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Spreadsheets are Meant for Changing--TX, NM, AZ, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, CO, NM, TX

drfood

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Location
Houston
First Name
Darrell
Last Name
Gerdes
This June/July Jay and I had our 3rd opportunity to load up and take off on an extended vacation, thanks to a work conference. Back in 2013 I had a conference in Lost Wages in October. We both always wanted to take off on the bikes and visit things along the way. I spent MONTHS planning the trip and visits to the National Parks along the way...well the politicians didn't want us to have as much fun as planned so they closed down the government and National Parks. We still managed to have a great ride.

In September 2016 I had 2 conferences in Lost Wages (back to back) so we planned a much more successful trip. No government shutdown.

With the practice of the first 2 trips we decided what the heck 3rd time has to be a charm. I had a conference in Lost Wages in late June so the planning began almost immediately after the October return.

Explanation as to the title of the report. My dad, the wonderful German blooded man he is, would plan family vacations to the nth degree back in the late 60's and early 70's on graph paper. He would spend hours pouring over Texaco, Enco, Gulf, and Mobil branded foldup maps. He would determine exact mileage, the picnic areas, the parks, and sights we would see. He would schedule which days were tuna and which were bologna lunches. Everything was meticulously planned even how much money we could spend on a motel with a kitchenette. Well since I got 1/2 of my dads genetic material the planning gene crossed over to me. When we go on vacations I create and Excel spreadsheet and pour over Google maps planning and replanning and replanning. Jay and our friends think I'm nuts....they say it's a vacation let things happen and relax. It drives me nuts to think about not having a plan.

I'm going to post this trip report in what I think is a weird format....I might put 1 day and I might put multiple days in a single post. So please bear with me because in this case there is no method to my madness.

Planning
I started planning the trip back in midOctober 2016 knowing that I had to have dates and places in place for camping reservations at National Parks. You've got to jump online at 10 AM the day 6 months out from when you want a camping spot. And since the trip was going to take place in June/July I knew it would be even more fun since vacations would be in full swing by that time.

I've attached the final planned spreadsheet so you can see how I go about oing things. This isn't what actually occured in the trip. More on that later.

From the spreadsheet you can see the plan was simple.....

Leave Houston on Father's Day and arrive in Lost Wages on Friday afternoon of that week. Then spend 6 days there and then venture back home via Zion etc. I had to be back in the office on July 10. So that would give us 3 weeks away from Houston.

Things got a bit interesting over the 3-4 months before the trip. Jay's dad had significant health issues and he was spending 3-4 days each week in Lafayette. His mom was also having issues. At one point we thought we might have to cancel, but thankfully the doctors found "cures" for both parents issues.

On top of the parental challenges, Jay got a new to him bike. He had taken the 2 previous trip on his 2008 Versys and never was fully happy with the experience. The bike was not a "road trip" bike in his eyes. Earlier in 2017 we happened to have the opportunity to purchase a 2012 Wee Strom (or Glee Strom, whatever they want to call it) that had been originally owned by MacDaddy on here. We modified the luggage by buying some Touratech Zega Pro panniers and top case. Perfect for a 3 week road trip.

Camping spots were secured as planned. Motels were secured as planned. 1/3 of my planning was done.

Next came the finalized route planning. That was completed in May 2017. The final route would be as follows. (This is the May plan, more later)

Day 1--Houston to Ft. Stockton
Day 2--Ft. Stockton to Silver City, NM
Day 3--Silver City to South Rim Grand Canyon
Day 4, 5, 6--Grand Canyon camping
Day 6--Ride to Las Vegas
Day 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12--Las Vegas hotel for conference
Day 12--Ride to Zion National Park
Day 13, 14, 15--Zion National Park camping
Day 15--Ride to Moab
Day 16, 17, 18--Moab hotel and explore Arches, Canyonlands, Moki Dugway
Day 18--Ride to Black Canyon of the Gunnison
Day 19--Ride to Alamosa CO and stay in hotel
Day 20--Great Sand Dunes National Park and ride to Santa Fe hotel
Day 21--Ride from Santa Fe to Abilene
Day 22--Ride from Abilene to Home

Yep, I know it's a very full schedule.

Packing
2 motorcycles
2 Touratech Top Cases
4 Touratech panniers
2 sleeping bags
1 tent
4 hiking poles
2 tank bags

Thank goodness for multiple past trips and ROX straps. :clap:

More to come. Stay tuned.
 

Attachments

  • Western Vacation June 2017.xlsx - Sheet1.pdf
    49.5 KB · Views: 219
The only problem is you are not riding the bikes???? What the heck? lol :rofl:
 
I like a fair amount of planning before a trip (German too) but dang, I got worn out just thinking about all the time you spent with your pre-planning. Looking forward to the rest of your trip and what Jay thinks about the Wee Strom.
 
