leo3wheel Posted August 21, 2014 #1 Posted August 21, 2014 On Monday, Jeannette and I start off on a three week vacation. Too far for Jeannette to ride on our trike, so we fly to Denver and rent a cage. Will join ride-in at Canon City, CO before setting off on tour of national parks. Along the way, will visit relatives and friends in Phoenix and LA areas. Especially anxious to see Arches NP, Antelope Canyon, Saguaro NP and Sequoia NP!
CaptainJoe Posted August 21, 2014 #2 Posted August 21, 2014 On Monday, Jeannette and I start off on a three week vacation. Too far for Jeannette to ride on our trike, so we fly to Denver and rent a cage. Will join ride-in at Canon City, CO before setting off on tour of national parks. Along the way, will visit relatives and friends in Phoenix and LA areas. Especially anxious to see Arches NP, Antelope Canyon, Saguaro NP and Sequoia NP! Have fun... Lord willing, I'll be there Monday evening with my bunkhouse....
BigLenny Posted August 21, 2014 #3 Posted August 21, 2014 Leo, I highly suggest if you're going to see Arches NP, you should go right down the road and see Canyonlands National Park. You will be more impressed with Canyonlands than Arches. Simply beautiful!
cowpuc Posted August 21, 2014 #4 Posted August 21, 2014 WOW!!! Totally AWESOME Leo!! You two have a BALL out there in God's Country!!! Wishing you both the bestest trip possible!! Oh yea,,, now that you started this thread you KNOW the rules,, :photographing::photographing::photographing::photographing::photographing::photographing::photographing::photographing::photographing::photographing: and :ice_awesome-vi46644:ice_awesome-vi46644:ice_awesome-vi46644 some Banana Nut Ice Cream for us too!!! Puc
leo3wheel Posted August 21, 2014 Author #5 Posted August 21, 2014 Have fun... Lord willing, I'll be there Monday evening with my bunkhouse.... Joe, We will be there Monday evening as well. We rented a KOA cabin. Hopefully, we can rent linens.
leo3wheel Posted August 21, 2014 Author #6 Posted August 21, 2014 Leo, I highly suggest if you're going to see Arches NP, you should go right down the road and see Canyonlands National Park. You will be more impressed with Canyonlands than Arches. Simply beautiful! Lenny, Yes, we are going to Canyonlands NP as well. We are excited!
leo3wheel Posted August 22, 2014 Author #7 Posted August 22, 2014 WOW!!! Totally AWESOME Leo!! You two have a BALL out there in God's Country!!! Wishing you both the bestest trip possible!! Oh yea,,, now that you started this thread you KNOW the rules,, :photographing::photographing::photographing::photographing::photographing::photographing::photographing::photographing::photographing::photographing: and :ice_awesome-vi46644:ice_awesome-vi46644:ice_awesome-vi46644 some Banana Nut Ice Cream for us too!!! Puc Thanks Puc! Will report back with pics. Hope we find some interesting ice cream to help cope with the heat!
CMCOFFEY Posted August 22, 2014 #8 Posted August 22, 2014 Let me know when you get around Las Vegas NV. I am always up for meeting people.
CaptainJoe Posted August 22, 2014 #9 Posted August 22, 2014 (edited) Joe, We will be there Monday evening as well. We rented a KOA cabin. Hopefully, we can rent linens. Leo, There's a Walmart in Cannon city! Canon City Walmart Supercenter Store #1019 Edited August 22, 2014 by CaptainJoe
leo3wheel Posted August 22, 2014 Author #10 Posted August 22, 2014 Let me know when you get around Las Vegas NV. I am always up for meeting people. Hi Chris, Not sure how timing will work out. On Friday, 9/12, we will be traveling from Barstow, CA to Cedar City, UT, 325 miles. Wasn't planning to stop in Las Vegas this trip, but Las Vegas is about half way. It may be a good time for lunch. Any ideas? I'm always ready for a good buffet.
leo3wheel Posted August 22, 2014 Author #11 Posted August 22, 2014 Leo, There's a Walmart in Cannon city! Canon City Walmart Supercenter Store #1019 Told we can rent linens for $7, but we will go to Walmart for food and water.
