New Mexico, Land of Enchantment

I left Gallup reasonably early and had an uneventful ride to Southeastern New Mexico where I would meet up with my friend, Greg. He suggested I stop off at the Owl Bar and Cafe in San Antonio, New Mexico, which is one of those roadside burger joints that everyone who grew up within 200 miles knows about but anyone else would just blow right by. It was a memorable enough experience that I bought a t-shirt (yes, that memorable).

Then it was onward. Leaving San Antonio I was driving through the empty desert, even passing the trinity site where they first exploded an atomic bomb. I could see clouds in the distance and it was clearing raining up there but I was hoping that I wouldn't be driving through that weather. I would follow the road and it would wind so that I was facing toward the rain clouds which would raise my anxiety then it would wind so that I was driving away from the rain clouds which would calm me down. Eventually, I could no longer avoid the rain and it hit me on and off for the last 50 miles or so. To be honest the rain wasn't as annoying as the cross wind that was blowing and both, in combination, really made the last part of the ride pretty miserable.

Now here I was driving in this flat desert land, surrounded by brown, dead grass, wind gusting and rain drizzling down and about 20 miles from Greg's ranch and all I could wonder is "why the hell does he own a ranch in the middle of this horrible climate?" Well I would get my answer soon enough. He told me not to go to the ranch first, that he would meet me "in town" which meant the town of Ruidoso. After I made the turn onto the 15 mile road to Ruidoso, I started climbing in elevation and the dead brown vegetation turned into lush green forest. By the time I got to Ruidoso, it reminded me of a Colorado ski town in the summer, TONS of businesses, restaurants and winding roads through hills of pine trees. If you would have told me that was just beyond the dead landscape I just left, there is no way I would have believed you, but sure enough it's like Aspen right there!

So I met up with Greg, and we eventually wound up going back to the ranch, which is an actual ranch - they have many square miles and raise cattle on the land. The guy that runs the ranch, Jimmy, is an actual cowboy. When you turn off the highway, it's about 2 miles down a dirt road to the house, a somewhat treacherous dirt road on a motorcycle - but I made it. The ranch is called the "G-F" ranch, pronounced "G bar F" - named for the brand on the cattle of the ranch and Greg's grandfather and founder of the ranch, whose initials were G.F. Being on the ranch was quite cool, so much open space and so many cool little things that you can do, I can totally understand the draw of living in the wide open spaces.

Now for the good part....



In figuring out what to do for the night Greg said there were about 3 bars in Ruidoso, all within a block of each other. One, called Quarters and not very interesting, another, called "Coyote's" which was more like something you might find near any college campus had loud hip-hop and dancing and the third was a country bar, called Win, Place & Show or just "whips" for short (somehow, in spoken language what should be "WPS" is pronounced "whips"). Of course, to get the real flavor of New Mexico we wanted to go to the country bar, which Greg had been to before and said was quite a riot, and it was. There was a country band and people two-stepping across the dance floor, you could tell the younger guys that just wished they were real cowboys and the older guys who had obviously spent a lot of time steering cattle. And we were of course dressed for the part in cowboy hats and cowboy snap up shirts - quite convincing as we would later learn.

So we had a couple beers there, enjoyed our time, but Greg had a friend and Coyote's so we headed down there to say hi, still in full cowboy gear of course. After we'd been there a half hour or so, I'm standing there drinking a beer when an average looking guy in a baseball cap and run-of-the-mill American Eagle striped polo comes up to me and asks in a Texas drawl:

"Have you ever ridden a horse?"
I replied "Once, when I was 12"
He turns away in disappointment, but then turns back and asks:
"Have you ever steered any cattle?"
Laughing, I replied "no"
He continues, "What about your buddy, has he ever steered any cattle?"
I honestly didn't know if he ever had, so I replied saying "I don't know"
Prying further he says "Well, is he a real cowboy?"
Thinking I might be able to make a case here I said, "He owns a ranch outside of town"
"Well, I know your friend isn't a cowboy, you know how I know?"
"nope"
"He left his hat on a chair to go dancing, real cowboys would never, NEVER leave their hat"
Before I could respond he says "you guys lost me twenty bucks"
I responded quite shocked "what?"
"I bet my friend over there that you and your buddy were real cowboys, but you aren't and now I owe him twenty bucks"
Resisting the urge to make fun of him for losing the bet, I just kind of shrug my shoulders, not sure what to tell him.
He says, "where are you from?"
Thinking San Francisco wasn't the right answer I say "Michigan" - but that garnered the same look of disappointment that I thought San Francisco would have gotten so I figure I can't let this guy down any more and I explain to him that I'm riding my motorcycle across the country and I've been living in San Francisco for the last 3 years.

I don't think when he left for the bar that night he thought he was going to lose $20 on a non-cowboy, Michigan-transplant from San Francisco. But he did.

He went on to explain to me that he and his buddy dress the way they do when they come out to the bar because when they wear cowboy hats they get in fights, to which I told him something I was more sure of than anything else: "I'm not getting in a fight tonight."

