The Trip Takes You

All things must pass according to George Harrison, and here I am sitting at home in Villa Park for the first time in quite a while. Part of me is wishing I was still on the road headed someplace new, but most of me is happy to be back in the Chicagoland area.

I got in around 8:00PM last night 9/24. 583 miles of highway driving yesterday, much of which was windy Nebraska and Iowa nothingness,  I was wrecked. Dylan and I were lucky to find something cool on our way home, it wasn’t all boring nothingness.

But most of it was nothingness. Stretches of 100 miles at a time for maximum ass-numbing efficiency.

After a 13 hour nap, I played family tech support in the house for a few hours this afternoon and gave the new steed a good washing/waxing/polishing, she’s deserved it.

Here are some fun numbers from the trip:

2 Motorcycles
11,527 total miles traveled by Motorcycle
7,749 on the Old Girl
3,778 on Lipstick – Infernal Destroyer of Worlds
126.6 Miles walked
21 States Visited, 10 were 1st timers
9 National Parks Visited, 7 were 1st timers
2 National Monuments
4 Nights in a Tent
20 Friends Visited
1 Brand New Meatball Baby
31 New Friends Made
22 Fuzzy Critter Friends (not counting 20 horses)
6 Wild Animals I’ve never seen
3 Shitty but Amazing Dirt Roads
14 quarts of oil purchased
6 bar visits in 1 day (Portland)
14,256 ft was the tallest mountain I saw, Long’s Peak in CO
7,522 ft was the highest place I stayed, Estes Park CO, with Flagstaff being not too far behind
Countless mesmerizing views, amazing moments, meaningful interactions, gas stations, laughs, moments alone in my helmet, blissful bike riding and a handful of philosophical epiphanies.

Favorite Thing: Wandering the Redwood Forest
Favorite Town: Both Alpines, TX & CA
Favorite City: San Francisco
Weirdest City: San Francisco
Favorite Road: Mt. Lemmon Scenic Byway in Tucson AZ
Favorite Moment in Bathing Suit: Lake Superior Dip
Favorite Day it Rained: New Orleans –> Galveston
Favorite Weather: San Diego CA
Least Favorite Weather: Hailstorm in Flagstaff
Coldest Place: Logan Pass in Glacier NP
Hottest Place: Lake Havasu City
Favorite Physically Exerting Adventure: Rock Climbing Gym in San Diego, Hike in GC
Favorite Accommodations that weren’t a friend’s place: Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Holland Hotel in Alpine TX
Favorite Food: Homemade award winning ribs in Portland (Really West Linn)
Favorite Accessory: Rain Gear (unfortunately)

Final Route:

This is most certainly not the end of The Trip Takes You. I’m heading off to Japan and China on November 1st which will definitely deserve documentation in form of blahg, and I will probably post a few here and there in the meantime as things further digest and interesting/useful information swaps in from the memory store.

If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to ask, whether on here or personally. I hope I’ve managed to in some way, help inspire you to embark on your own adventure, no matter how similar or different it is. Life is so interesting! The ultimate trip that takes you to many unique places, physically, mentally and emotionally. Safe Travels!

-Pete

The plan we established Monday night for the coming days included checking out the Badlands in South Dakota, finding our way to Sioux Falls and being home by Wednesday night on my day 45. Welp, the force works in mysterious ways. Colorado was less than 400 miles from us, we have a friend in Fort Collins that needed a visit, Dylan has a sister in Denver and I had friends waiting whom I’ve never met, one of which was in town only for the night. We figured we could still check out the Badlands and then make our way to Colorado all in a day’s work. And so it was.

Very unique landscape. The Badlands National Park was laid out kind of interestingly. We decided to try out a road called Sage Creek Rd that went through the southwestern portion since that was the direction toward Colorado. It was a cool route but the road was comprised of gravel and doing anything more than 30 mph most of the time was impossible. Eventually the road straightened out a bit and we were able to go a little faster, but 60 on a bumpy rocky road was a little nerve wracking.

After the badlands, it was South Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming back roads until we hit Cheyenne. We hauled ass towards Colorado to make it before dark.

