Home at last

I made it home safely a few days ahead of schedule, and ahead of the storms. I stay warm and dry, but it's just no fun riding in bad weather.

Thank you to the following people for hosting, offering to host, or your company: Jon, Stacy, Emily, Adam & Family, Josh, Amanda, Justine, Greg, Ilana, Wendy, John, Jennifer & Family, Cora, Jenn, Rob, Carol, Leo, Dick, Irene, Mike, and Gautam. Without you it would have been a lonely ride.

As soon as I got home I washed my motorcycle three times, and there are still bugs glued to the front. So I will put a little more into it once the weather clears up. I will need to take the bike apart to reach all of the spots as well.

In the 36 days I was travelling, there were only six days with real rain (where I had to put rain gear on). Excluding the first day, I made it about 6500 miles with only one quick downpour in Dallas. I was pretty lucky on this trip.

Buffalo to NJ

Gautam took me to the home of the Buffalo wing. We got the 20-pack and a sampler of sides. I thought they were pretty good, and the 'mild' BBQ sauce was kind of spicy. He commented that they were the first, not the best.

Left Buffalo around 10:30 to make NJ in time for the Mets game. 390 miles today after a long ride yesterday is a lot of driving. NJ drivers are worse than Canadians.

Citi park was just opened this season - the only tickets available were $48. Jon, Stacy and I figured we probably wouldn't be there again, and we decided to plunk down the cash. This was hard to swallow after just visiting 9 half-capacity parks and never paying more than $15. Citi was pretty full, and the Mets won 5-3.

Home Stretch

When I arrived in Green Bay I looked up the ferry crossing across Lake Michigan. It ran at 12:30a and arrived at 5:30a EST. It would save me one hotel and 1000 miles. $74/person. $38/motorcycle. $51/stateroom. But if I am getting up at 5:30 then I want a room to get the most sleep in.

I left Lubington, MI so early that I arrived at my intended destination near Detroit at 2pm. Since that was too early to end the day, I kept riding through Canada, stopping at Niagra Falls, and ending just outside Buffalo around 7pm. That was a long day, and 514 miles of riding. Canadian drivers are terrible. And the entry border guard looked exactly like Dustin Pedroia from the Red Sox.

Minnesota

Arches, Denver, Badlands

Vegas, Canyon

Minnesota

I tried to get up some pictures, but this Win98 PC with dial-up is no match for my thumb drive.

Yesterday was 150 miles in the rain, and then another 150 miles ahead of the storm that eventually caught up to me once I arrived. Stayed with a family friend in Stillwater and went out with him and his parents. Then for lunch I visited his parents to have lunch right out of their garden. Not all in season, but soon there will be carrots, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, squash, beets, raspberries...all right in the back yard!

First bike maintenance that morning. I put 5 pounds of air into each tire and bought a nice pressure gauge to confirm what my bike had been warning me about (on-board tire pressure sensors). At first I thought they were off because of the extreme temperature changes from the desert to the rockies.

Staying another night in Minnesota with another family tonight. And heading into town tonight to watch the Twins play. Rain wont stop them in the Metrodome. Just 6 ball parks left after this one.

Touring the Badland Canyons on another beautiful day. Expansive but not as deep as Grand Canyon. Keep up the good weather!

Saw my first tumbleweed, not until Wyoming. Nothing much higher than a grasshopper on east side. Plot of land for sale - 3673 acres if anyone is interested

Denver was a fun town - clean and new. Just missed riding in two massive storms passing thru. Rockies beat the Mariners and Sox won last nigh too.

Temp dropped to 41 in the rockies. Snow on mountains at my elevation. A half day of rain but not at that temp. Denver is a nice city - two nights here

Fun little town of Cortez last night. Left this morning in drizzle, then downpour, then hail - my first as a rider. Lunch in Moab before Arches Nat'l

Lake Powell

I spent nearly an hour just looking into the Grand Canyon. It is so massive and expanding that there is too much to see. There are paths along the north ridge so that you can see all around it. The temperature had fallen maybe 30 degrees (to 56F) because the elevation was around 8500'. I did not have any trouble breathing (usually above 8K), and actually the air felt invigorating, not debilitating. I saw a small heard of buffalo and one dear on the 45 mile drive from Jacob's Lake to the North Rim. Visibility was at least 65 miles, as that far mountain was mentioned on a map. I decided not to stat at those cabins and headed east to Page, AZ, about 80 miles away. Temps went back up to 86F after I had loaded up on warm gear, then dropped back down into the 60's. That makes riding comfortably tough without stopping on every hill.

