Pictures from Portland, Seattle, and Anchorage...

The first night we went to a school that had been converted into an entertainment venue (there was a hotel, 3 or 4 bars, and a restaraunt). We swam in the pool, and rode bikes there through some neighborhoods and alternately cruised easily and put in some digs up the hills. No pictures from that unfortunately, but it was great.

The next night, Nathan, Maureen, and I drank some PBRs and made an enormous salad:



Then, went to Joe's and we ate lunch at a German deli, had some fine Continental beers there and then more here:



Then took some pictures of his lovely ladies--his mom and Payton:



Lauren:



Karen:



Nathan is really into bikes and biking, and we rode around a lot:



Maureen's sister, brother-in-law, and niece came over. We had a great time BBQing some food and playing some baby catch:



Then, went to a coffee shop and saw a band play. They were pretty good and featured a tap dancing singer who was quite talented in multiple ways. Afterwords we had a good time playing music and eventually danced around on the way home while nathan played some songs. I contributed by scuffing my flip-flops in the sidewalk in a manner that was occasionally rhythmic. This was us:



Apparently there's another bumper sticker around Portland that says: "Jerry Falwell, he's the deadest." He definitely got everyone's attention with his brand of thought:



After Nathan retired to spoon the night away, Joe and I finished the beer in honor of his birthday. When it was gone, we went to try Chicken and JoJos at a local bar. I saw this sign on the way and thought that it was thinking on the same scale, geographically, as I was. Joe helped the shot immensely by his willingness to pose:



I didn't need to be in Seattle until Kate was available at 7, so took a little meandering. This was near Mt. St. Helens on a little side road:



Ranier was spectacular:



Kate is great. It was wonderful to see her. Her boyfriend rolls with chamomile tea in his car, which is about the opposite of riding a crotch rocket around like, um, me:




I didn't see a single run at Whistler that I couldn't whip into submission on a pair of K2 She Piste 140s. Well, Whistler was fogged in and I only saw some bunny slopes. But there were some nice spots when the sun peeked out, like this one:





It's tough to decide to stop and take a picture in Canada (or Alaska). The scenery changes slowly as you travel through, it's all pretty spectacular, and none of it comes close to fitting in the viewfinder so you try and decide how you're going to try to capture it. A lot of the time, too, I was really cold and really paying attention because it was raining or there were slow RVs to pass. I also feel like a jerk if I pass somebody and then pull off to take a picture right away (remember how I was in a big hurry???)

Anyway, I did get these. Realize that this is like 1/12th of a landscape that surrounds you and that it's best to hop on your preferred mode of transportation and go see it for yourself:









this gas station had totem poles all around:



you can't tell in this picture, but it had just been raining hard and there was even a little bit of very small hail. it felt like i was making some monumental decision to keep riding there, but really the storm only lasted for a little while and it got sunny again:



glacier:



saw these mooses eating something from the bottom of a pond:



probably too big to be a successful mosquito. i definitely splatted some formerly lucky mosquitoes on my face shield. a rock got my other headlight and the lens is smashed--a guy at the motorcycle store suggested that it was probably a bug. they grow their bugs for big here:



got to anchorage and stayed with jen mayer and her husband, opie (who is great). all my friends have some child or pet -- her's is moosey:



later, snuck a moment with him alone:



we went up to flattop mountain and saw this lady on a horse. it is crazy close to town for being such a nice place to hike:



and then down to dip our feet in the (not that cold, really) ocean:



tomorrow i'm headed to denali, going to pass through fairbanks and try and make tok junction or even the border. it's getting time to head for home and if the weather's good i might make good time across canada.

hi all,

i spent a few days with scott and ali in san francisco. we had a nice evening with jonathan stewart in a bar, as well, but unfortunately i didn't get any pictures of all of us together. this is what scott, ali, chip, and i looked like as we relaxed after relaxing:



this is how i like chip the best:



dolores hardly ever asks for anything, so i had to do this for her:



i ended up getting a vigorous bout of gastrointestinal ailment going, and didn't take any pictures for the couple days that i spent in a super 8 room in fernley, nv (i'd been headed towards winnemucca to see some folks that sounded worth visiting). i was able to catch up on my hbo. the new willie wonka movie was pretty good. i don't know why they play john tucker must die so often. and, i didn't realize how sensitive of a movie boyz in the hood really is.

