Trippin' Connies 4: Blown Away

[klb1122]

Originally Posted by M38A1

The aircraft shot, B1 bomber?

And that stretch from Delta to Ely IS as horrible as you describe. I bet your GPS didn't waver a degree of 270 for the entire ride, right? lol......


Keep 'em coming. This is epic.


.

I know nothing about aircraft, all I know was it was awesome.

I didn't look at the GPS much during that stretch, but when I did, it was at the amount of remaining miles.

[Texas T]

Originally Posted by Kidder

Definitely a B1.

Long way from home. Most are based at Abilene. Maybe you raised the interest of the Men In Black and they sent a Lancer to keep track of you?

[cdc]

Fantastic views!

[achesley]

Fantastic pictures of a fantastic land. Keep them coming. Some days out there, I only do about 250 miles, Due to, what else but neck pains due to WIND.

[gixxerjasen]

Yup, I was thinking B1 as well, thanks for the confirmation guys!

That sounds like an incredible day and a horrible day all at once. It's almost like your mood changes were as steep as the terrain.

I do have to say, that steak sandwich looks impressive though. Dang if that and a margarita wouldn't have been the perfect end of that day. I'd have gone back to my room and gone into a coma.

Enjoying this very much so far, thanks for sharing!

[klb1122]

Originally Posted by Texas T

Long way from home. Most are based at Abilene. Maybe you raised the interest of the Men In Black and they sent a Lancer to keep track of you?

I wouldn't say I'd be surprised by that. I'm pretty sure we're wanted in several states across the country.

[RedPill]

Originally Posted by klb1122

As we’re standing on the point dad yelled out something about a plane. A few seconds later a fighter jet came screaming through the canyon. It something I’ll never forget.

That's a B1-B bomber.

Love the pics and the report.

[klb1122]

Day 4 – Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Ely, NV to Oakhurst, CA – 412 miles



http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Aultman+St&daddr=California+State+Route+41&hl=en&ll=38.246809,-116.971436&spn=4.417187,10.217285&sll=38.401949,-117.58667&sspn=4.407752,10.217285&geocode=FbLgVgIdiN8m-Q%3BFfmyOQId6lne-A&mra=mrv&t=m&z=7

The map above was not the original route I had planned for this day. We were supposed to ride the official Loneliest Road in America, the section of US 50 between Ely and Carson City. Plans changed. We got up at the usual time and I Skyped with my daughter first thing in the morning. She was busy playing, so she didn’t pay me much attention. But, it helped having Grandpa jump around in the background.



I then took a picture out the window; it looked a little cool out there.



After that I went downstairs and loaded up my stuff. I turned my key in the ignition to unlock the bars and when did my display went crazy on the engine temp side. Uh-oh. I turned it off and then back on again and it did nothing. Hit the starter key and nothing. The temps were in the 40s, so I thought it may have just been the cold. We were on a slight downhill, so I had Brett and Dad push me down the road. I bump started it and it fired. I tried to ride it around the block but I could barely give it any gas and the display was giving me a transponder error. I sputtered around the block and parked it on the side of the hotel. I tried to just let it run but it quickly died.

My Connie was hurt and so was I. How did I handle it, probably not so good. LOL! I got a tad snippy with Dad and Brett, but eventually pulled it together. I went inside to ask if there was an auto parts store in town. There was and they gave me directions. I got on dad’s bike and rode to the Parts Plus. They had a battery that fit my bike, the only problem was it needed to be filled and charged, which they said would take 12 hours. The battery that didn’t need charging was out of stock, but there was a smaller battery available. I asked the lady if there was another auto parts store in town and she said, “you’re in the middle of nowhere, you’re lucky we’re here.” But then she did say there was a NAPA right up the road. I told them I may or may not be back, depending on what I found at NAPA. The guy at NAPA was really helpful, but they didn’t have anything for me in stock. So I headed back to the Parts Plus and ended up buying the smaller battery that was ready to go. I was going to take my chances with it. $78.54 Later I was headed back to the hotel.

