Trip Pics 1

PLEASE PLEASE CLICK ON ANY OF THE IMAGES TO SEE THEM FULL SIZE. THESE LITTLE TEASERS DON'T DO JUSTICE TO THE FULL PHOTO

Oregon Coast and first night camping. It was a full moon and there were some semi-whacko crazies camping next door. First morning camping breakfast was fresh picked blackberries just a few feet from my tent.




A picture of my wife's car with my Dad's surfboards on it. Beach wagon for the new millenium.

When in Rome.... Trinity CA has a neat vibe, I decided to go with it and ordered: vegan soup, tofu burger and organic coffee. Not too sure about the fries tho.....

This became a familiar scene throughout north and eastern California.

Trip Pics 2

Awesome mountain road. That guy there is a stray I picked up along the way. Bikers are like dogs. Solitary but travel in packs.
The road less travelled. What I wouldn't have given for a dual-sport!
Mono Lake


This is a guy I ran into, Aaron. He was just finishing a 5 week trip and on his way back to Tuscon. We rode together for a couple of days and camped out.
Tired and sore. Another 300 miles? no problem.

Trip Pics 3 - Yosemite

Trip Pics 3.5 - Leucadia/San Diego

My friend Jim was a busy host the weekend I was there. Besides myself (a handful anyway) he had several high school buddies in town and they had not seen each other since back in the day when they weren't Dads and didn't have gray hairs. Another buddy came from an hour or so away and some local folks that somebody knew entered the fray. Without going into too much detail (tried that, I had to go back and remove a poorly judged posting I made late in the evening under the influence of a margarita or two. Or six, or twelve, I have no idea) a good time was had by all. I haven't cut loose like that in a long time and lets hope its another long time before it happens again.
This is the Honda VFR800 that I sold to Jim when he lived up here. We rode together down the Oregon and California coast and had a blast.
JIM, REMEMBER THE REDWOODS?
A freaky picture of J.
A very nice couple that partied with us.
What, I can't smile? All packed up and almost ready to rock. Once this hangover wears off. No wait its not a hangover, I may still be drunk....HAHAHAHAH

Trip Pics 4 - Heading Home

Taking a break somewhere in middle CA and it was hot hot hot. No, I wasn't riding in shorts and a T-shirt. Close, just pants and a T-shirt.
As you may have noticed I began taking pictures as I was driving. I've always wanted to capture my faithful riding companion on film, and here he is. Back in Yosemite, I got tired of constantly stopping and digging out the camera. The bike didn't like it either and it began to run hot. I velcroed the camera to my front brake fluid resevoir and it was very handy.


This was a real fun one along the river.


I also saw one of these that said "Next 17 Miles" but it went by pretty quickly. I'm on a mission to find this sign with the most miles on it. Someone told me about one that said 177 miles, but I forget where it is.

Trip Pics 5 - Still heading home

This is a cool cat I met named Don. We rode together for a couple of days and stopped at lots of breathtaking scenic views and sudden natural wonders. He rode a Concours and rode it well-of course he used to race bikes back in the day. Don was kicking off the 21st annual West Coast Twisties Tour and it has only three rules: 1. Ride the twistiest roads you can find 2. Have a good time 3. No sniveling. Don is from Denver and was on his way to Portland to meet up with the rest of the group. Ironically, I met up with Don heading north in the same part of the world as the guy I rode with on the way south. Don I met at the south entrance to Lassen Volcanic National Park and Aaron I met at the north entrance to the same park. Serendipity or just a popular road?

In an alpine meadow where we stopped for a break, the ground was littered with a salt-and-pepper mix of white pumice and black obsidian. I grabbed a couple of the more outstanding specimens. We also saw a white crane there. We didn't notice it at first, but the ground and the little pond were just saturated with tiny little frogs. My pictures of them didn't turn out.

