Monday 12th October -last day in the USA

Posted on October 13, 2015 by helenkelly

So tomorrow we cross into Mexico. It has been a little stressful recently as there has been a degree of uncertainty about whether we will be able to leave the USA before our visas expire. The shock absorber we had been waiting for arrived at the suppliers only today (two days before visa expiry). It has taken Dave all day to get it on but it is now done and the bike is ready for the next leg of the trip.

We were also surprised by a public holiday today-Columbus Day. This could have been a problem as we need to post our camping equipment to a friend in California who will look after it, as we are not taking it to Mexico. We will now go to the post office in the morning before we set off to the border. So we are nearly ready to go.

This is the map of our full route around the USA over the last 89 days.

It has been a spectacular success. We have ridden over 9,000 miles. 22 states. Many campsites, quite a few motels and a few Airbnbs. Through lots of mountains, plains, spectacular coasts and a few cities. The places that stand out for me are still Graceland (!), camping at 10,000 feet in Colorado, crossing the empty plains of Wyoming, riding along the central Californian coast around Big Sur and our two fun days in Hollywood. I guess the things I have chosen as my highlights are those that surpassed my expectations.

Worthy of honourable mentions are also Tulsa for its great Art Deco buildings which was totally unexpected and the magnificent setting of Seattle.

If I could only come back to one state it would definitely be California with Colorado in second place but then I expected that before I left.

By far the best thing about the trip as a whole has been the camping. The sites here in the US surpass anything we have experienced before in their number, locations, quality and cost.

The wildlife has also been a highlight for me. We have seen many different kinds of deer including pronghorn, big horned sheep, humpback whales, elephant seals, foxes, buffalo, many different kinds of squirrel, chipmunks, groundhogs (as well as dead armadillos, skunk and racoon. I have heard coyote howling at night and we have had three almost bear encounters, although we have not seen bears.

The birds have also been amazing-hummingbird, pelicans too many kinds of hawk and falcons to list, turkey vulture, woodpeckers of different kinds, kingfishers, Stellars Jay, cardinals and more.

Things have gone amazingly well. It has been incredibly easy to travel here. We are within budget. We have met some very friendly people. We are very happy, healthy (we have both lost weight and sleep for hours and hours) and relaxed. Mission accomplished.

We are very excited to move onto the next stage of the trip but also sad to be leaving the USA behind. Although the autumn rain is just about to start here in California so our timing is good. We are looking forward to some real adventure, speaking Spanish (badly), eating hot chillies and staying in one place for more than a couple of days. Oh and hopefully doing less work on the bike now that we have replaced virtually everything that can wear out.

Saturday 3rd-Tuesday 6th October-Central California and Los Angeles

Posted on October 7, 2015 by helenkelly

Over-tall bikes are not a problem when you have limbs like a gibbon

We spent Friday night at a wonderful town in Central California called San Luis Obispo which was declared by Oprah to be the happiest city in the USA. We stayed with a wonderful host in a beautiful house looking out over the mountains and town. We bought a back tyre for the bike and ate some authentic Thai food. Everyone we met was exceptionally friendly. I guess that is what being happy does for you.

STOP PRESS!
I speak to you from the future. Turns out the fuel level sender unit had failed so I’m not such a twat, after all. Well, not for this reason, anyway.

We left quite late on Saturday for the Santa Barbara mountains and…ran out of petrol. This has not happened to us since about 1996. We drained what was left in the camp stove but the bike still wouldn’t start so we waved our arms at passing bikers, all of whom waved back but didn’t stop. We then proceed to push the bike (well I pushed and Dave sat on the bike and paddled) up a hill. Still noone stopped to help. Fortunately, at the top of the hill was a grocery store with a cafe from where we called a taxi (at great expense) and Dave went to fetch petrol.

Dave dances like a twat after running out of petrol like a twat

The whole thing left us $60 lighter. We should have used the roadside assistance that we have but we thought it would take ages for them to come out. It would have been a lot cheaper.

