Geezer
Parsimonious Curmudgeon
I attended NAFO last year in Golden, Co., and WFO in Utah the year before. Both were a lot of fun and I met some great people, so I decided to attend WFO again this year, even though it was being held a lot further left than the previous rallies.
I left home in NY on Friday morning, 7/25. My goal was to reach Kalamazoo, MI by 5:00 PM. My brother lives there and it was his wife's birthday so we planned to take her out to dinner after I arrived. My wife, sister-in-law, and nephew were following in a car to spend the weekend in Kalamazoo. At first we traveled together, but it didn't take long for me to get ahead of them. After that we just kept in touch by cell phone when I stopped for fuel.
I arrive in Michigan on schedule. My wife got lost in Cleveland and showed up a couple hours later. Oh well.
We spent the weekend at my brothers place on a small lake. That's me in the dark blue kayak.
I left early Monday and headed north from Kalamazoo to cross the Mackinaw bridge which separates Lake Huron and Lake Michigan to get to the Upper Paninsula (UP) of Michigan.
I stopped at a view point after crossing the bridge. The bridge is in the background there somewhere.
I stayed on US2 west across the UP, across Wisconsin, and half way across Minnesota before stopping for the night. There was a lot of interesting scenery along the way, but I didn't stop to take pictures.
I saw a sign for the 'American Legion Campground' and decided it would be a good place to camp. I packed my small tripod so I can be in some of the pictures.
The next day I continued west on US 2. I got rained on some and it got cold. I spent the night in a cheap hotel somewhere in Montana. More rain in the morning. Each time I stopped I put on another shirt or jacket. By the time I got to Glacier National Park I was wearing every long sleeve jacket and shirt I had packed, along with my Frog Toggs rainsuit. A friendly tourist who saw my NY license plates asked if he could take a picture for me. His wife had lived in NY at one time.
As I toured Glacier I got to the top of the mountains and started to see some bikers coming from the west side wearing light clothing. Once I started down the west side I was in the sun. It took about an hour for the sun to bake through my layers of damp clothing, but eventually I got hot and had to take off all those extra shirts and jackets. After that the weather was hot and sunny the rest of the time I was west of the Rockies.
After getting a couple t-shirts from Glacier I went out the west entrance and found a beautiful lakefront campsite in a Montana state park.
From here I was only a few hours ride from the rally hotel in Moscow, ID. I had plotted a route in my GPS for some of the twistiest roads I could see on the map. Oh, speaking of maps, I left my paper maps in Michigan. I know, maps are cheap and readily available, and I should get some new ones, but I haven't done that yet. So, I am using the GPS and the route I plotted weeks earlier.
Karen, the Australian voice on my Garmin that I like to listen to, tells me to go through a small town in Idaho to get to those twisty roads I have been looking forward to. First she tries to take me the wrong way down a 1 way street. No problem, I can find a way around that. Hey! What's up with all these ATVs riding around town on the street? Looks like fun.
Anyway, next Karen leads me down a dirt road. It is smooth and wide enough for two cars, so I figure it's OK. A couple of miles and I'm still happy. The next instruction from the *&*^ Karen is to turn right. I see this one lane wooden bridge. OK. this looks safe so off I go. Just across the bridge is a curve and an uphill, ummm, what looks like a hiking trail. Lots of big ruts and rocks. Hmmm. No place to turn around, and maybe the road gets better up ahead. Nope!, it gets worse. Up I go about a half mile before I find a place to turn around my fully loaded, heavy, FJR. Of course this was just after I cross two mud puddles, so I'll have to go back through them.
I start backing and maneuvering to turn around and get about half way turned around when the engine in my bike dies. Uh oh. What now. (*&*&^&%^ Good thing nobody can hear what I'm saying inside my helmet at this point. OK, calmly I decide to complete my turn and roll back down to the main, er, dirt road before I worry about getting it started again. After I complete the turn and get pointed back down the trail, I realize that I have this big honkin' tank bag on and the bars were pressing against it as I turned around. So, you proably figured it out quicker than I did, the tank bag pushed the kill switch off. Whew! Flip it on and the engine starts right up. :yahoo:
Back down the trail, through the mud, around the rocks, across the ruts, back across the bridge, and I stop to compose myself and convince myself that this is one of the adventures I should expect.
