4465 miles on a motorcycle and I am finally back home. It was a fantastic solo journey for the most part... I only wrecked once!
starting out going to Seattle and spending the evening with friends, then Vancouver BC was fantastic and Honey was lot's of fun to hang with as was meeting the other members there.
I went east through Canada and dropped down into Washington, though Coeurdalene and across Montana. Montana was beautiful, though had the only short bit of rain for me of the trip. I made swift business of montana and dropped down into wyoming.
Coming down into yellowstone this time of year was magnificent. The leaves were changing and there were very few people in the park. I spent the day wandering the park, marveling at the beauty and talking to the ravens before heading south through the Tetons and Jackson.
Heading south though Utah I stopped in Salt Lake City and met my new nephew Aiden for the first time. 2 weeks old and a fuzzy little monkey. An amazing little guy so full of personality. from there I headed to Southern Utah. I stayed with a dear friend who's parents own a bed and breakfast just outside of Zion's National Park and kicked it for a couple of days. We hadn't seen each other since she left portland a couple of years ago and it was really great to reconnect. I also got a chance to hang out with my brother and his family who live close by.
I really didn't want to leave Zion's, but it was time and I decided to keep heading south to the North rim of the grand canyon and then down through Flagstaff and Sedona. I had lived outside of Sedona in the desert from for almost 2 years and had left for Seattle out of great personal trauma when I was 19. The town has changed so much now, packed houses where miles of beautiful desert used to be, tons weirder than is was too and I didn't think that that was possible... But I felt that I put some personal demons to rest this time.
I headed out south through some great windy roads up and out of Jerome, AZ and from Prescott headed across the mojave. Damn was that a bitch. Sun in my face and triple digit temp! By the time I stopped for the night I was as about as exhausted as I have ever been. I spent the night in the asshole of asshole towns over the border in california.
The next day I started heading into slightly cooler country as I headed towards LA. I spent the morning in a detour into Joshua tree national park. It was really beautiful. It made me really miss N. and wish that she still lived there. I would have love for her to have taken this trip with me...
Well, if ya'll didn't know, riding into/in/out of LA just plain sucks ass. I hadn't been to LA in a long time and I guess that I had forgotten. Perhaps if I hadn't been as tired and hot it would have been better. I had intended to spend some time there, but as I stopped in town, I just wanted to be someplace cooler with less people so I headed out and up Hwy 1. and found a place to stay above San Lois Obispo.
The next day started out great and I had a fantastic time in the curves heading up to Big Sur. Unfortunately that came to an end as I was pulling over to let a hot rod pass and the bike started slipping out from under me. I managed to straighten the bike but as I applied the breaks, the tires lost all traction on what I found out later was a layer of fresh loose dirt that had just been scrapped off of the pavement. I was stopped by a big pile of dirt and rock. I apparently went through the bikes windshield and my very pretty new bike became... well not so pretty.
is all I can really say.
Well, the old saying is something like "either you have dropped a bike or you are going to..." 15 years of riding and I had never dropped a bike until now. Could have been worse. I have very little road rash and am sore and bruised, abit twisted up, but I am OK. My helmet shows the tell tale marks of what would have been left of my head and my armored suit held up. I eventually got the tractor guy that had been scraping the dirt off of the outlet to help me get the bike up and it was very scarred, missing the windshield and mirrors, but ridable.
After dealing with CHP and insurance, patching up the bike and jury-rigging one of the mirrors back on, I decided that it was time to head home. I had been encouraged my friends to trailer the bike back, but being the stubborn ass I am I felt that I need to finish it out if I could. So, two long and uncomfortable days of riding took me to just outside of sacramento the first night and upon finding that I could move the next day, made a hard push all the way to portland.
It is good to be home with my dogs and cozy things. I didn't miss portland until I was coming into town. But it felt good to ride into. The town has a smell all it's own and it smells like home.
I am tired and walking funny. I don't know if my ass will ever be the same. I am pretty bruised and twisted a bit. It was a great trip. I am tring not to think about my poor bike.
starting out going to Seattle and spending the evening with friends, then Vancouver BC was fantastic and Honey was lot's of fun to hang with as was meeting the other members there.