The Santa Barbara mountains surpassed expectations.

Pumpkin fields are everywhere at the moment.

The mountains are really beautiful and only 15 miles from the centre of Santa Barbara. This would be a good place to live. There is a lot of space, good weather, good roads and stunning scenery. The campsites were also empty on a Saturday night which is quite unique in our experience.

It rained a lot in the night. So much that a fellow biker with a tiny tent, camped near us, left and went home before daylight. We took refuge in a Starbucks before returning to the campsite to pack up.

We got wet, for only the second time in 3 months, on the way to LA . Not what you expect in Southern California. By the time we arrived at our Airbnb in the Hollywood Hills, it had dried up.

We spent the next day along Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards. We watched The Martian at the Arc Lights Dome, a dome shaped cinema built in 1963, which opened with the premier of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (is that too many mads?). It was a brilliant film and a great location. Something really memorable.

We also visited Graumann’s Chinese Theatre and found the hand and foot prints of some of our old Hollywood heroes, including the cast of The Apartment.

And Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

The cast of Giant is interesting, as James Dean had died before the film was premiered and so his prints do not appear alongside the rest of the cast.

As you will know if you have been reading the blog regularly, we love Art Deco architecture so we spent an hour or so wandering around Hollywood Boulevard, spotting original buildings from the 1920s, when the area was at its most glamorous (it is pretty seedy today).

We also saw a few fantastic wig and costume shops.

The next morning, our wonderful host Sabine, who rides a BMW 650 took us up to the Hollywood sign, about 10 minutes from the house. This street is open to only locals so we were really lucky.

There were great views over the city. For those who have lived in Bangkok, the pollution really did not seem bad at all.

Dave really loves this sign, partly because of the System of a Down album sleeve (you will need to look that up if you haven’t seen it). The house on the right used to be lived in by Keanu Reeves.

It was great fun going up there and one of the biggest highlights of the trip so far.

We loved Hollywood. We decided to stay in one area of LA as our time was short. The decision to stay in the hills was one of the best decisions we have made on the trip. Although the area around the Boulevards is really very ordinary these days, if you read up about the buildings and the history from the early 20th century it goes beyond a tacky tourist experience. It is one we will remember really fondly. Yes I am growing my hair a bit.

Sunday 27th September-Saturday 3rd October-Central California, Pacific Coast Highway, Big Sur

Posted on October 5, 2015 by helenkelly

We spent last Sunday and Monday on the campsite at Santa Cruz that we had visited the weekend before as we needed to do work on the bike to replace the rear wheel bearings. It was a pretty dull couple of days. The main highlight being the racoon raid in the night. Our fault entirely as we forgot to lock the bear box. Luckily there were no bears there.

They also attempted to steal the bike.

Having sourced the bearings at two different shops, Dave replaced them easily and did some work on the front brake.

We had some friendly neighbours who brought us a beer and chips in the afternoon. The lady was Korean/American and made comment that we were a skinny couple! I am sure this is normal for Dave but I have never been called skinny in my whole life. We proceeded to pig out for a couple of days, safe in the knowledge that a tiny Asian woman thought we were skinny. On the last night we were treated to a spectacular sunset on the second night (no Photoshop).

We then headed down the coast, through Carmel (where Clint Eastwood was mayor and where, according to Dave, Play Misty for Me was set) and onto Big Sur. The coast was stunning but busy with tourists driving very slowly and the weather was overcast. At the end of the journey we found a wonderful campsite at Big Sur, where we ended up staying 3 nights. They had the cutest campsite shop (with WiFi on the deck and a power socket) where we seemed to spend most of the two days, working on job applications and doing other business.

