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Soozy's 50 First Dates Tour:The Ride Report

If you are like me and are curious as to just where Soozy is going, here is here itenerary from the route planning thread:

Here is the itinerary for the first 2 weeks. As I am researching camp grounds and motels, I am realizing I am not being realistic on having time to see everything. 8) So I will have to do it again next year!!

June 20 Ruidosa NM 515

June 21 Alpine 404 TaiWiWi Lodge

June 22 South Rim Grand Canyon 350

June 23 North Rim and end in Hurricane 341

June 24 Bakersfield CA 447

June 25 Stockton CA 436 Fittysom'n is my host!

June 28 Day ride in Mill Valley CA

June 29 Rio Dell CA 315 Wannabeguru and Ms. host me!

June 30 Klamath Falls Or 286

July 1 Albany Or 214 Elzi's daughter hosts maybe

July 2 Seattle 223 My brother hosts

Total 3531....the first leg of the trip.
 
I

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Hijack
Two of those (a white one and a blue one with a white top) were racing up the street on January 17 1985 at 11 pm. They crashed in to each other and then the white one came across the road and wiped me out. The impact caused me to hit a light pole. The old ones before there were the break-away type. Totaled my 14 month old truck. It was 4 days before I started a new job. I started on crutches with a swollen face that was black and blue (what a great first impression...:eek2: )

I hate those cars :argh:

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/ Back to your regularly scheduled programing
 
NOW I SEE IT!!!!! Sorry if my first couple of postings on this thread sounded as if I were in the dark on what was going on. Actually I was. My computer has been down a few weeks and I happened on Soozy's trip start when I finally got my computer up and it took a few days to check back to the planning and such to understand what she was doing, plus my computer is changed up a lot. LONG STORY. So now back to the north rim and --Don't ride too far south SOOZY!!!!
 
The magnitude of Soozy's snoring is WAY exaggerated. I've slept with her :thumb:, and the snoring's not THAT bad!

Beautiful pics, tho, and I LOVE the SPOT thingy.

Have fun!

Marianne
 
Thanks for the pics & trip report so far. Looks like you're having a great time. Kuddos to you for doing this on your own. :clap: I don't think I'd be brave enough to travel that far. Looking forward to seeing more. :sun:
 
I meant to ask in my last post, why does your SPOT start tracking clear over in western New Mexico rather than from home here in north Texas?:ponder:
Marty

I just didn't work it correctly, but I called Chuck who called Janet and she patiently explained to Chuck so he could explain it to me. It really is easy.
 
The magnitude of Soozy's snoring is WAY exaggerated. I've slept with her :thumb:, and the snoring's not THAT bad!

Beautiful pics, tho, and I LOVE the SPOT thingy.

Have fun!

Marianne

Wow...is that misleading!! :rofl::rofl:

Welcome back Marianne! Some of you will remember she and I go back 29 years. Her mostly girls band The Bats will be having a nation wide appearance on radio very soon. Keep us posted, Marianne, and 'Rock on!'
 
Beautiful pictures. Thanks for the work and time to share your trip. ;-)
 
Tuba City is such a strange little town. When I was through there they were having a festival to celebrate whatever it is that Native Americans celebrate (I mean no harm honest, I just really don't know what else to call it), and it was a site to see. The whole town was out on every type of dirt bike, motorcycle, ATV, or any other mode of transport in order to get to the fair grounds.

It was just cool to see a ton of school age kiddos running around on the state highways with their four wheelers.

I'm glad you're having fun Soozy. Enjoy Utah for Rachel and I.
 
Monday, June 21

I got an early start out of Alpine and rode down a little more of 191. The mountain views gave way to desert views

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When I stopped to take that flat horizon shot, I noticed the ground moving away from me. Wasn't the ground, of course, but hundreds of prairie dogs. I can't find even one in the picture, but they were hopping everywhere.

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I stopped at the entrance to the Petrified Forest, but learned that it was 27 miles away. I was hoping to make the Grand Canyon before the camp spaces filled up for the day.

