*Ride Report* Colorado 2009.

[rocker59]

June 22

I'm sitting in suburban Denver today waiting for the MGNOC rally in Salida to begin, so I thought I'd take a little time to get started with the ride report!

I found out that the Colorado BMW Club's annual "Colorado Classic 1000" would be the weekend before, and that my friend Andrew wanted to ride it, so we decided to plan a trip that would include both the CC1000 and the MGNOC National!

Since the CC1000 was on Saturday, the 20th, we decided to head up to the Denver area on Thursday to allow some time to acclimate and rest before the big ride. I met Andrew at his house on Thursday morning early. 0445 early and we headed for Denver. With the destination being the main consideration on this leg of the trip, slabbing it was the solution. US-412, I-35, I-135, and I-70 would get us there quickly... Quickly was a consideration because it was supposed to be 100 degrees in central Kansas on Thursday and neither of us were looking forward to that!


Day One:

Thursday, 18 June.

The first (and quite uneventful) photo of the trip came and went at the first fuel stop. The travel plaza on the Cimarron Turnpike:

Rolling down the highway:

I'm glad we were running early, because our second fuel stop, which was in McPherson, Kansas, was at 1100 and it was already about 90-degrees!!! Third fuel stop came at Wakeeney, Kansas and it had already started to cool down a bit. Mid-80s. Fuel and a quick SUBWAY sandwich, then we were back on the road... By the time we made our fourth fuel stop at Stratton, Colorado, the temp was really nice!

Here's the obligatory state line photo with the Rally Baton:

Be careful if ever you pull off for a photo here at Kanorado. Andrew found out the hard way that there are soft spots in the gravel. Originally he had parked next to me, but his R11RS decided to take a nap on the gravel... He moved it up to the concrete after we got it back up on its wheels, so his bike didn't make the photo...

Our destination was a suburb of Denver, called Parker, that sits on the southeastern side of the Denver metro. Knowing we'd be rolling into Denver around 5pm, we decided to cut off some of the I-70 route and run CO-86. This is a great two-lane highway that runs from exit-352 just west of Limon to Castle Rock at the intersection of I-25. Here are a couple of pix from that section of road. Beautiful High Plains!:

You can't really see it in the photo, but topping this hill gave us our first view of the Rockies. Pikes Peak is visible just above where the road meets the horizon:

We arrived in Parker, at a friend's house, 13 hours and 800 miles after hitting the road, and were greeted with this type of view from the balcony!

Map of day one

Stay tuned... More to come...

 

[rocker59]

Day Two.

Friday, 19 June.

We awoke and were dicussing things to do... The one obvious one is stopping by the local Guzzi and BMW shops. We considered that, but really wanted to see some twisties after spending a long day on the prairie. I threw out "Pikes Peak" and Andrew said "let's do it!"...

Sometime around 10am we headed South towards Colorado Springs taking a nice local road from Parker to Castle Rock, then slabbing it down I-25... Man! I-25 could sure use another lane, or two, on most of the route between Denver and Colorado Springs... Traffic was heavy and was usually travelling 5 to 10 mph below the posted limit!!! I suppose that Fridays in June are just tough days for traffic in this area, what with travellers and locals alike trying to escape Denver for more pleasant surrounds...

We skirted around Colorado Springs on local streets, then headed West on US-24 to Pikes Peak Highway. The road up Pikes Peak is a toll road. $10, but well worth it!!! The road is about 19 miles long, about half of it currently paved... The rest is scheduled to be paved by next year. It's a really beautiful ride up. There are lakes and picnic areas along the way... Seems like it would be a nice place to do some hiking...

Unsure of the weather conditions, and the condition of the road, we rode straight to the summit, saving photos for the return trip....

Yep, I lugged the baton up to the summit! Has anyone had it higher than 14,110 feet? 8)

And caught a glimpse of the railway that runs up from Manitou Springs. "Manitou and Pikes Peak Railway".

Parked at the top.

Heading back down the hill:

Back on pavement!

a random internet photo of this area of the highway:

After running this road, I gained a lot more respect for the folks who compete in the annual Pikes Peak International Hillclimb each year !!! If you suffer from vertigo, or are uncommonly afraid of heights, you may feel a little woozy during the top 1/3 of this ride !!!