He eventually went back to talk to his friend and I had perhaps the best story of the trip so far.

Grand Canyon to Gallup, New Mexico

When I last posted I was going to sleep on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. If I were there now I wouldn't be because they've evacuated the North Rim due to forest fires. Although, my trip was not without the firey run-ins. I knew I had a long day of driving when I left the park Friday morning, so I got an early start to the day only to be met with the scene above. When leaving the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, you travel about 50 miles and there is a gas station and a restaurant/motel and you can either go north to Utah (the road I came in on) or go east and eventually get to the road that goes north-south up/down the middle of Arizona. The road going east is the one I wanted to take and about 5 miles down the road I took the picture above. They said they were holding cars for an "indefinite time" and that the road could be open in a couple hours or many hours. I decided it would be a good time to try out the restaurant 5 miles back on the road and had some breakfast (it was so-so). When I went back down the road it had been shut down for the day, leaving me with few options. Apparently, the fire itself was not that big, and it had no where to go so they weren't "fighting" it, but "monitoring" it, but the problem was that it was burning right next to the road, so they couldn't let any cars through. Not wanting to sit in the woods for a day, I felt I had few options but to go the long way around, adding about 100 or 150 miles to my trip for the day.

One of the first things I encountered on the road back to Utah was a police car in the exact same place that it had been the day before when I rode in. The police car was sitting on the shoulder of the highway, just like it might be if you were fixin' to give drivers speeding tickets. After careful examination, I confirmed that there was not a living police officer in the car but a mannequin with a police baseball hat on. I took a picture but you can't see the fake cop very well. I would have gotten a better shot but I kind of felt like I was blowing their cover by stopping to take the picture.



Then it was back through Utah and the silver lining of the forest fire detour was that I drove passed Lake Powell and since it was 1pm and probably something like 90 or 100 degrees I decided to stop and take a dip. You can see the cove in which I swam here.

From there I went south but didn't go far enough south to catch the interstate, I instead took the 2 lane highway the rest of the way for the day across Arizona and into New Mexico. In fact, since I got off the freeway going from Las Vegas to Zion National Park, I have only been on real interstate freeways for about 20 miles - 10 in New Mexico and 10 here in Texas. Something I've learned, and I suspect this is more true in the west, freeways don't save me much time. I can go about as fast on back highways as on freeways (70-75 mph), the fact that I'm on a freeway doesn't make me any more comfortable going 80 than if I'm on a back road - the fact is that isn't a very comfortable speed for a 600 CC Honda Shadow. And if I'm on the back roads I pretty much have them to myself where as if I'm on the freeway I'm usually getting passed quite often and battling HUGE trucks for the right lane. Not to mention I see a lot fewer McDonald's and billboards on the secondary roads.

So I took a back highway across Arizona into New Mexico and loved it. The only other issue is that I have to stop for gas every 100 miles or so, I can usually make it 150 if I need to, but I don't like to push it. So I have to make sure the towns are close enough and make sure that, based on my lifetime of reading AAA maps, I am reasonably certain there will be a gas station there for me. On this Arizona leg, I too the extraordinary step of asking at the previous gas station if I would be able to get gas if I went down that highway.

So I pulled into Gallup, New Mexico and called Greg, whose ranch I would be staying at the next night. I confirmed when and where to go the next day and considered pushing on for another 100 miles or so. I even drove down the road about 10 miles but during that 10 miles it got dark and kind of cold and I thought better of it, turned around and got a room at the Hampton Inn Gallup.

Just pulled in to Austin

With 600 miles under my belt today, I'll wait until tomorrow to do the full update but just wanted to let you know that I've arrived in Austin at Iftikhar and Rabia's house.

Clearin' Brush

Well not exactly clearin' bursh, but I am enjoying a day or two on the ranch of a friend here in Capitan, New Mexico.

I'm headed to Austin tomorrow to hang out with Iftikhar and Rabia for several days, so I'll catch up on posting pics and stories there (including the story that goes along with this picture)

New Mexico

I copped out last night and got a hotel room after a long day of riding. I arrived here in Gallup, New Mexico, about 20 miles from the Arizona line, around 9pm.

The ride from the Grand Canyon was good but long and made longer by a 100 mile detour because of some puny forest fire that had crept up onto the road. Since I couldn't take the road leading east from the North Rim, I had to backtrack through Utah and around. The silver lining here is that I got a chance to drive by Lake Powell and even had a very refreshing swim.

I leave shortly for a friends ranch in SE New Mexico for the night.

Bryce Canyon to Grand Canyon

Thursday, June 22, something like 9pm

I'm at the Grand Canyon, camping on the North Rim, literally 200 feet from the edge of the canyon. It's pretty cool. I'm not actually sure what time it is because I'm so turned around right now. I noticed a sign somewhere saying something about how Arizona doesn't do Daylight Savings Time but I just ignored it, then when I got back to camp the store was still open at 8:20 when I thought it closed at 8. Well there is that hour, the clock in the store says 7:20 and my only thought is that I'm happy that I'm able to buy a beer and, since I'm leaving the state tomorrow, I don't have to try and figure out what time it actually is.

