Cost to Coast ... to Coast on 1977 GS750 and GS550

[Chuck78]

Wow...GREAT trip guys... great bikes to set out on, also!
Somehow I missed this thread due to a busy busy summer. You guys are really inspiring me to at least do more 4-5 day weekend trips this next year.
I wish I had a job where I could take off 4-6 weeks to ride cross country, but I've had pretty "relied-upon" job positions since I was 20 years old. I realized that in 2.4 more years, I get 25 vacation days up from 15 now, so visiting my buddies in Boulder, CO from Ohio, on the 77 GS750 is THE PLAN... Sounds like Canyonlands will be a stop as well.

Thanks a ton for the inspiration. I gotta do this sorta stuff more often before I get too old. Hopefully I'll still be saying the exact same thing when I'm 50 or 55, haha!!!


My buddy just took off work June-Sept to do the same kind of trip on a ZRX1200, Ohio to West Virginia to Virginia to Smoky Mountains, down across the southern states and through the mountains, to Cali, and all up the coast to Alaska... then express route back. I wish I had instagram so I couldve followed his pictures along the way.

I ran I to two guys from up in your part of the states, hung out with them at the Wheels Through Time Museum & Blue Ridge Parkway areas this past May, also doing the same thing, also bought the $80 National Parks pass good for two bikes! Except they were riding very new Harleys, one new Sportster, one white touring Harley with a brand new Harley engine transplant. Can't for the life of me remember their names, but they were in their mid twenties and having a blast!



Keep the inspirational posts and photos coming, fellas. And keep on making more awesome road trip memories!

 

[sam000lee]

I wish I had a job where I could take off 4-6 weeks to ride cross country, but I've had pretty "relied-upon" job positions since I was 20 years old. I realized that in 2.4 more years, I get 25 vacation days up from 15 now, so visiting my buddies in Boulder, CO from Ohio, on the 77 GS750 is THE PLAN... Sounds like Canyonlands will be a stop as well.


I ran I to two guys from up in your part of the states, hung out with them at the Wheels Through Time Museum & Blue Ridge Parkway areas this past May, also doing the same thing, also bought the $80 National Parks pass good for two bikes! Except they were riding very new Harleys, one new Sportster, one white touring Harley with a brand new Harley engine transplant. Can't for the life of me remember their names, but they were in their mid twenties and having a blast!



Keep the inspirational posts and photos coming, fellas. And keep on making more awesome road trip memories!

Thanks Chuck!

Definitely go to Canyonlands! My recommendation is that you go in the evening. There is a North and South area (we went to the South) so there is lots to do. Awesome that you're doing it on a '77 GS750, too!

Wheels through time was CLOSED the day we were going by and we were totally disappointed. Ended up trying to go do Dollywood instead which was also a disappointment as we didn't actually have the time to go in.

 

[kaufen]

Very nice! Now which one are you? The short one or the tall one?

 

[GS1150Pilot]

The pics you posted look like they were snapped when the bikes were new. Love the laid back "realness" of them-no pretensions, just two buddies enjoying the simple life out on the road. Your trip is an inspiration to many here.

 

[Charlie G]

Very nice! Now which one are you? The short one or the tall one?

Post 63...." the tall one"

 

[sam000lee]

Day 19: (Sorry for the delay posting)




We didn't wake up super early on August 1st and made a breakfast of eggs, bacon and coffee with the wood we hadn't burned from the night before.

After packing up we set off, with the intention of heading up to the north rim and staying there for a day or two. Couldn't help snapping a few pictures on the way out (I think we might've been a been hungover hence the face)

Saw this badass crow:

We got gas in the park and headed back east on 64, the way we came. It was over 100 today and really windy. Throughout the trip, our normal travel speed was between 60 and 65 which the bikes were happy to do for hours on end, but it today it felt like it was pushing it for some reason. We got passed by several large groups (10+) of Harley riders, most of which gave us a friendly wave as we gave them some extra room to pass. Hitting 89, we backtracked north but passed rt 160 going towards Willow Springs.