Upon decending back down the mountain, we retraced our route back up to Parker. At about 6pm, we rode over to Lakewood to check in at the Holiday Inn HQ for the Colorado Classic. We recieved our rider packets and met a few riders, then back to a taco party with our gracious host!!!

map to Pikes Peak

stay tuned. Colorado Classic is next!

 

[rocker59]

Day Three.

Saturday, 20 June.

The Colorado Classic.

Well, the reason Andrew and I showed up for the MGNOC National a week early was to take a crack at The Colorado Classic. It's a 1000 mile/24 hour group ride put on by the Colorado BMW Club that qualifies the participants for an IBA SaddleSore1000 award. This would be Andrew's first attempt at a SaddleSore1000 and it would be my first IBA ride on the LeMans Nero Corsa.

The alarm sounded at 0300 Saturday morning and we quickly got into our riding gear, then rode the 30 miles across the metro to Lakewood and Rally HQ. We arrived just after 0400 and lined up at the start line.

As would be expected, there were many BMWs. One other Guzzi! BigTex showed up on his new Stelvio! There were also some F650 singles, Yamaha FJRs and a few Goldwings... Along with one d00d on a bobbed HD Softail...

The riders meeting was held at 0445

Departure was at 0500. All sixty entrants left the hotel after each handed the rally staff his "start card" at the starting gate. Eric Levy, the rallymaster picked a really great route for this ride that included many of the big passes that people talk about riding. I'd ridden a few of them before, but many were new to me! Our route had us leaving Denver metro heading South on US-285 to Fairplay over 10,001 foot Kenosha Pass and 9,993 foot Red Hill Pass. Then north on CO-9 to Breckenridge over 11,541 foot Hoosier Pass. From Breck, we grabbed US-6 and ran 11,992 Loveland Pass to catch I-70 to Empire. Then West on US-40 of 11,315 Berthoud Pass to Winter Park and our first fuel stop...

Wow, what a ride!!! We were maintaining a pretty nice "sport-touring pace", so I didn't snap many photos.

Loveland:

From Winter Park, we continued on US-40 past Granby and Kremmling, then headed West on CO-134 over 9,527 foot Gore pass.

Near Toponas, we rode South on CO-131 to Wolcott

...and our second short hop on I-70 East and then took US-24 southward over 10,424 foot Tennessee Pass (a famous railroading pass) to our second fuel stop in Leadville. Man! It was cold in Leadville! Andrew and I decided to grabs some coffee and take a break after refueling here. We needed it!

From Leadville, we headed South a bit, then turned West on CO-82 towards Aspen and a crossing of famous12,095 foot Independence Pass! It was here that I had to don rain gear for the first time of the day. It rained on us and got pretty cool on the eastern side of the mountain. Things changed rapidly, though, and by the time we were down in Aspen, I was burning up hot! We stopped for another gear change at Carbondale where we were to head South on CO-133. Shedding the rain gear and a layer had me feeling better. So did a liter of water! It was amazing how quickly the temps and weather changed on this trip!

Southward on CO-133 over 8,755 McClure Pass and to our first "mandatory fuel stop" at Hotchkiss, 480 miles into the day's ride...

Click HERE for a map of the route from Lakewood to Leadville.

Click HERE to see a map of the route from Leadville to Hotchkiss.

The first half of our trip had been quite an adventure, but there were still more than 500 miles to go!

Stay tuned...

 

[rocker59]

second half of the Colorado Classic:

From our mandatory fuel stop in Hotchkiss, the rallymaster routed us over CO-92. It's a beautiful road that winds its way along the northern side of Black Canyon of the Gunnison. The road was wet from a rain shower, but man!, what a road!

...and plenty to see:

Soon, we turned onto US-50 and headed east a bit...

...before turning South on CO-149 towards Lake City!!! This is a great road, and a must-do when travelling in this area... At Lake City, we stopped for a break and to put our rain gear back on. This time it was mainly for warmth, as we were about to cross 11,361 foot Slumgullion Pass and 10,901 Spring Creek pass before decending through the high country past Creede and Wagon Wheel Gap.

Of note: one of the two bikes in front of me is the HD Softail custom pictured at the start! That guy could really ride. He didn't hold us up at all, as you might see judging from the speedometer's needle on my Nero Corsa!!! He went on to complete the ride with no lights only about 15 minutes behind Andrew and me!!!

