A Roadie in Motion

[AngryScot]

great report!
nice pics!
I need more salt

[swingset]

Great report, beautiful pictures.

[ncooper]

Great report!!

Enjoy the time off, doing tours takes its toll. (I never had the stones for it)

Riding is more fun than working anyway!

[ktmnate]

Great report. It was a pleasure riding with you in Death Valley. You and that 800 are a good match. You sure put it through its paces.


Nate

[tedder]

wow, great ride report so far. I'm still waiting for the F800 info (I didn't miss it, did I?).

What's your GPS?

[One Eye Mike]

Very Cool photos.

[IceCreamSoldier]

As I recall, the R got to spend a night in the hotel room on it's maiden voyage. Another great report/pix/narrative/

[1P8RIOT]

Front Page!!!

[Lost Rider]

Where was I???
Santa Cruz... that's right..
Taking my time, charging my phone and laptop - just taking in the view....
I can charge for about 45 minutes from my bike's battery before the inverter turns itself off, leaving me enough juice to still get started. I usually only drain my bikes battery when camping near others... just in case.







for you gear heads, this is how my D90 and SPOT roll...




I was contacted by inmate bajuses while packing ( who I had heard of his extensive travels from his brother I met in Sac.) and went to go meet up with him at Alice's, a motorcycle hang out, about 55 back north.
We met up, had lunch ( Thanks!) and had a great time exchanging stories and thoughts... spent the whole afternoon hanging out, then we went for a short ride heading back south.













traffic going back through Santa Cruz.... got to love lane splitting in Cali. most drivers are actually courteous.





Even though I really got such a late start, I wanted to ride a couple hundred miles south today....

stopped for some homemade tamales to save for later






The sunset ride along the coast was magnificent, enjoying HWY 1 and the view I didn't take any photo's... but here's what the PCH looks like at night.





I had a few more hours to go after dark, and really enjoyed the ride. The moon was bright so you could see the ocean and the outlines of the mountains still, plus there was very little traffic - which you could see the headlights miles away winding along the coast.






I stopped and ate the Tamales, overlooking the coast, listening to the waves crash... It was very cool sitting there in the moonlight. very peaceful.






Getting into a campground around 8:30, just south on Limkiln SP, I was tired... It was a perfect 60ºF with a nice moon, my site overlooked the ocean and was fairly secluded. sweet.
I sprung for some $4 wood, since I had *forgotten* to register....
After working on my bike for a few, replacing the Gerbings controller that Marin had so nicely swapped out for me I went to start the fire.
The wood was so wet I couldn't keep it going... since it was so warm I didn't sweat it much, but after a little scotch I thought, "WAIT I can get this going, I have GASOLINE!"
Needless to say after a huge fireball that lit up the whole campground I did get it going.
no pics.
Anyways, since I was wanting to get out fast and early, and it was so nice out I decided to just sleep on the large table in my bag... falling asleep was great, moon, stars, ocean...
then I woke up to rain drops and wind.
shit.
of course the one night I want to just sleep under the stars a storm comes in...
so there I was setting up my tent in the rain, laughing at myself for not even looking at the weather in days.
Mr. prepared

I got the tent up quick and my bag was dry enough.
It rained like hell most of the night, I was nice and dry and slept well.




In the morning I was reminded by a friendly Ranger that I *forgot* to register and paid.
Lucky for me there was a break in the weather, I seemed to be surrounded by ominous clouds, but no rain here - for now.

The early morning ride was nice, with overcast skies. No more perfect-ville, and fine by me.




















Taking some advice I stopped to watch the Elephant Seals, so cute, so weird sounding, yet so aggressive and big... very interesting to see from a few feet away.
Here you go Doug...
























Stopped for lunch here... hmmm









continuing south on HWY 1








About 200 miles from L.A. it started to rain, with the wind gusts pushing me around - the GS is not as stable in wind as the R.

It went from just raining, to pouring about 100 miles out.
Did I mention traffic? Lots of heavy traffic, I found myself sitting in traffic until another bike went by splitting lanes in the rain, then I would remember it's LEGAL!

I rode it torrential downpours in heavy traffic for hours, mostly staying dry - my Rev'It gloves soaked through after 2 hours...





I saw many accidents because SoCal drivers can't drive it the rain... you'd have thought it was an ice storm...
I arrived in Hermosa, back at my buddies house - with a different bike!
My Gerbings jacket arms stopped heating, after calling Gerbings and explaining my situation, they sent my out a loaner overnight, so I'm going to hang out here on Friday, then set out Saturday.
Not sure where I'm going, was planning to ride Baja, but there's many people trying to talk me out of it, and I don't even have plates or registration for my bike so it might not happen...
we'll see.

Until next time!







Hermosa Beach

[gypsyrr]

Now THAT'S the life!!!! It looks so good to be an Elephant Seal right now!







