adam mills elliott

Grand Tour

Note (10-31-2009) In the fall of 2006, I set out on a motorcycle ride accross the united states. Much of this I wrote at the time, but I never finished the report. Enjoy.

Concept:

I am on a tour of the united states on my Suzuki SV 650 for 3 months beginning Oct. 2nd 2006. I have been talking about this tour for a year and a half and its finally here. I graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Oregon in June then worked as a river guide in the Grand Canyon for Arizona Raft Adventures / Grand Canyon Discovery. I bought a camera and some heated clothes – twist the throttle and go.

I am having a hard time putting to words the way that I feel about traveling. I suppose it has to do with the parallel paths of growth that occur. We are moving physically about as we move mentally about. The coincident journeys are like coincident waves, they can amplify each other and when the traveler lets go of controlling the outcome, unexpected beauty will crash about. [ author's note: sorry for the metaphysical gushy-ness. warning: more to come down the road. ]

Inspirations:

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, of course. I read the book when I was 13 and forgot most of it. However, I was impressed by the concept more than anything. I like the simplicity and the depth of reflection that the main character achieved. I hope to write everyday from here on out.

The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron. very good book about letting yourself create. It is about letting go of your expectations and fears. Its about creating through open interpretation and letting yourself learn about the world and all of newness. confession: I have not been writing in my morning pages. commitment: everyday for the next 3 months I will write in my journal 3 pages. signed adam mills elliott oct. 19th 2006.

Will Viktora, yeah you, Will. You hopped on your “long haul trucker” touring bicycle and headed from Flagstaff AZ up to Boise ID to convince the Smoke Jumpers to invite you to test. Then you came out to visit me in Eugene Or (which was Awesome!) to have a party in a basement and then scotch on the roof. Thanks for being one of those people who do inspiring stuff. Keep on trucking.

École des Beaux-Arts students of architecture would often take the Grand Tour of Europe after finishing their formal education. Wikipedia has this to say about the Grand Tour:

“The idea of travel for the sake of curiosity and learning was a developing idea in the 18th century. With John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) it was argued, and widely accepted, that knowledge comes entirely from the external senses, that what one knows comes from what physical stimuli one has been exposed to. Thus one could “use up” the environment, taking from it all it had to offer, requiring a change of location. Travel therefore was an obligation for the person who wanted to further develop the mind and expand knowledge. The typical 18th century sentiment was that of the studious observer traveling through foreign lands reporting their findings on human nature for those less fortunate who stayed at home. Traveling observation became a duty, an obligation to society at large to increase its welfare. The Grand Tour flourished in this mindset.”

And so, I am on the road, eating it up. Any reason to travel is a good one. I’ve questioned that logic a couple times already but it holds true.

Cross-country tour update. I am on my way east again. (how many times will I say those words?) this time it feels real. I have had a wonderful 2 weeks so far and have had moments where the world around me feels brand new. I have been with people that are dear to me and I have had some time to myself. My bike has been great. I have had no mechanical problems. I have had a fair bit of weather on this trip and my gear and the bike have all handled it very well. I have waterproof ballistic nylon pants and jacket with plastic inserts at knees, elbows, shoulders, spine, and hips. I have heated vest and gloves that plug into my bike, To be warm while riding the back of this yellow machine in the rain at 65 mph with an air temp of 38 and windchill of 25 Fahrenheit… Its incredible. Absolutely stunning feeling.

Read below for the day by day account of what I’ve been doing. (all entries are written after the fact) I am trying to be more diligent in writing this stuff down earlier.

First Week

This is the morning that I left flagstaff, Az. First light with my dad, Rob, in the driveway at his house. I was pretty anxious to get on the road. The previous two days had been filled with agonizingly slow packing and errand running. I keep wondering at the ways in which we sabotage ourselves. Even as I just couldn’t wait to start traveling, the fears that I have made it difficult to do anything that would speed up my departure.

So, as my alarm rang at 5:00, I immediately got up and poured a cup of coffee for myself and for dad, clicked my luggage on to the bike, took this picture and rode into the sunrise. 5 minutes later, I was greeted by one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever seen. From the top of the hill, I had views of the sky that just wouldn’t end.