CMCOFFEY Posted August 22, 2014 #12 Posted August 22, 2014 Hi Chris, Not sure how timing will work out. On Friday, 9/12, we will be traveling from Barstow, CA to Cedar City, UT, 325 miles. Wasn't planning to stop in Las Vegas this trip, but Las Vegas is about half way. It may be a good time for lunch. Any ideas? I'm always ready for a good buffet. All the casinos have great buffets. I like Aliante the best.
CMCOFFEY Posted August 22, 2014 #13 Posted August 22, 2014 If it doesn't work out, it is no big deal. I am military owned, you know how we travel around; I am sure I will catch up with you eventually.
videoarizona Posted August 22, 2014 #14 Posted August 22, 2014 (edited) Leo, If you get down Tucson way, give me a shout. I'm about 30 minutes south and can drive up to meet. david Edited August 22, 2014 by videoarizona spelling (again!)
CaptainJoe Posted August 22, 2014 #15 Posted August 22, 2014 Leo and I will be at: Royal Gorge/Canon City KOA 559 County Rd 3A, PO Box 528 Canon City, CO 81215 719-275-6116 The owner’s name is Jane Email – royalgorgekoa@aol.com Website - http://koa.com/campgrounds/royal If any of our members want to do lunch, tag along for a ride or just stop by to shoot the $hit... don't be a stranger... Monday thru Friday 8/25-8/29.
leo3wheel Posted August 22, 2014 Author #16 Posted August 22, 2014 All the casinos have great buffets. I like Aliante the best. See Aliante is in North Las Vegas. Should be able to get there for lunch if you are available. We can exchange cell phone info via PM's. Hope it works out.
leo3wheel Posted August 22, 2014 Author #17 Posted August 22, 2014 Leo, If you get down Tucson way, give me a shout. I'm about 30 minutes south and can drive up to meet. david Hi David, Wow! We are going to be right in your neighborhood. Fellow biker in your neighborhood is going to take us up Mt. Lemmon on Friday, 9/5. We are then going to Mexican lunch, if time allows. Hmmm... Not sure about scheduling, since we start the day in Chandler and have motel reservation at Blythe, CA for that night. It will be a long day. Reason for long day is we are trying to get to Bellflower, CA by Saturday when our daughter is off from work.
leo3wheel Posted August 22, 2014 Author #18 Posted August 22, 2014 Leo and I will be at: Royal Gorge/Canon City KOA 559 County Rd 3A, PO Box 528 Canon City, CO 81215 719-275-6116 The owner’s name is Jane Email – royalgorgekoa@aol.com Website - http://koa.com/campgrounds/royal If any of our members want to do lunch, tag along for a ride or just stop by to shoot the $hit... don't be a stranger... Monday thru Friday 8/25-8/29. Yes, what Joe said!!
leo3wheel Posted August 22, 2014 Author #19 Posted August 22, 2014 Hi David, Wow! We are going to be right in your neighborhood. Fellow biker in your neighborhood is going to take us up Mt. Lemmon on Friday, 9/5. We are then going to Mexican lunch, if time allows. Hmmm... Not sure about scheduling, since we start the day in Chandler and have motel reservation at Blythe, CA for that night. It will be a long day. Reason for long day is we are trying to get to Bellflower, CA by Saturday when our daughter is off from work. Checked, and biker lives in Sahuarita.
leo3wheel Posted September 17, 2014 Author #20 Posted September 17, 2014 We thoroughly enjoyed our western vacation. Thought I would share some of our pics.
videoarizona Posted September 17, 2014 #21 Posted September 17, 2014 Checked, and biker lives in Sahuarita. Ah rats...wish I had read this. I'm about 7 miles south of him! Well...next time. Glad you had a great time!!
