USA Mountains & Canyons 2016 - The Pillion Perspective

Trip Day 12 – Friday 26th August


As we leave a damp, misty Bryce the sun starts to shine and the sky brightens as we ride along Scenic Highway 12 through Red Canyon.











We stop for breakfast at the biker friendly Galaxy Diner and bike shop….which is not on any account a Harley shop.








Passing through Kanab on our way to the Grand Canyon North Rim….there’s a Wild West festival on this weekend and we are staying here tonight! Yeehah!





We’ve got about 70 miles of this to the Grand Canyon.





Once we enter the park, things improve on the approach to the canyon. There are buffalo here, but unfortunately we don’t see any today. I wonder if the Grand Canyon will impress me after all the amazing sights we’ve seen so far in the Canyonlands?
I’ll soon find out..





The first glimpse looks promising…





In its entirety it is quite impressive….





The view from Bright Angel Point. The sky and distant views are a little hazy due to air pollution from the forest fires raging over in California. There’s a bit more definition in black & white.





This chap is Brighty the Burro. He was one of the many burros abandoned by prospectors when they came looking, unsuccessfully, for their fortune in the area. He was befriended by the children of the owner of the first tourist accommodation built on the North Rim. He used to carry water up to the accommodation from a spring in the canyon below & his reward was a stack of pancakes each day!





We travel a bit further round the park to the Point Imperial which is the highest point on the North Rim.








We head back out of the park, no buffalo to be seen but we do see a coyote trotting alongside the road complete with his lunch .

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We stop for fuel only on the way back to Kanab. I’m not sure if the goods listed at the gas station are listed in order of importance? Interesting that ‘gas’ isn’t one of them?!








Looks like the Wild West show is well underway when we get back to town.





It would seem that Kanab is a bit like Cowboy Hollywood, with many old western movie stars plaques located all along main street in recognition of all the movies that have been filmed in this area …. Including one of my all-time favourites, ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’. We even find out later on that there’s a tour around the filming locations for it the next day… sadly we don’t have the time to pull this in as we have our own tour to do….





We check in at the hotel, quickly get changed and head off to explore. There’s plenty happening… including music from some chaps from Preston that Keith had told us about..





I had to be a bit discreet taking this pic – I didn’t want to upset him or the rifle in the holster strapped to his leg. His back patch clearly stating his views on US gun law!





We head over to the Wild West show. Just in time for a talk about cowboys and their horsemanship – or the lack of it from this ol’ dude… He’s Lee Anderson, a cowboy historian and excellent horseman who gives an interesting presentation about the history of the cowboy and horsemanship, ably assisted by his partner ‘Concho’ a retired racehorse that he’s retrained by classical Spanish riding techniques. http://mycowboyheroes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/lee-anderson.html





We were also treated to a gun slinging display by the pistol packing ‘Johnny Hotshot’…. I daren’t take any pics of him in case he spotted me…. It was one of those shows where you don’t want to draw attention to yourself or else he’d pick on you. He was very big on audience participation, so we all sat there whoopin' an' a hollerin' and clapping along to the stunts..... and those that didn’t were publicly humiliated….


You know how annoying it is when someone really tall comes to sit in front of you and spoil your view at a show? It’s ten times worse when they’re wearing cowboy hats…. But do you really want to ask a man with a gun to move to the side a bit??





This is what happens when you get a bit lippy with a cowboy – as Paul found out!





We bumped into the ‘stars of the show’ later that evening… the boys got all excited & want to hold Johnny Hotshots’ pistol, it was quite heavy apparently ....
Meanwhile I had a nice chat about ponies with Mr Lee Anderson.

Ha, that was a great day

Trip Day 13 – Saturday 27th August

It’s pouring with rain this morning….We are off through Zion National Park this morning on our way to Vegas. Lucky for us, the rain stops as we arrive at Zion, and although a bit grey and damp, first impressions are good.



It really feels like we are riding through the rocks on the red road…





It looks a tough life for a tree here…little by the way of topsoil…



You can easily see how these rock formations were formed from sand dunes many years ago.



Now we are riding through the rock…



Into Zion…. Not this easy for the Mormon settlers though……









Looks like the sun is going to come out as we reach the far side of the park…



Now we’re heading back out into the desert towards Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam.





The temperature is rising as we head deeper into the desert.….







