4164 miles on a Busa

[TruWrecks]

I don't post here very often, but I do enjoy reading others rides when I can't.

Thank you for making this site a wonderful resource for everyone to enjoy.

Well, last Sunday I returned from a 14 day trip on my 2008 Hayabusa. Enjoy.

Day 1

Everett to Okanagan

All packed and ready for two weeks on the Busa.



Left Everett and decided to hit HWY 9 to HWY 530. Traffic was light once I made it to Darrington.



A beautiful start.



Time to warm up the tires.



The weather decided to be nice to me.



I stopped in NewHalem for some home made fudge.



Mint and Dark chocolate. Mmmmmmmmm.



Makes the Busa look kind of small and insignificant.



Seattle Light and Power Dam.



I wasn't supposed to be here, but I got this shot anyway.



More fun roads.



Waterfall break.




The trip over Diablo Pass was nice and fun. I made it to the pass with no problems.



More great weather for the first day.




Winthrop was busy. It looked more like a Saturday than a Monday with the amount of traffic in town. On to Okanagan for the night. I opted to hotel it for the first night out. It was getting late and I was a bit tired because I didn't sleep well the night before anticipating the trip. I got the bugs cleaned of, made sure the Busa was in good order for the next day of riding and called it a day.

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Day 2

Okanagan to Lolo Pass

Loaded up the Busa and headed toward HWY 12 to Lolo Pass. There was a storm brewing, or the weather just knew what my plans were and decided to make it a challenge for me.




I Plotted my route to go by Grand Coolee Dam.

What a choice. Visit the dam, or visit the ER. Good thing I didn't have to take option #2.



I stopped a the dam for a short rest.



I grabbed some lunch and headed south toward HWY 12 again. I ended up meeting a Father and Son team in Harrington that was on a return trip from Alaska. They both had VStrom 1000's with hard bags. We talked for about 30 minutes before heading out of town.



We hit gravel on HWY 23, The state didn't list that as being under construction when I checked. Made it to HWY 12 without further incident. I got dinner and went looking for a place to camp for the night. I found a nice quiet campsite about 60 miles from Lolo Summit. Time to setup the tent and crash for the night.

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Day 3

Lolo Pass to Cottonwood

I got up bright and early so I could ride Lolo with as little traffic as possible. The view was nice from my campsite.



The rodes where fun and mostly clear. I came up on another rider that had what looked like a mid 80's Honda standard with hard bags. He was struggling with the bike in the sharper corners. I passed him on the next strait and he started following me up the pass. He kept on my tail very well. I wasn't pushing very hard not knowing what his riding skill level was. As I pulled off at the summit he waved and kept going.



I found this and thought it was interesting about the history of Lolo Pass.



I picked up a hitch hiker at Lolo. We'll talk about that later.



Off and riding again. Next stop, Lolo, MT. I just love the sweepers on the East side of Lolo Pass. I stopped in Lolo to fuel up and get a cold drink.

This was a weather check from Lolo.



Time to head south. At Florence I hit construction so I turned off on to HWY 203 (Eastside Highway). That dropped me back onto HWY 93 headed to the Bitterroot River. That turned out to be a fairly boring ride down the valley.

Just as I started my climb into the hills a small herd of mountain sheep wandered into the road.



This one got smart and left the scene.



After the excitement of the big horn sheep I pushed on the Cottonwood Park and camped another night in the mountains.



I set up camp and relaxed for the night.



The sunset was nice there.

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Day 4

Cottonwood to Swan Valley

Woke up before anyone else at the camp. It was a bit chilly before the sun came over the hill. A deer was browsing for food across the stream from my campsite. I shot it...., with my camera.



I cleaned and lubed the Busa's chain and washed the bugs off of everything else on the bike. Time to pack up the tent and head south further. Idaho is a state of many miles of boring roads, dotted with several miles of nice twisty corners.

This looked like the road to nowhere. It was a nice diversion from the long flat road I started on this morning.



This is the entry to the Grand View Canyon. I wished the corners lasted longer.



I stopped for fuel and lunch. Can anyone tell me the town by looking at the picture below?

Some one was bored.



I found a road marker for the Craters of the Moon N.P. Wondering how NASA brought them to Earth prompted further investigation. It's was very interesting, but it had nothing to do with the moon.



Just crater features like the ones found on the moon. I took the riding tour around the park.





A very un-earthly looking rock.



A family drove by and offered to take a picture of me in front of the rock.



This is called the Devil's Orchard. Not much grows there.





Nice roads to play on. It was a shame they patrol the roads heavily in N.P. Areas.



This is some of the vegetation that grows there.



I hiked up the Inferno Cone in my riding gear.



Half way up it was getting a bit warm for full leathers, but I pressed on.

