Trip details, mileage, gas

Trip total; garage to garage=5857.2

Total gallons(liters converted to gallons)=144.4

Average Miles Per Gallon=40.56

Total Average Miles Per Day(excluding 7 days in Cabo)=225.27

Total Days of Camping=16

Total Days in Hotel/Real Bed=15

Cost of Camping in the U.S.= $115/4nights

Cost of Camping in the Baja= $22 U.S./8 nights

Total Miles On Unpaved Roads= 100 miles

Total Daves(laying the bike down)= 2

DAY 32, Pismo Beach-DAY 33, HOME!!!

Friday was a good ride and it was nice to rest at my sisters. We had a really laid back evening, went out for pizza and it was great. It did upset my stomach pretty bad though. Happy to be near a real toilet for a while. Went to bed pretty early and I was pretty spent from the ride north. I felt like once I was pointed in that direction it was time to put on the miles.

Saturday morning came early and I awoke to a craving for coffee and breakfast. So I woke my sister up and we headed to the Honeymoon Cafe. Just like the last time I was there the food was terrific and coffee was great.

Here is their outdoor grill. Smells GREAT!



We then walked around Pismo and checked out some shops. Also watched the surfers for a bit. I had some errends to run so we headed back to the house. I was silently planning my ride home on Sunday, leave really early and get home in time for dinner. I had finished my Maintanance on the bike and started to pack it up. Went to Costco for a couple of bottles of GREY GOOSE Vodka. 1.75ltrs for $45.

I had talked to my wife around 11am and was really wanting to get home. So I rearanged my plans to leave Saturday at 2:30 and drive north, rest for a while and then continue to the house, completing the ride home in under 24 hours. If I keep good records of the trip, gas reciepts and wittnesses at the start and finish, I can send in for a Saddle Sore certificate.
1000 miles in 24 hours.



Well, I got everything packed and got my gear on. longjohns, layers of fleece and my down coat, thick socks and warm gloves. I look like I weigh about 300lbs. But I am warm.

To start the trip, I had to go to a gas station and fill up, the reciept date and time marks the start of my trip home. I had my sister be my wittness and she filled out the appropriate paperwork and we hugged good-bye and took some photos.
2:30 at Shell Station. 0.0 miles

The next hour of riding had me in and out of four thunder storms. Lightning and heavy rain. No hail. I would ride into one, get soaked and then ride out, dry out, ride into another, then out, dry out and so on. My gloves suffered the most as they got wet inside, pretty hard to dry them out.

The bike wet but getting dry.

Blue sky, calm before the next storm.


All part of the fun.
Salinas, Ca. 145miles filled up, at 4:30pm. Had a snack and hit the road.

Just north of Salinas I went east toward I-5. Followed Hwy 156 toward Hollister, then Hwy 152 to Hwy 33 north to Santa Nella, then hit I-5. Kinda nice to get off the Main Hwy and do some back roads.
San Louis Resivour





Got to Woodland, Ca at 8:20pm and put 5gallons in the tank. 145+202.9=347.9miles


Making great time and while in Woodland I stopped for a sandwich at Jack in the Box. Got in line behind two families and it took way longer than it needed too. But it did the trick and I wasn't hungry anymore. Took some vitamins and hit the road.

Next stop Redding, Ca. forgot to snap a picture so here is the details so far. Filled up at 10:15pm with 3.8gallons. 349.9+147.5=497.4. Almost half way home.

It was getting colder now and I started to wonder how the passes would be. I knew there had been no precipitation and it was a clear night. So just how cold would it be? I figured It would be about 30deg. standing still. Much colder with the windchill of moving at 60-70mph. Oh boy!


Once over the pass, it got very Foggy! This fog was very wet and I got soaked again and my visor was hard to see out of. Solution: slow down to about 30mph and take it slow. Watch the Gps for upcoming corners and let the cars pass.

I made my way to Grants Pass and at 1:52am pulled into a Shell Station and filled up with 4.9gallons. 497.4+186.7=684.1miles
I was pretty cold, but having a blast. I also didn't feel like stopping yet, I was getting hungry again and decided to stop in Roseburg at the Denny's.
Had some Chicken Wings and Fries. Also a bunch of HOT coffee.



I was suprised how many people are in a Denny's at 4am. Almost all the tables were occupied.
I was warmed up a bit and decided to hit the road. My wife had made plans with here sister for the morning so I wanted to get home before she left. That way she would have to stay home with me for the day.
At 5:47 I pulled off in Albany, Or. and filled up with 4.3gallons and did some jumping jacks to get my blood moving again. 684.1+177.6=861.7miles

I was excited now and the smile on my freezing face was starting to hurt. Chapped lips and wind burn. Oh Baby.
The sunrise over Mt. Hood was amazing and the weather was great.


