Day 32-35-Las Vegas !- 11-13 Oct. 2014,

After a quick dip in the pool we spent the first night in town taking in the neon excess of the old strip and wondering why anyone would bring children to this adult land of excess.

I remember it being bigger

The real reason everyone had come down to Vegas was not just to see me and Jason (although I’m sure it was a major factor), the main event was in fact the Red Bull Air Races. To this end, after everyone managed to find some breakfast we piled into cabs and made our way out to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to see the spectacle.  

I found Tractor! Vegas is just like Saskatchewan!

On the second day the festivities had to be canceled before the final round due to high winds. As a result the pilot with the fastest time from qualifying the previous day was declared the winner. The winner turned to be the one and only Canadian pilot in the mix, Pete McLeod! In 2007 while I was earning my private pilot’s license in St. Andrews, MB I happened to meet Mr. McLeod when he stopped for fuel while taking his aerobatic stunt plane from show to show. So needless to say, I was cheering for him.

Somewhere along the way I found time to take in the Penn and Teller show with Kelsey and Judy. I also tried my hand at blackjack and found myself up after three days but on the final day in town Vegas took it all back.

The crew in the "Blaine Mobile"

Day 36- Las Vegas to Prescott, AZ-402 km- 14 Oct. 2014,

After 4 days in sin city I was happy to make my escape, the air races were excellent and seeing some friendly faces from home was even better. As for the city itself, I’m glad I took it in but I’m not in any hurry to go back to the carnival excesses of that city.

After packing up and lugging my bags back through the maze of the hotel we finally set off heading west to the Hoover Dam under a burning sun. It took nearly an hour to break reach the city limits but after that it felt great to be back on the open road.

Yes, it's big

Day 37-Prescott, AZ-15-20 Oct. 2014,

In Prescott we met up with our friend Christine H. and Brian D., both friends from the Air Cadet Gliding Program. Christine is learning to be a Helicopter Instructor Pilot while working a degree at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, she was kind enough to let us crash at her place for a few days. We had intended on staying only two nights but the combination of WIFI, hot tubs, showers, beds, and Christine’s incredible beer infused cooking (I really must get that cook book!) we wound up getting lazy and staying for six nights!

Hiking

Gliding from the front seat, weird

While in town I went for several hikes into the hills surrounding Prescott and we all went gliding on Saturday at the local soaring club. The soaring club used a winch (which appeared to have been taken directly from the set of Mad Max) to launch from the only runway suitable for takeoff; there was a few more options for landing. After coming all this way and patiently waiting my turn I managed to snag a ride in a Schweizer  SGS 2-33A, the same glider I fly in the Air Cadet Program. We didn’t have much luck finding lift so we returned to Terra Firma after 20 min in the air.   

Mad Max winch

More Hiking

  

Day 42-Prescott to Apache Junction, AZ -300km- 20 to 23 Oct. 2014,

After a lazy week in Prescott we loaded up and set off towards Phoenix, we were going to spend a few days with Jason’s Grandfather and his friend, ken and Sharon, at their winter home in Apache Junction (a suburb of Phoenix). In addition to visiting, we also had to get all our paper work in order for crossing the line into Mexico.

But before we buried ourselves in paper work we took a day to ride out of town on a road that steadily deteriorated from pavement to gravel to a narrow winding dirt road that eventually took us to the Roosevelt Damn. The rough road was a blast on our bikes but the bumps caused the spare tube and my license place to bounce off after back tracking for several kilometers I recovered the precious piece of rubber but the license plate had been swallowed by the desert. At least I won’t have to worry about getting any more photo-radar-tickets in the mail!

Jason likes to take the hard way

When we finally went to work to make arrangements for the border crossing we soon found out that there was no free WIFI in Ken and Sharon’s trailer park so we wound up camping out in front of the local public library, after dark, to tap into their internet pipeline.

After three days of home cooked meals , excellent hospitality, and sever swims in the pool we finally had all our documents in order, we were finally ready for Mexico! On the morning of the 23rd we loaded up once more and headed west. Since it would take all day to ride from Phoenix to the border crossing at Mexicali, we decided to ride until we were 50 km from the border, set up camp, and cross into the unknown first thing in the morning. This plan brought us to a stealth campsite along the Colorado River, the sunset was excellent... and then all the bugs from the wetlands surrounding the river came out to join us. We awoke flee bitten but ready, with a final stop of in Calexico, CA to grab some oil filters we finally rolled up to the border crossing...

Stay tuned for the next episode of "Dual Sporter Semi Weekly", where you learn how your hero (me) wound up trapped at desert oasis while Jason absconded with my precious motorbike back to sunny California.  

