"You've got a lot of balls to ride that thing up here this early. Not a lot of brains, but balls." - Police officer in Tok, Alaska



30 days, 6600 miles, worn out tires, gear failures, rain, mud, snow, ice, dust storms, wind storms, crashes, broken luggage, broken parts... Maryland to Alaska on a WR250X in March 2012.

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2008 Yamaha WR250R

I guess the beginning is as good as anywhere to start. A year ago I was a very different man. I was physically well but mentally and emotionally I was broken. Has it really only been a year? Almost to the day...

Chasing dreams and the ghost of my soul - ADVrider

I figured out a lot on that ride. First and foremost, stock spark plugs only. :lol: Let go of the planning and just ride. It took me over two weeks of fighting a schedule and itinerary that was completely self imposed before I realized I was being absolutely ridiculous and needed to relax and flow. I refined my pack list and gear wants/need immensely. I have zero doubts about what to bring with me or what to wear and have the necessary tweaks

Most importantly I think I finally found the courage to live for myself.

From my last post in the previous Ride's thread

I got busy living alright. I busted my ass and graduated in December with a degree in Art+Design. Then I started working toward a life that would never have me stuck again, allowing me the freedom to travel and do work that I like for the benefit of that goal. Being realistic in the fact that making a living as an artist is several years and lots of source material, practice, and hustling away, I want to work in the beverage industry or in motorcycles.

Long story short... I found a job bartending. In Alaska, for a cruise line's hotel. Starting in early April, through the end of September. The goal... well there is no goal. I've got an idea to follow the sun after the season is over and end up with a similar gig someplace warm over the winter... or maybe just hiding out in Baja for a while until the next season gets ready to start. Or not. Or maybe I'll hate it and end up working a 9-5 somewhere.


My trusty steed, as always, is my 2008 Yamaha WR250R. It has since had an X change so I'm running 17" wheels front and rear instead of the usual 21/18. I've also racked up a total of just under 31,000 miles on the old girl with nary a problem. Coolant and hoses were changed prior to departure, so was the oil. Swapped the worn out stock seat foam for a seat concepts foam and cover. Heated grips are installed and a heated jacket and heated socks enlisted for the cold weather, and a dual controller. My trusty Nikon D40 will be doing photo duties along with my not so trusty DroidX smartphone. No routes except my old TAT maps in my GPS, just way points. My mountain hardware +35 bag is getting replaced by a Marmot never summer, and I'm shipping most of my clothes up ahead of me. Otherwise this is the same kit I've traveled with since 2010. In an effort to simplify, I swapped my riding gear for an Aerostich Roadcrafter.

From the time I got the job offer to the time I left I had about 2 weeks. During that period I sold my car, my furniture, quit my job, got out of my apartment, moved everything I wanted to keep into storage or sold it or threw it away, shipped a box of clothes and my laptop ahead to myself, and basically closed up shop in Maryland.

Monday March 5th - ready to ride... almost. Wasted half the day tying up loose ends. Big storm blew in west and south of me, dumping rain and snow on the two routes I wanted to take out of Maryland. More than I knew at the time this set the scenario for the ride perfectly. I decided to delay one day to wait out the weather.

Tuesday March 6th - Ready to RIDE! Taken in front of my grandmother's house, where I had staged everything the day before to get packed as I had spent the night at my mom's.

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2008 Yamaha WR250R

March 7th

Up kinda late due to running around as late as I did the night prior and from taking advantage of the free breakfast...



Best view of the pack job


I quickly aquainted myself with 200+ miles of West Virginia's finest.













After the first 50 miles of true back roads like the above, the rest was perfectly smooth race track quality pavement that was damn near empty. If this is what we get when we pave the world, pave it! Mile after mile after mile of perfectly smooth asphalt that you could tell was simply dumped and graded 2' thick over the existing gravel road. Amazing!

50+ miles of road like this!





and a little later...









Once again I kept riding until well after dark and made it all the way to Kentucky, where I stayed in an absolutely empty state park with hot showers and real flush toilets for free. Set up my tent, made a little first, and fell asleep listening to the creek that ran through the campsite; all was ok in the world.

Tomorrow... would be less idyllic.

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2008 Yamaha WR250R

One of my friends back home is on ADVRider, and his signature has the following quotes in it:

That was pretty much the story of Thursday March 8.