We arrive, somewhat sweaty, at the Hoover Dam and pay $10 to park in the shade…. It’s overly busy here for my taste, but the dam is an impressive feat of engineering none the less.



It must have been a hellish place to work in this heat….there are several giant fans around the area to cool down sweaty tourists!
There’s a lovely Art Deco style memorial to those who paid the ultimate price to build this monster.





Any excuse for ice cream….anybody would think it’s hot!



We don’t hang around too long – there are too many people & it’s too hot. Chris manages to navigate so that we can ride over the newly opened bridge – but it looks better from below in my view. You can’t see much as you travel over it as the parapets are too high to see over easily.
Time to head to our hotel in Boulder City – it has a pool!



It’s also only 25 miles from Vegas…and given we are so near, we really ought to go & have a look…it’ll be hell on earth, with so much traffic, but it’s not somewhere we’d ever go on holiday to, and I’d really like to see it at night in all its excessive glory. So we drag ourselves out of the pool, and hit the road with Keith, Peter & Jeff. The plan is to go to the BMW shop first and then hit the strip…. Jeff wants to go to the Hard Rock Café & Keith, a Vegas Veteran, leads the way….
Bit of wildlife on the road side…which I think is quite tame to what we might see later...



So, after a round of sticker buying and man chat at Vegas BMW, we hit the strip….it all looks so artificial in the daylight.





Less said about this the better….



Never been to New York…



Or Cairo…



Leo the MGM lion…



I think my Grand Canyon experience was better…



As we are crawling along the road, taking in the sights and sounds, we spot a sign for $3 parking right next to the Hard Rock Café – result!
Things get even better as we find a table on the outside balcony from where we can watch the world go by….and there’s plenty of world here to see – an incredible number of people…no wonder everywhere else we’ve been was so unpopulated.



As darkness descends the Vegas I came to see emerges.......



When I was a child on holiday at the seaside, my parents paid for me to have my photo taken with small monkeys on leads….how times change!



So finally, having soaked up sufficient excess, we try to find our way home…the temperature is still in the mid 30s (I’m wondering how much the the traffic and the lights contibute to the temperature here?) we manage to crawl our way out of the Vegas hell...and off to bed for another early start tomorrow.

Trip Day 14 – Sunday 28th August

After the hell of Vegas, today we are to enter the Valley of Death……



It’s barely light as we set off today…we need to get through Death Valley as early as we can…. It’s August and it’s going to be hot, hot, hot…
We sneak past a quiet, sleeping Las Vegas…..It’s not until we’ve ridden past it, a manmade, concrete blot on the landscape, you realise how isolated it is, built slap bang in the middle of the desert.

Only the Joshua Trees note our passing.



We stop for breakfast at Shoshone. It’s strange little place…





We are served breakfast by a feisty waitress who reminds me a bit of ‘Della’ from ‘Raised by Wolves’ and she’s not taking any shit from her clients.



Fed & watered, we head out into the heat…stopping for a pic at the famous sign



Into the valley we go…



I’m surprised that there is so much greenery…







But as we enter the heart of the valley, there’s very little sign of life. It’s another lunar landscape, but it has a strange beauty all of its own.







Paul has the altitude setting on the GPS display and we watch as it creeps lower and lower, hitting minus 93m at the lowest point near Bad Water Basin which is the lowest point in North America at 284ft below sea level.



We stop for a refresher at the Furnace Creek Visitor Centre…..it’s hot for me, but in the scheme of things, is actually quite cool for this time of year!



The valley seems endless, but finally we reach the other side and start to climb out. Refreshingly, the temperature starts to drop as we ride through the hills.





We’ve come a long way from the valley bottom.



We stop at Padre Crowley Point to take in the view.





Riding back into California, with the Sierra Nevada Mountains are just visible in the distance.



The mountains look pretty impressive as we get nearer, and we are all looking forward to the cool mountain air at our overnight destination, Mammoth Lakes…we just had to stop far an ice cream before we got there!

Great pics again Sam

The waitress in Shoshone was brilliant. She cut keith down with one savage quip when he had the temerity to ask if he could order before she was ready

Loving this post. Brings back memories of my trip two years ago.

Saving hard to get back......

KAYCEE said:

Brings back memories of my trip two years ago.

Click to expand...

