East Coast Blues ...

Jer and I (yes, jer and I) took the Blue Ridge Parkway north from just outside Asheville NC. The road is famed for 400 miles of twists and views through the Appalachians. We were greeted with soaking rains and a fog which at an altitude of 5000 ft took visibility down to less than 20 feet. Very difficult to make progress but on another level it was yet another fascinating riding condition. It was much clearer on the other side of the ridge and the fog gave way to some impressive views...



After a hundred miles or so of this we realized there are little sights to be seen very different from what we have experienced over the last month. I charted the ride to NYC and saw that we were within striking distance, 650 miles from Boone NC. We planned a last night out, in this smallish college town, and decided we'd leave early to make the miles happen.

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Walking in Memphis

Jer pulled serious mileage to get to Memphis and was rewarded with an evening on Beil street, which is Memphis' equivalent of Bourbon Street.


'Saucers' served the beer, and 'Rendesvous' served the ribs, although it's being reported that they did so poorly. The good people of Memphis must have numb buds because they had all raved about the signature dish and portion. Jer was left hungry despite having ordered the XL variety. The city made up for the experience by staying alive well into the eve but some bad elements made it clear that after midnight, you should be with a group, or a gang, whatever they call it these days.



He raided the home of the king and witnessed the historic 'walking of the ducks' at the Peabody Hotel. I'm going to look for that on YouTube as soon I get wifi!

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Dragons Tail at Deals Gap NC...

This legendary 11 mile stretch of mountain road packed with 318 curves is rumored to be the most wicked and the most exhillerating public road in the U.S., and many say the world.





In my opinion, the tail does have a strong spine, but the dragon has some undesired predictability and lacks the constant visual stimulation we've been appreciating so much. I ran it three times and can say with certainty that we've run more challenging roads in California and in Wyoming. The pitch on the western mountain passes near Napa was at times close to 40 degrees banking into a sharp blind right, none of which you saw here. The pitch variable really adds to the experience, especially when the bikes are fully loaded with gear and the momentum is so dominant. Make no mistake, many people are hurt and some die here every year pushing their bikes or their skills too far beyond prudence. Here at the 'motorcycle resort' (no doubt responsible for some of the marketing behind this gem) is a 'tree of shame' which is adorned with the bike and even car parts of the fallen.



It was fun though, and I enjoyed pulling over to fish even though the fish weren't up to participating. There are a lot of snakes here and I've seen many a casualty on the road, and none the garden variety. Most have the signature snakeskin pattern you often see on the boots and belts of the white and trashy. I don't know which type they are but I'm sure they're not ones you want to play with.


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Blessed and thankful...

I was tipped off that in Rebeccas ancestral lineage was a dignitary literally laid to permanent rest at the alter of the St Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter. The headstone was at the head of the aisle, a few feet from the alter and none the worse for wear - even after well over 200 years.



It's a beautiful and active church, with services held daily ...



Having more than a moment, I took the opportunity to thank whatever god was responsible for allowing me to take such a trip.



And then I went and had a bloody mary, meaning no offense.  I later found out that I was truly safe from offending, because the mary in question is rumored to be the queen mary, not the mother of our lord, amen.

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Sister concierge ...

Tara's skills at finding unbelievable deals in little to no notice were admired last night, as she scored me a room at the luxurious Omni in the French Quarter for $120. Here's a pic of the room before I trashed it ...





And the roofdeck pool I just found...




Tonight I'm staying at the Lafayette, another one of Taras finds in the French Quarter. Love you always Tara, but now more than ever.

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Texas two step ...

I wanted to make the run from Cuba NM to New Orleans in 2 days, which meant covering hundreds of miles in New Mexico and Louisiana and through that thing in between, Texas. It's 1,275 miles and really pushing the limits of the bum bum. Progress was slow through the north Texan oil fields when the rain started to come down in torrents ... When it briefly stopped jackrabbits and deer were a constant threat. Obviously the deer more threat than the rabbit, but who wants to hit a fuzzy rabbit. These deep country roads feel like private property... At one point I felt like someone was following me, as the only other witnesses to my passage were mechanized oil plungers that cycle and seem to nod. They may not be on all the maps, but these roads are paved and it was the straightest shot through this part of the pan handle. The second step through Texas had to be a record breaker, because I had only covered about 450 miles on the first from the rains and circumstance. The second day was fruitful, the record was broken and I made it to New Orleans last night in time for gumbo, jambalaya, and beer.








