Where do we go from here? Ridin' with Al Terregeaux

This is Al Terregeaux. (You'll see more of him later in the trip.)


Al and I have been on the road for about the last three weeks, starting in Abbeville, SC, on Wednesday, June 19. We're in California now, and the plan -- such as it is -- is to be back home in South Carolina in a couple of weeks.

My plan was to leave home Sunday, June 16. It didn't happen.

After getting all my STDs taken care of, I headed out on the 19th. (STDs = Stuff To Do. What did you think that I meant?)

Beginning odomter. (2006 R1200GS Adventure)


Overpacking is my main hobby, with a little motorcycling thrown in.


I was headed to Las Vegas first to meet my wife and mother-in-law (who flew from SC and FL, respectively) and my brother-in-law and his family (who drove from Bakersfield, CA; the TX B-I-L and his family couldn't make it).

Since I was getting such a late start (LandWife and LandM-i-L flew the same day that I headed out), I super-slabbed it all the way.

I missed a turn in Birmingham that would have taken me up to Memphis and I-40, so I continued on I-20 to Dallas and angled up toward Amarillo to pick up 40 there. The first day was 1,068 hot miles, with the first overnight in a cheap motel (The Wayfarer, I think it was called) in Wichita Falls, TX. I pulled pretty much everything off the bike and slept for a few hours.


I'm keeping total trip mileage on my TRIP II odometer. It only shows xxx.x, but here is the end of day one at 1,068 miles.


That put me at roughly halfway to Vegas. I was aimin' to get there the next night (Thursday, June 20).

I continued on to I-40 and into New Mexico.


I diverted onto a short stretch of old Route 66 in Tucumcari, NM, and shot a couple of pics of some old signs.




On into Arizona.


Somewhere on the road (in Arizona, I'm pretty sure).


The Vegas Strip was hoppin' when I got there.


I ended the second day in Vegas with 2,139 on the trip meter (and1,071 on the day).

I had done a few thousand-mile-plus days before, but that's the only time that I've done two of them back to back.

I unloaded the bike, gave my stuff to a bellhop, and stuck the bike in a dungeon for a few days.


Why Vegas? As I mentioned earlier, LandWife was waiting there.


While the motorcycle rested, we had fun.

Stay tuned,
Chris

I'm happy if I can squeeze out 500miles in a day.Good to hear all made it out well.I take it that the rest of the trip will be of a more relaxed nature.

Ben, thanks for checking in. Yeah, the last couple of weeks since Vegas have been much shorter riding days -- a few hundred miles a day at the most with lots of stopping and taking photos.

I take waaaaay too many photos.

Stay tuned,
Chris

Vegas was a lot of fun. LandWife and I got to hang out with some people that I love a lot and don't get to see enough.

LandWife, her mother, her brother and his wife and our niece and nephews.


Being Uncle Chris.




We had lunch with a college friend who lives in Vegas.


You gotta love the advertising and PSAs in Vegas.


LandWife insisted on taking this.


So I insisted on taking this.


My mother-in-law -- 81 years young -- jumped right up when one of the bartenders asked her to join in a little group dance they did at Carlos and Charlie's.




It was a fun weekend, but I lost to the tune of a $1.45.

The California portion of the family left Monday, LandWife flew out early Tuesday, so mom and I were the last to leave. I loaded our stuff on a luggage cart, took it all downstairs with her, had them call her a taxi for the airport and went to get the bike from the dungeon. I got back before her taxi came and rushed to get my stuff loaded on the bike. Rushed a little too much.

After I said my goodbyes to LandM-i-L and the taxi left to take her to the airport, I hopped on the bike and turned onto the Strip from the hotel. I got out into the tail end of some traffic, went a couple of hundred yards and suddenly, there was a little wiggle from the bike followed by a scraping sound. WTF?!? I looked over my left shoulder and saw my pannier sliding down the Vegas Strip. The guy behind me stopped and stayed in the lane to protect me while I collected, attached and LOCKED ON the bag (this time). It was, at least, the bag with my Moran Nation sticker on it.


So there I was a couple of thousand miles from home with a motorcycle (with correctly attached panniers) and nowhere that I had to be for weeks. And weeks.

Stay tuned,
Chris

So, where do we go from here?

I had an invitation to visit the CA portion of the family that I had just spent a great weekend with in Vegas, and that sounded like a great idea. But it was Tuesday (June 25), and I wanted arrive in Bakersfield for the weekend.

It's a five-hour-or-so trip from Vegas to Bakersfield.

Yeah, I could do that in four days.



I looked for -- and found -- some old signs on Route 66.










I ditched the freeway.








I found an okay spot to hang my hammock at the KOA in Lake Issabella, CA.


It was a week since I'd left home. I got up and about to see what I could see.






I had never ridden CA Highway 2, the fabled Angeles Crest Highway, so I headed that way.

I grabbed a burger and fries "animal style" from an In 'n' Out Burger in Palmdale, CA.


And I headed for the woods.


On the Angeles Forest Highway, on the way to the Angeles Crest Highway (CA 2).


A stop at the legendary Newcomb's Ranch was in order.


Al was a little fuzzy during our stop.


See, I really was there.


I had the Angeles Crest Highway pretty much to myself and had a really, really, really good time.