As we were riding in on Interstate 25, the sunset manufactured some of the craziest red and purple clouds over the mountains. Dylonious set forth toward his sisters and I met up one of Cami’s former crash pad mates for some libations and heartwarming conversation. Thanks again guys!

In the morning Dylbert, his Sister and I met up for some breakfast at the Denver Biscuit Company for some tastey butter smothered nuggets of pure delicious before heading out to Rocky Mountain National Park.

4 National Parks in 4 days, not too bad. Rocky Mountain was a tad chilly, but can’t expect any less at 9500 ft. It sprinkled on us on our way toward the Bear Lake trailhead but for the most part we stayed perfectly dry. The only other time I’d been here, there was 5 feet of snow on the trails so I was excited to see what things looked like otherwise.

 

 

 

After our hike, we hit the road toward Fort Collins where our buddy Rickolas just recently moved. The great thing about Estes Park and the mountain area in general is that you can’t really avoid finding yourself on a scenic road. Whatever way you take into or out of the park, it’s going to be awesome, along a babbling stream, through a winding canyon and up and down through quaint little towns.

One more day in Colorado we decided. So Thursday after a lazy morning chilling with the gusys, lunch in Boulder and back to Estes park. The route we took toward Estes from Boulder was out of this world. It’s known as the Peak to Peak scenic byway and the entirety of the 50 miles or so was an excellent ride.

We’d hoped to find a cabin to rent for the evening for some real backwoods type shit, but things were booked solid, so we had to resort to a historical haunted hotel instead. The hotel that Stephen King’s The Shining was based off, the Stanley Hotel.

Today we woke up, made our way down from the mountains and started our way east. The drive down was great, everything else was not so great. Eastern Colorado quickly turns to flat cow land, and the winds were outrageous. I thought Wyoming and Montana were bad, today was a whole different story. Driving sideways most of the time, both our necks are sore from combating the bullshit gusts of Nebraska.

Tomorrow we make our way to Chicago, and hopefully make it all the way. It’ll be a haul from Grand Island Nebraska, but the force is strong with us. And hopefully there wont be any neck breaking winds.

Here were the last few days’ routes:

2 or 3-parter coming here since it’s been a few days. I woke up Monday morning in the nicest motel I’ve been in this entire trip. It was in a little tiny town of less than 2,000 people called Greybull Wyoming. They have 1 stoplight and a host of friendly people. The Greybull motel looks like your typical motor inn, but it’s meticulously kept, flowers growing everywhere and the people that run the joint really just know how to keep their guests comfortable. Highly recommended if you ever find yourself looking for a place about an hour and a half’s drive to Yellowstone from the East.

In between me and South Dakota was the Bighorn National Forest and I decided for the more scenic route on Highway 14 toward Dayton. What a ride it was! 14 is a winding mountain road that takes you to 8-9k ft before heading down the other side. It was brisk at the top but the views were pretty darn sweet.

After the descent, it was still fairly scenic with rolling hills and ranches. After a while on 14 I saw signs for the Devils Tower National Monument and couldn’t pass up checking it out. It was only about an hours detour and was definitely worth seeing.

Oh yeah and the park was filled with these little gusys

After Devils tower, it wasn’t too far to the Spearfish/Deadwood/Sturgis area where I found the certified memester Dylan after he made his way out from Chicago. We grabbed a room in Sturgis because how could we not and hit up the nearest slimy saloon for some grub.

Here was Monday’s Route:

I’ll attempt to catch up on the remaining days this evening. Later!

A busy two days it’s been! Earlyish Saturday morning I finally made it to Glacier National Park. Things are picture perfect as soon as you enter the park. I came in through the West side entrance and planned to go up Going to the Sun road and come out the East side. The gents in Couer d’Alene mentioned half the road was closed a day before they were there due to snow.

No road closures today though, but it did look like it might rain all day. The park ranger assured me chances are 100% for later on in the evening.

Unlike the other parks I’ve been to so far, Glacier had signs posted everywhere about carrying BEAR MACE and it being grizzly country and such. In fact, every little gift shop or visitors center also stocked shit loads of bear mace for your convenience. I didn’t have any need to whip mine out though since I was just riding through for the most part.

