on the road again...

Hi All

Tippy and I are putting a few more miles on the 83, after spending some time at Arches, Canyonlands, Capital Reefs and Great Basin Nation Parks (gorgeous places - I swear that Canyon Lands is right on par with the Grand Canyon, in its own way maybe even more awesome) we finally got out here to Sacramento for a weeks visit with the kids..

Lots of crazy stuff always happening as always happens on a bike trip (as most of you know)..

My new 404 on the rear only made it to 4 thousand miles - the heat out here ate it alive!! After looking around Moab Utah for a new tire (we were almost down to the wear bars) we finally found ONE in Moab - guy wanted 230 bucks for another 404 sheesh).. Passed on that one, talked to some local tire store folks (cars) and found out our closest bike shop was RichField Utah.

According to our little trip Map that Tippy picked up at a visitor center someplace in Utah Capital Reefs Nat Park was right between us and Richfield.. Well, after spending a night camping at Hogans Pass up in the utah mountains (outstanding), having trail mix for dinner and very low on gas we finally figured out (thanks to a national forest park ranger) that the capital reefs park was placed about 80 miles west on the map of where it was suppose to have been placed - oh the joys of biken!!

A day later we made it to Richfield - bald tire and all.. All the Yamaha Shop (Jorgensans) had in stock was another 404 too (sheesh again) BUT they let us have it for only 145 bucks instead of the 230 in moab hahah, and only charged us 25 bucks for install (wheel off bike of course)..

Headed back to Salina Utah to ride Hwy 50 across to California - hit the hardest blowin mountain winds/storm we have ever experienced - got hailed on.. Later found out that this same storm caused a major two bike accident at the Grand Canyon..

Always wanted to ride the 50 but never took time to do it - great ride other than real warm. Amazing the different terrains along that "Loneliest Hwy in America".

We had just came over Connors Pass on 50, tippy had been complaining about not seeing any wildlife during this trip and bingo - 2 elk crossed a ways in front of us, another 200 feet and 3 more!!! We went around a sweeper and there was one standing on the side of the road about 50 feet from us - I slowed way down and it bolted and almost ran into us!! It missed the back of the back bike by inches!!

We are visiting with our kids in Sacramento till this weekend and than gonna head to the Red woods National park and up to Crater Lake..

The bike cleared 148,000 on this one, has had 2 1100 mile ride days on this trip all of which were in 100 degree weather plus, been thru hail, rain and major winds and is still doing its job honorably!! Gotta love these ol yammies!! It appears I do have a clutch slave to rebuild when I get home - master cylinder was down in window yesterday and I do have some seepage at cover. Yea she's old and tired but so am I hahah

Ride safe ya'll

Puc

Nice read!!!! Interesting.

Thanks for letting me ride along, great trip report:080402gudl_prv:

Craig

Your welcome guys, here is another point of interest for me that you all may enjoy..

coming out of canyonland we pulled into a fuel station (kinda pricey place - 5.29 a gallon for 85 octane). There sat a bike that appeared to be plugged into a 110 volt outlet, it had been "streamlined" like bikes that run on the Bonneville Saltflats, had some decals on it and just looked suspiciously like something I should check into (its a flaw in my charector, always nosing around...)..

Of course I left my bike sitting on the fuel island and boogied over to the suspicious bike. Tippy went inside to get something to drink (cool off - it was well over 100).. The bike looked to be an electric motorcycle built for highway usage.. some pretty elaborate fairing type work and lots of NASA looking wiring and stuff.. Tippy came out and told me that she thought she noticed a guy inside that was had probably been riding the bike.. Of course we went right back inside to check him out..

Come to find out the guys name is Terry Hershner (sp), riding cross country on his electric bike. He was on his way to Ohio for some fuel economy competetion with the likes of Craig Vetter (whom he is very good friends).. His goal was 1000 miles in 24 hours (good ole iron butt stuff) at zero cost!! Said he could run about 80 mph for almost 150 miles without a recharge.. I was telling him about our love for coasting downhill and about a 39 minute coast we had experienced at Kings Canyon last year and how I imagined he got the same "feeling" riding an electric bike as we did coasting down mountains - engine off, in neutral (the silence is amazing).. He was amazed at us for doing that - even asked me to sign the back of his bike!!!

