Gary and Sally DuPont had never seen Mt Rushmore. Rob and Daryl Weber had never seen Mt Rushmore. What better place to spend July 4^th? So, we cleaned up the Valks (one green and black ’98 and one red and white ’97), packed "rigorously" and off we went.

Day 1 – July 1 – 500 miles

We were up at O'Dark Thirty, and got everything loaded onto the bike.

The sunrise on a day you are leaving for a bike trip is especially sweet.

We met at the junction of the 57 and 10 freeways at 6 a.m. on Saturday, July 1. Our route was Los Angeles – Barstow – Baker – Las Vegas – Mesquite – Cedar City, UT – Panguitch, UT

It was still cool when we left and stayed that way until we hit Las Vegas. Even the anticipation doesn’t overcome the straight freeway riding from LA to Las Vegas. There was fairly heavy traffic from Barstow to Las Vegas as the "high-rollers" headed out for a hot time in the casinos and the Colorado River crowd headed for the water. We saw two rollovers on the way and managed to cut the lanes to avoid sitting for hours.

We had lunch in Mesquite and it was still warm when we reached Cedar City, but as we climbed to almost 10,000’ through Cedar Breaks National Monument the temperatures dropped about 40 degrees. Panguitch, UT, is a small town founded in 1864. The town’s name means "big fish" in the local Indian dialect. The town burned down a year later in the Indian Wars and was rebuilt in 1871. To fend off starvation during an early winter, an intrepid band of settlers walked 40 miles to get food, placing a quilt in front of them and walking to its edge and then starting all over again – hence, the Panguitch Quilt Walk. Many of the town’s buildings are brick, as an early industry was a brick factory and the workers got paid in brick rather than money. The best place for dinner is the Cowboy Smokehouse Café on Main Street. Order the ribs and listen to Western music. We ran into a bunch of Harley riders in town. They had taken 2 days to get there. Sally said that maybe they had started early so they could make it to Sturgis in time.

Started out at 6 a.m. to cover Panguitch – Richfield – Fairview – Duchesne – Vernal – Flaming Gorge (all in Utah) – to Rock Springs, WY.

It was a brisk 41 degrees when we pulled out of Panguitch. We stopped in Richfield for breakfast at a "local color" coffee shop. You can have fast food anywhere! 

It was gorgeous watching the sun rise in the Sevier River Valley. We saw our first deer on and near the road. Some parts of the ride through to Duchesne were at the 8500" level. Duchesne was our lunch stop and "local color" was the only choice.

The ride from Vernal to the Flaming Gorge was fantastic – a climb from the green valley floor through several microclimates. They have signs to tell you what various fossil fuel layers you are passing through – a little education as you ride. As you come up from the Gorge, it is like reaching the Top of the World. 

A brief slow down for a cattle crossing, and then you reach Southeast Wyoming, miles and miles of The Big Empty or The Big Windy, lots and lots of nothing. 

We spent the night at Rock Springs, WY, a major truck stop of a town.

Today’s itinerary was Rock Springs, WY – Rawlins – Casper – Wright – Newcastle – Custer, SD. 

The first 110 miles was straight freeway, with a little road construction thrown in as well. Since we left at 6 a.m., we didn’t have heat problems. We had breakfast in Rawlins and then ran hard through the empty plains to Casper, where the most momentous thing that happened was Daryl losing her sunglasses at the busy intersection. 

As we left Casper, we entered the grasslands of Wyoming, thousands of acres or miles of nothing but rolling plains, where the deer and the antelope do actually play or at least graze right with the cattle and right next to the road. 

We stopped for a photo op at Lamont, Population 3, and the birth place of a Legend.( Lamonster). 

We passed one of the largest coal mines around and loved the sign " Blasting – Orange Dust – Avoid Contact"-like we could outrun an orange cloud. We lunched on a locally raised buffalo burger at Reno Junction and then headed through the last 70 miles of the Thunder Basin National Grasslands before crossing into South Dakota. The terrain changed immediately and the wind seemed to stop as well.  With the exception  of 5 miles of hard packed dirt/gravel road "Under Construction", we made good time.

While not up to the lofty standards of the Vagabond Adobe Inn in Durango, the new Comfort Inn in Custer provided a great starting point for our visit to the Black Hills (and a chance to do laundry.) 

We rode into Hill City for a quick dinner and then on to sit with 1000s of others along the road to Rushmore for the annual July 3^rd fireworks show. We met lots of potential new VRCC members and spread the gospel. There were hundreds of Wings in the area, most with trailers, on their way to Billings, MT for the WingDing.

We spent the day riding around the Black Hills. The ride from Custer through Custer State Park, along Iron Mountain Road and into Rushmore through Keystone, was one of the all-time best. We saw a bison right by the road and deer galore. 

There were one-lane roads and tunnels. Mount Rushmore is very impressive and we joined the July 4^th crowds, most in their Gap flag logo T-shirts. Follow the links for additional pictures of Mt. Rushmore.