Just after taking the pictures above, I pulled over to gaze upon a huge cow moose and her calf just strolling streamside. First time I’d ever seen one of those majestic animals. No pics though, was caught in the moment and they quickly headed into the forest anyway.

The road was intense and awesome. A little high traffic but that’s what I get for being there on the weekend, and one of the last weekends everything is still open. They tend to shut down most of the park, including Going to the Sun road after September 30th.

About halfway on Going to the Sun you reach Logan Pass which sits at around 6600 ft and is cold and windy. Bitter up there. I met a rider on a sport touring bike that was wearing a heated jacket. Guy had his shit sorted out.

You pass by two beautiful lakes during the drive, first Lake McDonald on the way up going east and then St. Mary Lake on the way down. Eventually the roads took me all the way to Bozeman MT. I decided a few days ago I was going to pass by Yellowstone since I’ve been feeling a little tired and the setbacks have left me wanting to cover some ground. But being so damn close I overturned that decision and Bozeman put me a great strategic location for hitting the park in one day. The ride down from Glacier consisted of brown grassland and rocky mountains off in the distance.

Sunday I set out for Yellowstone’s Northeast entrance near Gardiner. The ride in was amazing. Mountains all around all the time. But it was also a little moist. At one point it looked like the circular cloud around Death Mountain in the Ocarina of Time. Sure enough, sprinkles just before the park entrance. It would go on alternating between sprinkles and sunshine the rest of the day for the most part.

Yellowstone is a very interesting place. It doesn’t have as many of the same grand and majestic qualities of some of the other parks, but it has a uniqueness about it. Almost strangely creepy, with sides of mountains missing trees due to fires and sulfur gas spewing from the earth, scalding death pits around every corner.

I took a disappointing number of pictures during the Yellowstone tour. I have excuses though. Two of the roads, both of which I planned on using to get around, were closed due to snow. So it was a lot of driving at 35-45 mph just to get to Old Faithful and then out of the park. Literally all day of driving actually. But I did find her and she blew right on time

There was also an insane abundance of wildlife. At the visitors center right when I pulled into the park near Mammoth Springs, moose were just casually strolling by like they needed to pick up a map from the park store before heading out on a hike. Lazily napping in the grass and just hanging around.

Bison were roaming the fields and lesser wooded areas all along the roads. You can usually smell them coming.

At one point there was a ranger parked on the side of the road and as you drove passed, he was pointing out a few little black bear down in the ravine. Check em off the list, saw myself the back of the head of a black bear just barely.

Where are my pictures of these you ask? Please don’t ask.

On my way out though, I stopped to stretch and a woman on the other side of the road flagged me over. They spotted a grizzly meandering down a river bank off in the distance.

Finally the ride out of the park at the East entrance. Arguably the best riding all day too even though it poured rain on me for a few miles. It was warm though, turned into sunshine eventually and the rock formations along the road and around Buffalo Bill State Park were amazing.

Aside from being slightly treacherous, full of animals that could easily kill me and the windiest damn place on earth, Montana and Wyoming are both extremely gorgeous places. Can’t wait to come back again.

Routes:

Today I’m headed off South Dakota. See ya!

As I was swapping out batteries this morning some Canadian gentlemen and fellow riders were giving me tips for the route to Glacier. Good tips they were. Not too long on the highway and I find the exit for NF-9, otherwise known as the Couer d’Alene River Road. The river was visible for many miles and although it wasn’t very large and seemed pretty shallow, it also looked crisp and pristine. The only other cars around were fly fisherman’s parked on the side of the road. Most of the way I was engulfed by mountains and pine tree forest.

Around the town of Elmo my route started along Flathead lake, a big blue lake that reminded me a lot of my old friend back home, Lake Michigan. The water again looked stunningly fresh, and unlike back home, the whole thing was surrounded by mountains.

Eventually I hit Kalispell, one of the last larger towns before Glacier National Park, and surprise! Flat tire. I must have hit something in the road, whatever it was I have no idea but it was gnarly (great word) enough to puncture my back tire in 3 different places. I pulled out what looked like half a finish nail from one of the holes, could have been anything I guess. I limped into a gas station parking lot and started patching her up when a friendly old guy stopped by to see how I was coming along. He kindly pointed me toward the air machine and offered up some advice for local tire joints and an extra tire reamer since the one I had kinda sucked. He was a few teeth shy of a full smile and spoke some kind of mountain man Montana version of English, but a very nice and helpful dude. Thanks gas station man.

