Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Home Safe and Sound..
Dear Family & Friends,

First I need to make two spelling corrections pointed out to me by my editors…..
We went to Bryce Canyon National Part, not Bryson.
Second we stayed in Panguitch, UT last night..
I know my spelling is bad but please understand English is my second language, Car Talk is my native tongue….
So this morning we awoke in Panguitch, UT. This is our last full day riding so we started heading towards home, but not without a few hour detour through Zion National Park.. Well worth the extra time.. Such  beautiful and dramatic place.
When I entered the park I got some good news and bad news…. First the bad.. The entry fee for motorcycles is $25 but when I went to pay the young female park ranger she looked at me and said “You look like you  qualify for a senior discount.” Wow! I guess I am looking old… the good news was the fee was $10 and I now have a lifetime pass for any national park!
After a few hours of riding back roads and Zion Park we headed north to US15 the freeway directly home… We spent the entire afternoon on a boring, HOT, freeway traveling through four states, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and finally back to California…
On the way over last week we hit temperatures of 117 and going through Nevada today it was “only” 95 degrees but after riding the cool mountains it really felt hot.. The we got to Baker, CA. and the temperature rose to 105 degrees and it was just plain hot and boring.. We did finally make it to Tehachapi, Ca. so we have an easy 3-4 hour ride home. We plan to leave at the crack of dawn and try to avoid any more heat….but tonight we celebrated a great trip with one more excellent meal of prime rib and red wine. Tomorrow back on the wagon of better eating.. :(
This has been another great motorcycle trip! Over 3000 miles of fun.
A few of the special highlights:
-In Utah in a very remote part of the state we pulled over to view the countryside and a mini van pulled over next to us with two families from Germany. They were motorcycle enthusiast and just wanted to talk to us. They notice my stickers from all over Europe so they had lots of questions.. The two mothers  I would guess were late 30s or early 40s? They were friends since childhood and both grew up in East Germany so they never expected to have the wealth or freedom to travel the world. They were all very friendly and nice and were so excited to meet us they asked us to pose with them for photos….
-Another thing on the is trip… I always try to learn something new wherever I go.This time I had been struggling with a GoPro camera that I have had for over a year and with the help of a tech friend (Becky) and some YouTube instruction videos I finally figured out how to use and adjust the dam thing. I took a half a dozen videos of our trip. Now I need to learn how to edit them.. Some are just to long and boring. Here is one short one going through Zion.
Here is a link to the video. Not exactly academy award material but at least you can see what parts of Zion look like


-Finally one of the big pluses of the trip was getting to know my new riding friend Brian… As a motorcyclist I am always looking for people to travel with. It is hard to find good competent safe riders, that have similar interests, are intelligent to have good conversations with, and that you want to enjoy a week or more with. Brian fits the bill and I am sure we will be doing more rides together.

Tomorrow we get up at the crack of dawn to ride home. We are only a few hours from SLO but we want to avoid the heat so we are leaving EARLY!!
As soon as I return I have a very busy rest of the year!! 
-First I need to get caught up at work.
-Then I get to have my grandson come spend a week with me!! I am looking forward to that!
-Then Bonnie and I are off for a week at the Monterey Car week.
-Then home for more business.
-Then over to Buttonwillow race track to do some testing. I just completed a full two year rebuild on my racing E Type and I need to give some track time to get it ready for a race in September.
-Then I finish of the year with a trip to South America with my lovely wife.That will be my next series of travel reports.
I hope you enjoyed my writings.
Until next time.
Jason

Entering Zion

My trusty GSA, what a great motorcycle!



I think I need a "SEFLY" stick!









A great breakfast in a little road side cafe just outside Zion. I much prefer the local establishments to chain restaurants!

Give a man a welder and there is no telling what he will make..


State line Nevada.


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