day 19

it started out as a good day. i had gotten a good nights rest at rob and jolene's place, got a quick bite and espresso at the hideaway bakery (http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2006/07/20/chow/bakeries.html), as recommended by rob and jolene, and the weather was perfect.

i guess my attempts to stay off the main roads was a little too ambitious, though, as i spent over three hours going less than 90 miles through logging roads on my way from eugene to crater lake. the roads were fun to ride through, but there were so many twists and turns that it just took forever to get through. the scenery at the top of one of the mountains made it worthwhile.


view from southeast of london, or - 08/30/2006

everything i went through seemed to make crater lake national park (http://www.nps.gov/crl) that much more impressive. the first picture below is of of the pumice desert, formed from remains of pyroclastic flows of previous eruptions. trees still have difficulty growing in many areas. i believe that is mt. thielsen in the background.


pumice desert near crater lake, or - 08/30/2006

the next four pictures are all of the lake. after looking at the first picture, you can use the second to try get an idea of the size (five miles across). there is a relatively large boat on the lake on the right side.


crater lake, or - 08/30/2006


crater lake, or - 08/30/2006

this shows one of the secondary volcanic formations in the lake, called the phantom ship. the larger one, wizard island, can be seen on the far left in the first picture.


crater lake, or - 08/30/2006

due to its geologic isolation, the water is extremely clear. it is hard to describe just how blue it is. i don't even know if a picture can do it justice, but i will try. it was a relatively sunny day, and i think the green of the trees helps to contrast the blue. the darker shades are from clouds.


crater lake, or - 08/30/2006

i am sure my dad would be proud of me for this picture. i only took two, though!



part way through the park i saw two bikes by the side of the road, and it looked like one was having mechanical problems. i thought they looked like old bmws, but with the large fairings on them i couldn't be sure. i circled back to see if they needed any help (not that i could help them mechanically, but i could at least make an offer of some sort. coffee anyone?). it turned out that they were both old bmws (1970's) and they had come down from alaska. one of the guys had over 200,000 miles on his bike. we chatted for a while, and he gave me some pointers on where to go and where not to go in southern california. basically, i should avoid the sand (death valley, etc.) i was amazed to see others doing so much more than i am doing on bikes bikes amost 25 years older than mine.

the rest of the ride, as it was already late in day, was just to get to a campground in crescent city, ca. i came down the redwood highway and partially through the redwook national park. i wish i could have paid more attention to it all, but it was late in the day and the light was getting low. i will be spending more time in the redwoods tomorrow. it is scary enough to think of hitting a tree. it is even more scary when the tree is over ten feed wide.

day 18

after a cool and rainy night just west of astoria, i continued down 101 along the oregon coast. again traffic was horrible, but the scenery and twisty roads made up for it. there were plenty of small towns along the way. some were very touristy and others looked like real coastal fishing towns.

after about an hour or so, i jumped off 101 to check out cape meares (see picture below). there was a bit of fog, so i couldn't get too many good pictures. i then continued down the coast along the three arch rocks scenic byway before getting back on 101.

the rest of the scenery along the coast was pretty similar (rocky cliffs), until i got to heceta beach (see picture below). it was a pretty dramatic change.

i then took 126 from florence to eugene were i was staying with rob, the brother of mike with whom i play hockey. we had a nice dinner with his family, took the dog for a walk and then hit the town.

by popular demand, below are some pictures from today (last two) and some others from two days riding in washington.

this is a shot from the top of a canyon road on east side of the columbia river, just north of chelan falls. notice the twisty roads in the distance in the center of the picutre.

mcneil canyon road, wa - 08/23/2006

this picture is of the walls along coulee meadows, just south of highway 2. there was a similar wall on the other side. i think the rock making up the walls is basalt.

coulee meadows, wa - 08/23/2006

it was a tight squeeze, but luckily i was on a motorcyle and not in a car.

farmer, wa - 08/23/2006

luckily the clouds were not in the way for this picture of mt. rainier. you can see them creeping into the picture behind the tree to the left.

mt. rainier, wa - 08/24/2006

these two large rocks off of cape meares are homes to many birds.

cape meares, or - 08/29/2006

this is quite a change from the rocky cliffs just a mile up the road.

heceta beach, or - 08/29/2006

day 17

i didn't want to leave today. it is not that i didn't want to continue on my journey, it is that i didn't want to leave alex. it was almost as hard to leave her today as it was two weeks ago.

a special thanks to mike and sue for enabling alex to meet me like this. i cannot thank you enough.