Oh man choices. I was so close the park. If I kept going I’d have plenty of time to hit my road and make it out the other side of the park. Going to the Sun Road is infamous and one of 3 roads on this trip I needed to ride on. (FM170 in Texas was another, Highway 1 on the West Coast was the 3rd). If it were only 1 puncture I would have gone but 3 made me weary, and two of them were really close together.

A nearby autosports shop had my tire in stock and was willing to swap it out today, so off I went. I had both replaced since the front was ravaged by dry rot and I’d rather sleep easy knowing they’re both fresh and ready to go. At least the list of problems that I could possibly be affected by is getting smaller right?

The changeout took longer than I’d hoped, and making it through the park on my road before it got completely dark was unlikely. The timelords also stole an hour from me as I crossed into Montana. Jerks. Admitting defeat I looked for the closest motel, dropped off my shit and walked in the direction of dinner and beer.

Tomorrow is a new day! And I get to take my time on Going to the Sun Road and with Glacier National Park in general.

Here’s today’s route:

The second day of the posts post. Two might actually be all we need to catch up. I think I fixed the captcha comments problem too so let me know if ya’ll run into any further troubles.

I had a very tough decision on Friday with leaving the Sanctuary. Either spend 9-10 hours on the road and hit the Oregon coast or spend a little more time hanging around and head up the 5 for a much more direct route. I chose to hang around but the 5 wasn’t completely uneventful. In fact pretty soon after Ashland there’s a pretty cool mountain pass, where you spend quite a while climbing and winding and quite a while descending into the Oregon wine country. A decent ride for sure and my first glimpse of an actual mountain. The kind of mountain where if you asked a kid to draw a mountain they’d do a pretty good job of representing what I was looking at. Snowy peak and straight up mountain. Maybe I’m just too easy to impress.

My destination was just south east of the city of Portland in a place called West Linn, where Cami’s high school friend Kathleen and her boyfriend Kevin live. We quickly hit the town for some local brews and made it back with enough energy to bust out the N64 for some Smash Bros and Blitz carnage.

Portland is a pretty cool place. For a larger city it never really feels like it’s that big. It’s comfortable for sure. I was given the grand tour by day and night and it’s safe to say I’m more familiar with Portland/Northwest beers than beers in any other city or place I’ve been to thus far.

Sunday funday was a day of rest and recuperation. A nice walk in the nearby park and by the Willamette river (that’s pronounced Will-Am-It :)), some bags and BBQ and I was ready to hit the road earlyish Monday.

Life is so interesting was the theme this weekend. Interesting conversation and interesting people and just a good time. Thanks again guys for being wonderful hosts and showing me a good time!

I decided to hit highway 14 in Washington through the Columbia River gorge before making my way to Seattle since I kept hearing it was something to see. I didn’t get very far though before the old girl started acting up. I eventually had to make the call to turn back and reevaluate. I found a bike shop in Vancouver Washington but they unfortunately weren’t willing to work on a bike as old as mine. The weekend was fun but I was feeling the heat, it was time to cash in at the closest motel and think about everything in the morning.

I spent almost all day Tuesday calling places and visiting the odd shop in hopes someone had some time to take a peek at the motorcycle. I was confident it was the same issue as last time seeing as similar symptoms were presenting themselves, though based on my description of the problem it could have been anything in the eyes of a mechanic. And anything takes time and money to diagnose if I was even lucky enough to find someone willing in the first place. Damn.

Welp, it was a tough decision but it was time to let the old girl go. After some used dealer shopping and craigslist scouring I found something that fit the bill perfectly. He was even willing to take my bike off my hands. I’d like you to meet Lipstick – Infernal Destroyer of Worlds

Farewell! Ya dun good.

A good night’s rest and a fresh start for Wednesday morning. Just a quick stop at the DMV and I was on my way. Just a quick stop at the DMV, said no one ever. 3 hours later and I was on my way, travel permit in hand that’s good for 22 days so I can register the new bike in Illinois whenst I get home.

