Friday 10/26 (and home at Last!).

We left Lake Havasu City at about 7:30am, trying to beat the heat.  It was roughly 60 degrees when we left.  We essentially retraced my original first day leg, in reverse.  Things went uneventfully, and the high got to perhaps 92 degrees at times.   This was probably the ideal time of year for the trip, discounting the chance for snow, which luckily didn't happen.  It was a good "between" for the cold and hot extremes of the entire trip.  I was a bit surprised by the end of the day that 92 didn't feel all that bad, (as long ast you're going 60+ mph.)

Okay, now for the $64,000 question (well, okay, it wasn't *that* much):  Was the seat worth it?    Well, yesterday and the day before I was a little dissapointed, since my posterior had started to ache after 3 or 4 hours, but I must say that today (now that I have officially broken it in past the directed 1000 mile mark) it was feeling pretty good, and I didn't have any major discomfort to speak of.  Kari indicated roughly the same response.

We arrived back in Sierra Vista around 4:30, which included a stop over in Tucson for a good half hour or so, while Kari was eyeing a scooter at the motorcycle shop on Ina.   We also had to drop Kari off at the Park-N-Save, to retrieve the truck from her one way flight out to Reno.

If you're reading this, and want to see some photos, drop me an e-mail (you should know the e-mail address already, if you got this link).

I may add some post ride analysis, later, but that's about all I have the energy for, at the moment.  It's a little hard to imagine doing two of these trips back to back, with higher heat at points, which is roughly the plan next summer.

Ron

Saturday (Bishop to Lake Havasu City)

We got on the road at 8am, with the temperature being a relatively balmy 45 degrees. I wore the entire ensemble, including electric vest, but didn't need to resort to turning it on. Kari enjoyed the electric seat and vest for much of the morning, though. When we stopped, it turned out to be quite windy, but it must have been a tailwind, since I didn't really notice it too much.

We made Barstow by about noon, and had sandwiches in the shade of Chevron, after doing our mid day fill up. (you gotta love a large fuel tank, which can go 350+ mile on a fill. [Editor:  Okay, someone called me on this, and what was *meant* was 250+ miles on a tank full.  I think theoretically, I could almost get 300 miles on a tank, if I wanted to press my luck].  I took off much of the insulation at this point, which was good, since the temperature continued to climb to about 90 degrees by the time we made it to Needles.

We arrived at the hotel at about 4pm, and had dinner at Cha-Bones (SP?) just down the street from the Hampton Inn. Afterward dinner, we walked the extra 10 minutes it took to walk over to the London Bridge. Somehow we missed it the first time we came through.

We'll try to get an early start tomorrow, to beat the heat.

~

Friday (Redding to Bishop)

Started out at 8:15am, wanting to let the sun come up a bit before hitting the forest roads, to avoid any unnecessary encounters with furry jay-walkers. Temperature started at about 54, but quickly dropped to the mid 30s, some where before I reached Old Station. I had started out with pretty much everything on, and was glad I had. The temperature reached a minimum of 32 degrees, and traveling at 65 mph, it took about 45 minutes for the cold to seep through my gloves, even with the heated grips. Since the temperature was generally around 37, for much of it, I guess I wasn't overly worried about frostbite, although the thought did cross my mind. The weather warmed up to a balmy 60 degrees or so by the time I reached Susanville, and the going was pretty reasonable beyond that point.

I made it to Reno by about noon, and picked up Kari at the Airport. I've decided I got the idiot savant GPS. It knows all the roads, but not very good at picking the best ones. I just followed the road signs into the airport, ignoring several of its protests to turn earlier.

We stopped at the Claim Jumper, and had a good filling lunch. Temperatures were in the low to mid 70's as we left, and it felt pretty warm, slogging through the slower stop-and-go traffic going through the towns just South of Reno. Eventually, the towns petered out and the speed picked up, and the temperature cooled off has we headed up in elevation. I enlisted Kari as tailgunner, to get photos while we went. Considering we hadn't left Reno until about 1pm, I was a little concerned that we'd be getting into Bishop near sunset. Luckily it was only about 5:15pm, and the sun hadn't quite set, yet. A hot shower felt fantasitic. We skipped dinner, still satisfied from the big lunch, and went to bed early.