once i was able to get going, i was on my way to astoria, or in the northwest corner of the state. for the first time on the trip, i did not do some of the miles on the motorcycle. not that i really could, as i took the edmonds-kingston ferry in order to get to the olympic peninsula.

it was a pretty quick ride, but once back on the bike, the first fifty miles or so were hampered by traffic. dozens of semis and rvs ("thats recreational vehicle, clark") on single lane roads with lots of hills and stop lights through small towns. once the traffic thinned out, the road started going up and down from the coast line to the mountains. there was probably a twenty degree change in temperature between the two. along the coast, the fog was already pretty thick. at times i could see it flowing overhead as i rode through the tunnel of trees.

the one thing which i saw more than anything were the affects of logging. there were many areas that were essentially barren, bordered by thick stands of trees. almost all of these areas had signs listing different dates, such as when the area was first logged, when new trees were planted, and when they would again be available for logging.

i also learned that there is no self-serve gas in oregon (if you call being yelled at by a gas station attendant for trying to pump my own gas "learning"). i guess it isn't so bad when regular is under $3.00 per gallon!

day 16

the day started off fairly leisurely. alex and i met our friend tim and some of his friends at his restaurant, smarty pants (www.smartypantsseattle.com), for brunch. everything was very good, and it was a nice way to hang out and relax on a sunday morning/afternoon.

later in the day, alex and i were getting ready for dinner. we had decided on pizza and had a few options. there was a place across from the hotel, a place near the space needle that one of the hotel workers recommended, and another in the queen anne neighborhood that another employee recommended. without going into the gory details (walking to the two furthest away only to end up across from the hotel), none of them were what we were really looking for. i guess chicago really does have the best pizza.

i guess the one good thing that came out of all of it is that alex and i got that much more time to spend together exploring another city, which we both love to do.

day 15

in case some of you didn't know, i like to watch certain travel/food/cooking shows. not many, but a few in particular. about a week or two before i left, there was one about seattle. i recorded it but didn't have a chance to watch it before i left. thankfully alex watched it and got some great ideas for things for us to do.

we started out with coffee at cafe ladro just up the street from the hotel. it wasn't so much the coffee that i enjoyed as it was just hanging out with alex, each of us reading our books.

after that we headed to the agua verde cafe and paddle club (http://www.aguaverde.com/) near the university of washington. we started off with a one and one-half hour kayak trip around lake washington. there was a wait for two person kayaks, so we each got our own. we saw lots of ducks and some turtles and herons. even though alex used to row (crew) in college, i was still impressed with her kayaking skills, which she had never done before. after a good workout on the water, we had some really good fish tacos at the cafe.

we were still trying to find out a nice place for dinner to celebrate our twelve year wedding anniversary (next weekend, september 3rd). we were checking out lots of places, but they were either way too expensive or too touristy. luckily, one of the hotel employees recommended a place right around the corner, marjorie (http://www.trenchtownrocks.com/). it turned out to be an excellent dinner.

day 14

after a surprisingly good nights sleep in tim's trailer, jason and i went to a local diner for breakfast. there wasn't much more to the day other than checking into the ace hotel (
(www.acehotel.com) and meeting alex.

i was so excited to see her. it had been almost two weeks, and after all that had happened (check previous comments), i thought for sure something would delay it. luckily nothing did.
we ended up walking around downtown seattle, winding up at bimbo's bitchin' burrito kitchen on capitol hill. it was so nice to get out and explore a new city with alex. we love to do that in every city we visit, and even chicago.

as alex has been doing double duty covering for me at home (thank you!), she was pretty tired. the time change didn't help much either. by 8:00 pm (10:00 pm chicago), i was more than happy to let her fall asleep on my shoulder.

day 13

after a good meal the night before and a good rest on a sofa, i got an early start so doug and annie to get to work. i headed north to seattle, going through the hanford research area and by mt. ranier. it was the coldest day of riding so far on the trip, especially near mt. ranier. this was mainly due to the overcast conditions and the proximaty to the ocean. luckily i was able to see mt. rainier well before the clouds set in. on the descent from chinook pass, i rode through some of the tallest pine trees on the trip. most of the way down i even lost my gps reception due to the trees and mountains.

when i reached seattle, i hooked up with my friend tim at his restaurant smarty pants (http://www.smartypantsseattle.com/). he and his friend andy then helped me get some new tires for my bike. they had gotten significantly more worn from the trip, especially from the mountain riding. we then hung out for a while and i helped his brother jason with some renovations on their new house.

friday afternoon alex is arriving in seattle. i will be staying here until monday. i have almost 4000 miles logged on the trip so far, but won't be doing much more until monday, at which time i will start heading down the coast. i can't wait to ride down the 101 and through the redwoods.

