First Really Long Trip (Good, Bad & Ugly)

JHutch808

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My 4,408.7 mile journey, hitting 10 different states began on 9/3/11. I worked dayshift from 6:25am until 2:25pm. Once I got off work, I raced home to load the FZ6 and get out of town. It was hot, humid and kind of nasty due to a very large cloud of smoke coming out of the Columbia River gorge from a number of wildfires. Upon getting home I raced to load my bike up but when I tried to load everything I planned on taking, it just wasn’t working out. I had loaded almost all of it up earlier in the week, just to see if I could get it to work, but for some reason it wasn’t. Originally I had intended on camping in several places on my trip, but due to the fact I was going to be meeting up with my parents on my return leg, that had been reduced to 3 nights. I then decided that I would instead camp at the Best Western when I wasn’t staying with friends or family, ultimately I’m very glad I made that choice.
I got on the road at about 4pm and headed from my home in Vancouver, WA across the I205 bridge then up I84 into the Columbia River gorge. As is normally the case, I was going into gusting head winds and cross winds. It was at this point I realized that my 24” Cee Bailey windscreen was probably not going to work for me. I stand 6’ 2.5” tall but only have a 30” inseam. This means unlike a lot of people, a large portion of my height comes in torso length making me sit higher in the saddle. The full length 24” Cee Bailey windscreen lands somewhere between my armpits and shoulders. With zero wind or a tail wind, it’s not an issue. With the head wind and cross winds, the buffeting on my helmet felt like my head was in a paint mixer. The only relief I got was by lying on the tank. Knowing the miles that lay ahead, that wasn’t going to be an option. I made it as far as Biggs Junction, OR where I pulled off to top off my fuel and re-hydrate. At that stop I changed back to my stock screen and never switched back for the remainder of my trip.

After that stop, I pushed on east making a couple more stops for either fuel or just to hydrate. I arrived in Baker City, OR (306 miles total) at about 10:45pm and found a room at the Super 8, as the Best Western was full due to a large group of riders in town, who were on a ride from the US/Mexico border to the US/Canada border. I got a decent night sleep, but woke up feeling nauseous. Figuring it was just due to the stresses of my previous day’s work along with racing to get out of town, I had a small breakfast and pushed on, with the brisk morning air helping the nausea go away. I rode down through Ontario, OR and crossed the border into Idaho. This began my most miserable day of the trip.

I took a picture before I left, but didn't take many in Oregon due to how late I left.
 

Ransom

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Now that is a road trip! Too bad you were solo, but I bet that as it's pluses and minuses. Ca't wait to hear about the rest.
 

JHutch808

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Just across the border into Idaho, I stopped to fuel up in Fruitland, ID. While fueling up, the nausea came back. I bought a Gatorade and started sipping it. That’s when a portion of my breakfast decided to come back up. Afterwards I felt a bit better, so I got back on the road. The temperature started heating up pretty quick along with a surprising amount of humidity. About an hour up the road I started feeling sick again, so I stopped and took off my riding gear to cool down and sipped more fluids. Started feeling better so I pushed on through Boise and to my next fuel stop in Jerome, ID. While fueling up, I started feeling really bad. I pulled my bike over to a parking spot and called home to my family. I then found out that both my parents, my brother-in-law, my niece and nephews had all come down with a nasty stomach virus. After getting off the call, every last bit of anything in my stomach came up. While trying to compose myself, I got on the phone and reserved a room at the Best Western in Burley, ID about 30 miles up the road. I got composed and jumped on for a fast 30 mile ride. I felt fine for that portion, until I walked into the hotel to check in (284 miles total). At that point extreme nausea along with dizziness hit. I was only able to unload part of my luggage and struggled just to get my riding gear off. I then passed out for about 5 hours. I got up feeling like I was going to have to probably cancel the rest of my ride. I was able to walk over to the food mart next door and bought Dramamine, Pepto and Imodium. I got back to my room, took the medicine and passed out for another 12 hours.

When I woke up the next morning, all nausea was gone, but I had zero appetite and felt like someone had punched me in the gut about 50 times. I managed to down a Gatorade and a bunch of water and then decided to go ahead and push on. I rode out of Burley and headed towards Utah. I don’t know if it was just due to my illness, but the ride across Idaho really sucked. Upon riding into Utah, I started enjoying the ride again with more stuff to look at (i.e. mountains). I fueled up in Brigham City then pushed on south through Salt Lake City to just south of Provo. At Spanish Fork, I turned off the slab of I15, fueled up and headed up Hwy 6 into Price Canyon. Talk about a really nice ride. Nothing technical, just lots of fast sweeping curves with beautiful scenery and wildlife.

After pushing on through Price, UT, I fueled up in Green River and headed towards Moab. Along the way into Moab, I obviously stopped to take some photos. It was really awesome riding in with all the red rock cliffs and rock formations to look at. Originally I had intended on stopping in either Green River or Moab. But, upon riding into Moab, I decided that I wasn’t quite ready to stop, even though it was close to dark (probably not the wisest decision). About 30 miles south of Moab I ran into a nice rain storm, but hey I’m from western Washington so I figured on pushing through it. I stopped to fuel up in Monticello, UT about the time a nasty downpour hit. I took my time fueling up and ate a snack. The storm let up after about 15 minutes, so I pushed on into the darkness.
 