Damn these crowded early spring campgrounds! Somewhere in eastern KY




Weather forecast called for rain, lots of it, starting around 11am. I was up and rolling by 9ish hoping to put some miles on before I got wet. Shortly out of camp I came across this cool old post office


with a big historical marker out front



Soon followed by a cool old covered bridge










Apparently occupied lols


Shortly after leaving the bridge, it started to rain and hence these were my last pictures for the day. It was chilly, low 50's out, and wet but fortunately my Aerostich kept me dry...

For about 45 minutes. Then I started feeling water on my pants, and sure enough I had an acute case of aero-crotch (water leaking past the main zipper where it bunches up at your waist). Then water started coming in near the neck. Eventually the fabric itself wetted out. I was soaked, head to toe, except for my hands which were in my summer gloves under rubber dish gloves. I made a stop at Woodford Reserve distillery hoping for a free tour and maybe a sample, neither of which they had. It was at woodford that I discovered that not only did the suit leak, but the 'waterproof' pockets on the suit did too. Goodbye cell phone!

I slogged it as far as Shelbyville, KY as that was the first town I found with a verizon store. Fortunately my phone was insured, and they helped me through the claims process and found me a hotel nearby that was relatively inexpensive to dry out in. Assurion, the insurance provider for my phone, assured me my new phone would be overnighted and I would be able to get on the road again tomorrow.

I also had the pleasure in stopping in to Derby Cycles in Shelbyville. Great moto shop, first of many that I stopped at, and one of the few brick and mortar bike shops I've found that have as good if not better prices for tires than the online shops. Unfortunately nothing in my size as both my front and rear tire were starting to get pretty thin, so on I went.

Off to bed, full of greasy spoon goodness thanks to the waffle house across the street from the hotel and mostly relaxed thanks to the hotel's hot tub and good, soft beds. (Best Western Shelbyville, if you have to be in this part of the world its a great place to stay!)

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2008 Yamaha WR250R

Friday March 9

According to the folks at the Verizon store, UPS doesn't usually show until around 3pm meaning I had most of a day to kill in Shelbyville, KY. This is harder than it looks. I bugged the guys at Derby Cycles for a while. Then I wandered around WalMart, got some bbq at the place next to the verizon store, bought a book from the dollar store (lol) and read half of it...

finally 3pm rolls around and no sign of the UPS driver. So I continue waiting. And waiting. And finally... there he is! Drives right up to the shopping center, goes into the store next door, hops back in the truck and rolls out.

wtf.

Grab my helmet, jump on the bike and tear off after him. Ask him about my package... not on the truck.

Long story short... Assurion is located in Nashville, TN, or at least the warehouse where they ship phones from is. They claimed to have shipped my package overnight via UPS. Problem: UPS Ground is effectively a next-day service from Nashville, as its close enough. Bigger problem: UPS gives no ****s about ground packages. My phone was mis-picked and sent to the wrong hub and would be delivered on Monday. About two hours of calling, yelling, complaining, and generally losing my shit over this, I got UPS to forward my phone to the house I was planning on staying at in Oklahoma early the next week. Wasn't particularly happy to be without my only communications device for the weekend and 1000+ miles I was planning to ride, but it was better than being stuck in Kentucky for a weekend.

I had planned to abuse the hospitality of an ADVRider, BigDogAdventures.com aka Mark Sampson. Mark lives about 200 miles west of Shelbyville, so after I got everything forwarded and set up (or so I thought) I hopped on the bike and burned out to southern Illinois.

My WRX in BidDog's garage


Mark and his wife are truly wonderful people. Mark and I swapped stories for a couple hours over an oil change for my bike and some sandwiches inside later, and gave me a place to sleep on one of the comfiest beds I've ever slept on.

Early (for me) the next morning, BigDog's out in the garage getting ready and I eventually pack up to join him for a day of riding... unfortunately his wife wasn't feeling well and he decided to stay home. Maybe next time! Off into the midwest I go!

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2008 Yamaha WR250R

Saturday March 10th

Mark told me to head over to the next town if I wanted a decent breakfast. "When you get to the town square, look to your left for the little building that looks like its about to fall down. That's where all the locals and farmers eat" Sounds good to me! Eggs, bacon, biscuits n gravy, all scratch made or locally sourced, now thats a breakfast! Fueled and fed, I headed west out of town. Small town, fields in prep, small town, more fields, small town, more fields, small tow.... wait, did I just see a statue of Wimpy?



Turns out I stumbled across the home of Popeye, Chester, Illimois!







They even have a Popeye museum, housed in the original theater builder where the creator started his career. It had since been turned into a store front with apartments above. Oddly enough, to me anyway, the owner was not a local but moved to Chester to set up the museum when she learned about the history and that the site was for sale, or something like that.





