Road Trip! Update: Day 3
I meant to post last night, but as circumstances wuld have it, here I am posting from my phone. :)
Yesterday we rode a total of approx 430 miles from Gallup, NM to Las Vegas, NV.
We got a fairly early start and headed out from Gallup at 8ish after eating breakfast at the hotel. It was a little chilly in the low 60s, so I opted to put my windproof liner in my jacket and my pants. Worked like a charm.
We made our first stop at the Arizona border to take a picture of the sign at the state line. From there, we made the jaunt to see Meteor Crater (as far as I know, there's no special name for it... just Meteor Crater, lol). It was pretty warm by the time we got there, so I took my liners back out. Let me tell you, that place is amazing. I took a bunch of photos, but I wish I had a fishbowl lens for my DSLR because I couldn't get the whole thing in one shot.
From there we headed back to the highway, and stopped for gas at the Shell station. There, after looking at his tires, Tracy determined that given my weight on the back and the 105 degree heat we would be facing in Vegas, it would probably be a good idea to get a new set. We probably had enough rubber to make it to Los Angeles, but the timing was more fortuitous to simply take care of it in Flagstaff. So, Tracy called Northland Motorsports, and they told us not only did they have tires, but they could squeeze us in that afternoon. We rode the last 30 some-odd miles to the bike shop, dropped off the Busa and walked across the parking lot to a mal to eat lunch. 3 hours later, the bike had fresh rubber, and we were on the road again.
Flagstaff sits on top of a mountain of sorts, and the ride down to Kingman, AZ where we turned north towards Vegas was twisty and very scenic. The ride to Vegas, not so much. Flat, with the Sierra Nevadas (I think?) rising on either side and hot as fucking balls. We made a stop at Hoover dam with the intention of taking photos, but with the sun already setting behind the mountains, the light was poor, and the angle wasn't the best. So we just paid out the ass for water ($2 a bottle!) and went on our way into Vegas.
We couldn't have timed it better. The delay in FLagstaff meant we missed the worst of the traffic, and when we got to Gina's house, Evan was there within minutes of our arrival (we got there at 8:30, but Gina wouldn't be home from work until 9:30).
Gina took us for dinner at Capo's, this realy cool speakeasy style Italian restaurant. The entrance is dificult to describe, but I'll give it a try: You walk in the front door and you end up in a room about the size of an elevator. To your right is a door with a doorbell. Ring the doorbell, and on the wall to the leftof the entrance, someone opens a wooden panel to see who it is. Once you're "approved" to come in, the wall in front of you proves to be the actual door inside the restaurant. Inside, it was dimly lit, like something straight out of Godfather. Awesome place. Service was excellent, and the food was fucking phenomenal. They had some crazy names for their dishes, stuff like "The Chef Sleeps with the Fishes", so I can't remember exacty the name of what I ordered except it was eggplant manicotti with cheese and prosciutto, with a side of green beans and garic mashed potatoes. Agh, that's making me hungry, lol. It rocked.
SO anyway... it's Friday morning. We plan on going to the strip for some grub, and hopefully be on our way to LA by noon. Today is a short day - 280 miles. Will post later.
Yesterday we rode a total of approx 430 miles from Gallup, NM to Las Vegas, NV.
We got a fairly early start and headed out from Gallup at 8ish after eating breakfast at the hotel. It was a little chilly in the low 60s, so I opted to put my windproof liner in my jacket and my pants. Worked like a charm.
We made our first stop at the Arizona border to take a picture of the sign at the state line. From there, we made the jaunt to see Meteor Crater (as far as I know, there's no special name for it... just Meteor Crater, lol). It was pretty warm by the time we got there, so I took my liners back out. Let me tell you, that place is amazing. I took a bunch of photos, but I wish I had a fishbowl lens for my DSLR because I couldn't get the whole thing in one shot.
From there we headed back to the highway, and stopped for gas at the Shell station. There, after looking at his tires, Tracy determined that given my weight on the back and the 105 degree heat we would be facing in Vegas, it would probably be a good idea to get a new set. We probably had enough rubber to make it to Los Angeles, but the timing was more fortuitous to simply take care of it in Flagstaff. So, Tracy called Northland Motorsports, and they told us not only did they have tires, but they could squeeze us in that afternoon. We rode the last 30 some-odd miles to the bike shop, dropped off the Busa and walked across the parking lot to a mal to eat lunch. 3 hours later, the bike had fresh rubber, and we were on the road again.
Flagstaff sits on top of a mountain of sorts, and the ride down to Kingman, AZ where we turned north towards Vegas was twisty and very scenic. The ride to Vegas, not so much. Flat, with the Sierra Nevadas (I think?) rising on either side and hot as fucking balls. We made a stop at Hoover dam with the intention of taking photos, but with the sun already setting behind the mountains, the light was poor, and the angle wasn't the best. So we just paid out the ass for water ($2 a bottle!) and went on our way into Vegas.
We couldn't have timed it better. The delay in FLagstaff meant we missed the worst of the traffic, and when we got to Gina's house, Evan was there within minutes of our arrival (we got there at 8:30, but Gina wouldn't be home from work until 9:30).
Gina took us for dinner at Capo's, this realy cool speakeasy style Italian restaurant. The entrance is dificult to describe, but I'll give it a try: You walk in the front door and you end up in a room about the size of an elevator. To your right is a door with a doorbell. Ring the doorbell, and on the wall to the leftof the entrance, someone opens a wooden panel to see who it is. Once you're "approved" to come in, the wall in front of you proves to be the actual door inside the restaurant. Inside, it was dimly lit, like something straight out of Godfather. Awesome place. Service was excellent, and the food was fucking phenomenal. They had some crazy names for their dishes, stuff like "The Chef Sleeps with the Fishes", so I can't remember exacty the name of what I ordered except it was eggplant manicotti with cheese and prosciutto, with a side of green beans and garic mashed potatoes. Agh, that's making me hungry, lol. It rocked.
SO anyway... it's Friday morning. We plan on going to the strip for some grub, and hopefully be on our way to LA by noon. Today is a short day - 280 miles. Will post later.