so i left fernley and headed up past pyramid lake. i was watching for a nice fire road up the hills to get some unique pictures of the lake. by the time i found a suitable road we were too far north to see the lake, but the place and road were cool:





later, saw some cowboys driving cows using dogs and horses. it was a beautiful sight, with lots of calling the dogs and teamwork:



then, there was a mountain stream in oregon. there was a little cottonwood blowing around, some tall pine trees and cliffs, and very clear water. it was a nice spot:



i went to crater lake and found a nice perch to take a nap in the sun (there was still plenty of snow around). the water was unbelievably blue, and you didn't have to go far to escape the hordes of camera-toting tourists (uh, except myself--that's harder). existentialist wonderings aside, it looked like this:



i rode past mt. hood as it went in and out of fog this morning, and really should have stopped to take a picture, but i was cold and in a hurry to see my portland people. it looks mighty fine.

am staying with nathan (earle) and maureen, and should see joe gault soon. what could be better?

in l.a. i stayed with some friends of gunnar and abby's in altadena. it was at this fantastic house. it was fun to hang out with some kids and we drank some beer and whiskey and played some poker:



they were motorcycle riders as well. note the red "stop button" on the truck:




i love how california smells. i spent time behind a flatbed carrying hay, riding past a pea field, and then past some strawberry farms. they all smelled great, and the ocean was fantastic too.

these are snapshots to be sure, but the coast near hwy 1 is amazing. i didn't take any road pictures:




this is a big tree and my friend ravi in monterey:



and this is us, helping the statue (whose work is never done):



i got up the next day and took the unloaded motorcycle on route 1. darn nice. took these:






and, now, i'm visiting scott and ali in san leandro. i haven't taken any pictures of them, but it has been great to see them. we also caught up to mr. s for a while last night.

more pictures:

i left todos santos and it was (once again) foggy. saw a side road that was too neat to pass up, went down it and took a picture of this tree:



i stayed in el rosario nuevo. they were very friendly--people were walking by and saying hello and 'buen provecho' as i ate dinner. i pulled a dumb tourist trick and spent $2.40 a minute to talk to grandma about retirement home politics for 15 minutes. no good pictures from here, unfortunately. was cold and missed the daylight.

can you imagine the cojones involved if these guys were running drugs? if they're talking about la paz, bcs then there isn't columbia anywhere close.



they didn't still have a gas station at the last stop before a 100 mi stretch. this guy will sell you gas out of his trailer. it's a racket, because the cans are usually half full and he charges based on a full can. he transfers the gas with a siphon that he starts by mouth, which hurts a little to watch:



i went to the nacional parque de san martir. it was super cool, with pine forests that smelled great. i got near the top, and ran into this. lucky for mexico, i was wearing mittens and didn't give her any sign lanuage. i did urinate on the sign:



you could surely see the ocean on a clear day. it was incredible. i ate some quesadillas that i tried to cook on the exhaust and took this:



on the way down i noticed my back tire was sliding around a lot. stopped and it felt flat, sure enough it was holding 7 pounds of air. pumped it back up, removed a sharp rock that it had caught, pumped it back up again, and drove to town. the llantera (tire shop) was closed due to sundayness, but my (new) friend jose ortiz drove me to another shop, arranged for me to receive their finest service, and took me back to the bike. the first thing the llantero (tire man) did was chug two beers... apparently todos los llanteros son barrachos. this is him supervising the tire repair:



this is dolores, forlorn:



they patched it and put it back together well. i turned down jose's offer of a place to stay, promised to visit him if i passed that way again, and continued on. there was a cute girl named layla standing by the road and waving. i thought she was prostituting herself and turned around (joke). she was on the wrong side of the road for the way she wanted to go and the sun was going down, so i thought it best to give her a ride to ensenada. she took out a rock that she'd stashed in her beach bag, in case anybody "tried anything." i can't really critique anyone else's choices related to personal safety, given what i'm doing, but i did tell her i thought she was rolling some big dice. anyway, she got grumpy when she didn't know where the bus station was and the way i was going didn't match with some facts she'd made up as she looked at the map, so i dropped her off somewhere safe and didn't get a picture.

i stayed at another no-tell motor-in. these places have great cable:



passed a "ruta vino" on the way to the border:



and drove through some more stunning mountains with nice little dirt side roads (which i skipped--i wanted to get to getting):



the border guards were very officious, but they didn't look a single place that i
would have stashed a pound of weed (had i been carrying one) as they searched my dirty laundry. the experience sucked. then, i enjoyed the nice wide lanes and shoulders of the highways into and through san diego.

i was thinking about running my patched tire for a while, but it threw the plugs out and i could see the patch, so i went to buy another one. turns out it uses an odd size (and it was monday, which is part of motorcycle stores' weekend) so i ended up on the phone for an hour finding a tire. i got one at otd cycle sports in orange county, and they were fantastic. i highly recommend all of them, and they got really excited about the trip. i was dumb not to take any pictures with them, but they did give me a t-shirt and i promised to take some pictures in it.