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Nevada/Utah/Arizona/Colorado
July 1995 - Nevada/Utah/Arizona/Colorado
by Phil Stewart
Just a quick summary of a long ride:
A friend (on a 94 Magna) and I rode across Nevada, toured several of the Utah parks and back roads, dropped down into Monument Valley (Arizona), visited North western New Mexico, the 4-corners area (Utah/Colorado/Arizona/New Mexico), South Western Colorado, back through Utah, Nevada, and into the Sierra (Ca.) and home.
We had some rain, some hail, some wind, but great roads (mostly secondary roads) and beautiful scenery. All-in-all almost 2800 miles in 7 days (we took Sunday off to attend church and visit some relatives).
I think my favorite area was Arches National Park (just outside Moab, Utah), With Monument Valley, Arizona, and Durango-Silverton-Ouray, Colorado areas being a close second.
Big Red (79-SF) ran great until 30 miles from home, when the fuel vacuum valve shut down. Fortunatley, once I figured out what was happening, it was easy to switch the petcocks over to 'prime' and continue home (I haven't performed surgery yet to diagnose the failure mode).
The Krauser hard luggage (borrowed from Don Gringo 78-E)) was very convienient. However, I have to say I really missed having a duffle bungied to the seat behind me to lean on- I need to work out some combination.
The full windshield (large- from J.C. Whitney), was just great for blasting through rain and hail, but it brought a real gas milage penalty. Any time we run over 60-65 miles an hour, the milage would drop- as low as 24 mpg for one stretch with a 75 mpg average against a head wind :-) .
The friend on the Magna (750 cc) used a small sports shield and got really good milage (48-56 mpg), but he got beat up pretty badly in one of the hail storms. It's to bad there isn't some kind of rapidly size-adjustable windshield.
The Motowear (Aerostitch-like, custom sewn for $350) one piece suit performed flawlessly- I stayed dry in the rain, and with the vents open was just fine in 90+ temperatures (as long as I was moving)- highly recommended.
We met scads of people out touring. Most of them were on Wings- 3/4th of them pulling trailers (since I still like high-g turns, I am not quite ready for this yet). We camped with credit cards, but I found that most other people camp out. They camp a couple of nights, then stay in a motel to clean up and re-group. This is probably the way to go as motels were certainly the major expense.
All in all a great trip- I am ready to go again. Hummm maybe a fall trip up into the Sierras....
by Phil Stewart
Just a quick summary of a long ride:
A friend (on a 94 Magna) and I rode across Nevada, toured several of the Utah parks and back roads, dropped down into Monument Valley (Arizona), visited North western New Mexico, the 4-corners area (Utah/Colorado/Arizona/New Mexico), South Western Colorado, back through Utah, Nevada, and into the Sierra (Ca.) and home.
We had some rain, some hail, some wind, but great roads (mostly secondary roads) and beautiful scenery. All-in-all almost 2800 miles in 7 days (we took Sunday off to attend church and visit some relatives).
I think my favorite area was Arches National Park (just outside Moab, Utah), With Monument Valley, Arizona, and Durango-Silverton-Ouray, Colorado areas being a close second.
Big Red (79-SF) ran great until 30 miles from home, when the fuel vacuum valve shut down. Fortunatley, once I figured out what was happening, it was easy to switch the petcocks over to 'prime' and continue home (I haven't performed surgery yet to diagnose the failure mode).
The Krauser hard luggage (borrowed from Don Gringo 78-E)) was very convienient. However, I have to say I really missed having a duffle bungied to the seat behind me to lean on- I need to work out some combination.
The full windshield (large- from J.C. Whitney), was just great for blasting through rain and hail, but it brought a real gas milage penalty. Any time we run over 60-65 miles an hour, the milage would drop- as low as 24 mpg for one stretch with a 75 mpg average against a head wind :-) .
The friend on the Magna (750 cc) used a small sports shield and got really good milage (48-56 mpg), but he got beat up pretty badly in one of the hail storms. It's to bad there isn't some kind of rapidly size-adjustable windshield.
The Motowear (Aerostitch-like, custom sewn for $350) one piece suit performed flawlessly- I stayed dry in the rain, and with the vents open was just fine in 90+ temperatures (as long as I was moving)- highly recommended.
We met scads of people out touring. Most of them were on Wings- 3/4th of them pulling trailers (since I still like high-g turns, I am not quite ready for this yet). We camped with credit cards, but I found that most other people camp out. They camp a couple of nights, then stay in a motel to clean up and re-group. This is probably the way to go as motels were certainly the major expense.
All in all a great trip- I am ready to go again. Hummm maybe a fall trip up into the Sierras....