Tuesday 1 August
To day is a special day my grandmother died on Sunday and is been buried this morning in Tara Ireland. I was not able to get flights from Fairbanks to Ireland for the funeral in time so all I can do is say a prayer for her. Susan (my wife) has gone to represent us./
4.56am I am awake and starting to sort out for the days journey. I had to put all the equipment I was not bringing in a locker at the hostel, had to fill up the bike and the spare 8 litre tank of petrol. I dressed in everything, it was cold. Thermal vest polo neck light weight jumper, fleece, motorcycle jacket with thermal liner, wind/water proof trousers, heavy weight leather trousers, hiking sockets, gortex over sockets, motorcycle boots, plastic gaiters between boots and leathers, and my Weise waterproof over suit, I was ready for anything the weather through ay me.
It is an 84 mile drive from Fairbanks to the start of the Dalton Highway . I stopped at a shop near the start for a coffee to warm up, it was cold even with all the kit on. The Dalton starts as it finishes, rough 30’ wide rolled gravel, full of pot holes and 414 miles long with petrol at the yucon river .170 miles and Deadhorse 420 miles. This is the most challenging adventure road I have ridden, the scenery banks curves, mountains, micro climates, wild animals its got them all and almost no other traffic. I was passed on the opposing side by 15 lorry’s and 8 cars / pickups, passed 5 lorry’s 2 RV’s , 2 cars one motorcycle and one push bike. And a handful of road construction traffic in 507 miles. Most of the time I was the only person / vehicle within 20 miles, there are no side roads only a few entrances to pumping stations for the Alaskan oil pipeline. They add a chemical to the gravel that causes it to lump when wet, it also produces a greasy surface that can be scary on a bike. The idea is that when it dries there is less dust. I averaged 50mph over the entire length of the road which is considered fast . I would suggest that anyone seriously interested in adventure riding look up the Dalton on the internet and come here and ride it. There’s not much to look at the start and end ot the road but lots in between. On the risk side, a lot of bikers lose it and have to be air ambulanced when they are found. A GS1200 was left by the road side at approx 200 mails awaiting the pickup truck, the rider had been taken out earlier, 2 day previous a Harley rider crashed out after bouncing out of a pot hole it’s a dangerous road if you let your attention wander the only thing you watch is the road. I found that if I kept the front wheel light and weight on the pegs I could fly over the pots at 70 with no problem, and never ever touch the front brake, almost all my breaking was using the engine even going down hill for miles out of the mountains on wet gravel.
All I can say. is that its fantastic and I am looking forward to the return journey tomorrow when I intend to do more sight seeing. 100 miles from Prudhoe Bay I met up with Ron on a KLR650 he was struggling, and started keeping with me after I overtook, I pulled over a little later to refuel from my spare can, and we had a chat he was a very nice gut from Ontario who had just bought and set out to see the north. He had damaged his knee, and his bike was loaded top heavy which made matters worst on the slippery surface. I was running the bike till dry to get my max range on a tank and the engine had started to splutter 15 miles out of Prudhoe. We finished the journey tired but gratefully for a warm room at the motel. The bike had managed 245 miles before running out. Ron’ s KLR never even hit reserve. The Prudhoe motel cost $110 a night, but that included all your meals, many of the oil men lived there. They work long shifts starting at 4:30 in the morning and getting back later evening, but I was told by one that the wages are between $3000 and $7000 plus lodgings, foods, and transport per week depending on your job grade Rig Pig or engineer.
2nd August
The return to Fairbanks, Breakfast at the Prudhoe bay hotel was as much as you could eat and take your lunch for later was included, a real deal. I packed up the bike and headed out to find fuel, it was foggy. I eventually found the fuel pumps, no gas station more by luck than judgment after driving down to the dock and sea , that is strictly off limits, but in the fog you could hardly see 20m. Two lads in a pick up shouted at me, “you’re a long way from home” and a conversation started about were I was from and going. They said a lot of Irish and Scottish lads were working there. I had driven a couple of miles passed the turning to the petrol station and store, passed the security hut and not even know it, but I did see the sea or water and big boats/ rafts at least. Returning to the store there was a Grisly bear, a big one though a bit scraggy wondering around town , see the pictures. I filled up, got some souvenirs and head off to Fairbanks. Ron was resting his knee and hoping the weather would improve before making a decision to head back.