Day 1--The adventure begins.......

Houston to Ft. Stockton
Sunday morning--Father's Day started way too early because Saturday night ended way too late. Had to go to the gym one last time.

The bikes were packed and ready to head out. Requisite photos were taken before leaving.
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The plan was to ride from Houston to Ft. Stockton via San Antonio on I-10. We left the house around 8 AM and planned to be at the hotel by 6 PM.

We hit the Sam Houston Tollway and then I-10 and began the trek west. Around Sequin both bikes needed fuel and a discussion began about the temperature and what the rest of the trip might be like if it was that hot that early in the day. Since it was Father's Day we knew that Raising Cane's had BOGO Boxes and lunch was planned on the NW side of San Antonio. :eat3: After having lunch and refilling the camelbacks with ice and water we hit the road again. Traffic was crazy between San Antone and Kerrville but slowly opened up the further west we went. By the time we hit Junction traveling at 90 MPH was easy with minimal passing.

The plan for the rest of the day was to stop in Junction and Ozona for gas and a short break. Each time we stopped people wanted to know where we were heading and why we were doing this in late June. :eek2:

In 2013 we stopped at the Valero station in Ozona for gas and took a photo with my old Vee Strom and Jay's Versys. I wanted to take a similar shot this year with the 2 Wee's. So we posed the bikes as best I could remember.

2013
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2017
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After fueling up and having an ice cream cone at the DQ we finished the ride to Ft. Stockton.

I was lucky enough (if you can call it that) to have accumulated enough Marriott Rewards points to have free hotel rooms when there were Marriott's available and we needed a hotel room. The Fairfield Inn in Ft. Stockton was the first night's stop. We highly recommend the property, it is basically brand spanking new. Dinner was at the Pecos Roadhouse. I DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES RECOMMEND THE PECOS ROADHOUSE. The place is a disaster from the service to the food to the cleanliness.

Some photos after the day of riding.....

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Day 2 to follow
 
Day 2--Ft. Stockton to Silver City, NM

Day 2 started with a great breakfast at the hotel, free and filling.

I knew there would be a significant stop in El Paso because the camera we purchased, Sony A6000 mirrorless, needed an additional lens. When we purchased it we planned to order a new lens in Las Vegas to add to the Sony kit lens, but the kit lens was not going to work as the only lens to start out. More on this in a bit.

We gassed up at the Stripes across I-10 from the hotel and headed west on I-10.

Gas mileage has always been wonky on my bike. The October 2016 trip I was averaging in the high 30's and low 40's when driving at slab speeds (75-90). And this trip started out the same. So we stopped in Van Horn at the Love's truck stop to fuel up, potty break, and hydrate a bit. This fill up would get us to El Paso. I love riding west of Ft. Stockton on I-10 through Kent and toward El Paso. The northern end of the Davis Mountains is great scenery.

We made it to El Paso and exited to head to a camera store I found online to see if they had any lenses we might purchase. I had no idea what to expect when we arrived at Jerry Reed Photography especially seeing the building.

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But once we went inside we were shocked at the store.....vintage lenses....by the hundreds....I was in lens heaven. Lucia, the owner, showed us several options--a Nikon 50mm, a Canon 28mm, and a Canon 24mm. All late 70's/early 80's manual lenses. After taking several shots and negotiating we walked out with the 28mm Canon and filter and Sony E-mount adapter for $100. I was very happy.


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So if you're looking for a vintage piece of glass head over to Jerry Reeds facebook page and they will take good care of you.

Next came lunch. :eat: There is a Cracker Barrel on the west side of El Paso we had eaten at before and decided to take advantage of the cheap lunch specials. I would not recommend this location after our experience....surly staff, barely edible food, and crowded. We should have gone to Chili's across the street for their lunch special.

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Sorry, no food shots. It wasn't worth it.

While having lunch we discussed whether we would slab it to Deming and then head to Silver City or not. Jay wanted to get off I-10 and see "the wall". So we headed to Texas 136 to NM A003 which turned into NM 9 over to Columbus NM. It was a HOT and desolate ride. I do not understand how folks crossing the border could survive in those conditions.

At Columbus we ran into an interesting character while taking photos of the train station. This local was very talkative and wanted to talk. Jay entertained him while I was taking photos.

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Turning north only NM 11 we headed to Deming where we would then take US 180 to Silver City. In October we had taken the reverse route from Silver City to Deming when we were heading home. There is a terrific state park there, City of Rocks, that we camped at that trip. This trip we were headed to the Motel 6 in Silver City.

As we left Deming the skies began to turn dark and lightening bolts were flashing ahead of us. I had not packed any rain gear so if we got rained on we were going to get wet.

