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

If all goes as planned, we’ll be heading out early morning July 5th.

The bikes are packed, and we both seem to have plenty of room to carry a week’s worth of cloths, camping gear, misc bike supplies, rain gear, and various electronic gadgets.Â

On July 4th, the San Diego North County Times ran an article on our America Ride.

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http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/07/04/news/coastal/encinitas/21_53_007_3_07.txt July 5th

Mom took a picture of us before we got on the bike, to see what we looked like before 5 weeks of no shaving…

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The temperatures were supposed to be 110+ across S. California, so we decided to leave late in the day.  We left town around 4:00pm, and got into Temecula at 5:00.  We stopped at the Harley dealer to ask just how hot the bikes should be running.  My engine was 235 and Sam’s 245.  Hot, but they thought considering the air temp, it was not unusal.  We decided to go on.

Going through Banning, the temp was 115, and the winds about 50MPh  (this is the place with all the windmills on the hills).  Bikes ran fine, but our knuckles were white from bucking the wind.

We got into 29 Palms this evening, and had a great rib dinner.  With 120 mile to Laughlin, we planned to continue on for a few more hours to get there around midnight.  As we were getting gas, a local stopped us and asked where we were going.  When he found out we were crossing the desert through Amboy at night, he looked genuinly shocked.  After talking to him for a while, and hearing story after story of lone traveler’s going missing there, we decided to cross tomorrow morning at dawn.

July 6^th

We got up at dawn, and took off across the high desert. It was about 90 when we left, and sunrise was awesome. Our buddy was right, Amboy looked like something out of a B horror movie. We didn’t stop. After Amboy was a huge dry lake bed, right out of the movie “Holes”.  We rolled into Laughlin around 10am, and it was 112 degrees.

The bikes ran hot, but we talked to a number of mechanics and bikers, and the general consensus was: It’s dang hot out.  They are going to run hot, but they were about as expected. Sam’s ran 240-248 and mine was running 235-242 degrees. Seems the DFO I put in helped keep mine cool even with the extra 200lbs. We should have used a synthetic oil, and when we get to Denver, were going to have the oil changed to synthetic.

We took a wrong turn in Laughlin (as well as some other bikers), and had to back-track 20 minutes. Almost 120 the second time through town. Temperatures started dropping when we hit route 66 in Kingman. 100 degrees felt great!

Kids, don’t try to take this photo at home.  It was taken by professionals:

We met a guy Dave who was one month into his ride. He was riding a BMX bike(single-speed bike) from Monterrey California to Virginia. He thinks he is the first person to do this. He left CA with $200 in his pocket and crossed Death Valley in July all alone. Make our trip seem like a run to the corner store.

In northern Arizona, we ran into this huge wash-out. We had to go almost 100 miles to get around it. It was over a mile deep and there were thousands of people gazing into the hole. After 10 hours on the bikes, we decide to stay at the south rim, and had a excellent steak dinner (oops, left my credit card there…)

We did discover the first thing we forgot to bring on this trip.  Sitting on the rim of the Grand Canyon, we realised we really needed one of those balsa-wood rubber-band wind-up airplanes. Dang.

July 7^th

Left the Grand Canyon, and rode through Monument Valley. That is an incredible experience, and riding a bike is the way to see it. It was 90-100 degrees most of the day, so not bad and much easier to take than the first two days. 900 miles down.

After monument valley, it was a ride through the Canyonlands of AZ and Utah. We’re in Cortez Colorado tonight, and for the next few days, we should have good weather and easier riding. Should be in Telluride tomorrow, and Jefferson on Tuesday AM. Probably to Denver on Tuesday night or Wednesday.