At South Fork, we headed East on US-160 toward Pagosa Springs over 10,850 Wolf Creek Pass. We were lucky, it had just rained on the pass, but the clouds had moved away by the time we got there. The roads were a little wet and slick, but we were glad it wasn't raining. Or worse!

At Pagosa Springs the route carried us South on US-84, then East on US-64 towards Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico and our second mandatory fuel stop... By this time it was around 8pm and I was concerned that we would find the gas station closed there... Heading South from Chama, my fears were realized when I started noticing rally entrants passing us going North. Something wasn't right. I figured the stations were closed, but continued the 15 miles South of Chama to see for sure... Well, my fears were correct. Both stations were closed. One was out of business. One was just closed for the evening... Great !?!?!? I grabbed my cell phone and luckily had service... A call to the rallymaster confirmed that the fuel stop had been moved to Chama (15 miles North) and we were to get our required reciept there...

No problem, really, but it could have been. I had stretched the fuel stop on the last tankfull and we had stopped at South Fork for fuel... Had I refuelled earlier at Creede, I'd be at risk of running out... Not a good place to run out of gas on a Saturday night... It was just a reminder of why I think large fuel tanks and/or fuel cells are a good thing when riding at night in the boondocks!!!

Andrew and I ran back up to Chama and fuelled, along with a large group of ride participants...

It's now pitch black outside and we're only 2/3 done with the ride... We have to run Brazos Summit on US-64 in the dark. It had rained earlier, so the road was wet, too... On this 30 mile stretch of highway we saw only one other vehicle... It's a very lonely road!!! But, it's a nice one to ride in the daylight... Here's a couple of pics from a previous trip over this road:

At Tres Piedras, the route carried us North on US-285. It was dark and cold by now and I was glad I'd added another layer and my winter gloves at Chama! US-285 is a pretty monotonous road. Straight as an arrow! This was actually a good thing, though, at 10pm after 17 hours on the road!

After crossing the border back into Colorado, Andrew and I stopped for fuel at La Jara. It was getting late and we were getting tired... This was Andrew's first ride of this type... He's actually doing great, considering he's only been riding 1.5 years and the R11RS is his first bike!

I can see Andrew fading, but I can also see the end of the ride nearing, so I urge him to push on. At Saguache the route turns West onto CO-114. I see the sign telling me that Gunnison is 70 miles distant... I roll on the throttle and Andrew follows. I knew what he'd be thinking when he saw the remaining distance. Later, he told me I was right... He was cursing me in his helmet. He was also cursing the ride. We were 900 miles into this and it was a constant struggle between the cold, the wet, the tired, and the desire to have a successful finish on this ride!!!

Well the rallymaster had quite a little surprise for us... I hadn't been on CO-114, but I'd seen it on the map... What the map doesn't really show is how the road tightens and steepens the farther it goes!!! It was on this road that we crossed the last big pass of the ride, 10,149 foot North Cochetopa Pass. By the time we got to the last 8 miles of the road, we were riding 35-40 mph and stuggling with the tight curves in the total black of the Gunnison National Forest at night, but we pressed on... Thankfully, as the road decended, the temperatures began to rise back above 40-degrees and I was able to keep the fog off my windscreen... Riding the past 30 or 40 miles with my windscreen up, or partially up, was really cold!!!

Soon enough, US-50 appeared out of nowhere in the darkness... I let out a whoop! 8-miles to Gunnison, then 27-miles North into Crested Butte and we were done!!! I didn't even mind the cold rain the last few miles into Crested Butte because the end was so near...

We finished just before 0200 Sunday morning... Just short of 22 hours on the road to comlete the approximately 1027 mile route!!!

Click this LINK for a map of the second half of the ride.

We were happy to see Eric, the rallymaster, in the parking lot of the Old Town Inn under an easy-up to keep him dry as the riders rolled in. He checked our odometers and our gas reciepts, then awarded us our finishers trophies!!!

Andrew and I sat in the lobby of the hotel and watched two groups of other riders roll in... Then started talking about a place to stay... After a few minutes of negotiation, we were able to secure a room that had cancelled and get a late check out of 1pm. Nice, considering check-in was 3am !!!

The next morning, I visited with a few participants downstairs while Andrew was catching up on his sleep... Fun bunch of people!

The Rally baton rode with me, the whole way, in my H+B topcase!

