Day 1 - Vancouver to Eugene
This is how adventures begin... by breaking 2 bags before leaving your origin. So, after trying multiple solutions, I bought a new waterproof duffle, loaded the bike, had dinner, and then rode out to Eugene. Original plan called for Medford, but that just wasn't in me.

I'm really liking this distance riding so far. The current set up is awesome. Bag behind me, tall bars, throttle lock. Weather held, other than a few drops. So far, good ride!

Socialized with someone for a while last night, til well past 2am. Traded a few sips of whiskey for some of his fresh banana pumpkin spice bread, and talked bikes. Also showed him how to play a few games of cards. Maybe one of them will stick. Lots of basic overview.

Today, got word on my license plates. Delayed because they gave me the wrong form for my title, while in the DMV. The wrong form had the same info as the right form, but the title being delayed meant that they held the plates too ... because. *smh* Ah well. They'll be shipped out soon, and I'll have someone mail them to me along my route.

Now, to find some caffeine, load the bike up in a new way, and hit the road.

Today's plan: 300 ish miles. Gas here, around Surprise Valley, Grants Pass, Crescent City, and Eureka. Camping among or near the redwoods tonight!

On-On !

Day 2 - Eugene to Redwoods Coast
Left Eugene after 2 attempts to tie my packs to the bike. Rolled through pretty valleys and hills to Grants Pass. From there I slide to Grants Pass, and a turn off to Hwy 199. I intended to put the GoPro on to the bike in Crescent City, at the end of 199, to begin recording the redwoods. Instead, there's groves of these monsters along 199, before Crescent City. I did stop to take some pictures of them, along with the amazing blue of the Pacific when I cleared Crescent City.

From Crescent City, I rolled further south, to find camping near Eureka. I tried one area called Prairie something or other, but the road in was muddy and very steeply inclined. There was a herd of ~50 elk there, getting their pictures taken. I passed on that area and kept heading south. Along the way, I saw the sunset colors reflecting off of a river while crossing the bridge. I stopped, walked back up the bridge, and took a picture. Another driver was following me to do the same. We said hi, shook hands, and moved on.

At the next campground, we both pulled in. It was some county park along the coast. We decided to pass on that one, and find one we could share for the night. Next one down was some state park. We stopped there for the night. I set up my tent, and he set up to sleep in his jeep then got a fire going. A fine evening of chatting, relaxing, and we went to sleep.

I woke the next morning before the sun and everything was wet with the omnipresent moisture that fuels those ginormous trees. Break camp, say good bye to Andre, and get going. Another short stop to fix the packs, twice, and I'm off.

Day 3 - Redwoods Coast to Sacramento
I rode south through a bit more of the redwood country, before turning inland on Hwy 299. As I rose away from the coast, the hills were filled with fog. At some point I broke free of the fog and clouds and could look back down into a sea of clouds nestled into valleys. Amazing views abounded.

After the coastal hills, Hwy 299 passes through some very quaint towns before it settles into a valley and follows the Trinity river for a while. I took a stop along there to enjoy the view, stretch, and eat.

After this break, I hit construction. There were crews cleaning out fire damage from a previous fire. Waited 20 minutes until our direction could pass. As we started moving behind the spotter car, the clouds opened up. Wet. Ah well. Soon after this I passed Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. I was tempted to stop and get a picture of the sign but I kept moving, having just sat for a while. One day ...

After Whiskey town was Redding and then back on to the super slab of I-5. Nearing Sacramento I got my first taste of lane splitting. It is ... interesting. As I was loaded and not trusting people, I didn't do much. When traffic crawled, or stopped, I would. I saw another bike hit the gap at 40mph, or more. More trusting soul, or braver, or dumber, depending on how you look at it I guess. I did notice that some cars would actually move aside for me to pass through. It was rather civilized, actually.

Once in Sacramento, there were black clouds over head which didn't believe in promises, or threats, only punishment. So, I was thoroughly wet this time. On the other hand, I got a beautiful double rainbow from horizon to horizon, against those black clouds. Very pretty. Then came dinner with my uncle, new aunt, and her class of ground school graduates at a BBQ place in Roseville. Nice joint, good company. Hard to argue.