I stopped for breakfast in Winslow. As I sat there eating oily sredded potatoes, eggs and salty sausage, I felt like the time I did when I had a fish and rice breakfast in a smokey hostel in Kunming, China- it was good; it was where I’d never been before.

I met Tori Johnson on the river two summers ago. She was an assistant of Kevin Greif, another guide for AzRA. A year later, I had the fortune of doing a trip with Tori’s dad, Bruce Johnson, a sculptor from Marin County. Tori is a masters student in Landscape Architecture at University of New Mexico. When I first arrived in Albuquerque, I went and got a haircut at a strip mall and started calling around to make reservations for a massage. Tori gave me the best advice on massages in Santa Fe. Only a couple days into my motorcycle trip and my back was killing me. I stayed at her house for two nights, and walked around the university area during the days. It was good to find out what Tori is working on with school and to see where she lives. Thanks, Tori!

Santa Fe was wonderful. I stayed at Sharon Woods’ house in the north-west of town. Sharon and my dad have been together for about a year and during that time I have seen nothing but good things come of it. Sharon is a home designer and the owner of her design/build company Woods Homes. Earlier this year, I drove to Santa Fe with my dad for the weekend. We saw the opera, Cinderella, at the Santa Fe opera house and saw 5 homes on the Tour of Homes. Sharon’s entry in this year’s Hacienda Tour of Homes won . Besides the laurels, it truly is a beautiful home. I enjoyed it immensely.

Sandy and Carl hosted, Phil Smith, Stephen Auger, Sharon and myself over for a dinner on Wednesday night Oct 04. I can’t even describe the meal. It was so good. The salmon just melted in your mouth, the complex salad had a simple dressing, and the rice was “just something I [sandy] made up”. It was so good. Some background: Sandy is writing a book on how our brains “map” the human body; Carl is a process guru for local government public projects and policy changes (if I understood correctly); Phil Smith is one majorly connected man; Stephen Auger is an accomplished artist in several different media. Phil brought a collection of his friends and acquaintances down the Colorado river this summer and each of them know him in a slightly different capacity. He has done many incredible things, least of which was up-running the grand canyon in jet boats. Yes, he was on that trip.

A couple days before I left Flagstaff on my motorcycle, I bought a Nikon speedlight SB-800. I was anxious to learn how to use it and this is the first attempt at using it inside. From left to right: yours truly, Carl, Sharon, Sandy, Phil, and Stephen. I am coming back down to Santa Fe for thanksgiving and look forward to seeing all of you again. I am also looking forward to seeing Joan and Bernie, as they were in Mexico when I came through on my motorcycle. Thanks, everyone.

I am going to be working as river guide in China for Travis Winn and his company, Last Descents River Expeditions (http://lastdescents.com). My close friend from University of Oregon, Mike Thurber and I made plans to meet with Travis at his parent’s house in Grand Junction. Another friend of ours, Rachel Morr, who lives in Denver planned on meeting us at Travis’ house also. The window that everyone could be there at the same time looked to be pretty small, so it was important that I get up there as soon as I could. (Travis, Mike, and I had an epic time on the Middle Fork of the Feather river in northern California last year; Rachel, bless her soul was there to drive shuttle and initiate the search and rescue effort. I’ll write down that story later.)

So, I drove from Santa Fe to Grand Junction on Thursday, Oct. 5th. It took a while to decide which way to go. There was a more direct route that would definitely save time and there was the more scenic route that would surely show the fall colors that I was anxious to see as well as the twisty mountain passes that are just so fun on a motorcycle like mine. I was worried about time but I didn’t leave Santa Fe until around 9:30.
I chose the scenic route and it was incredible. I ran into rain just north of Chama, New Mexico, but didn’t get soaked until I rolled into the outskirts of Durango. I stopped at a large motor-sports store in Durango and bought a pair of waterproof padded motorcycle pants by Cor-tech. The ankles and shins of my jeans were the only things really wet when I headed up the pass toward Silverton.

