Ten riders tearing across Wyoming at 75 mph. What a day!
Ah, where to begin after one of the best riding days of my life. A good spot, I guess, is with a video from my good buddy and fellow RX3 rider Juan Carlos from Colombia…
That was me at the front of this gang of hell raisers rolling across Wyoming. Yep, Wyoming. We rode all the way from LA to Wyoming on our RX3 motorcycles, and tomorrow we roll into South Dakota.
South Dakota. Just seeing it in print is cool. On 250cc singles. From California. Folks, we’re smoking. Another quick recap:
Joshua Tree National Park: Check
Grand Canyon National Park: Check
Zion National Park: Check
Bryce National Park: Check
Capitol Reef National Park: Check
California: Check
Arizona: Check
Utah: Check
Colorado: Check
Wyoming: Check
Deer: Check
Elk: Check
Bighorn Sheep: Check
Coyote: Check
Antelope: Check
Bald Eagle: Check
Golden Eagle: Check
And within the next two days, we’ll be adding Mt. Rushmore National Park and bison to that checklist. Folks, this is how we roll in the RX3 world!
What a day. We started early and left right on schedule, thanks to Drill Sergeant Hugo. Great job, guys! After a super Mexican dinner last night in Steamboat Springs, Colorado (thanks, Steve and Zongshen!) we rolled out of town on Highway 40 and climbed up to over 9000 feet. Glorious riding…a clear crisp day, and before I realized it, we had crossed the Continental Divide. Yep, the Continental Divide. On our RX3 motorcycles. Wow! I could have stopped for a picture, but truth be told, I was enjoying the ride too much.
We continued for another hour rolling across magnificent Colorado and we took a 1-hour photo break in Walden, Colorado. Again, it was simply magnificent. Everyone was having a grand time. You’ll be seeing the other riders’ photos on Facebook and on the forums, and I want to share with you a few I grabbed.
This guy (he’s not real) was in somebody’s front lawn. Joe (Joe Gresh, not Gwong Joe) got a shot of himself kissing Bullwinkle. I know because I saw it on his Facebook page already.
Here’s a photo of Kong (quickly renamed King Kong), Kyle, and Hugo (we have a lot of new names for Hugo already) strolling along Main Street in Walden…
Here’s the obligatory post office shot. Yep, we were really there.
A shot along Main Street. Walden has an authentic Old West feel to it.
We were all enjoying the place.
My obligatory selfie…
Some of the stars of this show, lined up along Main Street…
Gabriel, our Colombian male model, on the Adventour 250 configured RX3…
After leaving Walden, we pointed the bikes north and rolled right on into Wyoming.
Wyoming.
I keep typing Wyoming because I like the way the word looks here on the CSC blog.
We were bound for Medicine Bow, Wyoming.
Medicine Bow. That has a nice ring to it, too.
I didn’t know what to expect in Medicine Bow. I was thinking maybe they had a McDonalds and we could have lunch there. Wow, was I ever surprised.
Medicine Bow is about five buildings, and one of them is the Victorian Hotel…
The place is awesome, and it’s where we had lunch.
This next shot is of yours truly, good buddy Lester, and good buddy Zuo…
Bison. We hope to see a few live ones in the next couple of days.
The interior of the Victorian Hotel is the real deal.
Lester came to America as a vegetarian. That lasted about two days. He sure enjoyed his hamburger at lunch today. He told us he wants to be like Baja John when he grows up.
Cell service in Medicine Bow was maybe one bar.
This one might work a little better, though…
The Burger Brigade this afternoon…
The owner, who looks like someone right out of Central Casting on the old Gunsmoke show, saw our interest in photography and showed us this photograph. He told me only six or seven copies of it exist. Spend a minute reading the writing…it’s an amazing photo!
Oh, and one more cool thing…my good buddy Zuo (I wrote about him in the blog below) just sent this cool photo. Someone grabbed it earlier today…
The C0ntinental Divide. Colorado. Antelope. A bald eagle. A golden eagle. Wyoming. Medicine Bow. Walden. Great riding. Great friends. Great motorcycles. We crossed the Overland Trail. And more…I can’t even remember it all. Our visitors are seeing more of America than most Americans ever will. We’ll be in South Dakota tomorrow. We’ll see Mt. Rushmore the next day.
You probably can tell I’m having fun. I think everyone else is, too.