Hit the Washington/Oregon border at 7am.

Got to Lacey at 8:30 and filled up at the 76 Station by my house. 5gallons 861.7+197.7=1059.4miles

I then pulled into my neighbor hood and cruised into my driveway. My wife met me at the door and snapped some final pictures.
Then put the bike in the garage. It needs to rest. It did me right on the trip and I have no complaints.


Great stuff. Thanks for reading. Later Luke.

FRIDAY MARCH 5 ROSARITO TO PISMO BEACH 385miles

I am getting antsy. So, I got up early, 6:00 and loaded my bike. Made a pot of coffee and posted some blogs. Dave and I parted ways in Rosarito. I think he was headed to L.A. I was gonna get to my sister's place in Pismo Beach. About a six hour ride.

I took off and made my way to Tijuana. Traffic was a early morning nightmare. Maybe I should have went to Tecate. I've heard there is less traffic. Anyway I bobbed and weaved my way through the stopped cars, waving and smiling to everyone. I was passed by a couple of other bikers. They did not have 3 feet of gear stidking out from their bikes. I made my way to the border pretty smooth. Once I got into the wrong lanes and had to weave through some jersey barriers to get to the right place. The whole thing didn't take more than a half hour. The border gaurds name that checked me out was Ahmed. Really thick middle east accent. Hard to understand when I have my earphones in. After He didn't find anything wrong with me, I made my way to Chula Vista. I wanted to gas up with REAL gas and find a motorcycle shop to get some oil. Pretty sweet that the gas station I picked was a half mile from a huge dealer who carried almost every bike known to man. Real nice guys at South Bay Motorsports. I got lots of high fives and back slaps.

I left there and headed to Encinitas on the coast. My sister told me about a cafe called Swamies. Really good food. Had an omelete with bacon, avacado, cheese and cashews, and a well done, crispy pancake, just how I like it.


Then it was time to burn up some miles. I rode around L.A. to the east, avoiding the smog and traffic. Pretty nice scenery under the snowcovered mountains.
I stopped for gas and was shocked that I had gone 220 miles and didn't even switch to the reserve. Put in 4.5gallons so thats like 50mpgs!!! finally back to normal. Although the flat, boring, high speed freeways probably help. I think I would sacrifice mpgs for a fun road anyday.

Pulled into my sister's place at 4:00 and changed my oil and adjusted my chain. Repacked everything and did a once over on the bike. It might not happed but I am shooting for getting home Sunday. It looks like a good weather day all the way. that will be nice. Monday the temps drop and a chance of rain. We will see.

TIME IS FLYING BY

If I could I would stay for a long time down here in Baja. It is really easy to fall in love with it. Fun. Cheap. Exciting. Beautiful.

But things must get back to normal for me, so after kicking it with my wife for a week, we parted ways on Monday, March 1st. That was tough. I am sad that she was not able to experience it the way I did. Maybe someday.

Moday her dad and I road to La Paz and camped. Really nice place that I was at before, only now the wind had blown all the sand away. We did find a soft spot to pitch our tents behind a dune. Had a restful nights sleep and made coffee in the morning. Also got the fishing pole out and caught a couple of scorpion fish, not fun. They have a ridge of spines down their back that poke you, very painful, I hear, you have to pee on it so make the pain go away. So I was very carefull. With two pairs of pliers I was able to get my lure back from its ugly mouth.



We packed it up and headed to San Carlos on thee Bay of Magdelana. I wanted to watch the whales and everyone I had talked to on the way down said this was the best place. But you know how it goes when you take a recomendation, there is a chance you won't have the same experience. Well it was a bust. Too much money for not enough time in the boat, we did see whales in the distance but not even close enough to get a photo. I guess for forty more dollars they will take you out to where the whales are. I thought that's what I paid for origianaly. Oh well on bad experience won't ruin this trip. Stayed in a small hotel, with a great restaurant attached. Dave's bike fell over in the sand. It was very funny. He wanted me to help him get it up but I wouldnt until I got the picture. and then rode to San Ignacio to stay at a stop on the Baja 1000. Rice and Beans another hotel.

Dave is pretty funny. There are multiple military checkpoints that you have to go through. They ask you, where are you coming from? where are you going? open your stuff so they can poke around. unzip your jacket so I can rub my hands on you. and a bunch of other annoying stuff that slows ya down. Dave speaks pretty good spanish, I call it restaurant spanish. Because thats where he uses it the most. Well at one check point we rolled in together with him in the lead. The gaurd had to talk to him. He pretended not to know what was being said and answered all the questions wrong and in a southern drawl. I was nearly off my bike from laughing so hard. I had to flip my helmet down to cover my face. They asked him where we were coming from and he said Guerro Negro, which is ahead of us about 200 miles. He then asked if there was whales there? Lots of head nods from the gaurds who told him the correct pronuciation for whale is BI-YANAS, but dave kept responding BALL-ANUS. I was laughing for the next 30 miles.

