Mutley goes 'Wild Hog' II

Nice pics Mutley. That area is amongst my favourite in the US and not many people go there:thumb
 
Bryce Canyon - Las Vegas

The next day dawned cold and wet. We decided to get away from the tourist trap that was our hotel and get an early start but this meant thermals and waterproofs. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

i-HT4zTjt-L.jpg


The park ranger let us in for free, taking pity on Heather I think, she doesn't do cold very well!

What he knew but I hadn't banked on was just how much further we had to climb in order to reach the peak of the viewing areas. We set off to the far end of the park first thinking to stay ahead of the crowds, which was a great idea as we were met with almost the whole park to ourselves:

i-5pwdXwN-L.jpg


Like I said, Heather doesn't enjoy the cold and wet, especially when she saw the bear warnings as well!

i-bJC7dv7-L.jpg


The sun did start to peak through though, and the scenery was amazing

i-q3sFmG5-L.jpg


i-LCLSSXm-L.jpg


I promised Heather that it was downhill to Las Vegas from here, that the temperature in Vegas was 115F and that no more rain was forecast. Does she look convinced?

i-vNZrGX2-L.jpg


So we headed off down the mountain to find breakfast. We stopped at a diner outside the park where we shed our waterproofs. There were a couple eating in there who looked like escapees from an episode of McCloud the TV series from the 70's but I think it would have been rude to take photos, and he had a gun!

Maybe he was worried about Injuns too .......

Our route took us from Bryce Canyon to Zion National park. After a while you just can't take in anymore amazing scenery and I wish we'd taken more photos now but every corner had the most amazing vista you can't take them all.

i-XZq3vSd-L.jpg


You can see that the rock colours have changed again. If the speed limit was any higher there would be so many crashes as you can't keep your eyes on the road.

i-m39g4nf-L.jpg


Deciding it was too good an ambush spot and pretty much the last chance any Injuns would have we decided to pick up I15 and head for Vegas.

Our route dropped down out of the mountains and approached the city across the desert. This gave us a clear view of the effect that man is having on the surrounding area. A dome of brown pollution hangs over the city and the haze caused by all the water used in the city spreads out for miles in any direction. After the amazing sights that nature had to offer how could this place compete I wondered.

Time was getting on so we had to drop the bike back at Eaglerider and get a cab to the hotel. The trip down the strip was amazing, I was particularly taken with New York New York and Paris Las Vegas as flights of pure architectural fancy.

Well, as I'm sure you all know, Vegas is best seen at night and it really is spectacular

i-hVcxT6B-L.jpg


We don't gamble but we were fascinated by the amounts of money people seem happy to lose

i-jCg8Qgw-L.jpg


So we had lessons but, as I was unable to hang on to the practice chips I learned with I decided I'd keep my money in my pocket. Still, there's plenty to see and we were staying at The Venetian which has the Grand Canal upstairs!

i-vrNJ3nZ-L.jpg


And St. Mark's square

i-RWBPKdC-L.jpg


I was also delighted to discover through friends on Facebook that it was Vegas Bikefest. I'm not sure Heather was quite so keen.
 
The Bike & Eaglerider

The bike we hired was a 103cu Electraglide Classic 2012. It was the first 103 I have ridden and I have to be honest it didn't seem that much more powerful than my 2005 model, however it was two up and fully loaded the whole time. It also lacked any kind of alarm so I had to remember to physically lock it every time we left it!

I did think that the new chassis was a significant improvement over the old model though. No weaving at high speed, even in cross winds, and very sure footed cornering. The stereo was great even though there were only front speakers on this model, and the cruise control was very useful on the roads we covered.

i-82HBXds-L.jpg


This one had clearly been over a couple of times as the batwing was very scratched on the edges

Eaglerider in LA were brilliant with us. Nothing was too much trouble and Kiyoji, who helped us plan the holiday, came out to meet us personally with our tour package. The guys who ran the Flagstaff operation were also more than happy to help with the broken lock. Unfortunately we clearly turned up in Las Vegas at the wrong time of the month as the harridans behind the counter refused to organise transport to the hotel until it was very clearly pointed out to them that we had an agreement that they would.

I'd recommend Eaglerider again, just check your calendar before turning up in Vegas!
 
To be honest the best bit was the awesome scenery. By comparison the creations of men in Los Angeles and Las Vegas were pretty tawdry :bow
 
Totally agree about the Grand Canyon Mutters, popped in earlier this year. No warning, nothing, just a few bushes and a hand rail and then...............................just a massive gasp.
I think your photographs look great for point and shoot but your so right about the scale of the bastard. Just impossible to capture. I'm sure you could have a double Nikon turbo lense monster jobbie and it still wouldn't get it.

Glad you enjoyed it chum and thanks for the pics and write up. I should have done one but christ I'm a lazy ass sometimes

:thumb
 
I've never really felt the urge to go to America before, but this report is making me reconsider.

If only it wasn't for those pesky Injuns.
 
To be honest the best bit was the awesome scenery. By comparison the creations of men in Los Angeles and Las Vegas were pretty tawdry :bow

Agreed - the Los Angeles Crest Highway was awesome, but other than that we'd have given LA a miss given the choice (I booked our BA Premium Economy flights with air miles and couldn't get SF flights).

We just rode up and down strip in Las Vegas and wish we'd missed it completely.

Bryce Canyon was the highlight of our holiday, closely followed by the Grand Canyon and Tioga pass; it was simply stunning in the sunshine :bow
 
lots of tossers seem to go to bryce and mexican hat

i wanna go too :D

nice one mut

where the boss was dressed in the a star suit - how high was that

(not black birch :D)
 


Back
Top Bottom