The Great Motorcycle Road Trip!

Home Sweet Home! I pulled into Birmingham at 8:30 pm last night. I had left Oklahoma City 11 hours before. I left Grants Pass, Oregon 4 days ago and spanned the 3,000 miles in 4 days.

The first day out I outran a bad storm complete with hail, wind, and rain near Winnemucca Nevada. Stopped in Winnemucca and checked the weather on the Iphone and it looked like more of the same in Elko so I spent the night in Winnemucca.

The next day I headed out. I got to Elko and stopped for gas and met a guy named Dan on an 02′ Hinda Interceptor. He was headed to Denver, as was I. So went set out together. You can make some good time when someone is pushing you and you are pushing them. We cleared the trip in about 12 hours. What a span…. Interesting views along the way, nothing I wanted to stop and explore.

Next day I got a tire at the BMW dealership in Colorado Springs. Great shop. Squeezed me in and got me back on the road in good time. I headed out and just south of Pueblo, and the wind hit. It got worse and worse until just north of Amarillo Texas. That was some severe wind! I got all the way to Oklahoma City and spent the night. Next morning got and and it was Gas and Go all the way home! The trip was awesome.

It was a lot of fun! I ssaw stuff that I had only seen in books and pictures and on the Discovery Channel. Our country really does have some cool stuff in it! I found that people from around the world come here to see the sights in our own backyard. I learned a couple of things about myself along the way. Met some really cool people. Had some good times. Can’t wait for the next trip! Next time I will travel lighter and take more time. I will also have a more comfortable seat. The bike handled great, was reliable and did everything I wanted it to do. Thanks for watching the blog and hope you enjoyed the pictures and stuff.

Its been several days since posting, sorry for the delay. I went up the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) all the way to San Francisco. I stopped off and did a tour of the Hearst Castle. Question: What do you do if you have all the money in the world? Answer: Anything you want! The Castle was truely a spectacle to behold! He amassed quite the collection of items. Everything from Ancient Egyptian statues to Italian Marble sculpture to ceilings. He has the largest collection of antique ceilings! A really unique place! And of course, the pools! The pools are really, really cool! A trip worth the stop. Highly recommend it to anyone coming this way.

I left the Castle and headed up the PCH and to the place where the Elephant Seals congregate. I passed a Goldwing before I got there and while I was getting off the bike he pulled in. I introduced myself, as did he. Henry Rivet from New Iberia, Louisiana. Where I was born! A Coon-Ass all the way in California. We were looking at the Elephant Seals and making funny remarks-great guy. I asked what would happen to these critters if they were in South Louisiana? He said some Coon-Ass would figure a way to cook’em up, make Elephant Seal Crackllins out of em!

After that I made a Bee line to San Francisco up the PCH. Tried playing in the twisties a bit but traffic was sporadic so it wasn’t as great as it could have been. But still a real nice ride. Finally got to San Francisco!

I had Tylees’ address and the Garmin Zumo 550 took me right to her front door.
Thank you Tylee for letting me crash at your place for a couple of days. She has a really nice 3 bedroom apartment in downtown San Francisco. I met her roommate Phil. Really nice guy, really intelligent! I had planned to get a tattoo at Seventh Son Tattoo by Orly while I was in San Francisco but at the last moment he could not fit it into his schedule, so i found another good tattoo shop. Black and Blue Tattoo in SOMA. Tala did my newest tattoo (see pictures). Spent about 7 hours in the chair getting it, near the end it felt like she was stripping flesh off every time she put the needle to my skin. Still not completely finished but will try to get it finished next time I come out.

I saw the Golden Gate Bridge. Tried to get video but the camera is fritzing on me. Went to Fishermansd Wharf and the Ghiradelli Chocolate Square. Tylee took me to a couple of really nice places to eat, and yes I checked out some antique shops in the area. San Francisco is a really cool town. Unique, interesting people. Yes a lot are tree huggers and real liberal, some are not. Most are more liberal than anyone I know in Alabama. The restrictions in the city are almost Draconian though. Saw a Police Officer tell a motorist to use his ashtray while smoking. Don’t ash out your car window! Saw someone getting strapped to a stretcher because they were fighting the paramedics and a discussion broke out on the street about how the City was screwing the population because it costs $1200 for the Firefighters and $900 for the Ambulance ride, when sometimes it would only take the Ambulance alone. And of course the city will not allow in Private Ambulance services for Emergencies. It was crazy how the people went from watching what was going on to having a debate, then all of a sudden-everybody broke up and left. The night before I left we went to Chinatown. That was really cool. Afterwards we went to “The Castro”. That is the real Gay part of town. Went to a cookie shop that offered cookies in the form of a Penis and another in the form of a pair of breast. Really interesting part of town. After that we made a night ride over the Golden Gate. That was real cool, but the pictures did n ot come out real well. Tylee had not been over the bridge on a motorcycle, and she loved it! The next morning I took her to work then made a trip to Haight Ashbury-ye Olde Hippie section. Its now all commercial and capitalist! Yeah Capitalism!! Then I went back to her place and packed and left. Again, Thanks Tylee for letting me crash at your place, thanks for the hospitality.

