Cross country trip - week 2

Jason needed someone to take pictures on his cross country trip, so he invited me along for the second half (actually, I wasn't interested in riding through Oklahoma on a bike, so I joined him for the fun part).

I flew into Albuquerque and we headed west the very next morning. We both, independently have a hangup about not taking highways on cross country trips - first of all it would make said trips much too short, second of all, you see lots more interesting things on back roads. The Tuba City's of the world just don't live on interstates...


That said, we bombed west on an interstate through the rest of New Mexico until we got to Arizona - it turns out there just aren't any back roads to where we wanted to go - horrors!




We had a great first day and made it to Lee's Ferry, AZ - consequently where we put in for our rafting trip 4 years ago!




We stayed in the cutest little inn...


that had a bathroom so small that they had to make room any way they could.


From there we rode on to Zion...


which I can now cross off my bucketlist - riding a bike through there was as spectacular as I'd imagined.


We decided after this grueling 100-mile day, that we couldn't pass Zion by without hiking, so we plunked down for a night and hit the trails.


We were awed by the hats...


and the asses falling out of shorts.


From Utah, we headed to Nevada, where we took the Extraterrestrial Highway (yes, that's really the name), and immediately saw our first alien!


We decided to bypass Rachel, NV - it just looked a little too sketchy for us.


We attempted to dodge the cows (note the lack of fence - a little scary when you're not surrounded by the cage of a car!).


We had big plans to stay in a place called Tonopah, NV for the night, but it was about the most depressed looking town we've ever ridden through, but our decision was made easier by the only hotel option with a vacancy.


Seriously, so sketchy.


So we decided to go to Mammoth Lakes, CA instead.


We had an AWESOME (albeit cold) ride through Yosemite...




and headed through the western foothills of the Sierras...


until we got to Napa to stay with friends in their 2 story, yurt shaped house next-door to a vineyard.


We headed to the coast...


up highway 1, possibly the best road of the entire trip!


Off to Northern CA, where the cows have a better view than most people.


And the local crazies sit atop thrones of possessions...


outside their favorite stores.


We headed into Oregon, with the best shoreline around, and stayed with our good friend Brenda.


And when we got to Washington, knew we were home when we found our first hipster hitchhikers (sadly, there was no room for them on the bike)...


and then we finally made it home!