Just in from my annual run with my brother south. Was a shorter run this go around ..only about 4K miles.Ran from Vancouver Island to as far south as Page Arizona. Had a blast particularly on the back roads of Idaho. Twisty forever !
Here are some shots. They are all from a point and shoot so sorry the quality aint that great and most need PP re flaws ..but they give you an ideeerrrr of the country and stuff we did.
The guy in the pictures is my brother who runs with me on these trips. He has really worked on his FJR re suspension and motor so we have some fun competion on the back roads..but you know who wins ..LOL.
The pack I used this time was from an ATV . Velcroed it on to my back seat and had zero trouble with it. Will use hard bags in the future though.
My ZX14 ran flawlessly..no probs at all..though I found taking off the little striped strips on the front wheel fender helped with cooling in 100F++ heat by about one notch. We had to crawl through stop and go rush hour traffic going around Salt Lake city for miles and miles in 103F+ temp. Never overheated.
**One last note - I love running in the US ..We ran some super dangerous roads and visited sites with huge drop offs..some over a 1000 plus feet straight down ..yet inspite of the clear peril to the public there were no guard rails evident anywhere. Strange but I liked that feature ..It said "buddy you take responsibility for your actions big brother aint!!" In Canada big brother would have set up barriers and fences and flashing lights and signs and and and ...BIG Papa would manage your saftey for you. I like he US approach ...freedom/responsibility to screw up is a good thing in my view to some degree anyways.

heading out from Vancouver Island

Running south

First of the southwest shots ..very hot country ..100-115F !!

Momument Valley approach run

Waited for that sand to stop blowin!!

Navaho home near Monument Valley

Last view of Page Arizona. Huge number of French and Europeans there when we rolled through.

View along the "Million Dollar Highway "

That ridge to the right is where the highway runs. At times a huge drop off on both sides and zero guard rails!!

Craters of the Moon national monument ..A huge lava field some 75-100 miles long/wide ..Idaho

Twisted stump on volcano.

Reminder of a promise over Sun Valley Idaho

last view of the Saw Tooth Mountains Idaho ..

Dave comming in from our run through the Saw Tooth Range

Idaho Stream

morning light on second to last day of running.

Last camp site -Heppner

* Last updated by: painterdude on 8/14/2009 @ 9:55 AM *

Great-just great.Looks like an awesome ride.Glad yer safe and sound.Your 14 as always looks fabulous!It's good to be KING!

No need to make excuses about the pics. They are awesome.

Great pics!

Everything looks beautiful. It's not the camera that matters. Great stuff is created with the crudest of tools.

Looks like that must have been a wonderful trip. I really have to do that some time. Who the heck needs motels? A tent would be a lot more fun. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us.

thanks rook.
We never have used hotels/motels except when it really pours. Was a great trip. To bad more people don't get a chance to just take off and go rip some wild roads.
We had some interesting experiences in the southwest ..It is not only blazing hot it can be as windy as all get out ..Set up our tents one evening ..went out for supper and when we came back found that my tent had ..well blown away ..Found it some 100 yards away ..in a bush .
That night was not fun ..hot as blazes and suddenly very very still. Not a breath of wind after all the gales !!
I simply made a pool of sweat all night in my tent which acted like a roasting pot !
It cooled off enough to sleep at about 3 am ..but just as I dozed off..the wind hit again ..and in a heart beat was howling and the tent promptly began to fill up and coat me with sticky sand. That ..that I could have missed..
We split the next morning for points north ! Cold you can dress for. Heat ..well you are hooped after your sweat don't cool ya down ..and there aint no air conditioner to run to.

**ps..sorry that the pics don't seem to all load ..anyone know why??

* Last updated by: painterdude on 8/13/2009 @ 6:42 PM *

Maybe there is a pic limit. I suppose you already tried including them in a reply. You could start another thread.

There is no pic limit here... -bg

* Last updated by: bgordon on 8/13/2009 @ 9:04 PM *

Thanks for sharing, great choices in your photoes makes ya feel like your right there even when your not

Great pic's!!! Looks like you guys had a great trip with no mechanical troubles to boot!!!

Amazing photos! If that's what you can do with a point and shoot.....

Bikes are definitely the best way to see the world. How does the expression go?? Something like: A beautiful road is like watching a good movie, but on a motorcycle you ARE the movie.

Thanks so much for the pics.

yes Jay. These trips leave you with lasting memories of a road movie that stays with you in a way no amount of travel in a car can do ..I remember the sensation of sweeping through all those miles of back country ripping roads that just went and went and went ..with corner after corner after corner coming at you. It was a high speed dance.
My only wish would be to be able to do this running with my 14 less loaded, but that said it was only about 30+ extra pounds however the tank bag made wieght shifting for corners a bit sketchy at times.
I only blew two corners out of thousands. One corner that I was chasing my brother into he blew and ran wide. I came up on the inside and to really show boat my passing him, I hit the gas..WO!! Stupid. I went into a huge crossed up wheelie. Fortunately the bike was heading straight down the road so no problems ..but had a bit of a scare ..lol.Pride can go before a crash..

* Last updated by: painterdude on 8/14/2009 @ 2:27 PM *

I just gotta say I love The color combo you have on your bike looks like it belogs that way lol amazing what you can do with just a little imagenation and a zx14 lol

Bike looks great. . Sure wish i could do a trip like that

Great pictures!! As always thanks for sharing Dude.

Painterdude, looks absolutely stunning! I am sure it was great. Beautiful piccies.