Day 3: Denver Trip (Saturday, Sept 24, 2011)

Today is the third and final day of the trip.  I plan to drive home today.  We were up kind of late last night so I didn't get on the road as early as I would have liked.  But I did end up leaving around 8:30.

After getting out of downtown I headed onto I-70.  The traffic was pretty light and it was a nice drive.

I turned up on highway 9 towards Steamboat Springs.  This section of highway was actually really cold.  I put several more layers on and was still pretty cold.  The colors were starting to turn which made for a nice drive.

Somewhere around Kremmling

I think that was the only picture I took of the ride home.  I was pretty exhausted and just wanted to get home.

I stopped for lunch in Steamboat springs.  The weather was really nice.  Right before pulling off the freeway a bee flew into the cuff of my jacket and stung my wrist.  I was nervous because the last time I was stung by a bee was when I was a little kid and I was slightly allergic and my throat had started to swell.  Luckily I didn't have any negative side effects this time.

After lunch I continued on Hwy 40 towards Vernal.  This was a long lonely stretch of road that was really boring.  After several days on the bike, it was getting hard to ride more than about an hour before my rear end would get sore and I would have to stop.

I got to Vernal and had some dinner.  The sun was getting low in the sky and I was pretty exhausted.  I still had 3 hrs to go and I didn't know if I could make it.

But after getting some food I set out towards home.  I was passing Strawberry reservoir just as the sun was setting and it really was one of the most spectacular sights I have ever seen.  I should have stopped to get some pictures but I was worried about riding through the canyons in the dark and wanted to keep moving.  Now I wish I had some pictures.

I continued on towards Heber and by this time it was dark.  I then went through Provo Canyon and on to I-15.  I pulled into the garage a little after 9:00 glad to be home.

Ending Mileage

So it looks like the trip was 1,358 mi in 3 days.  So that is an average of 450 miles each day.  The days seemed kind of long especially on the type of bike that I have.  I think in the future I plan to go less miles each day.

Day 3 Route

Day 3 Stats

Day 2: Denver Trip (Friday, Sept 23, 2011)

I got up around 6 am this morning feeling very refreshed.  In the craziness to get everything ready, I hadn't gotten much sleep the past few nights, but last night I finally slept soundly all night.  I had a little breakfast and got all packed up, and then wandered over to the edge of the cliff to look down at the river.  I met a couple who had a big RV that was on a long cross country trip.

Then I headed back to the bike and made sure everything was ready to go.  I took off around 7:30 and was excited for the day.

Views of Gooseneck St. Park

I drove close to the 4 corners area but because I was hoping to make it to Denver tonight, I decided not to take the detour but continue on towards Denver.

Shiprock in New Mexico in the background

I drove through Cortez, Durango and then stopped for lunch at a McDonald's in Pagosa Springs.  It was a really pretty area of Colorado.  The weather has been great.  Nice sunny skies.

The bugs were pretty intense.  Each time I stopped I had to clean my face shield off.

Bugs

After lunch I headed up through the central part of Colorado on my way to Denver.  I remember a little windy section, and being not as enthralled with the central part of the state.  As I got closer to Denver there was more mountainous terrain which I liked.

It had been a long day and I was tired and ready to be in Denver.  I was meeting my brother in law who was in Denver on a business trip.  When I got to Denver and got on the freeway heading to downtown, I was a little shocked by all the cars as I had been riding secondary highways with few cars for the past two days.  But thankfully my GPS took me right to the front door of the hotel where my brother in law was outside waiting for me.  He was keeping track of me on Google latitude and could see that I was getting close.

The parking there at the hotel was expensive, so my brother in law had found a garage around the corner that was only $6.  I unloaded all of my gear and then went over to the garage to park the bike.

BYU was playing football tonight and so we went up to the room and watched the 2nd half of the game and we ordered a pizza.  It took me a little bit to unwind from the ride.  I felt like my head was still buzzing from the vibrations.  But it was good to finally relax after a long ride.