Since I’d spent a few days on this hangup I decided it was best to forego Seattle and Vancouver BC and make my way back east. Spokane seemed like a good destination. 2nd round on highway 14 through the gorge and this time was a winner. A beautiful ride. I crossed the Bridge of the Gods back into Oregon and jumped onto Interstate 84 to make up some lost DMV time. The rest of the ride wasn’t too eventful. Dried up yellow farmland for quite a long time before hitting pine trees and some elevation just outside of Spokane. I wound up making it all the way to Couer d’Alene Idaho, previous home to friend and renown novice tennis star Copper Garf, no relation to Steffi Graf.

Instead of heading out bright and early I decided to take a day to make some adjustments on the new bike since my neck and wrists were all but obliterated from the handlebar position. The guy I got it from also mentioned he kept it on a battery tender most of the time and it was evident after two days that it was on it’s way out, so a fresh battery is on charge waiting to be swapped out as soon as it’s done. Also a great time to air up the tires and add some oil. Oh yeah, and blahg posts.

It was a good chance to check out town too. A nice little place Couer d’Alene. A decent downtown area, great food from what I’ve experienced and Lake Couer d’Alene looked beautiful. A cool little nature trail at Tubbs hill was right in walking distance of the place I was staying. Very cool little place with neat rock formations and excellent views of the lake.

And so here we are. I’m finishing up this post and sipping on a Longboard Island Lager, the battery tender just started blinking green which means it’s at least 80% of the way charged. Tomorrow I make my way into Montana and through Glacier National Park before hitting it hard towards the Badlands and then eventually home.

Here’s my route to Portland and Yesterday’s to Couer d’Alene:

Later!

Time to hunker down and make some damn posts. September 15th, the day of the posts. Lots has happened in the last week or so. Coming out of the redwood forest, my destination was Ashland Oregon, just north of the California boarder and known as the hippy-est town in the US. It was actually a very neat little town and didn’t seem too hippy-ish at all, just cool. The occasional shoeless backpacker but I wouldn’t have been surprised to see that anywhere really.

Ashland is also home to the New World Sanctuary Foundation, an animal sanctuary with 20 horses, 7 dogs, a couple goats, 3-4 pigs, a handful of cats, things I’m probably forgetting and of course the 3 lovely ladies that manage the place, including Cami’s childhood friend Rosie.

The entire premise on which this place was founded is unlike most, if any, things you come across in life. It’s fueled by pure compassion; for the animals, the people that work there and the people that visit. The will to do good and develop everlasting relationships drives the whole operation and as a result you’ll find animals here that are very unique.

The Sanctuary was founded and is lead by a woman named Ren Hurst. Prior devoting her life to this place and the ideas you can find here, she was a very successful horse trainer and even wrote a book about her transformation from traditional training methods to the common-sensical, relationship based approach that is employed at the sanctuary today. You can learn more about Ren here and find her book on the amazons.

During my first few minutes at the sanctuary, Rosie and Ren took me around to see the place and visit some of the nonhuman residents. You know when you first meet someone and can instantly figure out if they’re a good person? Well that’s the way it was with these horses. I’ve no experience with horses, nor do I know much about them other than they are large and intimidating creatures. But these guys were just cool, friendly dudes and gals that I felt completely comfortable around.

The Sanctuary is an amazingly humbling place. The staff here has devoted their time and lives to something that they believe in, something worth believing in. Imagine doing that, something you believe in with all of your heart instead of something that will net you the largest gross income. It’s heartwarming and inspiring to say the least.

As of right now there isn’t any way that the sanctuary manages to take in money aside from donations and for the short time I was there, the amount of hard work that goes into running the place was evident. Somehow each week they manage to scoot by and put food on everyone’s plates (or bags if you’re a horse). Eventually, this place will transform further into a bed and breakfast style sanctuary for people too, where souls can come to be healed, learn what love and relationship means and move on to become better and inspire others to be better.

The foundation’s website can be found at newworldsanctuary.org and it has plenty of great information and descriptions of their work far better than mine. If you were interested in assisting them grow and helping the sanctuary along, you can also donate here, I’m sure they would be wildly grateful.