It appears the shock absorber on the bike needs work presenting Dave with another maintenance conundrum. This one was complicated by the fact that we have to leave the USA by 15th October so have limited time to resolve the situation. Fortunately, Hagon, who made our current shock, have a shop in San Diego. There was no mobile phone service so Dave had to hot foot it to the local phone box (remember those?) to call them. When they heard of our situation they offered to ship a new shock from the UK to meet our deadline, fit it and charge us only the cost of rebuilding the present shock. That is true customer service. So we await the arrival of the shock in San Diego in about a week-we hope.

Leaving Big Sur to ride down the famous Highway 1, along the Pacific was one of the best days I have ever had. It was simply spectacular the whole way. We even had sections where there was no other traffic. The road wound round and up and down with ocean views for a solid two hours.

This coast is famous for the humpback and grey whales that cruise near to land. When I saw my first whale tail breach from the water, as I whizzed past on the bike, I was totally shocked. Another ambition realised.

No point staring hard at the photos trying to see whales as they were too far out to photograph with an 18-55mm lens. Good for landscapes but not for wildlife. All of these shots are taken from the bike at about 45mph (as are most of my blog pics).

About half an hour later we saw another whale breaching the water and pulled over and watched it for 15 minutes. It was only the massive fin this time but pretty special nevertheless.

The next treat was a beach full of pelicans. And then a field full of elk.

And then a few beaches full of elephant seals. We were able to get really close to them at one point. They were so funny to watch, as they flick sand over themselves and roll around in the sunshine. Perfect couch potatoes.

We stopped at San Simeon where William Randolph Hearst (famous publisher who was the inspiration for the film Citizen Kane) built his castle. There was a stunning local beach and pier.

Tomorrow Los Angeles!

Wednesday 23rd-Saturday 26th September- Lake Tahoe to Napa Valley

Posted on September 27, 2015 by helenkelly

We had a great ride through the Sierra Nevada to Lake Tahoe.

The lake is as beautiful as they say. I have only seen water so blue on the coast of Thailand and Greece.

We stayed at a campsite right on a west shore beach near Tahoma.

We were very lucky to have direct lake access. The temperature was perfect for lying on the beach. Even Dave lay in the shade of a tree on the sand for an hour. I think it is the first time he has reclined on a beach in about 20 years.

We had planned a long ride around the lake to Nevada but the whole road was blighted by road works that take 10-15 minutes to get through at each road block, via a pilot car. There were 5 or 6 of these just on the stretch where we were staying. They really go to town on their road works here and they are overly safety conscious in my opinion, which really slows things up.

We decided to have a quick ride into Tahoe City and saw the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics, including a very alpine look ski village.

We were treated to some great lake views along the way.

We left Tahoe to head for Napa and Sonoma Valleys north of San Francisco. The plan was to spend a day touring the valleys and then a day in San Fran from our Airbnb 30 minutes outside. During the stay at Tahoe, however, it became apparent that we need rear wheel bearings urgently. A couple of hours was spent at Starbucks using the Wifi and phone to source the parts. It transpired we needed to go to two different shops, one in the centre of San Fran and one in Silicon Valley and then get the parts replaced without riding too far and putting the bike at risk. This meant the whole plan had to be changed and our days in the Napa Valley and San Fran had to be sacrificed.

We did have a night on a campsite in the Sonoma Valley and got a good feel for the area. It is very attractive, especially early in the morning when there is no traffic but is not a match for wine growing regions in France or Italy. I guess if you have never been to Europe then it is pretty nice.

We had a crazy trip into the centre of San Francisco. Thankfully we have a Sat Nav. I was very excited about crossing the Golden Gate Bridge but the whole thing was shrouded in low cloud and fog (as is very common) so we did not get to see much but it was still pretty thrilling. I did catch a glimpse of Alcatraz.

Riding through the centre of San Fran was great. We went right through the historic and civic district.The Triumph shop was located in the Mission District right in the middle of the city.

It feels quite exotic compared to other US cities and is definitely a city I want to come back to and explore in the spring. We managed to pick up the bearings from both shops with no fuss and secured a hotel with an early check in in Sunnyvale, Silicon Valley where we had the chance to smarten ourselves up a bit and have an evening out. We really were starting to look a bit rough, dirty and unkempt so it could not have come at a better time.