Chester is located high on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, and throughout town there are statues of the other Popeye characters.





The bridge west:






At the bridge they had a big bronze statue of Popeye



Turns out this was also where Lewis and Clark crossed the Mississippi on their way west.





Into Missouri we go!


It didn't take long to get out of the flood plain and head up into the foothills of the Ozarks. Along the way I came across Fort Davidson, site of a relatively important civil war battle









Dat's a big hole!




I had gathered from a few newspapers and weather reports I had been able to find during the day that I was heading into another front promising rain all day the next day. There were ample opportunities for camping, but I wussed out and found a hotel yet again, this time in West Plains, MO. Yet again it had a hot tub and plenty of nearby greasy food and a free hot breakfast, so it wasn't so bad. Especially when I woke up to it pouring cats and dogs outside. Good thing I had grabbed a cheap rainsuit from WalMart the previous day!

Sunday March 11

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2008 Yamaha WR250R

Saturday March 17

This is what happens when you put 5000ish miles on softish compounded motard tire (Bridgestone BT003RS rear tire)



And its replacement, a Continental ContiForce Sport Touring in 150/60-17.



Or at least its supposed to be a ST tire, I think I might have ended up with the sumo version as the tread is very similar. Tires were ordered from Motorcycle Superstore and shipped to directly Salida ahead of me, as was my replacement chain and sprockets (from Sprocket Center).

Plenty of clearance



Front was a stock BT090 with something like 15,000 miles on it. As an R, it ate front tires like nothing but now as an X the fronts wear like iron.



Replaced with a Continental ContiMotion sport touring tire in the stock 110/70-17 size.



Chain and sprockets were RK XSO x-ring and JT steel sprockets, replaced with another RK XSO chain, a JT 13T front, and a SuperSprox 45T rear. Going up 3 teeth to a 45T rear from a 42T along with the shorter rear tire would hopefully help me get some pulling power on the rockies and high plateaus of the western mountains and deserts. I had a 14T with me for when I got back to the coast at sea level and wanted to stretch her legs for a higher cruising speed (14/45 gearing is very close to the stock 13/42 ratio on the shorter tire and I generally liked the stock gearing).

We also ended up changing out shifters to my spare which I had ordered a few days prior to leaving. Somewhere along the line the stock shifter got loose and its splines where it locks down on the shift shaft got loose and worn down. I need to pay more attention to this as its the second shifter I've worn out this way.

Rick also helped me fab up a new heat shield for the FMF muffler using header wrap and a flexible metal and asbestos (or something similar) backed metal panel. So far so good, it works perfectly! You can comfortably rest your hand on the shield even after running the bike for hours at speed.

All buttoned up


Took it for a quick test ride and once again, she feels like a new bike and eager to ride! I love fresh tires.

Unfortunately... the weather was going to take a turn tomorrow. That wind I had been battling for the last few days were the precursor to a massive storm front that stretched from Canada to Mexico, dumping a few feet of snow in the northern rockies, projecting about a foot in my direct path if I went due west, and much colder temps... unless... I went south. How south? Way south. Like I-10 south, and cross the Divide at Lordsburg, as that was the only place that was predicted to get rain instead of snow and have temps above freezing for several days.

And of course, the storm was being fed my moisture off the gulf. Of Mexico. Meaning I'd be riding into stiff 35+mph headwinds that were violently gusting to 60+, 70+ in places. Sunday was going to be a long day... better drink some ...

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2008 Yamaha WR250R

With the weather having taken a turn for the awful (and quite frankly, dangerous), Rick and his wife loaded me in their van and gave me a ride south to the Colorado/New Mexico border.


Hindsight, I probably should have taken up Rick's offer to stay in Salida for a day or three and wait it out, but I was in a moving mood and had to keep going. I followed US285 south to Sante Fe then to Albuquerque and finally to Socorro.

Several times during the day the dust and sand created near brownouts on the road, the sand coming up under my helmet and coating my visor and face with dust. I stopped for lunch in Oja Caliente at a little diner/gift shop (Mesa Vista Cafe), had a great buritto smothered in green chili. While I was sitting and eating, a massive gust blew up outside and when the dust cleared, my little windscreen was gone, probably halfway back to Colorado. A blessing in disguise though, wind blast was a bit smoother without it.

I stopped in Santa Fe briefly, mainly putted around downtown and swung past St. John's campus to get a look at it (I had applied and been accepted there several years ago, but decided not to attend). Seems like a cool town, kinda reminded me of an adobe, upscale, and larger Eureka Springs.

