Day 17 – Venice Beach and Visit with the Khouri Family

America 2014

This morning we walked around Venice Beach.

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7-18_Venice-Beach We got back to Jenna’s around 1pm. Sadly, left Jenna and Susan – but are looking forward to continuing our journey.

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We arrived at Canyon Country (only 40 miles from Santa Monica) and surprised Kevin Khouri at work because we arrived a little early.

We got to Kevin’s house. Colton and Austin started talking and playing ping-pong.

7-18_Khouri-ping-pong Kevin and I started talking about life. We tried to figure out how long since his family had visited ours in Easton. We think it may have been 12 years ago. Where does the time go?

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We all went out for a really good dinner at a Mexican restaurant, then settled in to Kevin and Linda’s beautiful home. They were incredibly hospitable to us. They really made us feel right at home.

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Tomorrow, we will head continue up the Pacific Coast Highway towards Monterey.

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Day 16 – San Diego to Santa Monica

America 2014

Sadly, we had to leave Al and T and their family in San Diego. We had a really great visit.

We dropped Jenna off at the train station to head back to Santa Monica. We packed up the bikes, and Susan, and headed to meet her there.

The lower portion of the Pacific Coast Highway was slow with lots of lights and traffic, but it was great to see the southern coast of California from that point of view.

We arrived in Santa Monica around mid-afternoon (only 148 miles). Jenna was already waiting for us. We unpacked a bit and then went for a walk on the Santa Monica PIer. Lots of people. Beautiful Surroundings. 7-17_Santa-Monica-Blvd

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As the sun was setting, we had a very nice dinner on the balcony of Ristorante Al Mare on the pier. The food was really good. It was nice to be with this part of our family.

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After that, we walked over to a concert that was being held on the pier. We walked around some more, had some ice cream on the way back to Jenna’s apartment. By then, it was 10:30 or so and we were pretty tired.

Tomorrow, we head to Canyon Country to visit with Kevin Khouri and his family.

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Day 15 – Fun in San Diego

America 2014

We had a nice quiet night last night at the Sands’ home.

We brought the bikes over early to El Cajon Harley Davidson for a scheduled service.

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Then — the phone calls started about what needed to be fixed on the bikes. It was a $2,000 day, but the bikes are ready for the next phase of the journey. But seriously, those guys really should have given us t-shirts! (It’s not too late, El Cajon Guys….message us, we will give you our mailing address and another shout out!)

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We picked up Jenna at the train station and Susan from the airport. 7-16_Airport-bound We had a great lunch with Al and T and Shayna and then headed back to the home front to hang at the pool. 7-16_Families-Collide It was a much-appreciated leisure day. Then, T grilled up an amazing dinner for us and we just hung out and talked well into the evening around the firepit. 7-16_Teens-Hangout

The kids went out for a ride and brought us back some frozen yogurt. A really great day.

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Day 14 – Entering California

America 2014

We left Jean, Nevada and headed towards San Diego. We took Route 15 to Route 215 and back into Route 15. People drive a little crazy here. Yes – a Boston driver complaining about other people driving!

entering california motorcycle road trip

The highways are wide and most drivers seem to go way over the speed limit. We were in the middle lane going 70-75 and people passed us on both sides like we were standing still!

We made it to Al and T’s in La Mesa, CA – San Diego. All is good. Very good. Incredibly good to be there and see family.

305 miles today.

Tomorrow
Susan and Jenna come in to San Diego and our families will have a playdate.

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Day 13 – Hoover Dam

America 2014

From the Grand Canyon to the Hoover Dam. Dodging the thunderstorms again. Not really too much to see on this journey. Route 64 south out of the Grand Canyon to Route 40 west to Route 93 north towards Hoover Dam.

It started getting really interesting when you got closer to Lake Meade.

July 7, 2014 (1) There, you get off of the highway to the access road for the Dam. All of a sudden, there’s a bridge structure unlike anything we have seen before. An arch that must span a thousand feet with concrete pillars five hundred or more feet tall. From our standpoint – an incredible sight.

Then – there’s the Dam.

It boggles the mind how something like this is built! Engineering had to go through a serious learning curve just to conceive this. The pictures of the engineering that was done on a day-to-day basis – adjusting daily simply because how can you possibly predict all of the characteristics of what Mother Nature has achieved.

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So, one day we saw something that Nature has created (The Grand Canyon) and then the next day we are seeing something that mankind has done (Hoover Dam).

Simply Amazing.

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288 miles today.

Current total: 4,519

Tomorrow, we head to San Diego.

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Day 12- The Grand Canyon

America 2014

We left Cortez early. Neither of us could sleep last night. Not sure why.

We were told about a road that cut off a corner of our planned route. It was called “Road G’ (seriously, it was)

It connected us to Route 162/191 in Bluff, Utah.

July 7, 2014

From Bluff, we followed Route 191, which turned into Route 163, straight into Monument Valley.

July 7, 2014 (4) This country, and this earth has some incredible sights to see. This is one that must be seen with the human eye. Just unbelievable.

