August 2025

[Whiskerfish]

Met with the Doc today. The xrays show my knee is bone on bone. Injections would only provide temporary relief so I am waiting for the replacement to be scheduled. Hopefully they can get it done in April. He also said no bike riding for 4 months.

So as of now the trip to Oregon is a Truck trip. So sad

[Fred Camper]

Oh my, but since you are young best to get it replaced before more damage is done.

[Brant]

Sorry to hear it Steve. I know you been planning the trip for a while. Life throws us lots of curve balls. You just got to keep swinging.

[Whiskerfish]

They finally called yesterday and put me down for 12 May Surgery. A lot later in the year than I had hoped for. I asked them to mark me in red as a fill in candidate for any cancellations. They asked when and I said from next week on! Hopefully I can get lucky and make this happen earlier than May.

Good news is that I actually got the Wife to spend a few hours sitting next to me planning the trip. It is still going to be a great run and will include "Most" of what I wanted to do on the bike.

Westbound will be 5 days out with one easy day in Colorado hitting some of her old haunts. The first 2 days will be the worst of the whole trip. Serious slab burn of about 1750 miles between them. Once we hit the mountains it gets more enjoyable.

Eastbound looks like 10 days including 1 day in the North California Redwoods, 1.5 days at Crater, and a day in Louisville visiting a dear (to my Wife) old Neighbor that is on the decline. Routing will be over Lolo pass down to Mammoth Hot Springs and across the Grand Loop road to Beartooth and over that to Red Lodge. Then down to Cody and the southern half of the Burgess loop then over to the Wildlife loop in Custer. We should hit the wildlife loop about 10 days after the end of the Sturgis rally.

The route seems to be fairly nailed down so it is time to start working the Hotel reservations.

[rcmatt007]

in the Redwoods there is the avenue of the giants (old 101). great drive and really not much traffic

[Whiskerfish]

in the Redwoods there is the avenue of the giants (old 101). great drive and really not much traffic

That is very high on our list. I already have a hotel reservation in Garberville Ca. Plan is to drive down the slab then the next day take Redwood drive and the Avenue of the Giants back north then turn inland to go to Crater for 2 nights. After that we will start our way back east.

[Whiskerfish]

Routing was complete and all the reservations made then I happened to mention to the Wife that we would be passing by Arches Nat Park. So now trying to fit that into the schedule. Up to 23 days on the road now.

[CYBORG]

Do all that you can. The memories will last a life time.

[Fred Camper]

Arches is nice but you need a reservation as they have timed entry. It does keep the crowd more managed.

[Whiskerfish]

Arches is nice but you need a reservation as they have timed entry. It does keep the crowd more managed.

Thank you. Will look into it

[Whiskerfish]

Arches is nice but you need a reservation as they have timed entry. It does keep the crowd more managed.

Thank you. Will look into it

Looks like we will be in the open time slot Should be there around 4 August.

From April 1 through July 6 and August 28 through October 31, 2025, visitors entering the park in a vehicle will need two things:


Timed Entry Ticket booked through Recreation.gov before arriving to the park

Park Entrance Fee OR valid Park Pass (includes Annual, Senior, Access, Military, 4th Grade, or Volunteer passes). See all qualifying Entrance Fees and Passes.

[Whiskerfish]

Got it hammered out again. Had to make some adjustments to our travel through Colorado. Replaced Independence pass with Cottonwood pass and then down to Silverton to do the Million Dollar Highway. Then over to Moab for the night. Will do a drive through and maybe a short walk in Arches NP early the next day and then on to Winnemucca Nevada for our last night westbound.

Best Western Reservations.jpg

[Fred Camper]

You can do some walking in Arches but it is primarily a drive and park at each feature. But you can hike as long as you like at each feature.

[Whiskerfish]

You can do some walking in Arches but it is primarily a drive and park at each feature. But you can hike as long as you like at each feature.

First week in August so I think other than early morning the temps will preclude much activity outside the truck. I have a couple short walks in mind.

I was looking at a 4 x 4 adventure over the Black Bear trail. It runs between the Million Dollar Highway near Silverton Co. over the mountain to Telluride. I would love to do this but it is really sketchy stuff so I think not an undertaking when on a tight schedule.

Funny video of a couple going over it. https://youtu.be/dr7Nkl0pkJk?si=YiKUbjX5Ozj9-Ksb