The whole time this was going on it was getting colder outside. I got back, pulled out my tools and started working on swapping the batteries out. As I was doing this, two guys on Harleys took off and headed down US 50 the way we planned on going. 10-15 minutes later they came back to the hotel. They were freezing and said they ran into a big snow storm right up the road. Holy smokes! They were headed to Yosemite as well and pulled out their map. They decided to wait a little while and take a more southerly route. As I was still working on the battery swap, it started snowing at the hotel. (Photo courtesy of Dad)



My old battery had a ton of corrosion on the positive terminal which couldn’t have helped it. I got everything connected and she fired right up with the smaller battery. Nice, I was able to shave a couple pounds off my load. All it would need to do is get me home and I could replace it at a later date. As I buttoned the bike back up, we decided to wait out the weather and then take the southern route that the Harley guys had discussed earlier, which was US 6, to Yosemite.







We went back upstairs and I took another picture from our room. It looks a bit different than earlier.



As we waited out the storm, we went back to the restaurant downstairs and ate breakfast. The food was good and the hot chocolate hit the spot.





My dead battery may have been a blessing. We probably would have been caught in the snow storm, and knowing us, we most likely wouldn’t have turned around. We ended up leaving town at 11:30 Pacific time. We filled up first and talked to a BMW guy who had just rode through US 50 the way we had originally wanted to go. He said it wasn’t that bad, but he also had heated grips and liners. Me on the other hand, I had left my liners at home (on accident) so I was working with full mesh gear. I did put my rain suit on to hopefully break the wind chill. We headed Southwest on US 6, taking the shortest route to Yosemite since we were getting a late start. It didn't take us long to realize that no one lives in Nevada. We took a short break here in the middle of nowhere.





















I had planned on taking some pictures of us like the ones below on US 50, but US 6 was a good alternative.







And courtesy of Brett and the Yashica.



We measured from where we took the pictures above to the end of the road we could see was 15 miles. 15 Straight miles. US 6 consisted of going over a mountain range and then 15-20 straight miles between the next range. We did this for hours. The dust devils did give us something esle to look at. Each valley seemed to have anywhere between 5 and 10 of them running about. One specific one I was narrowly able to avoid, Brett got hit by a little of it, and Dad got blasted by it.

Today was still windy, but the crosswind was out of the North instead of the South, like yesterday. For some reason being blown to the left didn’t bother me as much as the right. Dad felt the opposite way. It was really bothering him today. With the wind I was once again getting horrible gas mileage, sometimes in the low 20s. On the first leg of today I thought there was a good chance of me running out. My low fuel warning like was flashing for about 15 miles as we pulled into Tonopah. We filled up and took a break, making sure the GPS was taking us the shortest way to our reserved hotel room.







US 6 was more of the same on the other side of Tonopah. Mountain pass, 15 straight miles, mountain pass, repeat. The road finally started to change a bit once we got close to the California border.









A couple miles up the road was the California sign. Dad wanted to stop and get a picture of his bike with it. What a bute of a sign.



After crossing into California we turned onto CA 120. The road and scenery immediately changed. It doesn’t look like much on the map, but it had some good curves and also a section that had humps in it like a rollercoaster. Many times I had to slow way down going over a hump because I had no idea what may have been on the other side. We’re cruising over the humps and then run into this guy.





He said it was going to about a 15 minute wait until the “follow me” truck arrived. So, the above scene turned into this (Photo courtesy of Brett):



The guy was actually really cool to talk to. He had some good stories to tell and kept us entertained during the wait.

When the truck finally came we followed it for a mile or two, but the next 10 miles was under construction with grated pavement. Once we cleared that we got on the gas as the road surface turned into a race track. The ride downhill with the view of Mono Lake was nice. We continued on CA 120 as it joined US 395 and stopped to get gas at the station on the start Tioga Pass Road. The price of premium was $5.29 a gallon. Youch! You could still see Mono Lake from the station. I guess there was a premium for the view.



It was getting later in the day and the sun was at the top of the mountains. I told the guys I didn’t plan on stopping anywhere in the park, we were going to ride straight through. After all, we’d be riding it the opposite way tomorrow and spending the whole day in the park. We were only riding through it today to get to the hotel as this was not the planned route.


As we climbed up Tioga Pass Road going west I was immediately in awe. For a moment there it felt like we were in Colorado riding the Million Dollar Highway. We were up in the mountains with nothing but a drop-off past the edge of the road. We got to the entry gate, which is just short of 10,000 feet of elevation, and paid our fee. The good thing was it would be good for 7 days, no need to repay tomorrow. On the east side of the park there was quite a bit of snow, apparently it had rolled through Yosemite that morning too. Brett had been to Yosemite a few years ago, but he didn’t see the eastern side. We didn’t run into much traffic, probably because of the time of day, but it was slow going through the park. First of all, it’s huge! Even riding straight through takes a while. On top of that, I was trying to soak it all in.