Day 4 - Sacramento to Bakersfield
This ride was ... wasssszzzzzzzz.... *snort* where was I ? Oh, right. The ride from Sacramento to Bakersfield along Hwy 99 was quite boring. Very uneventful, and nothing but the wide open skies and agricultural scenes of California's Central Valley. I made up for such duldrums with good food. In-N-Out for lunch, and El Pollo Loco for dinner after checking into a very sketchy Motel 6. They need to talk to Eugene to get tips for improvement.

During the ride this day, I and my gear mostly dried out. The camping gear, sleeping pad, and back pack had not fully dried by arriving in Bakersfield. Ah well. Nothing like a 70mph wind in the sun to dry out wet leather.

Day 5 - Bakersfield to Las Vegas
Another chilly morning, as I left early to get out of that neighborhood in Bakersfield. Fog shrouded the hills as I rode out of the Central Valley and out towards the deserts. I forgot how neat those hills are though and found myself enjoying a ride I expected to be bored by. Breakfast in Tehachapi, and then the ride became what I expected. Long stretches of straight highway through the same ugly desert I knew from high school.

I stopped in Kramer Junction, for gas, and saw more bikes than expected. I walked over to ask one group what was going on. I guess there was a rally / campout at InyoKern this weekend. So noted for possible future attendance. A stop in Baker for more gas, and to get a picture of the giant thermometer.

The last leg led up and up and up to over 4700 feet, before descending back down into Primm, the amazing solar facility on the California side of the line, and then on to Vegas.

Day 6 - Las Vegas
No riding this day as I stayed in Vegas for an extra day. I had planned on a spare day in Phoenix, but met some people who convinced me to stay an have fun for an extra day in Vegas.

Day 7 - Las Vegas to Phoenix
I headed south on 95 out of town, and stayed on it til hitting I-10. I was looking for a remembered section of road but did not find it here. I did find a lot of RV towns along the river. Once I got to the Blythe area, I turned left on I-10 and the trip was now east-west instead of north-south.

As I rolled into Phoenix, the sun was setting behind me, a lightning storm happened over the city in front of me, and a rainbow arced over the black clouds in front of me. I was on I-10 though so no stopping for a picture of that, sadly.

Day 8 - Phoenix to Tucson
This was a short day of riding. Morning was spent drying out my camping gear. Afternoon was spent visiting with family in Tucson.

Day 9 - Tucson to El Paso
Many empty miles across the high plains. Every 5 miles it seems, were signs of what to do in case of a dust storm. Looking at the terrain, I understand why. Crossed the continental divide and thought that it's all downhill from there.

Outside of a town called Wilcox is a rest area with some pretty rock formations. I stopped and took a few pictures. I had forgotten how dark blue the sky was in the desert.

While eating lunch in Deming, NM I chatted with a young couple. They left and as I walked out to the parking lot later, they approached me. First, they asked if I had seen the guy standing over there with a horse. Yes. I had seen the white haired guy in a black cowboy outfit, with a black horse and a cardboard sign saying "Want hay or work". The guy of this young couple asked if he could get a few pictures of me and the bike, to paint. He took a few, then his girlfriend took a few of both of us and my bike. We exchanged numbers, but I didn't hear back from him. Ah well.

I rolled into El Paso, explored the Texas highway department's idea of free way frontage roads and U turns a bit, and then ate Whataburger and checked into a motel.

Day 10 - El Paso to Ozona
Another day of boring ride through boring terrain. This was the terrain that often showed up in the westerns: large plains with mesas in the distance.

I decided to change plans and ride further than originally planned, to end closer to Austin for a shorter ride the next day. I stayed the night in Ozona, the "biggest little town in the world" they claim. Neat little town, but whatever.

Day 11 - Ozona to Austin
This was a shorter day of riding. I left I-10 and rode along hwy 290. It was very straight for parts, but pretty overall. Rolling hills and ranches through what is called the hill country, west of Austin.

Day 12 - Austin to Houston
Another short day of riding, a few hours between cities. More time on Hwy 290 until I reached Houston. More time spent in rolling hills and grass with shorter trees.

