Day One ends

Pictures:
-The one place I forgot to put sun block
-The desert hills outside Reno, Nevada
-The wooded Hills near Donner Lake, CA

Alright, I got caught in one of those "dead zones" from all the tv commercials. No phone service, no internet, some place called Nevada. Day one went well, it was certainly and interesting trip. I've gone approximately 560miles and spent the night at a Super 8 motel in Wells, NV. The ride was absolutely beautiful. Passing from rolling hills of California in the the wooded mountins on the CA/NV border then down into the desert around Reno and back into the mountins on the eastern half of NV. It shaping up to be the type of trip where you learn on the fly and fast. So that being said, lets recap on some of the lessons I learned. First, people are crazy. Nothing will make you more nervous than cruizing along and watching all the kids with parents fighting with the kids or people looking at maps while driving. I'll admit to doing a little more rubbernecking going through the mountains than I should have but at least I kept speed and stayed in my lane. Next, the will always be at least one great big "I TOLD YOU SO"......stupid sun screen. About half way through the desert I opened the throttle a little more to pass some tourists and realized my hand really hurts. Ah yes, the little half moon on the back of my hands where the glove latches and doesn't cover the skin.....now bright purple with slight blistors. 2nd degree sun burns on the frist day.....I know I'm going to hear about this one......should have listened to the Claifornia Kid--->haha thats alliteration, because my grammar is sooooo gooder. Sorry everyone else inside joke. And I'll also apologize now for the constant change in tense. This is really a combination of what I think as I look back at it and what I was thinking at the time. So Aside from the sun screen, everything else was set for the trip, I just can't explain that lump in my stomach......wait yup its that nervous almost afraid feeling. Been a while since that was around, but the excited side and logical sides of my brain are going back and forth about the ride to Buffalo, and honestly leaving California is anything but easy after the past 10 days. After fighting with crazy CA drivers I broke into open road.....open construction. And honestly I don't care how much character cobblestone gives to the mountain trails, it is not ok for a highway. Coming from the hills into a complete wasteland of desert is rather misleading. You can see mountains in every direction and towns off in the distance but you don't realize those towns are probably 15miles away and the mountains are over 200 miles off. Really makes you feel like you aren't getting anywhere. Two hours of lonely driving in the desert, not even a semi around. Then civilization just doesn't seem so bad, even if it is the oh so welcoming townsfolk of a rundown albeit forgot place in the middle of Nevada with no phone service and no internet. Roll the motorcycle in the room, lock the door, and wait for the horror movie to start. The only other really fun thing of the day, was hitting a bird. Some small insect eating bird lives all along the highway in NV and one of them thought it wanted the bug right in front of my bike. Had about the same affect as a water balloon trying to go through a brick wall and looked about the same. I thought I was hallucinating because there was no thump or any noise but when I pulled over there was blood splattered from the front tire all the way up my pant leg. Bike 1 Bird 0. So sitting in the hotel I pull out the map to mark my progress. Talk about discouraging. Sounds great when you say a number but put it on a map so you can see how much is left and it certainly is humbling. Thats all for now, sleep and then repeat in the morning.

Day 1

On the road @ 10am PDT. North to Sacramento then east on I-80 until I stop.

My normal life

Alright the Internet has been down so I've been a little delayed. Things finally got back to exactly what I would expect for my life. The new gear I was planning on having for the ride back......nope. Wednesday I learned that the helmet was lost somewhere in Northern CA, the crash bars and windshield were sent to buffalo, and the chaps/leather/rain gear is on back order. This of course lead to a significant number of angry phone calls and an unbelievable headache from the easy to use customer support centers of various companies. This all lead to Wednesday being a complete bust. Little was accomplished, so we wandered on down to the Ale House. The small pub/eatery has an excellent location down town and a rather cozy atmosphere. They specialize in IPAs and other microbrews from the west coast, unfortunately the menu provides enough variety that the waitresses have a difficult time serving the right drink to the right person. Thursday was decided to be a touristy day in Monterey Bay. On the list was Cannery Row (from the book?), the Monerey Bay Aquarium, and then back to Livermore for more riding. The aquarium was impressive. Three full size tanks (probably the size of my house), two recreating habitats and a third for the sharks, several places to walk under or through displays(pictured), and even some demonstrations on the research being done there. Cannery Row......probably more interesting if I had read the book first.....or even known there was a book for that matter. There was however a Hello Kitty store next to an Alcohol/weapons/novelty store.....rather touristy connection I suppose? And then I'm drawing some blanks. That covers the main highlights of that day. Tuesday was also touristy, sorry for jumping around, the Internet has been out. Went back to San Francisco and viewed some other parts. Pier 39 and the Coit Tower (pictured) and getting a little lost down town were pretty much the accomplishments. Ran into someone that had actually been to Clarkson to watch hockey and met up with the former roommates younger sister for lunch. Spent some time watching the waves and the Art Arts (sea lions). We found the Coit Tower wandering down a small alley and then up what seemed like a few thousand stairs. There were some very nice apartments along the way though, in the neighborhood of a million dollars for a flat. The tower was breathtaking. Originally built as a Firemans memorial, it overlooks both the bay and the city, well worth the hike. Pretty sure that covers most of the past few days, so now its back to maintenance on the motorcycle.