Camping somewhere high in the Sierra Nevadas next to a lake. **Free again!!** Didn't go swimming. My dinner this night was a bottle of bloody mary mix and most of a fifth of Smirnoff. It was a guy eating a chili dog on the front porch of the store where I bought the bottles who told me about this campground.

There was a pair of 20-30 something year old gals next door and I borrowed some ice from them for my dinner. It was a good "icebreaker" and I ended up hanging out there for a few hours. I feel a little guilty now, we were a good example of the bad campers next door. They backed their car in and turned on the music; it wasn't that loud, but in the still calm of the wilderness, a pinecone falling is loud. And then there was the singing, laughing, squealing and general merrymaking. Fell asleep next to their fire, but only had about 20 feet to navigate to my tent and warm sleeping bag. They were nurses from Sacramento and a little odd, but then again so am I. I didn't leave until about noon the next day, had a relaxing morning with a novel that really sucked me in. It was worth every minute and I took great pleasure at not having to be anywhere.

Trip Pics 6 - Almost Home!

Crater Lake in southern Oregon is a must see, if you get the chance, go out of your way to see it. The water is a crazy bright blue and it stretches
the imagination to think of the explosion that caused it.











Mt. Shasta

Trip Pics 7 - Oregon - last day

The final tally of the GPS: 3547 miles.
Average speed 56 mph (including stop and go traffic and those oh-so-fun 2nd gear twisties).
Top speed of 113. I wasn't really trying to max out the bike, but here is a picture of the road where I did it, loooong and straight. Not too thrilling. The GPS had been reading a top speed of 111 MPH from back when I was riding with Aaron. I just felt an urge to break it. I did manage to slalom the dotted line for awhile to break up the monotony. That's always fun.
Total moving travel time 62:40 give or take a few.
There's nothing like winding out your top gear to get the day started. Made short work of this boring road first thing in the morning in central Oregon.
The last camp site of the trip. Some ORV area on BLM land that seemed to sprawl over a very large chunk of real estate. There were trails everywhere but nobody around except giant mounds of red ants. They left me alone but it still gave me the willies. For the first time since I started this odyssey it was chilly that night. I actually had to get in my sleeping bag.

Didn't take too many pictures this day, mostly because I was on home turf high tailing it through the high desert. Besides, there really isn't anything to see there worth taking a picture. Also, I was ready to be done for now and be home and see my wife and I really, really, really wanted to TAKE A SHOWER. I was due back by 5:00 to go to a school function with my wife. Made it at 3:00 with just 15 miles worth of gas left in the tank, that's less than a 1/2 gallon. If I lived on the other side of town I would have had to stop. The idiot light came on just outside of town and I said 'I'll be damned if I'm gonna stop now, my ass has been sore for the last 200 miles, I'm cranky and stinky and I'm gonna make it damn it!' When I got home she wouldn't come near me cuz I was a little fragrant from baking in the sun for days and days. Probly didn't help that I had run out of socks a couple days before that.

This post has been removed

Upon arrival to Leucadia near San Diego, we proceeded to party with abandon, tequila was the flavor of the night. Sometime during the evening I made a posting in an inebriated fit of floridity.

I removed the post because some of the text -taken out of context- would require some explaining on my part. Nothing untoward happened and a good time was had by all.

If you really really really want to know what I said......tough shit.

Roadtrip 2006 Countdown: 1 day "The Ride"

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

The Petty concert was fantastic! He had alot more energy than he last time I saw him here. I knew every song but two and he played some rocked up versions of slower songs from his new album. Stevie Nicks was a surprise guest and it was a real treat to see her. We kept saying "Stevie Nicks is n Spokane. Wow!!!"

The encore songs we great, he played "You Wreck Me", "Mystic Eyes" and "American Girl". They all sounded great and he appeared to be having a good time. The band is obviously very tight and there were some awesome riffs and solos. The house was packed except for a handful of seats on the nosebleeds. We had some of the best seats in the house. A few rows up from the floor on one side and about a third of the way back from he stage. We could clearly see everything and the sound was top notch.