That’s it for now. We’ve got another 300-mile day in front of us tomorrow. The RX3s will take it all in stride; they’re mile-munching monsters and they are performing magnificently. Watch the blog…there’s more coming your way!
If you had to say what the best part of the Western America Adventure ride is, it would unquestionably be the people I’ve met as part of this great activity. I thought I would add a bit on each person along with the rest of the blog postings I’ve been doing.
All of the folks on this trip are what we would call high rollers. When I spoke with Zuo standing outside the Victorian Hotel in Medicine Bow, Wyoming this afternoon (wow, it sounds cool to be able to say that), I asked him what he did in China.
It turns out that this very competent rider and very polite man owns a motorcycle clothing manufacturing company (Benkia, to be exact). It’s good stuff. I checked out the gear he was wearing today and I am impressed. Steve and Ryan, I know you’re reading this…and my advice is we need to talk to Zuo about his product line.
Zuo is a very good rider, he’s a former motorcycle racer, and he’s fun to be around. Zuo has traveled quite a bit in China on a motorcycle, including Guangzhou (a city I’ve spent some time in).
In China, the first name is the family name, and the second name is the given name. So Mr. Zuo’s family name is Zuo (it’s what we’d call his last name), and his given name is Yun. The custom is to address people by their family name (as I understand it), and Zuo kind of sounds like “tso.” It feels strange and informal to call people by their last name, but evidently it is okay in China.
Most of the Chinese I work with have English names, too, probably to make it easier for guys like me. Zuo does not have an English name (or I don’t know it yet), and he seems to be fine with me calling him Zuo.
I was joking around a bit earlier with Hugo (the Zongshen rep on this trip) about me taking a Chinese name to make things easier for my Chinese friends. The one I want is Gwong Joe. Like the city. Get it…Guangzhou?
We’re in Casper, Wyoming tonight, and we sure had a glorious day today. That’s coming up in the next blog.
We are having a lot of fun, my friends. We’re in Colorado tonight. Steamboat Springs, to be exact. I think I’m going to write a book about all of this, and maybe call it “5000 Miles at 8000 RPM.”
The details for tomorrow night: We be in Casper, Wyoming. We’re staying at the Best Western Casper Inn and Suites.
We did 350 miles today, and we had a whale of a time. We rode in the rain for awhile, and the temperatures are continuing to drop.
Our good buddies Kim and Cheryl met us in Rifle and rode with us to Steamboat Springs. They’ve been following the blog and they wanted a ride on the RX3, and we were happy to comply.
We rode along Colorado Highway 13 to Craig, and then we turned east on Highway 40. Highway 13 was awesome. It’s different than Utah, but still awesome. We spotted an antelope on Highway 13. Here’s Colorado from the RX3 cockpit…
We had a Mexican dinner tonight, which was a first for our friends from China. They liked it. We’re turning Lester into an American. Fun stuff.
That’s it for tonight, folks. As always, more to follow…
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Awesome roads, leading from Bryce to Hanksville…here’s a brief video on Highway 12.
Both of those roads rank right at the top of the most scenic I’ve ever ridden. Highway 12 is literally beyond description. Highway 24 runs right through Capitol Reef National Park. I grabbed a few shots after we got out of the rain running along Highway 24; I was having too much fun to stop for photos on Highway 12. I did manage to grab a shot at dinner last night when John Wayne joined us.
Later, folks. Time to saddle up and head for Steamboat Springs, Colorado!
Let’s see, like the title says, we’ve been on the road for 4 days now…and here’s a quick recap:
Joshua Tree National Park: Check
Grand Canyon National Park: Check
Zion National Park: Check
Bryce National Park: Check
Capitol Reef National Park: Check
We’ve done a bit over a thousand miles and the bikes are percolating. They are awesome. I checked my mileage on two tanks, and on one I did 70.3 mpg, and on another I did 74.2. I’ve got close to 5000 miles on my RX3 as of today, and the rear tire is just starting to show a little wear. I think I’ll get a good 6000 miles or so out of that tire.
Back to the ride…we’ve seen deer, elk, and a herd of bighorn sheep. They were awesome, especially the bighorn sheep.
We’ve seen roads that are beyond incredible. More on that later. If not tonight, then tomorrow.