Anyway, I just did a google search on him and it appears he is in the Guiness World Book!! Pretty cool...

I am the old guy in the pics...

What a blast,, ya NEVER know what adventuring on a bike is gonna bring into your life..

Now that is very cool!!! Great adVenture for sure. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you ........ what a great adventure you are having. Enjoy the remainder of it.

Thanks again for letting us all join in.

Mike.

As I mentioned earlier, Tip and I have two kids in Sacramento. We

spent a bunch of time with them and the grandkids.. While there I

repaired my grandsons PW50 and his dads KLR250 and or course, spent

time riding them.. When I left the grandson had talked his dad into

mounting his tent on the back of his pw so it would look like gramps

bike. Also went trap shootin with the boys, been better off tossing rocks at those goofy things..

The other daughter lives in town, she had a huge silver maple die over

winter and the two sons in laws were busy cutting it into handleable

pieces.. One of these fine young men has a wood milling business and

all this gorgeous wood is going to be put to good use!!

Across the road from this daughters house is where I met a new friend,

his name is “Sam” (name changed to protect the innocent). The day

that we pulled in I immediately noticed Sams 05 Vette setting out

front and his 1970 Stang sitting in the driveway.. Both the wife and I

KNEW I was in trouble, the stang is an almost duplicate of one of my

cars as a kid.. About two days later I get a text that reads, Sam

wants to meet you and wants you to drive his “Chevy”.. NICE!!!

Couple days later I find myself driving Sams Vette across Sacramento

into worlds unknown!! What a car!! So we are cruising along with

folks staring at the cool ol dudes in the sports car and I ask Sam

where we are going.. He says he has another Vette he wants to show

me.. We go to a Storage building in another town, Sam opens a door and

HOKEY SMOKEYS, she’s a gorgeous mint 72 with original close ratio 4

speed!! Sam squeezes between the car next to it, climbs in, couple

pumps and its running!! Backs it out and hands me the keys – what a

guy!!!

After driving the 72 Sam says,, hey,,, you ever driven an AC Cobra??

Sure enough, opens a garage door and BINGO!! Nope, never have and

probably never will have the chance again so you KNOW I was all over

that!!!! When we got back I took Tippy, my daughter and Sam out in

the stang and had the pleasure of showing my daughter what life was

like back in the early 70’s for her old man..

One of our sons is a Staff Sargent in the USAF and is based at Travis

Airbase in California. He got us on base and we got to tour the base.. We had

the honor of seeing his work, visiting the flight line and touring the

outside museum.. WOW!!!

Sad to end our time out there but Tip and I said our good byes and

headed for Lassens National Park. We camped at the waterfalls (high

altitude) – beautiful but man those mountains get cold!! The early

morning sun never felt better and, even though stinky, visiting the

hot sulphur springs was down right refreshing.. Lassens is an amazing

place – when the volcano blew it shot garage/car size boulders miles

away!!! Unreal!!

Headed to the coast n hwy 101 for a tour of the Redwoods Nat Park..

Another beautiful ride into the park, thru the grand old trees, went

whale watching (twice), never saw one but hey – it was awesome, we did

however see lots of ELK,,, no not while we were whale watching!!

Drove some dirt roads back to a WW2 Radar Station where our guys

monitored Japanese sub activity on OUR coastline – never knew that!!!

It was designed to look like a farm house but was actually a radar

station!! Another thing we found out was that the Japs actually

BOMBED us 30 miles north of this station on the mainland!!! Very

interesting stuff!!!

When we left the Redwoods park we took 199 into Oregon with a heading

for Crater Lake.. At the time there were 3 major fires going on and

199 was one smokey puppy!! Worse I have ever encountered! All the

way up to Grants Pass in Oregon my eyes were burning!! We didn’t want

to drop tent in the smoke so we rode hard all the way to a place

called Gold Hill Oregon.. About 2am and Tippy spots an old Cemetery

and we pulled in.. Real quiet place with the quietest neighbors I have

ever seen hahaha.. During the night Tippy thought she heard a Cougar

growling so I got up, took my flashlight and pocket knife out to do

battle with the cat.. It happened again only I thought it sounded more

like a deer snorting than a cougar.. I yelled my battle cry and that

was the last we heard of what ever it was,, thankfully..