As we were going through an open area in the park I spotted a coyote running towards the road. I originally thought it was a wolf, but when I looked it up at home it turns out that wolves have never been a part of Yosemite’s wildlife. The funny thing was, once I looked back towards the road I saw a guy running with some serious camera gear trying to get a capture of the coyote. I wonder if he was successful.

I ignored what I said at the gas station and stopped at the view below. I needed a break and I couldn’t help myself with a few pictures.











We rode into the bottom of the valley and then began climbing back up in elevation. As we were climbing the sun was going down, we were still in the middle of the park with some miles to go. I must say, riding along in Yosemite National Park, it was the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen in my life. The colors were incredible. It was a little too late, but I made the guys stop one last time to try to grab a picture of the colors. I’m sure they weren’t happy, but I had to do it.







It was completely dark as we exited the park and headed south on CA 41. We followed a couple cars, I was hoping they’d run over any animals that appeared instead of me. We were twisting and turning down the mountains and dad said all the lights in front of him were messing with his head. It was a great sight when we could finally see the lights from Oakhurst.

When we pulled into the Best Western, I don’t even know what time it was. I checked us in, we got into our room, and we headed down to the hotel’s restaurant before it closed. Luckily we weren’t the only people in there. At this point in the day we were delirious and laughed hysterically about an incident that had happened first thing in the morning. At some point, what happens during Trippin’ Connies has to stay there, and this is one of those times.



When we got back to the room we devised a plan of action for the next day. We decided we were all going to split up tomorrow. Dad had a low battery in his FOB, so he wanted to find a replacement battery in the morning. Also, he knew Brett and I wanted to spend more time taking pictures than he did. We figured we’d all meet up the next night at the hotel and try to stay in touch throughout the day. It was now really late and we all passed out.

[klb1122]

I have no idea why the second map link above is embedding.

[gixxerjasen]

You gotta stop posting these at my bedtime. I keep saying "I'll look at it at work tomorrow...ok, I'll just check the map to see where they went." And now I'm caught back up and look at the time. Ugh.

[klb1122]

Originally Posted by gixxerjasen

You gotta stop posting these at my bedtime. I keep saying "I'll look at it at work tomorrow...ok, I'll just check the map to see where they went." And now I'm caught back up and look at the time. Ugh.

[The Bruce]

The sign "Welcome to California" full of bullet holes is perfect.

[humanrace]

Earlier this year I posted a thread to help me find good roads through Southern Utah. I didn't get many responses, but now I know that I should have just waited for this post. I researched and all the point that you rode through are on my agenda. I'm looking forward to Muley point and the Moki Dugway. Awesome ride, fellas.

[klb1122]

Originally Posted by humanrace

Earlier this year I posted a thread to help me find good roads through Southern Utah. I didn't get many responses, but now I know that I should have just waited for this post. I researched and all the point that you rode through are on my agenda. I'm looking forward to Muley point and the Moki Dugway. Awesome ride, fellas.

You won't be disappointed by either. If you're on a dual sport, they'll be a piece of cake.

[klb1122]

Day 5 – Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Oakhurst, CA to Bishop, CA – 217 miles



Day 5 - Map Link, Non-Embedded


It wasn’t too tough getting up at 6 because I knew today was what this trip was all about. We used our tickets given to us on check-in to get a warm breakfast at 7. When we got back to the room I got on the computer and Skyped with my wife and daughter for my daily picture.



As discussed the night before, dad took off to find a CVS to get a backup battery for his FOB. Brett and I took a little longer to get going. We decided to ride into the park together, but first we stopped at the gas station to fill up and get some food and drinks to last us the day.



I wanted to get a picture of the Yosemite sign.



After getting to the park, we took a right to go see the Mariposa Grove. It was a two mile ride down to the Giant Sequoias. We parked and I walked around to get some pictures. They were definitely the biggest trees I’d ever seen. Several of them had a huge girth, but weren’t any taller than the others.

















I was good with this location and wanted to move on so I took off while Brett was still hiking around. I made a few stops for pictures here and there on my way.

