Colorado Cruiser: 2019 Pacific Coast Highway

2019 Pacific Coast Highway - Day 10, 11, 12 Headed home

I set my alarm for 3:30 am. Both my alarm, and Ross's alarm went off at the same time. Ross got up and headed into the bathroom. I got up, dressed, grabbed my gear and headed out the door.

I met Larry by the bikes. He was cleaning his windshield and loading stuff on the bike, but my bike was already prepped. I put my stuff in the trunk, put on my gear, then said goodbye and headed out by 3:45. It was about 58 degrees as I headed out.

I was a little nervous about large animals crossing the road as the sunrise neared, so I kept my speed down about 5 miles under the speed limit. The highway was divided which let me keep my high beams on unless someone passed me. I felt pretty good about the ride after a while so I sped up to the speed limit.

I reached Barstow just as the sun was starting to rise. I grabbed a McMuffin for breakfast and filled my hydration pack with ice. I gassed the bike as well, then was back on the road just as the sun peaked over the mountains.

By the time I got to Needles the temperature had risen to the high 90s. I was feeling pretty hot so I got a strawberry fruit bar to snack on while I rested.

Just outside of Needles the temp dropped back into the 80s and continued dropping all the way into Kingman.

In Kingman I had to ride the 100 yards of gravel uphill to Kevin's house. There was no problem riding up, the bike just went right up.

I parked the bike and went inside for some water and a rest. My mother in law who we call Granny was packed and all ready to go, so I went back out to load the bike on the trailer.

Once the bike was on the trailer we hopped into the car and headed for Blanding Utah for a visit.

While we drove I asked Granny if she'd ever been to Monument Valley. She said she hadn't, so we decided to head North out of Kayenta. It's a slower route, but allot prettier. I stopped to get photos of Granny as the sun set.

I wanted to stop at the point where Forest Gump stopped running, but I couldn't, it was too full. There must have been 80 people all over the road in that area. They barely got out of our way as I slowly drove through. There were several people dressed as Forest, and a few others dressed as the people around him.

The sun set so we finished the drive to Blanding in the dark.

On Saturday, we decided to stay for the day rather than heading right out for home.

I spent much of the day helping my Aunt Donna get her computer and phone fixed up. Her computer was dead, so I helped her get a newish phone setup and running, then cleaned up her phone so she could use it on a cruise in a few months.

Once I had her computer installing windows 10, I asked Donna to drive us out to the cemetery to see my parent's and grand parent's graves. I hadn't been back since my mother's funeral 2 years ago.

I spent a few emotional minutes thinking about parents and grand parents. I also walked around to look at some other relatives including great and great great grandparents.

Next we drove around town to look at the old houses, then back to the Donna's for more computer fixing and blogging.

After lunch, Granny took a nap and I spent the afternoon asking Donna about how my grand parent met and the circumstances around my father's birth. My dad was born 3 months early and only weighted 1 pound, 4 ounces. I wrote a blog about the things she told me.

Later in the afternoon, my Aunt Betty and my cousin Sterling came over for a short visit. It was great to see them and catch up on what they were up to.

Finally we went to the local restaurant so I could get my Navajo Taco fix. I've had better tacos over the years, but you takes what you can gets.

On Sunday, we left by 6:00am and made it home by 3:30 with lots of stops.

Sunrise over an 18 wheeler