day 12

after spending the night near winthrop, wa, i was headed down to visit my cousing doug and his family, annie, barret, and bergen, in west richmond, wa.

as usual, i set my gps to take the backroads. i ended up going through a lot of nice roads (twists and turns) in the beginning and through farms and orchards near the end. i rode along the columbia river for a while before crossing over it and then up the other side of the valley onto some high plains. after riding through that for a while, i ended up in a small coulee valley, as opposed to the grand coulee, as in the dam. even though the road was a little sketchy due to construction (lot of gravel), riding through the high walls of the valley was very nice. i will post some pictures of this later.

i then ended up near the potholes state park which led to the columbia wildlife area. again, the roads and scenery were quite nice. i never would have seen some of this stuff if i stuck to the main highways.

closer to richmond, wa, i rode through mile after mile of orchards - apples, pears, grapes. i later found out that there are quite a few vinyards in this area of washington.

after reaching dougs place, i played with barret and bergen, helping them build some lincoln log buildings. it was nice to catch up with them.

sorry I havn't made a post for yesterday. spent the evening w/ my cousin & his family, then had to leave early. will try to do something tonight.

day 11

ok, it's picture time. sorry this is late. it took me a while to get all of the pictures edited. if you want higher quality versions, please let me know and i will try to send them to you (it may not be until after the trip is over).

one thing i have noticed on this trip is that it has been dry just about everywhere i've been, from minnesota to washington. several of the campsites i stayed at didn't even allow campfires. so far, i have seen two active forest fires and ridden through the remains of two others (occurred this summer). the most recent one i rode through was between browning and st. mary, mt. i could still smell the burnt pine, even though the fire had been put out almost three weeks prior. in every town, there are posted signs showing the fire risk for the day (almost like a weather alert). just about every one i have seen has been "very high". below are pictures of two active and one extinguished fires.


casper, wy - 08/17/2006


glacier np - 08/21/2006


omak, wa - 08/22/2006

last night i stayed in couer d'alene, id. on the advice of mike, whom i just met the night before, i changed my plans from riding to boise, id to riding along highway 20 in washington state. i am very glad i changed my plans. not only was the weather a little more amenable, but the road was amazing. there were not many sights to see along the way, but the twists and turns were very nice.

i rode past the pend oreille river and couldn't believe how calm the water was.



pend oreille river, wa - 08/22/2006

further along highway 20, this old house caught my eye. when i first rode past it, i though it was fake, like from the set of a movie. i doubled back to get some pictures of it, along with a sign posted along the highway.


pflug mansion 1 - 08/22/2006


pflug mansion 2 - 08/22/2006


pflug mansion sign - 08/22/2006

this last photo is from glacier national park in montana the previous day.


glacier national park, mt - 08/21/2006

i have now travelled into my third time zone (currently pacific, previously mountain and central). the funny thing is that i have not changed any of my clocks (nor do i want to). i guess it is one of the few things i have of home.

day 10

sorry this is going to be short. my access to the internet runs out in a few minutes.

i started out going through glacier national park. it was pretty cold in areas where the sun was blocked by the mountains, yet warm where the sun had been shining for a while. the glacier formed mountains were quite impressive. i took the "going to the sun" road up trough logan's pass.

after glacier national park, the rest of the ride to coeur d'alene was almost anti-climatic. not that the scenery and roads weren’t nice, but it just didn’t compare to what i rode through in the morning. that and the fact that it was in the mid 90’s by early afternoon, half way into the ride.

at the campsite i met mike. he rides a bmw as well, except his is the gs adventure version, made for going off-road. he is on his way north to take a 10 day tour down the continental divide trail. he is from phoenix and came north on some of the same roads on which i will be heading south. he gave me some tips on roads to take, places to stay, and things to do. i have not checked out his web site yet, but it is www.mikesworldtour.com.

tomorrow, instead of heading south to boise, i may head west through the cascades in washington. the following day i would visit doug and annie in west richland, then off to seattle to meet alex on friday.

day 9

i got a late start today after working on some organizational things. i am getting much better at the packing/unpacking, but every time i always think of a line from ted simon's jupiters travels:

Now I saw, with awful clarity, that a large part of my life henceforth would be devoted to the daily grind of packing and unpacking this poor, dumb beast.

i guess for six weeks that it is better than some other daily grind i could be doing. i guess this daily grind is worth it when i have scenery like this to see when i wake up.