After Santa Fe, I decided to head in a more south westerly direction and eventually followed rt 14 out of town. Soon I came up to a little town that looked strangely familiar... looked a lot like the town from Wild Hogs actually. Madrid, NM... aw hell, it IS the town from Wild Hogs! :laugh1: The wind was blowing bad with lots of dust and the weather was turning so I didn't bother playing tourist with the camera. The roads in and out of town were wonderful though, and the new Continentals were great through the rolling hills and canyons. As I rolled back up in elevation, the weather turned cold and colder, then slowly it started snowing. Great. Fortunately I was near a town, Cedar Crest, and pulled in to a bar, the Lazy Lizard Bar and Grill, to see what the weather was supposed to do (if I had cell service).



As I pulled my helmet off a couple guys were hanging around out front. "Wow, riding out in this weather? Where you coming from?" Maryland. "Hell, Maryland?! On that! If you come inside, I'll buy you a ."

Hell I need to wait this snow out anyway.

The guys at the bar


Fortunately the snow cleared quickly before it stuck to anything, and I made it to Socorro without further issue. The best thing about Socorro was the nicest cheap hotel I've ever stayed in, a $35 econo lodge with a bed as comfortable as ones I've seen in hotels costing 10x as much plus a full hot breakfast in the morning. Tomorrow... big radios, big country, and more weather.

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2008 Yamaha WR250R

Somehow I managed to actually get up and moving at a decent hour, usually I'm the last person checking out but today I got moving around around 10am. I decided to gamble and try running over the divide on US 60 then to follow US 191 south through the Apache National Forest as one of the guys at the bar yesterday described it as "simply epic". Unless there was weather.

Of course, there was weather. About an hour outside of Socorro I crossed through the little town of Magdelena where I got gas and stared woefully at the soggy, frozen clouds hugging the mountains. The little, oft ignored, voice in the back of my head said "might as well turn back now, you know you're not getting through here. The light and possibly clear spots you're seeing is just a trap." I of course ignored it, for a little while, because right up the road was the Very Large Array.















Those brown dots are cows.


:giles:

While it was certainly Very Large, it was absolutely dwarfed by the valley and surrounding mountains. I wanted to get closer, but there were signs that basically said "US Govt Property, Stay the **** Out" and soon a little white securty truck sitting about 1/2 mile down the road from me. I quickly snapped my pics and kept rolling.

Its hard to tell in the photo's, but it had started snowing and worse started sticking and the temperature was dropping. Looks like I'll have to find another way over... back to Socorro and back to I 25 to continue south. Fortunately I quickly found a way to the frontage road and original highway that had been replaced by the interstate so at least I didn't have to worry so much about being run down by passing semi's.





It was still windy and hell, and it was still cold as hell, but at least it wasn't sn...

****.


Fortunately it wasn't sticking to anything except my visor, but it kept snowing like this for a solid hour. I'm maybe 3 hours from the Mexican border, I'm in the desert, and its cold and snowing. Even more fun, it hailed for a little while too, little BB sized hail that made the roads just fantastic to ride on and is easily my new favorite motorcycle weather.

Really? Really?

Then, as I entered the town of Truth or Consequences... it stopped.



I wanted off the interstate again, so outside of Caballo I turned on to Rt 159 and followed it up and down and around into the mountains and eventually into the Gila National Forest. This was easily one of the twistiest, nastiest motorcycle roads I've ever ridden and was cursing myself for not being here unloaded and in warmer weather.

Up into them thar hills





Looking back...





Looking forward


On and on and on and on it went like this, finally rising up and over 8000 feet to cross the pass



Looking back down the valley








Heading west, down to around 4500 ft in elevation on the other side








I have no idea how cold it was, probably easily into the mid teens if not colder, but it was spectacularly beautiful. Coming back up towards the divide, the temperature kept dropping and the roads kept getting more fun and interesting, except they were definitely getting slick.

Nothing like an open pit mine to spoil the scenery






Eventually ended up in Silver City, NM at a Wendy's to get my new favorite cheap road food: 10pc nuggest and a small chili. Add a few packets of hot sauce to the chili, add crackers, break up the nuggets into the chili. Good, filling, and warming. I almost slipped and busted my ass getting back on the bike as the parking lot had turned to a sheer sheet of ice. The temperature sign on the local bank started at 30 degrees when I ate but was already at 25 degrees in the time it took for the sun to go down and me to eat... time to stop for the night. Found a cheap-enough local hotel with a clean bed and HEAT and turned in for the night. Tomorrow I finally get over the Great Divide.

