Day eight Jenner CA 3662 (of Hockeyfans trip)

I got up early feeling very well rested and I guess 11 hours of sleep will do that for you. I apologized to my neighbors for crashing so early and they apologized for being so loud during the night. No worries I don't think a marching band would have bothered me that night. I continued on Hwy 20 towards the coast but ended up heading south down to Auburn CA. I was trying to figure out where I was and pick a route to the coast when a guy asked what kind of bike I was riding. Long story short he rides and helped put me back on track. Since I had an extra day to kill and wasn't in a hurry he suggested I follow 20 through Willits to Fort Bragg. Good suggestion. Hwy 20 from Willits to Ft Bragg was 33 miles of heaven. Tight twisty fresh pavement lined by redwoods and every car you catch politely pulls to the side so you can pass. Got a good workout on that stretch of road. As soon as I hit the PCH I saw the pacific. It was foggy and 10 degrees cooler than it had been 10 miles ago but I was still pumped. I did it. I just rode my bike across the country.

Dina decided to reward me with a Hotel room and a nice dinner on her. Due to some confusion I ended up paying for the room but she still picked up the tab for dinner. She wasn't real happy it happened to be a $60 steak dinner but I promised to bring her back to this very same restaurant and I would buy next time.

Day seven Grass valley CA 3330 miles (of Hockeyfans trip)

I knew crossing NV would suck and it didn't disappoint. I got up early and rolled out at 6:30, I stayed after it and hit Cali by 1:30. Here is a pic from the road.
When I hit Cali on I-80 The road was in terrible shape and just felt like it was beating the crap out of me. Luckily I wasn't on it for very long. I hit Hwy 20 and headed into Grass Valley CA. The campground I planned to stay at advertised campsites with no water electric or sewer hookups for $20 a night. When I pulled up to the office and went to check in they asked where my camper was. I tell them I'm riding my bike across the country I didn't bring a camper, she tells me I can't sleep in a tent there. Only in Cali do you find a campground that doesn't allow camping. On the positive side they did have a cool statue near the entrance.

I called Dina and like the angel she is she found me a campground not too far away that allowed "tent" camping and I pulled in and set up camp while it was still pretty early. I got to talking to the people camping next to me and they were blown away that I rode all the way from Bonneville that day. I guess the fact that I left the east coast just a week ago was not that impressive. I wish I could remember their names because they were some really nice people and I felt bad for drinking one beer they offered and promptly falling asleep at about 7:30. I can be such a lightweight sometimes.

Day six 2804 miles Wendover NV (of Hockeyfans trip)

I continued down Hwy 89 with the intention of hitting Hwy 39 into Ogden UT and meeting up with Jpip. Hwy 89 has some very nice sections down through the canyons but the trees and close canyon walls make it hard to get a good pic so I didn't. I saw a real live cattle drive in progress crossing the road here. Somehow I missed the turn and ended up in Logan UT which is not too far from the interstate and a long way from Hwy 39. Oh well I'll wait and meet Jpip in Vegas. I hit the interstate and rolled through Salt Lake City and got a pretty good look at the lake the city was named after. No idea if it was deep but it sure was wide.

After that I hit one of the most boring stretches of pavement imaginable. A hundred miles of NOTHING. Seemed like it took forever but it couldn't have been that long because I rolled into Wendover UT early enough to hit the Salt flats.

This, to a gear head like me, is hallowed ground. I rode out onto the salt flats and started to toy with the idea of seeing what speedy had in her without the bags. It didn't take long to figure out salt does not equal traction and I didn't have my jacket on. So I got back on the pavement and rode off into the sunset at a reasonable speed. Ok I was really going away from the sunset and I hit 137mph.

Day five 2433 miles Alpine WY (of Hockeyfans trip)

This was the first day I didn't cross a state line. I followed Hwy 16 out of Worland and into a light rain. Nothing too severe so I didn't even put my rain suit on, only lasted about an hour anyway. Along the way I spotted a few planes on the side of the road, some were being stripped down and others looked like they could be flown.

By the time I made it to Cody WY it had stopped raining and the sun was starting to come out. Just in time for me to roll through one of my favorite spots on the whole trip. Buffalo Bill's State Park. I could fill this page with pictures from there but I'll just hit you with a few. If you want to see more or want the full res versions email me.

After that little slice of awesome I continued on Hwy 16 to Yellowstone National Park. Some of the roads were closed so I didn't do the full loop through but the shorter one instead. I pretty much knew what to expect in yellow stone so I can't say I was blown away like I was in a few other places that day. Well I didn't expect this.

Leaving the park I had to ride about 10 miles of dirt road that was mostly a construction zone. A normal dirt road would have been fine but this one ranged from loose sand and gravel to fist size stone sections to areas that were hard packed and full of potholes. As you can imagine I didn't ride this far to get stuck in traffic on a dusty road behind a row of single lane cars so I was still a bit annoyed after I passed them and got back to the paved stuff when I came upon the most impressive sight of the entire trip. The Grand Tetons. Holy cow what a sight. Like I said before for more or better pics send me an email.

I called the wife and asked her to help me find a campsite south of Jackson and she came up with one in Alpine. The office where you registered was a bar and you couldn't check in till you ordered a drink (That's my story and I'm sticking to it). After I got the tent set up and the bike unloaded I treated myself to a few Black Tooth Grins (thanks Leggy) and slept like a baby.