We left San Ignacio around 9 and rode all day to make it to Rosorito Beach, just south of the border. I Kinda wanted to stay at Ramone's bistro but we still had some daylight and decided to push on. The wind was so strong that on one rest stop, my seat cushion flew away, never to be seen again. And I left the chunk of plywood that my kickstand rests on in the sand somewhere. I new that would happen eventually. I was supposed to tie a string to it and wrap it around the handlebars as a reminder. oh well.
We logged 544miles that day. Rode for 2 hours in the dark. But had no problems other than getting cold.

I am kinda antsy to get home. I was gonna take my time, but I don't think I can make myself slow down.
The bike in Rosarito. I'm headed to see my sister and get my warm gear for the ride north. Only 400miles today. I am thinking of doing an IronButt ride to get home. 1000miles in 24 hours, documented and wittnessed.
Well I'm packed and ready. Gonna hit it. Later

FEB 27, TSUNAMI!!!

Saturday we had plans to go out sailing for the day and into the evening to watch the sunset. So we headed to the Cabo marina to meet up with Captian Bob. I kinda had a weird feeling about the day, right before a full moon, earthquake in Chili earlier that morning, and Captian Bob and crew were still hurtin from the party the night before. Well needles to say, no sailing for us. The port was shut down because of the tsunami and it was pretty cool to see how something thousands of miles away can affect the water like it did. We had small surges of water coming into the harbor, but then around 11a.m. it got interesting. Well I was interested. Everybody else was hohum about it. But I think that when the water level surges six feet in under two minutes and I'm standing on the dock feeling it happen, that to me is pretty neat.

We ended up driving up the west side of Baja toward Todos Santos. The road construction made it slow going. It looks like they are putting in a four lane freeway. Returned to the room and Dave barbqued us up some jumbo shrimps. Awesome.

CORAL BAJA. Too much Fun.

well, not all fun... so first off, I'm an IDIOT. Apparently, with plenty of planning and forethought the plan falls through.

So.

I spent all Monday planning my wifes arrival. Room on the upper corner of the building. Flowers delivered before arrival. Pimp rental car, Dodge Avenger.lol. Dinner reservations at a really nice place. Fridge stocked and everybody on alert.

So. She comes in at 2:31 on an U.S.Airlines flight from L.A.

I spend most of the day from 10:30 on geting things in order and getting to the airport.

Welcome boquoet of flowers and clean clothes otta make a good impression.

We are going on 13 Years of marriage, happy as ever.

Of course she knows me too well, so some stipulations are in order:
1. Be there to meet her at the arrival gate.
2. Be on time.
3. Be there.
4. Be there on time to meet her when she arrives at the correct terminal.
5. Be dead if the first four things don't happen.



Well. I am a train wreck when it comes to planning things. Especially when they are important.

So here is what happened...

I spent most of Monday planning... Actually went to the airport on my bike to check out the terminal and car rental place. Checked the car reservation and everything is in order.

Went shopping and got her favorites for the fridge. Early to bed.

Tuesday went like so....

Woke up at normal time. Before sunrise. Watched the sun come up. feeling great.
Packed up my stuff ready for the room move.
Left early and went into San Jose del Cabo for breakfast and to look around. Had a great meal of Chorizo con Huevos and did some looking around town.
Walked to my new favorite store, Soriano. Kinday like a mexican Wal-mart.
Bought some fruit and some water and then looked for the bus.
Caught the local bus and headed to the airport.
Got dropped off at 12:30, checked in at Europecar Rental. They told me the car was ready and waiting so I walked across the street and into the terminal.

Now, I had some time to kill, so I ordered a beer and some water for the flowers I had brought. I had my Droid, so I set some new high scores on the Gems game. Then ordered another beer. Gettin close now and the arrival board says the flight is early. I get stoked, and can't stop smiling.

I move closer to the sliding door and peek through a tear in the foggy tint, maybe I can see her coming.

The plane has landed early the reader board says, and now I'm really anxious. Pop a piece of gum and ditch the beer bottle. Fluff the flowers and check my reflection in the window. Couldn't be better.

I am ready.





My phone rings.

It's my Wife... Where are you? she says. WHAT? I say. Where are You? I respond. She says she's at the arrival terminal by the taxis! and where am I??? I say, I am also by the the arrival terminal and that I haven't see her yet!.

I said I'll look around and see if she's around the other side.

