Day 6- Mesa Verde to Angel of Shavano Falls

287 miles.

We packed up our gear and Lazer's and brought her into Cortez. She has to wait a few more days before her clutch cable comes. Brian also headed on his own way.
Reaching Durango was a big deal for us. It's the start of going north finally. We took Highway 550 from Durango to Silverton. It is bike heaven there, twisties that make you think you're going in a circle. I loved every minute of it. Rudi is getting way better at riding these roads, I guess now is a good time to let everyone know his experience level. He bought his first bike in April, he's ridden mopeds with me years ago, but that's it. It's so awesome that he decided to do this trip with me after only riding for a couple months.
We hit a few more little passes and then finally hit the monster pass, Monarch Pass. It's the first part on our trip where we cross the Continental Divide and it's at 11,312'. The old Beemers did well and charged it.
We found a Forest Service road near Salinda, CO and decided to look for a place to camp. We scored huge, after passing the $15 campground and following the dirt road we found a perfect clearing next to a waterfall. A local driving by told us it's called Angel of Shavano Falls. Rudi made a ripping dinner and we crashed hard.

Bug Report.
9/10
Finally!!! Today was awesome, I'm covered in bugs. Big ones, little ones, juicy ones, butterflies, you name it.



Splat!!!!




Brian and his beast.



Me as a mule with Lazer and Rudi.



Butterfly.



The Rockies.



Road porn.



Monarch Pass.



A strip mine.



Angel of Shavano Falls.



Rudi at the falls.



Chef Rudi.



Blurry, but delicious.



Home for the night.

Day 5- Mesa Verde NP

51 miles.

Today was a chill day. Erik, Julie and Julie's family took off in the morning. So Rudi, Jessica and I cruised around the park and went into some of the cave dwellings. It's pretty amazing what the people who lived there 1000 years ago did.
In a parking lot I saw a huge, fully loaded BMW R1200GS with Alaska plates. Started talking to the guy and he's been on the road since last year and is traveling all around the Americas. His name is Brian Stanfill and he has a blog called www.hasadv.com. He was on his way to check out the cave dwellings, but we invited him to stay at our site.
The rest of the day was spent napping, taking a shower, updating my blog, and getting to know Brian. It was an excellent day.

Bug Report.
2/10
Weak day for the bugs. Sorry.







Spruce Tree House.



Spruce Tree House. 95% original.



Rudi in Balcony House.



The crew.



Inside a Kiva.



Balcony House.



Cliff Palace.



Roadtrip!!

Day 4- Natural Bridges NM to Mesa Verde.

204 miles.

We wake up and pack early in order to get to Mesa Verde by midday. We cruise around the park and view the natural bridges, they are pretty awesome. We stop in Bluff, UT for breakfast and gas and continue on our way.
About 30 miles down the road while going through Aneth, UT Jessica's clutch cable snaps. We find shade at the only gas station in town and she calls for a tow truck and arranges for a new cable at a shop on Cortez, CO. Problem is, they can't get it til at least Tuesday.
We wait with Jessica until the tow truck arrives, we found a rickety suspension bridge that goes over the chocolate milk looking river and I explore a bit of the buildings that appear to be old Reservation housing.
Once the tow truck arrives Rudi and I bounce out, make a quick stop at 4 Corners and onto Mesa Verde.
We unload at our site and head back to Cortez to get Jessica and her stuff. We eventually meet up with everyone and head to the campsite.



A natural bridge.



Yum.



Broke down in Aneth.



Aneth architecture.



Sketchy footbridge.



The other side of the chocolate river.



Safe side.



Old reservation housing.



Downtown Aneth, UT.



Colorado.



4 Corners.

Day 3- Bryce NP to Natural Bridges NM

269 miles.

Rudi's forks have been getting worse and worse. He sometimes gets gnarly speed wabbles in turns, by the time we got to Bryce last night they were completely bottomed out. We do a quick flush in a parking lot and they seem to be a bit better. A mechanic at the repair shop in Bryce City suggests putting PVC pipe in as a preload spacer, if the oil alone doesn't work we'll try it. We leave Bryce and head east towards Kodachrome State Park. The road there is amazing and super fun, they don't take the National Park pass so we head back on the main road. We're trying to get to Mesa Verde today, to meet up with my older brother Erik, his wife Julie and her family.
We stop for gas is a little town and the station also happens to be the towns hardware store. Perfect time to add those PVC preload spacers on Rudi's bike. After an hour or so we're back on the road. We go over the mountains on SR 12, a fantastic, windy, high elevation road and then through Capital Reef NP. It's getting late and starting to get apparent that we won't make it to Mesa Verde, so we settle into staying at Natural Bridges National Monument. It's empty and we get a nice spot, make dinner and watch the stars.



Feeding the baby.



SR 12. Utah.



Capital Reef.



Petroglyphs (lower mid frame). Capital Reef.



Bike crew. Capital Reef.



Lazer.



Moon man on the moon.



Small fire.



Big fire.



Bug Report.
7/10.
Lots of little guys. And one juicer to the shield.

Day 2- Zion NP to Bryce NP

90 miles.

I decided to take care of my leaking left valve cover, I figured it was just a crappy gasket. To my surprise my left cylinder head had warped, like the right one. With out the time to take it to a machine shop I rode into Hurricane, UT on Rudi's bike to buy some RTV sealant. It did the trick, a little ugly, but sealed.
We left Zion and headed towards Bryce, the scenery changes almost immediately as you are now in a higher elevation with trees and mountains. It's a gorgeous, but short ride to Bryce. We quickly get a spot at the North Campground and take the shuttle to Bryce Point and walk the 3 or so miles Rim Trail. Its late in the day and we make it back to our campsite and head off to listen to a Ranger give a speech about astronomy. I eventually start to doze off and wander back to my tent for bed.



Tourist overlook 1. Bryce Canyon.



Tourist overlook 2. Bryce Canyon.



Mr. Lizard.



Vee luuvv Amereeca! Euro Rudi.



USA USA USA!!!!!!!



Wall Street.



Tourist overlook 3. Bryce Canyon.



Bug Report.
4/10.
Not many out. Kind of a bummer.

Day 1- LA to Zion NP

440 miles.

The trip started a day late, Rudi's battery died on the way out of Santa Barbara and I just got my right cylinder head back from the machine shop, the surface where it meets with the valve cover gasket had warped.
Rudi and I woke up at the butt crack of dawn in an attempt to try and beat the heat through the Mojave. We were on the road by 4:45am. Watched all the sorry suckers making their early commute to work and saw the sunrise through Apple Valley, not a bad way to start the trip.
We made it to Vegas by 10:00am and it was already hot as fuck. I needed to stop at the BMW dealer to grab a few more valve cover gaskets, as now my left cylinder was starting to leak like mad. We got the parts, gassed up, and got out of the wasteland known as Las Vegas.
Made it into Zion after a quick stop in St. George for some groceries. Riding into Zion I was blown away, it's a totally magical place. We meet up with my friend Jessica Lazer who is riding her '92 Honda CBR from San Francisco to her new home, New Orleans. She's riding with us through Utah and some of Colorado.
We set up camp and rode the shuttle to an awesome little swim hole that someone told her about. It was the perfect way to end a long day of desert slab riding.






Mojave. CA.






Nevada.






Arizona.






Utah.






Zion NP.






To the swim hole.






Maxing. Relaxing.






View from the top.






Bug Report.
6/10
Nothing really great except for the juicer I caught to the chin. Some little gnats and stuff,, but mostly too hot for any living thing.