The day started off with me waking from a great night of sleep at Bryce Canyon National Park - it was a great stay there, I saw some beautiful things, had some relaxing time and rediscovered one of my favorite things - sunflower seeds.

I had breakfast at the same place I had it yesterday, the Thunderbird at Mt. Carmel Junction, Utah and the waitress even remembered me. I got to finish the story on the menu about how the place was founded way back when and I read in the USA Today that it was make or break for the US in the World Cup and even though when I read that story (about 10am) the games had already ended, I still don't know the outcome.

One of the reasons I bought the USA Today is that I was trying to figure out where these Arizona wildfires are that I keep hearing bits and pieces about. Well, the fire isn't anywhere I will be going but it's within a couple hundred miles which I guess means I have to care.

I saw a couple fire-fighting helicopters today from a distance and one up close. The road to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is about 50 miles and once you turn down that road, there is pretty much only one place you are going. I saw 2 helicopters before I got on that road and then when I was on the road I saw one that must have been picking up water from a lake near to the road because it was right on top of me as I turned a corner and then it was pulling up and away. Anytime you turn around a corner and unexpectedly see a helicopter above you, it's kind of cool but this had a mission more important than covering traffic or routine patrol, I saw the detail in the hose that dangles from the bottom and everything.

Today I spent the better part of the ride in my motorcycle jacket which I was pretty excited to be able to wear again. As I was looking at the color-coded weather map on the back page of the USA Today I happened to notice that, in the past week, I have driven through the hottest part of the country. The orange that is the southern US on that map turned to bright red around southern California. The high for the lower 48 was set in the Southern California desert at 114 yesterday. It kind of makes me feel like a chump for wondering why no one was at the Salton Sea. No one was there because no one vacations in 3 digit temperatures. I don't actually know how hot it was when I was there but when I got to Vegas I checked and it was currently 102 with a high around 110. The one upside to this major oversight is that I know that I survived that so the rest of the ride should be relatively cool by comparison.

The Grand Canyon was outstanding. I got in around 1, set up camp then drove out to see the views, which were AMAZING. I took several pictures which no doubt do no justice but are, at least, something. You are standing on a ledge that looks over miles of red ridges and cliffs and cuts around in ways that you've never seen nor could ever imagine. Outside the amazing views from afar one of the most amazing things is how close they let you get to the edge. There are places where they've carved out and put gravel and edging down to make a viewing area and not put up any kind of fence. And where there are fences, they lead right to the edge, no little buffer where a child could land if they mistook the fence for a toy. Nope, just the kid and a mile of air before... SPLAT! I had a conversation with strangers several times from these ledges wondering how they get away with it and how more people don't die.

I've been on the road a week now and tomorrow is the first day I leave a place without and end point in mind, I'm just driving as far as I can. I've gone about 1500 miles so far and it's about 1250 from here to Austin, which is the next place that I need to get too. If I can put down 500 miles tomorrow I'll be happy, that would put me near Albuquerque and then another day and half ride to Austin. To add some "fun" to the equation I've learned that the road I need to take as soon as I get out of the park may be smoked out from forest fires. As of today it was "intermittently closed" which means they are only "piloting" cars through, ie a ranger leads a pack of cars through the smoke. I won't know until I get to this road tomorrow what the situation is but I'm sure that will be interesting. Either way, I haven't showered since Monday and I'm running out of "clean" clothes, even by my lowered standard of "clean" - however I will say that I'm quite sure I don't smell and the clothes are that big a deal.

Self-Analysis of my photos

As I'm loading my photos into flickr, I'm sensing a trend in my photography. I'll pull off to the side of the road and do one, two or all three of the follow:

1. Take a picture of a mountian next to the road
2. Get off my bike and take a picture of the bike infront of the mountain
3. Get out my tripod and set it up on my bike and take a picture of me infront of the mountain

Now, you could probably exchange mountain for rock formation, empty desert, or body of water but you guys get the point. I'm not sure if this is the best technique for documenting the ride, but it's all I've got. It's just when I'm taking the picture I want to capture the magnificant sight in front of me and when I'm uploading it I feel like it doesn't quite have the same grandeur.

Feel free to let me know if I can improve on my photo skills, I receive a copy of all the comments posted to this blog in my e-mail box, so if you type it in, I'll read it!

Zion to Bryce Canyon

I feel obligated to give a plug to Ruby's Inn which is located just outside Bryce Canyon Park, because even though I'm not staying here they are allowing me to sit in their lobby and use their wi-fi. Oh, and they've also got the Book of Mormon FOR FREE in ANY language in case you're interested

Wednesday, June 21, 4:45 PM

Today started real early, like 2:30 AM when I was woken up by the gusting wind in Zion National Park. Of course because I am in a tent, everything outside seems very loud and close and the wind was blowing. It was pushing the sides of the tent in and in reaction I placed all my heavy items (or all my items) against the bottom of the wall from where the wind was blowing. It actually did get under the tent at one point and blow the floor up, which kind of freaked me out. I eventually decided I should take off the tent fly because it was acting as a bit of a sail and catching the wind. This helped a bit although now the top of my tent, which is made of screen, was now exposed. I eventually got back to sleep around 3:30 AM but I woke up again around 6:30 and decided it was time to get a move on.

