Full Circle - Part 5 Cross Country Motorcycle Journey

California Coastline #

After getting a good night’s rest at my friend Thor’s, I continued southbound towards Mexico. After talking to numerous people all saying riding through Mexico was risky, I continued south for most of the day staying close to the shoreline, just soaking up the environment. I really couldn’t ask much more out of life.

I reached just south of San Diego and the advice I received about going into Mexico started to take head, so I decided there was just so much more of CA that I could enjoy regardless. I backtracked and made my way towards LA again.

Trunks in hand, I took my time stopping at whichever beaches struck my fancy, and enjoyed the sights of wildlife.

I eventually found very reasonable and affordable camping near Zuma beach, and I mean literally on the beach. I set up camp, ate some tuna and enjoyed another sunset.

Los Angeles Adventures #

After waking up refreshed from my stay at the beach, my plan was to check into a hostel early, drop off all my gear and checkout the greater LA area. I found the hostel with ease even though it’s tucked way up on a hill. They were a little hesitant to let me drop my gear off before noon, but they eventually complied and I was off.

I enjoyed a nice casual walk along Venice beach boardwalk areas, checked out downtown Santa Monica, then took the highway to northwest Hollywood and rode Sunset BLVD from near the coast to way east. Driving me down the center of Beverly Hills, Bel Air, downtown and many other districts, it was a great way to get a full drive-by dichotomy of the area. I spent most of the time on the bike and didn’t take too many pictures, however.

I was also heart set on experiencing the LA rush hour freeway traffic. I wanted to see if it is nearly as bad as it is claimed to be, especially with California being known for allowing motorcyclists to lane split. I am no wild man by any stretch of the means, but I found navigating through the congestion a breeze. With other motorists fully expecting one to lane split during reasonable speeds, everyone was accommodating and felt like a non-threat. However, I could not see myself ever attempting that commute via a cage. I would have a severe case of road rage.

I did a quick drive by the Honda R&D grounds and debated on trying to see if they need any walk-on test riders or any other use of my services, and fantasized about other possible dream jobs I’m sure they would be more willing to have me do. Then I returned to the hostel in the late evening.

In the common kitchen area, I quickly made friends with a group of young traveling camp counselors. Konna was about 17 and hailed from South Africa, and Sebastian was from Germany. They had both been camp counselors in northern PA for the summer, and now that their term was up, they too were plane hopping around the USA for a month. They offered me dinner if I’d let them do a bit of MySpacing and bargain hunting for their next place to stay.

Several other travelers then later gathered in the group TV room and shared similar life stories and anecdotes. Truly a great time.

The hostel in San Pedro:

Giant Chinese bell next to the hostel:

Overlooking San Pedro:

The Desert Push to Phoenix #

Today I decided it was time to leave the coast finally. While this saddened me, it was time to move on, and I was looking forward to spending quality time once again with my good friend Svroom13.

My original plan was to get an early start and make a small side trip to Joshua Tree. Upon leaving the hostel in the morning, the steward reminded everyone to take extra water because it was going to be hot on the coast, and she also informed me I was a nutcase for heading towards the desert for the day.

Caution in the wind, I took off regardless. I took secondary highways until I reached the outer limits of the metro LA area. Heat was kicking up and it was going to prove to be a trying day.

I approached Joshua Tree around noonish, and the sun was kicking and during the rest stop the desert mountain that is Joshua Tree didn’t look too inviting, so I decided to press on and make the best time I could for AZ. I informed Jaime I might be a bit early, and she informed me the weather channel only registered the day as HOT in all capital letters and I should be careful.

I sweltered through the sun and pressed on, taking very few stops… just thinking about a cool drink and a dip in the pool that I’d get to do that evening.

I reached Phoenix at around 4:30ish and prided myself on finding the apartment almost solely from memory of my last trip earlier in the summer. I was greeted by Jason, Jaime’s youngest brother. I settled in to the couch and Jaime and I talked shop and went out for dinner when she got home from class.

Phoenix Interlude #

After spending days camping, hosteling, and couch surfing, Jaime suggested I stay several days at her apartment. It took very little persuasion to convince me of this too.

While my bike had been performing wonderfully during the trip, it was in need of some serious TLC and general maintenance regardless. Jaime being enrolled at MMI and having a full setup garage and several bikes of her own made for a good case to have some extended down time. We also got ambitious and had several group projects of our own scheduled.

Things started off smooth. I can’t even list all the adventures we had together. Many nights of hitting the pool and gym, going off on short day trips to the surrounding areas ensued. We dined on sushi, spring rolls, and quite a few nights also ended on the porch sampling various wines… I highly recommend 8 dollar Rieslings, Funf and Relax. We attended an awesome piano bar and had one eventful tubing trip down the salt river with good friends as well.

I expressed that my gas mileage seemed to be erratic and dropping drastically, and Jaime agreed to have her professor look at the bike during Suzuki troubleshooting week. One diagnosis led to another, and I ended up attending class for the week as well.