 Day 23-27-San Francisco - 30 Sept.-5 Oct. 2014,

My first priority was to get a new set of rubbers for my bike, after making a few calls and struggling to make myself understood over a poor skype connection I had a set arranged which would be ready for pick up in two days. Perfect, I didn’t really want to change tires on my first day in a new city!

With that settled, we got ready to head over to visit the USS Hornet, a WWII aircraft carrier which had escaped the scrap yard by becoming a museum ship. We had planned on catching a bus to Oakland (where the Hornet is docked) but Google estimated that it would take nearly 3 hours to bus the 30 km to the dock. Would we risk riding the bikes with what was left of my tire to avoid a 3 hour bus ride? Yes we would! (With all of my heavy gear unloaded the risk of destroying the tire was greatly reduced). We made it there and back without incident! Yay!

What was left of my rear tire 

 We had initially planned on spending just an hour or two on the ship but in the end we spent the entire day crawling all over this massive ship. The Hornet was commissioned during WWII to fight in the pacific, after the war this oil burning carrier remained in service until the 70’s becoming famous for retrieving the crew of Apollo 11 when the splashed down into the ocean after their excursion to the moon.

I have the ball, USS Hornet

USS Hornet

After sleeping in after a late night of socializing we set out to visit Alcatraz which required us to walk for the better part of an hour to catch the ferry to the Island (I suspect that if you were an inmate you would get a ride to the ferry). Once you get away from the crowd at the dock you are free to explore the island which over the years has been home to thousands of birds, a military fort, a prison, a museum, and finally a Nicholas Cage Film.

Alcatraz

Alcatraz

 That night we went joined an inter-Hostel pub crawl which gave us an opportunity to meet up and swap stories with some fellow travelers from all over the world. We had originally planned on just staying three nights in San Fran but during our stay we heard that there was going to be a three day “Hardly Strictly Bluegrass” music festival in Haite Park which was totally free! I could practically see Jason’s rainbow hippy pants vibrating with excitement! We booked an extra few nights in the Hostel and set out with Liam (a fellow world traveler from England) to chill out in the part and enjoy some music.

Hardly Strictly

On Saturday morning, it was finally time to swap tires. The tire shop wanted $45/tire to change them for us so we elected to change them ourselves in the parking lot across the street. During the process the milk crate holding Jason’s bike off the ground decided that it had had enough and dropped his bike onto the ground while the rear tire was off (very embarrassing). After struggling to get the tire on while bike was lying on its side we were able to get it vertical with only a few choice words. After 3 hours of work in the sun we had managed to replace both of my tires and Jason’s rear tire, maybe next time we will let the professionals take care of it… but probably not. Jason went back to join his people at the music festival while I set out to explore the city on my brand new tires.

Jason's bike taking a nap while we change the tire

On my last day in the city I tagged along on a walking tour showing off the changing architecture styles present in down town San Francisco (yes its nerdy and yes I enjoyed it).

Sutro Baths, modern day ruins

Twin Peaks

The time had finally come for us to load up our beasts of burden and bid farewell to the hostel  and San Fran. In the late afternoon we rolled north across the GG Bridge into the Golden Gate National Recreation area. Our goal was just to find a place to camp for the night before we began the long journey inland to Las Vegas!

The bridge from full house!

Day 28-Golden Gate National Recreation area to Yosemite National Park -390 km- 6 Oct. 2014,

We packed up early and rode down towards the beach, we were planning to have breakfast on the coast, but halfway down the way was blocked by thick fog. Turning back inland, we climbed out of the fog and found a scenic pull out to enjoy breakfast. From our vantage point we could see the peaks of  San Francisco sky scrapers  peeking through the thick cloud pant.

It was time for an oil change, we found a Walmart in the next city and set up shop in the parking lot. Using paint trays as drip pans we dumped the oil and replaced it with new crude. Luckily we didn’t observe any metal chunks in the old oil and we only made a little bit of a mess in the parking lot!

During the very hottest part of the day my bike began to wobble on a mushy back tire. I pulled off and found my rear tire was flat! Just 2 days after I had replaced the rear tire and tube! It didn’t take long to have the tire off and a new tube installed (we are starting to get good at this!) in the process I found a finger sized hole in tube, I must have pinched it during the tire change. So there was really no one to blame but myself. We hadn’t been able to find an electric pump so Jason and I spent the better part of half an hour pumping up my tire with the hand pump.

Having worked up a sweat and an appetite we rolled into the first gas station we found and were rewarded with some fantastic smoothies to beat the heat. Once we had regained our cool we rode on to Yosemite national park and set up camp for the night. As the sun began to set we finished the day with a short hike up a logging road and were rewarded with a grand view of the valley and the setting sun.

