I know I'm just a lurker here, but when the "Forums slow lately..." thread popped up, I thought I'd give it a shot. We'll see how far I get today, it's a bit late.
Here's background, so just skip it if you just like the pictures!
Back in May, I ran out of classes at my community college. I'll be off to SJSU next to finish my ME, so I had started to pack things up. Right around the same time, the 3+ year girlfriend decided things needed to end. She had been the reason to look at San Jose, and I'll face it, three years at 21 is a long time. Emotionally, that kind of hit pretty hard. We'll leave it at that.
A few weeks before school ended, my job decided to get fairly unpleasant. What started out as an internship had turned into a personal assistant position, and I was not digging it at all. The combination of the girl and the iffy situation at the job was a bit too much. When my uncle offered a summer position in Phoenix, I couldn't pass it up. I just wanted to get the hell away. (Mostly just 'cause of the girl.)
So I did. The day after classes ended, I packed up the bike and headed off to Phoenix.
In June, it hadn't gotten hot anywhere yet, so I didn't leave till 5. From Fresno to Bakersfield, it's just boring nonsense that nobody cares about, so I didn't start taking pictures until...
Tehachapi:
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Arizona%20trip/Tehachapi1.jpg)
For some reason, the last bit of the Tehachapi Pass was my favorite part of the morning. The cool air, the lack of traffic, and the perks of traveling alone meant I was in the mood to take pictures! Well, this was the only one that turned out.
After that, I turned off for my first planned detour: the Salton Sea. I had seen pictures, and I wanted some of my own.
Out of all my favorite SS pictures, Aces and Spaces had been my favorite. So of course, when I arrived, some well-wishers had restored it and turned it into a damn museum.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Arizona%20trip/DSC01406.jpg)
So I went right on to Bombay Beach. If any of you Cali kids have heard anything about Bombay Beach, it's all true. Weird friggin people live there, and they like to make their presence known. Needless to say, I was a little spooked when I stopped to take a peek.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Arizona%20trip/DSC01421.jpg)
However, what you don't see in the frame is a rather attractive female with a perfect Meyers Manx specimen. That made me a bit more at ease. (Sorry, no pics of that one...)
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Arizona%20trip/DSC01412.jpg)
There was something surreal about it. You could tell that decades ago, the place was crawling with Angelenos, all enjoying the oasis in the desert. Now, the place is gone, basically rotting into the sand.
After the sea, I took the long way out. I'd call it my second detour, "Box Canoyn." It gave me an opportunity to take this one:
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Arizona%20trip/DSC01444.jpg)
And on the other end:
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Arizona%20trip/DSC01441.jpg)
This was my second time around. The first time through, I went a little over 40...
It's basically a dried up riverbed. When it rains, the road is unusable/underwater.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Arizona%20trip/DSC01436.jpg)
And because I wanted the bike in a shot:
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Arizona%20trip/BoxCanyon3.jpg)
The sand was a bit deep, but the little GS got through it. Thank you to the guys who taught me on dirt!
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Arizona%20trip/DSC01432.jpg)
The last two are from just across the border. They're the last two because the desert gets old real fast, but still, I wanted these for sure.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Arizona%20trip/DSC01456.jpg)
My first Arizona cactus:
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Arizona%20trip/BigCactus.jpg)
And that is the end of Part 1.
If I get around to it, Part 2 will be my 3rd of July trip to the Grand Canyon.
Part 3 will be yesterday's trip home. The back way home.
But yeah, a GS500 can go 750 miles in a day. With cargo. And still get 55 mpgs.
It just hurts.
Very cool. Will be watching this thread with interest. Cheers for the pics.
Awesome pics!
And welcome to the non lurker side.
Now that you moved, and aren't tied down by a female, you can spend more time on gst!
Very nice!
I cant see pics @ work, but I presume they have windmills in them.
The windmills have a good part to play in the last few scenes of "terminal velocity" which IMHO was the bloody movie to see from 1993, one that was completely drowned by the Idiotic "Life is like a box of chocolate" garbage ...
It also is Charlie sheen's best effort to date ... though the first 3-4 seasons of 2 1/2 were great ... actually all od 2 1/2 was pretty good.
Cool.
Buddha.
nice ride, i always wanted to see those places. cool
Sweet @$$ pics.I hope to visit a friend in NorCal in a couple years.Maybe I will take the southerly route home.
The Southerly Route is quick and easy for sure. Not very scenic though, compared to the alternative. I went through Vegas, Bishop and Yosemite on the way back (but it added about 2 hours to the trip). There's butt-tons of pictures from that one... But right now, 4th of July weekend!
Holidays.
Not exactly my favorite when I'm not at home, and especially not then it's in Phoenix.
Phoenix was getting up to 110+ every day, and you can only play so much CoD before the outdoors start sounding really good.