Ran into a couple of people I know from an old job (happens every time without fail) and we traded quick life updates and phone numbers. The opening act was a guy called Trey Anastasio. I had never heard of him, but I guess he usesd to be the lead guy the band "Phish". Great guitar player, he put oin a good show too.

Unfortunately, we st next to the "heavy drinker, small bladder" crew, so we had o move alot to let them out and in.

Sharp Shooter

Take 4 guys, 14 handguns and a nice summer day and you are guaranteed a good time. I was the only one who brought only one stinger, the other guys are more serious collectors. I have to say I shot well, my sights were true and my hand was steady.

The 40 cals:
H&K compact (mine)
Sig Sauer
Beretta
Glock

The 45 cals:
Springfield
Kimber (a favorite of the day)
Sigsauer
Para Ordinance (another favorite)

The 44 magnum:
Smith and Wesson 4" barrell
Remington 6" barrell

The 9mm:
Beretta

The 357 magnum:
2 Rugers, a 4" and a 6"

Shotguns:
Mossberg
Escort

and a 22 magnum rifle with a bipod and 14x scope

hundreds of rounds later, my shoulder hurts from shooting slugs from the shotgun and my elbow and wrist are sore, probably from the magnum revolvers but man it was fun.

Roadtrip 2006 Countdown: 2 days "The Gear"

Electronics:
Escort Passport radar/laser detector. Never leave home without it, it has proven itself trustworthy and has paid for itself if avoided bad, bad tickets more times that I want to know. Stuffed between windscreen and dash, audio output that's inaudible at highway speeds so I plug in an earbud and place it in the earhole of my helmet.

Garmin eTrex GPS. It has a few shortcomings but is useful for alerting to upcoming turnoffs, towns ahead, actual ground speed (my speedo is fast by 7 MPH), ETAs and the like. Another trusted travel helper. Velcroed in the center of the handlebars with the lanyard attached to the bike (just in case).

Digital Camera: empty card for hundreds of huge detailed photos to capture the magnificent and the mundane.

MP3 player: can strap to the handlebars but I don't usually listen while riding because I find myself too absorbed in the task of staying on the road and keeping myself and the bike in one piece to pay attention to it.

Cell phone: not that there is any reception in the boonies where I'll be going.

Camp gear:
Two man tent (yah right, 2 people with no gear and no movement). I like this one because its easy to set up by myself.
Sleeping bag. Duh
Ridgerester self-inflating mattress. Well, it used to self-inflate but its useful for keeping the rocks out of your back and provides some insulation from the cold, hard ground.
Propane burning stove. old school, but its small and works.
Fork, spoon, etc. such as salt and pepper, dish to cook in and eat off
Nothing else too spectacular, trying to keep it to a minimum

Clothes:
I plan on wearing my Rocket riding gear, so I packed four sets of unders, socks, tshirts and a couple pairs of shorts. I figure it'll take me 4 days to get down to SoCal so I'll have to do laundry as soon as I get there. I have a cool system for each day's clothes: I put a tshirt, pair of socks and boxers in a zip lock bag. Keeps it dry, easy to grab and I can squeeze out the excess air and seal it which reduces packing volume. At night I toss one of those bags in the tent and in the morning or whenever I change I put the dirties back in the same bag. Keeps the clean and dirty separate. I learned why that is important the hard way....

Food:
Minimal and non-refrigerated. Trail mix, granola bars and shelf stable chili in the single serving boxes. A couple packages of ramen which only take hot water to make. Anything else-I eat out.

