Day Three of the CCC trip

Dano says:
I almost got a good nights rest, but I had Sir Snore a'lot (Nimec) under me in the bottom bunk-bed. I peeked outside and found that it was a glorious day and I was eager to hit the awesome roads ahead of us. I showered and got loaded up to go. "Hold on partner", said Uncle Dude in his calm, relaxed, on vacation voice spoke. "I need some breakfast and coffee before I hit the road". Ok, says me. We all order something to chow down on and warm up with. It was then that I found out that Uncle Dude's schedule is dictated by his stomach. A man after my own stomach..haha. I have no idea how he stays so thin, must be a tapeworm. Moving on, Utah Hwy 12 is a motorcycle delight, it must be ridden to understand. So many sights, views and twisties for miles. I almost felt bad for going more than a mile at a time without stopping for pictures,

but we did stop at a few great spots to grab some. If we had stopped every time that one of us in the group wanted to shoot a picture, we would have never gotten anywhere. Along the way to Torry we had a few run ins. You have to love open range roads, yes either cattle drives or cattle on the side of the roads. I got to hear the boom of the Staintunes again as I rounded a corner(at a slightly elevated speed) and had to grab brakes for a black cow on the road. Between the two big V-Twins booming along the cow made a fast exit into the woods. It still was a wake up call to me.....slow down(but the roads are empty and fun as hell, sweepers begging to be ridden hard) and keep the group safe. As I railed a few corners down the way, I got the chance to dodge some cow patties in the road. Wow, that's NOT what I want to do, eat shit as I wipe out on cow shit. Time to SLOW down. At one photo stop,


Bucket noticed that the clutch cable on the Sprint was fraying, great! I called MrBiff to start the ball rolling on finding a cable for us. He also got in touch with TheMoke as I didn't have his number. I also called Cheapbastard to help in the cable search. Major props to ALL that was involved and helped procure a cable for us, Nicene and BobW....you are great guys. So we tell Bucket to do as much clutch-less shifting as he can do to save the cable. Off we go.

I remember stopping once just west of Torrey and trading bikes with Hockey. He wanted some of that FiddyOne. At the gas stop in Loa,(after the high speed pass, haha) he expressed his fun with an ear to ear grin. With some "spare" gas bottles filled up and the tanks topped off, we set out to run Hwy 72. Wow, what a nice piece of road too, freshly coated and sealed.
It was a perfect day, wonderful roads, temperatures and awesome sights. Then it happened, we rounded a hill and you could see the road laid out in front of you for miles....and there it was. The perfect top speed bomb run road.

I surveyed it for about half a second and said it would be worth the ticket, next thing I know the RC51 is being pinned in each gear. I knew that If I didn't jump on it that I would have a few bikes passing me. Funk that! At 8,000 feet you lose a little power, but I was still able to hit a "Pass Go and go directly to Jail" speeds. It was awesome, at least I didn't get passed right? Well we hit our home for the next few days....Interstate 70. We stopped in Green River for gas and lunch. Subway it is, but we get hit up by a couple of young barefoot dirty, smelly hippies. I went inside and scarfed a sammich, then kicked the tires as we still had miles to go to make Grand Junction that evening.
I wanted to make it to a bike shop to see if we could find a similar clutch cable. The rest of the ride to Grand Junction was filled with open roads and Nimec doing the "Flying Cross" with his new throttle lock installed. Chad's actions earned him a new CCC name later because of this. He couldn't find that certain speed to just cruise along, no... it had always seemed to be a few mph faster than the rest of us. In doing so he weaved in and out and around us to go by doing the Flying Cross, than he would slow the bike down and retake his place in the group.

At the Spotted Wolf canyon we pulled over to take in the amazing red rock scenery. I suggested that we do a photo shoot with the awesome backgrounds.































We didn't make the bike shop in time, it was closed up, damn. Off to the hotel, we get settled in and Hockey and I decide to do some parking lot wonder work on the Sprints clutch cable. We roll over to Lowes and buy some aircraft cable and a few crimp sleeves. We pulled the old frayed cable out, threaded the new one in and crimped the aluminium sleeve on to secure both ends. The temporary fix is awesome and worked great. Hockey and I rule, damn awesome roadside mechanics. Time for a beer, time for dinner. Applebees's here we come. We walked over to dinner and stumbled back...whooo hoooo. I called it quits early, and sacked out.


