Day 4 - San Fransico

So today I woke up early to more fog that was thick enough to mist on everything. I got on the road about 8 and was back on the wonderful Highway 1 but it was little wet as well so I couldn't open her up. Just more flying down the California coast in the fog so I couldn't see anything so there was no where worthy to stop at to take any pictures. There was apart of the coast that looked like it should have belonged on the Scotland or Ireland coast but that Hwy 1 doesn't allow any stopping on the parts that I want to stop at. There are only turn offs for slower vehicals but there was never anything good at them. One little interesting bit I was coming out of a right hand corner and my foot whilst it was on the peg just lightly kissed the ground.... I thought my boxes or the crashbars would hit before my pegs but I was wrong. I toned it back a little after that but it was good to safely albiet scarry to find that limit.

Then still riding on the 1 you see a few cars then out of no where they were every where and then 1 more mile you were in civilization just like that no warning or anything. Then a few short miles and I was to the Golden Gate Bridge. I stopped at the top of the hill where there was an old army battery which I had no idea it was there. And while I was there apparently a plane crashed just out side the harbor. After a bit of hiking about I got on the highway to head to my friend Bryan's place. I got back on the highway and what a mad house that place was. I ended up riding down along the waterfront and the bike almost overheated but I got moving just in time battled through some more traffic and now I am here. I'll have to find something to do tomorrow because Bryan will be on duty but after that should be a good time running amuck in San Fransico and out lying areas.

Day 3

So here it is day 3 and the biggest thought it my head is this is just scratching the surface of the trip to come.

Today started out with a short 20 mile run to the "Tree's of Mystery" ( in a big ghoastly voice). It wasn't all the mysterious but impressive none the less. I will add some pictures when I have internet. The place just cemented the fact that the redwood tree is an amazing feat of nature. Their tenacity to grow is undaunting. Where one tree failed to reach sun light another one seems to sprout from the trunk and find its way which then keep the original tree nurished and still continued to grow, amazing. Took the tram to the top but everything was covered in fog, another reason why I haven't stopped much or taken very many pictures.

I then found my way on to US HWY 1 where I was determined to find the limits of my self and the motorcycle. So man twists and turns I had the largest smile on my face. Made a few scetchy passes so I could have the road to myself once again. For 22 miles the straightest section was only about 100 yards. Then you just burst right onto the coast with out even a hint of it except for the temperature. When I started on the 1 it was a comfortable 87 degrees then dropped to 60 on the coast where I stopped to have a snack and put on some warm clothes. The last person I passed ended up 10 mins behind me and I didn't stick around to see the others. There was a nice little ride to Fort Bragg where I topped off on fuel tomorrow and then came down here to Russian Gultch State park where I set up camp for the night. Tomorrow I will ride down in to San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge then up to Bryan's place. Should be interesting.

Day 2

Well alright this is the first night camping of the epic adventure. It doesn't seem all that epic right now, I gotta say. I have seen pretty much all of the Oregon coast so it all seemed pretty normal. Cesent City, CA which I am just outside of right now was only 20 miles from the border doesn't look all that different from what I am used to. Thick under brush and ferns and a whole lotta ocean the only difference is the massive Redwood trees. You hear about how large they are and how impressively tall they can grow, but untill you see some of these trees, you have no idea. If you just look at trunk size and compare it to, lets say and Douglas Fir, with the same trunk diamerter the redwood is twice as tall, very impressive. This is not to mention all the old stumps you see of the really old growth trees and then you just loose your mind trying to think about how tall the trees are.

I am in a camp ground in the Del Norte state forest with huge bear vault containers for everything.... Dinner was a little big of de-hydrated beef stroganoff, delicious... I am not just going to hang out for a bit and read my book cause it's hard to carry fire wood on a full motorcycle. Tomorrow is going to be the beginning of exploring new places I have never been and I am really excited cause I still don't feel like the trip has started yet.

To my father who very insitantly pushed me into getting a long sleeve mid weight shirt, which I was apposed to because I was headed to the desert. It is the only piece of clothing that I have worn the whole trip beside my chonch shorts...

Day one-ish

Well I left Anacortes on the 22nd of July at about 11:30 because it was pretty socked in with fog. I made it to the Keystone ferry to Port Townsend about an hour before it left so I spent some time just reading and hanging out. Met some people on Harley's that were headed from Canada all the way around the sound. Spent most of the time talking engines because one of the guys was in the Canadian Coast Guard and now is an engineer on BC ferries. Well the rest of the trip went pretty easy down to Astoria. Spent a few days there and had a great time. This morning I went and saw and friend that I worked with a few years ago and was headed back to the place that Hillary was staying at and was turning into the driveway and a stupid SUV took a wide turn right when I was turning into the driveway and I turned a little sharp and dumped the bike right onto its side. I knew it would happen sooner or later I am just glad it was in public. The bike got a few little scratches but thats it and now I know that I can pick it up! Well I got on the road a little late around 2:15 or so today, the 25th of July. The traffic was really horrendous, it took me an hour to get out of Seaside which would normally take 20 mins from Astoria. It got pretty chilly about 20 miles outside of Tillamook so I stopped at a look out point to put my liner on and started talking to another biker on a 1200 gs and we chatted for 30 mins or so, pretty much about our bikes and what we have done and plans for the next upgrades. Anyway the rest of the trip down here to Newport, OR was just tons of traffic and tons of idiots. I decided to stay at a hotel cause I was riding till about 6:30 and just wanted to sleep quick and then get up early and start riding with out having to break down camp. Thats the quick update I will try to be more on time with these things as I have internet access. And I am getting better that this netbook tiny keyboard thing.

In the beginning

This is my first time blogging and I am not to sure what to do here just yet but I thought I would lay out in short hand what this blog is going to be about.
I have just recently finished my tour with the US Coast Guard and had around 70 days of vacation saved up and was really trying to come to terms with what I was going to do in the "real" world. I have been looking and following adventure motorcycle forums and been looking at bikes and bike parts for quite some time now so I arrived at the conclusion that I was just going to get a bike and ride it around for a few months. Let me tell you it sounded a lot easier then what it has been looking like in the last week or so. So much stuff to think about as far and being prepared for the unknown and making sure that I have all the right stuff with out over loading the bike and the skills of myself as a rider.
A lot of people might call me crazy for doing this cause it really has been such short notice and with out much skill as a rider and then on top of that doing it by myself. But I have one thing to say, if not now, when? I think that learning and growing as a person is about putting your self in challenging situations and working your way of them all the while learning life's little lessons and about yourself and what your limits are as a person. I have been in a job where I work really hard but pretty much had everything laid out for me. I have been going on like a robot and just feeling like some one owns you and you have no control what so ever. So what and opportunity to just have myself telling me what to do.
So the only planned stop on this trip are to see my friend Bryan in California and Sam in Texas. I plan to wake up each morning and looking at an atlas finding a place to be the next night then looking how to get there. I am so luck to be able to do this especially on the bike that I was able to acquire, it's a 2009 BMW R 1200 GS, really the bike of my dreams and the bike that I have been lusting over for a long time. Well I think that is it for tonight, I am exhausted and am tired of my fat fingers pushing everything except the keys I want on this tiny Netbook.