Day 5 of vacation

I woke up this morning and went downtown Orange circle and had breakfast with George. Before leaving Ryder was happy to see me as usual. After breakfast we stopped by the hardware store to get a water valve to replace for Granny. George ended up taking me out to Chino airfield where a friend of his has a hanger. In the hanger was a P-51 Mustang that I was allowed to sit in and enjoy. It is a beautiful WWII aircraft that is becoming extinct.

George and I then decided to take a tour of the aircraft museum that is located there. It was an amazing museum and unlike most museums all of the aircraft located in the museum were air worthy and are flown from time to time. After the museum we proceeded back to Granny's to replace the leaky water valve. Granny decided she was going to take the orange beast for a spin, and of course I can't say no to Granny.

George and I went downtown to the last farmers market of the season and had dinner. That concluded the days festivities, I need to get some rest because I was rising early to leave for Las Vegas in hopes of beating the Halloween traffic.

Day 4 of vacation

I got a good nights sleep and woke up and talked with Granny for a bit while giving Ryder some attention. My buddy George ended picking me up and we went and had lunch. A west coast trip would not be complete with out In and Out. From there we made our way to Long Beach to tour the USS Iowa. It was a self guided tour and filled with interesting facts. After the tour we headed to Seal beach to get a nice view of the ocean. While on our way we stopped off and took a peak at a lighthouse. Eventually we made it back to Georges for dinner and home to bed.

Ryder enjoying some attention.

West coast trip isnt complete without In and Out.

Lighthouse...

Day 3 of vacation

I got up and said goodbye to my grandparents. Thank you for the great hospitality. I had a long day on the highway ahead of me with not much to look at. It was a beautiful ride leaving Sedona but that only last about a half hour with traffic. I had 460 miles ahead of  me and I would be hitting L.A. traffic between 4-5pm, rush hour.

Grandma and Grandpa

My trip totals thus far.

Day 2 of vacation.

Well this morning I woke up to a chilly 35 deg outside of Durango. It really made it difficult to get out of my sleeping bag. Once up and moving though it wasn't to bad. My bike was feeling the same way she was slow to start but once warmed up she was ready for another day of adventure. I didn't take many photos today. There wasn't anything that stood out across south west Colorado or north eastern Arizona. Its a lot of desert. I made it to Sedona and had dinner with my grandparents. Time for a good nights sleep because my longest leg of my journey thus far is tomorrow. Sedona to Anaheim, Ca.

Day 1 of vacation.

Today is my first day of vacation. I'm leaving Colorado Springs and heading toward Durango. Ultimately ending up in Southern California and Las Vegas.

The orange beast all loaded and ready to go.

...and I've been ready. 

A couple pics from Hwy 160 on the way to Durango.

...and here's one of the river in downtown Durango.

Camp all set up for the night. Its been one long day.

Labor Day Weekend

Hope everybody had a great Labor Day weekend. Last report I saw they were estimating 330k people coming to Vegas for Labor Day. So what do I do, get out of town! A couple friends and I headed up to southern Utah for some camping and cooler weather. We headed out Friday late afternoon and straight into a complete downpour. Traffic was down to a mere 45 mph on the highway. Now normally this wouldn't be a huge problem but I am in my Jeep with just the bikini top on. So needless to say I was getting a little wet and some serious looks by fellow travelers. To make matters worse my drivers side wiper decides to fall apart. This is when I decided to pull over and try and take care of my wiper issue, which I didn't resolve. So Doug decided to take the lead and I just stayed glued to his tail lights. Fortunately we were only 15 miles or so from our exit. When we stopped for fuel before heading up the mountain I decided to switch my passenger and driver side wipers. So once again I was able to see. Luckily we only had a little light rain on and off as we headed up the mountain. By the time we found a suitable camp sight the rain had stopped and we were able to set up our tents in dry conditions. Later that night though while we slept we got dumped on one last time. Saturday we had a few light showers in the early afternoon but it didn't stop us from checking out Mammoth Cave, Strawberry Point, and doing a little off-roading. We had a great dinner consisting of steak and corn on the cob thanks to Dezirae and Doug. We woke up Sunday to perfect weather. After breakfast we decided to go see the Ice Cave, hike to Cascade Falls, and then head over to Brian Head. After leaving Brian Head we decided to stop at the Burger Barn by Panguitch Lake for a late lunch. The burgers were good as always. While at Brian Head we decided that Monday we would head back over there and get in a little mountain biking. After a great spaghetti dinner Sunday night we hung out by the fire and headed off to bed in anticipation for a full day of mountain biking. We woke up early Monday and had breakfast and packed up camp. We had a great day mountain biking and followed it up by pizza and beer afterwards. Doug and I did realize that we aren't expert riders but more of an intermediate level riders. After leaving Brian Head we headed down the mountain to Parowan to fuel up for the trip home. As the Jeep and I are waiting our turn in line to get to the pump, it decides it doesn't want to start. After some quick trouble shooting I decide the battery has completely called it quits. Luckily being an older jeep it doesn't really need the battery to run just to start. So Doug gave me a jump and off we were towards home. I just had to make sure I did not turn the Jeep off til we were home. We made it home and now the Jeep is in the driveway awaiting a new battery.  

Our camp spot just off Mammoth Creek Road

The FJ showing the Raptor what an off road rig is suppose to look like...

Hanging out by the fire

Doug and I on our way to Cascade Falls

Finally got the fire really blazing...

A shot of us mountain biking...

A great view from Strawberry Point

Here is a shot of us at Strawberry Point, this one is much better than the first pick we took...

Here's a pick of the full Moon that lite up the sky every night

Devils head hike-Colorado

Well I made it to Colorado. Ill be enjoying this great weather for the next nine days. Today we went for a nice hike up to devils head. It was a perfect day for hiking and the scenery was awesome.