And mine about 4 years ago....
Keep up the good work

Trip Day 15 – Monday 29th August

We have an easy day today, our digs are a stone’s throw up the road at Lee Vining and we can suit ourselves how & when we get there, and what we do on the way. There are several options including a visit to the ghost town at Bodie. Chris has been there many times before and tells us he’s going to have having an easy day…I’m not entirely sure he succeeded…

So, left to our own devices, we all split up to do different things (or in reality the same things in a different way). Paul & I decide to explore our current location, Mammoth Lakes, before heading off. It’s an ‘alpine style’ ski/outdoors centre and so there are several roads up into the high mountains. We’ve also spotted a forest loop road on a local guide book map, so that’s on the list too.

We head off up Mammoth Mountain, which is the highest ski resort in California, as you’d of course expect in the US, there was a Mammoth……



We head up to Minaret Point which is as far as we can go without a permit. It has to be said that the view is stunning….even better because we are the only ones here.





The saw tooth peaks in the distance are the Minaret mountain range.



The back side of the Yosemite peaks are just over there….



And this is the view in opposite direction back over the Inyo Forest – Mammoth Lakes is somewhere below.



The forest drive although very pleasant, didn’t yield anything other than tree photos & I’ve already got plenty of them…
On the way up to Bodie, we divert off the main road for a loop around June Lake.







We pass though Lee Vining, eying up the digs for later, and Mono Lake which is an alkaline soda lake. It’s apparently full of brine shrimp which makes it a favourite with migratory birds passing over the Sierras.



We arrive at Bodie, which is an interesting place, originally a mining town from the gold rush era of the late 1800’s. Many buildings are just abandoned with nothing touched since the day the inhabitants left, the last few departing around 1942. It’s a great place for photos, and I took loads, so the next bit is a little indulgent, but I struggled to choose just a couple.





















On our return journey to Lee Vining, we stop at the Mono Lake basin viewpoint.



There’s an interesting array of stickers attached to the crash barrier…..my particular favourite being the Voodoo Donuts sticker from Portland. Maybe it’s another one of those words/phrases like ‘fanny’ that means something totally different in English to what it does in the US?!?



We all meet up in the bar later in the evening to discuss all the different ways we managed to do the same thing... and there were a few to say the least! There’s even an opportunity for John to have his photo taken with Dermot…although he does have to stand on the skirting board & wear his tallest hat so as not appear too short…

Enjoying your Ride report ,especially this bit ,as I did not get to see it ( away helping Chris have his "easy day" ). Still ain't paid the hospital bill yet

Very nice pictures and good write up. Thanks for posting

Trip Day 15 – Tuesday 30th August

The delights of Yosemite beckon today and the Tioga Road into the park is right on our doorstep. The view looks promising as soon as we turn off the main road…



It’s not long before our first photo stop…





We take in the view back down the valley towards Lee Vining.



Mammoth Mountain is over there somewhere……



Another photo stop at Ellery Lake



We marvel at the climber heading up Tioga Peak behind us.





The road beckons us on….



Next stop at Toulumne Meadows for a look round the visitor centre. It’s really quite chilly up here and they’ve just lit the fire!



We quickly move on as it’s starting to get busy and we want to try to avoid the traffic & crowds before it gets too busy….but it’s not long before have to stop again…



We wend our way down into Yosemite Valley…





…and come face to face with the infamous El Capitan



It really is an awesome lump of rock but I certainly feel no desire to climb it what so ever…



After a quick lunch & a tad of sticker shopping at the visitor centre, we make our way to the other famous rocky resident of Yosemite…. Half Dome.



The view here is utterly amazing and I think I could stay here for days just looking at it…





There are a lot of these little guys hanging around….although very cute looking, they are carriers of bubonic plague her in Yosemite….which can be passed on to humans through their flea bites – apparently there are about 10 human cases a year!

We had an entertaining, plague free evening in Oakhurst, after our Yosemite jaunt. Unfortunately the pool was out of action as it was contaminated following a recent forest fire so we would have to content ourselves with a trip to the shop for some beers to enjoy on the terrace and watch the world go by. We also needed some cash & so consulted the young guy in Reception as to the location of the nearest cash point. He seemed horrified that we’d consider walking anywhere and advised us that as the cash points were located 3 blocks away, we’d need to drive there….and so we walked, returning 20 minutes later with beer and cash. I know petrol is cheap in the US, about 37p a litre during our trip, I do wonder how the non-car owning population of the US copes with daily life at times?

