-Day 00 -

As with previous WeSTOC trips, I schedule a “Day 0″. Usually this is the last day that I work before the trip. The goal is typically to get a few hundred miles outside of Socal’s. This usually includes a bit of night riding, but it is really worth it. The idea is to wake up the next day in a new area and feel like we are “starting the trip with a fresh perspective”.

Go time! Off of work, bike loaded for bear, ready to rock and roll…

Running 805N out of south San Diego towards the planned rendezvous with Lee at the 138 and 15 FWY…

Just north of the 15 / 215 interchange…. since I had a bit of time to kill before meeting Lee, I planned on stopping at my vacation place near Arrowhead for a couple hours…

Heading up to my place in Crestline. No traffic up the 18 and waterman….just a nice curvy ride….

After a couple hours chilling at my man cave…I prepared to head out to 138…this is Lake Gregory…you can see it from my back deck….you can see why I’m in for the duration at this place….

Sunset, which means I need to make some time past lake silverwood and out to the meeting point…

As the light fades, I take inventory of the trip ahead…

I meet up with Lee at the Mc Donalds near the 15FWY, we mentally prepare ourselves for tonight’s ride. The plan is to make Saint Geroge, UT before bedding down. We both know it’s going to be hot crossing the Mojave and figure it’s best not to mess around. Shoot strait up the 15N.

Shortly before pulling off the freeway at Terrible’s to top our fuel off, I notice that one of Lee’s HID’s seems to be out…we would never fully get this sorted out. This would come back to haunt us in later in the trip….

Lee spends some time troubleshooting his lighting problem…

Giant monkey hands have no place trying to work in these confined spaces…

Lee’s 1997 VFR750 loaded for bear…or beer….I forget….

I think Lee has more stuff packed on his smaller bike than I do on my bigger ST1300…

The STeed packed for two weeks of living on the road…

We made Saint George with out any further gear glitches…All I can say is I’m glad we did that at night… WOW it was hot….even at midnight. We crossed 4 state boarders over 4 hours….CA, AZ, NV,UT. Nice!

-Day 01-

Woke up in the Motel…thankful for A/C….on deck for today? Make the north rim of the Grand Canyon and find a place to camp….

Lot’s of desert this trip….

Hard to escape…

HWY 59 to HWY389….

And then seemingly out of nowhere….HWY89 turns green!

The North Rim has a higher elevation than the more touristy South Rim…

The road in is awesome!

Evidence of a bad forest fire….

We caught up and passed these like minded souls….

Cut from the same cloth, but much tougher than I am…

Passing the cagers was an easy chore on this road…

A little gas and they are a spec in the mirror..

And we just keep getting greener….

The temperatures here are great….somewhere in the 80s

A pair of baby bambies…. unfortunately when I turned around I had a ranger yelling at me like a storm trooper to “move along”…”move along”….

The North RIM!!

Not as visually spectacular as the south rim, but I really like the fact that there aren’t a crap load of tourist buses flooding the area…

Lee and I pose together and a nice “Storm Trooper” takes our photo….

The fire you see in the background is a controlled burn…

Heading for the Bright Angel Point, on Bridle Path….

Breathtaking….

Literally….it was friggen warm on the rim….

Worth the jaunt though….

Finding a campground in the north rim was no trouble at all…

The sunset and the night sky was amazing….

-Day 02-

The low humidity allowed me to sleep without the rain fly….I was VERY glad I left it off….the stars were amazing….

I woke up before sunrise to a strange sound. It sounded like a small buzzing growl….remind me to tell you about it sometime over a drink… =)

Obviously I dorked my tent up a bit on that right pole….

Moon in the morning’s purple sky…..

Starting off the day with some oatmeal…

Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal is great in the morning…

Lee’s up just in time….

..to dump water over my stove…

….yours truly relaxing in the best camping chair ever devised by man….(Kermit Chair)

We hit the open road shortly after breakfast…for some reason I remember I had “Deer Fear”…..I’ve been told that deer are out the most in the early morning and just after dark…

The scenery changed frequently as we made our way North on 67 back out to 89 East….

We would be heading for more desert today..

….our final destination would be Fruita, Colorado…

…of course, we usually see a sign with Lee’s name on it…..so as is customary on these trips, we pull over for the photo-op….

This is Navajo Bridge….