OK... I'm 5'-10" and have my boots on. Eric, the rallymaster, is TALL !!! LOL!!!

About noon, Sunday 21 June, Andrew and I head back towards Denver. We take US-50 over to Salida and survey the fairgrounds, then grab a burger at the Windmill restaurant... From Salida, we take US-285 back to Denver (along with everyone else who's returning there from a weekend in the mountains).

It was on this leg of the trip that my Nero Corsa returned its best fuel economy EVER! 48.5 mpg in the 170 miles from Crested Butte to Jefferson!!! Much better than the all time worst fuel economy of 31 mpg I recorded between McPherson and Wakeeney, Kansas a few days earlier!!!

Andrew and I were both pretty beat up from the ride, so today (Monday 22 June) has been a "rest day" just hanging out here in Parker...

Tomorrow is another day, though, so check back in for more!!!

 

[rocker59]

Day Six.

Tuesday, 23 June.

Today was a fun day! Turns out Brent, a BMW rider we met at the Colorado Classic, lives only a couple blocks from where we've been staying in Parker. He stopped by about 11am and we rode to Denver for lunch at one of his favourite spots...

After a bite to eat, we headed down to Erico Motorsports, the local Triumph/Ducati/Moto Guzzi/Bimota/Vespa dealer.

cool shop. lots of vintage bikes:

including a nice V7 Sport the owner will supposedly be riding to the rally in Salida:

Brent and Andrew:

Tesi

DB7

Desmosedici

Andi Hauser, one of the motorcycle salespeople. I met Justin and Jeremiah, too. Great staff at this shop:

Then, it was off to Mount Evans! Though, we were delayed a few minutes by an afternoon thunderstorm on I-70 a few miles east of Georgetown. After the lightning moved on, so did we... Upward into the mountains where the 90-degree Denver weather quickly gave way to something a little more winter-like!!!

As you can see from the dark sky in a couple of the photos, it was storming down in Denver... We decided to take some local roads southwest around town to skirt the storm and came upon a bunch of elk:

All in all, a nice 180 mile afternoon ride thanks to our tourguide and new friend, Brent!

 

[rocker59]

Day Seven.

24 June 2009.

Parker to Salida and the MGNOC Rally.

I headed down to Salida about 11am Wednesday. Andrew decided to ride about halfway, then turn back to Parker to spend another evening with his friends, our hosts for the first part of the trip. We decided to explore a nice, curvy route. From Sedalia, Colorado we took CO-67 South to Woodland Park.

It's a wonderful little road with only about 3.5 miles of gravel halfway between Sedalia and Deckers.

Fun! Fun!

Andrew is enjoying the ride.

The South half of the route runs alongside the South Platte River. Beautiful!

Click this LINK for a map of CO-67.

At Woodland Park, Andrew and I parted ways. He Stopped for lunch, then returned up to Parker. I headed West on US-24 for a lunch stop at Hartsel. It was a beautiful ride!

Buffalo near Hartsel.

My lunch stop! H.O.B. Cafe and Saloon. Good food!

Cool old gas station in Hartsel.

Then onwards toward Salida.

Arrival at the rally site in Salida!

Click this LINK for a map from Woodland Park to Salida.

Stay tuned...

 

[rocker59]

Well, Wednesday Night I set up camp with a few other early arrivals... Not much going on, but I made the rounds and met some folks I've only known from the internet... It was a little cool Wednesday Night, but the weather was great!

Thursday 25 June, lots more people began rolling into the fairgrounds. Andrew set up camp next to me, as well as some nice folks from Missouri...

Thursday afternoon/evening was the big test for my new TNF Rock 32 tent. We had an afternoon storm blow through that really took its toll on the campground. Several tents were blown down. I'd imagine winds were in the 40mph to 50mph range at times. The storm lasted more than an hour... You can see the storm looming in this photo...

Friday 26 June. Demo Day!!!

Andrew and I got around Friday morning and decided to hang out at the demo truck in order to get on the first demo ride at 9am... We both chose to ride the new V7 Classic to see what this little bike is all about! The early rides were to be about 60 miles with a break halfway. The route was Poncha Springs to Sargents, over Monarch Pass, then back to the fairgrounds near Poncha Springs...

Randy Teft, the Piaggo guys and Andrew getting ready for the ride...

The odometer on my trusty V7C... Must be my lucky day, huh?

