America 2007

September 9th 20 members left Ipswich on our coach at 3.30am for Gatwick for a 2 week holiday in the USA.  After a 10 hour flight with Virgin Atlantic we arrived in Las Vegas and transferred to our hotel Circus Circus, our base for the next 2 days.  During this 2 day period everyone had time at leisure  to do as they pleased. 

Tuesday morning we picked up our 10 rented bikes from Las Vegas Harley Davidson and headed out of Vegas on Hwy 93 for the Hoover Dam and Kingman, then headed west on Route 66 to Oatman an old gold mining town.  After the local cowboys had subjected us to a "Hold Up" and gunfight we strolled the town and then made our way back to Kingman and a visit to Mr D's Diner (a 60's experience) and our hotel.

Wednesday, more Route 66, with many stops including Hackberry Stores, Thruxton, Peach Springs, and Seligman, with a long stop at the Delgadillo family 's Snow Cap Diner.  Then on to Interstate 40 at Ash Fork heading east for Williams ,our stop for the night.

Thursday we left Williams on Interstate 40 for Walnut Canyon National Monument (cliff dwelling homes of the Sinagua Indians during the 12th & 13th centuries) then on to Flagstaff and Hwy 89 north to Cameron, turning left on to Hwy 64 the Desert View road to the Grand Canyon.  We travelled the whole route to Grand Canyon Village stopping at the many overlooks.  We then made our way to Tusayan airport on Hwy 180/64 for a helicopter trip over the Grand Canyon, finally back to Williams for another night.

Friday, back to Flagstaff and Hwy 89 north crossing the corner of the painted desert, turning right on to Hwy 160 towards Tuba City and Kayenta, our stop for the night.  After checking into the hotel we travelled to Monument Valley/Gouldings Lodge for a 3 1/2 hour Indian trip into their Back Country, then back to Kayenta.

Saturday most of the group left early for Monument Valley, Mexican Hat, and Goosenecks State Park (the river here,1000ft below us, snakes backwards and forwards 6 miles to travel 1 mile).  We returned to Kayenta to pick up the rest of the group and headed off for Page on Hwy 98 through Kabito, and finally to Page where we visited the Glen Canyon Dam and took an Indian trip into the Antelope Slot Canyon, then returned to Page for our nights stop.

Sunday our destination was The Red Canyon and Bryce Canyon.  We left Page on Hwy 89 over Glen Canyon Dam to Kanab turning right (north) to Mt Carmel Junction, continuing north to Hatch finally turning right on to Hwy 12 towards Tropic passing through Red Canyon, and finally Hwy 63 for Ruby's Inn our stop for the night.  After checking in to the hotel we left for the 18 mile trip to the end of Bryce Canyon (it had snowed here today, and was very cold).  On our return to Ruby's Inn we stopped at most of the overlooks.

Monday, a number of our group left at 6.45am, (after scraping ice off the bike seats), to see the sunrise over Bryce Canyon.  After breakfast we left for Zion Park and Mesquite, our destination today, turning right at Mt Carmel Junction on to Hwy 9 climbing steeply to East Zion Park.  After regrouping at the 2 mile long tunnel we descended down to the Visitor Centre and took the 6 mile bus trip up the Canyon and back.  We headed out of Zion on Hwy 9  through Hurricane, and then turned south on to Interstate 15, finally arriving at Mesquite.

Tuesday, back on to Interstate 15 heading south for a visit to the Valley of Fire State Park on Hwy 167, to Lake Mead and Callville Bay where we rented 2 powerboats for a 2 hour blast on the lake.  After lunch we left on Hwy 167, then Hwy 147 to Las Vegas, finally joining Hwy 95 for Indian Springs, and the Amargosa Valley on Hwy 373 where we stayed at The Long Street Inn on the edge of Death Valley.

Wednesday, a very early start today, through Death Valley with stops at, Dantes View, Zabriskie Point, then on to Furnace Creek for fuel and breakfast.  We then backtracked to Hwy 178 where we turned right on to the Badwater road where we encountered sand storms and extremely high winds, with stops at the Artists Drive, and the Badwater Basin ( lowest place in the western hemisphere, 282 ft below sea level), finally emerging from Death Valley and turning right on to Hwy 127 towards Shoshone.  On leaving Shoshone we turned left back on to Hwy 178 to Pahrump and a right turn on to Hwy 160 back to Las Vegas and a daytime ride down The Strip to Circus Circus our hotel for the final 2 nights.  After dark some of the group rode up and down The Strip (awesome).

Thursday we returned the bikes to Las Vegas Harley Davidson and had the rest of the day and evening at leisure.

Friday, after a late morning checkout of the hotel, we transferred to the airport for our 4 pm flight home.

Saturday morning we landed back at Gatwick, and joined our coach for our trip back to Ipswich.

We visited 4 States, and travelled 1820 miles on 10 Harleys.  (A FANTASTIC TRIP), our thanks to everyone involved in this trip.

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