The road leading into Crater Lake is just beautiful biking!!! Huge

Douglas fir trees line the path and the air is just amazing!!! There is "chasm" with falls

along the route, stunning!! About

¼ of the way around crater lake we had a pedal biker ask for some

water, carrying that 1 gallon jug of water may look goofy but boy does

it come in handy!!

Crater is tucked into a volcano and is almost 2 thousand feet deep –

you swear you can almost see bottom it is that clear.. Amazingly

enough, by the time we finished our tour the wind had changed and the

lake hallow had almost completely filled with smoke from those fires

miles and miles away!!!

What a great read!! When you went trap shooting, was it up in Lincoln or locally around Sac??

What a great read!! When you went trap shooting, was it up in Lincoln or locally around Sac??

It was down at Wilton, just off Alta Mesa Road,,, it may be on "Blake Rd.. We did visit a larger range up by Rancho Cordova (I am terrible with all these strange none michigan names) but just to get Ammo...

It was down at Wilton, just off Alta Mesa Road,,, it may be on "Blake Rd.. We did visit a larger range up by Rancho Cordova (I am terrible with all these strange none michigan names) but just to get Ammo...

That's one I'm not familiar with. The Lincoln "Coon Creek Trap and Skeet Club" is owned by an old friend of mine. MOF I got him into trap shooting back in the early 70's. From the pic's background it looked a lot like George's place.

On the 404's wearing out. They've never been a high miler, and I think it's more the load on that old '83, not the heat that ate them up. And you were in Utah. Jake Wilson's up in S.L.C. has the Dunlop E3's for a little less then what you paid for the 404 with free shipping. I rode one to Cody and back and it doesn't even show wear, and I load the bike and trailer up pretty good.

Have a good trip back home...

Great Updates !! Thanks for Sharing the ride!

I finally got around to reading some of your posts and I have to say, I am hooked on reading your posts. Now since you won the action cam at Vogel, we expect to see some vids of your travels. Ride safe and hope I get to meet up with you again some day, the few days we had to see you were not enough. You had me at shake my hand.......:rotfl::rotfl:WOKA WOKA WOKA.............:rotfl::rotfl:

Loving the read of your adventures.

Thanks for sharing!!!

Maybe one day you can write a book about all your adventures, I would sure buy it.

The ride out of the north end at Crater was just as beautiful as our

ride in. I have always enjoyed "coasting" down the mountains and,

while no match for our record 39 minute coast into Kings Canyon last year, we

did enjoy a solid 16 minute coast out of Crater Lake!

Next stop found us at Newberry Volcanic National Monument. This place

was again different in its display of volcanic activity.. It literally

was covered with actual "lava rock" like you would buy for your gas

grill. Also miles and miles and mounds and mounds of black lava.. At days end we

slept on Oregons gorgeous High Desert about a mile off the road. Just

far enough so we could no longer hear the trucks/cars going by and be able to

listen to the coyotes howlin. Pretty rocky out here, I am considering building a skid plate for Tweaks (our bike). Had a fabulous meteor shower going

on!! Area was hot in the day and FREEZIN in the night.. Amazingly NO dew

at all on the tent!!

One of the great things Tip and I have discovered about retirement is

being able to actually stop and read all those "Historic Point of

Interest" signs along the way that you always want to read but never do. After reading this sign about the Bannock Indian Wars it occurred to me that I dont remember ever even hearing of the Bannocks!! Also stopped for a while at the Snake River

- beautiful!!

Stopped for gas just inside of Idaho on our way to Crater of the Moons

and met a new friend named Frankie “Medicine Wolf”.. Had a really good

time chatting with Frankie!! He was on his way to Sturgis, bike all

loaded for bear!! The “wolf” is an outdoors writer and a riot to hang

with!! An interesting side note here, after chatting with Frank about

our travels it comes to light that he makes his home about 12

miles from the Cemetery that Tip and I had camped at back Gold Hill Oregon!