  

Day 29- Yosemite National Park-Oak Creek -280 km- 7 Oct. 2014,

The day started with a leisurely ride through Yosemite which brought us up to 10000’ in elevation; our highest point yet! From there we began the long descent back towards sea level (and below!) in Death Valley.

Yosemite

During the hottest part of the day we stopped in Bishop, California to retreat into the air condition glory of the local Safe Way (I may have spent a few minutes with my head in a freezer). After acquiring nourishment we consulted the oracle (google) and found that we wouldn’t make it to Death Valley before dark. Instead we found a campground on google maps 50km down the road and set off.

When we arrived at the ‘campground’ we found a beat up road and what may have been the remnants a campground twenty years ago. Since there was no one around we decided to take advantage of the free camping and set up camp for the night.

I had talked to me brother, Graeme, when we stopped for internet and lunch; he let me know that there was going to be a lunar eclipse tonight. Is set me alarm for 3:30AM, left the fly off of my tent (it doesn’t rain in the desert anyways), and was able watch the eclipse from the comfort of me sleeping bag.

Day 30-Oak Creek to Death Valley -290 km- 8 Oct. 2014,

As we rolled down the road the elevation began to fall away and the heat began to rise. By the time we arrived at the entrance to Death Valley I was sweating from every pore and still had 3000’ to descend. We reached the campsite that we selected on the interwebs (chosen mostly because it was free), it turned out to be nothing more than a flat patch of gravel just off the highway with an outhouse and a single tap. I suggested that we travel the extra 20km to the next campsite in the hopes that it maybe had a pool…. Or even just some shade. As it turned out, it was just a larger and hotter gravel lot that wasn’t free. After stopping at the gas station to grab some cold beer, we headed back to the first campsite to set up camp under the scorching sun.

The valley.... of death

Jason and I had different method of dealing with the extreme heat, I covered myself from head to toe to hide from the sun (this included a water soaked buff covering my head and neck). Jason took the opposite approach. He stripped down to just his underwear and ball cap and soaked in the sun. The Chinese tourist that stopped to ask us for directions are probably still confused by our bizarre appearance.

Later that evening two more adventure riders pulled in I wandered over to say hello. As it turned out it was another pair of Canadian riders! Roger S. and his wife are a 50-something couple from Northern British Columbia riding down to Argentina (just like us!) for the second time (unlike us) and they were planning on doing the trip in only 6 months (now I’m starting to feel very slow). They swapped stories, advice, and beer with us for a few hours until a crotchety old man from a few sites over came over and complained that our casual conversation was disturbing the peace! Didn’t we know that some people came out here to get away from all the noise of the city? The time was 9:30… he must have had very sensitive hearing.

Day 31- Death Valley -200 km- 9 Oct. 2014,

Today we stripped down our motor bikes and set out into the desert to explore our surroundings. Jason had plotted a route for us that he had found on another ADV riders blog. They had conquered this route on 400cc dirt bikes and described it as ‘challenging’. On our heavy 650cc tractors it felt like a gruelling slog at some points but the ride was well worth the effort.

Again Jason was riding too fast (in my opinion) on the washboard and boulder infested dessert roads. I suggested that maybe he should slow down to preserve his bike and his body; he pretty much scoffed at this. Inevitably, Jason hit a rock in the road which flattened his front tire and dinted his rim badly. As a result, I spent the very hottest part of the day cowering in the meager shade provided by my bike while Jason fixed his flat; afterwards he didn’t ride any slower. I am all for riding bikes hard and fast but when these bikes are your constant companion for a ten month adventure, where they will often be your only way out of hostile environments; I feel that they should be treated with extra care and attention. Jason doesn’t feel this way and at this rate I will be surprised if he makes it to Panama before he shakes his bike to pieces.

We are getting very good at changing tires!

But all griping aside, it was an excellent day of riding!

 

Day 32- Death Valley to Las Vegas -300 km- 10 Oct. 2014,

Since April we had been looking forward to taking in the Red Bull Air Races in Las Vegas. In addition to seeing high performance planes zipping around we were also going to meet up with a bunch of friends who were flying down from Canada to see us! Or maybe to see the air races…. But either way these friends would have hotel rooms with real showers and real beds!

We departed our gravel lot early to beat the heat and cruised into Vegas! As the city began to come into view my GPS began flashing a low battery warning, uh oh! The charger on the mount had been acting up the last few days and had finally decided to quit working all together. I wasn’t looking forward to the prospect of navigating to the hotel without the GPS…. Fortunately the battery held out long enough to get me to Circus Circus (the hotel) where I rendezvoused with the crew from Saskatoon. Apparently I was a little hairier and smellier than when I left!