Willits and more!!

[Firehawk068]

Very nice!
Love those southern Utah pics!

[Derek Young]

Wow! That's some very scenic riding Ron! I wonder what you did about the high heat the next day??? Ride naked perhaps?...

[FeralRdr]

Well ridden, and well wrote sir! 

[FJmonkey]

Wow! That's some very scenic riding Ron! I wonder what you did about the high heat the next day??? Ride naked perhaps?...

No pics..... please no pics of naked moll-rats sans protective gear... Not pretty... 

[ribbert]

Capn' Ron, you've done it again. Stunning photography and a great write up. I'd be happy with a calender just made up of your photos!

Noel

[Capn Ron]

So, riding in the brutal desert heat is about my least favorite thing to do on the motorcycle.  I had to come up with a plan!

I intentionally rode fewer miles the day before so I could get into St George, UT early in the day.  I arrived at my hotel at about 5:00pm and fired up the air conditioner.  I then went across the street to fuel up the FJ, get some snacks and a breakfast burrito for the morning.  I did my daily chain-lube/wipe down on the bike, grabbed a shower and was asleep by 7:00pm.  I woke up at 3:00am, threw down that burrito and was on the road while it was still dark.

Riding through the desert at night is very surreal.  In the absence of light, short of my low-beam, you can't see ANYthing except pure darkness to the left and right.  Clicking off the miles, it reminded of being far out at sea in the sailboat at night.  Far enough out where the curvature of the earth makes even sighting the mainland impossible.  Just pure blackness in every direction.  As I rode, I let myself imagine I was out on the sailboat...just a ship in the desert humming along.  At one point, I looked up to find Orion...Always comforting to have his company on a long passage.  Shortly thereafter, I got to experience the sunrise in my rear view mirrors and all the colors that brings.  Awesome!

It was about 70 degrees out even at that early hour and this was the ride:



A total of 407 miles...of desert...super-slabbing it home.  On the upside, including fuel stops, I was at my home in Woodland Hills by 10:00am and I BEAT the heat!  The plan worked out great and I'm doing that every time from now on!

It's hard to even put into words how enjoyable this trip has been.  Riding up the coast with great friends, running the West Coast Rally with more great friends, riding with my favorite Canadians after the rally, visiting even more friends and family on the post-rally tour...and having the opportunity to just ride wherever the day takes me.

The total trip looked like this:



Including the riding at the rally, it ended up being right around 4,000 miles that I will remember for the rest of my life!

Thanks for coming along for the ride!