10 miles out of town a GS100 was parked up by the river with a lad packing his kit I stopped we chatted. Juan was from the Argentine and had shipped his bike to Seattle, rode up the Prudhoe and was now heading home doing the same trip as me, I left him packing up after exchanging email address and headed off, 30 miles further up the road I was doing 50 through a loose gravel patch under maintenance, when a tanker lorry hit the patch flat out. The rocks were hurled every where, one went through the front screen of the bike another hit the rear braking the pannier holder. I was lucky not to be hit myself, it got the adrenaline going thought. (see pics), 2 hours later Juan had caught up and we rode back to Fairbanks together staying at the same camp ground, we made excellent time on the return journey averaging 60mph over the rough, though it was nice to feel smooth tarmac under the wheels again when we hit the end of the Dalton.
Total Mileage for Two day on Dirt and Gravel 1022
>3rd August
To day we wash and repaired the bikes, it took ages, Juan’s machine was running weak and rough, mine was having trouble starting and missing on one cylinder, we cleaned the machines and headed of to see George at Trails End Motorcycles, George listened to Juan’s machine adjusted the carbs in 30secs and the machine was running lovely. He then took directions to the camp site and met us there and sorted a misplaced cable on mine and it started ok. We arrange to meet later at his office to pick up a replacement luggage rail for my bike a great eccentric guy.
At Trails End we met another traveller Tom from Orlando, Florida on a 1200RT BMW who was travelling the Americas and hoped to travel the worlds by bike. Tom had got his 1200RT to Prudhoe the same time as us but spend $30 cleaning it on his return. Juan , Tom and myself returned to the campsite picking up some foods and beer and spend the next 4 hours sitting about drinking and talking.
4th August.
Juan and myself had decided to do the Dianili Highway, we Left Fairbanks toward Anchorage and the national park to ride the dinailie highway. 135 mile dirt road along side the mountains and glaciers, very nice bike ride headed bay to Tok and camped at the sourdough camp site $17 for the 2 tents.
Milage today 515
5th August
We headed of on the Taylor Highway (Dirt road) along side an old gold rush stream to wards the “Top of the World Highway ” on the way to Dawson city in the Yukon, The Top of the World highway is a dirt road that goes over the Ogilvie Mountains at up to 5000’, great views. The US and Canadian customs are near the highest point of the road, 70 miles from the nearest town or village, and we had to wait 2 hours, a few cars in front of us the Canadians had caught some American drug smugglers and were awaiting help from Dawson to take them away it even made the regional radio. At the customs line I got chatting to 3 Americans who had gone on holiday to Alaska on there Harleys and had decided that they had to do one dirt road in Alaska . Delores and her husband had ridden 2 up from California on a 1992 FXR and there friend on a Lowrider. They had found the dirt bumpy but manageable at 30-40mph, and nothing broke of the bikes. It was the smoothest dirt road we had been on, and the GS ‘s saw it of at 70mph as a gentle cruise. We cleared customs no problem and headed down the road to Dawson were we had to take the Ferry over the Yukon river as there’s no bridge at Dawson City , we had dinner in the town and camped in the Town camp site, a nice site with hot showers by a stream. After setting up we spend some time chatting with a couple from Vancouver. Cost $12 for 2 tents.
Mileage 570
>6th August
We left Dawson City riding through miles of spoil from the gold digging days the place is massive gravel pit that’s been turned over a dozen times, dredged, filtered , panned etc trying to get every ounce of gold from the ground. We spend the night camping backwoods just of the Campbell highway (A single track dirt road) it was quite, a 100 miles from no where. A meal of veg and rice and a good fire. All we needed was a couple of beaver hats and we could have passed for mountain men.