i left big timber, mt and headed up highway 89. i rode through varying terrain, from barren high plains to endless trees in the lewis and clark national forest. i was basically riding along the edge of the rocky mountain front, high peaks that seem to just rise out of the plains. as i got past browning, mt and closer to st. mary (near glacier national park), where i am staying, i rode through the remnants of a forest fire that happend less than a month ago. i could still smell the charred wood.

hopefully i can keep posting more photos in this manner. please let me know if they are too big, small, fuzzy, boring, etc. here is one that i am sure alex will enjoy.

day 8

the new sleeping bag really helped. the temperature this morning was in the low 40's but i was warm all night. i got a decent nights sleep, and i definitely needed it. after being on the bike by 7:00 am, i didn't get to my final destination until 6:30 pm.

i went through teton national park and then into yellowstone. i have been skiing in jackson hole several times, but never saw the tetons from this angle. they are quite a sight in the early morning sun.

i never realized how big yellowstone is. it took almost the whole day to get through just one half of it. i caught the tail end of old faithful and then checked out some of the other glaciers and pools. there was a single bison resting near one of the pools. i then checked out mammoth falls. aside from the single bison, i saw a bull elk grazing near the side of the road and a few herds of bison on the road to the northeast entrance. the best part was the scenery. it seemed to go on forever. i felt lucky to be riding through this territory (and the rest of the country) on a motorcycle. it seems like you are closer to or a part of everything, as opposed to being in a car.

as if the day wasn't long enough already, i decided to ride along the beartooth highway. it takes you up over a pass that has an elevation of about 11,000 feet. it was pretty cold up there and road was very twisty, both up and down, but was worth it.

the last 50 miles to big timber, mo were tough. i was tired and had been riding almost 12 hours. while unloading the bike and setting up my tent for the night, a gentleman, john, started asking me about my bike and where i had been riding. after conversing for a while, he invited me over to his rv for some burgers, hot dogs, etc. he was at the campground with his friend, and their families. they were both from billings and came up here for the weekend. after unpacking i went over and joined them. they had a picnic table full of food and plenty of hospitality. their kids spent most of the time roasting marshmallows and then making s'mores.

i feel lucky to have meet john and his family and don from the other night in jackson. hopefully i will be so lucky the rest of the trip.

i want to post some pictures, but it is kind of hard to do on this site. hopefully i can figure out a way soon.

thanks again for all of your comments. forgive me if i don't respond to them directly. i do read them, though. it is often hard at the end of a day to go through everything in a coherent manner.

day 7

today was a life maintenance day. after two nights of restless sleep due to the cold, i went out and bought a warmer sleeping bag. (yes, alex, you were right!) i also took some time to look around downtown jackson, have some lunch, and then do some laundry.

i have also been trying to get the packing/unpacking down to a manageable science. with the addition of another sleeping bag, this just got a little more tricky. i also did some more reading and route planning. i am at about 2000 miles for the trip. i probably won't be able to keep up that pace, but it is a good indication of about how many miles i will do per week.

i am doing yellowstone tomorrow, and may add in the beartooth highway, depending on how the day goes. i will end up somewhere near bozeman.

day 6

what started out as a "mileage day" turned out to be more eventful. spending the night in custer, sd. meant that i was in mountain time, even though my body (and watch, gps, cell phone and motorcycle clock) was still on central time. this meant i was able to get an early start. the benefit of an early start is that you see more animals. the danger of an early start is that you see more animals. the first animal i saw this morning was an antelope scamping up the rocks about 20 feet from where i was riding. i ended up seeing about 10 other deer/antelope in the first 30 minutes of the ride. they are beautiful to see from a distance but not up close on a moving motorcycle.

i saw diverse scenery today, from the remnants of fire devastated forests in south dakota, to actual forest fires in casper, wyoming; from the high plains of eastern wyoming to the jagged peaks of the tetons. when you can see millions of years of history layered in the rock on the side of a mountain, it can make you think that you are the smallest, least important thing as you ride by them. when you see the farmers working their fields, baling hay for their cattle, you realize that everyone plays a part in something, in some way.

after reaching my camp site, i spent the evening hanging out with don. he holds dual citizenship in the us and canada; he used to play hockey; he used to ride motorcycles; he likes dark beer; he used work for a secret government agency. ok, so we had a couple of things in common. he has done a bit of travelling and gave me some tips on routes through montana, and alberta if i had time. in return for his hospitality, i got him the of the original dark beers, spaten optimator.

i will probably be spending another night here in jackson. it feels like i have been zipping through some things, but now i want to slow down a bit. i will ponder that for a while.

day 5

While talking to another motorcycle rider that was heading back to Dowagiac, MI, I couldn't remember what day of the week it was. I guess that it is a good sign.