My time at the sanctuary was short, but the experience and lessons in life were great. I really hope to visit again sometime soon. Thanks again guys, it was a trip!

My route to Ashland can be seen in the previous post. On to Portland!

The ride back to the coast from Santa Rosa on River Rd/116 was surprisingly awesome. Even more awesome was being back on the coast. Highway 1 wasn’t busy at all, especially compared to last Saturday’s holiday craze. Nothing but sweet sweet views the whole way.

Up this way there weren’t nearly as many beach towns and surfing communities. Much of the coast was private property with the occasional tiny hidden beach or coastal access spot. After a while the road started weaving inland through forests, the views turning to a different kind of awesome.

Around the town of Leggett highway 1 ends and turns into US 101, the Redwood Highway. This is also where I drove through a damn tree, cause why wouldn’t I for 3 bucks? Though the loose gravel road wasn’t very pleasant on the bike. No spills though, just um, thrills I guess?

Along the way on 101 there were signs for a scenic bypass called Avenue of the Giants. You’d be silly not to get off and take it, here’s where the trees start getting big and this road takes you right through the heart of a grove of massive redwoods. Very awesome and it doesn’t even tack on that much time.

Eventually I ended up at Crescent City CA, a town that had some cool vibes and constant bone chilling wind being right on the coast. Originally I thought a drive through would be enough, but after seeing the beastly trees around the Avenue of the Giants, I needed more. The next day I headed off to Jedidiah State Park for a quick hike before making my way to Oregon.

The time I spent in the park and on the hike was hands down the coolest experience thus far on the trip. This place was magical. You enter onto a road called Howling Hill road, not so friendly to bikes being packed gravel and no pavement. Worse was in many places it was both graded and pitched and wide enough for a single car to pass. If there was any time for a flat it would be in here. While I wasn’t hanging on for dear life and attempting to take the path of least shittyness, taking in the surroundings was mesmerizing. This place looked like nothing else, the combination of slight mist and sunlight piercing through the giants’ canopy just made it seem like I was in some place that couldn’t even be real.

3 miles in I found the trailhead for Boyscout Tree Trail. Being surrounded by these trees and the silence of the forest was dreamlike.

It was like I wandered off from my post at the shield generator on the forest moon of Endor and lost track of where I left the speeder bike. Oh wait, that’s because I was literally at the place where those scenes were filmed! The fanboy in me was giddy when I found this little gem on the Stout Memorial Grove path:

This place was too cool. 7 more miles on the gravel path from hell and I was back to the Redwood Highway, US 199 at this point, a cool drive all the way to Ashland, Oregon where I found my destination at The Sanctuary.

Here are the routes:

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I am in a perpetual state of blog debt. Where were we…. Sunday I rode to a town called Merced, southeast of San Francisco and ~80 miles outside of Yosemite Valley. Aside from leaving the city and crossing the bay bridge, the ride was not very eventful. Hills and mountains turn to yellow barren plains for most of the ride. A quick stop for gas near Oakland was an interesting experience. It reminded me of the time Blindman and I stopped for some caffeine in Minneapolis/St. Paul on the way to Morris and I bought a mountain dew for 50 cents through an iron gate.

Merced is one of the last larger towns before things start to turn to expensive lodges and towns of only a few hundred people, so cheap motels were abundant but there wasn’t really anything else there. There was an In-N-Out though! It was the first one I stopped at since passing my first on the way from Austin to San Antonio. How I lasted this long I have no idea. I’m not a fan of going back the same way I came so it was nice to be able to ride 140 into the park and 120 out when it was time to leave.

Only about 20 or 30 miles outside the valley did the drive start into the mountains and begin to be scenic. It wasn’t until basically in the Yosemite Valley that you get slammed in the face with some majestic views of the surrounding mountains and rock structures.

The gate ranger said first thing I should do is look for a camp spot since all of the reservation spots were booked up. Luckily the first place I tried, Camp 4, had available places. Kind of a weird situation though, each spot is pretty large and can hold up to 6 people. So if you’re a party of 1 you’ll likely be placed with 5 other random people. Cool though, got to meet some interesting people. Apparently Camp 4 is big with climbers too, having a few boulders with holds for bouldering and stuff. 3 of the people at my spot were there for climbing and the other 2 knew the lingo, so there was a fair amount of trying to absorb alien language when they got on their climbing stories and rants.

