'Round the US in 21 days -- GA to CA and back

Day 8/Monday: Meteor Crater, and the Grand Canyon

From Winslow, we had a pretty short drive to Meteor Crater. Meteor Crater is literally in the middle of the desert, and you take a several-mile, isolated road to reach it. The road coincidentally passed through a free-range area for cattle, so some caution had to be used when cresting hills and the like, to make sure we wouldn't run smack into a herd in the road... and we did see some cattle perhaps 50 yards from the road at one point. We heard that if you actually hit a cow out here, in addition to your own injuries/damages, you also get to pay the farmer for his (likely deceased) cow.

The crater:



A big piece of the meteor that created the crater; it is very metallic, and has more of an appearance of unpolished silver than anything else:



From there, we hightailed it across some pretty desolate terrain to the Grand Canyon; here's the view from one of the more populated lookouts on the south rim:





People throw coins into the canyon; included in this batch of coins were many foreign coins, and we also heard many foreign languages among the other visitors to the rim.



We were disappointed to find that every single room in the park with a canyon view was taken at the rim lodges; on the other hand, this forced us back out of the park into the neighboring town of Tusayan, which is two miles from the park entry point. There, we stayed at a really nice hotel, the Grand Hotel, for much less.

A neat trick we've discovered is, after making friends with the hotel desk clerk, ask whether there are any ghosts in the hotel, or if there have been any recent or otherwise notable deaths in the hotel. So far, we're two for two; a suicide in the La Posada, and a natural-causes death in the lobby of the Grand Hotel.

Day 9/Tuesday: More Grand Canyon, then the AdvRydrs run off to Las Vegas

This morning, we decided to splurge and take an aerial tour of the Grand Canyon by helicopter.. here is our trusty steed:



We got to sit in the front with the pilot!



This is a vantage that you just can't get by looking over the rim!



The size of the Grand Canyon is so vast that it is hard to get perspective on what we were seeing; the canyon is a mile deep, and several miles wide, and what look in this photo like small bushes scattered over on the north rim were actually 100+ foot trees.



We seemed to be nearly hovering, traveling slowly across the canyon, when in fact we were traveling in excess of 130 mph... very awe-inspiring, and difficult to describe.





Once we left the Grand Canyon, we stopped at Seligman for gas, and discovered how far we were from, well, pretty much everything:



Not far from Las Vegas, we spent some quality time enjoying a colorful desert sunset, complete with 'purple mountain majesty' and clouds that looked like cotton candy made of gold.



We traversed Hoover Dam shortly after nightfall... much construction here, as well as police checkpoints both approaching the dam, and leaving it; we wish we'd seen this one during the day, but the night view was pretty cool too.



After nightfall, and having just crossed over into the Pacific timezone, we entered Las Vegas, and spent some quality time cruising the streets...





(...not a single bike in front of the Harley Davidson cafe, by the way...)



...before parking to take in Fremont Street and to check out one of the casinos.





Here I am about to marry the guy, and what does he do? He gambles away our life savings! (OK, so it was more like $5 of pocket money.)

Speaking of which, we saw so many Vegas wedding chapels, including two that will perform a drive-through wedding. A disconcerting number of them were located next to porn shops and extremely seedy hotels

I'll conclude with this special advrider.com-inspired photo; we may update with more tomorrow (Wednesday) night, or it may be a day or two later, depending on how we make out with wireless internet access on the next leg of our trip. Tomorrow, we will be focusing on more mysterious, perhaps even alien, areas of the western US.

I think as much as anything, we were lucky that we got through that stretch without any consequences more serious than chilled toes.

For my part, I'll say that the ice we hit was generally in straight, level areas rather than in curves (for example, there was a lot of ice under overpasses and on bridges), and so all that seemed to be required was to not change anything when going over the slick spots. Don't brake, don't hit the gas, don't chop the throttle, don't shift from one side of the seat to the other, etc... and rely on inertia and momentum to carry you through. In other areas of the highway, enough snow had fallen and blown across areas of the highway that it was difficult to figure out where pavement ended and shoulder or median began, but for the most part that snow had not melted/refrozen to become black ice like what you experienced.

They mentioned that UNICAT has a site, and that they may be mentioned on it... see what you can find there.

Looks like a great trip. Can't wait for the next update.

Sandia dealership is great. Especially because one of the best ADV member works there. I hope you knew that because your were INSIDE GSDude's office.:huh

He desk is right opposite to those bikes where you took the picture.