This is the bridge from the good end.
Remember those ATVs I mentioned earlier? Well, this place is a giant ATV park. Karen Garmin thought they were real roads, and they have names and show on the map, but they are nothing more than slightly improved hiking trails used by ATVs. Great fun on the right vehicle, but not passable on a street bike.
Back to town, head west for about 20 miles, and find a nice twisty PAVED road that leads me to Moscow.
The rally itself was great. I made some new friends, chatted with a bunch of people I already knew, and had some fun riding on roads that were new to me. I even got my bike washed by the local swim team who were raising money for travel expenses:
My riding buddies on Friday:
Who's this on her way to the pool?
Sunday morning, August 2, and I'm off to Yosemite. Karen leads me through Washington and Oregon for a while where I can smell the freshly mowed wheat fields. Reminds me of Shredded Wheat, only much better. After a few hours I see a sign for Devil's Canyon. Hey! I could have gotten here on a different road that would have been better riding. I would have missed the wheat fields though, and I did enjoy that aroma. I really should stop and buy some maps.
Soon I start getting very hot. I see the speed limit change from 65 to 70 so I know I must have crossed a state line. There's someone getting a ticket ahead. My radar detector didn't go off so I'm probably OK. Now I see the car and it is a Nevada state police, so I know I'm in Nevada. Sure is hot. My planned route to Yosemite was to go farther west and ride through Washington and Oregon into Calioirmia, never touching Nevada. Guess I should have bought those maps.
I am in Nevada, heading south past Virginia City and Carson City. It is late in the afternoon and I start looking for a campground for the night. Nothing nearby. My GPS doesn't find any, but that doesn't mean there are none. I'll just keep going until I see a sign or something. I start heading west and into the mountains. It feels good to get out of the desert. Whoa, that tiny little sign said welcome to California. It is getting darker now. A 30 mph curve ahead, guess I'll slow down a bit just to be safe. As I clear the curve I find myself in the middle of a herd of longhorns. They are not directly in my lane, but standing as close to the line as they can get for some reason. They look at me as I go by. I wonder what would happen if I stopped for a picture. Better not, don't want to spook the creatures, they have long horns.
Now it's getting dark and I still haven't found a campsite. Bugs are starting to collect on my shield making it harder to see. I guess I'll get a room somewhere if I have to. I finally get to a town alongside the Bridgeport Reservoir. This is a nice small tourist town with several hotels. I stop at what looks like the cheapest place. A woman with a Yamaha cruiser is coming out of the office and I ask if the got a room. She said yes, and told me she had stopped at all of the places in town and this was indeed the least expensive. Well, it was far from inexpensive, but I decide to stay anyway. I tell the clerk I want his cheapest room. He gives me a handicap room with a small bedroom and a giant size bathroom. Kind of unusual, but I slept well.
The next morning I was up early, rode through Tioga Pass to Yosemite, and got there before the traffic built up. I had a great day riding all over Yosemite. I even stopped for a few pictures. Here's one:
By late afternoon I had seen everything that I could see without hiking up a trail or two, and the campsites were all full, so I headed out the south entrance towards King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. The ride through the San Yoaquin valley was interesting with all of the fruit trees and grape vines and other things growing there, but it was hot and I couldn't wait to get back into the mountains. The road to King's Canyon was a lot of fun to ride and I got to the park before dark. There were plenty of campsites there and I picked one that had a parking space that was easy to get in and out of on the bike.
That metal box next to my bike is a food locker. Campers are required to put all food in the locker so the bears can't get it.