David says:
Who knew the store next to the cabins would have such awesome food. I ordered a breakfast sandwich that was quite tasty until I spied Uncle Dudes plate of Eggs Escalante. The Dude knows his way around a menu. We hit the road after that for one of the nicest days of riding I think I have ever had. The scenery was amazing, the weather was beautiful, the roads were in great shape, (except for the tar snakes that continue to rattle me) and the company was to say the least "entertaining". At one of the picture stops I ask Dan if he wanted to take a break from the 51 for a while. As we were pulling out I stalled the Honda. It happens, new bike and all. Well as I'm trying to get her started again everybody pulls out and leaves me. Every time I hit the starter, nothing. I check the kill switch, the kick stand I even cut the key off and back on, nothing. Finally I put the old girl in neutral and she fires right up. By this time I am pretty far behind so the way I see it there's only one option. No worries Mark I shifted at about 8500 and didn't get it much past 130. That's about how fast I was going when I caught and passed the group too. That'll teach 'em to leave me. Dan did say later he thought I may have stretched the chain while I was on it. WTF does that mean, you calling me tubby? Leggy got a turn on Speedy and enjoyed it thoroughly. I don't think you could've wiped that grin off with a shovel. As you can see from Dans photos Spotted Wolf Canyon provided a pretty good backdrop so we all took a turn getting our picture taken. I generally hate having my picture taken but I figured I wouldn't get many chances like that so I relented. I even had Dan take one using my cell phone so I could send it to my wife which turned out to be great timing because she said she was missing me terribly when she got it. At one point we were just cruising through some easy sweepers and enjoying the sights when I heard the RC open up. I don't know if he down shifted or not but I went down two and hammered it. Uncle Dude was between us and he generally doesn't ride all that hard but he had a pretty good handful because for a while I wasn't sure if I was going to catch either one of them. By the time we rolled into Grand Junction Buckets clutch cable was on its last leg. After striking out with the local shops Dan and I decided to go all shade tree on it. I took less than $8.35 in Home Depot parts to put something together that would make it to Cheaps house without another worry. Then off to find some food. The waitresses weren't nearly as nice as the ones in Escalante but they did keep the Crown and Cokes full so they managed a good tip anyway. Day 15, 5447 miles so far.


Bucket says: Well what can I say, I was sad to be leaving the waitress from the diner behind, but hey, you break a few hearts when you're on the road. Here we were heading off again into the wilderness, fn awesome. The roads were brilliant the temps were good and the scenery was amazing. I was in another country with mates I had only just met a few days and the night before and riding motorcycles, nothing beats it. As mentioned above at one of the stops I noticed the clutch cable fraying rather bad and I thought not again. I had a clutch cable go on the top off Bathurst Mountain(Australia) once before and had to ride down the mountain and into Bathurst without a clutch, not a big fan of this situation. With a bit of advice from the fellas it was clutch less shifting and all was fine. I love the road trips we do in Australia but this was just amazing, I couldn't get over the sheer size of the cliffs and canyons. I remember as we were riding up to Spotted Wolf canyon thinking "Where the f#*k does the road go". From a distance you couldn't tell, I couldn't pick if it went around or what, then BAM, we were riding through the middle of this massive canyon. Brilliant. Lots of photos taken up the top looking down. When we rolled into Grand Junction we had to move the motorcycles from around the front of the motel to the side, that's when I felt the cable pop, there was two strands of wire holding it. We had to decide what to do over a few beers, then the maintanence crew rolled into action. Hockey and Dano came back with some cable and crimps and within what seemed like minutes it was fixed. Thanks fellas and to all who were involved in having a new one waiting for us at the rally, you know who you are. Another fine day.


miles traveled for the day=285

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Day Two of the CCC trip

Dano says:
The agenda for today, Check out Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire and then up I-15 to Cedar City where we would run Utah 14 east to 89 north and pick up the 12 to Escalante where we had cabins reserved. Sounds easy huh? Think again.

We all woke up at different times, but still early. The call was made to get J-Pip to the Venetian to roll with us to Hoover Dam. J-Pip came in a car, so he would lead the way with the GPS. I'm not admitting to have done any illegal behaviors, but the RC51 developed a sticky throttle,(maybe it was a pothole, as Hockey's bike did the same thing) in a few places. The Vegas Strip was one of them, that damn bike is gunna get me a ticket for doing a wheelie. And don't listen to J-Pip, he has no photographic evidence that Hockey and I were wheeling down the strip as he followed us, didn't happen.

Did I mention that it was getting hot? It was. We had a hot and uneventful ride to the Dam, we rode over the Dam and parked. Some of us stayed under a parking awning while few of us walked back over the Dam and took pictures.



Ok its hot, dang that water looks refreshing, I wonder if they would mind if I took a dip? We saddled up, hit a gas station, said our goodbye's to NotNotRazorback as he was splitting off to head back home via the long way. Thanks Brian for the tire repair kit, and it was a pleasure meeting you, I hope to ride with you again. Time to make some miles happen, but in this heat...it was going to be a chore. This is when things that can go wrong, do. I asked all the guys to have a CamelPack with them on this trip because of the intense heat in the areas that we were riding through. I am concerned for everyone's safety first, comfort was second. A little ways into the park, Chewie motions me to pull over, I do and all of the others too. Chewie needed a drink as he and Bucket didn't have a CamelPack. I had just iced mine down and filled it with water. I took a few sips and insisted that he wear the pack. I showed him how to use it and off we went thinking things would be ok for a while. My pack hold 100 ounces, Chewie a few miles up the road motions me over again. No worries, he says that he isn't getting any water, I figure there might be a issue with the bite valve on the pack. I asked if he was blowing back into the hose when he was done drinking to re-inflate the bag. "Yes", he says. Ok, I take the pack off of him and unzip the CamelPack to investigate. Chewie had to be super thirsty as he drank almost 100 oz in a short while and managed to suck a vacuum so tight on the bag, that it shrink wrapped the ice cubes in the bag. That man was thirsty and going on the verge of dehydration. I was very concerned as I knew we had a ways to go before relief from the heat. I asked J-Pip if he would wear Chewie's jacket and helmet and ride his SuperHawk while Chewie followed in his car. Did I mention that it was 118 in the shade? There was no shade to be seen.