~

Thursday (Day at Russell "Day-Long" Seats)

Well, today was one of the main events of the trip, second only to picking up Kari tomorrow in Reno. I arrived at Russell Seats slightly before 8am, the designated time. There was an intial "seating" where I got on the bike, center stand down, and discussing my seating tendencies with the builder. After 5 or 10 minutes of this, and a discussion of options, I decided to go with the leather inserts (meaning the top) and vinyl sides, per their recommendation; backrest; and heated seats.

It took them a couple hours to create/assemble the foam portion. At this point, I was invited to take a quick run up to the dam (i.e. take a dam ride). While on the dam ride, I took some dam pictures, too! :) The seat fit well, and I was able to play around with the back rest a bit.

After the ride, I confirmed my initial thougth that perhaps the driver back rest should be moved forward a smidge, as it was theoretically possible I might want it a little farther forward than the full foward position allowed initially, (if I want a *LOT* of lower back support.) The construction of the back rest was surprisingly sturdy, simple, yet allowed considerable adjustment with little trouble. (Okay, you should pull over before doing it, but otherwise a 30 second adjustment.)

When I got back they started the covering process, which took most of the afternoon. While I waited, I watched a lot of financial gloom and doom on the news channel, surfed the internet a bit on my PSP (yes, Dad, I saw a look at your latest watch. Very nice. I can't seem to get the PSP to compose an e-mail though. Probably just as well, since typing is like using a cell phone to send a message.

Later in the afternoon, I was getting a little bored, and was asking the receptionist some questions about the seat construction. She got one of the guys to give me a tour of the facility. It's bigger on the inside, than it looks from the road. They had about half a dozen employees working on these seats. It sounds like they turn out about 12 seats a day, all but one of which are mail in orders. I'll have to post some pictures when I get a chance.

Finally, at around 5pm the seats were finished, and they looked very nice! I got a couple photos of the seat with a couple of the staff. Then, the next was getting the wires plugged into the cables I had pre-installed before left. Everything worked like a charm. I got a chance to try out the seat next. The seat felt as good as it looked. I fiddled with the back rest setting for a bit. After getting a few parting photos of the staff, I headed home (meaning the hotel.) It had warmed up quite a bit by the afternoon, and I'm be looking forward to some cool weather tomorrow morning.

Day 3 (Wednesday). Bishop to Redding, via Susanville.

I actually waited for the sun to rise this morning, and was somewhat intentionally a little pokey getting out of town, hoping the sun would warm things up a bit. It started at about 37 degrees, and never really rose much over this for the first two hours. My departure time was 8:15am. I used my entire bag of tricks, except for the electric vest, initially. Jacket liner (of course), FJR side "vents" in the "out" position, warm gloves, etc. Actually, I was fine for about the first hour.

Into the second hour I was starting to get a little cold, with the gloves and electric grips not cutting the mustard. The temperature seemed not to want to rise (I'm sure it was rising, just not where I was at any given point.) About half way to Reno, I pulled over at at a ranger station and donned my electric vest. This helped quite a bit. They also had a much needed restroom.

I made pretty good time (I think) on the first quarter of the trip, but past Mono lake, there was a bit of construction, and a lot of smaller towns. Driving directly through Carson city was a little slow and very busy with a dozen or more lights. There was a glorious sprint section up to Reno, but my GPS dropped me into the center of town before I could make the turn off towards the "395" sign that I spotted, momentarily. I kept with the GPS "plan" (if you can call it that), hoping to spot a Chevron. Funny, I only saw one, and I was on the wrong lane to make the turn given the amount of traffic. I finally spotted the 395 sign once again, and blasted out the last 3/4 of Reno, in a fraction of the time I had slogged through the first quarter. I settled on gas at a 7-eleven, as I was headed north out of Reno.

The ride from Reno to Susanville was nice enough, although not especially memorable. It's funny, I kept thinking of the various stretches in terms of other areas I know in Arizona. The portion from Reno to Susanville reminded me of the ride from Alpine to Springerville, (except that it was 100 miles!). Beyond Susanville, the road really got much more fun and interesting, with a lot a broad sweeping turns, through pine forests. A lot of this area reminded me of other areas between Eagar and Pinetop, or perhaps between Strawberry and Winslow (the green parts). Actually, it was even better, as the speed limits were 65 for much of it, and there was only a sprinkling of cars. A reasonable number of good passing zones kept people from riding my butt. (No, I wasn't going *that* slow, really!) All the turns were well mannered, but not too boring, either.