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The wind at the top felt great. I was one tired puppy when I got there. My Busa is down there somewhere.



This was all the zoom my Samsung cam could muster.



More from the top of Inferno Cone.





The walk back down was almost as hard. I would have faired pretty well since I had everything but my helmet and gloves on.

A few more shots of the park. The first one my camera was having technical difficulties.



This is what the shot should have looked like.



I finished the tour and headed back to the unnamed place. Enough fun in the heat. Time to hit the
road again. I took HWY 20 to Idaho Fall and had dinner. My bike video camera quit quite working today. I stopped by Idaho Falls for food and fuel. I left town for Swan Valley for the night. I found a bar that rents cabins in the valley. They didn't have any open so they said for $10 I could pitch my tent and have access to a bathroom and hot shower. Deal!!!

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Day 5

Swan Valley to Vernal

Go up and started my day with a hot shower and shave. Had to get my $10 worth. Next stop is the Palisades Reservoir. The rock wall behind my bike is the Palisades Dam.



I snapped a few pictures and rode across the top just to do it.



Time to head South in Wyoming. After a short ride in the hills I had to stop for more unscheduled construction.



After just a few miles of mountains I found out that I would need to ride through more than 30 miles of flat valley roads. That was more than I could bear. I back-tracked a few miles to Alpine Junction and took HWY 26 to Hoback. That was a very worth-while reason to back-track. Just passed Hoback I turned onto HWY 189 to head for the Flaming Gorge park. I took the time to stop for some shade in Daniel.



I might have found my dream house there.



I rode for a while longer until I noticed the fuel light was on. I had another 52 miles to ride before the next stop. My tank only holds 5.4 gallons.



Wyoming is great at making rodes that are excessively boring to ride. The rode turn toward the gorge for a mile, then turn back away from it and run parallel to it. That happened until a few miles before I hit the Utah state line.



I got so bored with the highway I opted for a road called the Peru By-Pass. I was listed a a paved road.



Wyoming dumped gravel on all 8 miles of it to HWY 530. It wasn't very fun, but it did spare me from 20 more mile of flat boring roads. I eventually made it to the end of the by-pass and continued on HWY 530 to Flaming Gorge N.P.



Flaming Gorge was worth the wait.

I got there in time to get picture of the sunset.



The road in the south end of the park was also very fun.



I finished out my day by riding to Vernal and getting a motel for the night.

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Day 6

Vernal to Grand Junction

Heading toward Colorado I needed to make a fuel stop. I now see why prices are high. The pump was shut off.



I made a quick jaunt over to Dinosaur, CO. I was disappointed that I didn't see any. Even the locals were confused when I asked.

HWY 64 was next. It is a slice of heavenly sweepers a it starts rolling it way up into the Rocky Mountains. After a few miles of bliss I turned on HWY 139. I found a lot of cows as I climbed up the pass on my Busa. I was rewarded with switchback after switchback for miles until I crested the pass at over 9000 ft.



The ride down the East slope was as much fun as the West side was coming up it. I-70 was waiting on the other side of the mountain pass. I took it for 7 miles and jumped off the visit the Colorado National Monument. Nirvana for motorcycles. I rode through the entire loop of the Monument.



Me again.



More...



Yet another...



My only hesitation to railing my way back through those roads was that it's a National Park. I finished off my day to find that all the camping at the park was full. I headed down to Grand Junction to find a replacement tank bag. I noticed the zipper in mine was ripping out. I almost lost my camera through the hole while flipping the bike in the corners. As I finished at the bike shop I was dumped on by really nasty rain. I opted for a motel so I could get dried out. I had no rain gear on me or my bike. Most of my camping gear got soaked.

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Day 7

Grand Jucntion to Rio Grande Valley

Well today started off dry and warm. My first order of business was to pack up all the dry gear and head for the mountains again. HWY 50 south was my route of choice. I followed it for a few miles of smooth sweepers, then it got pretty boring. I hit HWY 92 after I passed through Crawford.



HWY 92 started slow as it leaves town. I noticed that it was getting higher in elevation as I got closer to Gunnison N.P. A few miles before the park the road got really twisty, and it stayed that way for many miles. And I do mean many.



Getting higher.



I stopped for a break at a place called Hermit's Rest. The view was great. A few other riders had the same idea.



One guy even brought his dogs on his Harley. He uses a Road Hound carrier.



The weather was looking pretty nasty the direction I was headed. HWY 149 is just beyond the mountains in the distance. It was looking real cloudy when I first stopped at Hermit's Rest. The weather improved in the 30 minutes I was hanging out.



I headed down HWY 92 toward my chosen route. The roads were dry and fun. More turns than a campaigning Democrat! I rode over some pretty high passes. I found signs for elevations over 11,000 ft!



