2 Texans to Alaska (and back)...

[jglow]

Originally Posted by s boy

Nice -- I only hope you can be as happy with yours while it's taking you to new and beautiful places (or laying on top of you in a ditch) as I am .

Originally Posted by s boy

jordon - a question if you have time... i noticed you were able to reattach your upper OEM exhaust shield after you installed your happy trails rack (right side). i don't have enough clearance to do the same... is yours modded?

Yep, I took the jig-saw to it. Here is a closer look:



I pretty much never ride without the side cases on, so I don't mind the slightly gnawed finish from my hasty cutting .


Jordan

[s boy]

lol... i'm hope'n to keep it off of me.

thanks for the mod info - time to get out the hack saw!

[jglow]

Redding, CA to Ely, NV


Day 31 - June 30, 2010
Mileage Today: 530
Total Trip Mileage: 8,970



We stayed in a motel last night in the town of Redding, CA. It's always a nice thing to find your bike where you left it then next morning (especially with shady folks hanging around).



We are headed East today, with no real planned destinations or distractions along the way - just starting to pound away at the miles. We set out on a route that takes us near the Lassen Volcanic area, and then down towards Reno, NV.



It's not long before we leave the trees behind, and enter Nevada.



We hit Reno and make a quick stop at the REI to do an exchange. See, we bought this air pillow for Nikki before the trip. It packed down to the size of a small pair of socks, and was insulated as well. Everything looked good on paper, but she used it the very first night way back in Kansas and was not very impressed. We (I) decided that she must be using it wrong, so for the next several nights she tried every variation in inflation pressures, pillow position, wrapping it in articles of clothing, but nothing worked. By this time we were into Montana, and had passed all the REI’s that we would encounter until Washington -- She was gonna be stuck with it for a while. Later in the trip when we finally got to Washington there was something that always prevented us from being able to get there. It was either too early, or we were too busy, or we would forget until it came time to go to sleep. Finally in Reno we remember and exchanged the pillow for a standard foam one. A lot of effort considering we only have like 4 days left in the trip.



We headed out of Reno through all of the lunchtime traffic, and soon picked up Hwy 50.



I was pretty nervous about the long stretches of emptiness, mainly due to the chain crunching going on. The chain wasn't that bad, but I felt like I was really just pushing my luck with this issue, and probably should of just stopped and got a new one. If anything went wrong, I just knew that it would be somewhere in the middle of all this desolation, and I would have no one to blame but Nikki . This area just seems so much more empty than anywhere else on our trip, and that may just be due to the harsh conditions and lack of water.

Hwy 50:











We had made it to Fallon, NV by around 3pm or so, but didn't feel like stopping yet. We decided we would try to make it to Ely by night.



We were eating up the miles. Pretty much flat straight roads for miles and miles, with the occasional mountain to cross over every once in a while. And Yes! The V-strom 650 handled all of the flogging we dished out. We maintained an GPS indicated 80mph through here for a hundred miles at a time with no issues.



We made it into Ely, NV in the early evening, found a motel, and walked across the street to the one screen movie theater. We had dinner and movie style date-night, which was a nice end to this 500+ mile day. I think this was probably the highest mileage single day of the trip.



Jordan

[aholecop]

just found this ride report. my wife and i are also planing an Alaska trip this summer great info so THANKs!

[joe_f25]

Wow! What a thread! These pictures are amazing!!!

[BUBB]

What an impressive report

[Wildbill650]

The new Wee is really sweet. I like the white

[orbiker]

Great Ride Report
Thanks; I know how much work it is. I do my reports while traveling, because I won't remember all the details later on.

I noticed in your pictures of Hwy 50 going East that it looks almost the same as going West.


Coast to Coast

Grand Canyon and Beyond

My wife and I are counting down the days before our trip to Alaska. (45 )

P.S. you were very lucky to have DRY DAYS in the Olympic NF, Mt ST Helen's and the Oregon Coast in June. Most of the time; it's FOG.

Safe Travels, KEN

[WNCSte]

I'm a bit late to the party , but thoroughly enjoying your RR.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to share.

[Spartandude]

I have really enjoyed following your ride report. Thank you.