Marble Canyon, AZ

Lee with Marble Canyon…

And on we go….HWY 89 to HWY 160….

Everything is going smoothly…bikes are purring…people waving…

Sights….Sights and more Sights…

and then disaster strikes…. Lee was in the lead….one moment we are on HWY 16o the next second Lee is laying sprawled on the intersection of 191N…..it happened so fast that my first reaction was “this has got to be a joke!” How’d he make it look so real?!?!

Definitely not a joke…

…this camouflage gravel is as slick as ice and nearly invisible…..if Lee wasn’t in the lead, I would have likely gone down….

But that’s my brother….happy to take one for the team…. =)

The damage was mainly cosmetic….his Aerostich Roadcrafter suit protected his hide fairly well…

And so the trip continues…..

Looks like he is holding up well…..

…glad there wasn’t a hole in Lee….

We stopped in Moab to check for a hotel….Lee was beginning to get a bit sore….but the rates were nuts and vacancy was limited…

So we continued…..wow! This was a great road….HWY 128 in Utah…..Behold!!!

Such a great road! This was a last second change. My original route had us running the rest of the way up HWY 191….HWY 128 was so worth it!!

The rest of the day after HWY 128 took us down FWY 70 / HWY 50….this was uneventful. We made it into Fruita, Co for the night and stayed at a small motel. In the motel, we determined that Lee had actually cracked a rib in the fall…it was fairly obvious by the acute pain. He was not pissing blood, so we planned to continue the trip…. =)

-Day 03-

After breakfast, we hit the road, leaving Fruita behind. This would be our first real day in Colorado this trip. We took a quick trip down HWY 6 and peeled off on HWY 139N.

Looks like the high desert….

Nice curvy roads…

We hit a bit of construction which halted progress for a while…

Things were starting to get a bit warm..I could also tell Lee wasn’t feeling quite well stopped…

Look closely at the signs…. =)

There is no helmet law in Colorado…..high-viz jacket without a helmet? =)

As we shot north,

….and eventually east…..

….the weather threatened….

….but the roads beckoned…..

….and the scenery just got better….

….and better. We entered Rocky Mountain National Park as the weather continued to take a turn for the worse….

There was a bit more construction on HWY 34….but the waiting period was brief in most cases and gave us a chance to stretch out legs…..

….the sites were indescribably beautiful!

…Lots of wild life….

…and the bikes!

…we worked our way up to the summit…there was a bit of snow as the temperatures began to drop….

….Small world! At the top of the hill…..we ran into a couple guys, one of which I met a year ago (almost to the day) at WeSTOC 2008 in Taos, NM. He’s quite a high mileage guy and currently lives in New York. Meet Alex.

…the clouds and Sun vigorously battled each other creating more spectacular views…

Lee seems to be enjoying himself….

….more Elk….

I think Alex is following us….

Alex and his buddy had just ridden from Sturgis which took place the week before….they had completed thousands of miles in a matter of days….

As I rounded a corner, I spotted two bull Elk grazing on the side of the road….they would occasionally gaze at the passing cars…many of which stopped and shot photos…..this was an amazing moment. Out of the 10 or so vehicles pulled over, it was almost utterly silent….no one wanted to interrupt them…. so awesome!

…and the national geographic shot….. time seemed to stand still….and this guy will be burned into my memory until I take my last breath…

…after an amazing ride, we needed to find a bed for the evening….we found a little place called The Discovery Lodge….

…it was clean and friendly to bikers….

….nice older Gold Wing…..

….now this is where destiny continued to play out…..as Lee and I unpacked, we spotted Alex and his buddy up at the office….I waved them down before they checked in and offered the floor of our room for free….. no sense in paying for another room when they had their camping equipment with them. We all headed into the town of Estes Park, Co for a great mexican dinner.

Day – 04

After a brief discussion with Alex, the four of us decided to find a place for breakfast together before parting ways….

….the weather had blown itself out and it turned into quite a beautiful day!

….a true IronButt competitor….. notice the Auxiliary fuel tank with the license plate mounted to it….less stops means more points during the IBA competitions……..

….one can never have enough lighting when riding at night….

Our small but comfortable room…

….Alex Schmitt on the left leading the way to the agreed upon breakfast location…..