Today we are heading back to Santa Cruz for two nights on the beach at a site where Dave can work on the bearings and then we head up to Half Moon Bay and back to Big Sur-all Pacific coast beaches.

Saturday 19th-Tuesday 22nd September-Silicon Valley to Sierra Nevada via Yosemite National Park

Posted on September 22, 2015 by helenkelly

I love California. I knew I would. In Mountain View (in the heart of Silicon Valley) people actually had pomegranates, figs, lemons and oranges growing in their gardens. 50% of the cars here seem to be a Toyota Prius. They have them in colours I have not even seen before. There is of course also a proliferation of kale salads, green smoothies and tempeh sandwiches. All right up my street. It’s hard to explain but the people in California seem familiar to us, the most normal in the country. Apart from that the state is also stunningly beautiful.

After three nights spent in an Airbnb at Mountain View, California, seeing Foo Fighters in concert and working on job applications, we left for the beach at Santa Cruz.

It is always hard to get camping reservations for Saturday night, wherever you are in the US but we had managed to get a last minute booking at a stunning site on the cliff top just outside Capitola. The weather has been pretty hot the last few days but the site was cool with the sound of the ocean crashing below us.

The beach was lined with houses just like the one Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford lived in in the film The Way we Were (or just like Two and a Half Men, as Dave pointed out). This is the first Pacific coast beach I have walked on that actually had other people on it.

We set off very excited on Sunday morning for Yosemite. In order to get to the mountains we had to cross a hot, flat area, agricultural area which was not a lot of fun. California has not had much rain for 4 years and is in a severe drought. This is a real problem as the state grows most of the country’s food. We rode through many miles of totally parched landscape which is clearly desperate for rain. Not wanting to sound selfish, we hope it waits until we have left in another 3 weeks.

This beautiful reservoir was looking very dry and the landscape had taken on a Valley of the Kings look.

Arriving in Yosemite, we were immediately impressed by the staggering beauty of the place with sheer rock faces towering above the Yosemite Valley where most of the campsites and guest services can be found.

Camping here is not a wilderness experience. Curry and Yosemite Villages are service centres run by the park, housing a massive supermarket, a variety of cafes and restaurants,museums and a lounge complete with rocking chairs and WiFi. Having had plenty of wilderness experiences already, we absolutely loved the convenience of it all.

Having said that, the things that made it so special, apart from the landscape, was the atmosphere on the campground after dark with the stars twinkling and the smell of woodsmoke. It was really special.

Bears here are very used to humans and show up regularly on the campsite looking for human food. A bear has to eat 5,000-20,000 calories per day at this time of the year-all from foraging for berries and the like so the option of high calorie human food is very attractive. All pitches come with supersize bear boxes for your food and toiletries plus instructions not to leave you food out of arms reach or even turn your back on your food. To make things worse, squirrels in the park now carry plague.

We did not see a bear while we were there but we know they were about as we could hear the rangers guns going off after dark, shooting rubber bullets to keep the bears away. I know this sounds harsh but it is for the protection of the bear not the humans. A fed bear is a dead bear and all that. We did see a lot of squirrels though, some too friendly for our liking. We read up on the symptoms of plague to be on the safe side.

The ride through the park this morning was really beautiful.

Once out of the park we stopped at a cool, 50s style diner in the heart of the Sierra Nevada mountains and treated ourselves to veggie burger and fries.

The landscape outside of the park is almost as beautiful as inside. In some ways better than the Rockies.

At our motel Dave oiled the chain using an empty mustard bottle with a cool backdrop.

Tomorrow we head to Lake Tahoe for two nights and then onto the Napa Valley. Before that one last photo of Yosemite.