I camped that night (Wednesday, June 26) at a National Forest campground that was right off the Angeles Crest Highway in the Angeles National Forest. The night was clear, so I didn't use a tarp over my Warbonnet Traveler.


Supper was a Knorr meal cooked over my Steverstove alcohol stove (made by ADVrider's very own ShadyRascal) with my Element woodburning stove as a windbreak.


Breakfast was grits cooked using the same setup.


It was a nice campground. I stayed up way too late hanging out with some college kids, though.


Wednesday, June 26 was done.

Where do we go from here?

Stay tuned,
Chris

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Sweet scenery out there.One day I shall ride west and visit some friends in California.

I'm watching you!!!

PS. I just added a new 2-wheel project to our stable.

wish I was there

I love me some Land Rides

Thread link?



Sorry for the jack Land.

At the risk of sounding like a Nike ad, Ben: Just do it!

Project? s

I wish that you were here, too, Mark. You could buy me lunch.

Chris

Thanks for watching, Mike. Are you keeping all those chickens dry in all that rain? I haven't seen any rain in nearly three weeks!

Chris

It'll probably be a little while before I start my project but it has been acquired and I'm in the planning stages now.

Hmm...
New paint, wheels & tires, new vinyl...

I slept in a little on Thursday, June 27, then got up and cooked some grits.

I packed up, said some goodbyes and headed back out onto the Angeles Crest Highway.

When I cruised back past Newcomb's Ranch, it was a little early for lunch. I got about nine feet past the place, though, and thought, "How long until you have this chance again, bonehead?" So I turned around.

They have a menu just for me.


The Uncle Louis Burger is good.


While I was sitting there, I saw a group of police occifers pull in -- a half dozen of them. After I finished my burger, I went outside and checked out their bikes.




Do you see what I see?














Cool mounts. Note to self: Chino may be a place to be extra vigilant.

Back out on the ACH, I came up behind a couple of guys, and we all turned onto the Upper Big Tujunja Canyon Road.




We headed back up to the Angeles Crest Highway.


At the ACH, I turned right, toward L.A.

You see L.A.?




While I was there playing tourist, the Chino motors rolled by.


I put on my helmet and gave pursuit.


After some directionally challenged riding, I got back on the freeway.


Here's your sign.


The view at night must be spectacular.


I headed over to Universal City and bought some gasoline and a Gatorade. While I was standing in front of the store re-hydrating, a guy pulled up in an Isuzu Rodeo. It had some age on it, but it was clean and straight. The burnt-oil smell wasn't good, though. He apparently didn't think so, either, because he got out of the truck, walked out to the street and walked away.

I rode away. To the famous -- and infamous -- Mulholland Drive.


See, I really was there.


Some USMC whirlybirds flew over.




I rode Mulholland Drive up to where it turns to dirt -- Dirt Mulholland, as it's called.




I headed back down to the 405 freeway and took Sunset Drive to the coast.




I ended up in a motel in Santa Monica that night. Not such a bad thing, since I really needed a shower.

Where do we go from here?

Stay tuned,
Chris

Friday morning. Where to go? I planned to be in bakersfield at my niece's house that afternoon/evening.

The Mulholland Highway. The Snake. The Rock Store. It was gonna be a good day.

The Mulholland Highway was pretty quiet.

There were two other bikes at the pull-off at the (in)famous Snake curve.

Here comes another.






There goes one.




I headed back down to the Rock Store.

It was kind of quiet there, but there was some cool stuff to look at.














I watched "CHiPs" as a kid, so I have a soft spot for the Kawi KZ1000.






After lunch at the Rock Store, I blasted up the hot, hot freeway to Bakersfield for a little family time.

My brother-in-law, Ted.


Angela, Ted's wife and the mother of my nephews. She's cool.


My lovely, sweet, beautiful niece Kristine.


Nephew Jake. Makin' the guacamole.


Kristine's fiance Erik and my nephews Mace (blonde) and Sean.


It was a great visit. And the air-conditioning was niiiiiice.

Stay tuned,
Chris

Did I mention that it had been hot during some of my riding?
Yeah. Really hot. I saw 111 on my thermometer.

I shrunk.



Stay tuned,
Chris

I LOVE i t when you take a trip! you get good pics all across the LAND and tell a good story too. HAVE FUN...NO TICKETS :)

Thanks, kitesurfer. I'm having a lot of fun. Well, except for that long post that I just lost. Hate when that happens.

Stay tuned,
Chris

I wanted to head to the Rock Store again to check out the Sunday scene, but I got a late start because I wanted to hang out with my cool niece and her cool fiance. Plus, it was a really, really hot day. Really hot. And I got there about lunchtime. It wasn't dead, but the day had peaked earlier.

I had a Biker Burger.


I shot a few pics.






After lunch, I headed up to the (in)famous curve on The Snake again to check out the action.

Stay tuned,
Chris

At "the curve."

Al watched.


I shot a few pics.








Paul from RockStorePhotos.com was there shooting.


There was also a woman with a video camera there. Paul said that she was shooting for a "20/20" story inspired by the incident in August when the red SV hit the two motorcyclists. Hmm.

I heard the bicyclist tell her that he had never been there before.




I wanted to head to the coast, so I did.

Stay tuned,
Chris