California Cruising

Good Morning! It's August 5, 2011 and I'm sitting in a Holiday Inn lobby in San Francisco, CA. It's been a great couple of days of riding since I last wrote. Wednesday night we stopped and stayed in Newport, OR. While in Newport we took in the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, a wax museum, and an Undersea Adventure "show". Almost every time we vacation with Miranda we stop and visit a Ripley's museum because she loves them. Tickets to this one included the wax museum and underwater adventure. The wax museum was a little bit dates with exhibits such as the M*A*S*H tent. They did have a bitchin Star Wars and Lord of the Rings section. The undersea adventure was just sad. It was in a building that was actually submerged under the water by about 10 feet or so and they had a big window that went around the perimeter and looked out onto their "aquarium." It had a few fish in it but they all looked diseased or sick. There were a bunch of crabs that were fighting and eating each other though, so that was kind of interesting.

The next day we continued to travel south down US-101 through Oregon, enjoying the view of the coast and taking in some tourist attractions. We stopped to see Sea Lion Caves near Florence, OR and actually got to see some sea lions basking in the sun. Again, we continued to travel south and eventually found ourselves in California. We stopped at the Redwood Forest information center and got some tips on how to see some old growth redwoods from the car/motorcycle and were also informed that during the course of our journey, we'd cross the Klamath River. It just so happened that there was a whale that had made it's way into the river and was playing by a bridge on the river. Sure enough, about 45 minutes later we were staring right at a real live whale. Pictures can't possibly do justice to how majestic it was. Given the area it was "playing" in, it almost seemed like it knew there were people watching it and was putting on a show on purpose.

We stayed in Arcata, CA Wednesday night at a janky Comfort Inn, but it was the only hotel that had a room available with two double beds. Thursday when we woke up, we continued on US-101 until it intersected with CA-1, the Pacific Coast Highway. We rode the PCH for several hours. It was beautiful but we weren't making very good time and a couple of us were getting car sick from all of the twists and turns the road took as it followed the mountains on the coast line. We did get a chance to go to the drive through tree though! I kind of felt like Clark Griswold.

We finally arrived in San Francisco after night fall and another HARROWING bridge crossing. The Richmond San Rafael Bridge is longer than the Mackinac Bridge. Actually, I just confirmed that it is 5.5 miles long. After a couple of missteps, we ended up at our hotel for the evening. Most everything was closed for dinner, so we all tried Jack-In-The-Box for the first (and last) time. It was pretty gross.

Portlandia

¡Hola, Mis Amigos! It's Tuesday morning August 2nd. I'm writing from the breakfast room at the Fairfield Inn in Portland, OR. It's been a busy few days since I last wrote. After staying the evening on the Idaho/Washington border, I got up on Saturday with about 12o miles to go to get to Seattle. Friday night, when I was at my campsite I set out to oil my chain as I do most days after riding any significant mileage. Much to my dismay, I discovered some of my chain links were binding up. I spent the rest of the evening attempting to "adjust away" the kinks but it just wasn't happening. So I put my tools away, and decided to just ride my motorcycle to the Holiday Inn in Renton, WA where I'd be staying the night. I was at the hotel four hours too early to check in, so I grabbed my laundry and decided to work on that for a while. As I was washing my clothes I decided to call some nearby motorcycle dealerships to see if any of them had the chain I needed in stock and a service tech available to install it. Fortunately for me Renton Motorcycles was 5 miles from my hotel and had both things I required. I figured it was probably in my best interests to get a new chain rather than ignore it and have it break on me mid trip or even worse, with Miranda on the back. So I rode over to RMC, bought the chain and sprockets, and had them install them. They also went so far as to wash my very dirty machine too.

I was in and out of there in a couple of hours. In the meantime, Laela and Miranda's plane had landed and they had made it to the hotel. I got back there and they were already checked in. It was a very happy reunion. We then went and had a crappy dinner at the restaurant at the hotel. Will I ever learn to NOT eat at a Holiday Inn restaurant?

Sunday we got up and headed into Seattle on the light rail system they had. The hotel had a shuttle to run us over to the station and it took us right downtown. We went to the Space Needle, took a Duck Tour of Seattle, went to a Mariner's game at Safeco Field, went to the fish market, and then had dinner at the Crab Pot. The Pirate store next to the Crap Bot was pretty bad ass and we had a good time perusing it. Miranda was wishing that we could have shopped there before her school musical.

Monday morning we got up and headed out on the road. Since Portland was our next destination, we just hopped on I-5 so we could get there in a straight shot. It took a couple about three hours to get there and when we did we met up with my friend from back in the day, Brian Pickering. It was really nice to be able to catch up with an old friend. It's easily been 16 years since we'd seen each other and there was a lot of catching up to do. He's very knowledgeable about the entire Pacific Northwest Area and had lots of pro-tips for us on things to do and see. He also helped us score a reasonable hotel for the evening which is where I'm writing from right now. Today we're going to visit some bookstore, a donut shop, and Chinatown; after which, we'll hop on US-101 and start making our way down the coast.