So where is the only place in Arizona where you can cool off outside? Flagstaff of course. And if you're already up there, why not go all the way and see the Grand Canyon?
So that's what I did. I figured after the ride over to Phoenix a month prior, it wouldn't be hard at all to get it up to the Grand Canyon and back.
I had timed the morning just right so that I'd make it up in elevation by the time the temp got into the upper 90s. Of course, that didn't go to plan. About 30 minutes into climbing out of the basin, the little girl started hiccuping. I had such problems a few months before, so my first thought was "Oh Scheiße! The stator just took a dump!" So, I pulled into a minimart, got a junky multimeter, and came to the conclusion the stator was fine. (Or, if I hadn't panicked, I could have noticed the lights weren't fading, and that the starter worked fine.)
I had just developed one of our notorious fuel delivery problems. Or so I thought. The classic "Prime" solution didn't solve the problem, but I noticed if I kept it under 75, all was golden.
"Keeps me from getting speeding tickets," was the thought.
Here's one of the stops where I got overzealous with the throttle and killed it. Just a backpack this time, no saddlebags. (Tools and water!)
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Grand%20Canyon/DSC01542.jpg)
I got up past Flagstaff, and the scenery just started getting beautiful. It's always surprising to me that this is Arizona.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Grand%20Canyon/DSC01543.jpg)
Yeah, I know it's a bad habit. For me, it's the most practical. I take pictures so I can remember, not to be artsy. The more I take, the more I remember. Instead of stopping every 10 minutes, I keep a cheap point and shoot in my left pocket so if I want a picture of something, I just grab it out and point it.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Grand%20Canyon/DSC01546.jpg)
Some turn out pretty good.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Grand%20Canyon/DSC01549.jpg)
Maybe a took a few too many, but everyone's got DSL nowadays, so whatever.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Grand%20Canyon/DSC01550.jpg)
I was literally amazed that this existed in Arizona. I live in the Sierra Nevada's, so seeing pine trees and smelling the green was a great break from the desert.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Grand%20Canyon/DSC01556.jpg)
But we don't have birch trees where I live. That, and I like taking pictures of this thing offroad. I blame lurking over at ADV.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Grand%20Canyon/DSC01560.jpg)
Right after this picture was taken, a thunderstorm started developing. I know my Physics; lightning + motorcycle = bad news. I took the "outrun it" approach, and rode a little too fast through the drizzle until I finally arrived at:
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Grand%20Canyon/DSC01561.jpg)
At this point, the weather was great. Overcast, no high temps, and great lighting on the canyon.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Grand%20Canyon/DSC01562.jpg)
I feel like my grandparents showing scenery with no interesting content, but whatever.
Aaaannddd then it caught up with me. The rain. The lightning. And it got cold!
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Grand%20Canyon/DSC01568.jpg)
And the lighting crapped out and gave me a lousy timed shot.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Grand%20Canyon/DSC01573.jpg)
Wet wet wet wet wet. I had even tried waiting it out during lunch. (Though I did feel a bit badass pulling out of the lot in front of the hunkered down Harley riders. Poor guys, it didn't let up for hours.)
Needless to say, I wasn't happy with the weather.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Grand%20Canyon/DSC01592.jpg)
With my camera in my mesh jacket, it got wet quick.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Grand%20Canyon/DSC01600.jpg)
So that's where the pictures stop. It only got wetter and colder. To be honest, it's the coldest I can remember being on the back of my bike. It was probably only 65, but the rain with the mesh jacket made it unbearable. The only waterproof gear I had was my boots, so of course, they filled up with water.
The rain and cold weather didn't really stop until I got back to Flagstaff. I pulled into a gas station shivering, cursing, not in a good mood. The first thing I got was a huge cup of gas station coffee. God that stuff is good...
I put my clothes out, my shirt on the cylinders, my socks on my exhaust pipe. In 30 minutes I was warm enough to head back to Phoenix.
It was basically all downhill from there, aside from a little stop I made when my camera finally dried out. Typical Arizona scenery, with great rock formations and a used-to-be red motorcycle.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Grand%20Canyon/DSC01603.jpg)
I slept through the majority of the 4th. Most of the family is in Fresno, so it's typically a Big to Do with barbecue, fireworks, pool. The family in Phoenix are a little less involved, so I basically "forgot" the 4th until next year. I figured visiting one of our nation's most iconic parks was a much better way of celebrating the freedom have as a nation.
The next installment has loads of pictures that take a while to get through, so I hope I can get back to this within reasonable time!
GREAT thread! Lovin' it! :bstar: :bstar: :bstar:
This thread is pure win. Go through the picture challenge game thread and kill two birds with one stone!!!
Awesome.
Great thread and cool pics! I live in the Bay area and you've inspired me to take a weekend trip down south.
Enjoying this thread. Looks like an awesome time.