The next day I toured the two parks. Lots of very big trees and it was very cool. This is one of the smaller ones, but it was in a place where I could use my tripod and get myself in the picture so here it is:
After King's Canyon and Sequioa, my plan was to ride towards Death Valley and get a campsite nearby so I could ride through in the early morning. So, I headed southeast. I stayed in the mountains as much as possible and I went around Lake Isabella before dropping back down into the desert. It was too hot to camp, so as I got close to Death Valley I started looking for a hotel. Hmm, all full. No problem, I'll just keep going and find something in the next town. Well the next town is really just an industrial place. It looks like some sort of mining operation, I can't say for sure. Anyway, no place for me to stay. Keep going.
It is getting dark and my fuel is getting low, It's hot and I'm out of water. I am in the Mojave desert and I hope that I can get fuel and water in Death Valley, otherwise I may be in for another unplanned adventure.
About 10 miles before I get to the entrace to the Death Valley National Park I see a sign for fuel. Whew! I ride a few miles to the gas station, fill up, buy a gallon of cold water, drink about a quart, tie the bottle on my luggage, and head for the park.
It is beautiful, but very hot in the park. I see one young couple setting up a tent by the light of their headlights, but I decide to ride through in the dark rather than spend the night in the heat. Luckily, there is a full moon and I can see some of the scenery. I know I should stop and take a few pictures, but I also know that it would require the flash and wouldn't really show much in that landscape, so I just keep riding.
The east entrace to Death Valley is in Nevada. It is still hot and I still have a lot of desert to cross, so I decide to cross Nevada in the dark. My next planned stop is Canyonlands National Park in Utah.
I arrive at Canyonlands at about 9:00AM. I rode through the night and I am tired.
Canyonlands has one campground with 12 campsites, so I head straight for that so I can get one of those sites.
I immediately fell asleep and woke up around noon. I was hot and thirsty. My gallon of water from the day before had been out in the sun all morning and was too hot to drink. There is no water at all in the campground, so I get on the bike and ride about 10 miles to the park visitor center. There is some shade there and a water fountain. I spent the next three hours walking back and forth between the shade and the water fountain before I feel normal again.
I spent the rest of the day touring the park.
It almost never rains in Canyonlands, so I left the rain fly off my tent. Well, it did rain that night, and it felt pretty good coming in through the screen in the top of the tent. It also cooled off so I got a very good night's sleep.
The next morning I was off to nearby Arches National Park.
I had to hike a mile into the desert to get this picture:
I had left my water on the bike, and got so thirsty that I was ready to turn back about half way there, but a nice guy who was riding a Harley caught up to me and gave me a water bottle. I forget his name, but he is an iron butt rider from Park City, Utah and was riding with a couple of guys on BMWs. Great people.
Well, after Arches it is time for me to start heading for home. I am still on the west side of the Rockies and I have some miles to ride. I head east across Utah and Colorado and plan to stay at a campground near Denver. When I get to Denver there is a lightning storm brewing and I decide to continue towards Nebraska rather than risk getting caught in that storm. Well, before I reach Nebraska I find myself pretty much surrounded by the lightning storm, so I decide to get a hotel room for the night.
In the morning I finish Colorado and get across Nebraska with no problems. The roads are wet in places to remind me of the storm, but I haven't been rained on yet. In Iowa I get some rain and a lot of wind. I decide that rather then camping again I'd push on and stay with my brother in Kalamazoo again.
As I get near Chicago I see another FJR. It is silver and I don't know if it an an '04 or an AE. I decide to follow him for a while just for company. I follow him for an hour or two before he exits. I wave and he waves back.
When I get to Chicago it is dark and there is a lot of city traffic. I get through that and it is after 10:00 PM. I can't wait to get to the house and have a beverage or two with family. About an hour later I get into some rain and it is hard to see the road with the darkness and the spray from the car and truck tires. I catch up to a couple of cruisers and get in line behind them. I figure we will be seen by the other drivers if we stick together, and the bike up front will get all the road spray. It is very slow behind these guys but I stick it out for an hour and take my exit. An adult beverage and warm bed are only a few minutes away.
The next day is Saturday. I need to be back to work on Wednesday so I decide to stay the weekend.
And enjoy the lake.