Crazy eay!! What a hoot!! PLUS, I have always been an avid Pat McManus

reader (They shoot canoes, crazy eddie muldoon and all that) and

knowing that Pat wrote alot about adventures in Oregon and Idaho I had

to ask, come to find out Frankie is close friends with Pat himself!! If you take the time to do it, it is amazing the folks you meet along lifes pathways!!

At any rate, if your following this story try to remember Frank, he is

gonna pop back into our travels..

After making plans to hook up with Frank at Sturgis we headed toward

Craters of the Moon National Park. We rode out the day and camped

north of Fairfield Idaho behind some hay bales. Our riding style

usually consists of riding till we are tired, pull over, drop the tent

and go to sleep.. The only problem with riding like this is sometimes

you wake up to surprizes,, like cops staring at you or people walking

past you in a walmart parking lot or animals walking around your

tent.. This particular excursion found us waking up to the farmer

stopping in his tractor - farmers get up real early you know!!

Thankfully he was a great guy,,, I have found that most folks are if

you give them half a chance, personally I like people..

After packing up we headed to Craters of the Moon.. This place was pretty much as its name described,, it really does make you feel like you are no longer on the planet - except it has roads that are perfect for biken (if the moon surface is paved like this I really really need to build a space ship with a payload big enough for the bike).. We chatted with the parks guy in the picture who had a background in sysmic stuff and he predicts our next volcano will be in this area. He was all exited about this, I am happy just riding my bike away from that thought!

This next unplanned stop was AWESOME and we spent a lot of time here.. From the roadway there is a sign that says something about a NUCLEAR POWER PLANT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.. Like oh my gosh.. So of course we stop.. WOW, this place is fascinating right from the get go!! Out side the actual building that the famous Fermi the Physicist (sp) spent many hours doing his thing are two nuclear test engines intended for use in aircraft!! You have to see them to believe them - and of course be much smarter than ol Puc to understand their workings.. Inside the building are all the workings, knobs to turn, buttons to push, fuel rods to deploy and LOTS to study!! An absolute dont miss if your gearheaded at all !! Also, just walking the same stairs and pushing the same buttons as Fermi did can sure be surreal ,, not sure any superior intellegence rubbed off but it may have,, could have been that drink of heavy water I had too..

Now on to Jackson (Jackson Hole) Wyoming.. Pulled into town and the first thing Tippy spots are a pair of cool looking chairs in front of used furniture store.. Hmmm.. carried a lot of stuff on a bike but not sure about this one Tip.. Than she points out the sticker on em - $450 - for something that looks like something I made in wood shop back in the 60's.. Cool chairs but we are gonna need a set of new tires more, sheesh..

Gettin late and knowing that this whole area is a National Park and VERY BUSY, Tippy makes a suggestion that proved to be brilliant.. She says lets go find a campground to camp in tonight (I have a hunch that bear fear was knawing at her). Couple miles north of Jackson was the first camp ground in the Tetons Nation Park and they had 1 (ONE) camping spot left!! We took it and all those throngs of bikes headed for sturgis had to look elsewhere, I felt sorry for them!! We set up camp and went looking for bear.. We didnt find no bears but we did see two moose feeding in the river AND we bumped into Frankie, our friend from oregon, feeding in town.. Downtown happenings were like a mini sturgis, lots of bikers and harleys.. Sitting there on mainstreet Jackson Hole with Tippy on my knee and chattin with Frankie was relaxin.. I happen to ask Frank where he was bagging it for the night and he said on the steps of the Masons building.. I invited him to stay on our site at the campground and he did (they allowed two tents per site). Told stories way to late and got up way to early.. It was nice peeing in a bathroom for a change but not that nice, nothin like markin your territory out in the wilds hahaha..

There is something different about the Tetons, truely magnificent beauty! The park is long and skinny but there is a mountain climb (on bike, I am that ambitious) up Signal Mt. we did that led to the over look of a lake that was, shall we say, oddly shaped,,, at least I thought so.. Of course we saw buffalo,, lots of them in both Tetons and Yellowstone..