If you two ever get over to Galveston, let me know. The beer will be on me

(maybe I can talk the wife into some of her excellent cooking too).

[Burbs]

What a great trip and ride report!

As for your point about "acting" like old people and getting along with older folks, I couldn't agree with you more. I do realize that kids do put a "snag" in peoples travel plans, and they tend to do their travel years later. I'm reading this report in bed and started laughing out loud when you wrote, that you go to bed early and treat your dog like a human!! We are both in our mid 30's and we are the exact same way! We won't be having kids, so our lives will revolve around touring the world on our bike and spoiling our dog like a child!!

-Chris

[jglow]

Ely, NV to Moab, UT


Day 32 - July 1, 2010
Mileage Today: 440
Total Trip Mileage: 9,410



We slept in a bit this morning, all the while knowing that we needed to get moving. We had a pretty long day yesterday and today promised the same. We hit up the McDonald's on the way out of town and within a mile it's like we are totally alone in the middle of nowhere.

Heading out of Ely, NV:





As you follow Hwy 50 through Nevada, you encounter several mountain passes and forests (believe it or not). I think there were several passes along Hwy 50 where we were over 10,000 ft.




Riding through this place was amazing. I know by just looking at the pics, it seems quite lonely and boring (which it is), but at the same time it's just so amazing to be in such an enormous, foreign terrain.



The lack of trees and other obstructions, as you pass through The Great Basin, really allows you to understand the enormity of this place, and how quickly we disappear into it.

Desert in front, desert behind:



As we pass into Utah




We stopped for gas at the state line gas station. There were 2 other people on motorcycles there as well, they were headed West. They warned us of terrible cross winds ahead , so we braced for the worst as we headed back out.



And we did encounter some winds, and they did whip up one hell of a dust devil...




But at this point in the trip, we had already experienced much greater winds.

We continue to follow our ribbon of asphalt through the desert.




Had to make a quick stop when by homemade/bootleg highway peg vibrated itself loose.



We stopped for lunch.



Soon after lunch, we junctioned with I-70.




When planning the routing for the day, I was pretty bummed about having to ride on the interstate - kinda felt like we would be missing stuff, you know? Well, I was totally wrong, I-70 brings you to and through some pretty spectacular stuff!



But, it's not like you have too many options when choosing a road through this area - unless you are on the TAT





This Interstate did not suck .






And traffic was very light.



We took a break at a scenic turn-out...



And it did not disappoint .











But we still had some more miles to put in today, so we headed back off down I-70.







Eventually, we reached Hwy 191 where we turned South and headed in to Moab, UT.



When we got into town, we scouted around to find a quiet campground. We settled on a place way at the South edge of town, setup camp, and ditched our stuff.



Then headed all the way back to the North edge of town to head into Arches National Park.












We did a small hike out to Delicate Arch.






And then headed back out of the park and back towards camp.





We slept soundly that night after a couple of long hot days on the bike.




Tomorrow we see what other diversions we can add on the way back home, as neither one of us is ready for the trip to be over. We had grown quite comfortable with this sorta vagabond life style and were just wanting to delay the inevitable.



jordan

[upweekis]

Lovin' it! I owe you two a beer.

[whittrated03]

You are the envy of many men! I am currently riding a 03' Yamaha Fz1 which I have set up for long distance sport touring. My next bike, which will be coming this summer, will be a Wee. You two took an awesome adventure ride and youre so lucky that Nikki is down for that. You have an awesome bike, wife and adventerous spirit. This RR was inspiration for me and my girlfriend and as of today , our next long ride planning begins. I live in Waco,Tx and do many many 3 to 5 day long rides/trips to the Hill Country and surrounding areas. i am currently trying to set up a Big Bend trip this spring before it gets too hot or maybe fall. i would love to meet you guys and do a little riding and touring. Thanks for the RR and please know that YOU ARE A VERY LUCKY MAN!!!!!

[solorider40]

This is a great ride report, Thank You for doing it. I'm gonna show it to my wife, we've been considering trading my KLR in for a V-strom to ride out west. Hopefully reading this will convince her she'll be ok on a bike smaller than a goldwing