Joel agrees(thanks a million Joel for being there, that could have turned out bad)and we take a few pictures as Leggy drinks from my Camelpack after I added more water to it that Joel had. We sat Chewie(he looks like a typical cager huh?) into the car to cool down in the AC. I almost thought the heat had gotten him as tried to get in the passenger side of the car to drive it. I then realized that you can take the Aussie out of Oz, but you can't take the Oz out of the Aussie. Wrong side of the car Chewie, haha. Crisis diverted we move on. In Logandale we pull over to rest and fill up. We all park the bikes in the small sliver of shade near the front of the store, half an hour later the local PoPo shows up and asks us to move the bikes that are half in half out of the "busy" handicap parking spot. Sure thing, we don't want any troubles, right Hockey? We all down a few Gatorades and waters, have a small snack and decide that we better move on as we were behind on time. As soon as we hit I-15 north, things got better as elevation climbed, temperatures dropped. I know my spirits looked up and the scenery past Littlefield gets pretty once in The Narrows. I love the sheer cliff bluffs that tower overhead, the occasional sighting of a few black colored Bighorn sheep and other sights that signaled that we were exiting the arid desert to the higher mountain areas. J-Pip broke from the group at St. George because he has family there and that's where he was spending the night. It was great seeing ya Pip and major kudos for helping ride Chewie's bike, see ya soon I hope. I only have one way to say this, we stopped to piss on Leeds. Leeds, Utah that is, not our short friend. Fast forward to the Cedar City highway 14 east exit. I pull the group over to gas up, grab another snack and water too. Hockey spotted a Wal-Mart at the exit, he gassed up, and yelled to me that he would be right back. Off he went with a howling Zard. twenty minutes later he returned with two camelpacks, one for each of our Austrian friends. All I can say is that Hockey has a soft streak in him, as I would say many times on this trip, thanks Hockey.

I felt that we entered a new phase of the trip as I hoped that everyone was about to enjoy the 12 and 14 like I have before. We rest in the cool shade and I buy Chewie and Bucket an ice cream treat each to cool them down more. I gave Chewie a Mrs Fields ice cream cookie sandwich. Lets just say that Leggy became an instant fan of ice cream cookie sandwiches, he destroyed hundreds(ok, maybe a few dozen) of them on this trip. The man likes his ice cream cookie sandwiches. Not something I expected to see, a towering motorcycle man clad in black leather head to toe, eating ice cream sandwiches every time he had the chance. I created a monster haha.

Refreshed, we tore out through town and proceeded up the beautiful Hwy 14. Because we were behind on time and the chance of sprinkles, I pressed on without photo stops. We rolled through to the 89 north where we picked up Hwy 12 east. I was sad that we wouldn't get to see the 12 during daylight as the sun was setting. I had another thought, critters on the road. My concerns became valid when I saw eyes in the bushes and movement going from the field to the road. I grabbed a handful of front brakes and slowed WAY down. Sure enough 5 deer ran from my left out of the bushes in the ditch to the field on the right. With that disaster avoided, I focused my attention to Chewie on the SuperHawk that was sounding off the Staintune pipes grabbing lower gears behind me. I cringed as I heard him banging down through the gears, luckily he avoided me and came to a stop next to me. Ok, time to cool the engines as I was going fast to make up time to get to the cabins.
Another half hour and we arrived in Escalante. Uncle Dude(Bill) and his pal Steve were there waiting with beers in hand. SAWEEET! We slap hands all round and decide that dinner is in order, off we go. Uncle Dude and Steve stayed as they had eaten before we arrived. Other fellas of the CCC can tell about the dining experience in Escalante. I share another "Hockey moment" and divide a peach cobbler with him, good pizza, John loves quesadillas. Fun times. With a full belly we rolled out of the diner and back to the cabins to b.s. the dynamo duo of Uncle Dude and Steve. I honestly don't recall to much that evening as I was tired again, I had a beer with the fellas and sacked out after a nice hot shower. I slept good in the top of that bunk bed.

David says:
I got up early and went for a walk along the strip. I must say I like it better without all the crowds. Everybody else was up when I got back so we called J-Pip to meet us out front so He could see the Hoover dam with us. Dan may not want to admit it but I will, we rode a wheelie down the strip in Vegas. Check that box, I've done that S@#t. We head down to see the hover dam and I am amazed at how big it is. The water level was low but clear and beautiful. At the next stop it was time to say bye to NotNot. Brian it was a pleasure riding with you and next time I'm on the west coast I'll set a few days aside to tour San Francisco with you. On to the Valley Of Fire. Man they weren't kidding when they named that place. J-pip, like Dan said, thanks for being there. We got in some more dirt road action while there and some fantastic scenery. The heat was so bad I ended up closing all the vents in my helmet and jacket and felt better after doing it. Soon after leaving the park we get gas and get to talk to the local law man. Again. At least I didn't get a ticket this time. We saddle up and start trying to make better time. Up to this point I wouldn't have changed a thing but the biggest disappointment of the entire trip came next. That would be Bryce Canyon. Was it beautiful? Stunning. How about the roads? Twisty and smooth. The weather? Clear and cool. So why the disappointment? As the sun was setting behind us the red canyon walls were lit up with the dark shadows in contrast making them look like they were on fire. Pics or STFU you say, sorry no time to stop for photos. I understand why we couldn't stop but damn it still sucks. We didn't roll into Escalante until ten after a few close calls with some wildlife. The good news is there was beer waiting, cold beer. Thanks Steve and Dude. Off to find some grub. The Aussies accent wasn't hard to pick up on but I guess a few had a hard time with it at first. The waitress we had that night was one of them. Me being always helpful I tried to translate whenever I could.

