Touring Western USA On My CBX: Part 1 (Many Pix)

Terry · Post by **Terry** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 1:23 am

Late friday afternoon I found myself at the Pacific between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz on highway one. I had been out all day riding the two lanes around here but the sun was going down soon and I would be leaving the next morning on my eight state summer tour so I stopped to take a picture and rode home. I rode out early Saturday morning, June 18, heading for the first overnight in Wells NV which turned out to be 581 miles. The odometer on my 1982 CBX read 73,063 and I knew I had to ride over the Donner summit and across the northern NV desert during midday in the middle of June so I wanted to get an early start and highball across.

Its wide open freeway all the way from where I live in San Jose, about an hour from the Pacific on the southern edge of the greater San Francisco bay area. I've made this trip across I-80 in NV many times in a car and on a motorcycle. In my opinion, the only (good) scenery is crossing Donner summit. As I cross into NV and drop into the greater Reno area I am prepared to gas it and go until I hit Elko where their annual Motorcycle Jamboree was in full swing. You can travel about as fast as you want out here. Lots of wide open spaces and good road surface.

Elko is one of a very few small towns (gas and food stops really) along the I-80 corridor in NV and only 50 miles from my motel in Wells, just short of the Utah border. I will turn north at Wells for my ride into southern Idaho in the morning. It was mid afternoon when I pulled into Elko so I stopped at a corner Dairy Queen and had a delicious Buster Bar and watched all the bikes cruising town. Very entertaing, for awhile. I know some may have a liking for the high open desert but for me, I'll trade a forest for all the desert landscape there is. Finished my ice cream and headed for the motel near dusk ending a fairly uneventful flight across Nevada.

Sunday morning I headed north into Idaho and turned east above Twin Falls heading towards the Craters of the Moon area across southeastern Idaho. Other than miles and miles of ancient lava flows, there isn't much to see but wide open spaces on my way to my second overnight in West Yellowstone Montana, just outside the park. The best thing since leaving Wells NV is that, except for a short run in northern Wyoming tomorrow, I will ride nothing but two lanes for the next eight days. Taking my time, never having ridden this part of Idaho before, I find the ride to be enjoyable as the miles pass under my new Bridgestones and I feel the stress of living in a city of one million, in a county of two million, begin to slowly fade away. I think when I realized that Idaho and Montana combined, as big as they are in land mass, have less people than the county I live in, I felt it was my duty, my obligation if you will, to ride up there every chance I can! Pulling into W. Yellowstone was a good feeling as I knew I would be exploring all the park roads the next day. Today's mileage was 398. The X ran like the proverbial Swiss watch!

Yellowstone National park! Heading in via the western entrance I turned left for a leisurely ride to the northern entrance and then back south and east to the northeast entrance, the one you'd take to ride the now closed Beartooth Highway, 212. What views! What vistas! What views of vistas! An occasional buffalo grazing, a few elk, and all manner of other little critters scurrying about. Surprisingly, very little traffic. I knew I couldn't ride all the park roads today as there was construction on one of them and it was closed to through traffic. I turned around at the NE exit and rode back south to Old Faithful and some lunch. Very hot in the afternoon and eating lunch with a view of the geyser from inside the cool lodge was a treat. Lots of tourists on two and four wheels. After lunch

and a couple bursts from Old Faithful (every hour on the hour) I gas up and head east out of the park towards Cody and then Sheridan WY, my next overnight. I ended up having to stop for awhile near the exit due to a recent landslide under repairs.

Click RESUME for a short slideshow

http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i87/j ... interval=2

Part 2...soon

alimey4u2 · Post by **alimey4u2** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 5:01 am

A great review Terry, Thanks for sharing........

dsz1 · Post by **dsz1** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 7:34 am

Terry,

Yes sir, nice to remember back to the warm days of summer.......

Even though it was in the 70's here this weekend I was still under the weather with a cold,

Ah yes the one I tried to give away. But the wife wasn't about to let her guard down.... So I still have it.

Damn nice article for sure, I will have to reflect back when that white stuff falls from the sky......

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:29 am

Another nice write up Terry.

My job requires me to work throughout the greater Rocky Mountain area. Especially in Wyoming, Colorado and all through New Mexico. I've developed an appreciation for desolate areas. I've driven through a lot of areas I wished I had one of my bikes.

Mike Barone #123 · Post by **Mike Barone #123** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:35 am

Can't wait for part 2, 3, 4, 5 and more.......

I have to be honest Terry.........seeing all this is upsetting for me because I know there is a chance I might not be able to make this trip myself..........being so old........and a few other things.

However, reading it with those great pix is the next best thing and was like I was there with you .... sooooo I want you to know how much I appreciate you doing this for us.

To think that ole CBX took you all this way..............simply amazing.

Best and thx again.

Mike