Okay, I’ll back up a bit and start where I left off on the last blog post. I already told you about the Grand Canyon. It was awesome, and because the elevation was up a bit, the temperatures were down to where it was comfortable. That first day through Joshua Tree and Amboy was brutal, but as we climbed into the Arizona mountains the oppressive heat left us with more comfortable riding condition.
Our next stop was Zion National Park. That’s where I grabbed that shot of my good buddy Zuo at the start of this blog. Zion is one of the jewels of the National Park system. Utah seems to have the market cornered in that department (more on that later, too). I wanted to post about Zion yesterday, but our hotel in Panguitch had poor Internet service and I was beat.
I haven’t been taking as many photos as I normally would, mostly because working a tour like this is almost a full-time job. Baja John has been enormously helpful, as has Intrepid John, our chase truck driver and part-time motorcycle rider (we’ve got a couple of extra bikes in the truck for demo rides, and Intrepid John has one of those out for his use every time we park the truck). Both of these guys are awesome. And I have to put in a plug for my good buddy Hugo. The guys back in Chongqing read this blog, and here’s the message…you picked a great guy to represent Zongshen on this ride. I am really enjoying my time with Hugo.
Good buddy Hugo angling for the perfect shot in Zion
But they’re not the only awesome guys on this trip…all of riders from China and Colombia are a lot of fun to be around.
The restaurant and the little town of Panguitch sure were fun last night. We had a dinner in the best barbeque place ever…
Dinner at the Cowboy…good times and good food!
Lester’s RX3…in the fastest color!
Tony and his mascot Ma Ma…that little pup has traveled all over the world with Tony!
That brings us to this morning. You know, it’s interesting to view the world through the eyes of our Chinese and Colombian friends. These guys are blown away by everything they are seeing. The portion sizes in our American restaurants are really getting their attention. Hugo ordered a short stack of pancakes this morning because he feels he is eating too much here in the USA. Well, he got a short stack all right. Just two pancakes. They were about 14 inches in diameter and maybe a half-inch thick each. The look on his face was a combination of surprise and terror. Funny stuff.
You know, sometimes I see things and I don’t have a camera in my hands to capture the moment, but the images are, as the saying goes, indelibly etched in my mind. We stopped somewhere on the road in Utah so I could check my map yesterday, and it we parked directly in front of the drive-through window at a Subway sandwich shop. Two young Asian women opened the window, thinking we wanted to order. They were amazed when the guys started taking off their helmets. The conversations (and obvious delight on the faces of these young ladies) was a Kodak moment if ever there was one. The young women are Chinese exchange students. To make a small world even smaller, Hugo worked at a Subway shop in China when he was a student. Fun times. I missed the photo, but I’ll remember that moment forever.
We topped off the tanks early today, and let me use a photo I grabbed there to showcase another good buddy, Joe Gresh, of Motorcyclist magazine…
Good buddy Joe Gresh
Joe’s hat
This morning we visited Bryce National Park. Juan Carlos told me that we could spend a week in any of the places we have visited so far. That’s quite true. This is America, speed-dating style. I wish I could spend more time with these guys in each location, but we’ve got a lot of miles to cover. The parks and other sights are nice, and so are the roads. And the riding, my friends, is a big part of what this Western America Adventure Ride is all about.
I managed to grab a few photos in Bryce…
The view at Paria Point
John grabbing a selfie
Tony and Kyle
And there’s more (especially about Capitol Reef and Highways 12 and 24), but the hour is late and I need to get some sleep. I may get up early tomorrow and post, if not, I’ll post again tomorrow night. We’re headed to Steamboat Springs tomorrow, and for those of you who want to meet up with us and ride the RX3, we’re staying at the Nordic Lodge at 1036 Lincoln Avenue, Steamboat Springs, Colorado. We hope to see you there!
I’ve got a poor internet connection here in Page, so let me try to do my best.
Tonight we’ll be staying in Panguitch, Utah, in three separate hotels…the Lamplighter at 581 N. Main, the Color Country at 526 N Main, and the Bryce Way at 429 N Main.
Okay, first, the videos…
And a few photos in and around the Grand Canyon….
At the edge of world…from left to right, you see Hugo, King Kong, Lester, and Zuo…
And here’s one of my good buddy Kyle.
The Chinese guys all have English names. I have a Chinese name….it’s GwangJoe.
This next shot looks like it’s been Photoshopped, but it’s not…
That’s Joe Gresh in the photo above…he’s with Motorcyclist magazine and Joe is doing the entire ride with us.