Greetings from Idaho

Yesterday I spent my time going from Livingstion, MT to East Glacier Park, MT via US-90. It was a pretty good albeit windy ride. I had planned on camping at Glacier National Park but by the time I got to East Glacier Park (that's the city's name not the actual park) night was already falling. Glacier National Park was another 50 miles away and I just didn't want to risk windy wilderness roads that I didn't know without the benefit of daylight. There was a park called Two Medicine National Park, but all of their campsites were full and the staff wasn't very helpful in assisting me with finding alternative accommodations. I returned to East Glacier Park and went to a gas station to see if they could point me in the right direction. They said that there was an RV park called the Y Lazy R that provided tent camping as well and gave me directions. Fortunately they had space for me and I was able to stay there. All I really needed was a patch of grass and a bathroom and that fit the bill perfectly. I got my camp set up, made dinner and went to bed. It was pretty chilly so I was in fully mummy mode in my sleeping bag.

I woke up in the morning with every intention of just hopping on US-2 west and making my way into Washington. When I got up my camping neighbor (also a motorcylist) told me about the Road to the Sun and Logan's Pass in Glacier National Park. He said it was a must ride and that it'd be a shame for me to be so close and to miss it. With such a hearty recommendation, how could I pass it up? I packed up my bike and headed north to the park. It was an amazing ride up the mountain. I've never experienced views as good as that. It's a really tight windy 50 mile ride from the east end of the park to the west end. It is a very popular thing to do and there was a lot of traffic. Honestly, I was happy for the traffic because it kept the speeds really low which meant less of a chance for me to get into trouble.

After riding through Glacier I hopped on US-2 West and headed into Idaho. I stopped to camp 55 miles from Spokane Washington. It wasn't a very productive 327 miles today, but it was fun.

National Treasures

I've seen a lot of great things since I last had a chance to blog. When I last wrote I was on my way to Mt. Rushmore. I made it there successfully and it was just as awe inspiring as I had hoped it would be, there just wasn't a whole lot to do there besides look at the monument. After visiting Rushmore, I found a KOA to stay at for the evening. It was crammed with people and RVs and screaming kids. My campsite was across the street from the playground which was kind of terrible. The campsite itself was a whopping two car spaces big with a picnic table. My neighbors were cool though and I had an opportunity to take a hot shower and do my laundry both of which were much needed. On the plus side, the weather was perfect for sleeping and I actually ended up getting a really good night's rest.

Monday morning 7/25, I got the bike packed up and got on the road. The Black Hills of South Dakota are amazing. It was absolutely the best motorcycle riding I've ever had. Lots of elevation changes, sweeping curves, and hairpin turns. I rode the Needles highway, Spearfish Canyon, and even passed through Deadwood, SD. Once out of Spearfish Canyon, I connected with I-90 West in order to get to the Wyoming welcome center. I picked up a state map and campground guide there. After that I proceeded to the Devil's Tower National Monument.

Pictures can't convey what an awesome spectacle the Devil's Tower is. It was just massive. I walked some of the 1.5 mile trail that surrounds the base of the tower and it was quite tranquil. Lot's of pine trees and woodland creatures scurrying about. As I was getting ready to leave, storm clouds were rolling in. Since I was headed in the opposite direction, I didn't think that I needed to rain gear up. 20 minutes later I was pulled over on the side of the road doing just that because it started raining. I really got dumped on when I got to Moorcroft, SD to stop for gas and grocieries, but as quickly as the driving rains came, they stopped. I kept going and rode through Buffalo, SD and by this time the sun was starting to set, the ride was getting cold, and I needed to find a place to stop. The Bighorn National Forest has lots of little off of the road campgrounds to stay at and I found one called Lake Side about 45 minutes outside of Buffalo. The campsites are exactly as the name states and are on the side of a lake. It was a really gorgeous setting. I found the site that I wanted to stay at and went to go pay for it at the camp entrance. As I was pulling out of the site, Pikachu decided to buck me off. I was going downhill, in the sand, and hit a pothole that I didn't see. The next thing I knew, the bike was on the ground and I was thrown from it. I'm glad I had my helmet on, because I bounced my nugget right on the ground. I hopped up and quickly determined that I wasn't injured. My next thought was to get the bike picked up as quickly as possible. I had just filled up my tank and didn't want it spilling all over the ground (or on my gear). That bike is heavy when it's all loaded up and I had trouble getting a foot hold in the sand to be able to leverage the bike back up. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts I finally stood it back up. There was no noticeable damage so I rode it up, paid for my campsite, and got a bundle of firewood so my camp would have some light because the sun had just about set and I still needed to set my stuff up. I had another great night of sleeping weather.

