The Gold Wing Anniversary Tour
So Kelley and I were married on May 24, 2008. We agree on
many things, not the least of which is complete unanimity around the question,
“If you knew then what you knew now, would you still go through with it?” YES!
say we both and thus we made plans to celebrate our 9th wedding
anniversary. We got one of those offers to “Come and see our resort - endure
our three hour hard sell to convince you to buy what we’re selling - and stay
for three nights in a nice room.” So off to Las Vegas we flew.
We arrived on Monday afternoon, were heading home on
Thursday afternoon, which left two full days in Vegas. What could we possibly
do with two days other than renting a motorcycle for one of them and heading
out on our very own Gold Wing Anniversary Tour?
I owned a Gold Wing at one time. A 1987 Aspencade I believe
it was. Very nice in many ways and very dated in others. I rode it out to the
East Coast once, down the Blueridge Parkway, out to Cape Hatteras. I remember
that trip for many reasons, not the least of which was the worst case of Monkey
Butt I had in my life. I bought it cheap and sold it for $500 more than I paid.
Since then I obviously moved on but I have wanted to ride
one of the newer 1800 cc’s ever since. Anticipating our Vegas trip I went to
the
Eaglerider website and discovered
that we could rent a nice one there. This is the story of our Gold Wing
Anniversary Tour and a bit of a personal review of the Eaglerider renting experience
and the 2015 Honda Gold Wing.
Reserving a bike is a must for an Eaglerider rental,
especially in places like Las Vegas. You pick your dates, pick your bike, and
for $18 more you can make sure that they really have the bike you want ready
for you. Without the $18 they will only guarantee the same “class” of bike. I
thought that was robbery so I didn’t pay the extra and took my chances.
Since Wednesday was our anniversary date, I reserved the
bike for Wednesday. I got up early and actually walked the 5 miles to the
rental place from our hotel. I had been “off my diet” since arriving so I
figured a little exercise wouldn’t kill me. I was at the place at 8:45 AM to
pick up my 9:00 AM rental. Yeah, right. The place was a zoo. There were riders
from all over the world, Germany seemed especially popular. So I signed in and
waited my turn.
And I waited and waited and waited. Finally I got to fill
out more paperwork. I bought all of the insurances that I knew I wouldn’t need,
but that insured that Eaglerider would make a pretty penny off of me. And then
I got introduced to our ride for the day. A silver 2015 model with all of the
candy. Except GPS. I skipped paying for that. I pretty much knew where I
planned on riding and I thought my phone would be all the GPS we might need. I
came to regret that later.
My initial impressions of the bike were all positive. It
looked just like I thought it ought to look. All buttons and features and quiet
as a mouse. I knew Kelley would love the rider comfort she would experience.
But it was not a bike without serious disappointment for me.
My first disappointment was trying to stuff my backpack into
the sorry upper luggage compartment. It ain’t a Harley! I don’t know what the
actual numbers are but there is no way that a Gold Wing comes anywhere close to
the storage capacity of a Harley touring bike.
I sat on it and started it up. In my old age I have come to
seriously appreciate quiet motorcycles. I have outgrown the need for noise and
the little boost of horsepower that comes with “letting a bike breathe.” So I
liked the quiet hum of the bike. What I didn’t love was the utter lack of
legroom. It was horrible for a big guy.
As soon as I pulled out into the parking lot my left knee
started banging into the radio buttons. Before I got to the hotel to get Kelley
I just put the radio in “Aux” so I could concentrate on riding without
listening to the musical adjustments that my left knee wanted to make. The seat
was as cushy as you could want it, the little backrest was nice, but it was a
CRAMPED ride for me and that part never got better.
BUT, on the bright side, the bike was quick, fast, stable,
and incredibly smooth. It was really fun to ride. Fun to pass cars. Fun to hit
all the curves that we hit. We’ll get to that in a bit. And the headlights at
night were absolutely the best that I have ever seen on a motorcycle. That
matters to me and they were amazing. I was also impressed by the gas mileage.
