Day 2 started off rough. My Denver Omelet was filled with egg shells. I under estimated how cold 55 degrees in the desert really is. Had to stop and put on a full face balaclava thingy. Then I was toasty.
The first 20-30 miles out of Lee Vining was great. The road was like a roller coaster. Subtle turns, lots of dips, up and down. Fun to ride on... could keep the throttle wide open, no on coming traffic so you had both lanes to lazily ride in. Then... I noticed a big dust cloud ahead around a turn. Mr. Brooklyn Ace, took the turn too quick (or something busted) - he wrecked pretty bad. He is OK. Vespa is not.
20 miles later, I had an oncoming car spin out of control in a sharp turn. Almost took me out - I swerved into the shoulder as he spun by into the ditch behind me.
After that... smooth sailing all the way to Cedar City. No gas for 211 miles. We took the entire
Extraterrestrial Highway which also snakes through Area 51. And for almost all of the highway, not a sign of life in every direction. I rubber banded the thumb lock on the throttle and laid back into the clothing bag, one hand on the controls - could have taken a nap all day.
All of today was open range... cows/bulls/horses all over the place, running around... a few on the road.
Any nervousness I may have had left about riding 70+ MPH on a scooter... is gone. After awhile, like a car... it doesn't even seem like your moving anymore. Just wind noise and a few adjustments now and then.
Caught up one some news, thanks to the XM Radio Uplink in the GPS. It didnt work out too well yesterday in the mountains, signal blocked too much. It was a nice change up from the music.
Tomorrow looks like pretty challenging terrain through the mountains... then 70 miles of dirt road, a ferry across Lake Powell then onward to Blanding.
I took a ride to Walmart tonight, bought a six pack of coors light (was pulled over to inspect the bottles, no open containers) - ordered a pizza and doing some laundry. Glad I upgraded hotels tonight to the new Marriott after a long day of riding.
I rolled into Ocean City on Saturday in one piece. The last 30 miles were nerve racking - I had convinced myself that the scooter would break down. Once I got within 15 miles, I knew I could atleast walk the thing to the ocean, if it took all night.
The finish was fun! Lots of beer waiting for us and supporters of other riders and some locals. The first thing I did was ride my scooter right up onto the boardwalk and take a photo. I had dinner with NASA Mark and Rocket at the steakhouse. Thank you to Mark for picking up dinner! There was an "after party" at the Grand Hotel - it was a bummer to say bye to everyone - what a fun 10 days. Quite an adventure.
Put the scooter in the hotel room last night. Lost prevention measures.
Two more days remain. Actually three if you count the ride back home on Sunday - 184 miles.
Another night of awful hotel internet. The only place I can get any internet is in the bathroom. Sitting on the toilet posting pictures.
Rolf was able to do some surgery on Rob Taylor's Buddy. Hopefully it is running good for him tomorrow. I want to see him finish. Its nice having Rolf driving the truck as support. He works for Vespa/Piaggio - he personally trains all of the certified service techs in the US on the scooters. Couldn't have a better person along for the trip.
Today was a good day. Pretty uneventful ride - all down hill. It was freezing cold leaving Salida. In the 20's when I got out to scooter - warmed up to the 30s, low 40s for the first hour or so.
My hatred for Cruise America Rental RV's has now been replaced by Duallys and Horse Trailers. I didn't think anything could beat lost foreigners in rental RVs... but horse shit and hay flying in your face sure does.
Utah kicked our asses today. Immediately leaving Cedar City, we had a straight climb to 10,000 feet. I had some temperatures into the 20s. Then a cold ride into Bryce Canyon. Then 75 miles of dirt and partially paved roads that lead to a ferry that took you across Lake Powell every other hour. After making that, 110 miles in high winds and desolate highway to Blanding. A town that is dry. Had to use the flask tonight.
Random event of the day. I came up on some road construction. The guy said it would be a 25 minute wait for the traffic coming towards us to pass by. Then two girls and a few more scooters pulled up... and decided if they were going to wait - we should all drink. So, we had a half hour of drinking on the side of the road with the stop sign man. Sort of random.
Alcatraz was my only planned tour/excursion for the brief stay here. I'd like to come back and go up into Napa, etc... The tour was neat. I personally thought Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia was alot more impressive - as far as prison tours go. But a nice boat ride out - the island itself is really cool. Much more so than the actual prison.
I walked 19.7 miles today (according to the GPS thing). I spent some time at Fishermans Wharf (near my hotel) - followed the shore to the Golden Gate Bridge, hiked several miles to Baker Beach, down and across Golden Gate Park, into downtown, up a huge hill and to a bar for some scotch.
Matt and I loaded up the Vespa on the truck and took it to ForwardAir in Philadelphia for shipping a week/half before the event. It took them 3-4 days to move it to San Francisco. The cost to ship a motorcycle/scooter across country is $500-$700 (depending on fuel costs at time of booking).
The ride from the warehouse to the hotel in downtown/Fishermans Wharf was about 40 minutes with the scenic route. I have two full days to sightsee and complete some final preparations. My only planned excursion is the Alcatraz tour on Wednesday.