Here:



There:







While at the “Here” location, my camera started acting up on me. When I would rotate the wheel to change the ISO, aperture, or shutter speed, it would just bounce between two numbers and not move beyond that. I started to panic. It was all I could think about on my way to “There.” What a perfect time for my camera to die on me! But, once I got “There,” I swapped lenses and it went back to normal. Even when I put the other lens back on everything was fine. I breathed a deep sigh of relief. Although, I was planning the speech to give my wife on how I needed to upgrade cameras since mine was now dead. Now I can save that speech for another time.


I was the only one of us three to make the trip down Glacier Point Road. It was 16 miles one way and there wasn’t anything I felt I need to stop for pictures for along the way. It did take some extra time, but I was handsomely rewarded.

Just before reaching Glacier Point there is the Washburn Point overlook. I made a stop here. The view included Half Dome and a lot of other amazingness. Wow.















The road got really tight the last couple of miles getting to Glacier Point. Around one switchback I came face to face with Half Dome. Before I could figure out where to park to get a picture I was already passed it, so I thought I’d get it on the way back. As I pulled into the Glacier Point parking lot, there was a huge backup. I sat and waited for a minute until I realized no one was moving so I made my way around. Once I squeezed between a tour bus and car I realized the hold-up was due to a motor home parked and not allowing the bus to get through. While everyone else waited, I looped around and pulled into a great parking spot. The same cars were there as I walked by, making the short hike down to the point. I stayed down at the point for a while. There was a rock area to the right of where everyone else was, so I went there to be by myself. I ate, drank, took pictures, and was blown away by what I was looking at. (Many pictures are similar, but I couldn’t choose which ones I liked better.)























I didn’t want to leave, but the show must go on. I went back to the Half Dome corner and parked on the inside of the road. If I would have parked on the outside, I wouldn’t be writing this report right now.





I have a new fascination with Half Dome. The thing is just incredible to look at. I rode back down Glacier Point Road following a semi with an empty flatbed trailer. He/She surprisingly set a nice pace and I felt no need to pass. With most of the down hills in the park I’d just pull in the clutch and get 99.9 mpg. Back on the main road now, I made my way to the popular Tunnel View.











I was using my cell phone to position my camera on when a guy asked if I wanted him to take my picture. I politely declined and said it just wouldn't be the same.



From there I headed down into the valley, making a stop at Bridalveil Fall. I could see the falls from the parking lot, but decided to make the hike up to the bottom of the falls. I could have saved some time and not made the hike because as soon as I got to the base the wind picked up and I couldn’t even pull my camera out in the mist. I started backtracking and stopped to take a picture of the creek. My goal for the day was to get a slow shutter speed picture of some moving water. I pulled the tripod out and gave it my best attempt. I’m not completely happy with the result, it was mid day so there were dark shadows mixed with bright sunshine.





I snagged a few shots of the fall itself as I walked back to my bike.





And now with wind.



I made my way further into the valley and circled through the Yosemite Village area. I actually spotted the Honda when I was riding through. Brett was visiting the Ansel Adams gallery. The Village area was crawling with people. I wanted nothing to do with that so I headed back out of the valley stopping at Yosemite Falls. I hiked to the base of Lower Yosemite Fall.







Here’s more of what it really looked like with the mob of tourists.



As I followed the loop around back to my bike, there were some good views of the fall.





And a few more pics on the way back to my bike.









When I got back to my bike and started loading up my stuff Brett pulled up. We both said we wanted to get the heck out of the Valley. There were just too many people. He said he wanted to go to Siesta Lake where some of Ansel’s famous pictures were taken. He took off and I left a little while after him. I then passed him climbing back out of the Valley because he had pulled over for a picture. There were quite a few cars in front of me so he ended up catching up to me. We were riding for a while and right about the time the traffic broke I saw a lake on the side of the road and pulled over. I didn’t realize it was Siesta Lake, but luckily it was and we spent a little time there.











This little creek was running towards the lake.





We figured we’d stay together for the rest of the day and headed on down Tioga Pass Road. We stopped for some more pictures at Olmsted Point. There were all kinds of things to look at here.





























From here the plan was to get back to some of the snow-covered meadow areas we saw yesterday and get some pictures. Unfortunately 90% of that snow was now gone. We only ran across a couple of spots where it remained but they weren’t good places to pull over. I regret not getting a picture in some snow the previous day.


We pulled up to Tenaya Lake for a quick look.





By this time we were all Yosemite’d out. I certainly had my fill over the last two days. For once it wasn’t late in the day and we had maybe 75 miles left on the route. We exited the park and stopped once for some pictures at what I call the Million Dollar Highway section of Tioga Pass Road. The shadows were bad, but I did the best I could with the pictures.