Emergencies:
I carry a small tool kit under the seat consisting of each screw-head type and socket that my bike has. I can tear that thing down to the frame if I had to, and I don't plan on trying. This bike has been rebuilt so many of the fasteners are not uniform. There's metric, standard, different sizes Allens, etc. Keeps it interesting.
Tire patch and inflator. I have had two flat tires in 20 years. First one was a bolt on the freeway and my on-board fix-a-flat took care of it nicely. Second time was a nail, and the fix-a-flat just came squirting right out the hole. Totally useless. Now I keep a plug kit (a sticky strip you cram into the hole with a sharp tool) which includes an inflator that runs off the engine. Its a little sketchy and I hope I never have to use it, but it works. You pull a spark plug and screw this thing in the hole. It has a hose on it with a chuck at the end. The catch is, you are inflating your tire with raw gasoline. Not the best of options but it'll do in a pinch.
Of course the obligatory knife, flashlight and handgun.

Roadtrip 2006 Countdown: 3 days "The Bike"

My precious baby is a 98 Honda ST1100. She weighs about 700 pounds dry, pushes about 100 hp and gives me 275 to 300 miles from her 7 gallon tank. We rescued this beauty from near death and certain parting out. Her previous owner had been forced to sacrifice her against a concrete highway divider to avoid his own "parting out" by a cager. He made it just fine but the bike didn't.

The front end has been replaced as well as all the plastic except two rear tail pieces. My father-in-law is excellent with his hands and by just looking, you would never know the bike is on her second life. Of course, for those of us who maintain her, we see the blemishes, small cracks, mixed metric and standard bolts and screws, etc. Otherwise it runs like a dream, starts right up every time and not a single part or component has given us trouble. All I have done is change the oil, keep an eye on the other fluids and keep the fresh tires coming. I've put over 20,000 miles on this bike in less than three years including to SoCal and back twice and numerous trips to neighboring states and local runs.

This is the best bike I have ever owned. It tops the Kawi GPz 900 (my first big bike) and the newer VFR 800. Not only is it ergonomically comfortable while sporty, she has enough weight and shaft drive to smooth out some, but not too many, of the vibes and jolts that can make long distances unpleasant. I have always said that I can rip this bike through corners as well as any previous bike I have owned and she still lets me get off the seat and hang my ass over fog line. Granted, my "edge of the envelope" may not be as far out there as some people's, but my WHEEEE-HAAAWWWW threshhold is still enough to scare the shit out of others. The only thing this bike is short on is top speed. I believe this has more to do with the tall winshield, wider fairing profile and the hardbags than power or ratios. At 135 I still have a couple grand of RPM left before the redline but can't gain speed past that. Without the fairing, I'm sure we'd see 150, maybe 165. I'll sacrifice 30 miles an hour of Mach 2 in exchange for no rain, bugs or freezing knees.

In the shop:
After a tune-up, a gasket will be replaced and baby gets a new pair of shoes. I have a really hard time finding tires for this bike. The Dunlop D205 that I so love for the rear (also favored by the Washington State Patrol motor cops) has been discontinued, and the new version isn't thrilling those that have used it. "Spooky" is what they call it. No thanks. This time, I am going with the Michelin line. I have already been using their Pilot Road front tire with satisfaction so we'll give the rear tire the 4000 mile test next week.

Engine lube:
I have made the grand leap into the world of synthetic motor oil. A guy I work with is an Amsoil dealer and puts it in his truck, Harley, and 3 corvettes. (Wonder how much it costs to keep replacing it as it leaks from his bike?) He convinced me to give it a try, so 50 bucks, a filter and five quarts (one for topping off) the bike has gold in her blood. I can go twice as long between oil changes and I should see some increased mileage so, let's see.... If I get an extra 5 miles per gallon, at $3 per gallon, in 17 tanks or about 5 thousand miles it should pay for itself. 5 miles per gallon seems like a big increase, and hell, I don't pay for my normal oil and filters anyway - my father-in-law's bike takes the same filters which he buys by the case and the oil too. Maybe its time I should start buying my own. So who knows if the synthetic route is the way to go, but it's not all about money saved today, its about extending the life of someone you care about....wait a sec its the bike we're talking about right? Bottom line, just like a family member, pet or favorite tree, I want this thing to be around for as long as possible. At least until I sell it.