Rode 460 mile mostly dirt
7th August
Headed to Watson Lake, we split ways at Watson Lake. Juan was heading down the Alcan as he had come up the Cassiar I was heading down the Cassiar, as I had come up the Alcan. We arranged to meet up south of Mexico as I was staying in the USA till the 8 September and he wanted to explore Mexico. The road through the Cassiar mountains was nice good views good cafes and plenty of petrol. I kept crossing paths with an old Harley rider he was in his 70’s, who had taken his bike to Alaska and was doing his first bit of dirt road on the way home. I did not see many Harley travellers in Alaska, nearly all BMW’s I think now the reason was that they stayed to the paved roads which only connected a few towns with no real views of interest. This guy had chosen the Cassair as there was only 60 miles of real dirt and that was in very good condition, despite that he still had a couple of bolts shear off and was carrying some chrome bits on the back to fit back on at home. At least he had found the parts that dropped off. I stopped at a great little gift shop and spend 2 hours chatting and drinking coffee got Susan a present though. It was raineing heavy by the time I got to Steward and there was only one Motel I could find an expensive one $114 + $11 breakfast, I was not happy but it was pouring down, at least I saw some bears on road and a great glasier, jut on the way into town.
Mileage today 510
8th August
This morning I rode 2 miles up the road to Hyder which is back in Alaska USA, The Salmon river flows to the Pacific ocean from here and its an amazing Salmon run, the water was full of the fish swimming upstream and the bears fish for them, a large Black bear was eating when I was there. If you ever go there don’t stay at Steward it’s a rip off, go straight to Hyder, its half the price, motels $36 a night. After seeing the Bears I headed south looking for warm dry weather. I decided on a short days riding as I need to catch up with my diary and get dry so I stopped at New Hazelton a nice town not even on the road signs till you got here. Staying at the Robbers Roost Motel in New Hazelton owned by a young Dutch couple who just bought it for $393,000 about £200,000 fully restored. A nice place at $54 a night. Total mileage to date 8640 miles ( approx 2000 miles on dirt and gravel.)
9th August
To day I contiuned south, no pictures to day as it was just nice farm and forest. There is a lot of forest here, the lumber yards lager than Milton Keynes. They are having problems though as large areas of forest are blyted by pine beetle which kills the trees and leave vast areas of forest brown and grey in colour.
Mileage today 367 Total Mileage to date 9007 miles
10th Aug
South West today and crossed the Canadian Rocky's the ride would have been great if it stoped raining. For the last 4 weeks the radio and tv have been on about nothing but the heat and forest fires down south I get here and its cold and raining. I decided to do the back road into Vancouver the 7, a windy road through the mountains. I was going to stop at Heseleton Hot Springs however when I arrived and found the place like Brighton on a lake, I tuned round and headed straight out of town. I eventually found the camp ground a nice little site with hot showers but no internet for $19.
Total mileage for day 335 Total mileage todate: 9342
11th Aug
I rode into Vancouver, its changed a lot since I was last here. The city has doubled in size and The road network is like the M25, packed. Everybody here is rushing around trying to make a Dollar, A few people had said early in the trip that Vancouver and Edmonton, (Alberta) were the fastest growing areas in Canada, at the expense of the rest of the country. IT is very easy to see what they mend. All through out Canada small town and villages are decimated of people, towns build for 2-3000 have populations of 200 and every thing is for sale. In Edmonton and Vancouver properties are selling for millions, it’s easy to see in Edmonton (Alberta) why this is. The oil Industry is booming up there, with good money to be made, so every mechanic, electrician, plumber with in 1000 miles has moved there. In Vancouver and Victoria however it seems to be retirees driving the economy which is a receipt for disaster in my mind. As you drive around the area there are loads of Thrift and Salvation Army shops, most small stores are closed down and it’s a long drive to the super market. The house’s in many area’s are a bit tatty as the owners are not fit or finically well off enough to maintain them, there’s also loads of doctors and hospitals, its just like Florida. There are also an awful lot of trailer park homes here with people living in them permanently, again just like Florida. A big reason for this is the mild weather in this part of Canada. It is cheaper to heat your house here than up country where the temperature drops to -40 in winter, in Vancouver it’s just like England. I have decided not to stay to long here. Tomorrow 12th I will head to the USA and Route 101 South. I have found a camp site on the edge of Victoria and there are even people living there full time. It’s $20 a night to pitch the tent and 25 cents for the shower, so not to bad. No internet access though.