This part of 89 was very desolate. The combination of the wind and heat was like a hairdrier and I was glad to have the full face helmet just to protect my face from the heat. Going around a curve, a truck passed and the subsequent gust was the strongest I had ever felt on a bike. A few miles later we pulled into a gas station and Bobby told me he had just experienced the same thing and that it had been the scariest part riding since we left. A french family was hanging out at the table in the gas station which we snagged as soon as they went back to their car. I think we stayed here for about 45 minutes because we were so hot and wanted to give the bikes a chance to cool down. I had a cliff bar and a bag of chips for lunch.


After a few miles back on the road we started climbing a gradual hill which eventually wound up a slightly steeper hill. I pulled off at an overlook and we took a couple pictures of where we had come from

-We had kind of been debating this all day but we opted to skip the North Rim. Looking back now I kind of wish that we hadn't but it was another 80 miles down a dead end road we would have to come back up the next day - which seemed like some kind of trap in our current state of heat fatigue. This had been one of the most desolate couple hours of the trip, on 89 and 89A from 160 to Jacob lake It was hot, windy, miles and miles of (awesome) nothing and few cars. It was a place where if we had broken down, we had no way of looking up numbers/information (no smart phones), no way of calling anybody (no service), and even if we could who would we have called? It would take hours for a hypothetical `tow truck', if it ever came to that, to get there and we had absolutely no way of contacting anybody.


Passing 67s, which leads to the North Rim, we were suddenly in a forest in higher elevation. It was cooler and there was shade and the roads were getting nice and curvy. It felt like we had escaped an inferno into a mountain oasis and I felt a lot more cheerful and lively.


A couple hours later we were in Zion national park.

Of all the places we went, I wish I had taken more pictures here because it was crazy! It felt like we in Jurrassic Park. Riding in was one of the coolest things ever but we were too worn out from the heat/wind to have the patience to stop and soak it in. We headed to one of the campsites (which was supposedly full) and got a spot at the `group camping' area, which meant a gravel lot and a pavillion with picnic tables. When we pulled up there was a single pickup there and a kid a couple years younger than us getting a fire going. I'm forgetting his name at the moment but he had just been away for a few weeks, going to a wedding, an artist residency in Nebraska and doing a lot of national park camping like us. We chatted for a bit, made a run to the store for some beer and hot dogs and came back to make dinner with him. Turns out he was a way better cook than us (and way better equipped) and made a giant cast iron skillet full of roasted veggies and I can't remember what else that he kindly shared with us in exchange for some beers. Had a really fun night chatting and talking about the places we had been before making plans to check out a hike in the morning and turning in.

 

[Big T]

Nice pics
Next time, a hydration pack is recommended for those hot days. Plus, soaking your T shirt helps for a while
Pic #4 is a raven

 

[Sandy]

I just read through your post and what a fabulous trip. As already mentioned, memories for a life time. Good on ya! I had a laugh at the distance and time frame. I did pretty much the same distance and time on the same vintage of motorcycle once ......except ours were near new at the time. And yes the subject still comes up from time to time.

 

[sam000lee]

Day 20:


So I forgot to add in the last post that at the end of day 19, my odometer hit 19,315 miles so just over 4,000 for the trip so far.


The kid we met, I forget his name so I'm going to call him Owen, had told us about hiking the Narrows at Zion. In the morning we woke up, had a quick breakfast, packed up and rode to the shuttle parking lot. It was only after we were on the bus that we noticed everybody was wearing these wierd shoes which we soon found out they had rented from the park and were made for hiking on rocks in the water. We didn't have them so just took our boots of and carried them. We went maybe a mile or two up the Narrows before parting ways with Owen and turning back so we could get a move on.

Our feet were pretty cut up by the time we got back and this cool old motorcycle was sharing our parking spot:

We took 9w out of the park, to 17 to I-15 where we realized that it had been at least a couple thousand miles since being on any interstate. At Cedar City, we turned west again on 56 bringing us into Nevada. It took us up into the mountains and coming down with an open road, I tested my bike going over 90mph for the first time. Thing really smoothes out and sings when you wind it out into the higher RPMs!