Actual Route for Day 2:

Stats for Day 2:

Day 1: Denver Trip (Thursday, Sept 22, 2011)

I have been home from this motorcycle trip for almost a year now, and thought it was about time I post up a report of this trip.  Hopefully I can remember enough of the trip.

My GPS on my phone was acting up so the stats on this trip weren't entirely accurate.  But they are close enough.

All packed up and ready to go

Odometer at the beginning of the trip

I ended up leaving about 10:00 am.  Up until this time I was pretty excited about the trip.  I had had moments of apprehension, but for the most part I was pretty confident I could do it.  Right as I was about to leave I got really nervous and I know Kristin was pretty nervous.  But once I got on the road the excitement came back and the nervousness fled.

My destination for the day was Gooseneck St. Park in the South East corner of Utah.  I was planning on camping there for the night and then continuing on to Denver on Fri.

I drove from Lehi, around the west side of Utah lake and then joined up with I-15 in Mona.  I then drove down I-15 to Nephi and through the canyon down through Manti.

Manti Temple

Stopping for lunch in Gunnison

I hadn't realized that my route took me right through Capital Reef Nation Park which was really amazing to see from a motorcycle.  

Just outside Capital Reef National Park

By the time I reached Hanksville, I was pretty tired.  I think the lack of sleep the last couple of days were taking their toll.  

I drove down close to Lake Powell and a few times caught a glimpse of the water.  This is the first time I have seen Lake Powell and hope to plan a vacation there some day.

Views of Lake Powell

It got dark about an hour before I reached the campsite.  It really wouldn't have been too bad except for a pretty scary section where the road turned to dirt and had tight switchbacks down the face of a cliff.  I couldn't see how far you would drop if you went off the edge, and it's probably good that I couldn't see.

I found some pictures of this road from another motorcycle ride report here.

I made it safely to the campsite and found a spot to set up my tent.  There were a few other people there but it wasn't that crowded.  I was camping at gooseneck St. park.  It was free to camp and from pictures I had seen online, it looked like a neat place.  As it was pretty dark I couldn't see much but I'll take a look in the morning.

I called Kristin and talked to her for awhile.  It was nice to be able to sit and relax for a minute.  It was already close to 10 pm, so I thought I had better get to bed.  I wanted to get a good nights rest as I was exhausted.

I didn't mind so much the traveling by myself except for the times when I stopped to eat, etc... Those were the times I felt lonely, but I would call Kristin to help with that.

It was too dark to get pictures that night, but here is a picture when I got up the next morning and it was still pretty dark.

Camp at Gooseneck St Park

Actual route for day 1:

Stats for day 1:

Denver Trip: Preparations

A little background.  I was worried that my tires were getting worn so I decided to buy some new tires to install before the trip.  I decided to install them myself which was a lot harder than I thought it would be.  Well, while installing the the rear tire, I tore the bead of the tire.  So it was basically useless.  This was the day before the trip.  I thought that the trip was ruined and I now wouldn't be able to go.

I decided to put the old tire back on.  By the time I got the bike all back together and everything packed it was about 2:00 am.  I was hoping to leave at 6:00 am.  But luckily everything got back together and I was still able to go on the trip.

Old Tire

Getting ready to take back tire off

My little helpers

Working late into the night

Broken tire bead

My first motorcycle trip

Well, I am finally doing it.  I am heading off on a motorcycle road trip.  It will be for 3 days.  Below is a picture of my actual route, as I have already returned from the trip.

I am traveling down to Southern Utah and will camp the first night.  Then I will travel on to Denver where I will meet up with my brother-in-law to hang out for the evening and then come back home the next day.

The whole trip is 1,400 miles.  It will be about 480 miles each day with estimated time of about 9 hrs and 30 min.

I am leaving Thur the 22 and will be back Sat night the 24th.  I have been checking the weather and it looks to be good weather for the trip.