Waitress " How's your food?"
Bucket "Bo-ful"
Waitress "????"
Me "He said your hair looks nice"
Waitress "Oh that's so sweet."

Bucket liked that so much he said we could be roomies. I don't know when he talked to my wife but she must've told him to tease me about snoring (even though I don't) because he started as soon as we woke up the next morning. Day 14, 5125 miles so far.


Bucket says: Well your probably guessing it was hot by now. As great as it was to see Vegas I was glad we were leaving, I'm not a big fan of the big cities and crowds, I appreciate that Dano wanted to incorporate it into the trip so we could experience it, cheers. Well to my surprise as we were leaving somehow Dano and Hockey's front wheels left the ground down the strip. Think it was a sticky throttle or summin, awesome sight though. Onto Hoover Dam, man that is one big pond of water. By this time the heat was starting to set in. Glad I was wearing textile gear, not ,so I decided to try and cool down in the shade and remove my boots and socks ,soggy, ooh yeah! Next stop and we said our goodbyes to Not Not, great meeting and riding with you, I think Brian started calling me Butter, he said as he was following me my riding style was as smooth as butter, hence the nickname Butter. As hot as it was in the Valley of Fire I was absolutely amazed at the scenery, absolutely awesome. It was a big plus having J-Pip there for when Chewie got heat exhaustion. Coming from winter over in Australia into that heat got the better of the big fella. Guess Pip got to go for a ride though. Next stop where the police told us to move our motorcycles I had to remove my boots and socks again, they were drenched, nice aroma as well. Through some more canyons, absolutely breathtaking. Hockey kitted us Aussies up with some Camelpacks, you sir are a champion. I remember seeing the town of Leeds and pissing myself laughing for some reason. I remember sh#**ing myself as I see the deer running across the road and brake lights a glowing, very lucky. Onto Escalante where the Dude and his mate Steve were waiting, once again it seemed like meeting old friends you hadn't seen for a while, made us feel right at home. Went down to get a feed, all I can say is I'm glad I had my translator there, thanks Hockey. I sure was diggin the waitress(leg hump smiley). Back to the cabins(they were awesome)for a few more beers and bulls#*t. I thought the world was ending that night but after a while realised it was Hockey snoring.

miles traveled today=360

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Day One of the CCC Trip

Dano says:
With the amount of drinking that has been taking place, I was surprised at how easily everyone was greeting the mornings. Not a sour puss in the bunch. It was early and I had to wait for the shops to open to run my errand, so I suggested breakfast. Off to Denny's we go. Oh, my turn to order, I'll have some gravy with a side of gravy please. No really. With breakfast done, we head back. At the house we/I notice a huge deformation/slice in the rear tire of NotNot's bike. I knew he had a lot of miles left to do with us and many more to do after he split off after Vegas. Time for an emergency tire change. We removed the tire and threw it on the SuperHawk's Ventura rack and had Adam show NotNot the way to the local bike shop. With that taken care of, I blasted down to finish my last minute errand and returned to find most of the bikes almost ready to pack. Time was ticking and we were a little behind schedule, but nobody was to worried. That kind of understanding took some stress off me. I got packed, clean up and ready to start the adventure.

As I said a few years before, "It's time to blow this taco stand", and that's just what we did. Day one players and their rides, Chewie(996 Honda SuperHawk), Bucket(955 Triumph Sprint RS), Hockeyfan(Triumph 1050 Speed Triple), Nimec(Suzuki SV650), NotNotRazorback(Triumph 955 Speed Triple) and myself(Honda RC51). The route, run up Hwy 18 past Lake Arrowhead to BigBear, down the back side through Lucerne Valley and on to Vegas for the evening.

