Day 47, July 2nd
Started from Rexburg, Idaho, drove down to a lava field called Hells Half Acre located along I-15 a little north of Blackfoot.
They had made a really impressive walkway through the field, with information along the way:
Ended up on some dusty gravel roads going around Southern Big Butte:
We started being a little low on fuel so didn’t climb the Butte but got to meet some real cowboys that still used horses:
Made it out to Arco and arranged with a motel there and then went out to Craters of the Moon:
Drove through the park, also a national park so our annual pass was valid. Pretty strange with a lava rock slope …full of flowers:
Truly harsh land:
Did some walk through a lava tube, a tunnel where lava flowed a long time ago, most of them had collapsed but some had stayed intact:
Getting back to Arco we climbed a hill to get a good view over the town:
Day 48, July 3rd
Leaving Arco we had our aim set for the EBR-1:
Plenty thick lead glass where they worked with radioactive material:
We did the tour and it was interesting.
Now we had fueled up and tried to decide if going to the Butte and driving up on it or not, we finally did and I’m glad my dad pushed for it since he had to struggle a bit harder to get up but we made it:
Really amazing views from up there:
Us at the top:
Part of the struggling was cause the rear tires were quite worn by now:
Made it to a fellow advrider in Pocatello that we could spend 4th of July with.
Day 49, July 4th
My dad had a minor crash on the Butte and broke some plastic tabs so we fixed that with some zip ties:
Later we went down to the city center to see the parade:
And in the evening they had some impressive fireworks, did some video recording and it turned out okay, this is the last part of the fireworks:
Day 50, July 5th
Started aiming back to San Francisco, from Pocatello we headed south west, came across this over sized 3wheeler:
Snagging the corner of Utah, and got a view of the Great Salt Lake:
Really dark clouds ahead, and we did run into a little rain but not much:
Made it into Nevada again:
Had totally forgotten to get one entering Utah but it might not have been a big sign there either since we drove into Utah on some small road so we faked one exiting Utah:
Day 51, July 6th
Nevada …long and straight roads:
Did some miss, didn’t plan on any gravel this day but ended up along some road that ended with some mining company, luckily it was possible to continue and we didn’t have to backtrack but they warned us to look out for heavy machinery. Saw some but no good pictures, after them mining area quit we had some more long and straight roads but gravel now:
Later we had a break for ice cream in Middlegate:
Hit 10 000 miles on this trip:
We did see a few whirl winds throwing some dust up in the air, biggest one was getting into Hawthorne where we spent the night:
Parked the bikes somewhat hidden, mostly since we expected rain and we had a shower before we went to bed:
Day 52, July 7th
Made it back to California:
And since the Tioga pass was opened by now we took that road into Yosemite once more:
Was quite a long wait by the entrance to the park:
Break:
Had a deer cross the road, got scared at first by a car so my dad had time to get the camera ready and get a photo:
Plenty of people out climbing:
Chain and sprocket on Hilarys bike is totally toast but we hope to make it back:
And in Oakdale …not far at all left and this happens:
Nail pliers was sharp enough to grab the broken off part:
And the clerk at the gas station knew about a locksmith just a few blocks away, needed to wait a little for a the guy who could do double sided keys:
After that we made it back to the San Francisco area without any more trouble, drove some really nice curvy roads through the hills of California:
Day 53, July 8th
Started packing up and looking over the bikes some:
My dad got a little blue from the small crash going done the Butte:
Day 54, July 9th
We decided to go all the way out to the Pacific Ocean so we went a little north of out to the coast and drove highway 1 down and over the Golden Gate:
In the evening we went out for beer in San Francisco:
Getting back the next day we drove through parts of the city, got stuck in some road construction luckily it was so cold we didn’t mind:
Parked away the bike:
Lars was a little blue on his arm also from the evil Butte:
Day 56 and 57, July 11th and 12th
Simply a long wait for different flights:
Having trouble with my USB memory being mistaken for something dangerous and needed to be pulled apart and re scanned, had some light that they wanted to swab searching for explosives in Germany.
Tired and worn we made it home safely, some heavy rain getting of the last plane.
All in all it was a very good trip!
Need to look over all the videos and do something more but bare with me it will be done as soon as I can!