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Jer is high again ...

Jer and I are now planning to rally in Deals Gap NC, which allows us both to get in some things that we wanted to on the trip. For me, New Orleans and the deep south through Mississippi was key and Jer a more northerly route through the rocky chain for Denver and Mt. Evans. This northern sweep has him dodging buck with the closest encounter to date and climbing to 14,000 feet on the highest paved road on North America! That's high folks, legitimately in the clouds. I've got to say I was a little jealous, right up until I checked in at the Omni in the French Quarter.



Surprised to see an unfrozen lake at the summit ... Called Summit Lake of course ...



And past the eastern ridge of the mountains, a very unusual cloud formation where you can see the direct relationship between geology and meteorology!


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Failed hoax in Roswell...

Roswell NM was on the path to New Orleans, I imagined it a one stoplight town with gobs of kookie UFO fanaticism. What I received was Home Depot, Wal Mart, and tens of thousands of normal people - many of which god fearing and non UFO believing. It's clear by the alien head streetlights in the center if town that they are aware of their reputation, but it's diluted with the normalcy of a typical city this size.



There are many businesses that 'thrive' on the UFO trade, but many more that do not. I decided I'd go to the International UFO Museum for some hard evidence, but the only discovery i made was that it closed 15 minutes ago.



So I took it on myself to create my own buzz in Roswell, and spent the next half hour trying to get empty tossed bud light bottles to look like a UFO and capturing the encounter with the iPhone. Disaster... Bottles were breaking and people were staring. I blame it on the shutter delay on the iPhone which is impossible to estimate. I really liked the 'canvas' for the hoax, just imagine something in the frame that cannot be explained.




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Jer's hole-in-the-wall

... happened to be a pretty sweet passage at Zion National Park in Utah, cut narrowly into it's face. Obviously not a lot of headroom or sideroom on this guy, many manhattan sized SUVs wouldn't make the cut ...



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Making the left out of Albuquerque

I'm just about to make that left turn ... Doing what Bugs Bunny should have done some 30 years ago ...



But in fairness ACME, the only retail store in that universe, didn't sell GPS' yet ...


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Chain me up in Moab

By the time I arrived in Moab UT, the chain was complaining to the point where I wasn't sure if i'd make it the remaining few miles to Arrowhead Motorsports, the resident dual-sport expert. He works out of his house but has a clean, detached garage for goods and service. I had set up the appointment the day before for 8am, when I found out he had a fresh chain in stock. My chain was indeed toast, and riding with such a thing had caused some additional wear on the front sprocket, but not to the point where it's unsafe. I was out of there by 11 including an hour of conversation. Jer was, at the same time, waiting for an oil filter for his bike to come in a few hundred miles away. I'm proposing we meet in Roswell NM, but I don't want to alienate jer from the planning process. Before heading south towards New Orleans I wanted to pass through Arches National Park, an impressive landscape with of course, many natural arches and other precarious spires like the balanced rock ...which, like the 'Mexican Hat' looks like it's a breeze away from falling on a tourist.



Aside from that i tried to water this tree with what I had on me, but it evaporated before it hit the ground.



I left Moab with Albuquerque NM in my sights and about 400 miles away but got hammered by sheeting rain at 7000 feet for 2 hours before I gave up 75 miles outside in a town called Cuba, pop 1100...

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Mars is not far from home...

The run to Moab from the Grand Canyon had a less traveled short cut that I took called the Valley of the Monuments. For two hours it's one desert spire after another, separated by vast stretches of red clay sand and rock. Minus the occasional desert shrub, it looks like a calm quiet Martian afternoon.



Some of these formations have names, this one is called 'Mexican Hat' which is gringo-speak for sombrero.



Its a massive boulder sitting balanced on an eroded spire ... At some point the hat will tip, and I'm sadly sure that nobody will be here to see it...



