June 17th:
Mark:
I realize that this is the first posting to this blog in over a year. This last year has been very significant in many ways. My spouse, Kathy, had been suffering from cancer for many years. She finally succumbed to this dreaded disease on May 3, 2010. She suffered for many years and now I know that she is finally at peace and no longer living in pain.
I have been extremely busy since my return home with helping her through her illness and after her passing, with many of the details that are involved with that. The trip which covers the time frame from April 14, 2009 to May 22, 2009, was an escape granted to me for the sake of my sanity. I only left because her health was at a point where she could care for herself and she wanted me to have some relief.
With all of the many details that I have been involved with recently finally coming to a close, my son Niko and I purchased new motorcycles and have planned another trip. From our home in Centennial Colorado we decided to go up through Yellowstone NP and then on to Seattle; from there down the coast stopping in Portland to visit friends and family. Back to the coast and down toward San Francisco. This is all tentative and the plans are being worked out as we go. We have many sites that we want to visit and many people along the way to visit also.
For the past few weeks Niko and I have been working on preparing the two bikes for this journey. Today we left and rode through Steamboat Springs, Colorado and then north into Wyoming, stopping for the night in Rock Springs, Wyoming. Somehow the good ole GPS led us out of Steamboat to a gravel road that ended at a gate and the rest of the road was “Closed for the Season”. In order to continue on we had to back track back to Steamboat Springs which cost us over 2 hours of time and 55 miles out of our way. This was very fun and we saw some beautiful scenery and we would have continued on if the gate wasn’t locked.
We met some people coming from Yellowstone NP at a gas stop, and they said that it was snowing there when they left this morning. We are headed for Yellowstone tomorrow and hope that we don’t run into any issues with cold weather. We are prepared with the proper clothing but if the roads are covered we will have to change our plans to keep moving.
One of the many things that Niko and I have been working on is the actual website for us. I bought the site www.motovoyager.com late last fall and this is currently being forwarded to the blog address. When the site is up and running there will be a link to the blog. If for any reason someone would want to send an email to either Niko or myself, please feel free to do so at motovoyager@gmail.com.
We have many more journeys planned for the future and we hope that you will join us as we tell the story. Thank you so much,
Mark.

June 17
Niko:
My day started with bit of a bad omen. I left my KLR 650 in neutral as I attempted to put it on the kickstand for pictures and the bike fell in my arms. Oddly enough though, it did not hold true for the day. My riding had improved greatly from this morning and by mid-day I was riding dirt road as if I had for weeks. The camera on my helmet is a new addition to Moto Voyager as I am, though we are still working on getting videos from my helmet camera to an easily accessible format. We rode a wonderful road that I enjoyed more than any other ride so far, after coming out of Steamboat; we wound up a lazy curve road and turned onto a bumpy dirt road that proved challenging, yet not hard. We got the bikes dirty and ended up heading back to Steamboat Springs due to road closure. We ate some lunch and headed out toward the dreaded interstate 80 freeway. We encountered a frightening cross wind that turned headwind. We stopped for a moment to stretch and relax in the middle and I lay down on the warm dirt to relieve the cold ache the wind was doling out. At last we arrived in Rock Springs Wyoming to stay for the night at Days inn where the lovely Morgan set up a room for us. We headed to Applebee’s for some much needed food, and then worked our way back to the room to retire.