Views from the back of a Harley

2011 June 29, 9:12 pm
Filed under: J-Mo, There and Back Again

A few weeks ago I was invited on a fantastic weekend getaway to chase sunshine. It was thrilling and freeing and absolutely fantastic. And, it should be noted, I am perfectly capable of packing a weekend of clothes, shoes, and toiletries into one saddle bag on a Harley. That, my friends, is awesome.

One weekend, three states, several hundred miles, and a lot of good memories.

From St. George (the south-west corner of Utah), we headed through the back roads of Nevada and the Valley of Fire state park, the wind was crazy-strong and it was actually a little tricky to keep my head on straight, literally. But the scenery was gorgeous. All red mountains and desert vistas, sometimes I am surprised at how picturesque and majestic the desert can be.

This right here? This was always something that I could see. Lots of road, bright blue sky, and a stripe of hot pink Kevlar. Love it!

And this? Sexy.

After riding around the back-roads off southern Nevada, we finally arrived in Las Vegas in time for lunch.

My weekend ride. (For the record, my helmet has hot pink flames and a skull with beribboned ponytails. It is awesome.)

Last summer when I drove through Vegas en route to Phoenix, the only way across Lake Mead was to take the Hoover Dam, the new bridge was not yet finished. This year, the Mike O’Callahgan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge is complete. It is MASSIVE! And Awesome! And the views of the dam are incredible.

Look how enormous those columns are!! Dah, I geek out about this stuff!

Lake Mead, the upriver side of Hoover Dam. It is much more full than it has been previously, but that band of white shows the former levels, and also makes the whole scene a little, well, striking.

That night was spent in Las Vegas at the uber-swanky Trump Hotel (thank you, Priceline!). Wandering up and down the Strip, eating delicious food, watching the Bellagio fountains and laughing at the particularly entertaining brand of person that occupies Vegas in masses and hordes.

On the way home we went through the Virgin River Gorge, it has been a dream of mine for years to go through the Gorge on the back of a motorcycle. Dream: Accomplished. Now, even though I took about a hundred pictures on the 15 minute ride through the canyon, most of them turned out a little blurry, a little skeewampus, or a lot blurry and a lot skeewampus. But, know this, it was the most awesome ride! Swoon!