Three Weeks in June
By John and Trisha Clement
June 2002

I've just finished a major tune on my wife's Yamaha XT225 and I'm ready to order parts for my Honda XR400R. Minor damage considering the events of the trip. I've decided to describe the impressions and milestones of the trip, rather that just doing a 'day-by-day' accounting. For those of you that are fact freaks, skip down to the section below called 'Just the Facts'. Those are the notes Trish (my wife) and I took during the trip. I thought I would just pad out these notes to create a 'trip report', but I felt that they didn't convey the experience of riding a dual sport motorcycle across the western United States. So, I offer this letter as a prefix to the facts.

This trip begins over a year ago when we rode the Arkansas section of the Trans American Trail. Trish and I had a great time. (Read about this trip titled Arkansas Dual-Sport trip, if you like.) Prior to that trip all our motorcycle vacations had been on a touring bike. One off-road vacation and we were hooked! I knew that a longer trip on the trail would involve much more logistics and planning. So let's begin there...

Planning:

Let's see, need maps, hotels, bike, clothes and tooth brush. Right? Ooops, also need a truck, trailer, tools, Oil, Oil Filters, tires (one set won't make it), riding clothes for every possible weather condition, spare parts, three weeks vacation and a very understanding wife. Well, I had everything, except the tire. I know better than to attempt a ride like this alone. So, (and this is the hard part) I tried to find friends willing to undertake such a venture. I spoke to everyone I knew who rides a bike. No dice. But luck was with me. Sam Correro, the creator of the Trans-America trail, was putting together a group for a five day Utah trip. One of the riders, Gary, was interested in doing more of the trail. In the end, Gary and I planned to ride from the New Mexico/Colorado border all the way to the Oregon coast. All this planned via email and phone calls without ever meeting in person. As the trip grew and the miles mounted, my wife got 'cold feet' and elected to drive the chase truck (instead of ride). We did take her bike on the trailer though, both as a spare bike (in case of break downs) and also in the hope that she would be able to ride some sections of the trail with us. As the word got out to the other 'five day Utah' riders, three more riders decided to join us. So, the plan was that Gary and I would start the trail, then hook up with the Utah group and ride five days. Then Gary, John, Dave, Jamie and I continue to the Oregon coast. Wow.. Ain't email great!

The Ride:

Long days... Pretty trails... Big country... Totally alone...
Gary had a GPS mounted to his bike and spent weeks trying to map the coordinates of the route. Much to my surprise, much of the trail does appear in one (or more) of the map programs Gary used. Notice I said much, not all. When in doubt, Gary would side with his map programs and assume that Sam had it wrong. I personally am a firm believer in practical experience over technological derived directions. (Did I mention I'm a software developer?)

Lesson one:

Always follow Sam's Maps!
(Sorry Gary.)

The only time Sam's maps weren't 'spot on' was in one section were the roads had changed, ala bulldozer. Sam takes such pride in his maps and his trail that you could tell it really bothered him. We still made it to our hotel before dark and everyone had a good time, but Sam wanted to fix his maps. Can't blame him. You don't map the better part of the U.S.A off-road without being a little compulsive. So the next day Sam, Trish and I loaded up the truck about 4:30 a.m. (see June 5th below) and headed out. This gave me a chance to find a new rear tire for my bike in the neighboring town and allowed Trish to ride with Sam while he re-mapped the errant section of trail.

Lesson two:

Never assume you'll be able to find common parts in these small towns.
Always bring an extra!

Well, we ran late getting back and the rest of the group was disappointed that we wouldn't have time to complete the planned days ride on the trail. On the other hand, it was hot, dry, dusty, somewhat miserable trail anyway. So we cut out loses and headed onto the next town via blacktop.

Lesson Three:
Be flexible! The larger the group, the more flexible you need to be.
Enjoy it when it's good, and roll with it when its tough. It all works out in the end.