As I am cruising up towards Running Springs Hockeyfan motions me to pull over. I do, he says something is wrong, ok what? I go to the back of the RC51 and the license plate plastic mount has folded up underneath the seat. During a right hand turn and hitting a bridge expansion joint at the same time compressed the suspension enough to grab the mud guard and suck it up onto the tire...damn. Well we took a bungee cord and pulled the mudguard out and secured it from doing that again. It only took a few seconds but it wore through part of the license plate, in doing so it left a white stripe down the center of the tire..haha. We continue on because the temps and roads are perfect. Everyone was loving the sights and roads, we pass through BigBear Lake and head down to Lucerne Valley. The 18 is twisty with lots of great views, the sad part is that you have to pay attention to the roads. Why? because anything can happen and the road was covered with tar snakes. I will let Hockey tell his side of the story because me and Chewie were WAY ahead of all the other riders(because we were on Hondas). I like to keep a close watch on the group behind me when I lead a group, after a few minutes of not seeing anyone behind Chewie, I pulled over. A car comes by and gives us the news, rider down. DAMN, not this early I think. I hope everyone is ok, Chewie and I race back from the way we came. When we arrived all the bikes were upright and everyone looked fine. I park, ask who went down because I couldn't see ANY damage/carnage. Hockey raises his hand and I go to check him and the bike out....unscathed for the most part. It was amazing the lack of damage to the bike or him, literally minor scratches. WOW, I was relieved, no seriously I relieved myself.. another pat down of the bike and David to ensure that they are ok. (Later in the trip Hockey gets a new CCC name) Lets get going, daylight is burning. A few gas/water stops and we were almost to the State line just past Baker, Ca. I passed a flatbed transport truck that had a cool Mustang muscle car on the back. I took notice like all red-blooded Americans. I pass it and keep rolling, David come up and throws up a bunch of gang signs with a bunch of sign language zeros at the end to me. Ok, the heat(did I mention that it was 115 in the shade?) is getting to David I assume, he motions me to pull over. We do, and he can fill in the rest of that story.

After the brief detour, we had another stop at the Cali/Nevada state line.
From there the day was waining so the temperature was cooling a tad. Not much but anything was welcome. The posse rolled out and crested the hill to see Vegas in the distance and almost at night. I detoured the group to the south side of the strip and the Venetian
to see the Vegas Strip from the seat of a bike. It was Thursday evening so I figured that the traffic wouldn't be to bad, it wasn't and we got to see most of the strip in the early night with all the lights blazing. Cool stuff if I must say so. The group runs around the side of the check in and we park the bike, unload gear and lug the gear to the front check in....gawd was it HOT. We finally get two adjoining room, pay a bellman to carry the luggage and off we go to our posh rooms.


We all clean up and in the mean while we have J-Pip(Joel) coming to meet us for dinner and to meet the Aussies. J-Pip meets us at our rooms, most of us are hungry to an extent. Down the strip we go, except all of the places that we go into are just closing, DAUM. Ok, time for the ole reliable...that's right, Denny's to finish off the day. I'm exhausted mentally and physically, so anything would have appeased me. I think I ordered gravy again. I recall Bucket had another chocolate shake. Me and Hockey started a tradition of sharing desserts,(apple carmel cobbler) because we didn't feel like a whole one ourselves. How cute. I'm secure with myself damn it! Chewie and Bucket had salads. I knew that I wouldn't be able to party like a RockStar because I was a worn out wuss(the pressure of the past few weeks of getting all the bases covered depleted me), I mentioned to everybody that I was heading to the room and gunna sack out early. Chewie, Bucket and J-Pip came with me, Bucket stayed outside for a few minutes to smoke and got lost. The rest of the fellas decided that they were going to experience Vegas and headed out to have a few drinks. Have one for me fellas. Next thing I know is that I'm doing one of many fist bumps with the Aussies for the great ride/scenery/day. It didn't take me long to fully enjoy the large queen bed all by myself.

David says:
Last night the drink of choice for most was Jim Beam. Mr. Beam and I had a major disagreement back in the day so I didn’t partake. After some early issues and a Denny’s breakfast we hit the road. I’m not sure of the road names but we headed up through Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead. On the way I was third in line behind Dan and Leggy and I noticed a line just off center on Dan’s rear tire. All of us except NotNot are running the same tires and I had never noticed this line before. I passed Leggy and got a close look and tried to tell Dan his tire looked funny but how do you say that with hand gestures when it might not warrant a stop. We rode for another 15 or so miles while I watched that tire and I even got up close to try and see if a rock got caught in the swingarm, nothing. Finally as Dan was pulling off for something I noticed he didn’t have a license plate. Well he had one but it was flipped up under the fender rubbing the tire. Quick bungee fix and we're rolling again. Somewhere east of Arrowhead I went into a 20 mph left hander at about 30. Just at the point when I rolled onto the gas the front end stepped out about a foot. I wasn't going fast so I wasn't prepared and made a rookie mistake and looked right at the guard rail. I must have gotten it turned a little more because when the bike and I hit the ground I slid along the guard rail and not into it. Today is the reason I've been wearing my gear all these years. I bounced up and Chad and Bucket helped me pull the bike out and pick it up while NotNot slowed traffic down. Damage looked to be minimal and except my big toe on my left foot feeling like it was on fire, I showed no signs of just bouncing off the ground. We decided to move down the road a few hundred yards to a pull off and collect ourselves. Ok. I needed to collect myself. After a good look, the bike and I came through just fine. About then I was thinking someone should try and catch Leggy and Dan to tell them we would be along shortly when the sound of the RC started bouncing off the canyon walls. Dan rolls up and says "So who went down?". I raised my hand and he gives me the strangest "no shit" look. After a quick assessment agrees it was one of the gentlest get offs ever and we come to the conclusion that it must have been a tar snake that upset the bike. Dan assured me there were no more curves between here and Vegas so we rolled on.
Somewhere between there and the state line we catch up to what appears to be a bad ass Mustang on a roll back. As I get closer it starts looking familiar to me, then it hits me that's the Obsidian SG1 mustang. I saw that car in Hot Rod Magazine once.