Saturday 12th-Tuesday 15th September Pacific Coast of Orgeon and N. California

Posted on September 17, 2015 by helenkelly

We left Portland on Saturday after two very relaxing nights. We liked Portland a lot but then we expected to. It is not nearly as pretentious as people make it out to be (at least not the parts we saw). In our neighbourhood near the Alberta District loads of people owned old cars (I mean from the 70s and 80s) and lots of gardens had veg patches. There seemed a real community feel.

On the way to the coast we passed an old covered bridge like in The Bridges of Madison County.

Clint Eastwood directed and starred in The Bridges of Madison County; shame he couldn’t let the main character be vegetarian, like in the book

As the coast got nearer, the weather turned a lot colder. This part of the Pacific Coast is well known for its fog and low cloud. Many days, even in the height of summer, the beaches are obscured. It was still exciting to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time though.

The ~~Rhyl~~ Pacific Coast

We arrived at out campsite, near Yachats, pretty chilly but after quite a few days in motels and Airbnbs, we were determined to get the tent out. We camped on the beach side of the road. The beach was stunning and went on forever.The next morning, we were lucky as the weather had cleared and we were treated to some fantastic views from the road which hugged the coastline for the first 50 miles or so.

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The southern coast of Oregon had a really special feel to it. Too far from major centres to be a weekend destination, it is completely unspoiled. Our next campsite, near Gold Beach, had a weird German theme. We found out from the owner’s wife that her husband was from Berlin but the shop and bar were all decked out with a Bavarian vibe including oompah band music piped in. The owner made his own wurst which was for sale in the shop. He also sold German beer on draft which was truly delicious after 9 weeks of Budweiser and craft “beer”. The campsite was lovely and the beach was just across the road and was totally empty. Dave and I saw a Turkey Vulture picking over the flesh of something on the beach. I walked for an hour in the morning and saw not one person.

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On our third day on the coast, we entered California, probably our last state on this leg of the trip. This was a real milestone for us. This is the area of coast famous for the Oceanic Redwood trees. These are the really tall ones, rather than the really wide ones. We rode through the Redwood State Park on a very gloomy and cold morning. It was totally magical. Just as you thought the trees could not get any bigger a bigger one came along. I loved it.

Helen standing in front of a fu very big tree

Our campsite that night was in Patrick’s Point State Park right on the stunning headland.

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This was our first campsite with a bear box for you to store your food away from bears and other critters. We read that bears are frequent visitors to the site.

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To be honest, if there had been decent affordable accommodation nearby, we would not have camped this night as it was just too cold and we were frozen but we knuckled down and got the job done. I was rewarded with an amazing walk on the beach the next morning and a fabulous sky full of stars when I got up in the night for the bathroom. It has been a while since we camped in bear country so we had to deal with our renewed trepidation. I must admit that I clapped my hands as I walked down the path to the beach to warn any bears of my presence.

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When I got back from my walk, Dave pointed out paw prints on the front mudguard of the bike and much smears all over the tank and windscreen. On closer inspection and brief internet research we were reassured they were only racoon prints. Obviously too small to be a bear but we know how bears love our bike. The camera had a dirty lens but you get the idea.

(hi ho) Silver savaged again

On our way to see Foo Fighters in concert in the bay area, were forced to bail out on our final planned beach night due to the cold weather. We ended up in another old style motel, just east of San Francisco, but this one really had the 70s vibe covered. It was like being at home as a child.

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Monday 7th-Thursday 10th September -Washington State and Seattle-coast to coast complete

Posted on September 11, 2015 by helenkelly

We left our good friend’s house in Big Sky, Montana 6 days ago in freezing cold weather to head for Seattle. A 4 day ride that had few highlights due to the cold weather. We stuck to the Interstate 90 in order to move as fast as possible as it was too cold for motorcycling in the gear we have (even though we have full thermal underwear and light down jackets). We stayed at a couple of cool, old style motels, ate some reasonable Mexican food and hunkered down.