So, after a quick stop at the gas station near the fairgrounds,

...we headed up over Monarch Pass. Click this LINK for a map of our route.

Initially, I was underwhelmed with the V7C, but I soon learned that riding like I was used to riding a big block Guzzi was not "the way". Once we began climbing the east side of Monarch, I realized that the bike likes to rev. Running up Monarch, following two very rapid riders on a Norge and a Stelvio, I realized that 5k to 7k rpm was where I needed to be.... 3rd and 4th gears and judicious use of the throttle allowed me to hang with the big bikes over the pass. The little V7C was such a hoot to ride! I don't know when I've had so much fun on a motorcycle! It felt a lot like a vintage Bonneville, but with a much stiffer chassis and a much better set of brakes...

Posing on the V7C at Sargents. It's definitely on my "want list" now...

At Sargents I switched with one of the Piaggio reps and hopped on the Norge. Quite a change from the V7C. It gave me the impression that it would make a great touring mount. Smooth, torquey. A great ride. The Norge felt a lot bigger/heavier than my Nero Corsa, but very solid. If I was picking a Guzzi to knock out big miles, this would be my choice.... This bike left me feeling like Guzzi has a really nice selection of bikes in the current lineup...

Upon returning to the rally, we bumped into Tom. A true Guzzi enthusiast! He travels from Hawaii to attend many Stateside rallies... It was good to finally meet you, Tom!

We had spoken with AlanP about going for an afternoon ride, but the usual afternoon rain storm blew through around noon.

and sent a bunch of folks into the community building for an hour, or so...

...where we got to meet the rallymaster, Jack Lundberg and some of the other Colorado MGNOC members.

Soon enough the rain let up, so I tracked down Andrew and Alan so we could take off on a little ride... I wanted to re-ride CO-114 in the daylight after having endured it during the Colorado Classic the previous Saturday... The western half of CO-114 is a great ride!

Here's a MAP LINK to CO-114.

Leaving the rain behind... Temporarily...

After running down US-285 over Poncha Pass, to Saguache, then on CO-114 up North Cochetopa Pass, we caught back up to the rain and had to don our rain gear...

...but the rain only lasted a few miles, then we were able to really enjoy the run down the canyon to US-50. Great little piece of pavement!!! If you like curvy roads, the section of CO-114 between US-50 and North Cochetopa Pass is a "must ride"!... Once down to US-50, we headed East for another run over Monarch Pass... A really great section of highway that I didn't ever tire of riding during this trip!

Second leg MAP LINK.

It was a nice little 150-mile loop that put us back at the rally in time for dinner!

Manitou Mike enjoying his buffalo burger:

dinner was courtesy of The Country Bounty;

A couple of really nice Guzzis on display in the RV parking area:

Andrew enjoying an after dinner adult beverage back down in tent city:

A couple of our neighbors. We were camped in their "town"...

The Guzzi flag flying high over tent city:

I decided to wander around the grounds and check out a few bikes:

Double take;

with the demo fleet:

Look what I found! A blue '96 model Sport 1100... Rare as hens' teeth, I tell ya:

After dark, one of the attendees started a bonfire... I thought it was a bit windy for a bonfire, but I guess the recent rains made it OK...

Greg Field and Nolan Woodbury showed up at the bonfire:

After a little while at the bonfire, I headed back to my tent to get a good night's rest. It was a little cool, maybe 50 degrees, but a nice night nonetheless...


Saturday 27 June.

About 0730, we enjoyed a nice breakfast at the community building.

Then thought about where to ride today... Alan stopped by at breakfast and invited us to ride up to Independence Pass, but we weren't quite ready to go... Manitou Mike was putting a ride together for Bishops Castle, but we decided to strike out on our own and ride a little dirt...

Our day would consist of riding Cottonwood Pass and Kebler Pass, then CO-92 and US-50 back to the rally site...

The run up Cottonwood from Buena Vista is paved... And very scenic.

Photo op at the pass.

Looking West towards Crested Butte:

Heading down the dirt on the Western side of the pass. It was smooth and packed and easily ridden on a streetbike.

Taylor Lake.

From Taylor Lake the road is paved down the canyon to Almont, just South of Crested Butte. Great ride!!!

Here's a MAP LINK of the route from Buena Vista to Almont.

A quick run up to Crested Butte and a little water break before running Kebler. A quick tour of this cool little mountain town, then it's back up into the hills for another photo op at Kebler Pass!

