Monday, April 28, 2008

National Park Pass

After much debate and discussion with friends, we have decided that it is going to be in our best interest to buy a National Park Pass for this trip (Info). I looks like it will save us a bundle on entrance fees on most of the National Parks that we are going to visit.
Oh, it costs $80 bucks, not bad when you consider most of the entry fees are $12-25 bucks each...

More later,
Zeb

18 Days and counting down!!!!

Well, the time is closely approaching... Our departure is looming large on the horizon.
Here is a revised/tentative list of trip stops:

  • Arches National Park in Moab, UT --> Info
  • Monument Valley, UT --> Info
  • Grand Canyon National Park (South Rim) --> Info
  • Hollywood, CA --> Info
  • Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, CA --> Info
  • Las Vegas, NV --> Info More Info
  • Hoover Dam, NV --> Info
  • Zion National Park, UT --> Info
  • Bryce Canyon National Park, UT --> Info
  • Salt Lake City, UT --> Info
  • Grand Teton National Park,WY --> Info
  • Yellowstone National Park,WY --> Info
  • Rocky Mountain National Park, CO --> Info
  • Mount Rushmore National Park, SD --> Info
  • Badlands National Park, SD --> Info
  • Minute Man (Missile Site) National Historic Site, SD --> Info
  • Chicago, IL --> Info
  • Nashville, TN --> Info
  • MGM Grand Crazy Horse Paris Show --> Info
  • The Gun Store - Las Vegas --> Info
Last, but not least... We have been told that we should visit the Famous Chicken Ranch Brothel in NV --> Info

There will more than likely be more or less as we actually start off on the trip, but this is most of our wish list for places to visit.



More updates this weekend...
-Zeb

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Weekend of repairs and prep

We are shooting for leaving on May 16 in the wee-early morning hours and making our way to the first stop in Oklahoma City, OK. We are thinking our return trip will put us back home around June 3. We are looking for input on places to stop, eat, and camp. Any point of interest would be great to add to our list so that we can experience everything interesting along the way.

With our current route plan, we will be taking a southern route out to the west coast and a northern route on the return. Our highlights for the trip are going to be Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Hollywood, Route 66, Las Vegas, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain National Park, Badlands National Park, Chicago, and anything else that creeps up during our adventure.

This weekend we are hoping to finish up so minor repairs and perform so upgrades on our bikes to make them more long trip friendly. I will be replacing my chain, adding a power socket for my GPS, adding driving lights, and adding a small fuse block for all the accessories. Thomas will also be adding driving lights, and a gps mount with power.

We both need to mount and balance our new tires and get them scuffed before we leave.

Fun at the drag strip

Well, I'm not sure what came over us, but we decided to take a ride down to the local drag strip. Once, there we decided it was a good idea to make a couple of passes on our bikes. Here are the results:

Thomas was running a low 11 with his 2001 R1 and I was running low 12 with my 2004 FZ6

Overall it was fun and a great way to loosen up for the trip. We are still planning out the trip specifics and gathering all the rest of the needed trip materials.

Link to Photos