Later dad told us he had stopped in the exact same stop and saw the two Harley guys that ran into the snow yesterday in Ely.

When we reached US 395 we turned south and booked it to Bishop. The mountains on our right provided a nice view the whole way. We pulled into the Ramada Inn and parked where dad’s bike was. He had already checked in and surprisingly had only been there about an hour and a half before us. Brett and I arrived at 6:15.

We passed a Carl’s Jr a block back, and since I’d never had food from there, Brett and I walked down there to get take-out. On the way there we passed a place with the sign below in front. Say what?



We ate our food back at the room. For my first time, it was nothing special. I’ll have to try something else next time.



That was all she wrote for the Yosemite day. We were all exhausted and delighted to be at the hotel before dark for once. We were in bed by 8:00 Pacific. Ha!

[The Bruce]

Fantastic! I need to get back there. I saw it all in the 70's, it's been too long.

[Toe]

Love the pics..
Myself and 3 other guys & bikes are going out to Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia at the end of July. Your pictures are getting me excited to get out there.

I just hope the water is still falling in Yosemite at the end of July.

[rickmillertx]

I really enjoyed your report and photos. Motorcycling at its best.

[klb1122]

Day 6 – Thursday, June 7, 2012

Bishop, CA to Cedar City, UT – 425 miles



Day 6 - Map Link, Non-Embedded

Today was a pretty tame day for us. I tried to plan the tougher days for the way out west since we’d be fresher and also gaining hours on the days. On the way back, I tried to trim the miles a bit. This would be one of those “easy” days. The goal was to get back across Nevada and into Utah.

We woke up at 6 Pacific and got breakfast at the hotel at 7. We started to wonder why these signs were all around the hotel.





We got gas in town before leaving. Dad was really enjoying using the California gas nozzles. We headed south on US 395 and turned east on CA 168. This road was a real treat. I wasn’t expecting much today, but this made a great start to the day. At the stop below, Brett said it was one of the most fun roads he’d ever been on. There were great curves mixed with up and down rollercoaster sections. It was a great mix and we basically had it all to ourselves.











We turned on CA 266, which took us back into Nevada. Once in Nevada we started to see a ton of Joshua trees. It looked like we were about to see the last of them so I stopped along a straight stretch of road to get a picture or two of one. Brett and I walked about in the soft sandy soil about 50 yards to this one.







Brett spotted this little guy. He wasn’t scared of us whatsoever.



Ah, back in Nevada, land of the straight roads.





Of course a little further down the road there were a ton more Joshua trees and many of them right on the side of the road. That’s always my luck. We took a left on US 95 and headed north back to Tonopah. We filled up at the same gas station as we did two days prior. We had to re-ride a section of US 6 to get to NV 375. If it was possible, NV 375 was even more boring and desolate than US 6. Instead of running perpendicular to the mountains, it runs parallel. We just sat in the valley and churned out the miles. I wasn’t even aware, but NV 375 is the Extraterrestrial Highway. We passed one sign displaying this near the junction of US 93. There were some people at the sign taking pictures, so I drove right by thinking we’d see another sign somewhere. I was wrong. We were now heading east on US 93 and made another gas stop in Caliente. It was about 190 miles from Tonopah and Caliente. There was nothing in between the two towns. We did see a few pronghorn along the way and Brett actually ran right up on one when he was leading for a while.



There wasn’t much to see between here and our destination, Cedar City, UT, so I didn’t stop for any pictures. We cruised on and made good time, losing an hour when we got back into Utah. I realized that we didn’t drive one mile in Nevada without having some mountains to look at. The roads may have been boring, but being from Houston, I never get sick of looking at mountains.


We pulled into Abbey Inn in Cedar City, UT at about 5:30 Mountain time. Brett decided he wanted to just get a sandwich from Jimmy Johns across the street but dad and I called the front desk asking if there was a decent Mexican restaurant in town. They sent us to Lupita’s. I was a bit leery about Mexican food in Utah, but it was actually really good.





Back at the hotel I took a picture of my daughter. It was one my wife had taken and posted to Facebook that day.



Once again it was nice being able to sit back and relax at night a little while before going to bed. Tomorrow would be a bit more scenic, which also meant a longer day of riding.

[Duke]

Hall of Fame material for certain!