2 days till rolling

Maiden Voyage

So yesterday (again I'm trying to catch up) was the first time I had a chance to sit down with the new motorcycle and get familiar with it. Changed the plates over, read through the manual to familiarize myself the with recommended transmission speeds and all the new buttons that weren't on the last motorcycle and then did the walk around. Lights....check.....horn....check....shocks....good.....fluids....good......breaks.....squeaky but working......tires.....good.....cables....good.....boots, helmet, gloves, goggles, pants.....need pants.....pants...check.....lets roll. Started out in the street just playing with the clutch learning the catches, then around the block, then a few more side streets, then....where the hell am I? OOO.....fire station, I'll stop there. Nice guys, so I sat around with them for a while and realized I was on the street I needed to be on for a longer ride outside the city. Hopped back on the bike and cruised through the vineyards and the golden hills to a place called Del Valle Lake. Absolutely amazing ride. Roughly 80 miles round trip. Met a nice gentleman that let me play with one of the gliders they were throwing off the mountain top. Then continued back towards the city. Very easy ride, no more than 60mph, but I'll be stopping by a service stop in the next few days for another lookover and a few additions. All's good so far.

July4th

A day or two late but an update none the less. I spent The fourth mostly traveling San Fran. It was quite the trip, though not quite what I would expect. Certainly a large city, but traffic and crowd was minimal to moderate at worst. It was certainly colder than I would have expected, I even had to resort to putting on a hoodie to protect myself from the wind and fog of the bay. I found the best view of the bay to be from "construction 129" which is an old gun fort that was built to house large cannons to protect the coast from the Soviets. From the top of this fort, there is hazy view of San Fran on one side (pictured) and mountains and the Marine Mammal Recovery center to the other (pictured). Went from there down the back roads, past the NIKE Missle sites and to the Recovery center. Then there was a picnic next to a the Exploratorium, a hands on science museum, and honestly who is shocked that I went there ;) This "city getaway" although right down town was absolutely gorgeous in layout and architecture (pictured). The museum was entertaining, more physics than chemistry but still entertaining. When it closed we ventrued back to Livermore, enjoyed a genuine 4th of July American meal of Chinese food, and wandered down to a park to watch the fireworks. All in all it was an excellent day. Certainly a change from the 4ths of the past (chalk up one point to the east in the east coast vs. west coast rivalry), but good company and good times so still a good decision.

Traveling/the first dayish

AH Flying. Arrived at the airport shortly after 6am and then went from Buffalo to to Vegas, Vegas to LA(outside) and then LA to Oakland. The flight only reaffirmed that I was meant to be on the ground. Minor flashbacks to Buffalo and then some "normal" turbulance followed by a pilot appology of "sorry forgot break after I hit the runway not before" lead to a nervous twitch from a white knuckle death grip that ripped the tray table off the table in front of me. At that point the stewardess, Candy, giggled and said, "how bout I get you a drink to help you relax", but we were on the ground so i calmly waled into the terminal with my bag and newly obtained tray table (that they didn't let me keep) and marveled over the trouism of Las Vegas. The trip from there was rather uneventful aside from the actors I met from LA, which was just a joy. I am currently held up in Livermore which is a nice area, structure wise similar to Tonawanda, NY, weather wise comparable to Hell. Spent the night on a minor tour of the area and then introducing myself to the new motorcycle and doing a few touristy things (I don't recommend the mago ice cream). The night was a nice quiet stroll back from the farmers market while the Livermore police pepper sprayed some guy on the ground, stopping only long enough to smile and give a casual greeting "good evening folks" Supposedly a rarity but I was the only one surprised by it. My first full day in the area was spent doing some touring and learning that the Livermore labs are the only government labs in the country that don't test on living things yet have their own morgue. Also learned some history of the area and did a little mountainbiking while discussing current research topics. Definately an interesting start. No motorcycle rides yet but I am waiting on the rest of the equipment to arrive so no real concerns there. All I've got for now.

Go West Young Man

Updates.....
Motorcycle has been delivered in Livermore, CA
New equipment: helmet, chaps, boots, vest, rain suit,.......sleeping bag
Navigation: 2 USA maps and a protractor

The plane leaves at 7:40am EST and should touch down in Oakland, CA @ 4pm EST, granted that I don't get distracted by the shiny lights on the lay-over in Las Vegas. The updated plan is to leave CA around the 12th of July and arrive in Buffalo approximately the 18th. I have purchased a map and will be deciding the ride back based on that and the weather. Each morning I will be marking how far I need to travel that day to stay on deadline and then try to find something between the start and end of the day that may be interesting. If anyone has suggestions you are more than welcome to send them to me.


Leave for CA in ~7hours