It's surprising how often your thoughts drift back to the pioneers. Crossing the land in covered wagons, eating off the land, providing for them selves. Makes riding a motorcycle from hotel room to hotel room seem like a trivial effort. (Did I mention how happy I was that my body was holding up to all the abuse?) Like the pioneers, we kept moving west. Drawn on by the land and our feeling of adventure. Every day brought new challenges. Some pleasant; like following a dry creek up to the top of a mountain, then down the other side, the view from 13,000 feet, or the forest after it rains.

Some unpleasant; like riding through the snow in Colorado, the heat in Utah, or the dust in Nevada. But it’s all part of the trip.

I have great respect for everyone who jumps on a bike and is willing to take it all on. For me, the trip was cut short. 3/4 of the way through the trip, I had an accident. No, I didn't go to the hospital. Yes, it HURT! When your driving a car, or riding a motorcycle across an endless desert. It's easy to allow your attention to wonder. For me, I was watching my maps, odometer, and trail under my front tire when... (Sung to the Candid Camera jingle) "When you least expect it, Your elected, It's your Lucky Dayyy, Hey! Scream! There's an unmarked fence...!"

I never would have thought it possible to hit a fence in the middle of the desert. I hadn't fallen all trip! But even the desert has slight dips and rises. My attention was diverted at just the wrong time, and just long enough, that when I looked up, there it was. (See June 6th for more details.) In all my years of riding, I have never been involved in what I would call an accident. (No, dropping it in the dirt doesn't count.) Well, now I'm a poster child for helmet safety. Without a doubt, it saved my life.

Lesson four:

Always wear your helmet and pay attention to the trail.

Reflections:

I spent a lot of time talking about the unusual things that happened on the trip. The 'norm' was: Wake up. Ride miles and miles of country that made you feel glad to be alive; proud to be an American, and thankful for this gift we call earth. You can't help but feel good about yourself too.

Not everyone has the sprite to undertake such a venture. I enjoyed the company of everyone I had the privilege to ride with. I hope we meet again. I will be back on the trail again. The cracked ribs will heal. The bike can be mended. But the sprite that drives me on is still healthy and yearns for more. I also learned a couple of things about myself. I'm proud of these internal discoveries, and I'd like to share them with you:

1) I'm very lucky.
2) I'm hard to kill.

Try to learn that in school.

Well I'm done writing about this trip. I hope you enjoyed it. Please feel free to read the 'blow-by-blow' details of the trip below. But I think you got the idea by now..

Never stop riding,
—John C.

 
Just the Facts

Saturday May 25thWe were just heading out to go a Birthday party. Spotted Gary coming up the street. We turned around and I dropped John off and headed out to the party by myself. Got to bed around 10:30 and planned to get up early for an early start. A loud thunderstorm hit us around 1:00 in the a.m. and woke me up with high winds, loud rain with thunder and lightning and I even think we got some small hail! Needless to say I didn't get anymore sleep that night.

Sunday May 26th
We got up and packed our last few items into the truck, ate a light breakfast and headed out on the road. We didn't get very far before Gary realized he forgot his cell phone. We retrieved the phone and were back on the road by about 9:30 a.m. It reached a warm 88 degrees before the temp suddenly dropped. We ran into the most severe storm just before we got into Amarillo, TX. We hit rain, hail, high winds, lightning for all of about 20 minutes. We still made good time and got to the hotel room (Motel 6) by 3:30 p.m. We took a short rest and then looked at our maps for the following day. We went out to eat at a Japanese Steak House (Kabuki) for a Tepan-Yaki style treat. Gary had never been to one before. It was a ton of food and we stuffed ourselves and took two boxes of leftovers back to the hotel.

Monday May 27th
We were back on the road by 8:30 a.m. and stopped for Mc Donald's for a quick breakfast. We gained an hour and set our clocks back. It was not long before we were headed into New Mexico where the sky remained dark and threatening and the temp was around 60 degrees. We hit a few sprinkles on and off but no one was 'really' worried. We found a good spot to unload the bikes and the guys decided it would be better to don their warm rain gear. After taking a parting picture, we headed our separate ways (around 11:00 a.m.), the guys for the trail and Hiro (our dog) and me for the next hotel in Trinidad, CO. We both saw quite a few Pronghorn antelope before hitting the Colorado border. I was at the hotel by about 2:00 p.m. and the guys rolled in about 45 minutes later. They made great time averaging 45 mph and had good roads the whole way. We had some time to relax and watch the dark rain clouds continue to threaten rain. We decided to hop in the truck and take a tour on the Highway of Legends (Scenic Route 12) in a loop up the nearby mountains. We saw some mule deer and took some pictures of Stonewall and Monument Lake. We ended the day with another large steak meal at the BlackJack restaurant on Main street. Hiro got our porterhouse bone which he enjoyed!