As I dropped into Redding, for the last half hour, the temperature kept rising, and finally was to 84 degrees by the time I arrived. I had kept my vest on the entire day, (although I didn't really have it turned on more than a half hour or so, towards the beginning). It was pretty warm when I arrived, with all the stuff I was wearing. (Oh, I took the neck gaitor off in Reno, as it seemed a bit too much.)

I arrived at about 5:15pm. That's 9 hours for 400 miles or so. Okay, that's about 44 miles per hour. 5 to Reno, and 4 to Redding.

Doing laundry tonight, and working out. The Bishop BW didn't have a workout room. The one in Redding does, even if the equipment is a little worn.

~

Day 2 (Tuesday), Lake Havasu City to Bishop

Footnote for Monday Evening: I've been pretty bad on my "try to eat healthy" objective. McD's for lunch, and worse for dinner. I had good intentions, really. I was trying to avoid Cha-Bones, since Kari and I had had such a good time, I wanted to save it for the ride back.

I wandered in that direction, and spotted an IHOP. Menu looked good, so I decided to get seated. Unfortunatelly, after about 10 minutes, that was all the action I saw. The seating hosted wandered by and seemed surprised I hadn't been asked about drinks. I told her me too, and took my leave.

Across the street was a Del Taco, but I stood there in line behind the only two other people in the establishment, for what seemed like an eternity. It was probably only three minutes, but I was getting the weird "Twilight zone" vibe when there's a lot of people standing around, and nothings happening. Despair in the air, and time seems to stand still.

Across the parking lot, there was light at the end of the tunnel, and the chance to check another item off my "bucket list" of things I intend to do someday, but never get around to it. There it stood: "In-And-Out Burger." A $5.78 meal never tasted so good, (nor had so many fat grams, I'd wager!!). This is an establishment that time forgot. There were only 7 things on the food menu, including three "combo's" of the first 4 items. Burgers, more burgers, and Fries. Care for a heart-bypass with that? (I'm excluding the half dozen or so drink options.) Oh, and the fact that I haven't seen young people move that fast, doing work with purpose in I don't know how long. (Listen to me. I'm even starting to sound old. )

---

TUESDAY (For real, now.):

I started out about 7am, just about as the sun was rising. Plans to leave early were forgotten while I enjoyed three helpings of the ham, cheese and egg scramble for breakfast. I put the air pump Leo gave me to good use, and added a couple pounds of air to each tire. How does this stuff get out? I didn't see any nail holes or anything. Hmmm. Note: The pump bounces well, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Weather was beatiful along the way varing from 62 at the start up to 82 as a high, but generally floated in the low 70s. The first half of the ride from Needles to Barstow was very peaceful. Little traffic, (for an interstate), and none of the wind I had been warned about by Deryle. (or so I thought...).

I had one of the more memorable Incidents along the way, about 20 minutes no I-40. There's a great line from a movie (actually a song in a movie), "Always look on the bright side of life." All in all, it could have been a lot worse, and I learned a few things. First, Yamaha luggage isn't as fragile as I had thought. In fact, it holds up reasonbly well to a three foot drop onto pavement while traveling at 70 miles per hour. It would be nice if was designed not to jetison all the contents in the process, but hey, it still latches shut, and latches to the mount. (When you take the time to DOUBLE CHECK IT).

Second thing I learned: You *can* find a policeman when you need one. At least this morning, I did. I heard the weird pastic scraping sound, and glanced behind, looking for some sort of trash I had assumed had latched on to my undercarriage, I was surprised to see my top case and contents strewn in the lane behind me. It took me a few moments to get pulled over, remove my helmet and gloves, and start running back the several hundred yards I had gone past the "drop point." The CHP officer must have either been following me, or within earshot of of the incident, as he had my stuff in a tidy pile on on the shoulder by the time I came running up, gasping for air. I think I managed a "thank you", and he replied "Just don't have a heart attack on me." (Jeez, I don't look old enough to have a heart attack, do I?) He was even kind enough to give me a quarter mile ride back to my bike. I haven't noticed anything missing, apart from my bottle of G2 Sports drink, and possibly a laminated map. I'm sure I'll discover something in the next day or two (or year or two).