But by the time I got to Silverton, I was chilled and tired. I still had 120 miles to go until Grand Junction. The ace up my sleeve was a new piece of gear that I bought in Santa Fe from Centaur Cycles. Heated Vest and Heated Gloves made by Widder. Oh My Lord! These have made all of the difference. After a leisurely half hour to hook up the wires to my battery and drink a cup of coffee, I was ready to head up over Red Hill pass to Ouray.

The rain was coming down pretty hard in Silverton and on up the hill but once over the pass, it slowed to a sprinkle. There was snow on the sides of the road and intense skies but the pavement was fine. Hardly any traffic. I was stopped at an abandoned mine trying to take a self portrait when a truck pulled over and offered to take my photo for me. This is the image here. The man is a motorcyclist named Will D. Howard. Thanks, Will.

This part of my journey was so incredible. I was listening to my music, warm and dry as I could hope for, and just cruising down one of the most beautiful shist/granite gorges I have ever seen. There were waterfalls and tunnels, twisty corners and kind travelers. The intensity of the weather made it so much better. When I dropped down into Ouray, the light was fading fast. I took this photo as the town ate dinner or stoked the fireplaces. I was still another 2 hours from where my dinner was but I knew that the roads were fairly straight and flat from there on out.

I was greeted at Peter, Cindy, Travis and Carmen’s house by a fantastic hot dinner and good friends. Rachel was there and Mike had shown up with one of his friends Eric Shedd and another of my friends, Eric Griffith. These are some photos of our time there. I stayed for 3 nights and it was so nice to be someplace where where I could work on my website, hash out logistics for running rivers in china, play with good friends, and eat wonderful food. I want to thank Pete and Cindy for putting up will all of us youngins staying up late and generally taking up a lot of space. It was wonderful staying with you.

My next stop: Denver. I drove on i-70 over to Littleton, CO where my aunt and uncle, Linda and Steve Ambrose live. I was running late and we had dinner plans in Boulder with their two daughters, my cousins, Jennifer and Emily. It was great to see the whole family together and get to know more about what they are all up to. Here is a picture of us from left to right, me, Linda, Steve and Emily. This is photo of me and Jennifer when I had chai with her on my way to Wyoming the next day. Its opportunities to connect with family that makes this trip worthwhile.

My friend Oliver Deshler (river guide for AzRA in the G.C. and a great kayaker that I boated with in Portland last winter) grew up in Laramie Wyoming, and was staying there with his family for a couple weeks this fall before heading back up to the northwest. It was important for me to get up there before Tuesday the 11th so that we could spend some time before he left on a climbing trip. I left denver after having lunch with Heidy Spaly (uofo m.arch student, we had a couple studios together). I spent a little while in Boulder with Jennifer then headed up to Laramie. It was raining cats and dogs by the time I got to Fort Collins and dark as can be. I decided to take i-25 up to cheyanne instead of taking the more mountainous road directly to Laramie. 60 miles outside of Cheyanne, the snow started flying. It was an inch deep when I pulled into a hotel in Cheyanne. Screw That! Man, that was scary. The hotel felt real good on the feet and hands. I had a bath and shave and a good night sleep. Here is my bike in the morning. Oliver was urging me to make to Laramie that morning so that I could go hunting with him and his Dad. I made it there by 10 and we went out on a full day of hunting.

One quick thing about the drive from Cheyanne to Laramie before you go on to read about the hunt. Driving in the snow on a motorcycle is one of the scariest things that I have ever done. The roads started out fine, then as I got halfway up to the pass, the snow started to get packed down and form tiny ridges like micro sand dunes on the beach. Tractor trailers would pass me and spay me with slush, the whole while my handlebars shaking with the packed snow ridges. I am never going to do that again. It taught me about relaxing under pressure (which, while important, I feel those lessons are ones that I want to stop having) and focus. The point is: I am still here, and I feel great. The road down into laramie felt like I was driving on griptape, lots of good traction.

sorry mom, I wont do it again. (I mean it.)

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