I left San Fran and headed for Oregon. The trip started off nice, a little chilly, but nice. I was headed to visit my old roommate Kevin Launius. He told me to check out Lake Shasta. So as I got to Lake Shasta i was checking it out. Reall cool lake, really blue, great mountain in the background. And behind that-Storm Clouds!!

Right after I got over the lake it started raining. And it rained, and it rained, and it rained. From there all the way to Grants Pass Oregon. Yes about 50 degrees and wet. By the time I got to Kevins’ I was shivering uncontrollably! I had read the weather charts, it was supposed to be about 70 this time of year, AND DRY!!! Well it seems that there is a system hanging off the coast that keeps sending cold air and rain in every evening. It did every day but today-Sunday. I have been checking the weather forecast and it looks like I may have to alter my route so I do not become storm fodder for the whole trip back.

Anyway, here at Kevin’s, I took the first day off and just rested and hung out. Checked out Grants Pass and met some folks. Really nice town. Saturday we went boating down the Rogue river in Jet Boats! 1100 Horsepower boat that stops and throws water all over you and also does some really cool spins all the way to HellGate Canyon. Great Canyon, great COLD River. Say some Ospreys nesting, some Blue Herons, and a Bald Eagle and a deer. It was a really nice ride. Earlier Kevin and I had gone to Gogue tattoos, supposedly world reknown artist. He was giving a 3 day symposium on painting to some tattooists so we didn’t get to talk to him or see any of his tattoo. Met the Office Manager and she was real nice. She is from Ocean Springs MS. Funny how I keep meeting people from places where I have lived before.

Today Kevin and I took the bike all the way to the Oregon Coast. Met a girl named Amanda on a BMW R1150RT. She lives in Seattle and works for the Navy. She was really cool. We talked bikes for a while and she decided to tag along with us all the way to the coast. Took her to Harris Park and got some cool pictures. Then we went and ate Fish and CHips at the Clam Shell at Brookings Harbor. Good food, good time. She left and headed towards Seattle. Kevin and I headed back to Grants Pass. We stopped at the Redwood forest and got some really cool pictures. Oh My God those trees are huge!! Check out the pictures after I get them uploaded in a day or so. Had a great ride back. Tried to scare the crap out of Kevin by going too fast in the corners! HEHE!! Got back to his place-doing some laundry, getting packed and ready to go tomorrow. Next stop???

Thanks Kevin and Shannon (Kevins’ Wife) for the room and hospitality. Very nice house, good pets. Had a great time an d can’t wait to come back. Oregon is really cool. Good scenery, good roads. I will write more later!

OK, Have not posted since Ridgecrest because I have not had internet service. Barely had cell service at some times. Met 2 guys from Holland in Ridgecrest, Michael and Roland. Really nice guys having the time of their life on some rented Harleys! I left Ridgecrest and decided to go North on 395. I wanted to go see the big trees that you can drive through. I asked some locals and they were supposed to be in Yosimite-they are not. So I went up 395, sometimes wet, sometimes hot, sometimes cold. Really cold over Mammoth Mt and into Lee Vining. I got 1 of the last 4 rooms left in Lee Vining for the night. Actually, the hotel was a dive and I left and went up the street and every Hotel had NO VACANCY signs up so I went back. By the time I got back I got 1 of the 3 remaining rooms and 2 and 3 pulled in as I was registering. Want to thank the really nice guy at Lee Vining Mobil for the advice about staying in Lee Vining and not going through Yosimite that evening.

So I got the room and then took a drive up to the Ranger Station to get my pass for the next day. It was 52 and dry as I took off up the mountain. in the 11 miles to the station it went to cold and raining to Snowing and freezing! I finall rode a motorcycle in snow, on a mountain with huge dropoffs!! Ok I was white Knuckling it all the way down. Ate dinner at the Mobil in Lee Vining, had the Elk Chops, again the guy there at the Mobil was right-great chops. Never had Elk before but the meal was Great!

