Coast to coast in the US back again!

[mr west]

DAY 9

We woke up next to a carcass in the black canyon and basically just took highway 50 east. It had some nice curves through monarch pass and the arkansas river. Other than that not much action.. but not bad. Some RV apparently had an accident so there was a jam leading up to that. Lots of debris on the road they were cleaning up.

As both me and the bike were hot and everything stood still I passed a few cars on the shoulder, but appearantly thats a big deal in the US, as some people called ahead to the sheriff, and he felt compelled to have a word with me. He was nice though, and didnt give me a ticket, so my record is still clean and I wont do it again here. Just wish I remembered to get our picture!

After a long day and no good campsite in reach we felt like some luxury and took into a motel in Pueblo. All laundry done, repack and a night out at the shamrock brewery, it was nice to crash into a real bed after shower for once...

[mr west]

....and best part of the day: checking the oil: oil consumption LA to SF to Colorado: 0!

[mrs west]

Highway 50 was a nice ride!

[mr west]

DAY 10

Almost halfway? We have to be in Brooklyn on 22nd but the plan is to go through the Smokey Mountains and up. Today nothing really happened....? We made it into Kansas. Just going straight straight straight.... very flat. Passed a few small towns with curious looking businesses but mostly just large scale farming and nothing.. and flat. We managed to avoid rain though. That was nice. Made it to a free campsite. Its also flat.

[mrs west]

One highlight today is that we saw a wild turtle. It turns out that the John Martin Reservoir State Park is home to all kinds of wildlife. Really nice campground there too. We just took a detour through it to break up the long straight roads and ended up on a dirt road for sometime which is where we saw the turtle right in the middle of the road. KG drove so close to it, I thought we were going to smash him. He just stood there as we drove off and when I asked KG if he saw him we turned around to get a closer look but he had run off into the bushes.

Besides that pretty much nothing happened today. The pros of Kansas are that the straight roads allow us to hit our daily mileage needs rather quickly allowing us more time to chill. And also this campsite is the least dusty yet

[Brant]

Great trip. I love that you are hitting free campsites. KOAs are nice but expensive, motels the same. I love the idea of city parks and out of the way, non-traditional camping spots. Stay safe.

[hmax]

Love the picture of Amanda sprawled out on a rock in front of a beautiful view!

The flat midwest has been home to some of the best American humorists: Mark Twain, Will Rogers, Johnny Carson--among many others. There might be a connection...

Happy trails!

[mrs west]

Brant seriously thank you! Cause of that website you gave us, we’ve stayed in some of the coolest, at times scariest, and most interesting places.

hmax I completely understand the connection.


Just a heads up, we’ll update more later, but I wanted to invite anyone around Arkansas/Tennessee/Carolinas area to come join us for some good runs we have coming up. We should be at Pig Trail tomorrow afternoon and Tail of the Dragon by Sunday.

Maybe see some of ya out there!

[mrs west]

Day 11

We woke up and spent a good amount of time enjoying the park we stayed the night in. Afterwards, we headed to our favorite, Chinese Buffet in Liberal, KS. It was the best one yet! Right next to the Wizard if Oz museum, which we did not go to. There is a small airport in Liberal as well that my Grandma told me she landed in once with my Grandpa when they had a plane in the 70s or so.

Just a few minutes south of Liberal, we made it through what looked like a statewide lightening storm, to Oklahoma! Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain...
And that’s about all I cam say about that first day in Oklahoma. More flat roads and big sky for days. It seems like Oklahoma is a bunch of corn and cows for miles and miles.
With the help of our favorite freecampsites.net, we found a really wonderful place to sleep, smack in the middle of a very low population town of Jet, Oklahoma.

We stayed in the Great Salt Plains State Park, which is right next to the Salt Plains Wildlife Refuge. We got to see some huge birds flying from each side of the bay, and hear a symphony of all kinds of creatures all night. It was really nice!

[mr west]

I saw in a nature program how tigers can go a long time without food, and then when they finally hunt something down its like a eating frenzy and they go on until they totally lose it and just lie around in bliss and even peeing themselves....

We have found a similar technique were we have some fruit or something in the morning and then go 100 miles or so until we hunt down a chinese buffet so we are set foodwise for that whole day! This day the buffet was nice indeed. We felt very welcomed in the small town of Liberal. A guy past me in the parking lot outside the buffet. "Cool bike"...

Inside a girl complimented Amandas fry boots and started chit-chatting. Typical american style. It wasnt until she followed us out after the buffet to talk more that i really started to wonder if she wasnt hitting on Amanda? Or was going to sell something..? And then she said that we were invited to church that evening if we would be around. Appearantly all buffet was full of church members as it was sunday! Well, we were on our way so she just prayed for us there and then in the parking lot.

[mr west]

DAY 12

Last couple days hasnt been so spectacular driving wise as it was in Utah or Colorado, so now the trip has become more about finding good buffets and campsites..

Todays highlight came after 180 miles... Buffet Palace! Biggest and best so far, for only 9 dollars.

Another upgrade on the trip is that I have found Swedish coffee for my travel french press cup.

Finally arrived at the camp site we had a swim in the very warm water.

Also now we are halfway, 12 days gone, 12 to go. Looking forward to do Smokey Mountains and all good roads ahead. Not to mention the buffets!

[Whiskerfish]

Fantastic!!

[mrs west]

Ya the last day of driving was more straight roads til we got passed Tulsa. Tulsa seems like a cool city! We got a bit turned around on the highways but made it out on the other side to fond some nice scenery and more winding roads. The drive over Fort Gibson Lake was beautiful and we ended up at my favorite campsite so far, Pettit Bay on Tenkiller Lake.

Today I’m excited to hit some good roads in the Ozarks and find some campsites where we can go lazy tubing. So far it seems possible! Just have to call around.

We may start doing less mileage per day now that we are passed half way but it seems like road wise, the fun is just starting back up, so we may be making more and more detours and nice drives. 2800 miles down and 1900 to go!

[mr west]

DAY 13

Good riding today on the Pig Trail in Arkansas. Smiles in the helmet!

We got a late start from the campsite, and just went to the next chinese buffet. By now we are becoming buffet specialist knowing exactly how to navigate and make the most of the buffet... this one was almost up to yesterdays level, quite fresh, less options, but only 7,99!!

After that we loaded up on food and snacks in the bike to eat at the campsite. Goldwings are fantastic bikes actually. Being on a "crooked and steep road" as the Pig Trail, the bike still handles really well for being 40 years old and carrying:

2 people
2 full saddle bags of personal stuff
2 sleeping bags, pads and pillows
2 sitars
Tent
1 chelada
1 bud light
1 lite
2 litres of water
1 bag of swedish coffee
1 bag of american coffee
French press mug
Tape deck
4 marshmallows
1 box of fake graham crackers
2 chocolate bars
1 can of cajun boiled peanuts
2 cheese sandwiches
Tool kit
Zip ties
Duct tape
Road map
Baby wipes
Trash bag
Usb plug, cables
2 battery packs
Shovel
Baby wipes
Knife and fork
Helmet bag
Ganesha statue
Shop manual
Epoxy glue
Camping towel
padlock and chain
Voltmeter
Muffler bandaid

Let me see you bring that on a sports bike!

[Rat]

Great stuff .... ride on ....

Gord