Now on to Yellowstone, it was fun BUT there really needs to be a limit on how many little ol men driving big ol motorhomes they allow in,, 10 miles an hour up and DOWN hills in line with these not so much taxi drivers can wear on you physcologically,, and emotionally..

After risking our lives dodging these guys and other critters, finding this gorgeous waterfall to play in was a GODSEND!!! The water was ice cold and refreshing.. We also found lots of bear poo poo and large claw marks on trees while exploring this neat little falls canyon..

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Hi All

Tippy and I are putting a few more miles on the 83, after spending some time at Arches, Canyonlands, Capital Reefs and Great Basin Nation Parks (gorgeous places - I swear that Canyon Lands is right on par with the Grand Canyon, in its own way maybe even more awesome) we finally got out here to Sacramento for a weeks visit with the kids..

Lots of crazy stuff always happening as always happens on a bike trip (as most of you know)..

My new 404 on the rear only made it to 4 thousand miles - the heat out here ate it alive!! After looking around Moab Utah for a new tire (we were almost down to the wear bars) we finally found ONE in Moab - guy wanted 230 bucks for another 404 sheesh).. Passed on that one, talked to some local tire store folks (cars) and found out our closest bike shop was RichField Utah.

According to our little trip Map that Tippy picked up at a visitor center someplace in Utah Capital Reefs Nat Park was right between us and Richfield.. Well, after spending a night camping at Hogans Pass up in the utah mountains (outstanding), having trail mix for dinner and very low on gas we finally figured out (thanks to a national forest park ranger) that the capital reefs park was placed about 80 miles west on the map of where it was suppose to have been placed - oh the joys of biken!!

A day later we made it to Richfield - bald tire and all.. All the Yamaha Shop (Jorgensans) had in stock was another 404 too (sheesh again) BUT they let us have it for only 145 bucks instead of the 230 in moab hahah, and only charged us 25 bucks for install (wheel off bike of course)..

Headed back to Salina Utah to ride Hwy 50 across to California - hit the hardest blowin mountain winds/storm we have ever experienced - got hailed on.. Later found out that this same storm caused a major two bike accident at the Grand Canyon..

Always wanted to ride the 50 but never took time to do it - great ride other than real warm. Amazing the different terrains along that "Loneliest Hwy in America".

We had just came over Connors Pass on 50, tippy had been complaining about not seeing any wildlife during this trip and bingo - 2 elk crossed a ways in front of us, another 200 feet and 3 more!!! We went around a sweeper and there was one standing on the side of the road about 50 feet from us - I slowed way down and it bolted and almost ran into us!! It missed the back of the back bike by inches!!

We are visiting with our kids in Sacramento till this weekend and than gonna head to the Red woods National park and up to Crater Lake..

The bike cleared 148,000 on this one, has had 2 1100 mile ride days on this trip all of which were in 100 degree weather plus, been thru hail, rain and major winds and is still doing its job honorably!! Gotta love these ol yammies!! It appears I do have a clutch slave to rebuild when I get home - master cylinder was down in window yesterday and I do have some seepage at cover. Yea she's old and tired but so am I hahah

Ride safe ya'll

Puc

Hey Cowpuc,

Next time I see you, make sure I tell you my "100 miles from Tucumcari on a MayPop Metzler" story

After packing up we headed to Craters of the Moon.. This place was pretty much as its name described,, it really does make you feel like you are no longer on the planet - except it has roads that are perfect for biken (if the moon surface is paved like this I really really need to build a space ship with a payload big enough for the bike).. We chatted with the parks guy in the picture who had a background in sysmic stuff and he predicts our next volcano will be in this area. He was all exited about this, I am happy just riding my bike away from that thought!

 

This next unplanned stop was AWESOME and we spent a lot of time here.. From the roadway there is a sign that says something about a NUCLEAR POWER PLANT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.. Like oh my gosh.. So of course we stop.. WOW, this place is fascinating right from the get go!! Out side the actual building that the famous Fermi the Physicist (sp) spent many hours doing his thing are two nuclear test engines intended for use in aircraft!! You have to see them to believe them - and of course be much smarter than ol Puc to understand their workings.. Inside the building are all the workings, knobs to turn, buttons to push, fuel rods to deploy and LOTS to study!! An absolute dont miss if your gearheaded at all !! Also, just walking the same stairs and pushing the same buttons as Fermi did can sure be surreal ,, not sure any superior intellegence rubbed off but it may have,, could have been that drink of heavy water I had too..