On Sunday evening I was thinking about heading home the next morning, but the weather report was for thunder and lightning across Ohio, so I decided to stay one more day and head home on Tuesday. Which I did.
I left home in NY on Friday morning, 7/25. My goal was to reach Kalamazoo, MI by 5:00 PM. My brother lives there and it was his wife's birthday so we planned to take her out to dinner after I arrived. My wife, sister-in-law, and nephew were following in a car to spend the weekend in Kalamazoo. At first we traveled together, but it didn't take long for me to get ahead of them. After that we just kept in touch by cell phone when I stopped for fuel.
I arrive in Michigan on schedule. My wife got lost in Cleveland and showed up a couple hours later. Oh well.
We spent the weekend at my brothers place on a small lake. That's me in the dark blue kayak.
I left early Monday and headed north from Kalamazoo to cross the Mackinaw bridge which separates Lake Huron and Lake Michigan to get to the Upper Paninsula (UP) of Michigan.
I stopped at a view point after crossing the bridge. The bridge is in the background there somewhere.
I stayed on US2 west across the UP, across Wisconsin, and half way across Minnesota before stopping for the night. There was a lot of interesting scenery along the way, but I didn't stop to take pictures.
I saw a sign for the 'American Legion Campground' and decided it would be a good place to camp. I packed my small tripod so I can be in some of the pictures.
The next day I continued west on US 2. I got rained on some and it got cold. I spent the night in a cheap hotel somewhere in Montana. More rain in the morning. Each time I stopped I put on another shirt or jacket. By the time I got to Glacier National Park I was wearing every long sleeve jacket and shirt I had packed, along with my Frog Toggs rainsuit. A friendly tourist who saw my NY license plates asked if he could take a picture for me. His wife had lived in NY at one time.
As I toured Glacier I got to the top of the mountains and started to see some bikers coming from the west side wearing light clothing. Once I started down the west side I was in the sun. It took about an hour for the sun to bake through my layers of damp clothing, but eventually I got hot and had to take off all those extra shirts and jackets. After that the weather was hot and sunny the rest of the time I was west of the Rockies.
After getting a couple t-shirts from Glacier I went out the west entrance and found a beautiful lakefront campsite in a Montana state park.
From here I was only a few hours ride from the rally hotel in Moscow, ID. I had plotted a route in my GPS for some of the twistiest roads I could see on the map. Oh, speaking of maps, I left my paper maps in Michigan. I know, maps are cheap and readily available, and I should get some new ones, but I haven't done that yet. So, I am using the GPS and the route I plotted weeks earlier.
Karen, the Australian voice on my Garmin that I like to listen to, tells me to go through a small town in Idaho to get to those twisty roads I have been looking forward to. First she tries to take me the wrong way down a 1 way street. No problem, I can find a way around that. Hey! What's up with all these ATVs riding around town on the street?
Looks like fun.Anyway, next Karen leads me down a dirt road. It is smooth and wide enough for two cars, so I figure it's OK. A couple of miles and I'm still happy. The next instruction from the *&*^ Karen is to turn right. I see this one lane wooden bridge. OK. this looks safe so off I go. Just across the bridge is a curve and an uphill, ummm, what looks like a hiking trail. Lots of big ruts and rocks. Hmmm. No place to turn around, and maybe the road gets better up ahead. Nope!, it gets worse. Up I go about a half mile before I find a place to turn around my fully loaded, heavy, FJR. Of course this was just after I cross two mud puddles, so I'll have to go back through them.
I start backing and maneuvering to turn around and get about half way turned around when the engine in my bike dies. Uh oh. What now. (*&*&^&%^ Good thing nobody can hear what I'm saying inside my helmet at this point. OK, calmly I decide to complete my turn and roll back down to the main, er, dirt road before I worry about getting it started again. After I complete the turn and get pointed back down the trail, I realize that I have this big honkin' tank bag on and the bars were pressing against it as I turned around. So, you proably figured it out quicker than I did, the tank bag pushed the kill switch off. Whew! Flip it on and the engine starts right up. :yahoo:
Back down the trail, through the mud, around the rocks, across the ruts, back across the bridge, and I stop to compose myself and convince myself that this is one of the adventures I should expect.