…Alex’s buddy was a body shop guy…..he did this paint job….nice detail on the rust….. =)

….I highly recommend this place for breakfast….The Egg & I…..Estes Park, Co….

…new friends enjoying a great breakfast….

…I should have ordered what Lee ordered…..YUM!

…after party ways with Alex, we had to take care of a problem on Lee’s bike….. the battery in his MP3 player (purchased on the road during WeSTOC 2k8′s tour) was not holding a charge reliably…

…so we stopped at Radio Shack and wired it to the battery…..no more problems and constant music!

….road technology…

….and so the journey continues!

….the weather was perfect….. many others were out enjoying the wonderful riding….

…..no helmet law…. I would feel naked, but each to his own!

….Colorado = Win!

…amazing!

We continued on HWY 34 heading into the Roosevelt National Forest….

….and then back east on HWY 14…..

…loaded for bear!

…DOH!

…this is somewhere in Wyoming…..due to a calculation error with the Zumo, I had to reboot and reload the routes…Lee took the opportunity to call into work and help someone work through a problem….I’m very proud of my brother. He takes his job very seriously and it’s nice being able to relate with him on this level…

…I take the opportunity for a photo op….. Wyoming was awesome!

….now….we wouldn’t be on a “Dmulk Motorcycle Vacation” if someone didn’t run out of gas….

I think he just wanted to try the ST-1300….. =)

Yup…..fumes…..

….While waiting for Lee to return, I watched kids feeding these little guys Cheetos…

…..National Geographic Photo #2……they were quite tame and made a funny barking sound….

Mama Sage!!!

….I really liked this bike when I owned it…I’m glad it went to a good home….

….super tanker on approach….

….=).par for the course….

….we shoot into the Wyoming plains…..working our way towards Yellow Stone Nation Park!!!

Day – 05

We ended up staying the night at a Best Western in Pinedale, WY. President Obama had been through the area, so all the prices were crazy….but since Lee was having such a rough time sleeping due to his injured rib, we continued to choose to stay in motels….

I was really looking forward to today…YELLOWSTONE!!! I’d waited years for this…..

…awesome!

Simply Amazing.

The weather could not have been better…..

….I was….however….a bit concerned about where we were going to sleep tonight…..I hadn’t made any reservations and during this time of year, campsites were usually full…

…for Mellow…. =)

….the Grand Tetons…. just amazing!!

I highly recommend HWY 189/191…..for the obvious….

…does this Multitech helmet make my face look fat? =)

…….nice…..

…calendar shot!

….Let’s Ride!!

…so we continued up to HWY 26 until we hit this crap…..it was miles and miles of this leading into Yellowstone National Park from the South entrance…..seeing all this traffic renewed my concerns about finding a site for the night…..

…the sights continued to create welcome distractions….

Now….people who know me, know that I have amazing “Parking Karma”….I always have…..but this was just simply amazing…. Here’s the back story: 6 months prior to this trip, I was exchanging emails with some STOC members and good friends Ray and Hope. They told me they would be heading to Yellowstone sometime around the time we would be in the park…..fast forward to today…….as I rolled through the Old Faithfull parking lot….completely randomly…..I spot their bike…..

….yup…..it’s them!!!!

Meeting these two, completely at random, in such a special place was just too cool!

…and smelly, actually…..all the sulfur made Yellowstone smell like rotten eggs…

….Lee with Old Faithful launching in the backgound….

…after a brief discussion over lunch, Ray and Hope invited us back to their campsite for the evening….

….Hope has Ears on her helmet….

….stopped at more sites along the way to the campsite…..

….dragon mouth spring….

….we’re sitting on a massive volcano….

….National Geographic Photo #3…..bambi is scary to motorcyclists at night on the road…but in this setting……

…good friends on the road….

…..Mike Tyson, the Bison….

….I am so very grateful that I got a chance to see this place….

…these photos don’t do the colors of this place justice….

….back at camp!

….hope carrying the firewood….

….kinda reminds you of Adam’s (Solototcoyotee) packing jobs…..

…I’ll never forget the first time I met Ray and Hope….it was WeSTOC 2007 in Redmond, Wa. that year. We were all standing around our bikes in the parking lot, solving world problems when Hope bounces up and Yell’s, I’m Hope, if you don’t know me, you will by the end of WeSTOC! =)

….they let us stay at their site, so it’s only fitting we cook some food for them….Mountain House camping food actually tastes pretty good…

It was a great evening….

