"Life is the great adventure ride. Twist the throttle hard."

August 13

All day we rode across Wyoming.  The weather was perfect, and we all enjoyed the day.  We had expected the day to drag on, but the scenery was great, lots of wild life and road kill to see, and a great sunset. 

At sunset the boys stopped at sunset to take a special picture for their mom.  I promised not to post it, so you’ll have to come over to the house to see it when we get back.  The moon rose as the sun went down.  After dark, we stopped at a very small town, and checked into a hotel that looked straight out of a B horror movie.  Memorable.

August 14

We crossed the boarder into Colorado.  We dodged rain storms all day, and the radar weather app once again was very helpful.  We stopped at Independence Rock again, and climbed to the top just like thousands of west-bound travelers have done for thousands of years. 

Here’s one for Emily:

To get around a storm, we took a less-traveled route through northern Colorado.  From Craig CO we took the 64 west to the 139 south.  These 150 miles of riding was the best motorcycle riding of the trip, and some of the best I’ve ever seen.

Sam having a good time:

Along the way, we took a break at at a reservoir and checked out the dam. 

Tonight as we got to the hotel in Green River Utah, it started raining as the sun went down, creating a perfect rainbow.

August 16 – We got on the I-70 today. The I-70 is one of the most spectacular inter-state highways in the USA, and a must-see for everyone.  It passes through southern Utah, and then connects with the I15, which takes us down to Las Vegas. 

 I’m getting quite good at taking pictures while doing 80mph.  Here’s a couple of the boys taken in Utah where they don’t have helmet laws. At least one of them kept their helmet on.

We turned southbound down the 15, and got into Saint George for dinner. It was 110 and Chris’s bike was acting up in town becuase of the heat, so we decided to wait till sunset to leave, so the air would be cooler.  We had a drink with my good friend and old boss Joe Banos.

The I15 out of Saint George is also beautiful.  The boys enjoyed it, and I had a hard time keeping up becuase I have 170lbs of stuff on my bike, and the box with the musket is not very aerodynamic.  50% of the time, this is my view of the guys.

The night-ride into Vegas is one of my all-time favorite.  The desert is warm, wind calm, little traffic, and stars in the sky.  Its one of the few times I turn on music.  When we got into Las Vegas, we decided to ride down the strip to the hotel.  Little did I know, it is VERY busy this time of year in Vegas, and the traffic was stop-and-crawl, and the air 105 degrees.

I don’t have a picture of the next activity, but you’ll have to visualize this one for yourself…  We’re riding very slowly down the Las Vegas strip to get to our hotel.  Traffic is jammed, and we’re only moving one block every 5 minutes.  Its 105 degrees out.   Then, Chris’s bike over-heats and dies.  It isn’t going anywhere, and a hundred cars are backed up behind us.  Horns honking; tourists laughing.  I realize he’s stuck, so I park my bike on the pedestian-packed sidewalk and run back to him.  I begin pushing his dead Harley down Las Vegas Blvd while Chris steers through traffic. We do this for a couple hundred yards till we get to Ceasar’s Forum where we can pull off the road.  All safe. 

{Insert picture of exhaused dad}

That was one of those priceless moments that only air-cooled Harley riders appreciate.  Had we been on a Honda, we’d have missed this father-son moment that we’ll cherish forever. 

The next morning, we rode out to Las Vegas Extream Sky Diving at the Jean Airport and all three of us did a tandem sky-dive. Las Vegas Extream is an outfit Andy P. recommended we try.  They were great and we all had a good time doing our first sky dive.  It was from 15,000 feet and we all got to jump together.   Sam went out the door first and Chris second, so I got to see both go all the way down.  Cool.  In fact, we all were suprised how easy it is.  The roller-coasters at Cedar Point were much scarier. 

After another afternoon nap, we hit the strip on foot.  The boys were like a kid in a candy store. 

Somehow they think they’ll get 5 lbs of M&M candy acrosss the 110 degree desert tomorrow as we go back to San Diego. 
I let them run loose in the arcades, and I sat down at Diablos and had a margarita.  That was one fine margarita.

Its been a great trip, and thanks for following along with us.  We’re home tomorrow afternoon.