I'm at the North Rim and it is indeed a grand canyon. Best views of my entire journey to date - perhaps my life.

I have a gambling problem - i dont know how to gamble. So i only lost 5 dollars. And they lost more than 20 when i had all i could eat

Did Hoover Dam the river? I don't think so. But i always thought it was named after J. Edgar not Herbert. So much for history class!

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco - Mark Twain

Naturally both sides of the mountain were 75 and sunny. If you don't like the weather in CA, then just drive 50 miles.

Yosemite tricked me with 45F temps and heavy drizzle and fog. I stayed plenty warm with 3 bottom and 5 top layers. Still have not used the seat warmer.

Golden Gate

It was an interesting morning. I typed in a town north of San Fran to navigate to, and I told the GPS not to take any toll roads. Turns out you can't really do that anywhere here. The GPS hung at "Calculating: 99%" even after a few reboots. I followed what it had for a bit but wound up in Oakland shipping yards. So I tried it the old fashioned way with a map and position of the sun and was able to get back on track.

I followed Rt. 1 again up in the hills north of the Golden Gate bridge. Some pretty spectacular views and even more spectacular roads to ride on. Muir Woods to Stinson Beach and all the mountains in between. It's funny to see so many scenes from all the Hitchcock movies. I ended with the famous shots above and behind the bridge.

Tonight was the Athletics game, and they cracked it wide open early with 6 runs in the first. They ended up taking it 9-1 against the Orioles. Finally a home team than could win.

West Side 2

West Coast

San Fran

Yesterday I drove 400 miles up the Pacific Coast Highway. When I had first gotten on it, I was thinking, "what a boring, non-curvy road." And it was cold and windy, too. I was already planning an escape route onto highway 101. Turns out you have to drive past Hearst Castle to find the awesome part. 80+ miles of treacherous winding gracefulness. It's like the road and the mountains dance together by the sea.

But I didn't have the muster to make it another 105 miles to my cousin's house, so I parked it in a small town near Monterey. It was getting dark, and surprisingly cold. After dinner I had raced up the hill towards the shore to just catch the falling sun.

This is Hummel from Alcatraz. Out.

Just made the pacific sunset in the nick of time. So far California has been the coldest place on my trip

Just rode another great stretch of american highway through the Los Padres Natl Forest. 60 Miles of twisty hilly roads

Hollywood already has one Thomas Gibson. The don't need a second one. Too cloudy to see famous sign in the hills.

Last night Ilana called the Padres to put my name and trip on the electronic billboard. She didnt make the cut off time but that gesture meant just as much

Funny towns ive passed: arkadelphia texarkana mexicali celexico calizona. Not very creative around here.

Red sox have bigger street crowds than most of the parks ive been to. Dodger stadium is mostly empty. I did not enjoy battling downtown LA traffic.

Phoenix

Last night was an easy one. Justine lent me her appartment even though she is in San Diego. What a terrific gesture. But I will see her at the Padres game tomorrow night. Tonight is with Greg, who works for the Diamondbacks, and got us row 2 seats down the left field line. We went to Alice Cooper's Cooperstown, and then to Four Peaks Brewery/Pub. It's amazing these non-red sox teams and fan base. If you walk 10 feet from the parks, you will have no problem finding a seat at every bar - try and experience that in Boston in a 10-mile radius. 36,000 fans in the park and 3.6M fans in every pub surrounding Fenway.



Despite 60 coats of sunblock, I still managed to blister in the sun after Dallas. Since then I have been riding in a long sleeve shirt at all times - even 104 degrees. After the game today, I rode 13 miles to Greg's house in a short sleeve, and blistered some more on my right arm.

Your lawn wont die because grass refuses to grow. Its so hot that even water doesnt visit AZ. The cows produce powdered milk.

Trip: 402. Total: 4060

Weather started off nice this morning - 70F. But 102F is pushing it. Dry heat still is heat, and it feels like a blowtorch on my face

I'm ya huckleberry. - Law don't come 'round here lawdog.

Info center

Free internet at a roadside info center. Good thing because they didnt know where the Diamondbacks play. It's on the same street as my destination but quite a ways up. AZ is in mountain time, except during daylights savings, so I am really in pacific time. I just gained another hour!!

I may stop off at Tombstone because it's one of my favorite movies. About 25 miles off the main highway. Then I get to explore Phoenix more than the other cities because I am here for two nights. Next stop after this: San Diego - my theoretical half way point.