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Thelma, Louise, Nick, and Jer

We decided not to ride our bikes over the south rim and into the abyss, but only after we heard that the 'Bright Angel' lodge overlook had really good hot wings and served some great micro brews. Pictures can never do the canyon any justice, it's almost pointless, so consider this as just one of jer with the canyon coincidentally in the background.



We saw, we ate, we stayed, we left. Jer went north to Zion on a solo ride, I headed northeast to Moab, Utah so I could see Arches National Park and get a new chain installed on the bike as mine is pretty much cooked. It has too much slack and the adjustment I was forced to have a shady tree mechanic make for $30 and the rest of my Jim Beam was done with the precision of a hack. The plan is to meet up again at some point on the way to New Orleans, some 1500 miles away.

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Dam Jeremy ...

We left Las Vegas in 115 degree swelter for the Grand Canyon via a highway that cuts right through the Mojave Desert. There are many moments when you feel like it's naturally wrong to be exposed to that kind of heat and you shouldnt be going where you're going ... Deeper into the desert. The body seems to understand the dangers associated, somehow the fact that you might not last one day out there without water or shelter seems to be wired in. You drink water constantly, but it gets quickly wicked off the body in those temperatures at 75 mph. We were surprised to run into the Hoover Dam, I had been through here before but had forgotten that it was on this route. Probably because it's so unfathomable that there could be a body of water anywhere around here, amoung the hot sand and stone. Surely it should boil off. We sat for 30 seconds on a metal guard rail that felt like a griddle and moved on ...



Not hard to pick up on the strife on dam jer's face! We spent the next few hours getting to the canyon...

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Splitting 6's

Dealer showing an ace, jer is spiltting 6's and doubling down. The dealer laughs.





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Nope

Pulled an ace and won $1.25, tax free.


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Its already a straight...

But if I swap that 10 for another 10 ... of clubs ... It's a royal flush, and it's worth a clean grand, pre tax ... I'll let you know what happens ...


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Caution, gratuitous post ...

Into the In-n-out ..

Popular on the west coast, but unknown to most in the east is a chain called In-n-out Burger.



Jer is more than casually familiar with the place, but I'd only heard of it as a passing reference in 'The Big Lebowski'. They are deservedly popular out here, and their business practices as far as food production go - are a model for the other soulless chains to admire. This is a relatively big chain with 140 locations, yet they raise their own grain fed cattle on their own farm, then butcher and prep themselves. The meat arrives fresh daily, and it's never frozen. They prepare each burger to order, on a fresh baked roll, with no preservatives. The fries are cut from the potato minutes before they reach your tray. The cheese is pure and not processed, the leaf lettuce is hand picked and the tomatoes are ripe and taste as fresh as any I've ever had. The shakes are of course 100% real ice cream. All packaging is paper and recyclable and recycled.



This is not a concept they've developed over their maturation to lure a more modern consumer...they've been doing all of this the same way since their first place opened up in 1948. Amazing lunch, for $6.50 ... Or at any price.



I was wrong in questioning it's worth while we made a 20 minute trip to travel 1 mile on motorcycles in the 115 degree blaze, but the ride was nonetheless painful. The place is packed with loyalists who would likely never stray. Jeremy bought 3 shirts and I went to the gym here at the Hard Rock to work off the shake and fries.


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A diversion to Vegas

We were faced with a 350 mile ride south into the smog packed city of Los Angeles or a 500 mile ride to Vegas ... Easy choice, as Jeremy and I have about 30 years of reading we can catch up on by the pool at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. He's going to start with the Harry Potter series before getting into the heavy literature. We're both hoping there will be no distractions so we can focus on our hardcovers and paperbacks.


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'If its Smokin' were Open!'

We made a pilgrimage to Gorilla BBQ in Pacifica, CA for a lunch knee deep in meats, slow cooked for what tasted like days ... Everything literally falling off ther respective bones. Jer wanted to franchise it in NYC ...



I wanted more cornbread. The owner and big chief over there is a 400 pound guy, enjoying the success that the 'Food Network' can bring to a local small business through national exposure. He was a very nice guy and thankful to be in the position he was in, as by winter they will have many more locations. Laying off the brisket and losing weight should be a new priority for this 45 year old guy, if he wants to be around to watch his new chain thrive in a very loyal market.