Took this somewhere in the desert.

Shortly after passing through Crystal Springs we were on the ET highway:

and about a mile later we saw a sign: "150 miles until next gas" which prompted us to pull over. It had been at least 50 miles since we last got gas but we also had never had to go that far without fuel. My GS750 has a 4+ gallon tank and was getting about 40mpg so I knew I would probably be alright but the GS550 had a seemingly smaller tank (don't know how big it is), but did get better mileage. We decided to go for it but had to double back and head south to get fuel in Alamo.

It was around 6 or 7 and we were loosing daylight. I asked the guy at the gas station if there were any spots to camp along the ET highway to which he responded "anywhere, but I wouldn't go too far from the road without a gun" and then clarified to explain there were mountain lions which we thought was pretty cool. Filling up, we put the bikes on the center stands to make sure we could fill the entire tank.
We set of again leaving the "150 miles until next gas" sign in our mirrors. Highway 375 is one of the spookiest roads I've been on. Not only is it long and desolate but theres a basin that catches the light and mist in a very eerie way, especially at the time of day we were there. We only saw a handful of cars before getting to Rachel, NV about 70 miles in and stopping at the Aleinn. There was another couple with their kid in there and we caught it about 35 minutes before close. I got a burger and a beer and we chatted with the very friendly server about area 51 which we had apparently passed the turnoff for about 10 miles back.
We didn't really have a plan at this point and it was completely dark by the time we had eaten. Our server told us it probably wasn't a good idea to keep riding since we were in an open cattle field (and we had seen a bunch of cows very close to the road) and gave us the option of sleeping in the back parking lot, so thats what we did!

 

[Charlie G]

I have a friend who transferred to work at Mt. Zion N.P. 7 or 8 years ago and has since bought a motorcycle and wants me to come visit him. It looks really pretty and CROWDED! I almost went last summer but it didn't happen. I guess I'll have to do it next spring.

 

[sam000lee]

Day 21:


In the parking lot there were no trees to set up the hammocks so we just strung up a tarp inbetween our bikes and slept on the gravel under that. I got woken up once or twice from the wind flapping the tarp around but besides that it was a pretty comfortable and refreshing night. This was my view when I woke up

While we were packing up we heard two enourmous BANGS. We were about 10 miles from area 51 and I think they were sonic booms or some other kind of government/alien equiptment. We got coffee back inside the Aleinn (breakfast was kind of pricey) before taking off and chatted with a man in the parking lot for a little who was nice enough to take a couple pictures:

After getting on the bikes, we were still a little nervous about running out of gas which wasn't helped by discovering that Bobby had his choke on for the first 70 miles or so. When we hit Tonopah, my odometer read 160 and it felt good to fill the tank all the way back up as well as know our travel limits a little better.


Over the next couple hours we transitioned from desert to mountains, and had to stop every now and then to add a layer.

One of my favorite pictures from the trip outside Yosemite:

Behind the camera is Mono Lake

Yosemite park was really incredible. By the time we had climbed to the entrance at the summit it was both wet and cold and there was snow scattered around the mountain. I thought we would have more time to enjoy some of the views but from the entrance it was another 40 miles to the campground we had made a reservation at which we were told would take around 3 hours to get to due to traffic. The roads were windy and around pretty much every corner were breathtaking views.


Pulling over to adjust Bobby's chain:

 

[sam000lee]

The roads in Yosemite were awesome but it there was a lot of traffic, plus it was cold and we had been on the bikes for at least 8 hours that day. Our campground was packed and our site wasn't really that great and I had nowhere to set up my hammock. Bobby used the tent that night and I just slung a tarp from my motorcycle and slept under that. We were both damp from the day and after setting up went to the 'general store' to get some food. Everything was really expensive and I ended up just getting a beer to have with a cliff bar for dinner. BUT when we got back, our camp neighbors had made an enormous batch of tacos (they were there with a couple families so had 15+ people) and generously offered us to have share with them before we turned in for the night.

 

[Buffalo Bill]

I like your story! All the references to money spent, pics of your meals, camp grounds and fk-ups make it a mo betta read too.

