Any interest in a meet up in RENO, NV the week of 9/9-14? I plan a cross country trek to take in the show and tour the area.

 

Depending on how things go here at home, that may be a possibility for me. I have a friend that I went to grade school with that flies a P-40 in the Unlimited class.

 

The unlimited class is so kick a$$. I just gotta go hear and feel them as they cut around the pylons. P-40, P-51, Seafury, love 'em all.

More on the ride:
Head west-northwest and pound pavement till I get to the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore, SD. Then on to Yellowstone, WY for another quick look. I'll press further on to Eugene, OR where I'll see my old friend I've known since second grade, then out to the Pacific coast. Turning south I will go to Crater Lake and have a look at that pond 6-7000 feet above sea level.
Plan to wind down to Reno and arrive around 9/11, air race start day. I'll stay up in Truckee, CA with a sister and jog over to Lake Tahoe while I'm there.
I need to start east probably on 9/13 and will cross Nevada on US 50,"The Loneliest Road". Hope to have time to camp at Colorado National Monument Park near Grand Junction and see a sunset/sunrise over the canyons there. Pretty much back to pounding interstate home across Kansas, Missouri and Kentucky and then into Cincinnati. Guessing about 5500mi.

 

Minor update. I'm in Reno and ready for the air races and show. I've done the scenic route some so I have 4000 miles on the clock before I even start the eastward portion. So many great roads and places on the way here.

 

Jim-Bob Pictures or it never happened

 

Just back tonight. Work in the A.M. will post up pics of the 6500 miles soon as I get grounded here.

 

Good to hear you are back - looking forward to them as your updates from
the road were pretty cool.

 

Trip went pretty much as stated. The speedo/odo are a bit optimistic and say about 6900, but actual is closer to 6500 miles in 17 days. Longest leg was on the return and went from Denver to Columbia,MO. Found some really fantasic roads and scenery. First two and last two days were just pounding pavement and leaning into prairie land crosswinds.
Camped in a thunderstorm the first night out west of DesMoines,IA and in the Badlands,SD the second. The Badlands are not of this earth it seems. I ended up meeting a neighbor that lives 5 blocks away at the park gates there too. Mt Rushmore is pretty impressive and I enjoyed many of the roads in the area from Bison filled pastures to curvy mountain passes with tunnels cut through the rock just big enough for a MINI Cooper.
I stayed in a log cabin in Cody,WY. Rode in to Yellowstone east entrance via a fantastic 50 mile canyon road that follows a river to the park. Next day I went north out of Cody and made my way on the Chief Joseph Hwy. Highly recommend this one. It will get you to Cook City and the NE entrance and the cutest park ranger there is. These roads were every bit as enjoyable as what I found in Yellowstone.
Plan was to camp in West Yellowstone on exiting the park but temps were going into the 30's that night so I headed south to Idaho Falls where it was 18 degrees warmer. Didn't find a camp along the way so I made a poor judgment to press on to Arco, ID.
For those not familiar, it's a dead little town where they dump nuclear waste, but a KOA campground was listed there. I broke all the smart travel rules doing this one. Don't ride at night. Don't cross the desert at night. Always top up your tank and check the weather at your destination. check,check and check-not
I lost daylight as I went west and noticed there was a complete absence of any lights except the ones on the bike. Then as I reached the point of no return,(fuel limited) I see light ahead, on the ground and the sky. The gates to the nuke dump and a sizable thunderstorm ahead. Hmmm, any port in a storm they say. I lucked out and the road faded right and the storm left and rolled into beautiful Arco some 20-30 miles later. Topped the tank and asked the attendant about the KOA. Didn't know. "So what's the best motel?" New rule, never take gas station attendant advice on motels.
Pics and the rest of the story to come...

 

Follow the glow right even if it's a radioactive one

Sounds like an epic trip Jimbo - but come on man did ya lose the camera ?

 

What about the altitude worries? Did you encounter any?