I woke up on Tuesday eager to get to Yellowstone. The road to Yellowstone went through Cody, Wyoming and once on the other side of Cody the wind really picked up and made riding difficult. I had to take a break just to collect my wits and be able to continue. The only things I wanted to do in Yellowstone were see Old Faithful and get a campsite. I was unprepared for how beautiful Yellowstone was and how massive. The park is huge. It was about 60 miles from the entrance where I entered and Old Faithful. At any rate, there were no campsites to be had so I figured I'd just go see Old Faithful erupt and then proceed to Gardiner, MT to get a hotel for the night (54 miles away through the park). By the time I got to the geyser it had just erupted and I needed to wait 90 minutes before I could see it. Old Faithful was cool, but the other big geyser nearby called the Beehive I believe, put on a much more spectacular show. I didn't end up leaving until 8:30 and the sun was setting fast. Before long it was gone and I was faced with the prospect of navigating my way down a mountain in pitch black. It was quite a harrowing journey and I don't think that I went faster than 25MPH getting out of there. If you are doing the math, yes it took me two hours to get to Gardiner and by that time all of Gardiner's hotels were booked and all of the private campgrounds offices were closed. My only prospect for getting a room was to drive north to Livingston, MT which was another 52 miles away at night. There is NOTHING between Gardiner and Livingston either except a bunch of signs warning of "Wildlife Crossing." I was able to get behind a tractor trailer and follow it to Livingston so I didn't feel completely alone. I finally got a room at the Parkway Budget Host hotel.

Over the last couple of days I've really been able to experience the vast array of natural beauty that the United States has to offer. Now that I've been able to see it in person, I have a much better appreciation for it.

I'm now 804 miles away from Seattle and have four days to get there where I'll meet Laela and Miranda. I can't wait!

Cross Country Update

Today was day four of my excursion out west.  So far I have travelled throught the Lowe and upper penninulas of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and I'm currently halfway through South Dakota.

I cant't believe I spent as much time in Michigan as I did. The UP is way longer than I anticipated. It might as well be another state all on it's own.  I ended up camping twice in Michigan, once in the LP and once in the UP.  I think one of my favorite parts of the trip so far was travelling along Lake Michigan after crossing the Mackinac bridge.  The sand dunes are huge and the highway runs right along side of it.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the water was really blue.

Yesterday I caught a little border fever in Minnesota and rode too long trying to get to North Dakota.  I went through Detroit Lakes, MN after dusk and was trying desperately to find a campsite.  Day light ran out and as I was getting further south there was an ominus lightning storm that I was headed into.  I decided that it would be in my best interest to return to Detroit Lakes and get a hotel for the night. It was a cheap hotel and they should've provided a mosquito net for the bed because there were more mosquitos in the room than there were the previous night camping.

When I awoke on Saturday it had stormed all night and everything was wet.  The sky was still really dark too and as I pulled out it started raining.  So with my raingear on, I made my way to North Dakota and was there quite briefly on my way to South Dakota.

South Dakota has been surprisingly large. I guess I just underestimate the actual size of the states because I thought I'd be much closer to Mount Rushmore by now.  When I entered SD, I stopped at the welcome center.  Janice was the kind old lady working the information booth and as soon as I walked up to her she handed me a brochure about motorcycling South Dakota.  She also gave me some invaluable information on camping too.  It's a good thing that she did too. The campground I wanted to stay at has been closed due to floooding.  So I located an alternative and made reservations at one of my frequent rest stops.  I am staying at the West Bend Recreatinal area tonight. I pulled in with about an hour of usable sunlight left.  I quickly got my gear set up and made myself a dinner of Ramen noodles.  I made it thought the day today spending less than $6 excluding gas. The primitive sites at West Bend are separated from the electric sites by about a half mile walk. Guess where the showers are. I wasn't even going to attempt sleeping tonight without a shower after being cooped up in my rain gear for ca long today, so after dinner I made the trek up to the electic site showers.  Words can not convey how gorgeous the starlit cloudless sky was. I know it's cliche' but with no light pollution it really looked like someone just put a collander over the globe and shined a light on top of it.  Millions of pinpricks of light flooded the night time sky.  It was worth the walk just for that.

One more quick note, there was a birdstrike on thw way to the campsite tonight. Crossing SD can be desolate at times and with that desolation comes an abundance of wildlife on the roads (especially birds).  Well, one finally hit me tonight. About a dozen of them scattered off of the road in front of me and unfortunately for one of them, it wasn't quick enough and right right into my left knuckle.  Poor guy. 

So if all goes well, I should make it to Mt. Rushmore tomorrow. It's about 250 miles from where I am now.