I hope you met him ???

As I have said before, reports like this are what keep me coming back to ADVrider. I get to see a wee bit of America from all the way over the water in Ireland, plus getting to hear the wonderful tales told along the way. Fantastic report!

Mud

Thanks for sharing your adventure. Great ride report!

If we met him, we didn't know it... is he the service manager?

Great report. My wife and I just got a Dakar for her to ride on our adventures. I tried like heck to get her a GS but she just wasn't as comfortable on it (lbs and height) yet. With some more experience I bet she'll be up to it. Since I'm layed up with a knee surgery (yesterday) for about 6 months off the bike it's great to see these reports.

Keep it coming!

Cheers
DR

Im not sure but he is like the senior most motorcycle salesman. I believe that what he said when i was there. That R80 (black one on the wall).............isnt that a sweet bike ?

This is a German truck from MAN http://www.man-mn.com/en/en.jsp This is truck is 1 to 5 year old and has a full-time six-wheel drive, it is a special version with single tires that is all axels have same width. The roof of the box can by lifted so there is more room in it when people are in the box but when the truck is on the road the roof is lowered and then the height of the truck is less.

Great report, but I am cold just reading it. :eek1

Day 10 -- Las Vegas to Tonopah

The temperature is around 41°. Today we are in search of aliens and UFOs. We guessed that our greatest probability in finding either is out in the great expanses to our north so here is our route.



We begin our search by heading out of Las Vegas on HWY 15 the turn left on HWY 93 the great Basin Highway:







It is really hard to describe just how great this basin really is with a photo. This was just a very small prelude to the great expanses to come. If there are aliens and UFOs anywhere they must be out here somewhere:



We follow the Basin Highway for many miles:







We continue along the Great Basin Highway through the waste and past some interesting agricultural projects; we drive for thirty or forty mile and see nothing but shades of brown then out of nowhere palm trees and lush green trees. The following google earth photo shows the contrast. But still no UFOs or aliens. We decide to head out further into the great nothing to continue our search, taking HWY 375 (The ET Highway):







Turning left on HWY 375 we spot our first sign of alien life:



We did not get a chance to photograph it but there was a sign that stated that the next gas stop was 150 miles away. This gave Kristy great concern.





We continued along HWY 375 for several hours admiring the great expanses and the sheer emptiness. We then decide to take a path less taken and head out into the high desert the see if we could locate any extraterrestrial life or craft.



Area 51 was our next destination. We turned left into the desert onto Groom Lake Road. This was a one way 15 mile dusty dirt road excursion into the great nothing:





Groom Lake Road to the left off in the distance:



We saw and were shadowed by several dust plumes.

We noticed this vehicle on a hill; Upon closer inspection of our photos we saw that the vehicle was camouflaged with strange geometric shapes.



We continue slowly until this... Look closely to the right of the sign:



and these signs and listening devices and markers every 50 feet sum it up, time to turn around and look else where:



The long road out:



Then, wow, we came across the infamous black mailbox. A mailbox out in the quite literal middle of nowhere. But folks it is no longer black it has been painted white! How many time have you seen or read about this in UFO lore? wow!







After all that excitement it was time to head to the wellspring of all UFO alien legend and lore, the little town of Rachel situated in the middle of a high plain, in the middle of nothing:



After another great stretch of long straight highway we see the litle town of Rachel ahead:



There we found great stories and atmosphere.









The only alien life we have seen so far; Kristy it seems attracts cats no matter where she is even in the middle of a desert.



Interesting sign:



There was also an interesting MGM time capsule placed here:







Unfortunately we left with more questions than answers about aliens and UFOs. We had a great time but it was getting late and in the open ranges of the high desert it is not wise to be out at dark cruising down the road with cows and critters roaming about. So it is time we head off to Tonopah which boasts to have the darkest skies in the country:









The road to Tonopah was very long, Very straight and very flat with a few moutain crossings. The temprature ranged from 50 to 27 degrees. I wish I had a camera that could take accuratly show the beautiful sunset and how the colors relected across the great basins and mountain ranges.

Great stuff!!! I'll have to make that leg some time soon.

fantastic report, the desert looks like fun...provided you have enough gas.

ditto all the 'great story & pix' replies, thanks for sharing your trip with us.

Front page!!

+1! Scary stuff! Brrrrr...

Great ride. You definitely hit ABQ on a bad day.
That hill you came down, more often then not,
closes with snow. You were lucky.