I arrived just in time to get settled and head out for a decently long hike. I met up with a friend before heading out on this adventure for some advice on where to go and what to hike in Yosemite, so I knew exactly where I wanted to hike first. Thanks Kim!

Armed with the BEAR MACE (which I definitely didn’t need, trail was so busy) I headed out to 4 mile trail, which was actually about 4.8 miles (9.6 there and back) and ended up at a place called Glacier Point about 3200 ft later. Views were spectacular the entire way.

 

 

 

I swore I was hallucinating when I saw people walking around with ice cream near the top, but there’s actually a gift shop and stuff up there. Plus you can drive all the way up to Glacier Point and enjoy views without the trek through the forest.

In the morning I had time for one more good hike before the noon checkout. I decided to go with the Mist Trail for some waterfall views and it was definitely a cool choice. Going early was good too, this is apparently one of the most popular hikes in the park. On my way out there was tons of traffic coming into the trail.

The trail should be named the stair master 9000 since a good portion of it is literally climbing stairs forever. After 7 miles and a 4000 ft climb, I had my fill and was ready to pack it up. The park was ready for me to pack it up too I guess after being greeted with a nasty pink note about getting out or having my junk impounded. I was only a few minutes late!

Back to San Francisco to take care of some unfinished business. HWY 120 coming out of the park was notably cooler than 140 coming in. The views were completely different, had you elevated looking over into the mountains much of the time and of course that winding mountain road feel.

Then a bunch of nothing until the bay bridge back into the city. After getting a little lost and touring that ripe tenderloin once more I found the Golden Gate and crossed the shit out of it.

The sun was setting as I met back up with Highway 1 and went through the John Muir Woods and Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The views were instantly good and the sunset just made them better.

Point Reyes National Seashore along Tomales bay was particularly cool. It reminded me of being back on the Gulf Coast with water right next to the road. I started looking for vacancy signs on the little inns that came up every so often but at some point it seemed like things were just kinda shut down. The dark, cold and uncertainty as to whether I’d find a place forced me inland to Santa Rosa for the night.

Get them routes:

Maybe later today I’ll catch up on yesterday’s drive too. It was a good one. Salad, some might say.

Yesterday was my first full day of travel since the desert and it was good to be back in action. I spent a little longer in San Diego than originally planned, but there was so much to do, such good folks to hang out with and the weather was sublime. When I finally set out, it wasn’t too long before the bike started acting up again. I was only about 60 miles out when it died completely and I had to get a tow to the nearest shop, which wasn’t too easy to find. Luckily there was a guy about 10 miles up the road that works specifically on older Hondas, lucky find.

Thinking one of the carburetors wasn’t feeding fuel into the engine properly, he opened both, cleaned them and put everything back together in record time. Still problems though. After a whole lot of “This is too gnarly mannnn” and “I don’t know what to do here maannnn” my guy put on his troubleshooting hat and pinned it down to a fuel delivery problem. Sure enough the lines coming into the petcock were jammed with red-orange gunk. After blowing it out, she’s never run better. A close call on a Friday night before a long holiday weekend. We’re back.

I managed to make it out to Camarillo area where Cami’s Aunt and Uncle Lisa and Terry were kind enough to host me.

Yesterday was 101 and California Highway 1 all the way up to San Francisco. Aside from the chilly air and high amount of traffic, the ride was great. Some really neat winding roads and coastal views like none other. I’d avoid a Saturday though next time, just too many people out and about.

Big Sur was very neat to ride through but the park was actually closed down, I think due to some fires that were recently affecting the area.

In San Fran, a buddy that just recently moved here was waiting and we hit the town, explored the Tenderloin, some Chinatown dives and had a good time watching the weirdness that ensues in this place.

Today was more exploration, Japantown in particular felt like we were back in Tokyo and was a good taste of what’s coming in November when we set out for Asia Adventure round 2. We’re back.

Here are the last two days’ routes:

Next up is Yosemite National Park. Looking forward to some hiking and more beautiful scenery.