America's South West in 4 weeks

Nice job, love the pic of the stand going through the tarmac, (the fact you where off it prob saved it from disappearing altogether ):D:D :comfort
 
Kinda obvious, no ?
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Yeah, but the sign's for the locals. :D
 
No update today?:nenau

Afraid not (not with pics anyway) :rolleyes:
But it's all good :thumb2
Currently in Green River, Utah, about 50 miles northwest of Moab. Arrived about midnight last night after a very long but brilliant day & couldn't get the laptop to connect to wifi. Spent today in Arches NP & got back about half an hour ago (10 pm) & still can't connect :mad:
And the old eyes & clumsy fingers preclude me from doing it on an iPhone

Besides which I'm knackered after 25 miles off road on a Wing :eek:
Feckin' Mapsource :blast

Tomorrow is Canyonlands NP & hopefully I'll have connectivity then.
Thanks all for continuing to follow along :beerjug:
 
Good stuff Jochen.

Just a note to everyone, it's sometimes difficult to get wi-fi out in the boonies as some of the places Jochen is in are really remote. Nevada and Utah especially :thumb
 
Day 5 - Boulder, Nevada to Kingman, Arizona

Right, lets try & get the wheels back on this thing. Might reduce the waffle to a minimum - a picture speaks a thousand words & all that :D

Connection is sketchy again (think piece of string & 2 tin cans !) but I'll do my best.

After our run up the 95 last night Dave was saying the bike was uncomfortable & difficult to ride. We came to the conclusion that the fact he'd had to run on a flat tyre in Joshua would have knackered the sidewall and exacerbated any handling issues the V Star has 'built in'. Mike in Bikers West had agreed to a new tyre so we set about finding one. None in the right size available in Boulder but a bike shop in Vegas had one and as it was only 25 miles away Dave decided to go for it. I offered to escort him as he had no gps and could probably do with the company.

To cut a long story short we had a quick blast up the Interstate, two hours of hanging around McD's watching the seedy underbelly of Las Vegas going about it's business :eek: :eek :eek: & then a quick blast back. The nice lady in the Sands Hotel in Boulder had allowed us to keep one room for the others to wait in so we collected them & started the day well after lunchtime.

We had wanted to do a tour of Hoover Dam but there was some problem with the lifts so all tours were off :rolleyes: We rode across it, talked to a cop about how they've had virtuall no rain for 9 years and then had to ride back across it cos they've closed the exit road since the new bridge opened.

Lake Mead from the overlook just before the dam :
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Across the top of Hoover Dam (you can't stop on it unfortunately) :
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View from the top towards Lake Mead :
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Looking back at it from the viewpoint on the far side :
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You can really see how low the water is :
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I can't remember all the facts & figures so you'll have to Google it yerselves but it's pretty damn impressive :
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From there it was a boring 80+ mile ride down US93 to Kingman for the night before we rejoined Route 66 the following morning.

This was about the most exciting bit of 93, apart from the 10 miles of roadworks :blast
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Can you tell I was bored ?
Liam & Naomi :
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Dave :
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Nigel & Helen :
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Dinner was in an 'authentic' 50's Diner :
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We were served by a gorgeous (both in looks & personality) waitress called Alysha but I wasn't allowed to take a photo cos Dave fell in love with her :tears

Saw this pull up outside the diner & an old dude got out. Must have borrowed his grandson's car :rob
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Lets see if I can get day 6 done before I fall asleep in the chair......
 
How are the temperatures? We can't decide whether just to wear jeans and take waterproof leggings or to wear our usual textile/Goretex pants :confused: They were far too warm in the south of France in the mid-30's, never mind at 40+ degrees :eek
 
Day 6 - Kingman, Arizona to Williams, Arizona

After breakfast we headed east on what's supposed to be the 'most authentic', 'best preserved', etc part of Historic Route 66, the Mother Road. It's the stuff of legend & we wanted to have a slice of the pie. Most of 66 is now lost to new roads like I40 & a lot of the rest of it is fairly run down but we were in the area so it would have been rude not to pay a visit. Kingman has an old steam loco in a public park & a beautiful railway station but as it was dark by the time we went to eat I didn't get pics - I can't do everything for you, go Google that too :P

There's not a lot of interest between Kingman & the old Hackberry trading post / gas station (remember I explained that one to you a few days ago ? Hit the back button if you can't remember, I don't have time to repeat myself :rob)

So, Hackberry.
Interesting ? Off the wall ? Americana ? Pure kitsch ?
I can't decide, have a look for yourselves :
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But this I did like (despite not being a big fan of American cars) :
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From there we rode on to Seligman which is a whole town trying to be Hackberry with a few 'World Famous..' thrown in for good measure :
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A hop, skip & a jump and we were in Williams, our resting place for the night before heading north to Grand Canyon for Day 7 (see that for progress, I'm only a week behind now... :D )
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Williams was also the scene of our worst culinary experience EVER, and all of us have eaten in some very dodgy foreign places, but it's almost 1am & I need my beauty sleep so you'll have to wait ;) We plan to start looking for accommodation early(er) tomorrow so if we're successful I'll get loads more done then :bounce1:bounce1
 
How are the temperatures? We can't decide whether just to wear jeans and take waterproof leggings or to wear our usual textile/Goretex pants :confused: They were far too warm in the south of France in the mid-30's, never mind at 40+ degrees :eek

Sven, take jeans wand wear technical stuff underneath in case it gets chilly:thumb You won't need waterproofs:augie
 
Another great instalment.:beerjug: We need more pictures of the horrible food you're having to tolerate.:D
 


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