So I left San Francisco fairly early in the morning and headed south on highway 101. I was fed up with highway 1 from yesterday (all the fog and rain) so I figured I would just book it for LA. Sadly, I found out that 101 is horrendously boring so when it came close to Monterey I jumped over back to highway 1 and the coast hoping that the weather would be better and I would actually be able to see the ocean (unlike yesterday). Sadly that turned out not to be the case. The coast was just as fogged in as it had been before. While the road straightened out a bit so I could go a bit faster it was still pretty boring. I was pretty disappointed because that's supposed to be one of the coolest roads in the country. I guess it will have to wait until next time. Before long I was pissed at the whole situation and decided to cut east until I hit I5 and could go south into LA quickly. It was getting pretty late and the sun was setting. Just as it got really dark, I ran into a traffic jam. When I got closer I found out that another truck had burned down. You might remember that I ran into this exact same thing on I5 as I was coming into Portland just after dark. Apparently there is a trend of semi trucks catching fire when I'm in town. Kinda creepy.
I got into LA sometime after 1AM. I went to Shaun's place (my brother) and pretty much just fell asleep on the floor. Shaun decided that I wasn't important enough for a bed or a couch. He didn't even have a fridge. He claimed that it was because he had just moved in but I know he's been there for a month. He also claimed (slanderously) that his apartment was better off than my apartment in Arizona that he visited at one point. I just want to point out that I at least had a couch for him. I'm just saying....
Shaun did manage to do something good when it came to breakfast. We went to some place (I forget the name, maybe Shaun remembers) that is known for it's breakfast burritos. They were awesome. How can you go wrong with egg, chorizo and potatoes? Clearly you can't.
From there we went to the Griffith Park Observatory. It was really a very cool place. They had all kinds of exhibits and whatnot and we saw a short movie about space and how the various discoveries about space were made. They played it in the planetarium so the movie was projected up on the entire dome. Like IMAX but even more. Nice. There were some very good views of the city and the Hollywood sign. Very nice.
That afternoon we headed towards Vegas. Tim (another brother) just got a job there teaching special ed. Shaun and I figured what better way to spend the rest of the long weekend then in Vegas?
Sadly for me the gambling part of the trip didn't work out too well. I lost all the money I had set aside fairly quickly. Too bad. In addition to that, I had to get my bike serviced and the rear tire replaced (they don't last very long sadly). That all cost me over $700. I also managed to burn my leg on the exhaust pipes because I was stupid enough to wear shorts instead of jeans when I went to drop off the bike. My own stupid fault really. Vegas was a very expensive town. All in all though, it was a good time. Not quite the wild crazy drinking, gambling time that many of you probably expect. There was drinking and gambling, it just wasn't wild. That's ok though, Tim just started his new job (after moving down from Spokane) and hasn't even gotten his first paycheck yet. And the other partner in crime, Shaun, is perhaps the most unadventurous person I've ever known. (You know it's true Shaun). That's ok though, it was expensive enough as it is.
I stayed at Tim's Monday night and left Tuesday morning. My plan was to hit the Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon and then stay the night in Flagstaff. As I left Vegas, it started to rain....of course. One thing Tim told me earlier was that in Vegas they use a lot of oil in their asphalt mix so when it rains, it gets very slick. I found out that the oil would also kick up onto my pants legs leaving them a dull brown color. How awesome is that. Fortunately the rain didn't last too long but sadly I had a little incident when I stopped to get out of the rain. I pulled into a gas station and stopped my bike to look for a parking spot. I stopped on a small hill that had my bike leaning a bit to the right. When I put my foot down to steady myself, it slipped away in that nice oil/rainwater mix. I went tumbling off and my bike went tumbling down. I was perfectly ok and surprisingly so was my bike. I only found out after I had hauled it back upright (no easy feat with a 700lb bike).
I got back on the road and went to Hoover Dam.
I had hopped to take one of the helicopter rides they have there. Sadly, they wouldn't take just one person and I had to wait until someone else showed up. Of course, after 45 minutes no one had showed up. I packed up and left, west on highway 93 to Kingman where I had lunch. I can't remember the name of the place for the life of me but it was really good. Some small place owned by an old married couple. They were both very nice and we talked about my trip and some of the old guy's road trips back in the day.
From there it was west on Route 66 all the way to Williams, AZ. Route 66 was interesting. I saw a lot of other guys on bikes and even a few prairie dogs (maybe marmots, I'm not really enough of an expert on small burrowing rodents to know). I came across two of them standing up in the middle of the road just looking around. Crazy little buggers.
From Williams I went north up to the Grand Canyon. It was a very cool place. I won't try to describe it, just look at the picture.
And some video (the voices you hear are the annoying German tourists who were there being annoying. Damn Germans).
And now south to Flagstaff. I had forgotten just how quickly it gets dark in the mountains. And cold. I was up at about 8000 feet and really cold. Fortunately it was a quick ride down to Flagstaff and a warm hotel.
Tomorrow it's further south to Phoenix and Shelly, Laurel and Joel (cousins) and their families and Mary (who I went to high school with) and then to Sierra Vista, AZ to see Caroline (old Army buddy).
P.S.
I'm now officially caught up on my blog. Good for me!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:W Rte 66,Flagstaff,United States
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