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.