After a monotonous 100 miles through South Dakota, I made it to Wall Drug for breakfast. I couldn't believe how touristy it was. I then headed through the Badlands National Park. Every time I thought the scenery couldn't get any better, something more impressive was around the next turn.

I then headed up to Mt. Rushmore. It was impressive, but not as much as I had imagined. I finally went to the Crazy Horse monument. Given that it is a private endeavor, it and the future plans for the monument seemed more impressive than Mt. Rushmore.

Even though it is at least a week after the Sturgis motorcycle rally, there are still tons of Harley riders around.

Tonight I am camping out in Custer, SD. I am still trying to figure out how far to go tomorrow. I don't think there are a lot of sites between here and Jackson, so I may just try to make it a big mileage day.

I hope everyone is doing well.

day 4

What started out to be a great day riding, sunny, cool and no wind, turned out to be more of an adventure (don't worry alex - nothing bad) as the day went on.

Sticking to my plan of not taking any major highways, I headed west out of Minnneapolis on county highways. After making good time and getting to where I initially planned on spending the night by about 2 pm, I decided to go a couple hours further to a campground closer to the Badlands in South Dakota. What I didn't realize was that I would have to go about 80 miles between gas stations. When my low fuel light went on about halfway to where I wanted to go, I checked my gps for the nearest gas station. It was the same distance back as it was forward, so I continued on. I think if it hadn't been for the strong head winds I would have made it.

With about 5 miles to go, I felt the engine starting to sputter. I pulled up to a house and started walking up the driveway. About half way up, two pit bulls came running out to meet me, not too happy that I was on their turf. The owner came out and I explained my situation. It turned out that she bred pit bulls and they were just being protective of a new litter. She was very kind and was able to give me enough gas to get me to the next gas station. I hope I have learned my lesson for the rest of the trip.

I am now camping out for the first night at the Kennebec, SD KOA off of 90. It is actually pretty nice - pool, internet access, laundry, convenience store, tv. I guess I could get use to this, at least for a few days/weeks. Tomorrow I will be off to see the Badlands and surrounding sites.

Thanks again for all of your comments and support.

day 3

Sorry this is late. I have been a little more tired after riding than I expected. Monday was a beautiful day for riding, sunny and not too hot. I started off from Two Harbors and needed to stop in at Aerostich in Duluth for some more luggage (I have to learn not to pack so much). It was a nice ride to Minneapolis via Brainerd. The only hard part was the wind, which was either a cross wind or in my face, never at my back. A gentleman at a rest stop was admiring my bike and asking where I was headed. When I told him, he gave me some suggestions for going through South Dakota, so I may be adjusting my route slightly. Nothing major, just trying to avoid the interstates.

I had a very nice visit with Bonnie and Mary. Dan even showed up to visit after working a 12 hour day. Bonnie and Mary kept trying to figure out what they would do if they had six weeks off. I feel very lucky to have this opportunity and to visit some of you.

I think the easy part of the trip is over, as I will have to fend for myself. No more places to stay or home cooked meals to eat. I truly appreciate what everyone has done for me so far. I also appreciate your comments and support on this site. I look forward to reading what you have to say.

day 2

Although it was a short mileage day, it was a busy day visiting family. I went to Kathy and David's for brunch with Karen and Dan, Ellen, Heidi and David, and Anna, Sonja, and Patrick. There was lots of catching up on everyone's activities. Ellen and I then went for a drive up the shore. Although the weather wasn't so good, we had a great time.

Tomorrow I am off to Minneapolis.

day 1

As usual, I got a late start. Part of it was finishing packing and trying to get everything loaded on the bike for the first time. The other part was just not wanting to leave Alex.

I eventually got on the road and made my first stop at Comet in Milwauakee. I had a great breakfast with delicious food and wonderful company provided by Adam and Val. The breakfast bowl kept me warm and satisfied all the way to Duluth. In return for their hospitality, I promised to do some advertising along my trip by placing some Comet stickers on my bike.

It was a very nice day to be riding, but as I got further north, it got cooler and cooler. By the time I was riding along Lake Superior, I had already added two layers under my jacket and had turned on the heated grips.

After what ended up being closer to 560 miles, I made it to Karen and Dan's. I had a wonderful enchilada dinner and was able to catch up on a lot of family events.

On Sunday we will meet up with Ellen and Kathy and David in Two Harbors. Weather permitting I will ride there, though I may get a little wet.

day 0

I will be off in less than 24 hours. Although I will miss Alex and Honey very much, I am getting excited. Hopefully I will be able to get some rest before the first day of riding. Of course I am starting off with an easy day of riding - 530 miles from Chicago to Duluth!