Judith is keeping her own diary
Starting on June 5th the numbers after each entry are the end mileage for the day.
So, in Judith's words...
A Highlight for each State:
Cal. Bluest sky
Ariz. Nicest clouds
New Mex. “Pass with
Care” road signs
Diary
June 1, sfo
Sonnenbad bei Russ &
Debbie
June 2, sfo
Getting the bikes @
Roseville, watching the Dave @ Dennis show, tank bag episode
June 3, sfo
Ball game giants vs.
pirates with Leon, Shaun, and Ryan
June 4, sfo
Great weather, German
Biergarten for lunch, New Orleans style for dinner
Start mileage 1590
June 5, San Carlos to San
Simeon
Brunch at Alice's together
with Russ, he went with us a little further, then we were on our own. Long and
most of the time foggy ride to San Simeon. Great stop at the nepenthe cafe with
blue bird
1812
June 6, San Simeon
Visited Hearst castle
June 7, San Simeon to
Oxnard
Got a new battery for the
BMW in St Louis Obispo, had brunch in the very pink Madonna inn. Went through
half-dessert (98 degrees were not that bad as what I expected), and then had a
great stretch on 33 - turns as I like them. Hi light: I passed 4 motorbikes
there.
2034
June 8, Oxnard to Barstow
Went towards LA to meet up
with Jim to go highway 2 (Angeles Crest Highway) - great sweeping turns. Went
on this type routes towards Silver Lake and Bear Lake. Great views and great
riding. Jim had dinner with us and stayed in Barstow.
2286
June 9, Barstow to Kingman
Jim left us after
breakfast, we entered Route 66. Log straight stretches through the dessert and
sometimes really bad road. Due to construction we had to leave 66 and go on
highway 40 to Needles (heavy winds to fight with). Then we went back in time to
Oatman: old gold rush town with donkeys and the smell of their poop. Over the
mountains and on to Kingman.
2499
June 10, Kingman
Rest day - laundry and
historic city of Kingman (nothing going on there)
June 11, Kingman to Grand
Canyon
Long ride with landscape
changing from dessert to wood and the loveliest clouds. Met Ron, the Australian
Harley rider a couple of times on the way and finally had lunch with him.
Before dinner I got the first glimpse of the Canyon - it's unbelievable.
2713
June 12, Grand Canyon
Did the rim rout westbound
- partially on the bus, partially hiking. There were the most spectacular views
of the Canyon, the brown Colorado and wonderful cactus blossoms.
June 13, Grand Canyon to
monument Valley
Again a wonderful ride
through changing landscapes to MV - the View hotel is very nice, but
non-alcoholic. Not so good, when you long for a beer after a ride. So, we had
O'Douls...
In the evening we could
watch an impressive dessert storm with lightning flashes. I guess, our bikes
got sanded.
2893
June 14, Monument Valley
Great sun rise and lazy
blog day with a wonderful view
June 15, monument valley
to Cameron Trading Post
Short ride there, but nice
Wild West style setup. Now I know that roadrunners are real - and they are very
pretty.
3016
June 16' Cameron trading
post to Winslow
Got new tires for the GS
in Flagstaff, then went to Sedona. Would have been nice without all these
stupid cars in front of us. It was hot, but lunch was great there. Then went
back to Flagstaff and on to Winslow (standing on the corner). The old station
hotel is amazing. Dinner was exceptional with a great waiter
3187
June 17, Winslow to Gallup
Stopped at the corner
again, then went towards painted dessert, partially on 66 and partially on 40.
Painted dessert looked wonderful. Hills with layers of all different colors!
Then we went on to Gallup in the heat (it got close to 100). Bar dinner at the
motel - felt like moved back in time.
3359
June 18, Gallup to
Albuquerque
We went through a lot of
dessert, but the greener kind, could do a lot on old 66 and didn't have to do
much 40. At one point there was a little bit of painted dessert again, we
crossed the continental decide. In Albuquerque we crossed the Rio Grande and
hit our temperature record: 105 - I thought I was melting sitting in
construction and accident traffic, barely moving. The evening beer tasted twice
as good as normal. After dinner I walked to Walgreens to get another bottle of
wine. Coming back I saw the most amazing sunset: red and purple clouds.
3537
June 19, Albuquerque to
Santa Fe
A very nice ride on old 66
with a view of the mountains and even a couple of turns. Stopped in Madrid, a
hippie town earlier. Santa Fe doesn't really look like an American state
Capitol, but rather like a little Spanish or Mexican city - no high houses, but
a lot of red clay buildings. The stores are basically all either gifts or
clothes or art.
3611
June 20, Taos round trip
Had a lazy morning, late
breakfast and then got on the bikes to Taos. The ride was nice, we went along
Rio Grande for quite some time in the desert mountains. Taos is a skiing
village with gazillions of souvenir and everything else you don't need stores.
In one of these stores Dennis found things he needed: a belt, a hat, and a
bracelet. The store was owned by a German lady and her American husband and she
was in there with her one daughter. Very nice people and Dennis got to speak
some German again.
We hit 100 F again.
3752
June 21, Santa Fe
Resting day, Georgia O'Keeffe
museum
June 22, Santa Fe to
Tucumcari
Another hot day, in the
morning most of the time on 66 with amazing views of the landscape. Now we have
painted dessert type mountains with trees growing on them. Visited the car
museum in Santa Rosa - amazing vintage American cars, some of them much too
long to fit into a parking spot. Now we are in the Blue Swallow Motel after
having dinner at this Mexican restaurant with people painted on the wall, as if
they were sitting there and a funny lizard that talked.
3945
June 23, Tucumcari to
Plainview
We had a nice ride out on
66 until it ended in dirt. We went this dirt road anyway, because Dennis said
it was just a mile. This must have been the longest mile in my live. We were
rewarded then with a stop at Midpoint Cafe for brunch (passed another time
zone). Yes, we reached the midpoint of 66, but not the midpoint of our trip
yet. Stopped at the Cadillac Ranch next, and then said good-bye to 66 for good,
heading south from Amarillo.
...and I need to correct
Anne Clark: there is a Hope road.
4127
June 24, Plainview to
Abilene
Texas is pretty flat. We
went on highways, not on the interstate, which made things a little less
boring. No major events and we got there. Highlight of the day: a roadrunner,
whose territory we invaded - he buzzed right over my head.
4333
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