After I came to peace with the fact that I got a horrible night's sleep, I was ready to have a great day and I did. Zion was really incredible although I didn't even get a chance to see Zion Canyon itself, you can only get into Zion canyon by taking a shuttle bus and I wasn't really wanting to take that kind of time and I spotted a hike I could do in lieu of Zion Canyon that turned out to be just right. It was on the way out of the park and about a half hour hike that ended on top of a mountain looking down at the valley which really hit the spot.

Then it was on to Bryce Canyon, a quick 80 mile ride from Zion, I stopped for breakfast and to take in some of the incredible scenery on my way. I didn't have reservations for a campsite but that was no trouble at all since I was there early enough to get some of the first come, first serve sites.

After setting up camp I rode around Bryce Canyon which is just incredible! The entire park basically consists of a 20 mile road that goes along the top of the canyon. You are meant to drive out the 20 miles then stop on the way back since the sights will then be on your right. You get to the end of the road and you're about 9000 feet up and you're looking down on mountains and formations in Grand Staircase National Monument. At one overlook I could even see the Arizona wildfire that is burning, it was pretty amazing. On the drive back I couldn't help but stop and take in all the incredible views.

And that was about all I've done in the last 24 hours (or all I can think of now) I'm going to grab some dinner now. I'm going about 150 miles to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon tomorrow which I'm very excited to finally see. Then on Friday the marathon begins, an endless drive through Arizona, New Mexico and half of Texas to Austin.

Vegas to Zion

Tuesday, June 20, 2006 9:00 PM Mountain Time

I arrived at Zion National Park about an hour or so ago after leaving Las Vegas late in the day. The first half of the drive kind of sucked mostly because of my mental state. I poked around in Vegas for the better part of the day and even though I knew that I had to drive some miles today, I don't think my mind had accepted the fact that I'd be putting another 150 down on the odometer.

I got up early, which seems to be how things are going now, I seem to be going to sleep around 11 and waking up at like 6 or 7 depending on the climate I'm sleeping in (When it's 90 degrees, you get up earlier than if it's a climate-controlled 70). Last night after gorging at the trough of deliciousness that is the Brazilian BBQ at The Mirage, I passed out around 11, which meant when I woke up at 7, I couldn't get back to sleep. I got on the computer, watched England blow a lead over Sweden (although they are both in the second round anyway) and kind of enjoyed the fact that I was in a place with 4 walls that were not made of cloth and shaped like a dome. I also ironed on a patch to my jeans that I've been carrying with me since San Francisco. See, I have 2 pairs of jeans with me, one has a hole that is growing very quickly and I knew it needed to be stopped. The hole is on the top of the left thigh, so right where I might tug on the jean to get it a little more comfortable when riding a motorcycle. The problem with the patch is that it isn't even close to the color of the jeans, it's blue and the jeans are blue and that is as close as it gets. One is light blue the other dark. They are both denim, but that barely matters when it's so horribly different colored. So, I ironed the patch on the inside of my jeans and it seems to be working, the tearing has stopped and it doesn't even look that bad. I wasn't sure I could put my confidence in an iron on patch, but after 1 day, all is well.

I eventually got to take care of the one thing I really wanted to do while at The Riviera, and that was settle the bill with the accounting department from YearlyKos. The woman who handles it doesn't come in until 10am and has Mondays off so any attempt to try to contact her in the 21 hours that I'd already been at The Riv fell on deaf ears. I eventually got the bill around 11am and there were only 3 things wrong, none of which I was able to get fixed before I left.

I then reorganized all my bags and shipped home a box that weighed 15 pounds! I'm not sure where all they weight came from but I did have some papers that I felt OK parting with after I saw the final Riv bill, a book that I thought I might get the author to sign during my final days in SF and some t-shirts. I realized I was way over-stocked on t-shirts, so I happily got rid of several of those. Because I had all this extra shit, I was carrying an extra bag on my motorcycle, it was a single strapped backpack that precariously fastened around my entire pack on the back of my bike, kind of leaving it to hang off the back. The bag itself is now in that box as well and I am down to a very lean and efficient luggage situation. But I digress.... Since I'm all to familiar with The Riviera box shipping scam that is the "Business Center" and since I am now blessed with a means of transit in Las Vegas, I decided to take things into my own hands and take it to the Post Office. Of course I went about a mile out of my way to get to the post office that Google tells me is .61 miles away, but I finally did get to ship that box home (there is this strange skyway that you turn on from one side of the strip then it takes you under the strip and then onto an elevated roadway and deposits you about a mile from the strip, no exits, no chance for escape. They must have a ton of people that need to get from that point A to that point B).