http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/hrdp_0902_1967_ford_mustang_obsidian/index.html

At 1.3 million dollars this was by far the most expensive car we would see on this trip and it was being hauled on an open rollback down the interstate.
We roll in to Vegas as the sun setting and cruise down the strip. I must say it's a lot to take in at once but it looked like one giant party. We park in the Venetian parking garage and take a looooong walk to the front desk to check in. After a round of showers to wash the days ride off, we catch up with J-Pip and head out in search of dinner. "Vegas, we're always open" my butt. At 10 o'clock almost all the restaurants close, except Dennys. After dinner and a brief walk NotNot, Chad, and I decided it wouldn't be right to come to Vegas and not have a drink. I must say a hundred dollar tab won't kill too many brain cells in Vegas but the company was good and I think it was a perfect way to cap off an eventful day. Day 13, 4760 miles so far.

Bucket says: Well after the previous 2 nights alcohol consumption I didn't feel to bad when I woke up. Then it finally hit me "Us crazy fools are gonna ride across the god damn United States of Merica" Awesome feeling it was. I do forget a lot of details but I remember as we climbed up into the hills all the altitude signs up and over Arrowhead, a lot higher than our highest mountain, but as Chewie informed me Australia's mountain ranges are some of the oldest in the world and hence they are more worn than others, take that ya newbie Merican mountain ranges. So much to take in that a lot of the roads all mingled into one but I remember that sinking feeling as I came around the corner and saw Hockey on the ground, he was up in a flash and all was reasonably well,(thank whoever you pray to in this spot). After a brief check on man and machinery and urinations on the side of the road(I think that might have been my first outdoor piss in Merica , ooh yeah! ) The heat was wrong as we got down out of the hills, but that's what it is all about, still better than being at work, still better than driving a cage. We stopped at the state line into Nevada, unbelievable. Here was downunder Bucket getting his photo taken in Nevada USA. Rolling into Vegas and seeing all the lights(I like shiny things) was amazing, man it was hot. After what seemed like a gazillion mile walk to our rooms we cleaned up and J-Pip(top bloke) came to meet us. Took a walk down the strip and finished the day with Denny's just like we started it with, BURP!


miles traveled today=275
map of the day:

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Day twelve Maintenance Day (of Hockeyfans trip)

Hockey says:
We got started by taking 6 tires and 4 wheels to the bike shop to get them switched out. It was a little confusing but it went like this, new Pilot Roads off the S4 wheels onto the RC wheels, tires that were on the RC get trashed and race take offs go on the S4 wheels. See, simple. Dan, Adam, Bucket and I went and had breakfast while we waited for the tires to be done. After we got all the tires back on the bikes and the bags mounted on the Sprint it was time to go shopping. We hit Chaparral, and Cycle Gear where Chad got Bucket his first American hook up. During all this running around it was evident that Adam on his R1 was not happy about the pace. The Aussies were getting their first taste of American traffic laws in LA of all places so they may have been a bit cautious. The plan was to stop for a beverage on the way to Dans’ place when everybody but Adam got caught at a light. Dan and I were at the front of the line with Bucket, Leggy, and Nimec behind us. I asked Dan if Adam knew where we were going, a nod was all the encouragement I needed. I told Dan “I’m gonna go F*@k with him” and ran the light. He was sitting on the side of the on ramp waiting and my plan was to wheelie past him. Well he must’ve known because when I came up the on ramp he pulled out and lofted the front tire also and we ended up riding it out all the way onto the interstate side by side. Would’ve made a good picture I bet. If everybody in LA drives like they’re pissed off I suppose Adam and I gave them plenty of reason that day. At one point I hit 140 and Adam was walking away from me. Needless to say we got to the Stop In ahead of the rest of the guys. After a few beers (thanks Adam) and some finger food we headed back to Dans’ to finish packing and getting ready for tomorrows departure. Later while Chad cooked brats and “little boys” (Aussie term) Dan and I modified a Ventura rack for the RC. It wasn’t some of my best work but it was solid and it passed the cross country test. It’s funny how I had only met these guys the day before but we were hanging out and busting balls like we’ve been doing it for years.

Dano says:
My neighbor pal Adam took us to the shop in his HUGE Ford, because my truck only seats two to three people. Bucket got a little "excited" when he saw the truck that we were taking. While the tire change was happening we went to breakfast, and Bucket was exposed to biscuits and gravy, lets just say that he loved it. The thing that got my attention was when he ordered a chocolate shake at 9:00am with breakfast. More power to you my friend, haha. We arrive home, install the tires and load up to head to Chaparral and Cycle Gear. First stop, Chaparral and the fellas are like kids in a candy store. I must admit that Chaparral is a mans store, its hard to NOT spend money there. I took the Aussies there to look for gear, instead they bought me a two piece Tourmaster all season suit. WOW, thanks guys, I loved the gift and it worked beautiful on the trip. After getting a few items it was time to hit Cycle Gear to pick up Buckets two piece Frank Thomas suit. Thanks Nimec for the major hook up with the discount on Buckets gear. Being Wednesday and all the shopping done, we decided to have a beer at a local bar. To the Stop In we go. In route to the bar, we make it to a red light merging onto an on-ramp. Adam on the R1 makes the red light and we get trapped behind it. He pulls over, Hockey slides up next to me, flips up his visor and yells, "DOES HE KNOW WHERE HE IS GOING?", I nod yes. Hockey then yells, "I'M GUNNA GO F*@k WITH HIM". TheSpeedTriple.com 2009 motto is born, I'm gunna go F*@k with him. All I saw after that was a R1 and Triple doing side by side wheelies up the on-ramp, with Hockey looking to his right side at Adam as they disappeared with the howl of a Triple's Zard and R1 screaming off into the distance. Its funny that I recall Hockey mentioning that he was done with all that "Hooligan" behavior, that he didn't want to talk to the PoPo any more. Huh....hows that working out David?