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The view beyond the entrance. Nothing!

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EEEKK!

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Here is a place that sells acres of petrified wood.

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I arrived at the Canyon near noon and was too late for a camp site except for the Desert View area about 27 miles down the East Rim. So I took a spin around and found the place to be a zoo of cars, buses, and people. Finding a parking place was difficult even for a scooter. It was hot and I was still in gear warm enough for the mountains, so I quickly decided to go back out to Tusayan and use the RV park I passed on the way in. They are right by the shuttle pick up point. The owners gave me an RV spot for the price of a tent spot so I could have electricity. I was out of gear and into tourist clothes and on the shuttle in no time. I just left the bike packed and would set up the tent later.

The shuttle system is a good thing. Air conditioned free buses run from around 6am until 10pm. There are four routes that meet at their turn-a-rounds. It is so much simpler than searching for parking at every overlook. The South Rim is BUSY BUSY.

I am going to just load you up with pictures now. :mrgreen:

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There are smooth cement paths and guardrails at all of the overlooks on the South Rim.

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I wanted to get a picture looking straight up this small gorge, so I started walking along the rim path. After better than a mile, I took this picture.

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And later this one.

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This is when the sheer size of this place dawned on me. The view hardly changed. This is when I started using the shuttle system to put some miles between shots.

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A tiny view of the Colorado River and little rapids.

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This is the Bright Angel Trail

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Lower...

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And lower.
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This whole place was etched by this river and it isn't done yet.

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On the shuttle back to Tusayan, I met two ladies from Florida traveling together on a two month trek. They invited me to join them for dinner so we could all trade stories. They became Dates 2 and 3!

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Friends for 30 years, Kathy and Leah are traveling with a 'teardrop camper' pulled by a Honda car.

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It is a cool lightweight rig that they are confident using.

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It even has a kitchen.

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I enjoyed their company so very much for this relaxing meal.

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I set up the tent and didn't bother to use the rain fly, and only pulled out one blanket. So the temps dropped to somewhere lower than 34. It was UP to 34 at sunrise. I was cold, so rather than get up and fix the problem, I experimented with ways to be warmer. I learned that flat on your stomach, blanket over your head, hands under you, and breathing through your mouth is the most tolerable when cold. :mrgreen: Always the learner, I am.

282 miles today.
 
Look kids - it's a big hole in the ground! :lol2:

Awesome pics Soozy. You've got such a great spirit, it's no wonder you met #2 and #3 while just walking around a campsite.

Adventure, indeed! :thumb:
 
Tuesday, June 23

I was up early warming up in the heated bathrooms at this campground. :mrgreen:

It was a foggy sunrise.

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With the bike packed back up, I headed through the Park to get pictures from the East Rim.

There is a Condor on the rock.

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So you wonder what it was like waaay back?

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Here is a panorama of the Grand View.

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More eye candy

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TheWatch Tower

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As you ride out of the park to the east, you descend into a vast flat horseshoe plain that is filled with gorges. I believe this is also Navajo reservation. They had roadside businesses for many miles. You can see canyon walls at a distance ahead and on both sides. I think this is the Painted Desert. The colors are rich and are what most Southwestern art uses.

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As the canyon walls converge, suddenly you are at the narrowest place in the canyon, Marble Canyon, where the Navajo Tribe built this old bridge. It is right by Lee's Ferry and is the only way across.

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There is a lodge with a pricey but really good restaurant.

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Finally, the North Rim. It is more secluded and rustic than the South Rim. There are no guardrails and paths are natural and rocky. There is camping right along the rim. You ride in on straight high meadow roads lined with pines and aspen and on easy twisties for 49 miles. This side is about 2000 feet higher in altitude, and cooler as well.

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Even insects like twisties.

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More later! Tomorrow is a long haul of straight boring road, but I will make Bakersfield...or something like that.
 
Beautiful pics. This is something you will remember for a lifetime. Thanks for taking us with you.:sun:
 
:clap:

From the report and pics, the trip appears to be off to a 'grand' start!

Keep it coming!......

.
 
