The Great Motorcycle Road Trip!

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!