This is the bridge from the good end.
Remember those ATVs I mentioned earlier? Well, this place is a giant ATV park. Karen Garmin thought they were real roads, and they have names and show on the map, but they are nothing more than slightly improved hiking trails used by ATVs. Great fun on the right vehicle, but not passable on a street bike.
Back to town, head west for about 20 miles, and find a nice twisty PAVED road that leads me to Moscow.
The rally itself was great. I made some new friends, chatted with a bunch of people I already knew, and had some fun riding on roads that were new to me. I even got my bike washed by the local swim team who were raising money for travel expenses:
My riding buddies on Friday:
Who's this on her way to the pool?
Sunday morning, August 2, and I'm off to Yosemite. Karen leads me through Washington and Oregon for a while where I can smell the freshly mowed wheat fields. Reminds me of Shredded Wheat, only much better. After a few hours I see a sign for Devil's Canyon. Hey! I could have gotten here on a different road that would have been better riding. I would have missed the wheat fields though, and I did enjoy that aroma. I really should stop and buy some maps.
Soon I start getting very hot. I see the speed limit change from 65 to 70 so I know I must have crossed a state line. There's someone getting a ticket ahead. My radar detector didn't go off so I'm probably OK. Now I see the car and it is a Nevada state police, so I know I'm in Nevada. Sure is hot. My planned route to Yosemite was to go farther west and ride through Washington and Oregon into Calioirmia, never touching Nevada. Guess I should have bought those maps.
I am in Nevada, heading south past Virginia City and Carson City. It is late in the afternoon and I start looking for a campground for the night. Nothing nearby. My GPS doesn't find any, but that doesn't mean there are none. I'll just keep going until I see a sign or something. I start heading west and into the mountains. It feels good to get out of the desert. Whoa, that tiny little sign said welcome to California. It is getting darker now. A 30 mph curve ahead, guess I'll slow down a bit just to be safe. As I clear the curve I find myself in the middle of a herd of longhorns. They are not directly in my lane, but standing as close to the line as they can get for some reason. They look at me as I go by. I wonder what would happen if I stopped for a picture. Better not, don't want to spook the creatures, they have long horns.
Now it's getting dark and I still haven't found a campsite. Bugs are starting to collect on my shield making it harder to see. I guess I'll get a room somewhere if I have to. I finally get to a town alongside the Bridgeport Reservoir. This is a nice small tourist town with several hotels. I stop at what looks like the cheapest place. A woman with a Yamaha cruiser is coming out of the office and I ask if the got a room. She said yes, and told me she had stopped at all of the places in town and this was indeed the least expensive. Well, it was far from inexpensive, but I decide to stay anyway. I tell the clerk I want his cheapest room. He gives me a handicap room with a small bedroom and a giant size bathroom. Kind of unusual, but I slept well.
The next morning I was up early, rode through Tioga Pass to Yosemite, and got there before the traffic built up. I had a great day riding all over Yosemite. I even stopped for a few pictures. Here's one:
By late afternoon I had seen everything that I could see without hiking up a trail or two, and the campsites were all full, so I headed out the south entrance towards King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. The ride through the San Yoaquin valley was interesting with all of the fruit trees and grape vines and other things growing there, but it was hot and I couldn't wait to get back into the mountains. The road to King's Canyon was a lot of fun to ride and I got to the park before dark. There were plenty of campsites there and I picked one that had a parking space that was easy to get in and out of on the bike.
That metal box next to my bike is a food locker. Campers are required to put all food in the locker so the bears can't get it.
The next day I toured the two parks. Lots of very big trees and it was very cool. This is one of the smaller ones, but it was in a place where I could use my tripod and get myself in the picture so here it is:
After King's Canyon and Sequioa, my plan was to ride towards Death Valley and get a campsite nearby so I could ride through in the early morning. So, I headed southeast. I stayed in the mountains as much as possible and I went around Lake Isabella before dropping back down into the desert. It was too hot to camp, so as I got close to Death Valley I started looking for a hotel. Hmm, all full. No problem, I'll just keep going and find something in the next town. Well the next town is really just an industrial place. It looks like some sort of mining operation, I can't say for sure. Anyway, no place for me to stay. Keep going.
