The Marathon Film Festival Redwoods Yosemite Alcatraz Hearst Castle Vegas Tour

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We very much enjoyed our visit to Hearst Castle. And it confirmed my long held belief that "Rich people are weird."

So after Hearst Castle, we begin a long ride all the way to LA, hoping to make it before dark.

We arrive in L.A. right at dusk, and are forced to navigate the city's notorious freeways to get to our Motel 6 by the airport. We manage to arrive safely!

Planes can be seen on their approaches right from our window.

The next day we take the hotel shuttle to the airport. We notice lots of cops and guys carrying around automatic weapons. Welcome to L.A.!

Time to say goodbye to my beautiful wife and amazing travel partner.

Now it's time to head home on the bike, solo.

With Allie gone, my original plan is to drive straight north out of L.A. to Lake Tahoe, then head east on Route 50.

But as I head north, I encounter super strong crosswinds which keep pushing me east, so I decide to turn east earlier and change my heading to Las Vegas. Back to the interstate!

I stop at a Walmart to stock up on supplies.

Check out the ginormous SUV. Harley rider.

With a fresh load of ramen, I head up Interstate 15 towards Las Vegas.

That's just the weirdest set of buildings ever.

One of the things that stuns me about this highway is how FAST it is. The speed limit goes all the way up to 80 mph! That's 129 kph. I settle in at 75 mph, and pass some people, but mostly get passed.

I check into a super seedy motel in the north end of the city a little after nightfall. It's actually better to arrive at night, as you can't see all the crack heads walking around so well.

Next morning I slather on the sunscreen and head down the strip for some good old sightseeing.

It's the land of spectacle, with mega hotels and over-the-top architecture.

Wynn Casino. I break the second rule of Las Vegas, which is "Thou shalt gamble, if only to place $20 on red." I don't spend a cent on gambling. What a stick-in-the-mud I am.

 

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This two-wheeled abomination is displayed in Treasure Island Casino, and was built by one of those famous doofuses on that one TV show.

On the advice of my sis-in-law Christy, I head to Walgreens and get me a hand beverage for walking the strip.

In The Venetian, which is modelled after Paris....

Did I getcha? The Venetian is actually modelled after the planet Venus.

With the help of alcohol, suddenly everything around me seems more interesting. I'm suddenly "getting" Las Vegas.

An engagement shoot, I would guess. Classy.

The diabolical Forum Shops, where I got genuinely lost.

This display of the Most Boring Shoes Ever somehow got to me.

I began a quest for affordable food which never was achieved, but I did find a hot dog that I could buy for something like $6 which was a tremendous bargain in this land of $20 hamburgers.

I wanted to get myself another beer to aid my brain in the distortion of reality so I went up to this bar. $10 for a can of beer. Um... no.

I did find another can of beer at a more reasonable price in a small gift shop.

Time for dessert! And beer!

Las Vegas, thou art so weird.

You can't go to Las Vegas without checking out the fountain show at The Bellagio so I join the throng around the "lake". The five minute show is actually so delightful that I giggle a little.

Just as it's getting dark, I head back to my motel. I know--stick-in-the-mud. I am the world's youngest old man.

 

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Two nights in Vegas is plenty for this guy. I come to the realization that for me to enjoy Vegas, I would need a drunk buddy and a limitless bank account.

It's time to head up I15 out of Nevada into Utah.

Holey moley. Utah is... stunning.

Time for a late lunch at this awesome place.

I love country cooking! This is chicken-fried something with gravy and it's delicious. And it's good for you, too! (no it's not)

So here is where things go sideways.

I stop here to take a picture, and while putting my kickstand down, I lose control of the bike and it falls over on its side. No problem, I just need to pick it up. But due to its weird downhill angle, I can't muscle it up. I try all sorts of advanced lifting techniques, unpack the bike, Jedi mind tricks, but it's not going up. I try to wave down a car, and the two young men inside go whizzing by, smirks on their faces. Nice. And then absolutely no cars for twenty minutes.

Think, Rob.... I switch on the other 90% of my brain, and take a clothesline I have packed. I tie the ends to the bike to create a "strap" to help me lift it, which allows me to use all my leg strength. With one powerful squatting motion, I manage to lift the bike. Sweet.