Tuesday May 28th
Started 8:15 a.m.. Trish rode apx. 75 miles of the trail to where it intersected with Hwy 12 in La Veta, CO. Had lunch there then Trish headed back on The Highway of Legends. Long day. Rode hard. Then hit Rainbow trail. Listed as 7.5 mi. we did 11.5 (with detour). My rear turn signals broke off from all the jarring! Did another 15 mi or so. Quit (i.e. bailed out to the blacktop) about 15 miles before end of the days planned route. Too tired to do the 2nd, 5 mile, section of the rainbow trail. Hot tub at Super 8 felt good. Pizza downtown. Took the dog to vet at 10p.m.. He ate something he shouldn’t and was pooping blood. The vet gave him a shot and pills and said he should be fine. (Note: He was back to normal in a couple of days.)

Wednesday May 29th
Gary not answering calls / knocks. went to get mgr. Found him chatting in the hotel office. Got on road at 8:15 a.m.. Great ride to Hancock pass, too bad it was closed to vehicles. Tried anyway. Got within 200 feet of summit. NFG. Buried xr400 in snow twice! Down the mountain, try Tincup pass. Very rocky ride. Summit was snowed in, but we made it. First vehicles of the season. Physically wiped us out. Much of the day was: Ride to 12,500 ft. summit, drag bikes through snow, pre-walk next section (repeat).

Rode blacktop last 90 mi. to Lake City. A brutal day. Trish went to the Flying M ranch. Her friend, Buck, was nowhere to be seen. Got to ride horses and drink crown royal with the owner. Then drove 50 mile dirt road to Lake City. Cell phone are worthless. No cell towers. Bumped into John leaving post office (Our last ditch meeting area. Figure every town has one...) Stayed at the Matterhorn hotel. Nice.

Thursday May 30th
Left Lake City after breakfast and gas stop. Apx. 8:45 a.m.. Lots of high country. Rode about 3 summits above 12k feet. Max elevation of just over 14K! I'm glad the xr400 ran o.k. (No guts, but very little rich mixture blubber.) The BMW is fuel injected, so it had no problems. Colorado has lots of jeep trails and dead silver towns. Got lost trying to follow the TAT route. Took about an hour to get back on track. More blacktop then prior days. Guess it's hard to find routes through all the mountains. Perfect weather. Finished the TAT route at Monticello, UT. just before 6p.m.. Decided to run the first half of the next days route into Moab, UT. An extra 102 miles. Total of 309 miles for the day. Got in just at dark. Good thing too, both Gary's and my taillights went out from all the hard riding. Flat, fast, dusty trails first 50 miles toward Moab. 20 miles of climbing up to, then down from a mountain (in the snow again!). Very pretty. last 20 miles were on blacktop into Moab. Stayed at the Virginia hotel and ate at the Moab brewery. The weather was hot in Moab.

Friday May 31st
Day off! Washed the bike, dog, truck. Changed the oil in the bike. (Low a quart, Yikes! Need to check every day from now on..) New rear tail light bulb (again). Going to be 100 degrees today. Gary was able to get a new mirror and brake level (cracked same time/fall when the mirror broke going over Tincup pass). My rear tire is already showing lots of ware. Will need to get one soon. Ran errands; bank, food, gas, look for replacement goggle lens (no luck). First real hot day on the trip. Nice to have it off!