 

[Guest]

You should post this up on ADVrider, they would love reading this.

 

[storm 64]

Which one are you again, the tall one or the short one? Haha just kidding. As others said, I also enjoy reading your adventure story. Any motorcycle trip plans for next summer?

 

[Guest]

The short one looks like Roland Sands.

 

[Guest]

This story isn't over yet! I want to know how it ends! Haha

 

[chuck hahn]

Little tech tip. I get a 1 litre soda bottle and fill it with gas. Then I wrap the cap heavily with electrical tape and throw in at the top of a bag. That way should I miscalculate or otherwise get caught off guard I have a little extra fuel for that "OH CRAP" moment.

 

[Chuck78]

Addendum to that Tech tip -
i bought an MSR Whisperlite camp stove because it runs on gasoline, which you can get anywhere, and has a nice refillable bottle with a hand pump to pressurize it. They also sell a larger version fuel bottle, which is nice for extended periods backpacking, but also can serve as a reserve fuel canister for the bike! These stoves are also incredibly light and compact, which was the original major appealing factor for them aside from not needing a heavy disposable propane canister every so often.

 

[sam000lee]

Day 22 - 27


We woke up and packed up. Bobby had slept in the tent for I think the first time that night instead of his hammock, and I had strung my hammock up on my motorcycle underneath a tarp so that I could use the bug net.


Leaving Yosemite took a long time. We got rained on and there was a fair amount of traffic but the views there are great pretty much wherever you are. There are miles and miles of roads and we got gas in the park for clost to $5/gallon.


We left Yosemite via Rt 120 and the roads coming out were super twisty. I mentioned this at the time, but we saw a sign that said DIPS and had a pretty awesome time flying up and down over the hills.


We took I-580 towards San Francisco. It was really the first time we had been near a big city on a major highway for several thousand miles and I can remember feeling like we had been thrown back into the modern world. Staying with some friends' in Oakland for 4 days, there was a music event going on that some other people we knew from the East coast were playing and so we went to a couple of the gigs there. We spent this time staying up late and then resting during the day and I got a chance to give myself a haircut and wash our clothes which was refreshing.

On Tuesday August 8th, on the 26th day of our trip, we set out again heading north.


Golden Gate:

On the north side of the Golden Gate:

We took Rt. 1 up to 20W and then to Rt 101 to get to Oregon. We had both been really excited about this leg of the journey, but it was MUCH colder than we had expected and was damp and misting the whole time. The roads and ocean were grey and beautiful. The campgrounds along this stretch were expensive and not particularly nice and the nights were cold. It's been too long for me to remember clearly exactly where we were each day but the 3 nights heading up to Portland were all cold and, at least for me, were fairly sleepless.


We were waking up, riding, stopping for coffee, riding, stopping for some food and then riding until it was near dark before starting to look for somewhere to sleep. Without smart phones or any knowledge of local camping, this turned out to not be the most reliable method of getting a good nights sleep. At one point we stopped in a grocery store and picked up a $5 pound of perciutto, a loaf of wonderbread and some mustard which ended up being our dinner and lunch for the next couple of days. While we had planned our finances in advance and the trip was overall quite frugal, we were also starting to become especially mindful of our budgets.



A snack/lunch by in the Redwoods. While we were sitting there, some kid pulled in and then couldn't get his car to start. We lent him some tools and helped get a good connection to his battery's negative in order to get it to crank and start up again. We ended up seeing him periodically for the rest of the afternoon playing tag up the PCH.

One of my favorites from the trip:

Coming up the coast, we were pretty miserable half way up Oregon's coast. We opted to take 18 instead of 6, a little further north, because a man at the gas station told us that Portland was having a heat wave. Within half an hour of getting off 101, the temperature had risen by 10 degrees and continued to do so until we were soon riding in 90 degree weather wearing all of the clothes we had.

It was around this time that I started noticing some scary noises coming from the drive chain. We had both replaced our chains and sprockets before leaving and were now 5,000 miles into the trip. We regularly checked the chain tension and sprockets and they were both starting to show signs of definite wear.