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2008 Yamaha WR250R

Tuesday March 20.

There are few stronger demotivators to get riding than a warm hotel room, hot coffee, and below freezing temperatures when you wake up. Eventually the sun came up over the mountains and as the world around me slowly started to thaw I made my way down and over the continental divide. Unfortunately the side was on a blind crest with no real shoulder, and it was cold and I had just starting riding, so I didn't stop and get a picture. Oh well...

I followed the highway west out of Silver City and more or less plummeted straight down to the desert basin below and to what remains of the town of Lordsburg, NM, effectively a truck stop and a few run down looking businesses. I've never seen so much altitude dropped so quickly on a highway, nearly a mile in elevation over about 20-25 miles, it almost felt like I was free falling at times. Out of Lordsburg I decided to stay on I-10 and as often as possible its frontage roads and headed directly west to Tucson.

But first, some minor desert detours








You can just make out the interstate in the distance...


I putted along like this for 30 or 40 miles paralleling the interstate but effectively out in the middle of nowhere at the same time. Once in Tucson I made a quick phone call to a college friend who lives out here now, but she was tied up for the day. Oh well, onward and westward. I did stop at a dealer in Tucson, Ride On powersports, and they hooked me up with a new chin curtain for my Shoei Hornet. Actually it was from a Shoei Qwest but it fit and worked and more importantly it was free, so thanks guys!

As always it was getting late in the day and I really decided to push some miles as I could feel the clock ticking. Still had to take some time from the main roads while I had sun though...




BTW, when it got late and as I was riding west, I realized something... I CAN"T SEE! My Hornet's visor had been sandblasted pretty badly during the wind storms in New Mexico so it was covered with little scratches and pock marks and therefore the setting sun was damn near blinding with the visor down.

I ended up camping outside of Phoenix, near Superior in the free Forest Service campground there. Getting lost in the middle of the desert in the middle of the night is never a good idea, but I just about managed to do it by being stupid and trying to follow an 'interesting' road on my GPS to a site I thought was the campground. It wasn't, and in the process I managed to break my throttle grip loose for a second time. :diaf: At night. On a road I later found out was private property. Fortunately I could still just slide the grip off without damaging the wires and I was able to limp it to the camp ground sans grip and sans grip heater.

Wednesday March 21.

Learned a couple things camping this morning. Alcohol stoves don't work at all when its cold out, put my lighter clean out when I touched it to the puddle of alcohol in the stove. JB Quik Weld works better if its heated up first in a pot of hot water when its freezing out. I really need to better plan out where I stop or at least stop earlier in the future (we'll see how that goes). And I really dislike camping below freezing.

Grip back on tight, or so I hoped, I decided that since I was in Phoenix and had time to kill that I'm going to ride the Sheeps Bridge loop.

For those who aren't familiar, there is a suspension bridge across the Verde River is used by sheep herders to move their flocks down to wherever they're going, and this bridge crosses outside of Phoenix. There is also a dam at the south end of the trail that has a walkway under the spillway to get the sheep through without incident. It is possible to ride a motorcycle across the bridge and under the dam, made a great 60 or 70 mile loop that can't be gotten to and ruined by quads and can't easily be gotten to by full size 4x4 unless they can manage a deep long crossing of the Verde at the lone ford or convince the dam operators to let them drive across the spillway (you'll see that in the pics in a minute). Since I started from the south, I decided to make my way north to the Bridge via the Horseshoe Dam undercrossing.

About 10 miles of twisty pavement and 10 miles of washboarded by relatively well graded gravel road, I arrived at the Dam.

__________________
2008 Yamaha WR250R

Here's the spillway, you can see the path down and out pretty well.



The drop down, looking up.



The climb out


Kinda steep but really really easy otherwise. Into the rabbit hole...



And we're through!


It was an extremely tight squeeze, I almost didn't make it through with the bags on but with a little rubbing all went well. I'm just glad I didn't have to go back through... right?

The rewards: perfect easy smooth fast desert two track.









Someone had cleared the wash at the Creek...



so it was a simple affair to cross unlike some of the nightmare attempts I've read where it was all like this:






About 20-30 miles later, the reward




A little history


Walking across the bridge




Why walking? Because of this nightmare:


It gets worse above the top of the lip you can see in the photo. There's several big ledges, lots of big loose rocks, lots and lots of smaller loose rocks, and more steps and rocks. I tried. I tried several different lines. I tried loaded. I tried unloaded. I tried walking her up. Maybe if I was a better rider. Maybe if I had knobby tires. Maybe if I had a real dirt bike instead of a loaded up dual sport. Maybe if I had come from the north like every ride report I've read of doing the sheep's bridge did. Here's as far as I got before the rear tire just trenched in and started doing a nice smokey burnout in its new hole.



