Phoenix AZ August 2008

Having to go to Airzona last week I was expecting to spend a total of 4 days there. But after speaking with a buddy, we decided that he would flyout with his son, we'd rent Harleys and ride up to Las Vegas, ride Hwy 66 up to the Grand Canyon before returing the bikes. So last Wednesday we did just that, by afernoon I had a Heritage and Ric had an Ultra Glide.

Wednesday we planned on getting to the Hover Dam, then just when the sun was setting ride into Vegas. We Got close and I can tell you it was a fantastic site. Never being to Las Vegas and when you pass over the last hill, the lights are just breath taking. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Olive Garden, then rode down the strip. Bikes were getting really hot with all the traffic so we parked the bikes, grabbed a room so Dean, Ric's son could crash as he was pooched, and we went to check out the sites. Quite the city!

We were planning on hitting the road early, but as things tuned out it was about 10am before we got back to Hwy 93 South. Plan was to follow that until we hit "Route 66" which we did and rode that as far as we could to the Grand Canyon. Of course we stopped from time to time for refreshments, its hot in the desert! After getting to the Grand Canyon, it was getting late as the days are getting shorter, by 8pm the sun was setting and we headed to town for a pizza, Dean's idea, before we done the 3 hour trip back down I17 for Phoenix.

One thing I learned was it is dam COLD in the desert at night! The traffic was moving pretty fast and we managed to get behind some bigger vehicles to clear any obstacles for us, not sure just how much wild life is in the desert in AZ. We rolled into Mesa AZ about midnight, I took back the Harley I was riding as I had a 6:30 departure, I rode the Ultra Glide back to the hotel, I liked the Heritage much better but thats a personal choice for me. Below are some pics of our trip.

Oshkosh 2008

It was a long trip this year as we rode the bikes and left the planes at home. We had a formation of three, Jamie Alexander, Ric Gass and myself. Plans were not confirmed until Friday as I had to pass my motorcycle road test before I was legal to ride on the hiways. Not booking my ride early enough I was forced to travel to Oshawa on Friday morning, by lunch I was signed off and the trip back home was faster on the 401. Saturday weather wasn't great, we delayed until 4pm, by 6pm we were in Sarnia crossing the Canada/US boarder. By 8pm we figured we would stop and we found ourselves in Lansing MI.

Sunday we hit the road by 8am, south on Hyw69 until we hit 94 and that took up all the way to Fond dulac, WI then north to Oshkosh. We headed to the field first then back south to secure our accomidations in Ripon. After we dropped our bags at the rooms, back to OSH for dinner at the local Appleby's. The special was 20oz steak which was awesome. It was just starting to get dark, we headed back over to the field and meet up with some fellow CDN aviators before heading for Rippon for a good nights rest.

Monday morning, shower, breakfast and back on the road, 20 miles from Ripon to OSH. Talked the guys into a Starbucks so I punched in Cafe into the GPS and the megenta line showed the way, right beside Appleby's, go figure! Coffee in hand, made out way to the field, got our passes then hit the booths to see what was new. I was a little dissapointed not to see anything really inovative, but I did enjoy taking my time going around and speaking with the vendors about various products that I was interested in. I feel that the attendence was down this year as it was way to easy to get through the buildings. By 5pm we had watched the 747 roll in then the Forenier concert started. We cut the show out early for dinner, the OSH special was so good Sunday night we decided to head back for Mondays dinner.

Tuesday morning, shower, breakfast and back on the road, the trip to OSH is becoming routine. Starbucks in Hand over to the motorcycle parking. Since I had all the vendors done Monday I wanted to get the flight line done before the heat set in. Jamie had some meetings to attend so Ric and I headed to the flight line. By mid day we finally made it to the RV parking, I took pictures of all the CDN RV's, see them below. Tuesday night we headed into town and had Itialian, we headed back to Ripon as we had an early rise and ride ahead Wednesday.

Wednesday, we rode, rode and rode more. The ride was 15 hours in total, my bike a Honda Shadow Areo, not being built for the kind of distances we were doing I had to stop every 100 miles (160km) for fuel. Ride around Chicacgo was ok, no real delays and we crossed back into Canada by Detroit and Windsor. We had a quick sandwich in Windsor and was back home by 10pm.

The trip was a great experience, had a great time with friends and hammering away at the miles was a sure change from the 3 hour trip West / 2.5 hour trip East in the RV from Hamilton. Bikes are fun, but next year I'll be flying to OSH for sure!