And on the way back from the Post Office I decided I should eat before I get on the road, so I made one last visit to the Peppermill and then I was on my way, around 3:00 PM. I had to get a bellman to help get my bags from my room to the curb and they stored them while I went to the Post Office and ate, so when I retrieved them, I asked the bellwoman the best way to get to the highway. After telling me driving a motorcycle in Las Vegas was a bad idea, and a story about how her kids convinced her to sell her Harley when she moved back to Vegas and estimating that one person on a motorcycle dies on The Strip everyday, she graciously informed me of the wrong directions. She made a point to steer me away from the strip, which is appreciated, but she forgot to ask me (or I forgot to say) which direction I was going, I guess assuming that no one in their right mind would go to Utah, she sent me south. Luckily I figured this out before I got on the highway, but not before I went 20 minutes out of my way. That was the start of the ride for the day.

Then I'm on I-15 battling cross winds and trucks and in a generally annoyed state of mind. I made it 50 miles without stopping but I was dying for a drink of water by the 50 mile mark. I drank 1.5 liters right there. I drank a total of 3 liters in the 150 miles. Every time I would stop and guzzle water, my mouth would be dry 15 miles down the road, I couldn't believe it. I wasn't even this thirty going through the California desert.

I knocked off Nevada and got a little nibble of Arizona as I passed through for about 30 miles on my way to Utah, the Beehive State. Going through Arizona was actually pretty cool because the interstate goes through this canyon or pass or something where there is hundreds of feet of red rock on either side of you and just this roadway at the bottom, it would have been worth a picture but I wasn't in the mood.

Another thing that annoyed me was that not only did I get a late start on the day but I lost an hour in transit! Where did this mountain time zone come from and why didn't someone warn me? Not only was I late but now I was losing an hour to nature.

I stopped at the Visitors Center right across the Utah line because I thought they might have the number for the park that I'm going to be staying in because I thought they said something in the e-mail about calling if you were going to be arriving after 6pm or so. It was now 7pm. It's a good thing it was called a "Visitors Center" and not a "Welcome Center" because the man behind the desk wasn't very welcoming. I told him about wanting to confirm the campground reservation and he kind of didn't want me to bother calling, he said that I was only an hour away and there was no reason. When I pressed him for the number he pointed to 10 digits on the page but they weren't the number for the park. It was the local visitors bureau - how could he be so wrong? Utah being one of the last states where President Bush has a positive approval rating I assumed that he had me pegged as a Democrat and figured he would give me some kind of retribution for my baby-killing agenda by giving me the wrong phone number to my campground. Or he was senile, I'm not sure. Either way I found the number that I sought in that same brochure and as far as I know Roe hasn't been overturned, so take that Utah!

This is where my mood improved and things started looking up. I only had 16 more miles on the interstate and then it was another 30 on the 2 lane highway to Zion. St. George, the city that occupies the land around the stretch of interstate that I drove is quite charming. There are huge red rocks and cliffs everywhere and houses built all around them, it's not like any city I've ever seen before. Sure I've seen houses piled on top of green hills, brown hills, flat land, steep inclines, sand and gravel - but never red rock. Maybe I'm a sucker for new landscaping but it looked pretty cool.

Then off the highway and on to Zion, I started taking pictures around here and since the sun was pretty low in the sky a couple turned out really good. The weather got a little better and every fourth breeze I felt was actually cool, a sensation I haven't felt since getting off Highway 1. I drove through the charming little town of Springdale outside the park then onto the campsite and here I am. I'm thinking I'll do a mini-hike tomorrow then take on the 2 hour drive to Bryce Canyon National Park where I hope to stay tomorrow night. I don't have a reservation so I'm kind of winging it but it appeared that there were lots of campgrounds right near the park if the park was in fact full and I know they have 250 first come, first served, no reservations sites in the park, so here's hoping one of those has my name on it.

So a day that started out not so great ended with Nolan in a great mood and happy to be where I am. The weather is very comfortable here and I'm looking forward to a great day tomorrow.

NOW I can leave Vegas

In my final act, I just lost $40 at the craps table.... now I can leave Las Vegas.

The sun is hot but the wind is cool

I'm in Las Vegas now, about to head out in the next couple hours. I don't have much to report but I did update my flickr photos.

The drive yesterday was GREAT. I got an early start and the roads were quite empty which makes for great riding. I did 300 miles which was the most I've done in a day and I was in Vegas by the middle of the afternoon. The heat isn't that much fun but it's not so bad, I have some sunburn but nothing bad and once you get moving it doesn't really hurt.

I was taken out to a fantastic dinner last night by my friend Mike who lives here in Veags. It was a Brazillian barbeque of some sort at The Mirage and you have a little peice of wood on the table and when you flip it up, they keep bringing food and when you turn it over they stop. It's like an all you can eat buffet but you don't have to get up. And the food they bring you is not light, it's all meat and it's served on swords, quite impressive. I was so full after that I couldn't force myself down to the craps table that I'd wanted to visit, but maybe I'll get a chance on the way out today. I did, however, manage to lose $5 on the Oilers.