Motels – pure Americana

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We left Montana and briefly entered Idaho before arriving in Washington State. I was starting to think that this was the dullest landscape we had encountered so far when we came into an area of incredible cloudscape, The most amazing I had ever seen. This kept us entertained for about an hour. I have not photoshopped these photos. This is how it looked. The clouds were so close you could almost touch them.

Clouds

More clouds

Yet more clouds

We are huge grunge fans and big fans of Frasier too (which was not actually filmed in Seattle apparently) so Seattle was a must for us. This also marked the crossing of the USA from the Atlantic to Pacific coast which is a huge milestone. We have ridden 7,000 miles since leaving Germany. We have crossed 20 states in the USA in 7 weeks. Anyway back to Seattle…

Seattle with clouds

I was not prepared for the stunning setting of this city built on the water and totally surrounded by rugged mountains. Hard to capture in photographs to be honest. It must be a great place to live being so close to so many outdoor opportunities. We were lucky with the weather. It is famous for rain here but we had blue skies and endless sunshine for two days (despite how it looks on the picture below).

Space Needle, Seattle and clouds

The main focus of the trip was a grunge tour where we got to see the places where grunge music began. We saw the blacksmith shop, underneath which is the practice room where the other Pearl Jam members first took Eddie Vedder when he arrived from California to join the band.

The blacksmith’s was open, the rehearsal room is still there, it was not being used at the time, but we weren’t taken in

We saw the famous Crocodile club.

We weren’t taken inside here, either

The apartments where the film Singles was filmed.

From the outside

The house where Kurt Cobain sadly took his own life and the bench where people congregate to pay their respects.

Okay, can’t really expect to be taken inside here; I was reminded of our visit to the Dakota Building, all very sad (Dave)

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And the Black Hole Sun sculpture after which the Soundgarden track is named (note the Space Needle in the middle.

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I guess you have to be a real fan like us to appreciate the significance of these places. We also saw the Jimmy Hendrix statue. He came from Seattle too. What a great musical heritage this city has.

Get out the van, stand by the statue a bit, get back in the van

Seattle is also famous for the Space Needle, landmark from the 1962 World’s Fair and setting of the Elvis film It Happened at the World’s Fair, which we love. Most of the site is still intact and wonderfully kitsch.

Actually, I’m fairly sure that It Happened at the World’s Fair is pretty unwatchable; it will take a Sunday afternoon and a hangover to check

Some clouds to lower portion of picture

We loved Seattle. The city does seem to have a lot of homeless people in the downtown areas (more than I have seen in any other western city) and feels a bit gritty in parts but there are great neighbourhoods and there is a good vibe. It is a place we could live.

Friday 29th-Sunday 31st August-Wyoming (including Yellowstone)

Posted on September 1, 2015 by helenkelly

Wyoming surprised me. I liked it more than I thought I would. The Rocky Mountains are not a continuous mountain chain and to get from the Colorado Rockies to the Montana Rockies we needed to cross the Wyoming plain. This is a very empty place. The first day was pretty featureless but I allowed myself to be charmed by the space and emptiness. The mind becomes clear when there is nothing much to look at. It also helped that the weather was fairly cool. Unlike crossing the plain in Texas two weeks ago.

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We passed a ghost town called Jeffrey City. Until the 1990s this was a boom town due to uranium mining. Within 3 years of the mine closing, 75% of the population just left. There are only 58 people there now. It still calls itself a city.

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We stayed that night in Lander. This is one of many cool looking wild west towns we have passed. It is a popular stopover on the road to Yellowstone and has good amenities. We camped in the garden of this kitsch motel, called the Holiday Lodge,straight from the 50s.

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When I got out of the tent in the morning there was a Mule deer just standing there looking at me about 15 metres away. It had huge ears and stood perfectly still for ages. No that’s Dave in the picture. His ears are smallish.