Saturday June 1st
Trish, Gary and I left Moab hotel at apx. 6:10 a.m. trying to beat the heat. Got gas and headed out toward Gemini bridges. Had to bypass about 5 miles of dirt road (parallel to freeway) because it was blocked with cows! Turned off the road and the trail got technical quick. Very fine dirt that your tires really sink into, followed by lots of irregular rock. The final approach to the bridge was all rock hopping. Have you ever seen a move or TV show where they drive over extreme rocks following a trail of white marks painted on the rock? Well that's that trail we were on. I'm amazed that Trish road the whole thing. Much tougher than anything she had ever ridden before. I think she was glad to hit the highway and head back to town (to get the truck and dog) while Gary and I continued on to Green River. Half day ride on the trail. (Apx 68 miles.) Done by 9:00 a.m.. Meeting Sam tonight.

—

Sunday June 2nd
Drove over to meet Sam at his hotel. First day of 'group riding'. We loaded up the truck (riders were glad not to have to carry the extra weight) and headed out. First part of the trail was good, but dusty. Only two of us had dust scarves to use as masks. 148 miles to next gas.. Cat Canyon was 7 mi of silt dirt. The bikes just sank in and wallowed. Then there was Sand Hill, and (..? forgot the name) mountain. On this climb 7 of the ten riders dumped it. Gary, I and one other rider cleared the hill. Gary and I took 6 of the 10 bikes up the hill. If you do the math, that means that one rider dumped, got up and rode it up anyway. Keeping ten riders together is tough. Especially since we are spread out to let the dust settle between riders. About 4 riders missed a turn and went up into a silt canyon. Gary hit a rock and threw his chain. (Loosened the axle, popped the chain back on, back on the road!). 67 miles into the route one of the xr600 was already on reserve. (Sucked down 4 gallons!). We ended up siphoning gas to keep him going. Got to the point (apx 20 miles from gas) where three of the bikes were on reserve. Bought gas from a tow truck on I-70 for $2 per gallon. (Cheep at twice the price!) Three of us rode the frontage road while the rest got gas. Nice tunnels, underpasses and trails. Spent the night in Richfield, UT.

Monday June 3rd
Richfield, UT to Baker, NV. Left with 9 riders, one getting bike welded. (The 75 year old riders bike. An inspiration to us all). Rode 40 miles on the Paiut ATV trail. It was the best! Weather great. Just started to rain getting into the gas stop (40 miles into the day at Kanosh). Put on the rain suits. Temp dropped like a rock. Hit small hail (twice). Saw lightning in the distance. Great extremes of trail (Mountains, rocks, desert) and weather (Started nice, rain, hail, sun, rain, hail) All in all, tons of fun but tiring. No dumps, no one lost. Nice day. Trisha found the Border Inn and dropped of the luggage, ate lunch and won a 120 quarter slot jackpot. Then went to our B&B at Hidden Canyon Ranch. Disappointing that the lodge rooms we had reserved were not available. The lodge is beautiful. We slept in cabins with twin beds. 50 yards to the bathrooms (ugh!). Very pretty canyon with a big hearty breakfast in the a.m. I recommend staying there if you can get into the lodge.

—

Tuesday June 4th
Took group photos in the morning. Got on the trail about 7:50 a.m.. (late...) First part of the day was riding desert. It was cool, pretty and fast. You would be flying along at 50mph following a fence line, then wham, a washout. No time to slow down, just stand up and let the suspension take it. Amazing was these bikes can soak up. (And I'm surprised how my riding is improving). Next came the mountain pass following a dry creek on a road (if you can call it that) which had all but returned to nature. Dropping in and out of the sandy dry creek and looking for clues to where the road was wasn't for everyone, but it was memorable. Now I know was 'bark busters' are for. Sorry, no pictures of this section of trail. If you stopped, it was hard to get started in the soft deep sand. Also, afraid that the rider coming up behind you wouldn't see you in time to stop. One or tow riders went off the trail (not on purpose) but no-one crashed.

Lunch stop in Lund, NV. Getting late so we had to eat fast and get back on the trail. Started up the mountain, but the roads had changed quite a bit since Sam had last ridden it and we made a wrong turn that cost us about 20 miles. We did back track and get back on the trail, but now we were being careful about every turn and concerned about it getting dark before we can make it to Eureka, NV. We did make one more wrong turn onto a road that just ‘disappeared’. We road around looking for where the road went, but never found it. Time to backtrack once again. Oh well, you ride a couple hundred miles a day in the dirt, you got to expect some 'challenges'.