The Stop In is noted on TheSpeedTriple.com for having some pretty ladies that bar tend in bikinis. I wont name any names,(they flew in from Austria) wanted to go. We ordered a picture of beer and a bunch of bar food snacks between the six of us. Speaking of pictures...



Time to return to the casa and continue with packing and working on the bikes. Hockey and I finished the last bits of service work and fabbed up the Ventura rack for the RC51, damn it turned out fine. Rough around the edges, but functional. Man did it make me happy to get that rack built. Again, thanks for the help Hockey you da Man. We finished just in time to have Becky come down and tell us that dinner was ready. Thanks Nimec and Becky for cooking, it tasted great. At some point, and I don't recall the exact time(because I was running around with my head cut off) NotNotRazorback(Brian) showed up from northern Cali. Everyone made their introductions and we unpacked his Triple and squeezed it into my garage. It was awesome to finally meet you Brian, thanks for making the trip. The night's festivities continued as we listened to some Blues and enjoyed each other companionship and conversation well into the night. Damn this is starting out nice.

Bucket says: Well, after waking up with a slightly fuzzy head, I think I still has some jet lag, it was all systems go. After laying eyes on Adams ute and calming down a bit we were off into the traffic, OMFG,that's some crazy s#*t right there I tell you. I got to have my first Merican breakfast. Diggin' those biscuits and gravy. Although you sure do have some crazy names for thing over there. We call biscuits what you call cookies and we call gravy something you put on meat. Crazy Mericans. After coming back from getting the tyres fitted it was off on the motorsickles to get some gear. I have never ridden in traffic like that before and I must say I was s#&tting myself to start with but after a while I sort of got the hang of it but was still being very cautious. Man that Chapparal was like heaven, or what I imagine it to be like. Leggy and I had decided we wanted to get Dano something for all the work and effort he had put in to making this trip possible for us. I think he was fairly impressed when we bought him the gear. Kudos to you you Skunkman. Then back to Dano's where the boys started working on the bikes, tyres back on, racks being made and installed. Dano and Hockey were like a well oiled machine, thanks fellas, much appreciated. I had organised to meet up with one of my relatives who I have never met, my mums cousin, she is a blood relative on my mums side, long story short, my blood grandfather was an American who any of us had never met. Loreta was such a lovely lady and said I looked a lot like my grandfather(lucky bloke). She chatted away with the guys and me, brought us some water and gum for the trip. She didn't stay long as she had to get back to Desert Hot Springs but it was great to meet her. After a while Not Not turned up, great to meet ya brudda,then the drinking began again,burp.

Day eleven The Australians Arrive (of Hockeyfans trip)

Hockey says:
Dan, Chad and I got up and hit the road in search of much needed maintenance supplies for my bike. While Dan ran a few errands I changed the oil, lubed and tightened the chain, washed the bike and generally showed the girl some love after the abuse of the last ten days. After a bit Dan and his buddy Mark (RC51 owner) showed up so we could leave to go to the airport. One question, why does everyone in LA drive like they're pissed off? I mean, really pissed. Anyway we make it to the airport with about an hour to spare and after we get the flight info, we go upstairs to get a few cold ones. After we offended the waiter by not ordering food we paid and went back downstairs. Within a few minutes I hear from down the corridor "Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi". The future men have arrived. I think it was Bucket yelling like that, something about not getting his cavity searched. After his first "Durry" on American soil, we left for a welcoming party at Biffs house. I would like to thank everyone who came out to welcome us to Cali. MrBiff, Night Train, Harley, FnSquirrel , GlennC, SonnyBoy, DirtyYamaha, MarkRc51, and Kaluka. The drinking started with a flask of Crown Royal Cast 16 I had brought with me from the east coast. After that I started helping Bucket with his bottle of Makers Mark. Evidently we weren't the only ones getting hammered as Dano tried to relive Buckets famous shorts pose.

Great food, great people, great dog made for a great evening that had to end far too early. I sometimes forget that most of these people have to go to work the next day. Sorry. After a little while on the interstate back to Dans house we introduced Bucket and Leggy to the bikes they've owned for the last six months. Leggy, the older and more mature world traveler of the two, promptly jumps on the Super Hawk and blasts to the end of the parking lot and back. The cops showed up not too long after that so we moved the party upstairs and tried to finish the Makers Mark. Almost did it too.