12th August
It was a noisy night; the camp site was near a motorway that was busy all nigh. The only good thing was that it did not rain so every thing dried out. I packed up and headed for the Coffee shop and then the ferry. America here I come. I rode straight through Seattle and turned off the I5 following the signs to the KOA camp site in view of Mount St Helens Volcano, $35 a night the most expensive camp site yet. I got very drunk drinking water, ice and whisky with an American couple.
13th August
Today I headed for Highway 101 the old pacific highway, a classic bike road. The 101 follows the west coast of the USA and is just like the old A5. I decide to stop at Long Beach. Long Beach is just as I remember Bognor Regis from when I was 10 years old, I booked into a motel for 2 nights and was bitten on ankles and wrists by fleas, it seems the pervious occupants had a dog, the hotel staff quickly sorted the room out. My ankles and wrists were irritable from the bites it was not very pleasant. I was running 2 weeks ahead of schedule due to the excellent weather in Alaska so I am going to take it easy down the 101 as Susan will not arrive in Palm Beach till the 1st September.
14th August
I picked up some cleaning products and washed & polished the bike, there was still a lot of Alaska stuck to her. I walked around the town and found a printer who was happy to print me some Address cards a lovely lady whose family had printed in the town for many years we chatted for a while, I then had to get the launder done. I met up with another guy at the motel who was in the town looking to buy land. We arranged to meet at 7.00 for a bit of food and a few beers. After 3 pints your man was plastered and by 11.00 and many pints later I was the only sober one in the bar. They seem to have a very low tolerance to alcohol here, and its only $2 a pint about £1.10. The Long Beach Kite Festival starts next week and is considered to be one of the world’s best, seeing the beach it’s easy to see why. The beach is massive many miles long and deep with a constant wind from the sea. At the pub I missed a great photo opportunity as I had left my camera in the motel, 2 guys turned up on old Harley based bikes one a 1970’s chopper with Springer forks he could have been Henry Fonda in Easy Rider, just 40 years older. They had assembled the chopper from old parts they had lying around.
15th August
I packed up at Long Beach and headed to pick up my address cards from Peggy at Midway Printers and was presently surprised by a bill of only $10 for 100 cards, a tee shirt for the Kite Festival, And a souvenir post card. I headed of south on 101 stopping at for a coffee. The Scenery along the pacific coast is lovely and the towns and village are reminiscent of the English west coast 40 years ago. I met with several Canadian Bikers on the 101 see the pictures; the Harley chopper was rebuilt by a retired couple from North Vancouver Island and is a real work of art. I stopped at a fisherman’s wharf for a lunch of pick your own Oysters and Crab; it was a very nice change from burgers and chips. I stopped in at the Tacoma Airplane museum, it has some excellent aircraft and was informed by the lady on reception that her husband had a GS like mine, I asked were he got the service parts and was told Salem, a city about 60 miles East of 101 so I decided to detour and pick some oil, filters etc. Salem is a boring city; I could not find a camp site and settled on Motel for $55 just down from the Bike shop I intend to get the parts and leave ASAP.
Total Mileage to Date 10400.