Once through Monument Valley, we connected to Route 160 to Route 89 and to Route 64 to the Grand Canyon. Just unbelievable. We stopped at a couple of vantage points along Route 64 which is inside Grand Canyon National Park. Twenty-six miles of vantage points to see this canyon. grand canyon view - motorcycle road trip

July 7, 2014 (5) We stopped at a couple, then headed towards our hotel. We checked in and left to grab something to eat.

grand canyon road trip fried rattlesnake

After we ate, we headed to the main vantage point in Grand Canyon Village. The only problem is that there were thunderstorms all around. But, we went anyway.

Proper name ……Grand Canyon !!

Then, we hightailed it back to the hotel, just in the nick of time. There was lightning all around us, but we only got a little wet.

Amazing, incredible, unbelievable sights today.

312 miles.

Tomorrow: Hoover Dam

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Day 11 – Awestruck

America 2014

From New Castle, Colorado to Cortez, Colorado. Route 70 West to Route 141 South. A totally amazing road with over a hundred miles of two-lane open-road between shear mountain walls, river beds, cliffs that overhang the road, and virtually nobody else there.

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You could stop in the middle of the road and sit down on the road with no worries. Amazing.

Winding curves at 50 mph. This is motorcycle bliss.

Then, there was a section where you come around a corner and you are looking down a hill at a straight-ahead road that must be 20 miles long and nobody on that, either. 7-12_mirror-a

We check the weather every morning, so we saw that there was a chance of thunderstorm in Cortez for mid-afternoon. We were about 30 miles out when, in the distance, over the mountains, we saw dark clouds and lightning. We looked at each other – and punched it.

We pulled into the motel parking lot just in time.

Another 281 miles today. A beautiful ride!

Tomorrow – Grand Canyon and Monument Valley.

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Day 10 – Colorado

America 2014

Today started out very nice. Woke up in Pueblo, Colorado – breakfast at IHop. Yum!

We started the day on Route 25 to head to Denver, Colorado. We picked up Route 470 around Denver, to Route 70 West and then through the Rocky Mountains.

Wow! Unbelievable!

Until….the thunderstorms.

We had to stop several times due to poor visibility. We did, however, carry on on our way to New Castle, Colorado.

It is difficult to describe in words what riding through these mountains is like. It makes you feel very small in the universe. It also makes you realize the acheivments of man, being able to build roads through somehing created by something so much bigger.

We also went on a section of Interstate 70 called the Glenwood Canyon.

Again – Unbelievable!

Surrounded by stone. Yet, “a river runs through it”. The Colorado River runs along I70 for portions of the road. Not other words to describe. Just Unbelievable!

Mileage-wise, not a long day – 282 miles, but time-wise a really long day with all of the stops.

Tomorrow we head to Cortez, Colorado.

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Day 9 – First Mechanical Hiccup

America 2014

The day didn’t start out very well. We were about 2 hours north on Route 385 towards our destination, Pueblo, Colorado. Colton’s bike snapped a pinch bolt on one of the front forks. Most of the oil that fills the forks ended up all over Colton and the motorcycle. We had to backtrack about 50 miles to Tripp Harley Davidson in Amarillo, Texas. (It was like we were never, ever going to get out of Texas!) We got to Tripp around 1pm and didn’t end up leaving until 5 o’clock. At least we got to have a rest and grab some lunch at Hooters.

We were still determined to get to Pueblo today!

From Amarillo, we were able to find a backroad (Route 1061). That cut out some of Route 40 which we had taken earlier that day. What is amazing is that the roads that we consider to be backroads have speed limits of 70 mph. Those roads have nothing on them.

Anyway, we made it back to Route 385 and connected to Route 87 to Route 25 North to Pueblo.

We enjoyed rding through the northeast corner of New Mexico where there was seriously beautiful scenery. Mountains

Finally got to Colorado.

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Still, a 500 mile day.

Tomorrow, we look forward to seeing the Rockies.

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Day 8 – Still in Texas

America 2014

We left Lloyd and Susan’s this morning and headed north. Did we mention Texas is HUGE! We feel like we will never get out of the state!

Today we really got into some windmill fields. There had to be over 100 miles of the wind turbines. Thousands of them.

Oh – and then we saw quite a sight – a sign on the highway – Speed Limit 80 mph!! How cool is that?! So a good portion of today’s ride was pretty fast. We are glad that not everywhere is 80 mph. Things go by too fast!

It’s nice to be able to look around as you go, but so much of Texas is big open fields for as far as you can see. So vast. So HOT!

Rode 414 miles today.

Total to date; 2,856 miles in 8 days.

Heading to Pueblo, Colorado next.

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	Joan Sierra on Colton and Mitch
	Jen Starr on Day 27 – Buffalo, Geyser…
	Caitlin on Day 12- The Grand Canyon
	Tammi Jacobsen on Day 10 – Colorado
	Ellen and Steve on Day 1 – Home to Del…

Lesson Plan – America

11,000 miles on a Harley to learn about America

Month: July 2014

Day 17 – Venice Beach and Visit with the Khouri Family

Day 16 – San Diego to Santa Monica

Day 15 – Fun in San Diego

Day 14 – Entering California

Day 13 – Hoover Dam

Day 12- The Grand Canyon

Day 11 – Awestruck

Day 10 – Colorado

Day 9 – First Mechanical Hiccup

Day 8 – Still in Texas