Day – 06

I admit, I slept extremely well in my tent in Yellowstone. I had my Exped DLX9 Synmat. I would say it was just about as comfortable as the Coleman twin airmatress. The other advantage to this mat is that it contains insulation, so night air doesn’t sap the warmth from under you and your bag….

On deck for today is the Chief Joseph Highway. Over the years I have heard so much about this road….well….

…..it started like any other highway….the weather was perfect…

….things started getting curvy…..

Nice pavement….looked like people were having fun….

Nice changes in the scenery….

….wow….this was starting to get nice….I started to suspect the rumors might be true….

….and then…..

…..I think I just died and went to motorcycle heaven……

….I’d have to say….this was one of the best days of riding…..this was one of *the* perfect roads…..!!

….the bikes getting ready to ride down that hill…

…such a great ride….

….we turned north on HWY 89…final destination for this evening would be Great Falls, Mo.

….getting fuel at this place was definitely a…..

We had a a couple beers in the hotel bar and turned in early for the evening…..

Day – 07

Time for some bike maintenance….

Most hotels hate this….but….it’s a trick that works well for removing bugs…wet towel….10-15 minutes in the sun….

…had lunch with another ST-Owner that we randomly met on the road….

Heading to Going to the Sun Road…..

…..our version of the Alps…..

…grabbing some water and gas….other riders preparing to head up the mountain….

…everyone is happy!

…Glacier National Park….

….very glad we rode through here….

..there was some construction and we stopped at various points…..

….local wild flowers in bloom…..

Zoom on the camera….

….we were glad we were headed down hill…. in fact…..I coasted in neutral for about 20 miles….. it was amazing….

Montana was great…..we planned to stay in Missoula….heading south on HWY 93…..lots of strange speed limits and construction…

Day – 08

Today we would be heading down HWY 93 and shooting into Idaho. Three national forests were on deck as well…Bitterroot, Challis and Boise…

Stopping for lunch and some gas for the STeeds…..

….HWY 93 was great….

…Quite a few bikers out enjoying the views as well….

….we met these two at a small gas station and chatted for a while…had some Ice cream….temps were quite warm….

Passing through Boise, ID was hot, busy and uneventful…..we turned north again on HWY 55….as the sun set, we started scouting places to stay. We got the last room here at the Pinewood Lodge Motel….on the surface it looked great…..

….quaint….

….but….it was a rat hole… Lee found a Dog Bone under the bed….the room had a strange smell….it probably wasn’t cleaned…..either way, it worked and I was able to get a good night’s rest….

Day – 09

We had a good time laughing about the room and Lee’s lack of rest…the morning started with a bit of chain maintenance on Lee’s bike…

His chain was beginning to go south and we had concerns that it would make it the whole way…. it had about 20K miles on it…..

…Up HWY 55, down HWY 95, across HWY 71 through Oxbow heading into Hell’s Canyon….

….aside from the strange bugs crawling across the road….this ride was awesome!

….this would be our longest day….we would be attempting to make it to Minden, NV for WeSTOC a day early….

…we shot down HWY395….and check this out…..Lee’s got no clue that this was *the* cheveron that he failed to fill up at last year that put him at risk of running out of fuel on our way to Denio Junction….

….Lee’s now infamous HWY 140….had to stop and take a pic….. =)

…..we filled up this time as we had a long ride down 395 ahead of us……..

As dusk set in, we stopped for dinner and chatted about the night ride ahead of us….

Lee still had one of his HID head lights out….his chain was grinding and skipping…..the rear sprocket was shot…..we were in for a ride…

After a heck of a ride down 395….lots of deer…..I’ve made the decision that I’m adding more light to my ST1300….I ordered some El Fuego 100watt halogen spots that I’ll be mounting for the next trip…..4253miles for the trip to Minden….

Day – 10

We woke up in the hotel and walked out to a great day!

….early arrival

…

Scooter setup for long range touring…..and a nice FJR1300….

WeSTOC is the one place to meet up with “The old guard”….the founders of the STOC……quite a few nice examples of the ST1100….

…More arrivals….

…world problems getting solved…..Adam and Steve making sure things are kicking off to a good start….

All in all, it was an excellent WeSTOC..looking forward to the next one!