16th August
Picked up the bike parts, and headed back to route 101. The service parts for the bike came $250 for brake pads, filters and a Toustech rack extension for the bike they just happened to have on sale. I had intended to camp however Oreagon coast is very expensive camping $20 upwards to pitch a tent if you are on motorised transport. The camp sites were also miles form town. I decide to stay at a motel in Newport at $35 a night, were i could walk to the automotive shops. I striped the bikes that evening. Newport is another old style seaside town just a bit larger than Long Beach.
17th August
I had picked up oil for the engine and transmision the night before, but had forgotten to get an oil filter extractor, so first journey a 5 min walk to the auto shop and a filter remover plus feeler gauges to set the sparl plugs. The Valve clearenses were perfect and I replace the air and oil filters, checked the alternator belt. I also fited a quick release valve to the petrol line as the BMW does not have a petrol tap, This allows me to remove the tank without spilling petrol every where. I fitted the new rear brake pads, and found that the bike shop had only packed 2 pads for the front brake instead of 4. The service including additional tools has cost $300 (£160) and took all day, however I do have the time. I save over $500 on garage costs.
August 18th
I have decide to change my route, going slow and waiting for Susan to arrive is boring. I am going to travel across the States to Kansas and sort out Garmin. Its a 3500 mile detour that brings me through the Rockys and lots of other terain. I expect to take about 7 days including 2 days camping on Garmin's door step till they fix my GPS under warranty.
My thanks to all of you leaving messages on the web notice board its realy appricated, I think Fred (a drinking mate who is into bikeing) would enjoy the cycling here as they are as mad about as the french. There are lots of people cycling to Alaska or from Alaska to Florida etc. And one woman Roseie who at 59 was running from Alaska through canada and intends to run through the states I met her after she had done about a 1000 miles pulling a cart, she had just ran uphill for 20 miles and was still going strong. Her opening line was I am Roisie I am mad I am running across America.
I headed east to Portland. Portland is just another cloan city, once you have seen one, you have seen them all. At Portland I took the 26 east instead of the freeway, as i wanted to see the country side. My route took me over the high country and through the painted hills notable for the cowbay and indian movies and fossiles. it is a beuatifull part of America, not the most productive as the land is bad, stunning to see, full off gorges and massive valleys in a seamlingey flat countryside. i camped at a little village called Dayville, at the Fish Inn camping site, a spotleess site that was perfect for camping for only $10 with a power and water hook up and great showers.
Total milage todate 11300.
Today I rode east on the 26 stopping at a little town for lunch. A massive beef burger and fries for $6. This part of America is 20 years behind the uk, internet access if you can get it is dial up, mobile phones don't work. i had though crossed 3 mountain ranges and rode great roads for 100's of miles. The City of Twin Falls is a nice place all of 35000 people and a great Canyon with the Sanake river that I had crossed many times as it snakes its way across the high country cutting a great gash in the landscape many 1000's of feet deep. I camped the night at the Lottie-Camp ground, Snowville, Utah for $15 a nigt, it was not as nica a site as the last one but good enough. While setting up ny tent I chated with a coulpe moving to Twin Falls with there 5 Kids from Arizona. A nice famile who wanted to live some were the kids could play out doors during the summer as Arizona is very hot.
August 20th
I rode down the 84 to Salt Lake city its a nice day not to hot. This area of America is over a mile high and is larger than Europe
so if global warming melts all the ice they will proberly celerbrate as the sea will be 500 miles closer and they will get
more rain, the average rain fall here is 9" a year. I rode around Salt Lake City, as it was a Sundayand the roads were
not packed. If you removed all the "Church of Later Day Saints" buildings from this place there would be very little left.
It is a nice clean city though with a massive motorway intersection.
I changed my mind again about heading for Kanasas, talking to people in the Coffee house, the Great plains across to
Kanasa are even worse than the Canadian ones, About 700 miles wider as there are no great lakes in the way.
>
I decided to head west over the Salt Lake flats and towards Nevada and the city of Reno.