Today I'm off to Zion National Park in Utah, only about 150 miles down the road and I've got a reservation at the campground so it should be a pretty easy day.

Out of LA, into the Salton Sea.

I just got into Las Vegas and will write about today later, here is what I wrote last night. The pics should be good when I get them up.

8:24 PM, Sunday, June 18

I am now in the California Desert. I am in Salton Sea State Recreation Area, a state park that lies on the shore of the Salton Sea, a body of water that was never meant to be. When I did my first cruise through the park around 4:30, there we no campers here nor any sign there might be campers later. I counted 13 people in the park, most of them fishing although I can't imagine eating anything from this place.

The day started in Manhattan Beach still at Rob's place, after a relaxing Saturday we went out for some drinks last night. After Rob gave his dog, Duchess a bath, we met up with a friend of mine from San Francisco that had recently relocated to LA, Binks. It was great to see him and we all had a great breakfast at the Local Yolk.

Driving in on Friday Afternoon I was reminding myself why I hated LA, I was so hot, sitting on my motorcycle, and stuck in traffic - it was miserable. And every time I've been to LA I've left thinking that I could never live in that horrible place, that overcrowded, strip-malled city. (And I incorrectly call everything between Malibu and Camp Pendelton out to just about Palms Springs, LA. People correct me but it's just not worth my time to get it right. If there were a handy way to say "Los Angeles Metropolitan Area" I would use that, but for now I'm sticking with "LA") But after a weekend in Manhattan Beach, I have a much better impression of the region. It was so nice to be blocks away from the beach, where you can just walk around the corner to get some food (instead of driving) and everybody seemed to have a much better attitude that I've seen in LA in past visits. So LA has earned back some points in my book via the "beach communities"

So I hit the road today around 2pm, not too bad considering I only had to go about 150 miles. I got almost no traffic going through LA and out to Rivierside (about 50 miles) although I do hate driving in LA, all the expressways and merging - not my idea of fun. But once I got out toward Palm Springs things started looking up, there were fewer cars on the road an just a much more enjoyable drive. It was hot though, VERY HOT. At times it felt like someone was taking a huge hair dryer and blowing it all over my body and even though I ditched the riding jacket and gloves for a simple t-shirt it was still darn hot. I put on sunblock 3 times in my 4 hour drive and still got sunburned on my arms, I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with this since the thought of wearing long sleeves in this heat pretty much makes me want to throw up, I think I'm just going to have to keep on with the SPF and let it take it's course. I remember thinking the heat was really bad when I was driving but now looking back on it, I don't recall it being so unbearable. I'll certainly have some more time to refine my thoughts on the hot, hot heat of the desert.

The first time I'd heard of the Salton Sea was in a movie by the same name that wasn't really about the Salton Sea, just that parts of it took place there. The movie was pretty decent but lets just say it's not a family film. Then my friend John tells me about a documentary he saw about the Salton Sea, how it's such a strange place that was never meant to be but still exists for some reason and how the people who live near it are very strange. I haven't seen the documentary and I can't even remember what it's called but the idea intrigued me. the Salton Sea used to be an arm of the Pacific Ocean hundreds of years ago and then dried up by the time while folks started settling California. In the early 1900s some people had the wise idea to divert some of the Colorado River this way so they could irrigate fields and grow crops, they built a bunch of canals and then a few years later the canals burst and the Colorado started flooding the area. I guess it flowed for 16 months before they could get it to stop flooding the valley, and that created the Salton Sea, which was then fresh water. But there was no fresh water to replenish the Sea so it became salty from the runoff from the mountains, which is its only source of water. It's now evaporating water faster than it's gaining water and thus getting more salty. So, it has issues. The excess saltiness leads to fish dying quite a bit, which makes me wonder why people were fishing. I saw dozens of dead fish lying on the banks of the Sea today and took a picture of a few.

So, then there is my visit today. It's hot and I'm pretty much in the middle of nowhere, it's very desert-y and the two lane road I'm on is far from crowded. I wasn't able to reserve a campsite for this night but something in the machine I listened to made me think it wouldn't be a problem. Not only was a able to get a campsite but I have the whole thing pretty much to myself. When I pulled in there was no one at the ranger station at the front gate and there were instructions on how to pay for your campsite by putting it in a envelope and dropping it in a slot. I cruised through the park to pick out a campsite and it turns out, they were ALL available. It was eire, lots of parking, boat slips, a mini-marina, a boat launch, a playground and it was all empty and being pelted by the hot sun - I kind of wondered if staying here was a good idea. After taking some pics of the space, which failed to capture the strangeness of it all, I drove down the coast a little bit to check out the other campsites, and check for signs of life. The other sites were more vacant than the original and some were even behind a locked gate. I did make it down to Bombay Beach, (on a tip from my friend Mona) which was still more bizarre. Trailers and manufactured homes occupied what might have been a "normal" subdivision if not for the fact that every other house was empty and poorly maintained and it was adjacent to a lake in the middle of the desert. There was a store and a restaurant but both were closed by the time I got there. I'm just struck with the feeling that there shouldn't be anything out here and when there is, and it's got such a strange flavor to it, I'm totally baffled. Then I drove down another 30 miles to a town where I bought some water and gas, on the way back I had to go through a border and immigration check point but they guy just waived me though. I've never seen anything like that before, I understand from my New Mexican friends that it's quite common within a hundred miles of the border or so (I'm now about 75 miles from Mexico). I got back to the original camping place and paid my $12 (it was actually only $11.94 since all I had else was a 20) and by the time I got there it was bustling - two other camping parties! One in an RV, one a tenter like myself. I have to admit it was a little comforting to know that I wouldn't be the only person sleeping here tonight.

