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blurry vision

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 10, 2009
Messages
63
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Location
Lake Mathews Riverside,CA
***Warning long post. You can go directly to pics on bottom of page***

I had a wonderful nine day ride, it was fantastic. Day 1 I headed east from Lake Mathews, CA at 5:00am to 74 east, to the Hwy 111, to the 86 south to Brawley. I hooked up with my friend at this point. We headed east on 78 to I-10 east. We picked up the 60 took it to the 71 to the 89 towards Prescott, AZ. We picked up the 89A to Sedona. Sedona was beautiful and the ride up through Prescott was pretty nice as well. Traveled up the 89 to the 160 and then the 491. All of these roads were pretty nice riding for the first day. Hit a little rain but we road through it. We pulled into Cortez, CO at about 9:30pm and called it a day. Day 1 was 700 miles.

Day 2 We headed out on the 160 east towards Durango. Picked up the 149 to the 50 E, to the 285 N to the 9 N, to the 70 superslab for a brief moment. Stopped in Georgetown, CO for the night. We rode aproximately 400 miles.

Day 3 We headed out on the 70 E to the 40 E to the 34. This took us through Rocky Mountain National Park. This is a very nice park with good roads, wildlife, and scenic views.From the park we headed east to the I-25 and took the 18. This section is nice horse country. I saw what appeared to be Mustangs running on the side of the highway, about thirty of them. I could be wrong though. But, you have to remember I'm a city boy. We picked up the 85N to the 18E into Edgemont where we stayed the night. Were on day three and my friend is starting to give way to the ride. I told him he should have swapped his stock seat for a Corbin. I havent had any discomfort from the ride yet. We rode aproximately 450 miles and hit some light rain.

Day 4 We headed out on the 18 to the 87. This lead us into Custer State Park. We rode through the park it was awesome. We came out on 16 which took us right to Mount Rushmore. I always wanted to see Rushmore in person before I checked out. Well, now I can cross it off my bucket list. It is pretty impressive. We pulled off from Rushmore on 16 Alt heading to the 385S. We picked up the 16E to the 85N, to the 585. This brought us to the 90 superslab were we tried to make up some time.We rode the 90 for a while, until we were just outside Sheridan, WY. At this point we took the 14.This was a very scenic road with nice views. You just had to ride past the portion of road that was under constuction. A dirt and rocky road for about 50 miles. We stopped in Cody WY at the KOA and camped for the night. It had been many years since I put a tent up. But, it wasn't that hard. I've been in the city way too long.

Day 5 We woke up and got our gear together and ate a hearty breakfast at the KOA. We headed out on 14W this took us to the eastern entrance of Yellowstone Park. Alot of the trees were burned out from a fire. It looked pretty bad until we got near Lake Mary. I never knew Yellowstone had such a large body of water within it. This park has alot to see. Nice roads to ride, wildlife, vistas, river gorges, hot springs, geisers, and plenty of plant life.We rode out of the park and hopped on 212 towards the Beartooth Pass. It was under construction as well. I also noticed the signange warning of gizzlie bears. I must admit I've never seen this sign before, it gets your attention. When we arrived at the summit, we had to stop for about twenty minutes. We had to allow the oncoming traffic to pass by, due to the road having a single lane at this point. The ranger said they had a snow storm ten days prior to us getting there, and the road was close for a day or so. WOW! That much snow in July. Headed to the 90 for more superslab to make up time for the park visit. Rode the 90 over to Bozeman were we stayed at my riding partners friends house for the night. My friend advised me that he had to move my bike and that my Corbin was quite comfortable. I think he's sold on it.

Day 6 We said our good byes and headed down the 90W headed for Missoula. From there we took the 12 to Lewiston, WA. We headed down the 129 to the 82, which took us to LaGrande This is where we didn't think. Since I am the rookie, I usually let my friend take the lead. It was poor planning to try and ride from LaGrande to Redmond, Oregon. Because it was already almost 7:00pm. We hopped on 244 and took it to the 395. Then it started to get dark. I took the point since I can see a little better and I ride alot at night. My friend usually never rides at night. I rode at aproximately 45 mph and did forest rat patrol. They were every where. I saw a deer possibly a mule or an elk sooo big it didn't look real. They would shoot across the road and sometimes stop on the road. I would brake and put my hazards on to alert my friend behind me.. We rode like this for about 3 hours. We made it to Mt Vernon which is on the 26. It was locked up tighter than Fort Knox. So I told my friend lets not waist time and get going to the next town. After all we did come to ride. It's about 11:00pm and there isn't anything in this town moving, not even a critter. We headed east on the 26 to Redmond at about 45 mph in the dark. A delightful grin came to my face when I saw approaching head lights from the rear. I just hoped my friend would stay with me regardless of the speeds and keep up. When the truck pulling a trailer went by at about 70 I saw my opportunity. I tucked behind his trailer and rode him for about and hour over the summit and into Prineville, OR. This was perfect timing, since I was running on the reserve tank. My friend dropped to one knee and we said a prayer for our safe passage. I looked up and there was a hotel. We got a room and crashed. It was about 1:30am. That was poor planning 101on our part.

