Continuing we went to the Painted Dessert and the Petrified Forest National Parks.
It was a really pleasant ride through these parks at a leisurely pace. The speed limit was on 45 if I remember correctly but we were in no hurry.
This tree must have fallen thousands of years ago. Now what was once wood is now a rock. Go figure. The Park Center has the full story along with some great exhibits.
We continues on I-40 west until we came to Winslow, Arizona. Every Eagles fan will remember the Jackson Brown song "Taking It Easy" that the Eagles released. Standing on the corner has become an icon for this town. they have two statues there along with a Flatbed Ford to mark the spot. We got a T-shirt, some memorabilia and some lunch before heading on to Kingman, Arizona.
After checking in to our hotel we went for a ride looking for a WWII museum but it had shut down so we went to plan B. Billie had found a place called the Hackberry General Store on old Route 66. We rode about 25 miles to find it. Interesting place.
This was the last stop before getting to Las Vegas for a few days stay at our Time Share.
Just inside Nevada is a town called Boulder which has the World Famous Coffee Cup that we had visited on our way back from Billings, Montana in 2007. Guy Fieri made a show here for Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Channel. Breakfast was most excellent!
We spent 3 nights in Vegas and took in some shows and relaxed before heading into California.
We saw the Jersey Boys at Paris and it was a fantastic show. Great music from the 60's and early 70's with a lot of behind the scenes information about Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons. So glad we got to see it. Brought back a lot of memories.
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It goes up 550 ft at the top and gives a great view of Vegas. |
Our time share is close to the Linq High Roller. I had to try it even though Billie didn't want to go up. Each pod is air conditioned and some even have a bar in them.
We left Vegas very early in the morning to beat the heat getting across the dessert and into California.
It was a very nice ride, especially when we went into the Eastern side of California.
We stopped at Mono Lake just outside of Yosemite National Park. Will have to make a trip back to Yosemite someday.
We stayed at a unique roadside Motel in Walker, California. They proprietor was a retired Marine and he had this place spotless. He also had a 1945 Ford pickup truck that he had put a Mustang engine, transmission and rear end in.
We love these types of Motels. We park the bike right out our door and it is very easy to unload the cooler and trailer as well as keep an eye on our baby.
The next day we were off across the High Sierra mountains. It was actually spitting snow as we went through the pass but not cold enough to accumulate any on the road or ground.
We went into Willits, California and spent the night so that we could get an early start to ride the Avenue of the Giants. The Giant Sequoias are something to see, especially on a motorcycle!
After our ride through the Avenue of the Giants we headed up to Oregon (Part 3 coming)