June 22, 1997 Grand Junction, CO


Day 15 & 16 "Yee Ha, Yosemite!!"

Our day started with a nice surprise! Don and Beth McClellan decided to join us for the day and lead our ride through Yosemite. They too have Chatterbox communicators, so with us all on the same channel we wouldn't miss a thing. Our first point of interest came while we were riding a nice pace down Rt. 4 towards Copperopolis, CA. Hmmmm....a nice police officer flying above watching our every move. Don had him spotted long before he got close enough to clock us. We were doing a nominal 70 in a 65 zone with cars fore and aft, so no need to worry but we backed off to 65 for safe measure. He flew alongside in line with the sun trying to hide himself, so I just looked up and waved. HELLO!! Copperopolis was coming up in 2 miles and we knew the routine. Santa Sheriff was going to decide who'd been naughty and who'd been nice. As we approached town, it looked more like a damn parade with all the lights flashing!! It was an assembly line! As we passed an idle patrolman sitting in his Mustang GT, he hit the lights! I was starting to regret that wave. He had pulled in two cars behind us and we were just waiting for him to make his way up to us, then it happened. As one of the cars pulled over to get out of his way, the patrolman pulled in behind him! We were out of there!

Yosemite was in rare form today. The sun shined brightly overhead with not a cloud in the sky. El Capitan was speckled with climbers and the Yosemite Falls were powerful. We've seen so many of mother nature's offerings in the past two weeks that we've become a bit desensitized, but Yosemite is as nice as anything we've seen. The roads are fun and the sights are spectacular. Approaching Yosemite village, Dave is almost served up a T-bone for lunch from a young lady turning left from the right lane. It was close, too close. These tourist areas are dangerous, especially on weekends. After lunch we say goodbye to the McClellans and go our separate ways. We'll truly miss them.

Tioga Pass (Rt. 120 west) is finally open after a long, hard winter and we siezed the opportunity to ride a great road with a great reputation. It didn't disappoint us. We found heaven 50 miles before Benton! It's a roller coaster! Up, down, up, down continuously for miles. We were weightless over the crests and pulling G's through the bottom. I've never ridden anything like this EVER! I couldn't have designed something more fun with a clean sheet of paper. Not a turn to be found. It felt like we were riding on the back of the Loch Ness monster. We weren't laughing, we were SCREAMING!! If you ever get a chance to ride this road, do it!

From Benton to Tonopah, we saw several "Dirt Devils" or dust twisters in the distance and one Honda Accord that was totally demolished. The locals were loading it onto a flatbed after it had left the road and flipped multiple times. Dozing off at the wheel is probably a common occurance in these parts as the environment is extremely conducive. Tonight we stay in Tonopah, NV and will travel through the southern part of Utah tomorrow. This isn't exactly a part of the trip that I'm looking forward to, but our journey never fails to amuse us just as we think we've hit a lull.

Our only objective today was to make it through Utah and into Colorado. We were in need of a distance day if we were to make it to Lake Eufala, OK by Tuesday evening. Twenty miles out of town we pass Tonopah Missile Test Range. We really couldn't see anything from the road but did see a few craters left by some of their wayward launches. A little farther down the road we enter Kaiyobi National Forest. Dave and I just glance at each other because there are no trees within a hundred miles of this place. It should have been Kaiyobi National Shrubbery! I wonder what brilliant representative brought this one before the house. Claybrook or Koella (the motorcyclist killer) from Tennessee?

Well, we've been dodging them all trip long and today we finally killed one......a bird. It approached Dave from the left and nailed him in the upper arm. It just disintegrated upon impact. Feathers went everywhere. You'd never know that Dave was hit. There no evidence of a bruise or blood which was good since he was wearing a Harley Davidson shirt that he had bought as a gift for his friend back home!

At Ely, NV we saw at least twenty Hum-V's. You know....Hummers! They were participating in an off-road event where Ely was the finish line. We never found out who won, but it didn't seem to matter as everyone was smiling with a beer in their hands. The rest of the day was spent uneventfully traversing the terrain of Utah. Home of the Dennis Rodman fan club I believe. With an Arizonian landscape, this state is highly underrated. It is canyon after canyon with the road running along the rim then falling into the valleys. I wish that we had more time to explore this area but we have appointments to keep!

A major catastrophe was narrowly averted tonight when I noticed that the masterlink clip was missing from my chain. Have you ever seen the damage that a chain can cause when it cuts loose at 70 mph? It can put an end to a trip very quickly! We make a quick run to a local autoparts store and requisition some safety wire. I'm lucky. I should have secured the chain this way when I first put it on! Using Dave's leatherman tool, I remedy the situation and another day ends peacefully. Tomorrow's another travel day towards Dodge City, KS following some very nice backroads. The Adventure continues!