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Fortunately the weather stayed west of the highway all the way to Silver City.

The trip so far had been fantastic with zero hiccups. That is until we arrived at the Motel 6 in Silver City. When I walked in to check in the front desk clerk informs me that we did not have a reservation. Fortunately I had my phone and showed her the confirmation. No good. She was insistent that we did not have a room. After a serious discussion about calling Motel 6 reservations and AMEX she relented and gave us a room. The room was typical Motel 6 and was a place to sleep. They did let us keep the bikes right outside the office which was nice of them.

Dinner was to be a Jalisco Cafe in the historic downtown area. They did not have a liquor license yet so water was the beverage of choice. I had read a lot of good stuff about this restaurant. Evidently I did not read the correct reviews. It was mediocre and expensive. We both had tacos based on the waiters recommendation. He did not speak highly of anything else on the menu. Taco Cabana has better tacos. One of the most irritating things....only 1 free serving of chips and salsa.

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After dinner we took a nice tour of the downtown and decided that we would have to go back to Silver City another time.

Jay wanted a lesson in using the new camera after we returned to the hotel so I decided to work with him on low light photos. Here are a couple of examples of his work.

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Tomorrow....a side trip to a TWTex member's recommendation and an ooops.
 
I know it's desert hot for you but are you the only bikes on the road?

Like the mountains in silhouette in the low light pic.
 
Day 3--Silver City, NM to South Rim Grand Canyon Mather Campground

Between the highway noise and the early morning sunlight I was ready to get out of bed around 5:45 AM. This is much earlier than I had expected, but it was time to get on the road.

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The plan was to ride US 180 to US 191 at Alpine (our favorite road in the Western US). We did not have time to ride 191 from Morenci to Alpine this trip. From Alpine AZ we would run up 191 to Business 180 in Eager AZ over to Main Street to have lunch at DQ and then on to Show Low via US 60 and up to Holbrook AZ via AZ 77. Then on to Williams AZ via I40 and north on US 64 to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

After packing up the bikes we walked across the street to Mickey D's and had a quick breakfast. The first objective of the day was to stop at a place called "Catwalk Recreation Area". This stop was highly recommended by a member of the forum. US 180 out of Silver City is a nice twisty road with elevation changes galore. The first stop was at the Aldo Leopold Vista which had a great view of the Gila Wilderness area.

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On up the road we went to find the Catwalk place. There's a bit of a trick to finding the Catwalks...the signage is terrible directing you to the turn off as you pass through Pleasanton, NM. Jay was leading and ramping up to highway speed as I looked over and saw the brown sign telling us to turn right. So I let him know in the communicator that we needed to turn around and go back to the right place. Jay is pretty nimble on his bike and makes nice U-Turns, usually within the paved surface of the road. Me on the otherhand....I am overly cautious and usually take the shoulder as part of my turns. This time I dropped off the road surface and thought the shoulder was packed gravel. :nono: Not so fast Darrell.....it was deep loose grey gravel. You guessed it just as I was finishing my U-Turn the front wheel dug into the gravel and I went down. Luckily I reacted fast enough to kill the engine. But my foot was caught under the left pannier, but I managed to pull it out in the loose gravel. It certainly felt wonky, dang I had cracked a bone or 2 in my foot. Jay came back and helped me right the bike and get it on the kickstand while I checked for damage, luckily nothing wrong with the bike. I did not tell Jay about my foot until we finished the Catwalk visit.

After collecting myself we made the left turn into the road to the Catwalks. Now I had no clue what to expect when we arrived, but I hoped it would be cool.

We parked and de-geared prepping to take a hike. Luckily we both wear water-resistant hiking boots to ride with. Makes life easier when we find these sort of places to visit. There were 5 or 6 large groups of teenagers along the trail, but they were really well behaved and kept to themselves.

The trail led us about 1 mile to the Catwalks. WOW is all I can say.. :clap: Very cool actual catwalks along the canyon wall. Here's a link to more information about the Catwalks. We spent about 45 minutes there exploring and taking photos.

http://www.americantrails.org/nationalrecreationtrails/trailNRT/Catwalk-NM.html

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Leaving the Catwalks I knew we had 1 hour extra once we crossed into Arizona because AZ doesn't follow Daylight Savings Time. So getting to Grand Canyon before dark would not be a real problem.

US 180 is really a nice road north of the Catwalk. Twisties, switchbacks, forest, and slow drivers.

We turned left (north) onto US 191 toward Eager/Springerville. The ride here is really nice past a lake and nice green scenery.