We found our way to Hamilton (a ghost town) and back to the blacktop. Made it to the hotel just as it was getting dark. Trisha rode horses today at the local cattle ranch. Got to look at the cows for two hours. Lunch in Lund (1:30), then headed into Eureka, NV. The hotel didn't allow dogs so Hiro had to spend the night in the truck. Trish had to wait several hours for us to roll in, so she visited the bar in the Jackson Hotel.

Wednesday June 5th
Today is scheduled to be a short 130 mile ride. Sam wanted to re-ride the section of trail we got lost on the day before and correct his maps. So, we loaded up the truck with Trish’s, Sam's and my motorcycles at 4:30 a.m. and headed out. Trish and Sam were going to ride the trail and I was going to look for a new rear tire in the town of Ely, NV. (No M/C shop in Eureka.) Well, I did get a tire, and the life story of the guy who owned the shop. Don’t ask… $103 dollars later I've got a tire and take the truck back to the designated point to pick up Sam and Trish.

[Trish writes]

Sam and I made it! We checked out a wrong turn on the roll chart and went 15miles (round trip) off track and got to see WILD HORSES and a coyote!! Okay, the whole trip was worth it for that! We met John at noon and headed back into Eureka to meet the rest of the crew. Since it was late, half the guys decided to head back to Green River, UT and the remaining 6 of us headed for the next hotel in Battle Mtn, NV.

We got a late start and the first part of the trail has so many short turns, (not to mention hot and dusty) that we decided to ride pavement all the way in. Trish was not lucky at the local casino, but the food was good at the restaurant.

Thursday June 6th

[Trish writes]

The fateful day... all started out normal/good. Plan was to meet the guys at their lunch/gas stop. I waited from 11:30-2:30 but no one showed up. I left a note at the gas station and headed into the hotel location about 1 1/2 hours away. I rented rooms for all the guys and drove to the spot where the trail meets the road and waited 5-8:30.... meanwhile, back on the trail.

[John writes]

I was leading the riders, beautiful weather, lots of single track dirt road. (At some point it was two, but you could only see one now.) If it weren’t for the roll charts, no one would have believed it was the trail. We jumped prairie dog mounds and kicked chaparral the whole way. Only the occasional landmark gave us any indication that we were on the right path.
Up until now, all landmarks (such as power lines, fences, water holes, etc.) had been listed on the roll charts as reference points. We were making good time (about 80 miles into the day) when we hit a particularly slippery mud hole. We were coming up a rise and I glanced at the roll chart mounted to my handlebars to see how far to the next turn. Another mud hole (surprising to find in the middle of the dessert), glanced at the roll chart again and as I looked up, I saw a brand new barbed wire fence right across the trail. Only 30-40 feet, no time to even slow down... I hit the fence dead center and launched over the handlebars. I caught the fence on my lower thigh and it flipped me. I remember thinking as I came to rest on the ground how surprised I was that the landing was so gentle.
Then my motorcycle landed on my head...

What seemed like a half second after I landed, I was literally pummeled by my motorcycle which had also flipped over the fence. I felt the impact severely on my upper back and head and was pinned under the motorcycle when it came to rest. I attempted to get up, but the motor was still running and the tire was still spinning and when I attempted to get up I caught the spinning rear tire on the back of my right arm. I remember making the conscious decision to lie there and wait for help.
What a horrific sight it must have been for my fellow riders, finding me lying motionless under my bike (which is on top of my head) on the other side of a still closed fence. They got me up. No broken bones, (do ribs count?) The bike came through better than expected. Still ride’able.

I started to ride out, but being sore, and maybe a little dingy in the head, I took another fall within minutes that knocked the wind out of me. Decided it was time to head in to the nearest town and call Trish to pick me up in the truck. Road apx. 6 miles of dirt and 10 miles paved to get to Paradise Valley (one stop sign town) and nursed my wounds with Advil and alcohol. Couldn't get a hold of Trish via cell phone so left a message at the hotel (around 1:00) for her to call me. I insisted that the guys take my roll charts/maps and continue the ride. They siphoned gas out of my bike (long way to next gas station) and headed out.