Two months went by like a flash. I made so many friends and met a bunch of good people. Props to you Zonies; nobody in California is as friendly as you guys are. Seriously.
I was sad to go, and by the time I had left, I was already missing the many friends I had made. My internship had been amazing. It was the type of job where I sat back and asked myself "why the hell do they pay me to do this? I should pay them." I was working with vacuum pumps, robots, and plasma reactors every day, walking around with a wrench and screwdriver shoved in my back pocket. Now, I just want to finish my major so I can do that type of thing for the rest of my life!
But of course, every summer position comes to an end. Monsoon season is in full swing right now, so I wasn't able to leave until 2am Monday morning. However, the rain made the temperature perfect. The first tank of gas disappeared within two hours, which gave me an excuse to take the first picture of the trip.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01631.jpg)
Yeah, the saddlebags are a bit saggy. Somebody might find my packing a little entertaining, so I'll break it down:
-A week's change of clothes
-An xbox and all needed connections, controller
-A laptop, charger
-A netbook, charger
-Large over-the-ear gaming headphones
-Converses
-Toiletries
-A quart of oil
-A tire pump
-"Expanded" Toolkit, complete with all the sockets, open-end wrenches
-Various locks, 6' cable
-A pinup poster
-A couple music books
-A liter of water
-An extra gallon of gas
-3 Cliff Bars
It weighed a ton. A gen-u-ine pain in the bollocks. By the time I had finished packing, I started thinking about ways of building a small little trailer for the thing. It seems like a viable alternative!
I got up to Lake Mead right around 630. I've never really seen it, so I pulled over and took a peek. Plus it was time for breakfast. One Cliff Bar down!
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01632.jpg)
God it was windy through the pass. So windy, I was actually following the 45mph speed limit they posted on the freeway.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01633.jpg)
The sun was coming up and starting to get hot. I wanted to get out of Vegas by the time the mid 90s rolled around, so it was gas, a quick walk around, and right back on.
The next stop was Indian Springs, right around Creech AFB. On the way, I had noticed a weird looking object in the sky, and did a double-take. When I got to the gas station, sure enough, they were teaching the boys to fly UAV's up there. Those things are louder than I thought they would be! No pics though, as it was time for another bite to eat. (Really, I just forgot.)
Another Cliff Bar down.
Just outside Indian Springs is Gate 1 to the Nevada National Security Site. There's pictures of the gate all over the internets, but I wanted one of my own. Not to mention, there's not a single one with a pair of GS gauges in the foreground!
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01635.jpg)
The next stop after that was one of my favorite ghost towns, Rhyolite. I saw this for the first time on ADV, and just had to check it out. Since it's 5 minutes outside of Beatty, it was an easy one!
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01637.jpg)
I love ghost towns, abandoned airfields, urban decay, anything that was once a thriving enterprise turned deserted.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01641.jpg)
The scale of this town was overwhelming. For an early 1900s mining town, there was buildings and empty foundations everywhere. It was a fascinating feeling to know that a hundred years ago this place was thriving, with enough people for a multi-story schoolhouse.
Bank:
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01643.jpg)
Train Station:
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01649.jpg)
After Rhyolite, I began the turn over to California. The desert started disappearing, turning into hills and shrubs.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01654.jpg)
And of course, a very steep grade. Her float bowls ran out again, and so we took a break.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01656.jpg)
This kind of gives the correct impression of the road we were climbing. Either that, or my memory remembers how steep the damn thing was!
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01658.jpg)
Soon, I was back on flat(ish) ground. The road had plenty of curves, so I kind of had to slam on my brakes to stop for this one.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01659.jpg)
I stopped to take these for picture game on another forum. I'm pretty sure this site hasn't been done yet...
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01660.jpg)
And finally.... Califknfornia!!!!
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01662.jpg)
I know it's just a line on the map, but I was really starting to get excited. I missed Cali the entire Summer, and it was such a great feeling to be back!
Next, I was on my way to Big Pine. Of course, being the sooper-dooper expert trip planner I am, I looked at the map, saw a line, and said "I'll take that one!" Well, the road started out fantastic. Flatish, a few curves... Then the road started getting sandy, the curves sharper, blind dips every few hundred feet. Then the curves got worse. I went from 60mph down to 20. The sand was just crap, a real PITA to navigate around those corners. And then this happened:
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01664.jpg)
It was a little sketch, especially when I rounded a bend to find a huge 18-wheeler barreling up the ravine. The road must have been a local shortcut, because that thing was hauling ass up that hill! I had some omniscient help on that one. It was greatly appreciated.
On the other side, it was two lanes again. No straighter though, and this time, the curves led to steep dropoffs!
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01665.jpg)
To be honest, this road would have been the fun bags (can I say that here?) if I hadn't had a huge load on the back. The added weight really made the twisties less fun. It was a bit disappointing.
