2400 mile Ride to Laughlin, NV

[redfjniner]

This will be a short ride report on a ride to Laughlin, NV from Vancouver, WA.  Total miles was around 2,400 miles and we did that in 7 days.  3 days down and 3 days back.  We started in Portland and rode to Cedarville, CA the first day.  Our ride went down I-5 to Eugene where we headed East on OR58.  We usually stopped about every hour or some where between 60-80 miles.  We got off  58 and took the Cutoff road to Gilcrest where we stopped for lunch at the Mohawk Restaurant.  Interesting place.  We went North to OR31 and then cut across the state in a SE direction to US395 then south to Lakeview and south to almost Alturas where we headed east to Cedarville, CA.  Cedarville is located in Surprise Valley and is surrounded on all sides by mountains.  Some had white caps, but most of the area is lacking snow so the roads are generally in a state of June, rather than April's state of conditions.
 
 
From Cedarville, we went south to Gerlach, site of the Burning Man, then on to Fenley, NV. From Fenley we picked up on US95alt and went on to Beatty, NV for the night. We washed the bikes because we wanted to clean bikes when we arrived at Laughlin. The third day we took a side road to Mt. Charleston to pick up a Grand Tour checkpoint. We incountered snow at 42 degrees, rain and dirty roads. They got dirty. We stopped at Boulder Dam to check it out. Then on to Laughlin, where after riding through Kingman, AZ, we ran into a thunder storm and got drenched, but by the time we got to Laughlin we were dry.
 
Had a good time in Laughlin but we didn't stay for the whole event and left on Saturday. We left on US95 back to Las Vegas and rode to Tonopah. It was the same desert we road south on, not much excitment. Stayed at the BW in Tonopah and found the Bug Bar, a local establishment with locals. It was a surprise bar. The next day we made it to Lakeview, OR. Same ride we went south on.
 
We left Lakeview at 42 degrees at 7am. On the ride up US395 we experienced temperatures as low as 32. It was chilly. We stopped in Oakridge for lunch then split up as I wanted to ride in the mountains going home. I took Forest Road 19 to Blue River then US20 to OR22 to Detroit. From Detroit I headed to Estacada on OR224. I must of done more turns in that 150 miles than I did in the whole ride to Laughlin. It was so good to be back to the PNW and the mountains with trees, rivers and just plain vibrant beauty. Got to love home.
 
The FJ performed excellent. There was enough elec. power to serve the liner and the heated grips. The touring windshield worked as good or better than any I have had. This is one fantastic bike, you will enjoy it as a touring machine.

[trench]

Fantastic! To confirm, you have the Yamaha touring windscreen and a stock seat?  Good to know the ergonomics work for a long trip!  I will likely be doing this a few times.

[redfjniner]

Fantastic! To confirm, you have the Yamaha touring windscreen and a stock seat?  Good to know the ergonomics work for a long trip!  I will likely be doing this a few times.

Not Yamaha's touring windshield, my DIY windshield.  The seat worked, but my butt couldn't have taken too much more with out more breaking in.  I do miss my RDL.

[fjer]

Great ride report. Beautiful country. Thanks for the pictures. fjer

[jlomb436]

Cool pictures indeed. Did you go to the River Run? I was also there with my FJ.

[redfjniner]

Cool pictures indeed. Did you go to the River Run? I was also there with my FJ.

We got there Thursday and left on Saturday morning.  Had a good time there, rode a heavypieceofshet at the HD demo rides. 
Here we are at the Dyno Jet tuning trailer, me after the demo ride on a HD, In and Out Burger, my first.
 

 
We tended to migrate to the Hogs and Heifers outdoor bar:
With dancing girls on the bar, that sometimes get down to talk, and then my friend talking to the big dude.
 

I looked for other FJs but didn't see any.

[jlomb436]

Cool pictures indeed. Did you go to the River Run? I was also there with my FJ.

We got there Thursday and left on Saturday morning.  Had a good time there, rode a heavypieceofshet at the HD demo rides. 
Here we are at the Dyno Jet tuning trailer, me after the demo ride on a HD, In and Out Burger, my first.
 

 
We tended to migrate to the Hogs and Heifers outdoor bar:
With dancing girls on the bar, that sometimes get down to talk, and then my friend talking to the big dude.
 

I looked for other FJs but didn't see any.

What a small world.  I stayed at the Tropicana not 200 feet from that In and Out.  Also, that Hogs and heffers place provided me with lovely music while trying to sleep at 1 am   I didn't see a lot of Japanese bikes there at all, let alone any FJ's.  Good to know another one was around!
 

[redfjniner]

 
 
  I stayed at the Tropicana not 200 feet from that In and Out.  Also, that Hogs and heffers place provided me with lovely music while trying to sleep at 1 am   I didn't see a lot of Japanese bikes there at all, let alone any FJ's.  Good to know another one was around!

I stayed at the Tropicana too.