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.