8178.1 miles
ridetime 145:47
average speed 56.60
max speed 99.1

I've used the word Awesome so much in regard to the trip that its become trite.

A quick and insufficient summary:

Beartooth Pass, Chief Joseph Highway, Yellowstone, Lolo Pass, Hells Canyon, Crater Lake, Highway 1 from Oregon to near SLO, Avenue of The Giants, Golden Gate Bridge, Bixby Bridge, Big Sur, Yosemite, Death Valley, Grand Canyon (north and south rims), Zion, Bryce, North Canyonlands, Arches, and finish up on the Million Dollar Highway.

It's easier to post pictures to Facebook, so you can go there and search andy derryberry. At some point I will probably do some kind of write-up.

Phil's Write-up

Dave's Write-up


Day 1: Nashville to Topeka

Honestly, I don't remember much about Missouri except that we got around St. Louis without a lot of trouble. To do that, take I57 to I64 to I255 to I270. Busy roads but nothing like any other route.

Kansas City has an interesting look to it, but we just barreled through, so I don't know any more than that.

Topeka seems to be a nice moderate size city. Still, it was chosen because it was about the distance needed. 650 miles is just business anyway; it was there and we covered it without any hitches, so all good.

Day 2: Topeka to Denver

Having never been in Kansas before, all this road was new to me. Surprisingly, it is not table flat until you get within 100 miles or so of Colorado. The Flint Hills area has a nice roll to it and, after a cold, foggy, start we made good time. Just 550 miles, so kind of a break. You have a mild sense that you are climbing all the way across Kansas, but you're still surprised that Denver looks flat, is flat, as you roll into it on I70 from the east, and yes the altitude is a mile. Dave arrived from Scotland on time and we ate supper at the little diner just across the parking lot from the hotel. Now it really begins.

Day 3: Denver to Cody

A lot of this day was interstate and all if it pretty straight and moderately flat (high plains though 5-6000'). Still, it was new territory to me and very interesting. One thing that comes through clearly is how vast some areas in this country are and how few people live in these areas. Once off the interstate we passed very few vehicles. I'd dare say we saw as many wild animals as we did people from Casper to Cody. We ran some very good roads approaching Cody through the  Wild River Area. A very fast and curvy descent with fantastic views.

Day 4: Cody to Chief Joseph Highway, Beartooth Mountain, Yellowstone Park

We take off from Cody at daybreak. With fog, daybreak, and the possibility of large animals in the road, we start off a bit slow. But soon the fog lifts, the sun shines and we roll down the Chief Joseph highway at a good clip. Like most roads in the west the surface is good, the climbs are steep and the curves made for speed. I use all the Wee has on some of the climbs. I could have shifted down into 5th a few times, but the bike held it's own in 6th with the throttle pinned. This is a great road.

I had googled Beartooth some and I knew there had been some work and road closings during the summer. But, the road was open and across we went. There was construction at the top for several miles. We had sections of hard pack gravel, single lane. The construction did force us to stop at the top and we got some pictures we couldn't have gotten otherwise. Again, great road. We rode across and then returned to head to Yellowstone.

Hwy 12 is really nice all the way to the park. At the park we sorted out that Dave and I could buy one annual pass to cover us both. We just had to both sign it. This guy knew the rules whereas the guy at Big Bend didn't.

Yellowstone needs to be seen. You can look at Phil and Dave's pictures and get an idea, but pictures are a poor substitute for the experience of being there.

Day 5: More Yellowstone

The day started out with Phil's bike being tipped over (the center stand had sunk in the hard pack parking lot and the bike fell on it's right side breaking the turn signal/mirror pod. You get tickets in CA for not having turn signals, so the challenge was to reassemble the many parts and get the turn signal back in place (the mirror was shattered). Dave mentioned something that a friend of his had experimented with for cheap fixes on the road: Super Glue topped/mixed with baking soda. I don't understand the chemistry, but the pod went back together and made the rest of the trip solid as a rock through cold, rain, heat and gusting winds.

I can't recommend Yellowstone highly enough. Every American should go to fully appreciate the awesome magnitude of the gifts we have. Old Faithful was right on time though a bit on the weak side. Still, there is no other place in the States to see such a thing. All the thermal features are fascinating. The earth's hot interior in not far below the surface.

Old Faithful Lodge is a wonderful building. I can remember several years ago it was threatened by fire; I didn't realize, then, what a loss that would have been. Google it for pictures and history. Wonderful.

Wildlife was everywhere. It got to be old hat for buffalo to be in the road. Elk lounged on the lawn at Mammoth Hot Springs. We didn't see bear, but bear sign was everywhere along long stretches of road: tree bark torn from trees. I wouldn't care to be out at night.

The massive waterfall on Yellowstone River is the most amazing that I have ever seen. The pictures are really good, but the real thing is even better.

We encountered some rain and lightning at Mammoth Hot Springs but had no problems. The day went quite well.

