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Motorcycle Trip to the Grand Canyon: May 2002

The Plan
It was time again for what I hope to be our �annual bike trip�. Last year was a 3 day tour of the Central Coast. So this year had to top that. And what better place to do it than the Grand Canyon! Everyone who�s been there all say the same thing. It�s absolutely beautiful, inspiring, awesome, breathtaking, and everything else in between. That�s why it�s called �Grand� right? We�ve all seen pictures of it but even the best photographers and the best artist can�t capture the grand scale of the Grand Canyon. Seeing it in person brings to life the depth, the size, and the scale of the Canyon.

The original plan was for the reunion of The 3 Amigos, Mat, Marty, and Me, for a 4 day and 4 night riding smorgasbord across California and Arizona. Unfortunately, my financial circumstances forced me to back out a month before the trip. Due to my absence, Marty invited another rider, Chris, whom we met and rode with several years ago. Chris has kept in touch with us through the years. Then, 3 weeks before the trip my finances �changed� and I once again joined the trip. So now there were 4 of us. However, money was still tight for me so I had to shorten my trip to 3 days and 2 nights. Thus, my plan became a totally separate one from the main group, overlapping only for one day�the day we were to go to the Grand Canyon.

My plan was to ride from Southern California to the city of Williams, Arizona on Day 1. I was to meet the guys at our chosen hotel at Williams, then ride with the guys to the Grand Canyon and on to Flagstaff on Day 2. Then, ride from Flagstaff, Arizona to Mission Viejo, California on Day 3! I figure 500 miles on the first day, 180 miles on the second day, and 580 miles on the third day. A total of 1,260 miles. So far this was to be the most ambitious trip on a motorcycle I�ve ever done. I�m far from being an Iron Butt contender so the first and third day to me was a lot of mileage. I was excited about the trip, but even more excited to cover those distances on my Bandit 1200S. This was really going to put the Bandit and me to the test!

Day 1: Temperature Extremes
The guys had already left and arrived at the California/Arizona border the day before. I on the other hand was just starting out at 6AM, which to me was Day 1 but it was Day 2 for the others.

Left: Day 1 - Filling up the Bandit's fuel tank at dawn in Mission Viejo. The fog isn't so bad here yet. Notice there is still visibility all around. It would soon get bad!

As usual, the California fog was ever present, misting up my visor and making visibility poor. The ride through Ortega Highway went from so-so to shitty as the fog got worse as I neared Lake Elsinore. I had to constantly wipe my visor clear while negotiating twisties! Very scary indeed. The fog continued to be my constant companion, along with chilly temperatures for most of the ride out of town. I passed by the town of Perris, which was butt-ugly. Homes were haphazardly strewn about on brown colored dirt plots with chicken wire fencing on every property. I was glad to get on the 215 Freeway and get the hell out of there. From the 215 I switched to the 60 freeway. I was hoping the fog would let up but instead, it got even worse. I was wiping my visor every few seconds and I even had to slow down to avoid hitting anything 20 feet in front of me! Water droplets gathered around the Bandit�s fairing, around its mirrors as well as all over my jacket and helmet. I hate fog!

Right: FOG!
It was bad. Real bad. Notice how the visibility is impossible beyond the third street pole. This was actually in an area where there was a "hole" in the fog that allowed visibility beyond what was directly in front of me! I had to pull over to change to my winter gloves and to clean my fogged up visor inside out.