All I suceeded in doing was wearing myself out... and breaking my throttle tube when i dropped it hard on the right side. Fortunately, I was able to break my throttle grip free once again and break off the offending pieces of the throttle tube so I could ride it out.

So back through the desert I go, back under the dam, and back to town the way I came in. Feeling a little defeated and foolish I ate lunch at a Dairy Queen, fashioned a new throttle grip out of electrical tape, said screw it and got moving. I'll have to figure out the grip later.

The sunset and the last I would see of Arizona.











I eventually limped my way into California and crashed in a fleabag motel in Needles, CA. Tomorrow I'd play in a new desert, one I've been through but never actually seen until now.

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2008 Yamaha WR250R

Saturday March 24

Up and out of Bishop earlyish in the morning, just long enough to get breakfast on the cheap at the Denny's across from the hotel, then heading up US 395 looking for a way over the Sierras without backtracking south several hundred miles. It was cool, low 50's, when I left and the temperature steadily dropped as I climbed up in elevation.







What a wonderful highway! Except for the short-ish four lane parts, it wound its way up from Bishop all the way to Carson City hugging the mountains and running up the valleys in long, winding curves. The first open pass as I went north was near Tahoe. I took the fun road (207) over the mountain into South Tahoe then hopped on my old friend, US 50. It was cool enough out that I didn't want to stop and dig out my phone or camera unfortunately, as it was stunningly beautiful. US 50, as I'm sure the Cali people know, cascades out of the mountains down to Sacramento before merging into I-80. It continued the mornings style of ride, easily and lazily twisting down out of the mountains. Outside of Placerville the storm clouds were gathering and the weather looked like it was going to turn wet. I stopped for gas and lunch, and called Charles (HardWorkingDog) to make sure I still had a place to stay for the night. Fortunately I did and hence I made my way to the city by the Bay.

On my way through Sacremento, I passed a road sign that was unfortunately on the other side of the highway that read off the distances to various towns along US 50. The last... Ocean City MD 3037.



Since I was a kid, every time I went to the beach, I was greeted by its counterpart that read "Sacramento CA 3073".


Word is the California sign is the typo, and is also a replacement sign. Cool story overall

The Sign Battle Saga

Starting down on I-80, then 680, and finally to Charles' house for the night. I had made it, I finally rode to Pacific! I didn't care that it was raining, I didn't care that the traffic was kinda bad and the roads worse, I finally made it! To add the hospitality of a dry garage, good food, and a comfy bed was great, especially since Charles helped me swap my front sprocket to a 14T to get back some cruising speed now that I was out of the mountains and likely to be close to sea level for the rest of my ride and some other maintenance, laundry, etc. His wife's 3-berry jam ruined me too, every other jelly or jam I've had tasted since like garbage.

Sunday March 25 - four days to catch the ferry!

The next day I rode across the Bay Bridge, down the Embarcadero, and stopped in Golden Gate park for a photo a long time coming...









Time to ride up the coast...

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2008 Yamaha WR250R

Sunday March 25, continued

Left the park and headed up and across the Golden Gate Bridge. About halfway across, looking out over the Pacific and back over the city of San Francisco, my mind flooded with the memories of the previous three weeks and last two big rides, and here finally at my goal I was overwhelmed by the moment and started crying. I had to pull off on the first exit across the bridge to collect myself before continuing up to CA 1 for my ride up the coast. The afternoon stayed clear, cool and sunny as I motored north and watched the sun slowly fall into the Pacific for the first time.

And the road... jesus what a road! I've never seen anything snake in and around and back in and out on itself so many times. Thank God for the law that makes slow cars use the turn outs to let faster traffic through, and the fact that people actually do it. I really really really wished I wasn't on a loaded up bike with a nearly worn out suspension.

There is a totally and completely different feel to the Pacific coast vs the Atlantic Coast. There weren't tourist traps everywhere, it felt more lived in instead of lived on, like riding through someone's back yard instead of past miles and miles of storefronts and trinket shops. It also meant there weren't a ton of places to stop for food or gas. I stopped at the bridge over the Russian River at the Indian place there for dinner...