We ended up back in Hill City at the Mt Rushmore Brewery for lunch, then rode up to Deadwood and over to Sturgis, one packed with vacationers and the other completely empty until August 7^th. We can’t figure out where they put all those bikes. They are expecting 300,000 this year for the 60^th anniversary. On the way, Sally sprung her new business venture on Gary.  She obviously has hidden depths. 

After Sturgis, we headed for Deadwood.  An interesting little town, much more so than Strugis, with the added attraction of gambling casinos.  Yahoo!   

On the way back we checked out the custom chaps at Trevino’s leathers. Daryl wants one of those silver fox caps instead of a helmet. 

We got back to Custer to do what we do best – clean bikes, drink beer, and talk about bikes and the ride. Then we joined all the locals for the 55^th annual Volunteer Fire Department Fireworks show on Pageant Hill – big in terms of quantity and noise.

We got a later start but covered Custer – Hot Springs, SD – Lusk, WY – Cheyenne – Greeley, Co. We started the day with a drive through Wind Cave National Park (prairie dog towns all over the place) and a tour through the Wind Cave. They have discovered more than 92 miles of underground caves, all layered under one square mile of ground surface. The cave has fine examples of boxwork formations.

The weather was cool when we left Wind Cave and of course, as we re-entered Wyoming, the Big Wind reappeared and stayed with us until we got to Colorado. We had to hit speeds of 90+ at one point to outrun a big rainstorm with significant lightning strikes on the horizon. Lightning just doesn’t seem like a great idea when you are riding a big lightning rod. We called it a night in Greeley. They guys worked on the bikes and the gals worked on their tans in the pool. We ate at another local color place, with good Mexican food / bad karaoke.

Today we were scheduled for Greeley – Estes Park – Rocky Mountain National Park – Grand Lake Village – Alamosa, CO.

Left Greeley and the smell of the meat packing plants and headed out to Loveland and Estes Park and then through the Rocky Mountain National Park. We would recommend Estes Park as a base for further riding. We climbed as high as 12,020’ and the icefields. 

Saw some small wildlife, chipmunks and birds. Rode down some into the lake area and stopped for coffee at Grand Lake Village – another base for further riding. Met some GWRRA guys who were interested in the VRCC and then ran into a couple from Tampa on a black 2000 I/S. They had left Tampa on June 1 and had done 10,000 miles up the East Coast, across Canada, up the Alcan Highway in Alaska and then down to Colorado. Had never heard of the VRCC, but will probably be a convert and left with lots of ideas for chrome and additions to his bike from Gary and Rob. 

We grabbed lunch in Frazer, rode up through Breckenridge and then aimed for Alamosa.

We gassed up in Hooper (on a wing, a prayer, and fumes) in the middle of Colorado’s version of the Big Empty. Alamosa has two colleges, but not too much else. We missed a hailstorm that had been forecast for the area. Nightly ritual of bike washing, beer drinking.

Hadn’t planned on a big day – heading for Taos and Santa Fe.

Stopped in Taos at Taos Cycle Works. Didn’t find them either knowledgeable or accommodating. They suggest trying M&M in Albuquerque and we second that idea – don’t waste your time at Taos Cycle Works. Stopped in Santa Fe late morning and stayed. Wandered around the Plaza area and lunched at Café Pasqual on Santa Fe food. Did a little window-shopping and then headed back to the pool. Found a good Mexican seafood place for dinner and then watched a spectacular thunder and lightning show from the motel.

Started the day off with a bang – a gang fight at Denny’s just before we got there at 6 a.m. It sure had an impact on the staff. Aimed for a long day riding from Santa Fe – Albuquerque – Gallup – through Navaho Nation – Flagstaff – Seligman/Kingman, AZ. 

Had great weather through New Mexico and did a fair amount of highway riding, as it was a pleasant road. After we left Gallup, we took back roads through the reservation from Window Rock to Flagstaff. The largest problem for a Valk rider is the lack of gas stations. 

It rained about 25 miles outside Flagstaff, but cleared up and we rolled in the east end for lunch at Jake’s Bar and Grill. We were aiming for Seligman, but decided to push on to Peach Springs where we had heard about a good lodge on the Hualapai reservation. 

We forgot it was monsoon season in Arizona, but got a real reminder and arrived at the Hualapai Lodge in time to get those Valks under stairwells before the worst of the torrential downpour hit. We met a Magna rider from Ventura, Debra, a member of a Thousand Oaks group and talked bikes. She was riding solo to Ohio for the woman bikers’ get-together.

Even though a bad day riding is better than a good day doing almost anything else, the last day of a good trip is still tough. Gary and Sally were splitting off to go visit their kids in Las Vegas, so Rob and Daryl headed out at 5:30 a.m. for that exciting ride from Kingman to Barstow to San Bernardino and on home. Lots of slab riding, just to get on home. Weather held well.

All in all, except for the first day, when we had some heat, the weather was great. We are already planning another trip and urge you all to fire up the Valks and see America.

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