JHutch808

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I don’t know exactly when I crossed into Colorado as I never saw a sign and never hit any hills. But about an hour after leaving Monticello, I was all of a sudden in Cortez, CO. I decided to stop at the Best Western and get a room. I checked in at 10:45pm local time and luckily the Jacuzzi was open until midnight. I took full advantage of it after the 530 miles I rode that day. I finally got a really good restful night sleep and woke up to start what was probably the most amazing ride scenic ride or drive I’ve ever taken. After breakfast I loaded up and headed east through Durango and on to Pagosa Springs (thank you for the recommendations on this route). I stopped to take pictures in a few places along this route. After stopping in Pagosa Springs for fuel, I head south down Hwy 84 and into New Mexico. At every turn I wanted to stop and take pictures, since it felt like I was riding through a non-stop 360 degree postcard. As I rode further into northern New Mexico, the scenery transitioned from Rocky Mountain forests to more red rock country. There is no way to put into words how beautiful the ride from Pagosa Springs, CO to Santa FE, NM is, you just have to do it yourself. The only way I can describe it is that several places along this route, I had to pull over due to sensory overload. Maybe every 10-15 miles I would actually feel overwhelmed and need to stop for a few minutes to just soak in my surroundings. Heck, even the pictures I took though there, don’t remotely due justice to this stretch of road. Eventually I got to Santa Fe where I had planned to stop. Once again, I didn’t feel like stopping and pushed on. I made my way down to Santa Rosa, NM on what was also a pretty nice ride. After fueling up there, I rode on into the encroaching darkness through Ft. Sumner and over to Clovis, NM. In Clovis I found the worst roads I have ever ridden on in any town. Also, sorry if this offends anyone, but damn it stunk there. Due to the late hour, I went ahead and stopped for the night in Clovis (469 miles total).
 

JHutch808

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Upon waking up and having some breakfast, I rode into Texas and headed towards Littlefield to meet up with my buddy Shaun who rode up on his Harley from Lubbock to meet me for the last bit of the ride in. We rode back into Lubbock (104 miles) and to his house, where I finally had some cold beer and a nice rest. I spent the next 4 days in Lubbock visiting, enjoying some decent Texas BBQ and getting in some riding around the area along with some shooting at the local gun range. There really wasn't much scenery to photograph, but here's a couple pics in Lubbock.

The BBQ was great but the bugs were huge.
 

VEGASRIDER

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At least you didn't have diahrea, that would have been ugly.

Didn't we all recommend you take a camelbak? I can't believe you carried two windscreens. LOL... you must be a Best Western guy. Yes, the Jacuzzis are nice after a long ride. I've been through Clovis NM, isn't that home to Cannon AFB?

Thanks for sharing.
 

JHutch808

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At least you didn't have diahrea, that would have been ugly.

Didn't we all recommend you take a camelbak? I can't believe you carried two windscreens. LOL... you must be a Best Western guy. Yes, the Jacuzzis are nice after a long ride. I've been through Clovis NM, isn't that home to Cannon AFB?

Thanks for sharing.

Yes you did and I did have my Camleback with me. In my first pic when I was leaving, you can see it strapped to the top back of my bike. It was an absolute neccesity. I've got the Gold Crown Member thing and actually earned a couple free nights after this trip. I believe it is Cannon AFB that you ride past on the east side of Clovis.
 

JHutch808

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Sunday morning (9/11/11) I woke up, loaded up my bike, said my goodbyes and headed back towards New Mexico. I retraced my ride past Santa Rosa but instead of heading to Santa Fe, I rode to Albuquerque. The first 160 miles to Ft. Sumner was flat and boring, but the rest of the ride through New Mexico was pretty nice, even riding the slab of I40. Eventually I crossed over into Arizona and pushed on into Winslow. I stopped at the truck stop in Winslow to fuel up, eat dinner and decide whether to ride to Flagstaff or south to Payson. The darkness along with the flashes of lightning to the south made my decision for me. I got back on the road and headed to Flagstaff. Somehow I still managed to hit a massive and nasty monsoon. There was lighting and it was raining so hard it that I couldn’t keep my visor clear. Luckily there wasn’t much traffic, so I stayed in the right lane, turned on my hazard lights and slowed way down while riding with my visor most of the way up. About an hour and a half later, I arrived in Flagstaff soaking wet but still in a good mood. I checked into the Best Western who had a special covered area for bikes to park. I unloaded and got a good night sleep.

I woke up about 5:30am (9/12/11) with the intention of trying to make Phoenix before it warmed up. I woke up to an approaching thunderstorm that had the emergency alert system going off on the TV. I got some decent video of it from my window as it was coming. With the threat of ping pong ball size hail along with a possible tornado, I went down to ensure I was well under the cover and put my bike on the center stand. That’s when the hail started. Luckily the large hail passed to the west, but about 1.5 inches of hail managed to accumulate on the roads around the hotel, so much for my early start. I went to the breakfast area to grab coffee and something to eat. Fortunately, I was able to get on the rode by about 8am. The ride down from Flagstaff to Phoenix was beautiful, though there were a few delays due to about 5 construction zones. I arrived at my friend Brennan’s house in Peoria before noon, but after it hit 100 degrees. No big deal, it still felt better than the day I started my trip. I spent the next few days visiting friends, getting in some local riding and relaxing. I do miss living in Arizona and riding around really makes me want to move back.
 
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