With the sun fast setting and a belly full of Vindaloo, I kept riding beyond what was probably reasonable or sane. It was dark, no street lights or moon light to light the road, rock slides, cows in the road, random traffic, and it started to get cold and foggy. I tried camping in several of the parks on the way up, but I refuse to pay $25-30 to set up a tent for the night. By the time I hit Westport I was completely spent, mentally and physically, and resigned myself to stopping wherever the next camp ground was, money be damned. Fortunately a few miles later there was a KOA. No one at the gate since it was well after hours, so I slipped in and set up shop for the night.

And I froze. Even in a 0 degree bag in a tent, the soggy cold ocean air robbed me of warmth at every chance to the point that I barely slept all night. It was easily one of the coldest nights I've ever spent outdoors, at a mere 40 degrees and drizzling.

Monday March 26

After a night of little sleep, I was surprisingly refreshed when I woke up but still uncomfortably cold. The skies were grey and sullen, but at least I managed to get up, packed, and out before the campground opened. Score one for my budget, and considering I didn't use any of their facilities except for the patch of ground I slept on I didn't feel bad about rolling out.

Pretty soon the road turned inland and rejoined the 101 for most of the day. At the junction, I saw a sign for the "Drive-Thru Tree Park" and of course I had to stop. And of course they were still closed, but I found my way in and around...



It more or less rained all day, so I was confined to my rainsuit and didn't stop to take pictures at all. It was just too much of a hassle to stop, dig out the camera or phone out of their respective waterproof sacks, snap a photo, bag them up, readjust the rain suit, and get moving again. I didn't stay on the 101 the entire time, taking the Ave of the Giants for example and the other scenic byways that paralleled it.

I was constantly amazed at how run down many of the northern California towns seemed to be. It reminded me of West Virginia with bigger trees, taller mountains, less industry, less pretty, and more blatant weed consumption. Maybe it was just the weather and fatigue wearing on me though. I stopped for breakfast outside of Eureka and ran in to a guy at the McDonalds who had just gotten back from spending 3 years living off of his R1. 90,000 miles on one and 60,000 miles on a second R1! We talked about my ride, his ride, how he packed (backpack with a change of clothes basically, nothing else), how he managed to stay comfortable (including several 1000+ mile days, to quote "It ain't hard to run 1000 miles when you spend three or four hours at 140mph :lol: ), why there aren't any more cheap hotels, how much food and gas have gone up in the last couple years, etc. It felt good to meet another long distance rider, someone you could tell just simply understood the 'why' without needing to explain.

Eventually... Hello Oregon!






It stopped raining for a few hours and instead was just damp and cold, but eventually of course the rain returned. By the time I reached Port Orford the wind was howling in off the ocean from the south-southwest thankfully, giving me a push mostly up the coast and the rain was coming sporadically in sheets. I did try to make one stop, at Cape Blanco, which Oregon claims is the westernmost point in the lower 48 (wikipedia disagrees).



This was the dumbest and most dangerous picture I've ever attempted to get. See the little parking pad and turn around at the end of the road? I wanted ride down to that and get my picture there but the winds were blowing so hard it knocked me over while riding. I had to fight with all of my strength to get the bike back upright, turned around, and back to the road where there were some trees to break up the wind. I damn near got blown into the pacific, bike and all.

Eventually made it as far as Florence, no sign of the Machines but a nice, reasonably priced clean local motel with a good chinese place across the street and a hot tub and sauna for my aching bones.

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2008 Yamaha WR250R

Tuesday March 27. Another no picture day because it was another day of all rain all day.

I kept following the 101 until I just couldn't take the slow traffic, dumb drivers (no wonder they don't let y'all pump your own gas), and shitty weather anymore, eventually punted around Lincoln City and made my inland to I-5. Burned up through Portland, which looked more like Pittsburgh or some other mid-sized Appalachian city than anything I've seen for a couple thousand miles, then jumped on US 30 North to stay off the freeway for a while and hoping for something more scenic, and crossed into Washington at Longview, where I got gas to avoid dealing with another Oregon pump jockey. Not much to say after this, I simply burned up the 5 to get to seattle as quickly as possible. A quick stop for gas in Centralia and to contact Clif, my host for the next couple days, to let him know I was close. Nothing like hitting a strange city in the tail end of rush hour in the rain, but I was absolutely amazed at the number of riders out and the way traffic seemed to flow relatively well and consciously of the motorbikes. I guess if you don't ride in the rain you don't ride up here...

Made it to Clif's in time for dinner and spent most of the rest of the evening drying out, getting cleaned up, and planning the next day's moto-tour of Seattle.

Wednesday March 28

One of my favorite things to do when out on the road, I think I've mentioned, is stopping by a town's motorcycle dealerships to see what there is to see and fortunately Seattle is blessed with some of the best. I should have taken more pictures, but... hindsight and all that. I almost have to come back through this way if I leave Alaska so maybe I'll do it then.

