Go West Young Man!

[kitesurfer]

please tell me there's more to come. you're not back home...you've got to finish! yes, i'm enjoying this!!!!

[2wheels12]

Thanks for the outstanding ride report. You had me hooked from the beginning. It also brought back some great memories of similar trips from long long ago. Great Stuff!

[kerncountykid]

Das food. I guess the theme of this trip is chili wanger dogs. Although, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to patronize an independant fruit grower's stand outside of Fresno. Stocked up with tomorrow's breakfast, we made a fast break for the western entrance of the Giant Sequoia National Forrest and Kings Canyon National Park.

I don't know what to tell you about the groves of giant Sequoia that grow here. The park entrance offers no fair warning. The first enormous trunk will not compute. I remember reading that the Natives of this country couldn't see the sails of the early explorers ships because they had no concept of such a thing. I don't know if that's true, but I can understand why you would want to believe it. I'm not a worshiper of nature, but this is the first of its creations I've ever held in the same regard as another person. The trees here are as good as us.

Don't believe any of the nasty things they say about the French. Justin offered to help this large group of French tourists with a group photograph and within a couple minutes we had made about fifty new friends. They were the most gracious, joyful people I've met. Lots of genuine interaction, with hands on our shoulders and big smiles. They took lots of pictures with us. It was suggested by one of the older guys that "you share?" when we were introduced to Lydia, the lone young woman in the group. The three of us blushed and they all broke into hysterics. Beautiful people.

We tried to make it into Sequoia National Park, which shares it's border with Kings Canyon, but were pushed back by the cold and closed campgrounds. Generous neighbors donated several cut logs to our pitiful brush fire and we carefully hid our fruit in the bear proof boxes supplied by the park service. Justin smoked a little of Fred's weed and we enjoyed each others campfire antics. I slept lightly that night, always listening for the sound of my fruit being carried away into the darkness.

[rawdog]

Sweet.

[hayduke.klr07]

it's all about the adventure.

[achesley]

Thanks for the update. Love following your adventure. Also just love meeting and talking with tourist from other countries in my travels about the US. Very fond memories there.

[Clansters]

WOW to the bikes! It's a whole different taste in this GS world. Thanks for sharing a great trip.

[BusinessSocks]

Man, it sure is great to read another update to this thread. No disappointments, as usual.

[Big Doobie]

Wow, Great Ride Report.

Vermin, Striking Viking, Fish Fund, CETME, that guy who rode that knarly road across Russia (Colebatch), and now the KernCountyKid.

All great, and all for different reasons.

I look forward to reading anything you post kid.

Well done.

[davyboy]

loved this report,espically monument valley~john ford country. thanks mate.

[Nanuq]

[Seamripper]

Great report!

Is there any more to it?

[east high]

[kerncountykid]

Getting up second means getting up last when there are only two of you. Justin was busy packing when I dug my bare feet into the chilly moon dust we had pitched our tent on. Riding half way into Sequoia had been painfully difficult the night before, as the frigid mountain air ate away at our exposed skin. Circumstances are a strange thing. I thought of the absurdity of dehydrating to death in a desert, basking in the glow of some southern Arizona city. The morning after we nearly froze trying to enter Sequoia was so tepid we easily forgot how dangerous the Sierra could be under the right (or wrong) circumstances. I was quickly reminded though, when a brown bear lumbering through the heavy woods locked eyes with me for a moment.

In Sequoia Park proper we had the park nearly to ourselves. This late in the season, especially on bikes, there is no want for easy parking or lines of cars to navigate around. Off the bike and on unsteady legs we climbed over the railing surrounding the General Sherman. Justin and I snapped a quick picture of ourselves at the base of the largest tree on the planet.















We met this guy on a BSA thumper. He wasn't too chatty; BSA owners are prissy, just like their bikes. Helmet laws be damned, you have to take advantage of clean air in California when you get the chance. We risked busting our domes and let the pure Sierra air blow through our wigs.

[Gooch]

In 1996 and fresh out of work, I rode alone across the US from New Hampshire to San Diego. About a year later, I rode back with 3 weeks in Mexico.

The strange moment of equipoise, where you're halfway home -- a destination that is certain rather than random or whim -- is an odd feeling.

There is a similar moment in life, when you realize that opportunity is contracting rather than expanding and that in your effort to keep doors open you've allowed many more to close.

Good report.