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The second day on the plain was bit more interesting and the landscape varied more. There was a gorge and a lake. In places it was incredibly barren and rocky. It reminded me of the Valley of the Kings in Luxor.

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We passed through an Indian reservation. It was a pretty depressing place of run down bungalows with boarded up windows and kids playing outside. Further on there was a huge casino, in the middle of nowhere.

We also passed through another tiny wild west town.

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We had lunch at Cody, named after Buffalo Bill, who lived there and owned a hotel. They really play up the cowboy thing there. There is a big museum complex dedicated to all things wild west and shops full of stetsons and cowboy boots as well as stuffed Elk heads. A bit too much to the tacky side of acceptable for my taste.

We stayed at a really awesome lodge only 9 miles from the East gate of Yellowstone National Park.

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It cost us quite a lot more than we normally pay, to stay in a cabin, as all camping was booked up in the area, but it was Saturday night and we did not have many options. It was well worth the money. The cabin was so cute and comfy with lamps made out of recycled cowboy boots and curtain poles crafted from horseshoes.

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When we arrived the owner told us that for three of the last four mornings they have been visited by a grizzly bear. A huge silver back weighing about 400Ib! He was gorging on berries about 30 metres from our cabin. We still had a beer on the deck though.

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We did not get to see the grizzly but we were visited by the tamest young fox who clearly thought he was a pet cat. It was quite extraordinary.

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The only way Fox Hunting would count as vermin control is if the posh twats fell off their horses and broke their necks – Ricky Gervais

The next day we left for Yellowstone. We only got 2 miles up the road and two bison (buffalo) were strolling down the road. I then saw an osprey!

Helen, up bright and early

In Yellowstone itself, there is lots of evidence of Spruce Beetle damage but it was good to see forests repopulated further on in the park. The Spruce graveyard had its own haunting beauty.

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We saw quite a lot more bison plus a whole raft of terrible drivers. It was Sunday so we had to expect a lot of traffic. We were surprised to find that Yellowstone has a petrol station and an auto repair shop. The two hour trip through the park was very satisfying. The landscape is quite varied although the scenery in this part of the park is not spectacular. It was cool to see herds of wild bison grazing.

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We saw quite a flew geysers and some bubbling mud. It smells of sulphur everywhere. Half of the world’s geysers are in this park.

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I actually found the 50 miles on the other side of the park more interesting. The scenery was greener and there was almost no traffic. You could just imagine grizzly bears and elk living among the trees. We also crossed into Montana but more about that next time. One last picture of the cute fox to finish.

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Thursday 20th -Friday 21st August-Colorado Mountain Towns

Posted on August 22, 2015 by helenkelly

We spent three days at the Tall Texan Campground in Gunnison, relaxing, watching birds, including a woodpecker and a hummingbird, and pottering about. We have enjoyed that a lot. We like the cold.

We also had a brief trip into downtown Gunnison and a ride out to Crested Butte, a ski resort.

Crested Butte – hee hee hee

Colorado towns really are exceptionally lovely. Resort towns are full of cool bars, cafes, yoga studios and beautiful shops selling artisan products such as green chilli peanut brittle (!)-a hipster’s dream. All of this with stunning mountain backdrops. We have ridden through quite a few and know there are more to come.

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Crested Butte would be the perfect place to spend a few days but the campsite is too far from the centre to make it worthwhile. I can imagine how stunning it must be in the winter when the place is covered in snow.

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I get the feeling it is a place that you have to be quite rich to enjoy to the full and certainly to stay here in the centre. There were some really cute cottages. Maybe in the next life.

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We found a great bar and had a couple of soft drinks and some sweet potato fries and admired the street from the 1st floor balcony while listening to reggae. It felt like being on holiday.

We cleverly Photoshopped Dave’s hair out of this picture

Gunnison is more of a working town and the busy main road goes right through the centre but that is often the case with towns here. There were a lot of bikers passing through here, mostly on Harleys. I notice that they order Bloody Marys even though they are riding.