We spent the rest of the evening in a great little Italian restaurant, being regaled by Amanda with tales of ‘Los Ossos’ followed by an hour or so sat on the terrace watching the world of Oakhurst drive by….


Trip Day 15 –Wednesday 31st August

Today we are heading South skirting round Fresno towards the Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. The effects of last night are showing, and Chris gets a little disorientated in the fruit groves, leading us on a little fruit loop around Squaw Valley. We finally emerge hot, but unscathed and stop for refreshments before pushing on climbing into the high into the hills and forest.



We have a few hold ups through the forest where tree clearance is taking place in certain areas.



It’s not long before we climb out of the trees and Kings Canyon starts to reveal itself.



The road is devoid of traffic and the surface is as near perfect as you get....





The Kings Canyon Scenic Byway is just under 60 miles long and is a dead end, running to the end of the canyon following the path of the Kings River. If ever there was a dead end road made for riding just for the fun of it, this has to be it. I’m sure everyone who rode will testify it’s a close to biker heaven as you can get….





























The only hazards to worry about were rocks which would occasionally appear in the middle of the road in from minor rock falls (why do they always stop on the riding line?)– probably caused by kamikaze squirrels which would also occasionally launch themselves from the cliffs.













We finally arrive at Chris’s intended turning round point, but unfortunately the café where we were going to have lunch is closed. Bugger! Oh well, we’ll just have to ride on to the Visitor Centre …
We head off along the valley bottom alongside the river with Chris following...













We arrive at the Cedar Grove Visitor Centre where we enjoy lunch looking out over the river. It’s absolutely stunning and was well worth the extra miles, and the boys get to have a bit of a paddle in the river. We also chat to the park staff who tell us about the bears that come for a mooch round in the early hours….



So, feeling fully refreshed, we get to ride all the way back again and the views on the way out are equally stunning…. Joy!





We stop at some of the view points on the way out to take in the view of the Sequoia Kings Canyon Wilderness which is one of the largest in the lower 48 states.



From Kings Canyon we head back off into the forest to meet some of the oldest inhabitants of the planet – the giant sequoias.



Lovely place for a holiday park where you can just sit and enjoy the view...beats Centre Parks any day.



We stop for a tour of the giant sequoias and this is the General Sherman Tree which is the largest living tree in the world… he’s around 2300-2700 years of age! There are taller trees elsewhere in the forest…but I struggled to photograph this one!



Paul decides he need his pic taking next to these giants to show their scale….he instantly regrets this as the back wheel digs in as we try to ride out from thousands of years of dry tree mulch… a bit like sand but worse!



We manage to break free from death by compost and head off to Moro Rock, a giant rock dome that we can climb up to the top of via some 300 plus steps…. I guess the exercise will do us good… we do spend too much time sat on our arses doing this biking lark..



The view at the top of the Great western Divide Mountain range is stunning.





I hope the barriers are secure!



We are heading off down there somewhere when we leave this place.



First, I have to get down here….I’m not the greates fan of heights – I’m OK on the way up, as long as I keep looking up….it all goes a bit funny when I look down. Especially when I’ve just read about the 5 people who’ve died from falling off up here….
The bike is parked in the trees below.





I marvel at how this pathway was formed… it’s easy to see the manmade bits of stairs & steps, but imagine moving rocks around up here? It’s not the easiest place to get a crane or 360 up? Or mix concrete up here for that matter…? Apparently the first stairway was wooden – that I can imagine, but I wouldn’t fancy it on a wet day!







We get back to the bike and ride our way down the valley to our overnight location at Three Rivers. We were lucky enough to have a black bear amble across the road in front of us on the way, but I only caught his bum disappearing into the undergrowth on camera. A great end to a fantastic day.

Fantastic looking road and scenery, pity about having to travel back on the same road

That Kings Canyon day was one of the best I've ever spent riding a bike

gspod said:

That Kings Canyon day was one of the best I've ever spent riding a bike

Click to expand...

I did tell you it was one of the greatest roads on the planet and when you take the other brilliant roads in the area, that day was biker heaven.

