July 24-25-26

Well maybe not so lucky, but holding my own!
Sierras
Into Yosemite
El Capitan!
From the road side.
Another view of the nice granite of Yosemite.
Poor me, I had to take a nap here!!!


I do apologize once again for combining posts, but things happen! When we last talked, I had sequestered myself in Lake Tahoe, at a semi-high roller suite for a couple of days. While I did not leave town on the plus side, the difference in my wallet from my arrival to my departure was only 3 dollars to the negative. While that may seem like a loss, I did stay in a room that normally is $495.00 per night, had 3 square meals a day, and during that time had a bottle of 1992 Opus 1 Cabernet. So all in all I came out a few grand ahead. (More on the gambling strategy later)

I left Tahoe on the 25th, and as I was departing the concierge invited me to stay for a few more days. I told her that I had to go, and was on my way through Yosemite and across "Death Valley"! While I was not a big winner from a personal point of view, I guess "Harrahs" thought that my "Play" was worthy of some attention. Originally, I was offered a couple of days at "Cesar's Palace", but due to a schedule change, and moving my arrival time up a day, I was given 3 days at the "Paris" Casino. I will be arriving there on Monday.

After leaving Tahoe, I rode through the Sierra Nevada range, and headed down through "Yosemite" national park. Spectacular in all forms of description! I stopped at the outfitter shop in Yosemite Village, and it was full of "total" hard core climbers from all over the world! Yosemite is the "Holy Grail" of climbing!

People there actually, know that the words given to high end technical clothing are for a reason. For Example, "Royal Robbins" was one of the first to climb "El Capitan", North Face clothing is named for the North face of Mt. Everest, etc, and on and on. I saw thousands of tourists today, sporting the most expensive clothing that one can imagine, but in the outfitters store in Yosemite, I saw a few hard core climbers who were worthy of wearing the "Brand (s)".

After leaving Yosemite, I headed south through the desert, and ended up in a town called "Bishop". It is very hot here, and I am on the cusp of the "Death Valley" national park. I plan to get up early in the morning and make my way across Death Valley and then be on my way to "Vegas".

Tim

Lake Tahoe-July 23 08

Why do I pick such bad places to go hiking?
I saw this sign, ate some "beef jerky" and was on my way!
I saw this little "Praying Mantis" today. She was small, once they breed, the female eats the male and she is on here way.
Sierra Nevada's, It was the middle of the day, this is haze from the forest fires.
A view of Lake Tahoe, once again the haze is from forest fires.
My room at Tahoe!
The men's bathroom, notice the seat is up!
The Ladies bathroom, notice the tub and the seat is down! I should have brought the "Mantis" she would have enjoyed the dichotomy!


My how things can change quickly! This morning after I left the Casino in "Colusa" I decided to stop and get my hair cut. I have let all of my hair go to the wind so to speak since I left. The last few days it has been very warm, so I went into a "Barber" shop and got a serious trim! When I was sitting in the chair I asked the barber how far it was to Lake Tahoe. He told me it was less than 2 hours away.

I told him about my plans, and while I am always one to multi-task, while he was cutting my hair, he gave me his phone, and I called "Harrahs" to see if I could change my reservations from next week to this week. While I am not what some would call a "High Roller" I do have some what of an acumen for gaming and over the years have build a relationship with "Harrahs" casino. They always take good care of me, and were more than happy to change my reservations to meet my needs! Well you an see by the pics above that they fixed me up with a good "Crib" for a couple of days. So here I am catching up on my blog from my new digs in "Tahoe".

My "Rewards" bank account is pretty flush at this point in time, so while we did not go to the wine country, I do feel that I nice bottle of wine will be in the offing tomorrow night!

That is pretty much it for now, I will be "Chilling" out here for a couple of days. I will be looking at the map to decide where we are going next, I still plan on going to Yosemite, and maybe hit the Grand Canyon, who knows?

Talk to you soon!

Tim

I missed a day July 22 08

The casino treated me good!


I am sorry, some where along the way I missed a day, I think? Anyway, I spent the night in Fort Bragg, which actually is a town on the California coast, I was going to camp out and seek "Big Foot" but due to the tire episode I opted to stay in a hotel. For those of you reading this blog, who have ever changed a motorcycle tire in the field, you know that it is a real pain in the "A#$". When you are done, you are pretty much dirty from head to toe, not to mention the fact that you have to use every part of your body, to break the bead, and use proper leverage to remount the tire and seat the bead.