We ended up putting 539 miles on it and consistently got nearly 45 mpg.
Where did we go? I’m glad that you wondered. I’ll tell you.
We left our hotel and headed south on Las Vegas Blvd., “the
Strip.” It was about 10:45 AM and already hot. That wasn’t good. Kelley’s one
fear about renting a motorcycle in Nevada was heatstroke and just generally
feeling miserable…but I had a plan. So our first stop was at
Las Vegas Harley Davidson where
we bought
a
beautiful white vented jacket that I hoped would help her get through the
day.
I was wearing my normal
long sleeved
LDComfort shirt. They are absolutely the best. I wore a jacket over it. As
long as I keep the shirt wet it is like wearing an air conditioner. Gone are
the foolish days of my youth when I would have been wearing a Harley tank top.
Also gone are the days of sunburn and misery. We were off.
The next stop was the Boot Barn I walked by on my way to
pick up the bike. I was on the lookout for size 15 brown boots with rubber
soles. Score! So we both got presents to remember our trip. Kelley’s jacket
worked great. I loved the new boots but not so much the blister on my left
heel.
We got on I-515 east and headed toward US 93 South and the
Hoover Dam. We took the scenic route through Boulder City but didn’t stop at
any of the little shops. The day was but a pup and we had things we wanted to
see. In the old days you had no choice but to drive across the dam. I did it
the first time in a rental convertible. Now there is a new road and a HUGE
bridge that bypasses the dam so you have to exit to get on the dam.
The security stop was brief but long enough to remind me of
the crazy world we live in these days. We made our way across the dam and
Kelley, the official photographer for the Gold Wing Anniversary Tour, took a
few pictures.
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| I guess this is part of the dam complex. You will be able to tell that I'm not much into taking pictures. |
Back up on US 93 we rode about 15 miles toward Kingman. I
know we were going in the wrong direction but I wanted Kelley to experience
what it was like to be riding through the boring part of the desert and then
suddenly seeing, and dropping into, the canyon that gave rise to the Hoover
Dam. It was on my list of “the next time I come here I want Kelley to be with
me” moments. At the right time we did a u-turn and went back the way we came.
Beautiful.
Once we got back over the dam we turned right on Lakeshore
Drive so we could ride through the
Lake
Mead Recreation Area. That was a slow ride but it beat cutting back through
Las Vegas and the sights were great. Kelley loves rock formations and she saw
lots of them. We got to the intersection that would take us toward Overton and
then I started wondering about gas.
Ever since I ran out of gas back in January in West Texas on
my Harley (my first time to do that), I’ve been paranoid about it. I fill much
more often now that I used to. I always use the trip meter since I never trust
any motorcycle’s gas guage but I had no idea how many miles I could expect to
get from the Gold Wing. As we approached, and then passed, 180 miles I grew
increasingly nervous. No problem. We got to Overton and filled up. All was
well.
12 miles or so past Overton we got back on I-15 and headed
north. The Gold Wing is a wonderful bike on the highway but a bit of a big fat
pig in parking lots. And it was uncomfortable as all get out for me. My legs
were cramped. My hips were cramped. Highway pegs! I need highway pegs!! But
Kelley was loving the experience in the passenger cabin. The seat was great and
she had no complaints.
We stopped for a late lunch in Mesquite. I’ve been there a
couple of times now, visiting my aunt and uncle who have a beautiful house
there. They were already back in North Dakota and I can’t blame them as it was
104 degrees and roasting hot. We stopped at a little Mexican café in a strip
mall on the main drag. The chicken burrito wasn’t on my diet but I ate very
bite. I just didn’t eat all the beans and rice. Or a single chip. Kelley loved
the food but she loved the air conditioning even more.
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| Kelley was worried about her hair - I think she looks great after hours on a bike in 104 degree heat! |
Then we were off to the next two points that mattered to me.