Since it's now past 9pm and there are bugs crawling all over my screen, attracted by the light, I'm going to end it here. I have my longest day yet tomorrow, about 300 miles to Las Vegas, mostly on 2 lane highways through the desert. It should be fun but it's going to take a while so I've got to get an early start.

Into LA

I'm now sitting on the porch (see photo below) in Manhattan Beach in some of the most comfortable weather imaginable. I can just barely see over the railing to the horizon where the blue ocean turns into the blue sky through a hazy fog. It's very nice.

Yesterday I started off from San Simeon, California and the first milestone was very quick. I hit 10,000 miles on my motorcycle about 10 miles into yesterday's ride. You can see in the photo that the meter is at 10,000.9 and that is because I was trying to get an interesting background to my shot before it rolled over to 10,001 but to no avail.

The first real stop was for Breakfast. It was about 10:30 or 11am and I had a choice between two places that were next door to each other. One looked like a standard breakfast shop and the other had a barbecue fire going in the parking lot. The sign for the BBQ place did say "breakfast" so that made my choice easy. The place is called The Rusty Pig. I asked the woman manning the grill if they had breakfast and she said they stopped serving breakfast but that they were open for lunch. I checked out the menu and decided I should try something that I wouldn't normally try, in the spirt of the trip. I got a Chicken Sandwich with cheese, bacon and ranch - just the right way to start of a day, right? Anyway the sandwich was messy and good and then I stepped into the parking lot only to discover I'd left the keys in my motorcycle which means that I also left the lights on which means the battery is dead. Not good. There was another paid of motorcyclist in the restaurant at this time and I went to them seeking advice. I actually just needed to know the specifics of popping the clutch, I knew how to do it except I can't ever remember what gear you are supposed to be in when popping the clutch, the answer is second gear. After weighing our options he offered to give me a push to help pop the clutch and it started right up. I'm sure this won't be the last time I do this on the trip so it's good to know it's pretty easy. I said good bye to my latest savior and rambled on.

From there it was just a matter of chugging on through. Highway 1 is an interesting place to ride a motorcycle, the hills, the ocean, the valleys and the turns are all great, but it's kind of inconsistent temperature wise. When you're riding along the ocean the wind gusts at you with a chill breeze in it, I can feel it in on my face and through the air vents in my jacket - it doesn't make you cold but it gives you a little chill and makes you want to close up the vents. Then the chill wind stops blowing and you feel the heat, or you cut away from the ocean inland and all you feel is heat, this makes me want to open up those vents and ride with the windshield up. Back and forth, hot and cold, chill and warmth - it gets kind of annoying to be honest.

Then I get near Santa Barbara and the LA traffic starts! There was a 10 minute traffic jam on the highway around Santa Barbara and I knew it was going to be a long ride the rest of the way. It cleared up a bit in spots but other times it was just slow as can be. I realize now that I'm going to try to avoid major cities as much as possible, the heat I can deal with but the heat when I'm standing still it too much. If you are on a road and the speed limit is 65 or higher and you have to put your foot down on the pavement, something is terribly wrong.

Last night Rob had to work 11p-5a shift so we went to a movie (Nacho Libre - not that great) and he is back at work today (I don't get it either) but we should find some time to have a little fun tonight. Then I'm taking off tomorrow mid-day to get over East of LA to the Salton Sea, which I'm pretty excited about seeing. After that here is the tentative schedule (subject to change):

Sunday, June 18 - Manhattan Beach to Salton Sea
Monday, June 19 - Salton Sea to Las Vegas
Tuesday, June 20 - Las Vegas to Zion National Park, Utah
Wednesday, June 21 - Zion Nat'l Park to Bryce Canyon Nat'l Park
Thursday, June 22 - Bryce Canyon to Grand Canyon, AZ
Friday, June 23 - Grand Canyon, AZ to Western, NM
Saturday, June 24 - Western, NM to Western, TX
Sunday, June 25 - Western, TX to Central, TX
Monday, June 26 - Central, TX to Austin, TX

I'm not sure what the internet situation is going to be but I hope to be able to post a couple things along the way and I'll be writing my thoughts everyday, even if I can't post them right away.

Right now I'm going to get lunch and take a walk on the beach.