I thought all was done with my tire issues, but about 10 miles out of Ft. Bragg, the tire whet down again. I was able to pull off next to the road, I pulled the tire off and found that the patch I had put on the day before had failed. Once again an hour later I was off, it was holding air well. 50 miles down the road I made it to a town called "Ukiah" CA, I pulled off at the first exit and pulled into a strip mall to get a phone book to find the local Kawasaki dealer, when I stopped I found that I was parked in front of the local Kawasaki dealer, what good Karma!

I walked up to the service desk and asked if they had any heavy duty front tubes for a Kawi 650, yes they did, and they were only $20.00 ea. I told the parts man about my problems, and I just happened that the service man overheard my conversation, he quickly intervened and asked me about my trip, as he too had just recently purchased a new 650. To make a long story short, 30 mins and $20.00 later, they changed out my old tube, balanced my tire and I was on my way. Big "PROPS" to Doug and all the staff at "Motor sports of Ukiah"!!!

I headed east out of Ukiah towards the Sierra Nevada mountain range, I have booked a couple of nights in Lake Tahoe, but need to kill some time as they are not until next week.

I was planning to camp out tonight, but in the middle of no where I saw a big building. What could it be? It was a large Indian gaming complex in the middle of no where. What should I do? Well I stopped, went in, had a few beers, played some black jack, got friendly with the pit boss, got a $50 room, which was by far the best room, I have had on this trip. Spent the evening, and when I left in the morning was exactly $293.00 in the positive after all expenses where paid!

Life is good!

Tim

Looking for big foot! July 22-08

See there is a big foot.
Here is another big foot, this one also has a big nose!
Look, there are even bigfoot crossing signs.
This big foot is so nice he also provides services to travellers.
Big foots store!
Nail in tire.
Well if you have to fix a tire it may as well be next to the ocean.

A couple of days ago, I put on my new front tire, thinking I would have no tire issues for the rest of the trip. But right outside of Fort Bragg, the front end felt mushy and I knew I had a problem, an errant roofing nail had found its way into my front tire. Well at least I was ocean side to change it. I did find it interesting that during the hour it took to repair the tire only one motorcyclist stopped to offer assistance, while hundreds drove by. Had this been Alaska or Canada, every motorcyclist would have stopped. The only guy that stopped was on vacation here from Switzerland, he could barely speak English, and had no technical skills, but offered anyway. For California being such a progressive, inclusive and loving to all people state, they certainly lack in basic friendliness and willingness to help. May be if I was stoner passed out on the side of the road with a tin cup held up asking for donations, more people would have stopped.

No matter, I work better by myself and would rather not have a cheering section giving me advice, and hour later I was all fixed up and on my way.

I looked high and low for big foot, I found statues of him, as well a crossing signs etc...He seems to be an awfully nice person, he has a convenience store, and offers all kinds of souvenirs. Maybe tonight I will lay in the woods, slathered with Vienna sausage and spam juice and that will draw him in!

I have decided not to travel down to wine country, due to my means of travel, stopping and doing some tasting is not a good idea, I have been there before, and this is one area, that I feel really needs to be shared with other people. Beyond wine country I have no real choice other than to go through San Francisco, once again I have been there before, and have no real desire to go back there again, besides that the crime rate is high due to the protection laws they have for illegal aliens, and the city of Oakland is going through a big crime spree. I think I am going to cut across the state and hit some of the mountain ranges on the east side of the state. I have also made arrangements to spend a couple of days at lake Tahoe next week, so I am going to work myself that way.

Tim

Hanging out in Redwoods July 19-20

Avenue of Giants, fantastic ride.
The drive through redwood tree.
Ferns of forest floor.
Amongst the trees.
Uprooted tree.
Looking up.
Looking up again, this is the only way to get a good view of the entire tree.

Well, I have just been spending the last few days hanging out in the redwood forest. Once again thanks to the abilities of my motorcycle I have been able to get to the road less traveled and see areas that the usual tourist would not see.
Being amongst these trees has been a highlight of this trip, they are so majestic! To walk amongst them makes you feel so privileged.

Of all the places I have been so far on this trip, this would be my number one pick for a family vacation. While I had a great time by myself, I observed many families with children who were having a ball. When you get around trees, kids know what to do, just run around, climb etc. The only down fall is an abundance of poison oak, which one needs to avoid.

The only negative of this area is the towns here, Arcate, Eureka and others are right in the heart of "Humbolt" county which for those of you who do not know about "Humbolt" county, it is pretty much the Marijuana, growing and smoking capitol of the United States. Marijuana is decriminalized here, so basically if you get caught with less than an ounce of pot, you are not breaking the law, also this is where you can get prescriptions for legalized pot, and this is where most of the medical marijuana is grown.