Her professor, Joe, really took the issue personally after several troubleshooting sessions having us chasing our tails and leaving us completely stumped.

I have always been a modest shade tree mechanic, and having the opportunity to learn from something other than the school of hard knocks and getting a bigger hammer was refreshing. Being able to hold my own in the MMI environment, fresh off the street, was a boost of confidence as well. I don’t think I would be nearly as competent about any other bike however, and I would have gotten nowhere without the endless patience of Prof. Joe, Jaime, Brian, and Derek.

The problem ended up being a partially clogged throttle body position sensor, causing the bike to over-compensate fuel on the rear cylinder. Who would have thought a spec of crude could cause such an imbalance? Figuring out if we solved the problem was half the fun as I would take my bike out for some serious flogging each evening to see if the kinks were resolved, so I took trips to great riding areas such as Tortilla Flats and Prescott.

My last Friday we did one final EGA test and my bike tested clean. With a quick custom tune with a Yosh box from Joe, I was deemed good to go. I celebrated by buying 4 pizzas and wings for the entire class as a thank you to all.

With fresh oil, filter, chain, and sprockets, the bike (besides tires) felt like a whole new ride, and that meant my stay must come to an end. Both Jaime and I agreed that I should stay the weekend to avoid crowds at the Grand Canyon, to get the last bit of laundry clean, and to enjoy one more dinner together.

Working on the bike at MMI (Jaime and Brian, Joe overlooking):

They had this training aide bike, an SV650 with a DL1000 suspension, affectionately nicknamed “the beast” (Jaime modeling):

Suspension Detail:

Tortilla Flats Run with Jaime and Derek. We enjoyed great Prickly Cactus Ice cream at this stop:

Jaime caught this little frog:

At this point I cannot stress the generosity of Jaime (svroom13, 01 svn), Joe the Instructor (Howie, 06 sv1ks) and Brian (wrldindstries, 03 sv1kn) to me.

The Grand Canyon and Eastward #

After spending two weeks with Jaime, and everything deemed road worthy, it was unfortunately time for me to part ways and start the eastbound trek home. To be honest, after having great company and getting house-broken and relaxed for so long, and knowing I should start making my way home, I was not really looking forward to leaving.

I set a moderate goal of reaching the Grand Canyon by early evening and checking that out, setting up camp and continuing east the following day.

After leaving Boulder that morning, I was really at a split decision on what direction to take next. I mostly wanted to just make a direct shot home, but part of me also wanted to take one last detour to Deal’s Gap at the TN/NC border, and when push came to shove, I still headed south.

In the past, I have made several painfully failed attempts to ride the Dragon, and I felt this trip could not be complete without a short visit at last.

The commuting from this part out was not really all that enjoyable. I stopped in Saint Louis, Missouri and continued on.

Passing through Kansas seemed to take forever. I was riding directly into the warm sun through the freshly harvested cornfields for what felt like an eternity. Nothing really worth documenting. I was just trying to make it to the Gap.

One more night of rogue camping at a KOA and a stern talking to from Kansas highway patrol, and I finally arrived.

Anyone else remember that tank… SVR history lesson:

Here I ham it up for the cover of Killboy:

Why it’s called the Smoky Mountains:

Added a little dragon to the front sticker collection for extra flare:

Journey’s End #

After camping one night at Fontana Village, I knew it was time to make one final push for home. I packed up early, made two more runs fully loaded up the Dragon, and did mostly super slab to get home. At roughly 700 miles, this wasn’t the longest run I’ve taken in a day by a long shot, but it seemed to take the longest. I was anxious and eager to retire off the bike for a bit.

Overall, nothing too exciting on the route home, other than someone not securely fastening a cycle on a trailer which sent the cycle tumbling down the road.

I just plugged along listening to my iPod shuffle on the final stretch and daydreaming about all the things I needed to do when I returned, and relieving some good memories already.

I finally made it to my apartment at around 9pm, exhausted and hungry. My roommates greeted me with a warm welcome. I am sure I was a sight to see and a handful to take in because I was rather ecstatic. At this point, I knew I couldn’t have had the determination and willingness to commit to such a nutjob adventure without the support of my friends and family. Also, the few that called me crazy only added to the determination.

In all, it has been an eye-opening experience and given me quite a bit of accomplishment. However, I am already scheming on other half-baked adventures and ways to finance them. That weekend we celebrated my birthday with a good turnout of friends, and my roommates graciously printed several pics from this blog and hung them on the walls as my birthday gift. I couldn’t be a luckier person.

Alright folks, that’s all I’ve got…

I arrived back in Philly in early October. Needless to say, myself and cycle included needed a break. I took the entire trip without a working speedometer, so I’m guessing roughly 12k miles round trip, with simple Google Maps estimates.

The bike held up well but does need some TLC, so for the first time I retired the bike early in the season and put it to rest at my father’s for cleaning and maintenance.

Now 3 months later, I am going stir crazy without it, and now that I am gainfully employed again, I’ll get it out on the streets sooner than later.

For more photos, visit my Flickr page