At 4:00 I got a call from Gary saying they had completed the days ride and got hotel rooms in McDermitt. He though they were only 10 miles from Fields, OR where Trish had already booked our room. Well I decided to force myself to ride the 80 miles out to McDermitt. Saw Gary’s bike in front of a restaurant, so I stopped. He pointed me up the road to Fields, OR. So I got back on the bike and ran 30 miles up, then back, but never found Fields, OR.

It ends up McDermitt was the original gas/lunch stop and Denio was the town 10 miles from Fields, OR. Gary got it confused. We called around and found Trish at around 8:30p.m.. She was in a gas/food/bar in Denio waiting for us. She had ordered food (the restaurant was closing) and had booked rooms for the rest or our group. Well I was in no condition to ride any more that day, so Trish drove the 110 miles to where we were. We lost the money for the hotel’s booked in Denio and Fields, OR, but I was in no condition to care. I was completely spent from the days events. It was now 11:00 p.m. and my body was shutting down. At long last, sleep.

Friday June 7th
We were apx. 110 miles from where we should have been to continue on the TAT trail. Everyone decided to ride paved/gravel roads to the make it to the next scheduled nights hotel in Lakeview, OR. I was no shape to ride, so Trish would ride with them and I would drive the truck. (I couldn’t get out of bed by myself, but I can drive a truck. Is that being tough, or stupid?) The weather was not looking good and the forecast was for worse.
Once in Lakeview, John/Dave/Greg decided to ride on to Alteries (apx 60 miles) then ride the 6 hours or so home the next day. We also decided to change our plans...

Saturday June 8th
Discussed our options. Gary wanted to 'ride to the coast'. We decided to drive (Gary rode) hwy 299 all the way to Eurika, CA. Caught up with Dave, John and Jamie on the way. John invited us over for dinner and Dave offered to out us up for the night. Before dinner we rode to the beach to watch the sunset. Gary made a much desired goal of riding to the coast. Many thanks to our hosts and co-riders for making or stay so nice.

Sunday June 9th
Loaded the bikes up and drove to Escalon, CA. (apx 550 miles). We spent the night with my friends Terry and Corina. Had a great visit and even got to play some video games with the kids. (Hi Kyle!)

Monday June 10
Left the bikes on the trailer and headed out for Yosemite, CA. Drove around Yosemite valley and had lunch at the famous Awannee Hotel. Unloaded Trish's XT225 and I rode it over Hwy 120 to the junction of 395 (at Mono Lake). To me, this is perhaps the finest motorcycle road in the world. My body still hurt (a lot) from my accident, but the XT225 is so light that it posed no problem. Gary and Trish rode in the truck. Their loss. We loaded up the bike and drove into Mammonth, CA. Took the June lake loop, a worth while detour of 20 miles of so.

Checked into the hotel, poured a quart of red wine into a plastic bottle and headed down to Hot Creek for a soak. Very nice. Back by 9:30 p.m., dinner at a pizza joint (good calzoni). Our last vacation play day.

Tuesday June 11th
Load'm up, move'm out. 750 miles to Tucson, AZ. Got in around 10:00 p.m.

Wednesday June 12th
900+ miles to Austin. Got in around 2:30 a.m. Thursday.

Thursday June 13th
Gary departs. (He still has 1100 miles to get home!)

Well, the vacations over. Wash everything. (The dust gets everywhere.) My body is on the mend from the accident. I figure I must of cracked a couple of ribs. (Sneezing is my own personal hell.) But the rest of me is doing fine. I'll be ordering parts to restore the XR400 (Sub-Frame, rear turn signals, mirror, major tune, etc.) So ends a truly epic journey on the Trans-American Trail. Not all trips are easy. Sometimes the tough one’s are the one’s you remember most.

I can hardly wait for the next one…

Never stop riding…

—John C.

 

[ back to main Ride Reports page ]