Jay was still leading and we were running about 70ish MPH on 191. Making the turn onto Business 180 we accelerated toward Eager for lunch. That's when the Uh-Oh happened......a local Po Po passed us going the opposite direction. I saw Jay hit the brakes and start to slow. I looked in my left mirror and yep the Explorer had turned around and the blue LEDs were heading out way. I told Jay to find a good spot to pull over and kill his engine. We waited a minute or 2 for the officer to arrive. He walked up to me and asked me for my license and then asked if I knew why he stopped us. I let him answer his own question. He said he clocked us doing 62 MPH in a 45 MPH zone. I proceeded to apologize and tell him I did not see a speed limit sign. His did not respond except to take my license. He walked up to Jay and asked him for his license. Now remember we had the mikes open on the communicators so I heard the conversation. The officer asked J for his license and J responded it was in his wallet in his right pant pocket. The officer asked him if he wanted him to take the wallet out or if J would do it. J told him he did not have any weapon on his person. The officer did not ask, but I know why he said it. He asked the officer to step back and it hit me that he was worried. I did not say a word and let J give him the license. When the officer was walking back to his vehicle I asked him if he needed proof of insurance and he said "No. I'm going to run both of you and if there are no problems I'll let you go with a verbal warning." The next 15 minutes were excruciating and entertaining. About 10 minutes into the wait I told J he was making us sweat but I doubted there would be a ticket. Meanwhile we had company across the road. There was a young kid on a bike watching the whole thing unfold. Finally the officer came back to us and handed us our licenenses and told us to watch the speed and ride safely. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

After getting calmed down we went to look for lunch. The DQ was out, no seating and it was packed. So we went to our favorite standby, Sonic. That particular Sonic had been the sight of lunch 3 times...October 2013, October 2016 and now June 2017.

After a hearty lunch of grilled chicken sandwiches and powerade we set off for Show Low. In Show Low we gassed up at the Maverick station and I discovered they had ethanol free gasoline. I checked the gas mileage on the previous tank. 69.6 MPG. I've never run above 54 or so MPG. I thought it was very strange and would check the next tank.

I knew there was a Wally World in Snowflake AZ for us to stop at and get a few items we had forgotten in Houston. Very nice store for a Wally World. Extremely helpful staff, in fact I've never seen a WM with that many employees.

The next 20 or so miles were miserable. There was a cross-wind of about 40 mph. I was not happy because I knew the wind would be a factor once we turned onto I40. Traffic on I-40 was extremely heavy. Trucks, trucks, and more trucks. And yes the wind was a factor, but not that big of one. The air temperature indicator was showing 107F until we got about 20 miles outside Flagstaff. Once we climbed to Flagstaff the temperature dropped to the mid-80s thankfully.

I had planned to take US 180 from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon, but due to forest fires it was closed so we had to ride I40 to Williams and turn north.

Turning north on US64 toward SRGCNP we made 1 stop at the Shell station to gas up. The gas mileage was 66.9, so there was something happening with the mileage. I still didn't believe it, but was going to just accept it.

We arrived at the traffic circles in Tusayan AZ and proceeded to the entrance station to the Grand Canyon. Last year we purchased a year pass to the National Parks and fortunately it allows 2 motorcycles to enter with no extra fee. It was late enough in the day there was no line. The ranger told me that the line earlier in the day had been about 60 cars long. I had seen that on the web cam feed before we left Houston. It seems that GCNP is breaking 2016 attendance records quite handily.

I had made 2 sets of reservations for campsites. 1 for 3 days at Oak Loop 231 Mather Campground and 1 for 2 days at Oak Loop 232. Our preference is site 232. It has a nice long driveway and a great area to set up the tent under trees. Plus the firering and picnic table are in a great spot. Unfortunately due to the heat and drought fires were not allowed in the campground. So no roasted marshmallows or s'mores this trip. Jay volunteered to set up the tent while I unpacked the bikes.

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That was the only photo I took of the first campsite. I knew we would move the next morning to 232.

We met some friends who work for Xanterra (formerly Fred Harvey) there in the park for dinner. There's a really nice food court in the Maswick Lodge. John told us that we could get ice from the dispenser in the food court to fill the camelbacks.

After a great meal and visiting John and Erik we headed to the tent to get some sleep.

About 10 hours or so on the road and 430ish miles...we were ready for some sleep.
 
I know it's desert hot for you but are you the only bikes on the road?

Like the mountains in silhouette in the low light pic.

There were LOTS of bikes on the roads.....of course Harley's were in the majority and I can honestly say I do not recall seeing 1 Harley rider with a helmet. Most were riding in shirt sleeves. There were quite a few BMW's as well.
 
I knew there was a Wally World in Snowflake AZ for us to stop at and get a few items we had forgotten in Houston. Very nice store for a Wally World. Extremely helpful staff, in fact I've never seen a WM with that many employees.

I think it's only been open a little over a year or two.
 
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