XV1100SE Posted September 17, 2014 #23 Posted September 17, 2014 Glad you had a good vacation ! Doing a long trip like that....can I suggest you post your thoughts on how you planned/executed your trip and things you'd do differently. Good to learn from others and I'm sure others here would appreciate it.
cowpuc Posted September 17, 2014 #24 Posted September 17, 2014 Leo,, those pics are AWESOME - THANK YOU FOR SHARING!! Looks like you folks had a fantastic journey - CONGRATS! Man I love the west! Puc
leo3wheel Posted September 17, 2014 Author #25 Posted September 17, 2014 Glad you had a good vacation ! Doing a long trip like that....can I suggest you post your thoughts on how you planned/executed your trip and things you'd do differently. Good to learn from others and I'm sure others here would appreciate it. Thanks! Yes, this was a long trip, 5,400 miles in three weeks. May not sound like a lot, but schedule included time for visiting kids and cousins, sightseeing and lots of photo stops. Any trip requires a vision. Originally, planned to ride our trike from NJ to West Coast to add states to my list of states visited. Knew Jeannette would not be able to ride that far. Two ride-in's were planned at Canon City, CO and Cedar City, UT. Made cabin reservation at Royal Gorge KOA in CO. Considered joining the CO ride-in on the way out and the UT ride-in on return trip, but dates made for a long trip. There were bikers who I could ride with in both directions. Had concerns about driving our trike so far, sometimes in very remote areas. Also troubled about leaving Jeannette behind, since I already rode solo to Texas in April. Researched renting a motorcycle out west, but rentals are expensive and trikes were not available. Fellow rider suggested renting a convertible car out of Las Vegas. Renting a car out of Vegas has drawbacks, since there are mileage penalties for driving outside region. Enterprise out of Denver offered unlimited mileage with no region penalties. Found some cheap airline tickets and talked Jeannette into joining me. We would fly from Newark to Denver and back after three weeks. Next thing to do was to plan trip route. Since we would not be adding to states visited with our motorcycle, then let's add to list of national parks visited. There were also places/sights I wanted to see. Wanted to see natural stone arches, Antelope Canyon, Meteor Crater, Saguaro cactus, Giant Sequoia, Death Valley,... Needed to fit in family visits, daughter off on weekends. Tried to find motels around 250 miles apart to allow time for sightseeing. Contingency plan was to not visit national parks already visited if time did not allow. Mapped our route, but did not book all motel reservations. Motel reservations were made at least seven days ahead with Choice Privileges to get reduced rates. Used points to get free nights. Making motel reservations ahead of time kept us on schedule. There were days when we drove into the evening, but we reached all our motels. Trip went without a hitch. Should have checked our rental car before we left Denver. Car needed a quart of oil, antifreeze reservoir was empty, windshield washer reservoir was filled with water and cover was off, tires had 31K miles and front tires were close to wear marks, and windows were filthy. Went to tire shop in Arizona and had tires checked. Tires were low but they said we were okay for then. Fortunately, we encountered no rain or snow. I took care of the fluid levels. When we returned to Denver, Enterprise more than compensated us for our trouble and sent car to service. Despite the issues, this Subaru Legacy provided excellent gas mileage and handled well in the mountain twisties. One thing that made for some longer days was the fact that many national parks have long entrance/exit drives. Since I only Googled from one motel to the next, some driving days were longer than others. Cheap flights were a bit of a pain with connections in Chicago and Dallas. Thunderstorms in Chicago forced us to spend a night at Detroit on the way out, at airline expense. On way home, we could not print our boarding passes ahead of time, and we ended up in the tail of the aircraft from Dallas to Newark. Main thing with a long trip like this is to work through the obstacles and stay on schedule. We started in Denver and had to return to Denver to make our scheduled return flight. Fortunately, we had no breakdowns! If I had known Jeannette was coming, I would have reserved a motel at Canon City. Cabin living was a little tough for Jeannette. It was a trip of a lifetime with so many wonderful memories. It was worth enduring the difficulties. Try it! You'll like it!
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