Some fantastic photos, thanks for taking the time to post them and adding a pillions perspective

Trip Day 16 –Thursday 1st September

Today we head west, back towards the coast. I’m a little sad as we are leaving the Wild West and heading back towards civilisation. After all the bends and mountains of the previous day, today is quite a contrast, back onto the interstate followed by long straight roads, through flat, and fairly uninspiring countryside – and it’s really hot, to boot. However, we are spurred on by the promise of a visit to one of Chris’ favourite burger & milkshake bars at Coalinga. We arrive, to find its special BBQ Thursday, with some monstrous lumps of steak sizzling away on the grill.



It’s still only around 11.30am and we had a pastry based breakfast at our motel in Three Rivers earlier & so we are not particularly hungry - well I’m not anyway, but Paul lives in a perpetual state of hunger…always ready to eat at every available opportunity. So, I decide not to follow the others, who are ordering Tri Tip Steak sandwiches, and opt for chicken instead, which I perceive to be a lighter, healthier option…I have a vision of a nice chicken portion with a roll and some salad, and a chocolate milkshake. Paul likes my vision too and opts for the same choice (he doesn’t like it when I order something different and my meal looks better than his – which is often the case). Our order is called from the counter and Paul goes to collect it. I am a bit perturbed by the size of the ’burger boxes’ he returns with… and am positively disturbed when I open it…. Oh my God! My healthy, light option vision is gone, there’s no chicken burger inside, it has been replaced by half of a whole chicken…and it’s no small chicken either, it’s Foghorn F***ing Leghorn – it’s massive!

Even Paul is wilting at the sight of it….and he’s an eating machine! I didn’t have time to photograph the monstrosity, I was too busy trying to eat it for the next 20 minutes….to be fair, it was some of the best cooked chicken I’ve had & I managed to get a little help from Chris, who wasn’t so full after his ‘tiny’ steak sandwich!

So, feeling like I never want to eat again, we leave Coalinga, heading out into the California fruit fields…these look like young citrus trees - it’s all a bit dry.



Lack of water is clearly an issue out here – it’s amazing they can grow so much in these conditions. There must be a massive underground irrigation system – but where does it pipe from?



Water is clearly a hot topic out here…



Really???



Time for a quick re-group (aka toilet stop for the older gent...)



Off again…..



How many of these guys will be here after Trump has had his round up and built the wall? I guess, just as here in the Lincolnshire Fens, none of the locals will be running out to take their places.





We finally reach the hills, it’s still very dry, but a little more scenic.









Unfortunately, it was at around this point we experienced the first mechanical failure of the group – but better now with only one more day of the trip remaining. Poor old Amanda’s F800GS decided to give up the ghost – she was clearly not travelling at her usual pace and when we pulled alongside, she expressed her concerns; there was clearly some electrical gremlin activity going on with failing clocks, and the bike not running quite right…. She pulled over to talk to us and committed the fatal error of turning it off – that was it then – dead as a Dodo. We left her in the shade and raced off to catch up everyone else to let them know what had occurred.
Dermot had clearly realised something was amiss & had turned round in search of her. We carried on, finally catching up with Chris & the rest of the gang just before hitting Highway 101. Chris duly set off to provide assistance, accompanied by Peter & the Jump Leads (good name for a band?) whilst we continued towards Monterey, leading the remainder of the group through the Carmel Valley. I wondered if we’d bump into Clint Eastwood?...Chris would be well miffed if we did…

It was a nice, but very bumpy, ride along the valley, through the Spanish Moss covered trees.





And so we finally arrived in Monterey…unfortunately as soon as we rode out of the Carmel valley and over the hill into town, the temperature dropped - the Pacific Coast gloom was in residence…. but we dumped the gear & went off to explore the bay regardless.



The pier area was a like a mini version of what we’d already experienced in San Francisco and a real tourist trap. We went for a walk round the harbour – it was, as harbours are, full of boats…



And loads & loads of these little guys….I thought they might be some type of squat lobster or crayfish?



After a bit of a Google, I’ve just discovered that they are Tuna Crabs. Apparently, they travel up the coast from the warmer waters off Baja and the Gulf of California during El Nino events when the water temperature rises…. Apparently it was 10 degrees higher than usual in May 2016! This might be why there weren’t any sea otters to be seen – l was really hoping to spot one as they are quite common along this stretch of coast. If the waters get too warm, the local wildlife migrates further north in search of cooler waters. There was plenty of other wildlife to be found in the bay though…





Maybe it’s a bit too warm for these seals?