As this trip was getting closer I realized that I had a lot to do to get ready.  I had to order quite a few things including a new rear tire.  They are suppose to get here either Tue or Wed so I won't have much time to get everything ready.

I am excited but also a little nervous.  I will try to document getting ready these next couple of days.

A New Bike

So, I finally did it.  I bought a motorcycle.  A couple weeks ago my brother and I were going to go snowboarding, but he ended up not being able to go.  So I decided to go up to South Valley Motorsports off of 11400 S in Salt Lake.  For the last year or so when looking at motorcycles I have narrowed it down to a Kawasaki KLR650.  South Valley Motorsports had a 2009 in blue left.  That is the color I wanted.  They said there was a $750 rebate if I bought the 2009.  I spent some time talking to the salesman and then left to come home.  One thing I learned from my dad is to never make a large purchase the first day.  So I will think about it and make a decision.

The next morning, I still felt good about it so I went back to the dealership to make the purchase.  Everything went smoothly and they really spent time going over the bike with me which was nice.  It was raining pretty hard and I was nervous to ride it home so I brought the trailer to bring it home.  I did buy the extended warranty so the bike is warrantied for the next 5 years.  I normally don't buy warranties but for some reason I decided to buy it for the bike.

I have now owned the bike for a couple of weeks and have put about 265 miles on it.  I have driven it to work 5 times and several other small trips as well as my first ride which was out west on the other side of Utah Lake.  For the first 500 miles I have to keep it under 4000 rpm, so that basically gives me about 55-60 miles per hour.

Below is some pictures of the bike.  I wish I would have gotten some pictures of it at the dealership as well as the odometer at 1 mile but I didn't.

Attempt to reach Mineral Basin

I have heard that you can ride from Tibble Fork in American Fork Canyon all the way to Mineral Basin that is part of Snowbird ski resort.  I hear you can ride right up to the bottom of the ski lifts.  Last year my brother and I rode up towards that direction, but went off on a side road and never made it.  So we decided to try again.  This time I looked it up on Google Maps and then routed the trip on my new GPS app on my iphone.  I recently downloaded the TomTom app and so far it has worked really well.

A couple of weeks ago when we went riding, my brother broke his pedal off his bike.  He was kick starting it and it snapped right off.  Luckly his father in law was able to help him weld it back on.  Here is he is installing his pedal before our ride.



 Right by the entrace to American Fork canyon we looked off to our left and we saw a Ram and some other mountain Sheep.  I tried to snap a picture real fast as it was starting to run away.  It was pretty cool to see so close to the city.

Hopefully in the next couple of years I will get a truck.  But for now this is how we carry the bikes around.  Luckily the bikes and the trailer aren't that heavy.  Hopefully it isn't hurting the transmission too bad.

When we were unloading and getting the bikes ready, a guy pulled up and got his 4-wheeler out.  He came over to us and was talking to us for a minute.  He asked where we were headed and asked if he might tag along for awhile.  We agreed and he ended up riding with us all day.

We started up the trail about 8:45 and it was really cold.  I guess it is October.  We just kept hoping the sun would come up soon.  The trail also was pretty rocky.  Some parts were smooth and enjoyable but a large portion were just rocks. 

The route from Tibble Fork to Mineral Basin on the GPS said it was 9 miles.  The first 4 miles or so are somewhat rocky.  Also it was freezing cold so we did have to stop a few times.  When we got within 2.5 miles from Mineral Basin we came to this.  Huge rocks.  We probably could have made it but I really wasn't in the mood.  So we decided to head back and go the direction it was pointing to Midway.

Going towards Midway was a great idea.  This section of the trail from here to Pole Line pass was incredible.  It was really smooth with some great hills and curves.  We went up it pretty fast.

We didn't quite make it to Midway as we had to get back.  But it was a fun ride.  By the time we got back to the car our hands were hurting really bad because of all the rocks.  It was a fun ride though.  I'm glad we got to go.  I think in all we did about 30 miles.