The photo below shows Gabriel and Juan Carlos, our good buddies from Colombia. Juan Carlos is a Colombian journalist.
Here’s a shot of my good buddy Hugo, the Zongshen guy who is riding with us.
Hugo is a great guy and we are having way too much fun.
And finally, a group photo of just the bikes on a stop along Highway 89 going into Page, Arizona…
That’s it for now, folks. On to Utah later this morning!
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The last two or three days have gone by in a blur. Where to begin…with the videos, I guess…everybody loves YouTube videos. The first is me all by my lonesome, with the rest of the guys riding behind, rolling across the Mojave Desert floor toward Amboy yesterday afternoon…
Let me back up a bit. Two days ago, the guys had us set up their bikes to their individual preferences, and our guests mounted their cameras and other doodads…
Juan Carlos and Gabriel brought along a set of AKT decals (AKT is the Colombian RX3 importer)…
After that, we went for a break-in ride along Glendora Ridge Road, with a stop at the Mt. Baldy Lodge for lunch…there are always great photo ops in the lodge.
More riding, back to the plant, and then we hit Pinnacle Peak’s for an awesome barbeque dinner (and folks, bear in mind, we had not even started our grand adventure ride yet…this was all before our departure yesterday morning)..
All righty then…up early the next morning for the start of the Western American Adventure ride…
And we were off…whoa, I was snapping photos all day, and so were the guys. It was hot. More to follow, but I have to cut this short now because we’re about to hit the trail again. One last video of our group riding along I-40 in Arizona, headed for Kingman.
A hot day today, folks, and when we stopped for dinner at a cool restaurant in Topock (right on the Colorado River), I realized just how hot it was. I may get to post a bit more later tonight, or I may just dive into the pool with the rest of the guys and have a beer. We’re in Kingman this evening. The RX3s ran flawlessly, never missing a beat running at high speeds and fully loaded in the hot California and Arizona heat.
In the meantime, does it look to you like these fellows are having fun?
It was 105 degrees out there when I took those photos.
That’s it for now. I need compare how the Chinese and the Colombians drink beer. By the pool. Telling motorcycle stories.
Here’s that detailed itinerary I’ve been promising you for the first two days of our Western America Adventure Tour. We’re providing this information so you’ll know our routes and where we’re going to spend the night each evening. We want to share that info so you can hook up with us for the ride, and so you’ll know where we’ll be in the evening if you want to catch a test ride on the RX3. I’ll be making similar posts as the ride progresses so you’ll know where to meet us.
Day 1 (15 July 2015)
We’re going to roll out of Azusa at 5:00 a.m. and we’ll head east on the 210 until it merges with the 10 east of San Bernardino. We’ll stop for breakfast at Grandma’s County Kitchen and continue on the 10 past Palm Springs. We’re in for a real treat after that…we’ll pick up the south end of Joshua Tree National Park and take an easy roll through the Park. Boys, make sure your camera batteries are charged!
After exiting the upper end of Joshua Tree National Park, we’re heading north through the Mohave until we hit Amboy (get ready for some great photo ops at Roy’s and the Amboy Crater, and yes, I know that sounds like the name of an ’80s rock group).
A quick right on Route 66 (yes, that Route 66), more amazing desert landscapes, and maybe we’ll see a bighorn sheep or two if we’re lucky.
A bit more freeway follows, we’ll cross the Colorado River into Arizona, and then we’re calling it a night in Kingman. We’ll have clocked an amazing 362 miles on our first day.
In Kingman, we’re staying at the Best Western Wayfarer Inn at 2815 East Andy Devine Avenue. I’m guessing we’ll be there around 5:00 p.m. If you want to catch an RX3 test ride, that’s where we’ll be. My advice is to be there around 7:00 or so.
Day 2 (16 July 2015)
Day 2 is our Grand Canyon Day. Wow, this is going to be fun. Here’s what the Day 2 route looks like…
When we call it a day on Day 2, we’ll be at the Clarion Inn at 751 South Navaho Drive in Page, Arizona. Day 2 will be a 310 mile day. Same thing, folks…I’m guessing we’ll be there around 5:00 p.m. If you want to catch a ride, please show up around 6:30 or 7:00 that night.
TT250 Enduro
SG250 San Gabriel Cafe Racer