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Valley Boys

Jer and I migrated down California Highway 1 to an obscure virtually unmarked countryside pass that looked like the driveway of a private residence. The goal was to find a shortcut to Napa Valley, and we ended up finding the most unique terrain of the trip to date. It was single lane most of the time, with 2 way traffic, under dense forest canopy. This rarely maintained road demanded caution around blind turns and switchbacks with questionable conditions. A miscalculation or road debris on one of these hairpins could easily have you in a slide and off the road, so we did our best to prevent that. The temperatures soared to around 100 degrees within 20 miles of the chilly coast. The forest gave way to dry valley clearings like this ...



And I was running low on fuel with the next station over 50 miles away. Terrain like this doesn't help your mileage so after cresting a ridge, I'd shut the engine off for the several-minute-long descent to the valley. In spite of these efforts I ran out of gas about 10 miles from the closest station. Carrying an extra bottle of gas came in most handy...



And we made it to the next station. We rode through Sonoma, and spent the night in downtown Napa. We tried several 2 oz glasses of wine before switching back to beer at dinner, which was incredible. Jer had more ribs and I had 'beer can chicken' which is a roaster sized chicken mounted and cooked on top of an open can of suds. Very tender and the seasoning was perfecty spiced.



Were headed back to the coast for San Francisco today and then down towards Santa Monica ...

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California dreams, chilled out.

Our introduction to California was 48 degrees, in the sun. Some beachgoers brave this in shorts, but we were bundled to our ears along highway 101 which transverses several sections of the Redwood Forest. Very impressive ...


This particular tree was not one of the larger ones but it was convenient to stop here and take a break and add another layer. It's still bigger than any tree in the eastern US, it just went up and up and up! Jeremy has better pics of the area and I'll post them when we can upload them. There are apparently even bigger trees in Sequoia National Park which well see later on in our California tour. Many if the trees in both National Parks have been here since before Christ ...which I think was something around 2009 years ago this past Christmas.


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In the crater ..

There is a massive lake as the name suggests, which is unique in that it's from rainwater directly and little to no runoff. This, along with some mineral influence, creates a very surreal blue body of water. Far more saturated than tropical...




The crater itself was not from a meteor, but a very active volcano that collapsed into itself. The event spewed rock for miles around created an area called the Pumice Desert, which is all pumice stones and unable to support very much life. Some stones were massive, and very light!



The rim of the crater where we were was at about 8000 feet and chilly. Weather was moving in so we skipped the hike down to the water ... but here's another shot of crater lake from a different vantage...



From here we headed to Californias Redwood Forest, home of goliath trees you can drive through the trunks of...




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R & R

This whole trip is R & R ... But it's especially sweet when you don't have to unpack your life off of a bike and do the reverse several hours later. In the beginning it was taking us 1.25 hrs to setup and 1.5 hrs to pack up ... Almost 3 hours a day! We've come a long way and I've got it down to 45 minutes each way including a quick shower and jer about 15 min behind. It makes a huge difference ... But not having to deal with it at all is the best. The festival went late into the night last night ...


and the only upset of the day was the BBQ vendor who had promised jer at lunch that he'd have plenty of his slow cooked ribs at dinnertime...



According to jer, this is the face of a liar. Jer was forced to order fast cooked and fatty ribs at a local brewery, and of course they were 'terrible'. Later today we should see the impressive views of Crater Lake and then onto the Redwood Forrest in California tomorrow.

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Deserted in Oregon

We left Yellowstone for Crater Lake, Oregon .. And passed through Idaho, where we covered almost 300 miles and saw nothing. Least favorite state I'd say but the competition is particularly tough. I was very surprised to find that the first 200 miles into Oregon is dry desert, even at 7000 feet. We saw our first tumbleweed of the trip, naturally rolling across the highway.





We headed for the biggest city in our path to Crater Lake and ended up in Bend, OR. A town very much like Burlington, progressive, educated, and natural. There is a music festival here for the weekend and we decided to stay, enjoy it, and catch up on some summer sun since Jeremy is almost transparent.










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