Day 13 - Houston to New Orleans
A bit of trouble with construction as I left Houston, but I finally got back on I-10 and rolled along. Warm, humid weather had me sweating a little. I crossed the Atchafalaya basin, which is always a bit odd. Imagine a 20 something mile long bridge, over swamp land. Within a mile, I would see signs for 2 different lakes and a bayou but it all looked the same out there to me.

This was also the day I crossed the Mississippi River. I'm officially east now.

Spent the evening with friends in the French Quarter. Was nice to finally see it.

Day 14 - New Orleans
A planned maintenance day, though the dealership here was closed so no oil change. No riding today, just good food.

Day 15 - New Orleans to Fort Walton
A relatively boring day of riding. I'm not allowed to leave New Orleans without getting rained on, it seems. Showers as I left over the bridge, again. This time it was only showers, and not the down pour I encountered the last time I traveled that bridge in that direction.

Day 16 - Fort Walton
An unplanned rest day. I had built in two extra days for the trip, in addition to the two planned days of rest. I used up an extra day here, while attempting to navigate my options for gasoline in the wake of hurricane Michael's path across the panhandle.

Day 17 - Fort Walton to Orlando
Loaded the bike with 2 extra 2 gallon gas cans, and a spice rack (taking for friend), and rode off towards northern Florida. The already silly looking pile of stuff on the back of my bike began to truly look like the Beverly hillbillies truck. Two large duffel bags, a backpack, small bag for the bike cover and tools, and now a 2 cubic foot spice rack, and two gas cans.

The damaged sections from Michael seemed limited, along I-10, to a section about fifty miles west of Talahassee. A section of highway about thirty miles long had several broken trees, occasional debris on the highway, destroyed billboards, road signs, and such. The debris was odd. Usually pieces of trailers or buildings along the road, now blasted into the interstate and then run over by traffic. I did see one large HVAC air ducting piece in the fast lane of my direction. It was about eight feet long and laid across most of the fast lane. A few patches of debris were from buildings and one was a destroyed camper trailer. I saw the frame of it on the shoulder, but much of the trailer and its contents were still on the interstate.

The damaged trees and forests were quite amazing. Initially, there was just a downed tree, or a rare broken tree. As I got closer to where the winds were the worst though, there were two sections that the terrain funneled the winds into. In these places, there was a thick forest of trees, about a foot thick each. All of these trees, with perhaps one or two exceptions, were broken like match sticks between fifteen and twenty five feet above the ground. Not cut, not bent, the tops were all on the ground, all branches stripped from the lower section, and the remaining trunk was broken to sharp spikes at the end. All of these broken trees were snapped from the same direction as well, as evidenced by the patterns on the remains. One side (south west -ish) had damage a foot or three lower than the presumably downwind side. Also, the breaks showed in a similar pattern where the remaining trunk was shorter by a foot or three on one side, and formed a loosely shaped wedge with the higher section on the downwind side. One or two trees like this would be interesting to see. A mile thick swath cut clear through a forest like this, looked like a giant lawnmower came through with a deck height set at fifteen feet. It was quite a sight.

The previous day, I had called gas stations in Talahassee and points further east in an effort to guage how much gas I would need. That day, miles east of Talhassee still had no gasoline. On the day I passed through, one day later, there was no problem at all. Gas stations had gasoline, no lines, and no price spikes.

Despite my late start to this day, a bit after noon, I was traveling quickly. Dinner and sunset was only about ninety minutes away from my final destination of the trip. I caught some more showers as I started the last leg and questioned my decision to push through, but I persevered and the showers let up.

I arrived in Orlando at about ten o'clock, having traveled my longest mileage day and latest hour of night of the trip. 425 miles or so in a day of riding, and I wasn't really all that worn out. I can see doing that mileage day after day, as long as I leave earlier to avoid night time riding.

Conclusion
Two and a half weeks, over 4,000 miles, and I've completed the first section of my new travels. I met lots of new people along the way, had lots of fun, and checked a few things off the list. Next up, who knows!