Day four 2118 Miles Worland WY (of Hockeyfans trip)

Its 30 freaking degrees here! Speedy has ice on the seat. WTF. I doubled up on the jeans and t-shirt and it did help somewhat but it was still cold as a well diggers butt once you got moving. So move on I did. First I rolled through Deadwood SD, kind of surreal rolling through an old western town while 2Pac played on the Ipod. Stopped in a few places and got a few pics before heading out Hwy 24 in WY to the Devils Tower. Along the way there were a few places where you could see the road stretch on for miles so I used that opportunity to open the old girl up and see what she would do fully loaded. I got 140 once or twice then I decided to try a longer run. I must have held it flat out for a solid minute and the best I got was 142. After I slowed down I noticed the lack of tunes. The Ipod was gone. I had it in my tank bag in the outer pocket with my cell phone. Since the phone was charging and the Ipod was connected to my Chatterbox the zipper wasn't closed all the way. The zipper was now fully opened and the Ipod the cord and the cord to the cell phone was now gone. The other end to the phone was under the seat so it didn't go far. I considered for a second going back and looking for the Ipod but after hitting the road at 140 I'm pretty sure it was done. Moving on, as you can guess it didn't take long to get to the Devils Tower. Man that thing is huge, pictures don't do it justice.

After a few more stops for pictures I found myself standing on top of a hill where you could see for miles in every direction. Not even a breeze was blowing and the air was clear and still, that was when I noticed about a 3 mile straight with a nice downhill slope to it. I hit 146 before I started climbing the other side and started losing speed so I came off the gas and coasted up the hill just cruising. Guess what met me at the top of the hill.

She clocked me at 78 in a 65 and wrote me a ticket for it. Remember the zipper and the Ipod, well that was the same pocket that had my license, registration and every other important piece of paper in it, and now it's gone. I had my government ID with me so she didn't worry too much about it but it did worry me so I sent Dano and Cheap a text and told them "I am done with all of the Hooligan stuff". They laughed. After a short stint on I-90 I hit Hwy 16 to Worland WY. The scenery is amazing.

You ride along the bottom of this canyon for about 40 miles. At one point I stopped to take a few pics and left the bike running and it fell over. No damage, put away the camera zip the zipper completely and roll on. I was going to stay at a Super 8 in Worland but they were "renovating" and they wanted $20 more than the web site quoted me. I ended up camping and had the pleasure of meeting some very nice folks who were camping next to me who reassured me that I was in fact crazy for crossing the country on a bike.

Day three 1808 Miles Black Hills SD (of Hockeyfans trip)

Today was supposed to be an easy 400 mile day and the start of the fun stuff. I got up early and hit the road to knock out some miles so I would have more time for sightseeing. Along I-90 in MN I came across an area where there were windmills as far as you could see and every direction. Like I said I was trying to get some miles done so I pulled of the interstate snapped a few pics and hit it again without even pulling my gloves off. This becomes a reoccurring and costly theme. At one point I managed to burn a tank of gas in 1 hr 37min. The cross winds through SD and the steady 90 mph speeds started to take a toll on me by early afternoon. My neck was sore by the time I got off the interstate. I rolled into Badlands National Park about two and the wind was still howling. I reach for the camera and find an open zipper and an empty pocket. Dammit. I figure I either I didn't zip the pocket up all the way or the constant winds just worked it loose. So all you get from the Badlands is cell phone pics.

It was still early and I really wanted to get out of the wind and warm up so I ditched the plan to camp there and decided to push on to the Black Hills. I must admit I wasn't prepared for the cool weather, I hadn't packed anything other than t-shirts or the liner for my jacket. I called Cheap to let him know how things were going and to tell him how cold it was and he said to "HDFU 'cause it's all in yer head". Dina found me a campground just outside of Rapid City SD in the black hills so I headed that way with one quick stop to buy a new camera. By the time I got into the mountains it was starting to get dark so I said skip it I'm pulling into the next campground I see. Next corner I find Creekside Camping, the very one the wife had told me about. The cabin I stayed in had a thermometer outside that read 52 degrees. Cheap is full of it, I knew it was cold.

Day two 1263 miles total Blue Earth MN (of Hockeyfans trip)

No pictures today, not much to see anyway. Rolled through Chi-town in the interstate and got hit with a light rain for a few hours through Wisconsin neither of which I would like to do again. I had issues with my cell phone charging yesterday and today it wouldn't work right so I wasted two hours so the nice lady at Verizon could take 10 seconds and pop the battery out and then back in to fix it. Never has "Is there anything else I can help you with today?" sounded so much like a smart ass comment. One kinda funny thing happened today, after I checked in to the motel and unloaded the bags I decided to hit the Dairy Queen about a half a block away for some grub. I rolled up in all my gear (MN doesn't even have helmet laws) ordered a meal to go, got my food in a small paper bag and a large drink and walked out. Two Harley guys were watching and I'm sure wondering what I was going to do with the food so I could ride the bike. So holding the bag and the drink in my right hand I started the bike pulled out and shifted up through third without touching the gas. When I got to the parking lot they had come outside and were watching me park. I backed down into the parking spot slipping the clutch for brakes, killed it with the kickstand, grabbed my key, and walked in. Never did touch the right handle bar. Lesson over.