I'm sure Kari will empathize with the whole incident, if not gleeful for my admission to the "Been There; Droped That" Club. It's going to take a whole lot of polish to take out the scratches, though. (Or a grinding wheel, to make the rest of it match).

Just as Deryle had predicted, about half way to Barstow, the wind started picking up, and getting a little gusty. It turned out to only last for about 10 to 20 miles for the worst of it. The rest of the day was a little windy, but not nearly as gusty, so not nearly as problematic.

Random thing: I bumped into a guy and his wife at the rest stop about 115 miles south of Bishop, and we got to talking, after he was kind enough to get my picture with the bike. (Luckily, the camera was one of those bounced items which was on the "found" list. Probably helped that it was in it's camera case.) Turns out he knew where Sierra Vista was, since he had been one of the people that surveyed the route to Parker Canyon Lake. (He said the road from Sierra Vista, but I suspect he meant Sonoita, and I didn't want to be rude and correct him.)

Got into Bishop about 2:41PM. Yes, once again 7.75 hours. Drum roll please..... Average speed (you guessed it) was once again almost exactlly 50 mph (50.97 to be precise) despite my efforts to raise the average from yesterday.

For Dinner: Options are: Denny's directly across the major highway of a street, a Sizzler down the sidewalk about 5 minutes, and a couple of others. Salad, I promise!

The Bishop Best Western "Spa" Hotel was so named for a reason, it turns out. I'll have to check it out. Swimsuits anyone??

All for now
~

PS: Note on stock seat comfort: Seat got uncomfortable after an hour or two, and 10 or so seconds of standing every half hour helps. Not walking bow-legged, (yet).

Day 1 (Monday)

Day one off to an early start. I didn't sleep much, it seemed, and was waking up every so often to see how long until launch time.

Okay, I cheated a bit on the heat, and departed at 5:45am, rather than wait for dawn. Perhaps a little risky, with the wild critter factor, but there was a fair amount of traffic along 90, so I was hoping it would scare off any jay-walking wildlife.

Temperature drifted from 55 to 50, and back a few times on the way to Tucson. I haven't bored you with the limited gear I packed, but I'll probably mention it as I go, more for my future reference, than your enjoyment. (Sorry.) I only took one jacket, a 3/4 length "Firstgear" jacket my better half won during one of the SEAT Christmas raffles. It's quite warm with the liner in, (though I'm not sure about water proof.) I hope I won't need to bore you in coming days with the words "frogg-toggs" with any luck. This morning, I jacket stuffed the liner in the luggage, and zipped all of the copious vents shut. I also wore the more vented of two pairs of gloves I brought. I'll admit it was a bit chilly when it hit 50 at times, and I had to resort to using the electric grips on the way to Tucson.

I hit Tucson at around 7, and hit a tad bit of traffic, but nothing that slowed the show down. I was planning to stop for gas in Marana, but through a combination of being distracted by construction, a cop passing on the left, and it not being "my normal stop" I missed it. Actually, on our jaunts to San Diego, the Eloy exit is our typical gas stop (both types, as it has a McD's as well.) I exchanged pleasantries with a fellow motorcyclist, who was communting on his sport bike from Tucson to Phoenix. He claimed it's 50 mpg was a *lot* better than the 7 mpg his jacked up 4WD truck with monster tires, which got 7 mpg. He was complaining about the comfort, and seeing him take off down the highway tucked low over his gas tank, I could imagine why. I had thought about extolling the virtues of an FJR, with its relative comfort (or so I hope!!), but had decided to keep the stop short.

There was considerable shoulder construction all the way up 10, to the turn off for I-8, slowing things down to 55 or 65 for much of the way. After getting on I-8, the speed picked up a bit, and the temperature also rose into the low 80's. The ride to Gila Bend seemed to go quickly, and it was easy enough to pick up Old Hwy 80 (okay, I was cheating, and using the GPS.) I can see why this road comes highly recommended. There was hardly any traffic, and if I were less concerned with speed limites, it would be easy to travel at 70-80 plus along this road, as one of the few cars that passed me did. (Rather than the posted 55.) There was quite a bit of agriculture being conducted along this stretch of road. I passed more than a couple large rigs spewing a cloud of unidentified grassy material in their wake, as they passed going the other way. I stopped for gas at Tonopah, and managed to get a picture (I think) of myself before the batteries went dead. Discovered that the NiMH batteries I had brought were showing low, too. I hope their not shot. I could have sworn I charged them a few days ago. We'll see if they hold the charge they'll get this evening.