Traveling on the 80 west I stoped at a rest area at the end of the Salt flats only to dicouver it was Bonivelle Flats were the
World Speed records are run. I took a few pictures and talked with a New York lad who was touring the Area.
There was a Germany company doing speed trials out on the lake so we decided to check it out.
We drove off the Interstate and around to Boniville Flats Entrance road, when we got here the Salt bed was not
the best surface to run a car or bike on so we just watched from the road side (not a lot to see).
I head down the 80 and stoped the nigh at the KOA camp site in Wendover on the Utah-Nevada border an odd little town with the state line running through the center of it,
on the Utah side a scruffy place with a few shops, on the Nevada giant lit up Las Vegas style Casinoes.
The good thing about Casinoes is that the food and beer is cheap as long as you keep away from the gambling.
I sat at the bar talking to the lads along side and put 1 dollar in the slot (The bars are machines as well,
it was 5 card poker) it was 10 cents a bet and I won $13 for my 10 bets, I also
had 2 bottles of Bud, 3 Large glasses of .Coke, a bowl of Chillie and Garlic Bread. not a bad return.
If you feed the machines they feed you.
August 21th
The beauty of traveling through Nevada is that they think every one is in town
to Gamble and not on there way through.
Guys here save up $1000's of dollars and go gambling for a few days and blow it all.
The assumption seems to be they win a bit, celebrate
get drunk lose the lot, go home happy and save up for next time.
This suits me, I go in relax have a beer, bet a little, win a little eat some food,
and move on the next morning a little richer. If I have $5 more in my pocket than
i started with its a good result.
And the worst that can happen in that my dinner cost $5. So either way I win.
Driving down the 80 from Wendover there was a large smoke cloud drifting across the interstate
about 20 miles ahead of me. I got to the town of Elko and was intending to stay in a motel there.
The motel prices in Elko were very high 70-80 a night for a scruffy little place, so I decided to
travel further down the 80. The smoke from the fire was also drifting across the town and was not plesent.
>
Just out of town the wind picked up and driving was geting very dangreous, the fire was on a mountain side about 2 miles away.
I pushed on through the wind till the next exit point and pulled up at the top of the junction to take some pictures of the
fire that was now about a mile and a half away, the other side of the Interstate.
A pickup truck was parked there and we started talking. Mike was an area sales man
to the gold mines in the area of electrical equipment and had stoped for lunch and to watch the fire.
He had been a fire fighter but got fed up of the administration of the forestrhy dept there,
Where as he put it politics were more inportant than putting out fires. Sounds just like home.
The fire he explained was what was causing the wind, it had already consumed many square miles of land and was
threating the farms near the town. As we watched the fire it started forming mini tornadoes in the flames
and within minutes ground 100's meters away was exploding into flames. Very quickly the fire department was going
passed us and the aircraft were flying in as that was what they hoped would not happen, within minutes the fire
had gone from looking like it was calming down to a 3 miles wide front and moving faster,
threating farms and the railroad line in the valley hopefuly the pictures will show it well.
I stoped at the town of Winnemucca staying at a very nice Motel, the Sante Fe Inn for $55 a night including breakfast.
I booked in for 2 nights as I needed to fit the front brake pads to the bike and update the web site.
Winnemucca town slogan is "The Sundance Kid left here rich so can you" all I can say is that the Sundance Kid traveled a long way.
There are also lots of Casinos here so good food. I had a great Porterhouse Steak, soup, desert,
2 buds, 2 cokes, amd left with $20 more than i entered with a good result.
August 22nd
Serviced the bikes front brakes to day, they had taken beating on the dirt roads, And were in need of a good cleaning. I decided to try Garmin again and this time struck gold. I spoke to a technical guy named Joe Dolan, he was excellent. He arranged to Exchange the unit and ship the replacement to Palm Springs, I shipped the faulty Unit straight to garmin via US, postal insured express delivery to make sure It got there. I had lunch in a little Taco restraunt by the motel, and was besieged by the staff as one was originally from Scotland, and used me to tell her work mates what it was like, a pleasant afternoon. I returned to the Casino for dinner it cost $4, I did have 6 Bud's though, And a great time with the a group of railway men, they came to the casino every few months for a guys week out. One of the lads named Robert stayed at the bar and drank the others came and went to the tables.