Dano says:
We roll out for supplies to service Hockey's and Chads bikes. While we were out, we stopped in at Qdoba's Mexican for a bite to eat. David says he isn't to hungry, well you sure made fast work of that lunch! Hockey was a blessing from above, he wrenched on the bikes like a mad man without any hesitation. I almost think he likes wrenching. If it wasn't for David, I would have had a melt down. I was burning the candle at both ends with a blow torch and he took so much heat off of me. Looking back I don't see or remember the stress so much, because (you) David helped me so much... not only then, the WHOLE trip when you were around. You my pal are a great person, my hat goes off to you.

We cleaned up and waited for Mark to pick us (David and I) up to go to LAX to meet the Aussies. We arrived at LAX, parked and directed ourselves to the nearest beer dispenser. All that we could find was a foo-foo restaurant upstairs, so we sat down and ordered a few rounds. We demolished a few baskets of the "free" appetizer bread. The waiter got a bit agitated that we ate the bread and drank just beers. Time to go meet and greet the foreigners, it wasn't long before I smelled a foul stench, and sure as hell, Leggy(John aka Chewie) rounded the corner. I saw Chewie easily as he towered above everyone, wondering where Bucket(Greg aka Grubbery) was I asked "what is that smell?" He pointed down, and THERE was Bucket, all 5 foot-2inches of him. He might be small, but he makes up for it in smell. Hey Bucket, are you French?

So handshakes and hugs all around before we get the luggage, we head out to the parking structure. As we are about to climb into the truck, Bucket asks to have his first smoke on 'Murrican soil. After his nicotine fix I tell Chewie to get in the front passenger seat of the truck. He goes over to the front drivers side and stands there next to Mark, I say again...."Chewie, sit in the front seat". So he stands there again looking at Mark. HaHa...we both had brain farts as he was trying to sit in the passenger seat in an Australian car,(whoops wrong side) and I didn't realize that he didn't make that connection.

We load up and tear ass to MrBiff's house to the SoCal welcome party. We arrive to the party and then make a run to the beer store for more beers. Bucket and Chewie are stunned at the prices of everything, Bucket loves America all ready because of the cheap whiskey prices. I must admit that we have some GREAT peeps here in SoCal, thanks everyone for showing up on a week night to invite these Aussies into 'Murrica. The party was excellent with awesome local BBque and plenty of tasty beers/whiskey. The cast of characters never cease to amaze me, they threw out the welcome mat to both the Aussies AND Hockey. I sure had a good night, thanks everyone...MrBiff, MrsBiff, Night Train, GlennC, Sonnyboy, Dirtyamaha, FnSquirrel, Nimec, Harley(and her girl), Kuhlka, MarkRC51, thanks so much to everyone that made that night awesome. Well the time was getting late and we had a hour drive back home, so we headed out. When we arrived to my place, the Oz fellas wanted to see their bikes. As soon as I opened the garage, Chewie had started the SuperHawk and tore ass down the parking lot and back. The cat was outta the bag Chewie can't fool me, from that stunt I knew I was dealing with an experienced rider haha. Bucket had "enjoyed" to much of the Makers Mark to test ride the Sprint, he just sat on it and started it to hear it run. I of course had to fire off the RC51 with its 2 into 1 Jardine pipes, well lets just say that they aren't exactly quite, and within a whole 30 seconds of bikes running at 10:30 at night we had disturbed the neighbors, yes the PoPo made did a drive by and warned us to stop making noise late at night. No worries, as we wanted to continue the drinking. So upstairs we go to finish off the bottle of bourbon and beers. With the dwindling supply of drinks, we made a liquor run with a Del Taco intervention, tacos and burritos for everyone. I took control of the situation about 2:30am and said its time to call it quits....Bucket said he wanted a drink or two more. Ok, but we are going to bed. With the lights off, this is what I heard. Bucket opening the balcony door, walks to the kitchen, the freezer door opening, ice falling into a glass, the cap on a bottle of bourbon being unscrewed, bourbon being poured, coke poured, the mixed drink being stirred, Bucket sipping the drink, Bucket saying, "that's the good shit", Bucket walking back outside for another durry. Ok, who was he talking to? With a beginning night of drinking like this, I knew that we were going to waste a lot of brain cells on this trip.


BUCKET says:
I remember as we were flying into LA, WTF look at the size of this place. After a 13-14 hour flight, with a baby crying a lot of the way(no not Leggy)it was great to get off the plane. After getting through customs (which wasn't as hard as I thought it would be) my beatches were there to meet us. Dano, Hockey and Dano's mate Mark. Instantly we were made to feel at home and started talking bulls#*t straight away. Then it was into Mark's truck and into the LA traffic. OMFG, talk about crazy fn Mericans. I think I had wet myself about 3 times by the time we got to Mr & Mrs Biff's house where the SoCal crew were waiting. Again, a great bunch of peeps who made us feel at home. Thanks everyone for coming to meet us. Biff had ordered in barbecue everything which we gorged ourselves on and we drank and talked a lot of s#*t. Much appreciation to all the SoCal crew and Mr Peabody. Then it was back to Dano's to check out the bikes, I was too tidly by then to take the Sprint for a lap but Chewie roared off down the parkin lot and got the cops called on us, fn trouble maker. Then we settled into some serious dranking and bulls#*ting, the rest is kinda blurry.
(wave smiley)