After this road, there was Big Pine. Then Bishop. To be honest, there was nothing special about either places, so I just grabbed a few McChickens and some gas and continued on. It wasn't long before I came up on the backside of Mammoth.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01668.jpg)
This is where the tach cable crapped out. Well, the tach drive gear to be specific. The little metal tab thingie snapped right off, and so for the rest of the ride, I was going old-school. It was a nice place to break down though...
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01669.jpg)
The high Sierras are my favorite. I always call California "the state that has everything," and this is what I mean.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01672.jpg)
Snow covered mountains in July. Awesome weather. Air that smells as fresh as you could possibly imagine.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01678.jpg)
From here in to Yosemite, I was riding and shooting like mad. Everything got a picture taken of it. Amazing mountains, beautiful scenery, Mono Lake and Lee Vining... But of course, I had accidentally switched the camera to "lowlight mode", so every single one was washed out and unusable.
Bollocks.
Here's an attempted correction for one outside of Lee Vining. It was beautiful, so it's almost a shame to post it, because it doesn't even get close to giving the proper portrayal.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01698.jpg)
Well despite that, I still have some more to share with you, and to me, they're the most important.
Living in Oakhurst, I consider Yosemite to be my back yard. While the tourists are often annoying and take all the bagels from the local Vons, we know they bring much-needed revenue to our small town. We also love sharing our "little piece of heaven" to anyone who will appreciate it and take pride in the fact we can say "I live just outside Yosemite."
Everyone has seen the waterfalls, Half Dome, and those cute little brown bears that love to maul your face off if you try to pet them. (Happens a lot...) There are a few places that tourists don't normally go when they come in from the West gates. It's a shame, because this is one of my favorites, and one of the most beautiful.
This is Tuolumne Meadows, located about as high as you can go through Tioga Pass. It's only open during the warm months, but when it is, it is definitely worth the drive.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01707.jpg)
It's always green, and the grass is professionally manicured by herds of deer. A crystal-clear stream runs through the middle of the meadows, filled with those brown trout that are so damn smart you can never catch 'em.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01712.jpg)
The domes are great places to explore, no trail needed. They offer amazing panoramas of the area, and always seem to be cool to the touch when you want them to be, and warm when you have a bit of a chill.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01717.jpg)
Snow caps on the horizon, clear blue sky, and an overwhelming feeling of serenity completes the scene. For me, it was a perfect place for a quick nap.
(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm58/DaveGallagher/Long%20Way%20Home/DSC01721.jpg)
I had two more hours until I got home, so I sat down for 10 minutes of shuteye. Of course I'll forget to tell you about the mosquitoes that love to feast on weary travelers, sucking their thinned blood and forcing their face into fits of red itching.
It's pretty up there. Just bring some bug spray.
The pictures stop because you've all seen them. The valley, the tunnel, the imbeciles driving 30 because they don't know what a curve is. By the time 740 miles came to pass, I was raging. Furious. So impatient to get home, I could not contain myself. The last 10 miles of the trip were the most dangerous, and definitely showed me what my limits are.
At 6:30 I rolled up my parent's driveway. I had covered 750 miles in 16.5 hours, and made it home in time for dinner. Steak skewers and a nice lager put me to sleep for the next 12 hours.
The next day boxes of GS500 and XL250 parts arrived on my doorstep, ready for the last few weeks of summer I have left.
The day after that, the ex made a surprise visit. I regret being a gentleman. Now I'm down a bottle of wine and an entire night of trying to help with "the next guy." Yeah, that was fun.
So today I made up for it. I took some of my summer savings and bought paint. Primer, basecoat white, detail red, clearcoat.
But that is another thread for another day!
Awesome!
I hope your as good at documenting the build up as you are the trip!
Awesome story and nice pics to go with it. I really like the shot of the bank in Rhyolite.
This is awesome dude, your making me so jelious. I just bought a gs500, to get seat time so that maybe in a year or so I can do some adv riding, with my end goal to ride up and down california from bottom to canada.
This is awesome!
Wow. Great story, and pictures. Reminds me of a trip I did up the coast when I was younger. Very cool!
Mr FlatRaccoon: thanks for sharing this story with us. Going on a trip like that is one thing I haven't done on a cycle yet. Makes me want to ride down to Barbers this October though........
I know I'm late to the party to say this too, but this is a really awesome post. Thanks for sharing.
I've been to the Phoenix area before but now I really want to take my bike up through Sedona to Flagstaff. I had no idea it could be so beautiful up there!
I'm also impressed you took Call of Duty with you for all that. Way cool ;)
Those are great photos. My wife and I honeymooned through the Southwest, including Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon, and we did a hike last year on the John Muir Trail thru Yosemite to Mammoth. So lots of familiar sights! When I finally talk my wife into getting a motorcycle license I'd like to go back west on 2 wheels!