I am an open minded person, and like many recent presidents and candidates I have smoked the evil weed, and I even inhaled, and quite frankly enjoyed it. This part of the country is an example of something that is taken to a complete extreme, not only pot smoking, but hardcore liberalism as well. There is kind of an anything goes type of mentality, and I feel that there is going to be a backlash at some point in time. The area is just over run with teenagers, and young 20 somethings, as well as many old left over hippies, who have traveled here to visit the holy grail of pot smoking and to become, or relive their lives as "Hippies".

There are beggars and panhandlers every where. You literally cannot get out of a vehicle or walk for more than a few yards without being hit up for some change or a few bills. In the towns you see people roaming around aimlessly just stoned out of their minds, then look down any alley or around vacant buildings and there will be people passed out, even in the middle of the side walks. It is really sad.

On Saturday evening I hung out on the square in Acarta, which is the epicenter of everything going on radical around here. The square was buzzing with the beat of drums, and dancing, also there were multiple protests and marches going on, the anti-war people were there, as well as anti-Bush people, PETA, etc. The were roaming around the square, yelling at people and just going berserk. It was a little scary at times, because most of the protesters where just stoned beyond comprehension, they would yell their chants and work themselves into a fervor, they would get right in your face and yell, while spitting and drooling, thier bloodshot eyes while filled with general hatred were windows to vacant souls.

I believe in peoples right to protest, and I think it is a good thing at times, what bothered me about this scene was that I don't feel the majority of the participants had any real idea what they were protesting about or for, it just seemed to be a follow the leader mentality help along with being stoned out of their minds, most of these were young youths, who heaven help us will be the leaders of the next generation. They were probably born of the hippies of the 60's and 70's, if you think they led us in the right direction, just visit these free love and drug areas and you will see what happens when every thing that feels good is allowed. Complete Chaos!!!

I am sorry, I am not intending to preach, visit this area and made judgements for yourself, just be forewarned that you may have a little culture shock, or should I say "Lack of Culture shock".

Tim

The great redwood forest july 18-08

Welcome to California, my 10 state on this trip.
Entering the Redwood forest.
Getting into big trees.
Fog in the tree tops.
Walking among giants.
One of many great ocean views through the trees.
Me next to ocean.
Bike next to tree.
Looking up two trees.
Looking up, you cannot even see the top!


It has been over 10 years since I visited the redwood forest, and figuring many of these trees are over 2000 years old and nearly 350' tall, they maybe have grown and inch or two since I was here last.

I remember the last time I was here the main thought in the back of my mind, was that someday I wanted to visit on either a motorcycle or bicycle. I was not disappointed. For those of you whom have never been to the Great Redwood forest, you need to put it on your to do list, if you have been here in the past, they are still awaiting your return!

It is amazing to think that many of these trees were here when Jesus walked the earth, through the fall of the Roman empire, the dark ages, the discovery of America, etc...Their immensity puts many things into perspective. It makes us and our day to day problems seem so minuscule.

I have always loved the forest, and walking among these giants gives you a feeling of how great, and grand life is. Not only are the trees so fantastic, but the flora on the forest floor is surreal. Even for the size of and density of these trees, they grow so straight, that the sunlight is able to reach to the forest floor and the plant life thrives. The smell in the forest is of a sweet purity which I have never experienced before. The cedar smell of the trees themselves is like opening a cedar chest that has been closed for years. The moist ferns purify the air and the "duff" on the forest floor is as soft as the thickest down quilt, just inviting you to lay down and revel in one of natures greatest creations!

The first ten miles into the forest the fog was still hanging in the tree tops, the slow winding curves were a motorcyclists nirvana! Perfect in every way! After a long winding climb, I then headed down hill, back to the ocean shore and was greeted with beautiful clear skies and blue water for as far as the eye could see.
Back into the forest the road did run, and this cycle was repeated over and over again.

While my breath was taken away by the scenery, it was quickly restored by the perfection of the oxygen infused air of the forest and ocean.

Much to my good fortune, today was just the tip of the ice berg, I have many more miles of forest to travel and plan to take sometime to walk among the giants, camp, live and relish in their glory.

Tim

Missing pics from the last few days

Seattle Traffic, photo on the fly!
Bridge at Puget sound.
Inlet at Puget sound
Nearing Astoria Oregon.
Side of the road view.
Stopped here for a coke since it was named after my brother, he was not in.
Stopped here for lunch as it is named after my mother, she was not in either.
Last point of the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Nice quaint light house on Oregon coast.
Sunset on the Ocean
Nice ocean pic.
Little island in Ocean
Sea stack in ocean.
I ate here.
Sorry, duplicate pic.
Shrimp boat.
Pier.