March 6, 2015, Day 1

We left the Texas Station Hotel in North Vegas around 10am. We headed directly to The Strip. I thought it would be a great idea to ride the motorcycles down the strip. It was a memorable experience (would have been even better at night). Then, we got this classic picture of the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign (we asked a stranger to take the picture for us).

Start of Stage 4, March 5, 2015

In the picture above (from left to right: Aradio, Fernando, Jorge, and Daniel), we are at George Bush International Airport, getting ready to board the plane. The flight left very early, at 7am, but that didn't bother me one bit, I'm always ready for another adventure.

We arrived at the U-Haul Storage facility around 10:30am, local time, in Las Vegas. Here's one of the first pics of the trip of my Honda XR 650L. The bike started right up, no battery or carburetor problems (at the end of every trip I drain the carburetors and disconnect the batteries on all the bikes, to avoid any problems).
 
This is one of the first pictures of Aradio's brand new KLR 650 2015 model. He put all sorts farkels and goodies on the bike (Givi Trekker Cases, crashbar, hand guards, Heated grips, and more). The bike looked beautiful. I told Aradio to take a good look at the bike and take pictures, because he was never going to see it this clean again. Aradio is a new member of the tour (that's why he needed a bike). He's a real estate agent in The Woodlands. He's been riding bikes for many years and we are glad to have him on the trip.   

Elephant Seals, North of Morro Bay

Just north of Morro Bay, on the Pacific Coast Highway, we ran into these little friends. Male elephant seals can grow up to 15ft in length and weight as much as 5,000 pounds (as much as an SUV).

Stage 4 Complete! What an Amazing Trip!!!

Here are some pics from the Valley of Fire; we visited this amazing state park just north of Las Vegas during our Stage 4 America Tour trip. The colors and rock formations are very unique, makes you feel like your on the planet Mars.

Stage 4, Las Vegas to San Francisco

Above is a screenshot of the first part of out Stage 4 trip. I'm so excited! We start in Las Vegas and finish this first section in Los Angeles.  Never been to the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. It should be quite impressive. Our route tries to avoid major highways (I hate driving a motorcycle on interstates). I pick the best routes using Butler Maps, which are great.

This is the second part of Stage 4. It starts in Santa Monica and finishes at the Golden Gate Bridge. I've heard that the Pacific Coast Highway in Big Sur is impressive, can't wait to ride it. 

Stage 3, Entering Colorado

I snapped the first picture as we were entering Colorado; I love the state's slogan "Welcome to Colorful Colorado." The sign was right, next day we rode "The Million Dollar Highway" from Durango to Silverton. The road was filled with Aspen trees that were changing color due to the fall; it was an amazing site to see.
The second picture was taken during one of our picnics, close to the Million Dollar Highway.

Bryce Point

This picture was taken at Bryce Point, what you see behind is Bryce Canyon in Utah. Spectacular views from Bryce Point; you can see all the Hoodoos (these are tall thin, spires of rock that are formed all throughout the canyon) in the background. Utah exceeded our expectations. Fernando is wearing the yellow jacket, I'm in the middle, and Jorge is on the right.