Limbimtimwim takes a mighty dump on the US of A

[ajturbo]

love your tails man... keep them coming.....

[James Deuce]

See Simon? I TOLD you other people would work out you're an evolved Monkey eventually.

[scracha]

You bastard I'm soooo jealous. My fookin uncle is an arse so couldn't arrange the Tedium 850 for you in blighty mate...sorry....but I did try.

"Hello 911, what is your emergency sir"
"och aye, there's a rider on a puke coloured gixxer600 with heroin up his arse"

Ellen says I've to tell you she turns 16 in July :-)

[limbimtimwim]

Las Vegas NV to Kingman AZ.

Between Las Vegas and Kingman AZ there is the Hoover Dam. I was pretty excited about the Hoover dam, it looks so impressive in pictures and there is history behind it.


The approach to the damn from the Nevada side is quite impressive, you wind the side of mountain made out of solid rock. Below you can catch glipses of a new bypass being constructed and up ahead you can see the towers of.. Something. I couldn't take a picture because there was nowhere safe to stop. A shame really, it was pretty cool. And of course the traffic was quite heavy, made worse by a security checkpoint that does little except keep some cops in work. They didn't inspect anything as far as I saw. As you wind down further you see that those towers you saw are the towers of a new bridge being built to by-pass the road over the deck of the dam. It will be quite an impressive bridge, the end result of dam and bridge is going to look extremely impressive when complete. I imagine it will reduce the traffic on the dam too, which was bumper to bumper.

So the dam itself, at least along the deck, isn't actually that big. Without paying for a tour, there is no way of going to the lower side of the dam. Which isn't really an option for me with my non-lockable luggage. So alas, I am resigned to the public car parks on the lake side to take a looksy.

So, somewhat let down, I moved on.


Next stop was a place called Chloride. I stopped at Chloride because I needed a break. I needed a break because Chloride is on A VERY STRAIGHT BIT OF ROAD. Check it: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...14862&t=h&z=10 Chloride turned out to be a silly little place. It was also very old, having an ancient jail house and half a street of real wild west era buildings.




So from there on I stopped at a place called Kingman. I got the impression Kingman was a typical small American town. It had cheap half run down hotels, lots of gas stations and fast-food joints. It also had an older part of town which seemed a bit more genuine.






I met some Germans who were riding around the USA on Harleys ("We would like our BMWs") and some war vets who had come to Kingman to volunteer at the local Veteran's Association hospital for awhile. And have a few drinks. They seeded pretty cool. I had a beer with them. I then went for a walk and took photos of the newer and crappier end of town.

[limbimtimwim]

So after Kingman it was off to the Grand Canyon. Out from Kingman I stopped in a place called Seligman and had breakfast. For the first time in the US I wasn't appalled at the size or lard content of my meal. The lemonade was generous, but wasn't sweet and was mostly ice anyway. It was real good.


Off up the road in the direction I was going I could see a thunderstorm brewing. I had already put on the rain covers for my bags but I had not put on my rain cover for myself. I thought I'd just miss it, but no, I rode right into it. The lightning was amazing, going between the clouds and the ground, it was quite spectacular. The rain was also stinging and cold. So dummy me I got cold and wet.

My misjudgement of the weather was not as bad as someone else's, further up the road I see a Jeep that rolled and is in the ditch upside down with it's lights on. I suspect they had tried to dodge one of the truck tyre carcasses that was near the accident. They litter highways here, they are a major hazard. It didn't look too bad, as long as the occupants were wearing their seatbelts I suppose they would have being okay. Others had already stopped so I kept going.

The road to the Grand Canyon was misty and raining slightly. Those who have travelled the Desert or National park roads in poor weather would have found the scene quite familiar. It was a bit uninspiring really. The park charges a car $25 to get in! Lucky a motorcycle counts as an individual and it cost 'only' $12. The pass is valid for a week however. There are two ends to the grand canyon that are set up for tourist access by vehicle. This end, the South, is quite commercial. Apparently the North is less so. There are gift shops, large car parks, lots of people, shuttle buses (Free), cafes, park police and even a proper sized train. And expensive coffee from a machine.

Pleasingly I came across another motorcyclist with a huge camera taking pictures of a tree. I thought he was nuts, but I looked again and he had in fact spotted a pair of large deer right next to the road doing what deer do.


But of course, I came for the view. And it's pretty good.



The GC is so deep it is hard to really judge where the bottom is. You can see things down there, but it kind of like being in a plane, it all looks like a toy and not real. I can imagine how the first people felt when they saw it. They probably said "SHIT! How the in the hell are we supposed to get past this?"


At length, I left the GC and went towards Vermilion Cliffs so I could go north and find somewhere to sleep. After leaving the GC you see the first of many Navojo stalls selling stuff, mostly jewelery and horse hair pottery. The pottery is nice, but wouldn't fit on the bike.