Day 6: Lolo Pass

Right off I must say this is the most fun motorcycle road I have ever ridden. Something like 120 mi of fast, smooth, continuous curves through a beautiful landscape. I ran about 90% of my ability. The Strom maybe 80%. I do know I made the rear tire look like a posting from a guy who had run his at a track. The rear tire had a bit of a melted look pretty much to the edge of the tire. It worked great, though. The Bridgestone radials are very good on the Strom. There wasn't a lot of traffic, but what was there we flew by.The only fly in the ointment was a failing fuel pump on Phil's bike and road work on the west end. Toward the end it was hot and we were pushing Phil and his ST to a pull off. We finally made it to the hotel. Overall a fine day of riding.

Day 7: Crater Lake and getting to the coast.

A great day of riding AND a beautiful place to visit. The water in Crater Lake is  blue blue blue. You've never seen blue before. The pictures are close, but still not like the real thing.

From Crater Lake to the coast is very nice. There is a large temperature difference. 90's on the east side of the coastal mountains and 50's on the west side. We got to Banden with a little of daylight and got our first look at the Pacific. Sweet.

Day 8: Pacific Coast Hiway and Avenue of the Giants

Every turn on the PCH is a photo op. The only variable to it is the coastal fog. The road is challenging in spots and the views are distracting. The two things together make it a difficult ride. You just have to relax, take care of business and know that you can't photograph everything (I did take 1200 pictures on the trip, though). It's called the Oregon Coastal Highway where we started in Bandon. That's 101. Later it's called Redwood Highway.

Just south of Rio Dell CA we came to the Avenue of the Giants. Just 2% of the coastal giant redwoods are left. It is hard to describe the spiritual feel being among living things that have lived so long and reach to the heavens.

Shortly we came to Hwy1, the coastal highway, or PCH. From 101 to the coast on hwy 1 is my second most fun ride. It is not as long or as fast as Lolo and there is more traffic, but this is a fantastic road.

What a great day of riding this was.

Day 9: More PCH, the Golden Gate and SF

Well, there just aren't words to convey the coast highway. Look at some of the pics. Otherwise, you need to go see it yourself. This was a great day of riding the PCH.

In San Francisco I bought the only cash only gas on the whole trip. Go figure. The Golden Gate Bridge was socked in with fog. It seemed relentless, so we took it on faith that the bridge was actually there and crossed. I guess it was a bridge; we got to the other side.

Driving through SF wasn't too bad. We were opposite of most of the traffic. It looks to be a nice city. We stayed about 20 mi north with friends; considerably up in the hills. We rode a rough, narrow road on the way up. This was a bit of fun specially delivered by Phil.

We arrived in good order at a beautiful, peaceful home in the mountains.

Day 10: Bixby bridge, Big Sur an make the turn towards home.

We start out early with several local riding friends. Out of the mountains to the coast we ride a fantastic road and hit the coast somewhere around Pescadero. More PCH and photos. At Bixby Bridge (which Bronson crossed starting the series Then Came Bronson) we back tracked a little and headed east. A symbolic halfway point.

Then we headed across wonderful California desert toward Yosmite. We stayed with more friends. They live close to the park. A really great place to live. They treated us wonderfully providing a nice place to stay, great food, and a place for Phil to chance fuel pumps (also provided the part) and a place for me to change oil. How great is that?

Day 11: Yosmite and Death Valley

Great roads are everywhere. Fires in Yosmite changed travel plans some. A road we were going to use was damaged by fires and closed. It became impossible to go into the valley... a time and distance thing. So, we travelled north across Tioga pass through Yosmite. This is an astonishing road to travel. The vistas are remarkable, the road great fun. We dropped out of the mountains at Mono Lake and headed toward Death Valley.

The deserts of California are vast and beautiful. We were blasting down 195 when 20 miles of road construction brought the whole deal to a stop. It being California, motorcycle filtering is legal and Phil and Dave have done a bunch of it in Europe. I, on the other hand, was the widest and had never done any filtering.

Finally, when the cooling fan on the Strom came on (first time ever) I decided filter I must. It actually worked pretty well, even when a few people tried to cut me off. They could never stop me. We finally came to a point where lanes were very tight. There was a good shoulder, but I wasn't sure about the law. I waited a few minutes and a Harley guy came toodling down the shoulder and pulled out right behind him. We went miles on the shoulder passing dead stopped traffic. Finally we hit the construction zone and got through quickly and I caught up with Phil and Dave.

Death Valley is beautiful and fiercely hot. At Bad Water, way below sea level, the temperature must have been 120. Being delayed actually had it up side as we got some shadows and thus relief on our way to Shoshone, where we spent the night.

Day 12: Grand Canyon South

Today was mostly a bustin miles day getting to the south rim. Everything went well and we had enough time to sight see at the Canyon. You have to see it to comprehend it.

Day 13: Grand Canyon North and Bryce Canyon

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