My GPS said I made it a bit higher.



I stopped at the Continental Divide for a short break. The air was cold and calm.



Could you believe that these roads exists at nearly 12,000 ft? It's a 2 mile high roller coaster.



After a few miles riding down from the pass I got rained on hard. Monsoon style rains. I pulled over at the first gas station I found and got my rain gear on after covering everything else on the bike. I figured it was better to have dry gear and a wet body, than wet gear and a wet body. I wanted something dry to change into when I stopped for the night. I found the start of the Rio Grande River. The Head-Waters.

The beginning of the Rio Grande River.



The ride from there to the campsite was great. Twisties and sweepers flowed down into the Rio Grande valley. I found a small campsite that had a few people right along the Rio Grande river. That campsite was at 8,900 ft above Seattle. I was tired after spending most of my day above 10,000 ft. Spirited riding takes on a whole new meaning when the oxygen feels like half of what you're used to breathing in.

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Day 8

Rio Grande Valley to HWY 145

I woke to the sound of the running water. I almost didn't make it out side of my tent before nature started screaming to release. I ran to the outhouse just in time. I must of looked funny in my Helley Hansen long johns. They work really well for hot weather but they look like pajamas. Pack up camp and head off down the Rio Grande river toward Durango.



A few miles from camp I found a BWM that was letting his rider rest in the valley.



I let my Busa visit while I talked with the rider, Mike was his name if I recall correctly.



When the Busa was done visiting we both headed down the valley toward South Fork. We switched lead position several times during the 60 miles that we tore up the roads. For a BWM it handled pretty well. I stopped for lunch in Pagosa Springs and the Mike and I parted ways. I headed to Durango after lunch. The ride was nice, but HWY 160 got really busy as it approached Durango.

I topped off the gas tank and hit HWY 550 out of Durango. It's called the Million Dollar Highway. I had to deal with a few minutes of rain as I headed north on 550.



A few miles past Lake Purgatory was an abandon Silver mine. I figured this was a great time for a photo op. Getting the Busa up by the Silver mine chute was not for the faint of heart.





I had a passing car stop and cheer for my when they found me guiding my Busa back down from the mine.

Continuing up HWY 550, literally, the road was very pleasing. The view was great and the winding roads were a blast. Just over the top I had to stop for construction. Part of the road was damaged in the mountain pass at more than 10,000 ft. The workers there were in a great mood. I would too if I had to work where they were, just not doing to same job. I found my way down the mountain with a few close calls. An incident there can mean a 2,000+ foot fall.



The sign tells all.



Further north I joined the road to Telluride. Nice but busy HWY. The views were great. I got to Telluride while it was still pretty early. I asked about camping at a fuel stop just before Telluride. The cashier said to go up HWY 145 a few miles and I would find an area that is free to camp in. She was
right.



I had to off road the Busa to get here.



The owners of the motor home are also from Everett. They said that they recently sold everything they own and bought the motor home to live in. I have similar plans in the works when I sell my house. I moved my tent and bike down by the motor home and campfire.

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Day 9

HWY 145 to Hanksville

I woke up not knowing what day of the week it was. My cell phone was dead. I was cold. My Zune was dead. It was a beautiful way to start the day. My Zumo confirmed that I just spent the night camping at 10,800 ft. The Zumo provided the music for my ride to Cortez. It's amazing where some of these roads are built. The views are incredible at almost every turn.



It got so repetitive I didn't bother taking many pictures, I just enjoyed the ride.

I made it to Cortez in time for lunch. While eating a couple of guys on cruisers stopped to eat. We admired each others bike and talked about the roads around Cortez. They suggested I ride south and take HWY 162 and HWY 262. The advice was taken. HWY 162 goes into the Ute reservation. It was kind of boring getting through the reservation. HWY 262 provided great views and lots of corners. The road conditions were not very good for fast riding. My tires left the road more than a ping-pong ball bounces in the Summer Olympics. As I recovered from the jarring on HWY 262 into Blanding. I turned my attention to Natural Arches N.P. on HWY 95.



The pace was slow and hot.

Enjoy the view.





This critter was racing me down the path from a view point.



Last one for Natural Arches.



The 9 mile diversion was very needed before heading to Glen Canyon for another sunset ride.

The road into Glen Canyon.




The bridge over the Colorado River.



Better view.




It was a peaceful place to collect my thoughts before I hit the rolling terrain into Hanksville. With nothing but Rattlesnakes and roaches to sleep among I got a room. It was on my schedule to motel it that night anyway.

I got into my room and rode down the street to get something for dinner and tomorrows breakfast.



Within minutes of returning to my room a bad thunderstorm hit. I was raining so hard I had to remove the GPS mount and cover all of the wires on the bike.