I met a guy there while I was ordering and we sat and had a beer and dinner. His name is Matt Newell. Matt was riding his newest purchase home, and 02′ BMW R1150GS. He gave me a lot of good info and tips. Next morning I got up early and loaded so I could take my time through the park. I stopped in a couple of places to take pictures and then stopped to take a pic of this huge rock wall and a Huge Grey Coyote came out of the woods and sauntered across the road-way cool. I was stopped right down the road from that taking a pic and Matt came by. He stopped and, since he grew up around there and Yosimite was his playground, decided to give me the highlight tour. We were kickin down the road going through some nice twisties and a deer ran across the road, while he was looking at that one, another came out and he BARELY missed it. After we stopped right down the road I told him that I had learned in Alabama, when you see one-you better be looking for his friend because it isn’t too far away. As we were going down the road I had the helmet cam on and I saw a Huge deer in a meadow, hopefully I captured it on video. Matt took me down to the valley and the falls were awesome! The paintings and photos I have seen do not do them justice. This is a spectacular place. The sheer size of everything is fantastic! I did the valley then Matt headed to the house.

I went south and was going to dip in to see the huge redwoods at Maricopa Grove, but the road was closed to the public, only shuttles. I didn’t feel like unsuiting and carring my helmet etc on a shuttle so I figured I would see it another time. Yes, I will be coming back! I took off out of Yosimite and headed for the coast. Went down some real cool roads, went down some real boring roads. Wound up in Morro Bay for the night. Better room, with wireless internet, better bed, better shower, Cheaper price than the one in Lee Vining. By the way-I found out that they cannot build a really nice hotel in Lee Vining-or anywhere near there because Los Angeles own all the land, and more importantly, all the Water Rights all the way down to LA. Man that sucks. All that crap sucking up all that great water. Invest in water rights out her and be a millionaire!

Well, I hade a great dinner at Dockside here in Morro Bay and took some pics of the sunset-or what was left of it. Headed up the Pacific Coast highway tomorrow and into San Francisco. Can’t wait to see the Golden Gate.

Night before last I spent at the Grand Canyon. Got up and took a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon. WOW is all I can say. The natural beauty of the uSA is astounding. I went on the chopper ride with 2 people from Argentina and 3 German guys. Note: I have seen a large group (about 30) of guys from Norway riding Harleys, a large group from Germany (about 40) another large group from Germany (about 20) all riding Harleys out her in the west. So I talked to one of the guys that went on the chopper ride with me. They pay $200 a day to rent the Harleys. The trip costs them 5,000 euros. Harey gets them in the shop and the deck them out in full Harley regalia leather I am sure at a premium price. The dollar really must be in a slump. I have yet to find a large group of Americans riding out here.

Anyway-after I left the Grand Canyon I headed to Las Vegas. Let me tell you about my windy ride! Gusts of about 40 MPH on the interstate doing 80-85 mph will really make you say a few “Hell Mary’s”! The wind was blowing mainly from the south and I was headed west. But when I would go through a pass you get a calm and s I would come out the other side the wind is hitting the North wall and blowing back into my right side, but as quick as I would counter that gust with a lean, the wind would hit from the left, so I found myself leaning left most of the day with momentary flips to the right. At one point I resorted to just hanging off the left side of the bike so I wouldn’t wear a flat spot on the left side of the tires. I finally made it into Vegas. I checked into Treasure Island Casino/Hotel. Went down, lost $100, went to bed. Vegas seemed dingy and nasty to me. I like the casions on the Gulf Coast a lot better.

I got up this morning and headed to Death Valley. Again, the wind was horrific. Wasn’t supposed to be windy today, but it was. I stopped to get gas right before going into Death Valley and met a really nice guy from Canada on a Triumph Triple. He was headed back to cCanada, had gone down to Kansas for some contract work. his name is Jim. Talked with him for a bit-he has gone through Central America on a KLR Motorcycle. Got to death Valley about 2 pm. (Yeah I slept in late in Vegas and got a late start). Death Valley was hot and completely bone dry. What a stark feeling. The beauty of the place is immense! I had a really good time just riding around and checking out all the canyons etc. Since I have the Dual Sport bike I could hit the gravel areas as well as the asphalt areas. Dropped the bike in one spot. Deep gravel caught the front tire and down I went. low speed, no damage to the bike-just my pride. Little difficult trying to get the bike up in deep gravel and then get it moved to more solid ground so I could continue. Especially since I have a full load on the bike, probably a couple extra hundred pounds. But no problems-Spent the whole day in the Valley, really cool place! I highly recommend it! Spending the night in Ridgecrest. Wanted to make it to Bakersfield but was tired and hungry. Tomorrow I am headed to the Sequoia National Forest. I want to drive through a tree!!