I went east through Canada and dropped down into Washington, though Coeurdalene and across Montana. Montana was beautiful, though had the only short bit of rain for me of the trip. I made swift business of montana and dropped down into wyoming.
Coming down into yellowstone this time of year was magnificent. The leaves were changing and there were very few people in the park. I spent the day wandering the park, marveling at the beauty and talking to the ravens before heading south through the Tetons and Jackson.
Heading south though Utah I stopped in Salt Lake City and met my new nephew Aiden for the first time. 2 weeks old and a fuzzy little monkey. An amazing little guy so full of personality. from there I headed to Southern Utah. I stayed with a dear friend who's parents own a bed and breakfast just outside of Zion's National Park and kicked it for a couple of days. We hadn't seen each other since she left portland a couple of years ago and it was really great to reconnect. I also got a chance to hang out with my brother and his family who live close by.
I really didn't want to leave Zion's, but it was time and I decided to keep heading south to the North rim of the grand canyon and then down through Flagstaff and Sedona. I had lived outside of Sedona in the desert from for almost 2 years and had left for Seattle out of great personal trauma when I was 19. The town has changed so much now, packed houses where miles of beautiful desert used to be, tons weirder than is was too and I didn't think that that was possible... But I felt that I put some personal demons to rest this time.
I headed out south through some great windy roads up and out of Jerome, AZ and from Prescott headed across the mojave. Damn was that a bitch. Sun in my face and triple digit temp! By the time I stopped for the night I was as about as exhausted as I have ever been. I spent the night in the asshole of asshole towns over the border in california.
The next day I started heading into slightly cooler country as I headed towards LA. I spent the morning in a detour into Joshua tree national park. It was really beautiful. It made me really miss N. and wish that she still lived there. I would have love for her to have taken this trip with me...
Well, if ya'll didn't know, riding into/in/out of LA just plain sucks ass. I hadn't been to LA in a long time and I guess that I had forgotten. Perhaps if I hadn't been as tired and hot it would have been better. I had intended to spend some time there, but as I stopped in town, I just wanted to be someplace cooler with less people so I headed out and up Hwy 1. and found a place to stay above San Lois Obispo.
The next day started out great and I had a fantastic time in the curves heading up to Big Sur. Unfortunately that came to an end as I was pulling over to let a hot rod pass and the bike started slipping out from under me. I managed to straighten the bike but as I applied the breaks, the tires lost all traction on what I found out later was a layer of fresh loose dirt that had just been scrapped off of the pavement. I was stopped by a big pile of dirt and rock. I apparently went through the bikes windshield and my very pretty new bike became... well not so pretty.
is all I can really say.
Well, the old saying is something like "either you have dropped a bike or you are going to..." 15 years of riding and I had never dropped a bike until now. Could have been worse. I have very little road rash and am sore and bruised, abit twisted up, but I am OK. My helmet shows the tell tale marks of what would have been left of my head and my armored suit held up. I eventually got the tractor guy that had been scraping the dirt off of the outlet to help me get the bike up and it was very scarred, missing the windshield and mirrors, but ridable.
After dealing with CHP and insurance, patching up the bike and jury-rigging one of the mirrors back on, I decided that it was time to head home. I had been encouraged my friends to trailer the bike back, but being the stubborn ass I am I felt that I need to finish it out if I could. So, two long and uncomfortable days of riding took me to just outside of sacramento the first night and upon finding that I could move the next day, made a hard push all the way to portland.
It is good to be home with my dogs and cozy things. I didn't miss portland until I was coming into town. But it felt good to ride into. The town has a smell all it's own and it smells like home.
I am tired and walking funny. I don't know if my ass will ever be the same. I am pretty bruised and twisted a bit. It was a great trip. I am tring not to think about my poor bike.
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I dropped Eva on loose sand on the way to work two weeks ago. Bunged up some of my riding gear and the sport shield, scraped a crashbar pretty good, but otherwise OK.
The cop who showed up called the streets dept to clean up the sand. Two days later, the sand was still there, so I called the streets dept myself. A week later, I called them again. It's still there today.
My elbow is still funky, my leathers are patched, and i have to put the big winter fairing on anyway. I think I'll leave the crashbar.
I hope you're feeling good quickly, and I'm glad you were able to ride it home.