Day 7 My friend woke up early still lethargic and very eager to get to Redmond. I said Yeh right! I wanted to get my monies worth out of the room. We grabbed a bite to eat and headed for Redmond. My riding partners friend had a campsite at the BMW rally in Redmond. So we told him we would stop by. There were alot of Feejers there as well. I saw alot of interesting camping gear on display. We hung out for a while and pushed off to the next destination. We took the 26 to the 97 to the 138, which took us to the 62. We rode it to the I-5 and stayed the night in Rogue River. Since my friend was having trouble finding the connecting ramp for Grants Pass.

Day 8 Got up with the intentions of riding the entire day and night to get home. It didn't work out quite like that. First we missed the turn off for Eureka by way of Yreka. So we opted to take route 3. This turned out to be good and bad. This road was not on the state map but, it did come up on the GPS. I believe it is a forest service road. It turns into Salmotn River Road. We road this for about.2.5 hours before we found a connecting highway. The road was quite interesting and there were a couple of isolated communities along them. Population probably about fifteen. The roads were nice and at one point on a blind curve the road was about nine feet across. It was comical due to the double yellow line down the middle of the road. I am glad no other vehicle was traveling on it when I came through. If you ever ride this road MAKE SURE you have a full tank. There were no gas stations and it's a long isolated road. The only bad thing about this road is there are no services or facilities, and it requires alot of time to travel it. When we cleared this area we headed to Eureka. Took the 96S to the 299W, this brought us to the 101 near Eureka. We headed down the 101 to HWY 1, and traveled the coast. It was very gloomy so the view of the coast was not good. We came upon the 128 and took this to the 101S which took us to the Golden Gate Bridge. Rode the bridge over to Frisco. At this point it was certain that we would not be riding all the way home. It was about dusk so we started looking for a room and food. Stopped in San Mateo for the night.

Day 9 Woke up ready to get on the road. So I could get home to my own comfortable bed and surroundings. Loaded up my gear and headed down 101 South

This trip was great and the weather treated us good. I can't say enough about our beautiful country out there. We rode a pretty quick pace since we both have jobs to get back to. But, it was a trip well worth the ride. It took me a while to write this report since I am back in the rat race of work and life. I spoke with my friend a couple of days ago and he informed me he purchased a Corbin seat. I just laughed and grinned when he told me. I told him the next trip will be North to Canada and maybe even farther. I may bite off more than I can chew and attempt Alaska with him. I will attempt to upload some pics of the trip. Hopefully, they will post okay and have the proper links. Happy and safe riding to all. It is a marvelous country out there, so go and enjoy it. You can click the slide view button and view the pics a little easier. It's in the top right corner.

BLURRY VISION

https://s647.photobucket.com/albums/uu199/blurryvision07/

 
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thanks for the great report. I am sitting in a hospital bed waiting to get back on the bike. Your journey was great for my mind

geofizz

 
You're right, it is a long report. Very nice ride and pix. Crater Lake still looks cool.

A lot of riding for 9 days, looked like a great time. Thanks for sharing. ;)

BTW - Lake Mathews, you're in Riverside, correct? A few live out that way, I don't believe I've seen you on a local ride.

 
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You're right, it is a long report. Very nice ride and pix. Crater Lake still looks cool.
A lot of riding for 9 days, looked like a great time. Thanks for sharing. ;)

BTW - Lake Mathews, you're in Riverside, correct? A few live out that way, I don't believe I've seen you on a local ride.
Yes Lake Mathews is in Riverside area. It's in the county just outside the city limits. I did the Pinks ride. I also met a few guys before their ride at Lessies Burgers on HWY 76.

 
You're right, it is a long report. Very nice ride and pix. Crater Lake still looks cool.A lot of riding for 9 days, looked like a great time. Thanks for sharing. ;)

BTW - Lake Mathews, you're in Riverside, correct? A few live out that way, I don't believe I've seen you on a local ride.
Yes Lake Mathews is in Riverside area. It's in the county just outside the city limits. I did the Pinks ride. I also met a few guys before their ride at Lessies Burgers on HWY 76.
OK, cool. I didn't go on either of those rides. Hope to meet you on another local ride.
 
Although I have not yet looked over your pictures, I did not see any mention that you paid a visit to the Buffalo Bill Historic Center & Museum located in Cody Wyoming. If you didn't stop there you missed an incredible place. Whether your into the Old West History, Cowboys & Indians, guns, military or any others, that museum is fantastic.

Your photos are really nice. You got lucky on the weather with only a couple small rain showers. Nice trip and good ride report

 
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Although I have not yet looked over your pictures, I did not see any mention that you paid a visit to the Buffalo Bill Historic Center & Museum located in Cody Wyoming. If you didn't stop there you missed an incredible place. Whether your into the Old West History, Cowboys & Indians, guns, military or any others, that museum is fantastic.
Your photos are really nice. You got lucky on the weather with only a couple small rain showers. Nice trip and good ride report

No I did not get to visit the Buffalo Bill Center. This ride was done at a pretty quick pace. I missed alot of points of interest. It sounds pretty interesting.

 
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