First up, the biggie... Touratech USA. They were interested enough to put me on their facebook page under "Parked out front"



I've bitched as much as anyone at the cost of Touratech farkles and basically had written them off as overpriced toys of the rich and overly gear obsessed... but goddamn this is a honest to goodness motorcycle shop run by guys who ride, love to ride, and love making great quality gear and garb for riders. Its one of the only places in the USA where you could literally ride up with a stock bike and money (lots of money) and outfit yourself for a round-the-world trip in one visit.

Second stop was the other end of the ADV spectrum, AltRider.

AltRider: Venture On

They focus on the non-german ADV type bikes (and the germans too, of course) and are kinda like the scappy, grassroots cousin of Touratech. Definitely more of a hooligan atmosphere here.

Had a long stop at Moto International, one of the best Moto Guzzi dealerships in the nation.

Moto International

Had a long talk with Dave Richardson about what's likely to be my new bike this fall, the V7 Classic, bike and Guzzi's in general, then had pizza at the pizza place across the street. The sun came out finally and the city felt like it suddenly came alive with it.

Next stop was Ride West BMW Ride West BMW Motorcyles - Seattle, Washington - We Ride, We Race, We are the Northwest's Motorcycle Touring Resource! . As I walked in the door, I heard two of the guys behind the counter go "Holy shit, an Ellicott City Motorsports sticker!" Turns out both of them were originally from Maryland, used to work at Bob's BMW (my local BMW shop) and were very familiar with the trials and tribulations of local dealerships back home. More looking at bikes and gear I can't afford, then a quick stop at Ride powersports, before calling it an evening and riding home under overcast skies. Spent most of the night bullshitting with Clif again and playing with the dogs, keeping everyone up past their bed times.

Thursday March 29

My last full day in the lower 48. A nothing day really, Clif's wife let me borrow the car to stay dry while I ran some errands (books and food for the boat trip mainly). Later in the day I dropped in to the Eastside Riders MAG (Meet and greet) at Celtic Bayou for and food.



Friday March 30. End of the line, and new beginnings...

Got a late-ish start leaving Clif's house, but no worries at all since Bellingham was less than 2 hours away and I didn't have to check in until 3pm. A quick run up some back roads and some time on the 5 and before I knew it...



I had just enough time to get some food and buy some tie-down straps before it was time to board. Of course waiting in line it started raining but fortunately they let me on early to get out of the rain.

Off with my duffel, strapped and locked my helmet and 'stich to the bike, grabbed my camera, and headed up to the Solarium to claim a deck chair as my camp site for the next couple days...





Bon Voyage!

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2008 Yamaha WR250R

March 30 to April 2 - Alaska Marine Highway from Bellingham to Ketchikan on the M/V Matanuska, and from Ketchikan to Haines on the M/V Columbia.

Leaving the dock


Sunset off the bow


In order to bypass riding through the Canadian interior in late winter I took the ferry, properly known as the Alaska Marine Highway System, from its southernmost port in Bellingham, WA to Haines, AK. The first stretch, from Bellingham to Ketchikan, is by far the longest at about 36 hours. We left Bellingham at 6pm on the 30th and arrived in Ketchikan early on April 1st. Nothing to do but sit around and wait as we slowly sail up the Inside Passage. It was mostly dead calm except for the two or three sound crossings that were exposed to the open ocean swell. On the ferry, you can either rent a cabin, sleep in the lounges, or as I opted to do sleep on the Solarium deck. Its open to the air and has heaters to keep it warm, so even in winter its tolerable. Most of the nights it was below freezing but I stayed warm and comfortable (helped no doubt by my 0* down sleeping bag).





It was actually quite pleasant to sleep outside in the fresh air and out away from the rest of the herd on the cattle erm... lounge deck. The views didn't hurt either.

Morning








Later in the afternoon the sun came out





The boats fortunately have a lounge too, so I spent most of my time there. :freaky



The next morning we pulled in to Ketchikan and changed boats. Changing boats gave me a chance to run around town for the little bit, which is nice because there's no other way to get to Ketchikan as there are no roads to the mainland.



On the new boat Solarium deck :chewy:



















Around 10am on the second of April, the ferry pulled in to Haines, AK. The weather was borderline cold, probably at most 40 degrees, and the roads, at least down here, were clear. Only 660 miles or so to Fairbanks...

...But I'd have to get there first. :white:

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2008 Yamaha WR250R