Never been to the north rim - gotta do that someday.

Today should be the Mohave Desert - stay hydrated!

On the way to Bakersfield, thru the Tehachapi Mountains - stop at the Tehachapi Loop (last I remember there was still a sign off CA 58) - just to say you have been there and took a picture! :mrgreen:
 
Some hot, :sun: dry, tough country west of the Grand Canyon and Bakersfield is no prize when you get there, but even it may look good at the end of your ride today. ;-)

Like several others have said, I'm enjoying this trip vicariously and having a ball, thank you! Anxiously awaiting your next post......
 
Awww, Sooz, Just checked out your SPOT. You went right through Mesquite! Harold and I were out there last April, visiting my cousins. I hope you waved to him as you scootered through.

He used to be a trail bike enthusiast, until... I'm sure all of you know how this story ends - on crutches for 6 months...

Please stay safe, Sooz, on all your dates!
 
Soozy, Let me join in with all the others saying I am enjoying your trip immensely. While most of us would like to do it, you are doing it! Keep it coming, and for goodness sake be careful.
 
- stop at the Tehachapi Loop (last I remember there was still a sign off CA 58) - just to say you have been there and took a picture! :mrgreen:


.....and wait a few minutes for a train to come through. Then you can say you have been there and took a picture of the train. :mrgreen:
 
Awesome Soozy! I enjoyed my trip on somewhat simular path, I didn't do as well as you in stopping for photo ops and know I missed a lot of sites.

I too am thoroughly enjoying the ride along.:clap:
 
Soozy. Awesome photos and a terrific ride report! Thank you so much for sharing.

Did you camp at the north rim? If so, did you see sunrise there?

Stay safe and keep the report/photos coming. You've got me ready to go on a long trip west now.
 
Tank to tank is correct! It was long and HOT! I did not stop for pictures because they would have been distant bumps and flat space or bumps leading to flat space. So much of the land supports no life and looks like big dirt piles. Like after Armagedden. There was a stream of traffic and brutal wind. I stayed comfortable by stopping frequently and drinking water plus soaking my shirt. That would last about 30 miles.

I covered 431 miles today. The satellite pictures on Google Maps show as much as I saw. The white areas on the sat pics are sand collecting around the edges of each basin I passed through. So I will give you what was in my head rather than what was in my eyes.

Hurricane is pretty cool. You just drop on large switchbacks into a valley which is Hurricane. As you leave, it gets rapidly hotter and flatter. As I got onto I 15, I was the slowest thing running down the highway. I think I was passed by a granny driving a 50 foot camper with a boat in tow. And I was speeding. So to entertain myself I had an internal dialogue going all day. Here are clips of it:

Hmmmm...I wonder if I can miss the reflectors every time I change lanes?

Hit...no
Hit...nope
Hit hit hit hit hit.
Miss whoo hoo! Wait. Is that good? Doing what I want once only?

hit hit...maybe I should TRY to hit the things.
miss miss miss
sigh ...I still did it once. I could look at the record differently. It doesn't have to be a failure. Guys hit on girls and even nope, no way, never, go away, get lost, ....(a hundred hits later) OK, is a win. That's it, I will think like a guy.
hit...hit...hit...miss...WHOOHOO!!!! I win.
Maybe I should ride the rumble strip while singing Row Row Row Your Boat.
IS that an officer?
I should stop and take a picture of that. Can trucks really have three trailers behind them? It is like a train on the road. Geez it is hot. I hate the way the tires wear flat in the center. Good thing the wind is blowing hard and making me ride leaned over. No engine braking? hehehe I am so lawless.

Things I have learned while on the road this trip.
1. Margaritas don't replace electrolytes
2. Soaking your shirt with water at a gas station gets attention...especially if you do it like you are in that Flashdance movie.
3. No matter how you pack the duffle bag, what you need is on the bottom.
4. Your lower legs get sore.
5. Yoga positions can be done while riding.
6. I have now experienced a desert BREEZE and breeze, my butt.
7. When you are enthusiastically gulping water down and find that you are being watched, belch loudly. That way they will not be embarrassed alone.
8. When you cool off, heat up, cool off, heat up all day, your sweaty pants will glue you to your seat.
9. All of your finger nails will eventually break.
10. Don't pass up gas.

