Posted: 31 July 2007 at 3:55pm | IP Logged

I left July, Friday the 13th to try to accomplish four things. #1- Do a BBG1500 from Franklin, Wisconsin ( just south of Milwaukee ) to Elsinore, Utah. #2- Ride to the Pacific Ocean. #3- Ride to the most southwestern point that a person can ride to in the US. #4- And then ride to Spirit Lake, Iowa for the Victory Motorcycle Rally. And try to see as much as I can on the way to each destination. (#1 ) Left Franklin at 5:30 pm. I have a Victory Vegas with a stock 4.5 gallon fuel tank so I would need to make 11 stops for gas. With that many stops, my stops would need to be made fast. At most of my stops I wouldn't even get off the bike, just gas and go. The GPS was programmed with stops about 140 miles apart. The ride went well, the weather was good, no rain. Temps ranged from 59 degrees at night in Nebraska to 103 in Green River, Utah. I arrived in Elsinore, Utah and the time on my gas receipt was 3:07 pm mountain time, 4:07 central time. GPS mileage was 1516 miles, time 22 hours and 37 minutes. I had good luck finding a finishing witness. An officer with with Utah Highway Patrol pulled in for gas, and he signed my form. Worst part of the ride was all the hours of riding in the dark, not even a moon. My favorite memory of the ride is somewhere before Ogallala, NE, at about the halfway point, I could see just a little sliver of glowing orange along the horizon, in my right mirror. It was the sun rising, I had survived the night. And then to finish the ride, riding through the mountains in Colorado and then through Utah was great. Now it was time to find something to eat, get some sleep, and then start working on #2.

Posted: 31 July 2007 at 4:04pm | IP Logged

Day two. A nice slow ride down hwy. 89 through Zion and then camped in Hurricane, Utah. I ended up in a RV campground, it's a 105 degrees but I have 5 trees, but no where to sit. Until a woman from one of the RV's brings me a lawn chair to use. She made my day.

Posted: 31 July 2007 at 4:09pm | IP Logged

Yep, that's how we roll!

Steve, congratulations on your BBG. It's a tough ride (well, maybe not for the guy who just did seven of 'em in a row). But, for we mortals, it's a tough one and a significant accomplishment. Well done!

Enjoy the rest of your trip.

Posted: 31 July 2007 at 4:20pm | IP Logged

Now it's on to Las Vegas and then over to Hoover Dam. Yep, a lot of concrete. It was 112 degrees in Boulder City so I decide to wait until 5:30 pm to try to ride to Needles, Cal. I'm heading down hwy. 95 and it is hot. How hot? It is so hot that I am riding next to trucks just to stay in their shade. I make it to Needles and at 7:00 pm it is still 113 degrees. I waited until the sun went down and rode the next 90 miles to Blythe at night. I stayed in Blythe. Cal. The next morning I took hwy. 78. Hwy. 78 is a very cool road. Starts with farm fields, then rolling hills through desert, then sand dunes. It's also the first time I ever had to swerve to miss a lizard that was running across the road.

Posted: 31 July 2007 at 4:25pm | IP Logged

I could go on and on about the ride. But now the high points. I made it to the Pacific Ocean at Silver Strand State Park. It's south of San Diego.

Posted: 31 July 2007 at 4:28pm | IP Logged

Doesn't count unless you put your foot in.

Posted: 31 July 2007 at 4:35pm | IP Logged

Now it's time for #3. Find the southwestern most point in the US. It's on to Border Field State park. This park is right on the US, Mexican border. This is the most southwestern point that you can ride to. Behind my bike is the bull ring in Tijuana, to the right of this picture is the ocean.

Posted: 31 July 2007 at 4:43pm | IP Logged

And this the most southwestern most point that you can walk to. The Mexican border and the Pacific Ocean. The people behind me are Mexicans, the fence has big gaps and they just walk through. Some of the people talked to me, but most of them stayed away because they think I am the Border Patrol.

Posted: 31 July 2007 at 4:51pm | IP Logged

This is Ken and Phyllis. A retired couple from Florida that let me share their camp site at Sequoia National Park when I showed up on Friday night and there were no sites left. They saved my day.

Posted: 31 July 2007 at 4:59pm | IP Logged

Stayed in Sequoia National Park two nights and then went to Yosemite National Park. After Yosemite I went to Nevada to take on Hwy. 50, The Loneliest Road in America. I got my official Hwy. 50 survival guide and did the 400 miles of two lane highway across Nevada.