Great report, Joe. Stay Safe and slow down a bit.

[tobes]

Hey Joe awesome shots of camping by the ocean. Cool moving photos too. How do you shoot while riding? I do it with my little P+S that I can throw back in the tank bag but that D90 has some weight to it. If you end up staying in LA for a bit let me know, it'd be great to meet up.
Mike

[Just Paul]

Great Thread, Great PICS...

[bajesus]

hey joe,
thanks again for backtracking it up to Alice’s... it was great to share recipes, lawn maintenance tips and mortgage woes! oh wait. that wasn’t us.

(and probably won’t be for years to come...)

talking with you and just seeing how you’re going about your trip has elevated my game a bit... and makes me want to hit the road for a trip of my own... um, when it warms up a bit.

it’d be a shame to see you miss out on baja and copper canyon, but i understand the safety concerns as a solo traveller in another country who doesn't speak the language and is riding a plateless vehicle with a giant “mule” sack strapped to the back...not to mention an arsenal of technology that would make inspector gadget weep. could make you easy prey for the law and the lawless. but i wouldn't let that stop ME ;)

good to see that i didn't dent your day too badly. looking forward to your continued posts (and here’s some light reading should have a bit of café downtime)

a few of the photos i took to share with those who are following your trek...






there’s just no way you could ever become a couch potato with a tattoo like this. you’re now committed to living a life less ordinary. brilliant.

[spenserj87]

Joe,

It suddenly hit me that your white helmet looks wrong with the 8GS - I think you need a yellow one. Maybe you can just grab a can of paint and do it yourself ;).

Yup, up postin' later than my bro.

Glad you got to see the elephant seals - if nothing else, it is probably the first place after Big Sur with decent cell service. How'd ya like the smell...

You should see the seal pics I got - fighting, blood, and even seal porn

Off ya go...

-D

[Lost Rider]

Originally Posted by bajesus

hey joe,
thanks again for backtracking it up to Alice’s... it was great to share recipes, lawn maintenance tips and mortgage woes! oh wait. that wasn’t us.

(and probably won’t be for years to come...)

talking with you and just seeing how you’re going about your trip has elevated my game a bit... and makes me want to hit the road for a trip of my own... um, when it warms up a bit.

it’d be a shame to see you miss out on baja and copper canyon, but i understand the safety concerns as a solo traveller in another country who doesn't speak the language and is riding a plateless vehicle with a giant “mule” sack strapped to the back...not to mention an arsenal of technology that would make inspector gadget weep. could make you easy prey for the law and the lawless. but i wouldn't let that stop ME ;)

good to see that i didn't dent your day too badly. looking forward to your continued posts (and here’s some light reading should have a bit of café downtime)

a few of the photos i took to share with those who are following your trek...

there’s just no way you could ever become a couch potato with a tattoo like this. you’re now committed to living a life less ordinary. brilliant.

Funny how like minded we are, it was very inspiring to hear your stories and get to know you for a short while. I find it hard to believe my little ride in the U.S. could make you up your "game"...
I need to travel out of the U.S. - when not working - more. I need to do some backpacking so I'm forced to take it slow (walking speed) to really SEE things... After I move back out west we shall do some kind of travels... though as we both enjoy our solitude we can keep it short...

As for Mexico... many friends are really pushing me hard not to go, at least solo.
"what are you going to do at a military checkpoint when the 16 year old with the M-16 is asking you questions about where your going and you can't respond?" "after they search you and find your laptop and camera, it will be gone".
Even with this tattoo with this bold of statement I've committed to, I am concerned.
I think the best solution is for you to pack up your bike, meet me in L.A. and show me the way south! I can wait a little while if you're busy..... Though there's still the no plates or paperwork, on a financed bike....

A friends band is playing in Vegas tomorrow, might head there while I figure out where I'm going...


Mike,
I have a Lumix LX-3 I keep in my tank box for easy access while riding. I used to be able to have my D90 around my neck on my R while riding, but on the GS it doesn't work without banging the lens against the taller bike.
Honestly the Lumix photo's are close enough to the D90's, as long as you don't crop. My photo's are about half and half, can you tell which camera took what? Obviously the low light stuff is with the D90, but without pixel-peeping daytime shots are harder to tell. All the 16x9 ratio photo's are from the P&S.


I'm in hermosa for today at least... PM or email me.




For those folks asking about my opinions about the GS... I did touch on the subject briefly a few posts ago, but give me some more time in the saddle and I'll do a comparison in a different thread once the trip is over.
Just remember I have zero DS experience except for this GS so I can't compare it to anything else but a Roadster... Two bike for two jobs, though it took me a while to figure that out, so I'd take my opinions lightly...

I foresee no problem with riding the miles ahead on this bike...


BTW, for you GPX geeks, I have my 1168 SPOT tracks from this journey so far on the welcome page of my site. No hosting available here...