Finally we were on a road that I hadn’t traveled before. The first wonderful
surprise was the Virgin River Gorge on I-15 before St. George, Utah. It was
perfect. Not much traffic so I could hit the curves as fast as I wanted to. It
really is a majestic road that you have to see to believe. We passed through
St. George while keeping our eyes peeled for the exit we wanted.
The next goal was to ride through Zion National Park. Along
with Bryce Canyon, this was a bucket list ride for me. And I think we did it
right. We headed east on Hiway 9 through Hurricane and Springdale. Again, more
shops that we didn’t stop at. We paid our $25 entrance and rode through the
park. Beautiful, majestic, awesome. As always when riding down such roads we
both wondered the same thing - “Who had the crazy idea to build this road and
how in the world did they do it?” We got to the end of a long line of bikes and
cars and waited for the pilot car that would take us through the longest tunnel
we can remember.
Kelley particularly enjoyed riding without a shoulder on the
road. Especially the times I got close to the edge. Not. And then, before we
were ready for it, we were at the East Entrance.
Decision time. Would we turn around and ride back through
the park, retracing our steps back to I-15 OR would we venture forth down some
other new roads and make a loop out of it?
Since the loop meant riding for more miles, I was all in
favor of the loop and Kelley didn’t need any convincing at all. So we left the
park and headed toward Mt. Carmel Junction, then south on 89 to Kanab, 89A to
Fredonia, and then 389 through Colorado City and back to Hurricane. That little
loop took us through Utah and Arizona and added a few miles to our day. It took
us through a beautiful canyon that we otherwise would have missed and the
Kaibab Indian Reservation.
We got to Colorado City about 9:00 PM and found a place to
eat dinner. It was already closed for the night. As was just about everything
else except Dairy Queen so we broke my road trip rule and had food at a chain.
I had a plain grilled chicken sandwich and a garden salad with no dressing. Oh,
maybe there was some mayo on the sandwich. Oh well, we were on vacation.
Two things I haven’t mentioned thus far. One, we drank a ton
of water! We bought water at every stop and we drank bottle after bottle. The
goal is to never get thirsty. Staying hydrated on a motorcycle is hard. You
constantly perspire but the wind tricks you. Drink water!
And the second thing is that the day was WINDY. Ridiculous
wind. It got worse and worse, and then even worse once we got back to I-15 and
headed back to Las Vegas. As we passed out of St. George we got hit with the
biggest gust of wind that I have experienced in my life. It was so bad that I
slowed way down and put on my emergency flashers. The Gold Wing felt like a
great big fat old sailboat. Sorry, my Harley is way better at cutting through
the wind. Score one more for the home team.
However, the headlights on the Gold Wing were beyond
awesome. They were every bit as good as a car. I loved that as I was starting
to get a little tired and ready to be back in our room. I even made an
unscheduled “let’s stop and rest a bit so I can stretch my legs” stop and I
never do that unless absolutely necessary. It was necessary.
I can’t remember exactly what time we got back to Vegas but,
tired as we were, there was one more stop that I wanted us to make. 713 Las
Vegas Blvd., the Gold and Silver Pawnshop. I love watching Pawn Stars. I got a
picture of my bike on front of the place on one of my rides through town and I
wanted Kelley to see the place. We rode by, came back through the parking lot,
and even talked a bit to an employee who was leaving work.
Kelley got a picture of me and the bike in front of the
mural that Chumlee got a friend to paint on one of the episodes of the show.
That done, it was time to get back to the hotel.
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| This picture stinks but it captures a moment I want to remember. |
539 miles. Through deserts and mountains and heat and wind.
No heat stroke. No accidents. No problem. Except for my aching back and hips.
Kelley was a trooper. What can I say? She loves me and puts up with my stuff. I
brought the bike back to the shop the next morning at 9:00 AM and the Gold Wing
Anniversary Tour was over.
And one day when we are older and grayer, we’ll remember the
time we rode a long way on a Gold Wing. Ouch for me and awwww for Kelley.
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