August 23rd
Reno was just another gambling town, I rode straight through. It was however at the end of the Great Basin As the area is called. I was nearing the California state line. I stopped for lunch at a petrol station come Casino were the Mexican staff were
Well impressed that I was heading south through their country.
I decided to ride around Lake Tahoe its is really lovely, I will have to come back in winter for the skiing. I am camping on the shores of the lake and have met up with 3 Americans, Stuart (lawer) Stuart (it) Bob (web designer on VFR)we spent the evening sitting by the lake side drinking beer. Another pleasant evening. An English couple came in A camper van and it turned out that the girl had gone to St Bernard’s in Slough the same school as my wife A strange coincidence.
August 24th
Headed for route 101 and the coast via route 299 it’s a great motorcycle road hundreds of twisties with banked curves, one stretch climbing 3000 feet in 7 miles of non stop curves and magnificent views across the mountains. The end of the road was Euraka and the most expensive KOA camp site so far they wanted $33 to pitch a tent. I said no and rode a bit further down the road. I found a little State run beach campsite at Clam Beach. It was $10 and a little bar The Clam Beach inn 5 minutes walk up the road. A good nights talking and drinking Alaskan pale ale that went down real easy. The landlady of the pub was great, a local couple tried to take open Beer out side something the Americans are not aloud to do. (Another silly law, but one that closes down a pub.) She spotted them going out the door beer in hand and straight away jumped the bar screaming at them, took the beer Off them and threw them out saying they should know better than to take open alcohol off the premises.
She then told us this particular couple had tried it before, and the stupid thing was that the pub is an off licence. They could have bought un-open beers taken them out side, opened them selves and that is legal. For a little girl she sure packed a punch, her picture is in the album, along a lad David who, is a profectional mountain bike down hill racer.
August 25th
To day I headed south on 101 to the Avenue of the Giants (the big Cedar trees) they are truly giant, and some over a 1000 years old. I took a few pictures but the sheer size of the trees i could not capture. The journey ended today in Ukiah, a small country town. I have booked into the Regency Inn for $87 for 2 nights, so I can get new tyres fited to the bike.
August 26th
Bike tyres fitted Metzlers Tourance same as the last ones they wear well and ride very well. $365 for a full set fitted and balanced.
August 27th
San Franciso here I come, It was foggie you could not see a thing I waited till 11:30 hopeing it would clear but no luck. So my pictures are a bit vague, The 3 girls were on hoilday from Florida (Sisters) and hoping that the fog would lift, but taking pictures just in case it did not. I crossed the city on 101 and then switched to route 1 the coast road, it was cold and damp. I allways believed that Calfornia was warm, the inland areas may be but the coast is cold, sea tempertures are 39f average, that’s colder than the UK and scuba diving is 7mm semi or dry suit all year. I camped inland in a state park for $21 it was like been in a rain forest with colourfull birds, deer and other wild life all round.
August 28th
I headed to Palm Springs and a break with Susan, she's flying over on the 1st for some R&R. I will resume travel on the 8th Sept when I head West to Arizona and over the border into Mexico. In the mean time I will fix the pictures on the site and clean up the spelling and syntax. Hopefully Sue will be up to a Trip to the Grand Canyon all be it by ca as she would not be able to stand te heat on the bike even if she would get on. Today its 115F and out of town its reaching 130f so it will be a PT Crusier with air con on full. If we get there i will post the pics.
!<-- Dad, for the styling all you need to do is put the h1 at the start of the date, and a /h1 at the end (in angle brackets, and a p for the text start and a /p for the text finish. then the mileage bit is a h1 again. make sure the brackets are all on, or it will mess up the whole styling! have fun, Me -->