 

Now on to Jackson (Jackson Hole) Wyoming.. Pulled into town and the first thing Tippy spots are a pair of cool looking chairs in front of used furniture store.. Hmmm.. carried a lot of stuff on a bike but not sure about this one Tip.. Than she points out the sticker on em - $450 - for something that looks like something I made in wood shop back in the 60's.. Cool chairs but we are gonna need a set of new tires more, sheesh..

 

Gettin late and knowing that this whole area is a National Park and VERY BUSY, Tippy makes a suggestion that proved to be brilliant.. She says lets go find a campground to camp in tonight (I have a hunch that bear fear was knawing at her). Couple miles north of Jackson was the first camp ground in the Tetons Nation Park and they had 1 (ONE) camping spot left!! We took it and all those throngs of bikes headed for sturgis had to look elsewhere, I felt sorry for them!! We set up camp and went looking for bear.. We didnt find no bears but we did see two moose feeding in the river AND we bumped into Frankie, our friend from oregon, feeding in town.. Downtown happenings were like a mini sturgis, lots of bikers and harleys.. Sitting there on mainstreet Jackson Hole with Tippy on my knee and chattin with Frankie was relaxin.. I happen to ask Frank where he was bagging it for the night and he said on the steps of the Masons building.. I invited him to stay on our site at the campground and he did (they allowed two tents per site). Told stories way to late and got up way to early.. It was nice peeing in a bathroom for a change but not that nice, nothin like markin your territory out in the wilds hahaha..

 

There is something different about the Tetons, truely magnificent beauty! The park is long and skinny but there is a mountain climb (on bike, I am that ambitious) up Signal Mt. we did that led to the over look of a lake that was, shall we say, oddly shaped,,, at least I thought so.. Of course we saw buffalo,, lots of them in both Tetons and Yellowstone..

 

Now on to Yellowstone, it was fun BUT there really needs to be a limit on how many little ol men driving big ol motorhomes they allow in,, 10 miles an hour up and DOWN hills in line with these not so much taxi drivers can wear on you physcologically,, and emotionally..

 

After risking our lives dodging these guys and other critters, finding this gorgeous waterfall to play in was a GODSEND!!! The water was ice cold and refreshing.. We also found lots of bear poo poo and large claw marks on trees while exploring this neat little falls canyon..

 

 

 

 

 

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I met Cowpuc for the 1st time at Vogel this year as much as I enjoyed meeting him his adventures reminds me of Wildhair 69. Anyone know what happened to him. Do we just eventually just ride off into the sunset and that's it for old bikers.

Cowpuc enjoy those adventurers while you can. Some of the best times in my life was on adventures much like yours.

Is that Cowpuc at the controlls of a Nuclear Reactor?..... The world is a scary, scary place.

I was looking for the water activated little bird to push the button (from the Simpson's)

Cowpuc enjoy those adventurers while you can. Some of the best times in my life was on adventures much like yours.

EXACTLY!! Body all banged up, bike all worn out, tires all worn out, shoes smelling cow crap, tent leakin from all the wind and brush, brains all overloaded from seein all the sites and meeting new friends.... Takin it to the limit now cause ya never know what tomorrow brings!!!

Is that Cowpuc at the controlls of a Nuclear Reactor?..... The world is a scary, scary place.

Ohhhh the power,, I could feel my dark side coming over me as pressed the button that said "do not press"... If you look at the pic of me at the controls, I am smiling saying to Tippy,, "I just tied with those guys at Chernobyl", than the sirens started to blare and I ran out the door....

I was looking for the water activated little bird to push the button (from the Simpson's)

LOL,,, the place would have been safer..

Puc

hey cowpuc,

 

next time i see you, make sure i tell you my "100 miles from tucumcari on a maypop metzler" story

cant wait!!!!!!!