100 miles straight with one small turn, and 50 mile views in every direction - not fun on a motorcycle but cavern hills were worth riding

Carlsbad cavern, 140 miles out of my way, was well worth it. 740' Underground and the size of 14 football fields. Though i disliked the travel to & from

Well that was a 60 dollar mistake. 30 For gas cap, 30 for overnight to replace floor model part. But my bike wont blow up now.

Off to a wonderful start. While filling gas i realized i left my gas cap in waco - 90 Miles ago. No wonder i could smell it. Improvise with plastic/ elec tape

Deep in the heart of Texas

(Guest Blogger : Mandy)
Tom arrived in San Antonio today, racing along I-10 to beat the storm that has yet to arrive.

Directed Gibson to Stubbs in Austin for lunch. He realized just a bit ago that he has some of their BBQ sauce in his fridge at home. MMmmmm. Fingerlicking! The sauce, that is.

Heading out to Geeks Who Drink shortly, but first, images of the past few days. Tom will update with stories later.

Sadly its only 97 in dallas. I will not miss the south west weather even when its snowing in MA.

Trip: 464. Total: 2208. Time to quit for the night. Pictures will be coming

Just got caught in a small shower but dry off quickly n the sun. Stopped by gibson, tn and made it to memphis. Hope to find gibson guitar factory

Off to find Gibson guitar plant in memphis. Good to be back on the road again

Long Day

Haven't had a PC for a while - only mobile updates. Today was a long ride of about 430 miles. I left Atlanta around 9am and was supposed to stay in Knoxville. I was making good time, so I went the extra 175 miles to Glasgow, KY. I spent the majority of the morning on some of the best roads in the country. Some of the finest riding I've experienced in my motorcycle career. Thank you upstate Georgia and nice weather. Staying in a hotel/lodge for the next three nights, but I'm anxious to ride around tomorrow as long as the weather stays awesome.

Watched Braves get slammed 9-0 in their own house by Rockies. Started to rain on 2-mile walk back to hotel at night. Not as scary as people said

Made it to georgia. 100 miles to atlanta to see the braves at turner field. Hope to sleep better tonight.

Moved on to greensboro for the night instead. Too many miles today and no internet to update photos. Plan to climb chimney rock on way to atlanta

Day3 - Roaming

I spent the majority of the day walking along the Mall in D.C.. I played tourist and visited all the monuments, waved to the president ('s house), and said hi to my namesake on the $2 bill. Then went to the National's game with Emily and Adam. To sum up the fan base down here I heard this on the metro, "Are you going to the game, too? To watch them get their asses whooped...again?" A whopping 12,000 people in attendance, which is 7,000 more fans than the former Expos had. But tickets were on $10, and we saw plenty of Sox fans there. Off to Gibsonville, NC on another beautiful day.

Switch rides for a change

In exchange for taking half the family around by motorcycle, Keith took me for a ride in his corvette birthday present. Carol rented him one for the day, and the two of them spent most of the day riding around DC area.

States

I forgot to mention that I saw 4 state borders today. PA, DE, MD, VA. Probably wont happen again on this trip because all the upcoming states are so large. My brother wanted me to take a photo of every state sign, but that's a lot of stopping. I was on the highway most of time today, so no stopping for me.

Day2 - Arrival

Thanks to my hosts at this stop: Keith, Carol, Elizabeth & Adam. A lot of highway driving today, so it felt good to finally pull off in Fairfax, VA. Lot's of traffic around the D.C. area, but I had come just a bit earlier than rush hour so I didn't see the worst of it. Adam and Carol wanted to try riding around the block a few times.

NJ was terrible. Rt 1 is the price i payed to avoid tolls. Philly was smooth - could almost reach out and touch Ealgles stadium

GPS

Fixed my GPS entry method so it doesnt look like I spent the night under water. :)

Day2 - Departure

The next leg is similar distance. Off to Fairfax, VA. However I have to go through Newark, Philly, and Baltimore. Should be fun. And if i can handle Bronx, it should be easy. Getting a later start today from yesterday.

Day1

Arrived safely in NJ. It only rained the first hour of my 5 hour ride. Then it started to sprinkle the minute I shut my bike off. Lots of cross wind on the GW bridge today. With 5 top layers I wasn't too cold - I only had to turn the heated grips on once. Thanks to my hosts at this stop: Jon and Stacy, N. Arlington, NJ.