It was getting a bit dim and I was tired, so I stopped at a place called Lees Ferry for the night. It was a good choice, the food was good and so was the beer.


It was also quiet, except for the English tourists who were there so they could start their drive into the GC at 3am to watch the sun rise.

But some good fortune I woke up early and decided to make an early start, so I packed my bags and went outside to take a picture of the sunrise. But the coolest thing happened on the cliffs behind me as they lit up and changed colour. Nice.




I'm glad I stopped. Better than the grand canyon I reckon..

[limbimtimwim]

I'm going to combine two days into one thingamy.

I left Lees Ferry and started up some hills. The hills climb up and overlook a plain that goes back to Vermilion Cliffs. The view was pretty cool.


Down the other side there was, guess what, another plain with some cliffs. However these cliffs are a bit of a different colour, as you tend toward Utah they get a bit pinker and have more vegetation on them.

At the same rest stop there was another Navajo stall selling stuff.



By the time you get to Utah the vegetation is pretty lush, but then the irrigation is intense as well.

So after a night in Salt Lake City I went West to take an alternate route to Boise to visit my good friend Miles. This goes via the ummm.. Salt Lake:

and this route goes via the Bonneville Salt Flats. It's hard to imagine just how massive the salt flats are unless you see them. And the road keeps going and going forever. And it's dead straight. If you were going to make a speed record attempt, I guess this is a good spot.

I had brunch at a diner in a very small place called Wells and turned North towards Boise. After that, well, it wasn't terribly interesting.

Boise is good. Val Kilmer lives here.

And Miles and his wife Em. I had too much beer with Miles and Em and collapsed into bed.

[limbimtimwim]

Scroll up: I've added photos to some of my older posts.

[limbimtimwim]

You bastard I'm soooo jealous. My fookin uncle is an arse so couldn't arrange the Tedium 850 for you in blighty mate...sorry....but I did try.

That's okay, I quite like the GSXR. I think I'll take it to Europe with me.

Ellen says I've to tell you she turns 16 in July :-)

Well, what can I say to that? Say hello for me.

[scracha]

That's okay, I quite like the GSXR. I think I'll take it to Europe with me.
Well, what can I say to that?

Ummm... "Simon you're a nonce" ?

Leave the gixxer...bikes are cheap as chips in blighty (shame about the insurance tho') and it's a Suzuki so the puke paint will fall off before you get to Miami. Plus you'd have to get the headlight adjusted the correct way.

You've GOT to find a Captain America outfit/helmet/paint job.

[vifferman]

So today after faffing around until about 3:00 working out how to get those bags on I finally made my way out of San Francisco and over the Golden Gate bridge for a looksie. Damnit I didn't take the correct turn off and missed the good viewing spot, instead I came back and stopped at the lame one.

Never mind; here's what it looks like from the 'non-lame spot' (taken in the first week of January this year).
Hope you continue to enjoy your trip and all goes well for you, Sir!

[Rob Taylor]

THis is great following your trip.Keep it up and stay safe

[k14]

Great report man. Very jealous.

Have you bought a gun yet?

[limbimtimwim]

Have you bought a gun yet?

No. But you can buy them at Wal-Mart..

[limbimtimwim]

I left Miles' place and set off to experience the Sawtooth Mountains and head into Montana. I was not disappointed.

The road out of Boise was great, it slowly wound up past some dams and just kept climbing. The dam was spilling and it looked pretty cool as the water shot out of some big tubes. Like a super-hydroslide. Stupidly I'd set my camera to overexpose and the pictures ended up unviewable. D'oh! Oh well.

The road got pretty winding, it reminded me of the Rimutakas a bit, with it's hairpins and steep grades directly after only warmer, with less traffic, longer and a better surface. Check it: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=boise+...63429&t=h&z=14



So that road climbed down, but then of course it just climbed up again, high enough for snow to still be there, it was pretty cool. I stopped at the summit I went for a little walk in the snow and wished for someone to have a snowball fight with. It's 2195M or 7200 feet high there.



So of course what comes up must come down, again, and I travelled along some plains to join the Salmon river, taking in the well named Sawtooth mountains off to the side.


There are a few small towns along this road, but not much! Mostly 'RV Parks' and the occasional Bed and Breakfast. There was at least one warning sign about how far to the next petrol station. The road turns into running right next to the river, and some cliff tower above you, showing off their geological processes for everyone to see.



So for the night I stopped in Salmon (The town). Salmon wasn't that cute, but it sure is quiet. There isn't much traffic. It's a tourist town, but I think it relies on it being the Ski Season, and this isn't it.


Oh yeah, deer, in the middle of town, awesome.

[Trudes]

Wicked Simon, really enjoying reading about your adventure!! And what!!... you didn't throw snow balls at yourself?? Have fun mate, ride safe.