The moral of the story is--always carry a clothesline.

I'm a little traumatized by the bike dumping incident, so I stop a little early at a motel in the middle of Utah.

Nice price!

And nice room! I think I stepped through some kind of time portal into the 70's.

This is not a radio. It's the room air conditioner. Probably as old as my wife. It works!

ALL the important food groups.

 

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Next day it's a whole lot of beautiful roads, and not a lot of traffic.

Heading east on I70

Spotted this van during a butt break.

I keep wanting Arby's to be really delicious. But it's always just "ok".

 

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Found this fun spot for a little butt break.

After entering Colorado, the road begins to climb, and climb, and climb. Soon it's getting cold and I spot snow on the side of the road. Electric jacket to the rescue!

I go up and over a steep mountain range and pass through Vail.

It's mountainous all the way to Denver.

Tonight I stay in Denver in a "non-smoking" room.

Check out the sophisticated anti-smoking device placed in my room.

The whole place reeked of cigarettes.

And this is what I saw next morning. As you can guess, I'm not in a very nice part of Denver. This is a bit of a pattern, as my tendency to choose the absolute cheapest hotels tends to land me in these sorts of areas.

I was bold enough to ask one of the cops what was going on. He replied with a straight face, "Routine check."

After Denver, I scooted up to I80 on country roads. Sadly, things got flatter and flatter until they got kind of boring. I would be missing the mountains.

Pee break in Colorado.

A pick-up truck approached me pretty much midstream. It stopped beside me and a nice man rolled down the window and asked me, "Everything OK?" Nice people. And they didn't even shoot me in the face.

Got a kick out of what people here call "Super Unleaded". It's just regular unleaded that's been watered down with crappy ethanol, and it's cheaper than unleaded. I bought some, of course.

Made great time today and stopped for the evening in Lincoln, Nebraska.

 

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The next day the riding was dull enough that I didn't take any pictures. Just fast, boring droning east along I80, though Iowa and ending up in Lansing, Michigan.

This part of town is a study in contrasts, and this picture kind of sums them up.

And no, that's not a silly car at all.

Here is my sustenance for the next twelve hours.

Yeah, I know.... Awesome!!! Right?!

Next day I race across Michigan and reward myself with this.

Biscuits are kind of awesome. And good for you. (hee hee)

What's annoying about most American gas stations for me is that I need to pre-pay before I can pump the gas. You can't pay with a credit card at the pump without an American zip code. Someone explains to me that some form of fraud was rampant.

So I end up getting really good at guessing how many dollars of gas I need to buy to top up my tank exactly. If I overpay, then I need to go back inside to get my change. This fill up, I decide I need $13 worth.

And look.... It's a bit hard to see, but the fuel level is just full.

The student has become the master.

And soon I am back at the Canada/U.S. border in Sarnia.

I'm home!

It's been an epic trip. Rode across America. Ran a marathon. Took part in a film festival. Hiked among the tallest trees in the world. Saw long lost family. Climbed a mountain. Ran across the Golden Gate Bridge. Explored a penitentiary. Rode a famous highway. Visited a mansion. And rode across America.

Thanks for reliving this 12 000 km journey with me!

 

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Hope you enjoyed the travelogue. This was a cut-and-paste affair from my Facebook account, so I apologize if some of it reads funny, or there are errors, or the pictures disappear at some point entirely.

 

[defiant26]

Wow. What an awesome thread. Thank you so much for sharing this. I feel like I just went on a vacation reading it. Fantastic!

 

[Superzoom]

Wow. What an awesome thread. Thank you so much for sharing this. I feel like I just went on a vacation reading it. Fantastic!

Thanks a lot, Defiant. Happy to share it with you! Posting these made me want to squeeze one last tour in this year. But the cold weather is closing in. We shall see.

 

[lytehouse]

Excellent report and it actually made me laugh out loud! Thank You so much for taking the time to post all those pics. I know that took a lot of time to do. :rockon:
Glad you made it home safe too!

 

[Superzoom]

Thanks again, Lytehouse. Glad to give you a few laughs. I had many laughs on this trip, and maybe cried inside a few times as well.

 

[ksanbon]

Epic! I stayed up way too late in order to read the whole thing, but it was worth it. Thanks!