Miss....hit hit hit
Fractions could be entertaining....I have done 30 miles out of 431 Will that reduce?
Now 31 out of 431 Pretty sure that won't reduce.
Miss
I am hungry!
Shut up stomach. You are not the boss of me.
Car load of guys! Suck your gut in... Yeah...what do you think of me now?
Wait sit in the cool ride position! One hand on hip and one on handle bar.
I'm bad all right. I mean, I am bad because I drifted into that drivers lane. Sorry. Stop trying to be cool cause you can't pull it off.

I am hungry
Shut up
hit
35 out of 431
Good song!
I am hungry
Shut up
hit
missmiss miss
Vegas!! I have been there. The day I married my 'baby daddy' (learned that from my kids I teach), Mark came to see me and asked me to not get married. I had no idea. So he moved away. It was good for him, too. I found him 2 years after my divorce. He had me fly to see him in Vegas where he lived, but flew to work every day on the airline with no name. It was known as JANET...Just Another Non Existant Terminal. He showed me a great time there...Hoover Dam, all the sights, dinner in the Statosphere. A great guy!
hit
I am hungry!
Shut up.
231 out of 431
Boron
Borax...hey that reminds me of the Twenty Mule Team Borax Ads.
Well look at that....Twenty Mule Team Borax Street
I thought Boron was a gas. What is that stuff those trucks are carrying that looks like cotton balls. Get back in your own lane missy.
Pay attention cause you could die out here.
hit...
miss
miss miss miss miss I am getting better. Why does the GPS say Bakersfield is 78 miles away and the road sign says 98? HEY! Zzyxz Road!
Dang...if I had another kid I would definitely name it Zzyxz.
This trip reminds me of the last year of grad school when the Intramural Department sent 18 of us to San Diego.
Is that an officer?
I am hungry
Shut up!!! Don't make me turn this bike around.
We went to San Diego in two OLD airport limos. One was a Checker and the other was a Pontiac. On the way out the 9 in one car bought water pistols and ambushed us at a stop. We owed them. So on the way back, the plan was to do a group Mooning. It was a great plan. I was the only girl so I drew driver. There was one guy for each window down the side and two guys for the back window. they all got posed for the moment and told me to go. 8 Butts to glass, we shot by. We had been riding for over 30 hours straight at that time and we were riding with windows down. It was at the climatic moment of the Moon that we quickly realized the weak point in our plan as the aroma of 8 butts with 30 riding hours hit us all at once.
That has to be an officer.
Yawn
Why am I going 50 in a 70? There really is an officer.
hit miss miss
343 out of 431. Is 431 prime?
Ok the GPS says I am here, but I am at Tehatchapi. Fun roads. Oh...I see Bakersfield National Cemetery.
I am hungry...
OK there is a room for 38 bucks with a Mexican restaurant in the parking lot. You have been good and can have a Margarita.
431 out of 431....now that reduces.

You know you do it too.:rider:

I called Fitty in Stockton. I am headed up the coast, but I won't make Stockton til the next day. Fitty is cooking up a meet up at a cool biker hang out and a ride back to his place. I get to see ocean tomorrow!
 
I love being in Soozy's head for a long ride through the middle of the desert!

:clap:
 
Welcome to the Inner Voices of Riding, Soozy!

I don't know if it is the motion, the silence inside one's helmet, or the individual nature of riding a bike -alone- that prompts the many voices inside your head to surface while riding the road. Especially long rides/trips. They all seem to have conversations with each other and sometimes you find yourself in the middle, as if they were all sitting on your shoulders talking, sometimes yelling or singing, at each other and 'you' - the Id- are only an observer. Many times I wish I could record them. ;)

Glad you see you are having a great adventure out there.

I presume you checked your pm's and have Tanaya's contact info.

Ride on, partner!
 
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