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Gunnison is a good place to get things done. We have sourced and had a new chain fitted to the bike. We have also ordered new sprockets which we have to collect in Denver next week.

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Until then we will be staying in the mountains. Next stop is Carbondale and then Leadville,where we will be camping at over 10,000 feet.

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Monday 18th August-The Rocky Mountains at Last

Posted on August 19, 2015 by helenkelly

So we finally arrived in the Rocky Mountains yesterday. The weather was stunning. Endless pale blue skies, no cloud and soft sunshine. The Colorado Rockies are spectacular at every turn but not at all what I expected. Firstly, as the surrounding land is so high already, the mountain peaks do not soar above you. They are not that much higher than the valley and the gradient is gentle. There are many 14,000 ft peaks but you can actually cycle up to the top of highest.

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Secondly, it is still incredibly arid at 10-12,000 feet, so not as green as you would expect.

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Thirdly, the landscape is incredibly varied. It changes constantly after exiting the high plain. There are high passes covered in pine trees, as you would find in say The Alps but there are also vast U shaped valleys, bigger than anything I have seen before, high semi-arid plateaus, covered in scrub and low undulating mountain areas, interspersed with sandy coloured rocky outcrops and gorges. The colours are more pink and gold than green and grey. We saw no snow, even on the tops.

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We crossed a pass at just over 3,000m (sorry for changing from metres to feet) which is higher than we have been on a bike before (the highest ass we have crossed in Europe is 2,600m). It was very cold but the views were stunning. The air is incredibly thin and pure. The riding here was just as we like it-steep and twisty.

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We had lunch at a gorgeous town called Lake City (population about 1,000-yes they call it a city.) All the buildings were made from timber, some quite old and there was a wonderful laid back vibe. On the approach to the town, in the Gunnison National Forest area, all of the pine trees are dead-hundreds of thousands of them or more. In places, they are clearing them, leaving the mountainside looking very bare. Later, I read this is caused by Spruce Beetle and is affected by the droughts since 2013. I was too cold at this point to take photos but the images are burned in my memory.

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Crossing the high plateaus after lunch it was very windy. We kept having to crouch down to decrease the wind resistance. We could see the highest peaks towards Aspen in the distance. We passed a huge lake before arriving at Gunnison, our destination.

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We have decided to stay here for 2-3 days as we have not had a day off from riding for a while and did not manage the planned time off earlier due to bad weather. The town has good amenities and some great day rides. On the downside, it is the coldest town in the USA in the winter and even in August the temperatures go down pretty low at night. At 6am this morning, my phone said it was 3 degrees celsius. We have good sleeping bags, thermal underwear and light down jackets and we love the cold so it suits us fine.

We have had a few issues with the bike this week. Dave has gone off this morning to get a new chain fitted and we plan to head for Denver next week to collect some new sprockets. We are also leaking oil and hoping it is just overflowing. The bike is our trusty steed and our trip is entirely dependent upon it so it lust come first. Any money spent on maintenance and repairs is money well spent. We have clocked up more than 4,000 miles in the last 5 weeks and there are a lot more to come.

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Tag Archives: motorcycle road trip USA

Monday 12th October -last day in the USA

Saturday 3rd-Tuesday 6th October-Central California and Los Angeles

Sunday 27th September-Saturday 3rd October-Central California, Pacific Coast Highway, Big Sur

Wednesday 23rd-Saturday 26th September- Lake Tahoe to Napa Valley

Saturday 19th-Tuesday 22nd September-Silicon Valley to Sierra Nevada via Yosemite National Park

Saturday 12th-Tuesday 15th September Pacific Coast of Orgeon and N. California

Monday 7th-Thursday 10th September -Washington State and Seattle-coast to coast complete

Friday 29th-Sunday 31st August-Wyoming (including Yellowstone)

Thursday 20th -Friday 21st August-Colorado Mountain Towns

Monday 18th August-The Rocky Mountains at Last