SoCal

This post is in real time

I just got into Manhattan Beach to stay with my old SF roommate Rob last night. I'll be here for a couple days. As you can see he has a great view and a dog. More to come later...

this entry was written on the road, without an internet connection so it's being posted now, I'll probably be doing a bit of this

Thursday, June 15, 8pm

I'm in San Simeon, California right now, at a campground which cost me $25 dollars! Isn't camping supposed to be cheap? I was thinking camping would cost about half that, I may have to figure out an alternate plan for accommodations along the way.

Good day for a first day today, I was going to leave SF at 9am but didn't get out of there until noon, had to take the freeway pretty much to San Jose then cut over to Santa Cruz because there were mudslides on Highway 1 north of Santa Cruz. The highway part was annoying but went along fine, I was kind of nervous because I've got yet another configuration of luggage on the back of the bike. It's pretty much the same except I put the backpack upside down (so the light sleeping bag is in the air and it's not top heavy) and I wrapped a single strap backpack around the entire thing. I have too much stuff, I brought more back from Vegas that I thought I would and I can't let it go because I think I might need some of it, of course I probably don't. I may mail a mini-package home from Los Angeles this weekend. So, anyway, went through (around) Santa Cruz, finally got on Highway 1 which was still pretty congested until Monterey when it opened up. It was great riding from Monterey, except my ass started to hurt, which is I guess something that I'm going to have to get used to.

I stopped in Big Sur for lunch and I think it was the same place my parents and I stopped in 1992 when we drove up the coast. That otherwise unimpressive lunch lives on in Treadway lore because there were two Bob's in the restaurant and my father picked up the other Bob's order. When the other Bob discovered this he brought it to the attention of the service representative and she suggested that he take it up with my Dad, not wanting to get involved in what was obviously a customer-to-customer problem. I'm not even sure how it was resolved but I do know that it has not been forgotten. Anyway, that is where I ate.

I had my first reality check with the size of a motorcycle fuel tank today. Generally, you can go about 100 gallons on a regular tank and another 30-50 on the "reserve tank" depending on what kind of mileage you are getting. I was about 40 miles from San Simeon and I had gone about 80 miles since the last fill up, I pulled into a gas station only to learn that is was only Full Service (what is this 1955?) - I didn't want anyone else to fill up my rig, so I figured I'd push it on to the destination, knowing I had the reserve tank to save me. I got near San Simeon and I was right where I was supposed to be on gas, I just needed to find the San Simeon fuel station and I'd be all set! Except I pulled through what I thought was all of town and there was no gas station. I frantically pulled into the last motel, a Motel 6, and asked the front desk agent where the nearest gas station was. To my relief it was only 5 miles away but that had me scared and it had me wondering how I am going to deal with Arizona and New Mexico fuel situations if I can't make it down Highway 1 in California. Well there is not much I can say except lesson learned. (an interesting side story: when I told my mechanic that I was driving across country on the bike that he had been servicing for the last year and a half, I asked if he had any pearls of wisdom. He simply said "when you see a gas station, pull in and fill up" - little did I know he would be so right)

Nothing else to report from the first day of travel, my friend Jen gave me a thrown together going away present that has already served me well. It included: Chap Stick with Sunscreen (used it today), sunscreen (can't have too much), a Shell gas card (used it today) and a funny sunscreen for your face that is applied like a glue stick which I also used today. The stick sunscreen is perfect because I've already got my helmet on and and I can just stick it through the window and grease up. Quite handy.

As I mentioned I'm now in a campground and despite the fact I remind myself this after every time I camp, I'm always surprised how many kids and families there are. I guess I'm somewhat age-centric, thinking that because I'm a 20-something and go to campgrounds other 20-somethings do too, but that is clearly not the case. I supposed I'll be learning more about the demographics of campgrounds in the coming weeks. It's kind of cold here now, maybe around 50, I was really hoping for some heat but I guess that will have to wait until I'm further south.

Tomorrow (Friday) it's on to Manhattan Beach to stay with former roommate Rob for the weekend before heading East in some general direction on Monday.

On the road

I'm heading out on the road this morning. I was planning on posting and finishing the story I had started a couple weeks ago but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. The short story is that my parents and my brother and sister-in-law landed the Tuesday after Bay to Breakers and we headed out to Yosemite Wednesday morning, where we were until Friday. We then came back to the Bay Area, picked up my sister and we together through Tuesday in SF. I moved out of my apartment Wednesday, stayed with a friend in SF that night, then went up to Sonoma where I stayed with Gina and Rob (and a dog and two cats). Gina is the Executive Director of YearlyKos, the convention that I've been working on for over a year that took place in Las Vegas last weekend

But all that is history now, I'm leaving San Francisco in a few short hours. I'm sad that I'm leaving such a great city but I'm excited for the ride that I will shortly undertake. I've got about 220 miles ahead of me today, I'm driving down highway 1 to San Simeon, where the Hurst Castle is.

The goal of this blog is to write quite often, which is something I'll be able to do each night from my tent, and then I can save them, put a date and time on them and post them the next time I'm near wi-fi. I guess I don't know for sure if it will work that smoothly, but I'm trying.