– 04-Aug-2009

I was ready to take on Yellowstone. This was a major destination for my trip and something I had been wanting to do for a long time. I really enjoy nature and wildlife experiences. The ride from Rexburg to Yellowstone east was pretty uneventful, but did provide a couple of interesting photo opportunities along the way. The entrance itself was a busy place, and instead of paying at the gates, I decided to stop at the larger visitor center and get some information straight from the horse’s mouth. The ranger I spoke to was very friendly and adviced me that going out the western exit as I had planned was not as good an idea as going out the north-east exit instead. He insisted the ride from the exit down to Cody, WY would be very rewarding and most definitely worth whatever extra minutes it would take as opposed to going out the east exit.

Read the rest of this entry »

– 03-Aug-2009

From Boise I was planning on getting close enough to Yellowstone that I could easily get into the park, do some sightseeing and scenic riding before arriving at my cabin. With my plans to enter Yellowstone through the south entrance overthrown and instead attacking through the east entrance, I had some route planning to do. I figured out that Rexburg, Idaho would make a good starting point for the following day and set off to stay the night there. I didn’t get far before I got a grim reminder of the hazards of riding a motorcycle. The whole way from Boise to Rexburg was littered with signs to watch for wildlife, and deer in particular. I don’t ride after dark, and so far I have actually followed posted speed limits or even stayed below. Safety is a major concern, and now with vacation traffic even more so.

Read the rest of this entry »

– 02-Aug-2009

Day 2 and I was already further away from home on the bike than I’d ever been before! Oh the adventures. I woke up in Carson City and checked out Twitter. Turns out a fellow I have been following on there on his own around-the-country adventure on his BMW 800GS was in the Carson City vicinity. Hi Nathan! Nathan is from San Diego and was returning home after having taken basically the opposite route I’m taking. So we decided to have breakfast in Fernley, NV. Nathan gave me some advice about avoiding the south entrance to Yellowstone, which was repeated to me by several other people before I reached Yellowstone. Construction there was apparently out of control and waiting times were as high as 2 hours(!). Hope you made it home safely, Nathan.

Read the rest of this entry »

So. It’s been a few days and I’ve had no WiFi or other internet connections to speak of so I’ll try to get you all up to speed on what’s been going on!

– 31-Jul-2009

On Saturday August 1st I saddled up and headed out of Huntington Beach. I was looking to leave very early, but being the first day of vacation, and due to some last minute packing, I ended up not getting on the road until around 7:30 am.

Read the rest of this entry »

So I promised to get some videos up and I’m finally able to fulfill that promise! I’ve had a lot of fun playing around with my first couple of videos in iMovie ‘09 on my Mac. I can’t say that these two turned out to be any real masterpieces but hey, it’s a good start. So without further ado, let’s get on the road!

Been kind of quiet around here lately; partly because work has kept me very busy, and partly because I’ve been prepping gear and doing some actual riding! For those of you who don’t know, I had spine surgery at the beginning of January of this year so riding has been very sparse up until just recently. I still can’t go on those longer rides, but I have started tooling around town with the occasional excursion to the country-side.

Yesterday I received my Go Pro Camera which I will be using to record particularly interesting or eye-catching routes during the trip. It mounts pretty much anywhere on the bike you want it, or on your helmet, or it can even be worn with a harness on your chest. I’ve only installed the helmet mount so far and will be taking it out for a spin this weekend so stay tuned for some video in the next few days!

The rest of my camping gear arrived this past weekend and I’m very pleased with what I found in the mail.

The sleeping pad is just thick enough to be comfortable and still packs nice and small. I was worried it might not be thick enough to avoid getting annoyed by rocks and other ground irregularities but I believe that was unfounded. It’s not self-inflatable as many other pads out there which is good from a packing perspective and slightly less good if you’re in a hurry to crash for the night, in which case you should really have a seat while inflating it (ask me how I know). It’s looking like I’ll be able to fit all of the camping gear in my saddle bags which means less stuff to strap to the bike and I’m trying to avoid that as much as I can.

The sleeping bag made me just as sleepy, err… I mean happy as the pad. Small and compact, and with the stuff sack it comes in you can compress it even smaller. It’s only rated to 40° but I reckon if it gets colder than that at night just look for me at the closest Motel 6.

I didn’t have to wait long. My tent arrived today! Here’s a quick practice run in the living room…  My initial impressions: lightweight, compact, trivial to set up and very stealthy.  I’m sorry for the less than excellent pictures, my living room is already pretty crowded without a tent to contend for space so the angles from which to get a shot in are limited.

I don’t want to jinx anything but I think this tent will serve its purpose very well. With a little bit of luck I may even be able to fit it in a saddle bag. That’s not too shabby.

The bad pictures also got me thinking about a camera. The iPhone camera might be handy just because you almost always carry the phone with you, but the pictures it captures aren’t really that great, at least not compared to those a decent digital camera produces. The sad part of that story is that I do in fact possess one of these cameras. I really need to start using it, it’s a great little camera.

I’m almost done ordering all widgets and gadgets. Here’s a list of what should start arriving at my doorstep next week:

• Eureka Pinnacle Pass 2A Tent
• Kelty Light Year 40° Down Bag
• Ether Compact 6 Inflatable Sleeping Pad

Hopefully those items will keep me warm and comfortable at night!

However, I need something to carry it all in, so these are also on order:

• KTM 950/990 Adventure Case Set (in black)
• KTM 950/990 Adventure Tank Bag

More stuff to be added as we take a few test runs before the final date to check how packaging and gear is working out on the bike. Oh, and of course I will need something to keep everyone updated with while on the road.

Fortunately this piece of equipment is already in my possession. It’s an EeePc with a solid state hard drive. Small, can take a hit and long battery life. What’s not to like?

While you’re all waiting for the trip to start, please enjoy some pictures of the bike I am trusting to carry me about 10,000 miles.