It is getting dark and my fuel is getting low, It's hot and I'm out of water. I am in the Mojave desert and I hope that I can get fuel and water in Death Valley, otherwise I may be in for another unplanned adventure.
About 10 miles before I get to the entrace to the Death Valley National Park I see a sign for fuel. Whew! I ride a few miles to the gas station, fill up, buy a gallon of cold water, drink about a quart, tie the bottle on my luggage, and head for the park.
It is beautiful, but very hot in the park. I see one young couple setting up a tent by the light of their headlights, but I decide to ride through in the dark rather than spend the night in the heat. Luckily, there is a full moon and I can see some of the scenery. I know I should stop and take a few pictures, but I also know that it would require the flash and wouldn't really show much in that landscape, so I just keep riding.
The east entrace to Death Valley is in Nevada. It is still hot and I still have a lot of desert to cross, so I decide to cross Nevada in the dark. My next planned stop is Canyonlands National Park in Utah.
I arrive at Canyonlands at about 9:00AM. I rode through the night and I am tired.
Canyonlands has one campground with 12 campsites, so I head straight for that so I can get one of those sites.
I immediately fell asleep and woke up around noon. I was hot and thirsty. My gallon of water from the day before had been out in the sun all morning and was too hot to drink. There is no water at all in the campground, so I get on the bike and ride about 10 miles to the park visitor center. There is some shade there and a water fountain. I spent the next three hours walking back and forth between the shade and the water fountain before I feel normal again.
I spent the rest of the day touring the park.
It almost never rains in Canyonlands, so I left the rain fly off my tent. Well, it did rain that night, and it felt pretty good coming in through the screen in the top of the tent. It also cooled off so I got a very good night's sleep.
The next morning I was off to nearby Arches National Park.
I had to hike a mile into the desert to get this picture:
I had left my water on the bike, and got so thirsty that I was ready to turn back about half way there, but a nice guy who was riding a Harley caught up to me and gave me a water bottle. I forget his name, but he is an iron butt rider from Park City, Utah and was riding with a couple of guys on BMWs. Great people.
Well, after Arches it is time for me to start heading for home. I am still on the west side of the Rockies and I have some miles to ride. I head east across Utah and Colorado and plan to stay at a campground near Denver. When I get to Denver there is a lightning storm brewing and I decide to continue towards Nebraska rather than risk getting caught in that storm. Well, before I reach Nebraska I find myself pretty much surrounded by the lightning storm, so I decide to get a hotel room for the night.
In the morning I finish Colorado and get across Nebraska with no problems. The roads are wet in places to remind me of the storm, but I haven't been rained on yet. In Iowa I get some rain and a lot of wind. I decide that rather then camping again I'd push on and stay with my brother in Kalamazoo again.
As I get near Chicago I see another FJR. It is silver and I don't know if it an an '04 or an AE. I decide to follow him for a while just for company. I follow him for an hour or two before he exits. I wave and he waves back.
When I get to Chicago it is dark and there is a lot of city traffic. I get through that and it is after 10:00 PM. I can't wait to get to the house and have a beverage or two with family. About an hour later I get into some rain and it is hard to see the road with the darkness and the spray from the car and truck tires. I catch up to a couple of cruisers and get in line behind them. I figure we will be seen by the other drivers if we stick together, and the bike up front will get all the road spray. It is very slow behind these guys but I stick it out for an hour and take my exit. An adult beverage and warm bed are only a few minutes away.
The next day is Saturday. I need to be back to work on Wednesday so I decide to stay the weekend.
And enjoy the lake.
On Sunday evening I was thinking about heading home the next morning, but the weather report was for thunder and lightning across Ohio, so I decided to stay one more day and head home on Tuesday. Which I did.
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