Preparing to run lots of gravel down to CO-133.

It's actually a real nice road, although really long!!! Lots of Aspen trees on the Western side of the pass that are said to be very beautiful in the fall... But beauty abounds this time of year, too:

MAP LINK for Kebler Pass Road...

Fun but tiring, we were both glad to see the pavement of CO-133. We rode South to Hotchkiss for fuel, passing the interesting little coal mining town of Somerset. Wow! We'd already travelled about 150 miles from the rally site when we stopped for fuel in Hotchkiss... One of the reasons for running this far was to take another ride on CO-92!!! Man, what a great road!!! It was dry this time, and I really decided to put the spurs to the Nero Corsa, so I didn't take any photos... Trust me though, it's a great road!!!

The only photo is one I stopped to take of Andrew not far from the Junction with US-50.

MAP LINK of CO-92.

Then it was back to the rally on US-50... Not a bad ride, and we got to run Monarch yet again!!!

MAP LINK for US-50 back to the rally.

We had intended to run Marshall Pass on the way home, but it was getting late and we wanted to be back in time for the spaghetti dinner being put on by the local Sons of Italy group! Turns out, at dinner I talked to a rider who had attempted Marshall, but had turned back because of mud from the recent rains... Good call on our part. Andrew and I got back to the rally about 430. Just enough time to shower and change clothes before dinner and the awards ceremony!

Sorry, I was so hungry that I forgot to take pics of the great spaghetti dinner!!! Man, it was good, though!!!

Rallymaster Jack presided over the awards.

I passed the rally baton to Greg Field of Moto International in Seattle at the awards ceremony:

After the festivities, it was back to tent city for the last night in Colorado... Beautiful night... I slept well after the 300 mile multi-pass trip Andrew and I had ridden earlier and with a belly full of some great Italian cooking...



Sunday 28 June...

The return home...

Andrew and I broke camp around 0600 and loaded our bikes. We stopped by the communtiy building for some coffee before hitting the road towards home... Then we headed down US-50 for Turkey Creek where we decided to refuel... For the second time this trip, we arrived at a fuel stop only to find no fuel available!!! We had to ride back West 7 miles to Cotopaxi to top off our tanks... US-50 East of Salida is quite beautiful!

By this time, there were a few Guzzis heading East towards home... We passed a few of them before turning onto CO-69 and the last curvy road of our ride...

The Sangre de Cristos are quite beautiful in the morning sun.

A MAP LINK of our intended route. Great road! Unfortunately, I missed a turn at Westcliffe and we continued on CO-96 to Pueblo instead of CO-69 to Walsenburg... That was OK, though, because we discovered a great canyon between the CO-165 junction and Wetmore!!! Man what a treat on my Nero Corsa!!!

Soon enough, though all that we could see ahead looked mostly like this:

and the mountains were quickly fading in our rearview mirrors.

MAP LINK of CO-69 from Westcliffe to Pueblo...

After the "scenic route" through downtown Pueblo, we hopped on I-25 and headed South for our first fuel stop at Trinidad, Colorado...

From Trinidad, it was over Raton Pass and an unexpected rendevous with the Southwest Chief!

At Raton, our route took us East/South on US-64/US-87 through Clayton...

...and on to our second fuel stop at Dalhart, Texas where it was now getting quite warm! Mid-80s. Quite a change from our start in Salida with the temp hovering around 50 degrees! We shed a layer and our jacket liners, then grabbed a quick bite to eat... Then Southward on US-285 from Dumas to Amarillo...

Wind turbines near Dumas.

Finally!!! I-40 Eastbound... Halfway home!!!

The leaning water tank at Groom, Texas.

Another fuel stop near Shamrock, Texas... Sunset comes in Western Oklahoma...

The temperature in Oklahoma was around 90 degrees before the sun faded... Andrew and I both were glad to feel the cooler evening air of central Oklahoma... Fuel stops in Oklahoma City and Sallisaw... Then onward into the Ozarks and home!

The Bobby Hopper tunnel on I-540 feels like the gateway to home.

We arrived in Fayetteville around 11pm... About 15 hours on the road and about 930 miles travelled for the day...

MAP LINK to our route home.

I didn't note my starting mileage, but we covered something close to 4,000 miles in the 11 days we were on the road!

