the strip. It was not one of the bigger resorts with only about 1,850 or so rooms. It did provide a free shuttle to and from the strip though more often than not there were more people waiting than the bus could actually handle.
We wandered the strip and checked out a few places though it is still really hot here at this time of year. On the first night we managed to get tickets to Cirque Du Soleil's "Mystere" at Treasure Island. This show was brilliant - so good that instead of taking in a musical (there are dozens of shows all over Vegas to choose from) we decided to take in Cirque's latest, "Zumanity", billed as the show showing the sensual side of Cirque Du Soleil. It had a R18 rating. What a contrast and a disappointment. Zumanity is just awful rubbish. Certainly it is for adults with lots of bad language, constant reference to sex, semi clad people and a drag queen as an MC. We expected a lot of this. What we didn't expect was the lack of circus performance. There were four or five acts you could call circus related, including a contortionist, two topless and very flexible women swimming in a giant champagne glass and a couple of aerial performances that we could not see because the balcony blocked the view. The rest of the show was a series of acts whose only relevance was that they were related to sex (though the relevance of the two men play fighting in a cage was totally lost on us). We think most of the cast are erotic dancers not circus performers. Honestly, if we wanted something like this, we could have paid far less to visit a strip show which would have done it better. Despite the high ticket price, a number of people walked out and we considered it but waited, hoping it would improve. It didn't. Shame.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Zion National Park
Forget everything we said before. Zion National Park left us astounded and speechless (and left Jenny more than a little nervous in some places). The natural rock formations here have to be seen to be believed. We were there, we saw them, but I am not sure we believed them! Watch this space for more.
Zion is a "must see" in our opinion. Regrettably we only had time to ride through it - there is much much more only accessible if you take the free shuttle further into the park. With this option, there are also what appear to be some brilliant hikes available. We just did not have the time which was disappointing. Once again, the phots do not do it justice but check out the hole ion the rock in the photos. This was one of the ventilation and light shafts in a vehicle tunnel that extends a mile through solid rock.
Zion is a "must see" in our opinion. Regrettably we only had time to ride through it - there is much much more only accessible if you take the free shuttle further into the park. With this option, there are also what appear to be some brilliant hikes available. We just did not have the time which was disappointing. Once again, the phots do not do it justice but check out the hole ion the rock in the photos. This was one of the ventilation and light shafts in a vehicle tunnel that extends a mile through solid rock.
What A Hole
As we checked out of the hotel in Flagstaff, we ran into another biker – Mike from San Francisco. Mike, who rides a Ducatti, generously invited us to stay with him if we were in San Francisco. It turns out he has been to New Zealand and one or two people were nice to him so he wanted to return the favour. Mike is an ex Navy diver and spent some time in Papua New Guinea – as did we. Ric’s Dad and an Uncle are also ex US Navy so we had some things in common to talk about.
The Grand Canyon is … well… grand. It is huge and beautiful and awesome and has to be seen to be believed. We rode there from Flagstaff on a cool but cloudless day to arrive at the Grand Canyon mid morning. Beware! Some of the businesses our out to fleece you! We stopped at McDonalds for a coffee and were charged US$4.50 for two very mediocre cups of filter coffee. We also had to pay $24.00 to enter the Grand Canyon National Park but to be fair, this was for a 7 Day pass. A single day pass is not an option.
As we approached the Grand Canyon, Jenny became more and more nervous. She is not at all comfortable with heights, or more specifically, she hates big and sudden drops. And guess what? The Grand Canyon is the biggest, suddenist drop on the planet. Yes, the views are nothing less than stunning and while you should check the small selection of photos on our site, believe us when we say that these in no way do this geological masterpiece justice. For sure, you cannot get any sense of the sheer depth of the canyon. Jenny was brave enough to get reasonably close to the edge to get her photo taken but you can see she did not enjoy it. In fact, two seconds after the photo was taken she was on the other side of the track – as far from the edge as she could get, clinging to the fence. She was not alone. It does take a lot of courage to confront your fears like this and she did very well.
We left the Grand Canyon but as the road followed the canyon edge for about 25 miles, Jenny had a death grip on the pillion passengers panic rails the whole time. In fact, her fingerprints are now permanently embedded into the plastic. We stopped at one of the scenic viewing stops for another look at the Canyon. We should mention that this is Navajo Country and the Navajo have set up stalls at every scenic spot selling jewellery and ceramics made on the reservation – really nice stuff, too. We had just pulled up at one of the spots when our new best friend, Dan from New Jersey turned up. Dan had been riding almost as long as we had and seemed genuinely impressed that we had clocked up so many miles and had been riding for so many days.
We bought some Navajo jewellery and said goodbye to Dan and headed off to follow Highway 89A – a designated Scenic Highway. Again, check out the photos we took, especially at Marble Canyon. While Ric was admiring the beautiful surroundings, you can see that Jenny was praying that this ordeal from Hell would end soon. On the other side of the Canyon, we filled up on gas and spoke to the Ranger who tried with only limited success to assure Jenny that the road ahead was really pretty good and that the chances of her dying were actually pretty low. He didn’t help.
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