How can this be comfortable?



There are hundreds of the little Tuna Crabs dying on the beach…I try to help a few that are upside down, but they really are quite useless on land



Paul tiptoes through the crab carnage for a paddle…it doesn't look that appealing to me.



The little crabs are inedible by humans, but these guys will give them a try…there were certainly plenty to go at!



We finally reach the historic Cannery Row where massive quantities of sardines were landed and processed to meet the demand for canned sardines after World Wars I & II. The factories are now defunct, the last one closed in 1973. Some have now been converted into stylish hotels & restaurants.





I did finally manage to photograph a sea otter though before returning to the hotel…



And we did manage to eat again that evening… we found a fantastic Indian Restaurant – can’t beat the smell of curry for making you feel hungry – although I did avoid the chicken!

Trip Day 17 – Friday 2nd September

The final day of the trip arrives and today I’m not the only pillion today. Amanda had to abandon Mr Bumble, her 800GS, at the Monterey fire station yesterday evening and so was on the back of Dermot’s bike today. Chris & co had fitted him with a new battery but he still couldn’t make it back to Santa Rosa. He was to be collected later.

It was cool, cloudy and grey as we set off northwards up Highway 1 towards San Francisco. Yet again, as soon as we turned off the coast road and crossed over the hills heading back in land, the temperature rose and we found blue sky and sunshine on the Skyline Boulevard.



We stopped to take in the view…

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…before arriving at the famous Alice’s Restaurant for brunch. It’s a popular place for bikers and pensioners alike…so we fitted in in just fine.





From Alice’s we have a one last blast along the Skyline Boulevard before joining the nose to tail traffic crawling through San Francisco.















Once we’ve battled through the traffic, it’s time to stop at the iconic Golden Gate Bridge for photos. We are lucky as the cloud has burnt off and we can see the bridge and coastline.







It’s a great place for a group photo…



We continue up the Pacific Coast Highway past Point Reyes, alongside Tomales Bay









We spot the Tomales Bakery and pull over for our final coffee & cake stop of the trip before arriving back in Santa Rosa.





It’s late afternoon when we arrive back at the Hillside Inn in Santa Rosa where we have a little time for some poolside R&R. We also have to sort out all our gear…what to take home tomorrow and what to leave to fester with the bike in a container for the next 6 weeks!



That evening everyone is reunited for a final group meal at the very busy Cattleman’s Restaurant.



Day 18 – Saturday 3rd September

Today is a day for goodbyes and remembering the life that you left behind on the other side of the Atlantic. It’s been fantastic to immerse ourselves in another world for the last 3 weeks and I’m more than a little bit sad to return to reality…. But I miss my dog and my own bed... endless hotel living and eating out does get a bit tiresome after a while…

We arrive at SFO to find that Surfer Girl is getting ready to takes us home…



Farewell San Francisco… maybe we’ll meet again one day (just don’t mention it to Paul – he hates long haul flying…)






Credits & Thanks to:

Chris – for taking us on an amazing trip and sniffing out the milkshakes & icecream

Keith – for jokes and funny phrases (especially about Country & Western)

Pete – for finding the Wi-Fi passwords and the stickers

Jeff – the Piechiatrist, for enlightening us about the Wigan kebab (3 pies on a stick)

Dermot – for tall tales & advice on fine wines & coffee

Amanda – for endless enthusiasm & ipad photos

Geoff – for a brief history of time & US Geology

Symon – for demonstrating how a proper Adventure Biker should dry his washing & adding a hint of a tint of Scottish Doom

Steve – for fishy tales, explaining what those funny bells were for in the Harley shop and always having cash when I didn’t

John – for pony chat and demonstrating that there’s always a different way to do something


Thanks also to those who taken the time to post feedback and comments on my Ride Report - It's quite an undertaking to put one of these together and it's nice to see that it's been appreciated.

and last, but not least, thanks to Paul for agreeing to come along, doing the driving....and putting up with the long haul flights.

Thanks for your ride report Sam, I've really enjoyed reading it. I think 2018 might have to bring my turn for one of Chris's trips.

Thanks for taking the time to write this : I'm hoping 2019 will be my year to join Bilko.