I picked up the road to Vicksburg Junction, and then headed northwest on Salome Rd. I had gotten into the long haul of this road and my mind started to wander, fantisizing about breaking the speed limit by more than my usual zero to 3 mph (okay, 5 when I'm really pushing the envelope). Just about this time I was jolted out of my daydream as I passed a cop, parked on the far side, lying in wait. Okay, so much for the fantasy.

A little after noon, I was starting to get a bit ravenous, and very thirsty. The temperature was getting to the 90 degree point. I spotted a McDonald's while passing through Parker. I managed to snag the one parking space with some shade and ran in for a bite one of the grilled chicken sandwich meals, hold the mayo. Lucky for me it was serve-yourself drinks, and I made good on my investment with three cups of soda. Lemondade hasn't tasted so good in quite a while. How do they do that with "0 % juice" ?? Totally unrelated to my voyage, but there was an older gentleman sitting outside with a minature longhaired dachsund, very much like the one we had while growing up.

Got into Lake Havasu City about 1:30pm. Ok, for the obligatory math: 390 miles in 7.75hours gives an average 50 mph. Hmm. Suspiciously close to the number Deryle gave me. (Probably for the off-highway rule of thumb).

Checked in, turned on the AC, and absorbed this for a few minutes before checking in with Kari. Changed into something "more comfortable" and did the Woolite thing on the UnderArmor heat gear shirt and compression pants I had worn. I think they helped with the temperature, although perhaps it's more psychological. We'll see how fast they drip dry. Feels good to be sitting here after taking a shower to get the road grime off!

Breakfast tomorrow is at 6AM, and dawn is supposed to be about 6:45ish, so that should work well. I'll eat and go, hoping to beat the heat between Needles to Barstow, and beyond.

~

"The Plan"

I start on my motorcycle trip tomorrow morning at dawn.  

Should be "fun" (or memorable, at least).   Weather looks good along my route, as far as I can tell from the 10 day outlook.  The route is intended to be:   I'm including weather projections in the following format:  [projected high, project low (in degrees F)], weather conditions.

DAY 1 (Monday):

=====

Start Sierra Vista at dawn,  [79,49] 6:30am

90 north to 10 west.

Stop in Marana for Gas

Take 8 West to Gila Bend

North on Old Hwy 80 (a route Deryle pointed out)

Stop for lunch and Gas at Tonopah Joe's (?).

Continue west on 10, and turn northon Vicksburg Road,  through Vickburg Junction, and wind my way north to the Hampton Inn, in Lake Havasu City [92,61]. Mostly sunny.

DAY 2 (Tuesday):

=====

Head north towards Needles at the break of dawn, or earlier [95,58]. Clear.

Run the long road between Needles to Barstow on I-10, then take 395 north, stopping in Bishop.[79,36], clear. (and a little crisp, likely).

DAY 3 (Wednesday):  

=====

Leave as early as I can stand, given the fact that it's going to be cold.  [77,34], clear.  Continue north on 395, through Reno, [74,34] clear, Susanville, and then west to Redding, CA.  I'm guessing that Mammoth Lakes is going to be the coldest area overall, along the entire trip, not counting the time of day.  [65,25], clear.

DAY 4 (Thursday):

=====

In case I didn't mention it, one of the two major misison objectives is to get a new seat at Russell "Day-Long" Seats (http://www.day-long.com  

The second objective is to see how I stand up to 3 days back to back of 400 miles, with a day off, and another set of three of the same length.   Not coincidently, this happens to coincide roughly with the day lenght and rest pattern of a trip a friend of mine is planning to Canada and back next summer, over 17 days.  

DAY 5 (Friday):  Return, and pick up my better half in Reno on the way south.

(Return trip, much like the ride up, but on the other side of the road.)

I'm trying to pack extremely light. (Well, light, in the sense that I'm not traveling with three suitcases in the back of my pickup.)  I've got about three days of clothes, much of which should wash and dry well in the sink, with some Woolite I've got packed, and plans to do a full laundry change in Redding.  (I'm going to forgo the "Lysol" technique that I've heard some of the guys in the club use. (DON'T ASK!)

Hope to post again tomorrow, if I get a chance.

All for now.