All in all, a great summer vacation! I can't wait to do it again!!!

 

[GTM®]

Mike, ROCKIN' write up/photo post!!! Thanks a ton! Now I'm really bummed I wasn't able to go.

I'm going to try and update the Relay Map here in a few, but I'll likely need your help in adjusting it. I'll post again under the Relay thread, or ping you direct if I think I have it done.

 

[Mike.C]

What a great read - lots of different country you rode through.

and the best one is the fury neighbours at the camp ground - cute!

 

[RJVB]

Great write-up, I need to come back with time on my hand.

Somehow I always have issues when there are too many pics (they don't load all) — but they're here I think

 

[Lupo]

Rocker59,
Your essay does rock. Three thumbs up (and I only got two hands). Thanks for putting it down so well.

 

[Cat City Rider]

Lupo wrote:

Rocker59,
Your essay does rock. Three thumbs up (and I only got two hands). Thanks for putting it down so well.

Err...Whats with that "other thumb" in your hand?

 

[RJVB]

Err, Brian, where exactly in Paris did you have that dinner yesterday evening? :silly:

rocker, I'm curious as to how you use your camera while riding... obviously hand-held, but how does one operate a (tiny) digicompact designed for right-hand use with the left hand? What model is it? Where is it when you're not shooting, on a leash around your neck or something?

 

[rocker59]

RJVB wrote:

Err, Brian, where exactly in Paris did you have that dinner yesterday evening? :silly:

rocker, I'm curious as to how you use your camera while riding... obviously hand-held, but how does one operate a (tiny) digicompact designed for right-hand use with the left hand? What model is it? Where is it when you're not shooting, on a leash around your neck or something?

Nikon 7900 that I got back in 2005. I carry it in a Lowepro bag attached to the belt on my jacket as seen here:

I use a lanyard. It's actually a Fuji Film ID badge strap that I attach to the wrist strap on the camera. You can see it here:

As far as using it on the bike, I've had the camera a long time... It's a little unweildy trying to turn it on and off sometimes, but it's not too tough... Maybe it helps being ambidextrous, I don't know... I've never really thought about it being tough...

I'm thinking of switching to a retractable reel for the camera. My lanyard is too short for some shots and it flaps in the wind sometimes... I've seen another rider using the retractable reel and it seems like a good idea. You see people using them for keychains sometimes... Maybe for the next big trip...

 

[Cat City Rider]

RJVB wrote:

Err, Brian, where exactly in Paris did you have that dinner yesterday evening? :silly:

At the worlds worst copy of a New York Deli. I have finally discovered bad food in Paris. I wish I new where, but I was driven there at night. It was in a very old part of Paris, narrow streets (quite nice actualy) and lots of both young people and orthodox Jews in black hats and long coats on a hot night (it was Friday night after all) all in all, kind of a happining place. However...The dryest pastraimi sandwich I ever had, good fries, bad cold slaw, but good Corona beer. My wife could only eat half of a smoked fish plate as it was too salty and quite differant form the expected.
Some of the family try to keep Kosher. I suppose it's tough to keep us gentiles happy, but I love the multi national mix that the wife brings to my life. :silly: :unsure:

 

[RJVB]

That must have been the Marais, but somebody must have had a special form of SM to want to drive there!! So, I understand you were in the mood for a little perverse joke ... after spending an evening among people showing their lingerie (even if ritual) :silly:

And the next time, suggest Chez Marianne to them. That place is *really* nice, kosher, and a nice mix of metze-like (Lebanese) and Ashkenazi food.

Rocker: so that's what the strap I noticed is for, could have figured that out. Guess the Lowepro has a flap that keeps the camera in, apart from a zip to make it waterproof? The design of your Nikon is similar to my Powershot A-series, guess I should try to use it with a gloved left hand!

 

[Cat City Rider]

I would love a good couscous but it's just so darned hot. If it wasn't for the heat I would have a good choucroute just to piss off half the famiy.:laugh: :laugh:

 

[RJVB]

FOr a very good couscous or tajine, go to Chez Hamadi, rue Boutebrie, across the Blv. St. Germain from the Termes de Cluny. That's cuisine from North-Africa, so the heat is appropriate
Order a couscous osbane if you're feeling adventurour — if you have sephardic family, they'll explain what osbana is to you

 

[fxb750]

Great report. Thanks for posting.