NOPE!!! Nowhare to be found and my phone will not call her cell. So I wait calmly for her next call...

So while I am running around looking for her, she calls and say she again that she is at the terminal.
So I go out and che my bearings. Off in the distanced to the south I can make out another building that looks like the one I am standing outside of. UH OH!!!
I suddenly am looking for any rock big enough to climb under or kill my self with.

Here I am on a "Trip of a Lifetime" and I can't manage to get somebody at the airport. And that person is the most important person in my life. What am I? Who am I?

Well I am FREAKED!!! She calls again and I pick up... Yep she is defanitly at the other terminal and I am 1000 Yards away... So I tell her I will get the car at the rental place and come get her... ten minutes tops... Yeah if it was only that easy.

So, the car was not ready and the paper work was not in order. Really,it would have been fine if the other major problem wasn't happening. That being, No wife for three weeks and I can't manage to find her at the smallest airport I have ever been too. They want a credit card to put a hold on for the car and of course my credit card, I can't find. Anywhere. So I tell the hombres at the rental place uno momento and run as fast as I can toward the other terminal. Knowing my wife has a card that will work. This takes me about an hour to run a 1000 yards. I see my wife in the distance and run towards her. We have talked acouple of times on the phone and I am really not doing well. Almost in tears I explain myself, but i falls on deaf ears. No surprise there. I am a fool for planning something that is so fragile that I would ruin it.
Well, we walk back to the rental place and wait out turn. Turns out thr car rental place is also a hotbed of Satan worshiping time-share sharks. They were offering coupons for 150bucks off the car rental to attend their "90minute" thingy.

I didn't really need that at all. My wife who REALLY didn't need that at all.
I just wanted my car and to get to the condo.

That was a struggle. Basicly EXPEDIA.com just reserves you a car and sells you a useless incurance policy. Which leaves the rental place there to sell you a bunch of incurance you don't need. And explain in broken english how you are on the hook for the car if it get scratched. Yeah right! Have fun getting me to pay for a rental car repair.

Well. The cheap car($22/day)I reserved, they were out of so we got upgraded. Boo Hoo! Pile of crap car or a newer Dodge pile of crap. Whatever. Just get me outta here. We get loaded and on our way in a wierd silence.


As I am putting my lisence away I see the Credit Card the place needed to let me rent the car. I am very quite. Sick to my stomach. This passes and life goes on...


Man, did I jack this up or what!!??!!?? The highlight of my trip and it goes down the toilet.



Fast forward two days...


Could't be better. After a couple of hours of complete didsorder and Typical LUKE stuff, we are fine. Of course, my wife is very understanding!!! And Forgiving!!! And everything is AWESOME!!!

We did a day trip on Thursday and hit some really nice beaches. Wondering why we are not living on them most ofthe time.

Spent some time at the condo, at the pool and beach. Also Had a great dinner Tuesday night. So far so good. Don't want to see it end.



later Luke...

Cabo DAY 21

I am SO EXCITED!!! my wife flys in today at 2:30, gonna take the bus to the airport. I have a car reserved for the week. so we will have our own wheels. wasnt to keen on having her on the bike in baja with no riding gear. It should be a great week for us. gonna go sailing on a 56' charter boat thats on saturday. its all day, snokeling, whale watching and watching the sunset.

from the condo you can see the whale breeching in the distance. fish are jumping but they won't eat my lure/bait. and there are some pretty nice waves near by, costa azul. so gonna have to hit the surf. Went into San Jose del Cabo last night to check it out. cute place. lots of gringos. lots of stuff for sale. lots of places to spend my U.S. dollars. should be fun. we are hitting up La Panga for dinner tonight. should be nice.

Gonna do some off-road in our rental car. cant see paying 100buck/person for a off-road tour in a jeep cherokee for 3 hours on a dirt track. i think we should be able to handle most of the roads. I'll bring my shovel and air compressor and rope. we'll be fine. also gonna go picnicing up the coast, lots of seculded beaches close by.

Gonna go to town now, kill some time and get some lunch.

Peace and grease all!

DAY 20-Made it to Cabo! Dirt Track Baby!!!

What a great day! Had a restful nights sleep, great morning coffee and an eggs burrito.Morning sun on the bike.
Packed up, got some email addresses from my fellow La Ventana free Arroyo campers and hit the road. My plan for the day was to camp before Cabo along the East Cape. Plans change as you will soon read. Well, the boys in the camp told me that my bike was not worthy of the dirt road along the coast. Boy were they wrong. But first I had some great twisty roads for about fifty miles up and over a small mountian. Lots of people out on their bikes and cars. I guess thats what they do on Sunday. I passed about 150 motorcyclist in a few different areas. They were stopped for lunch or coming by me going the other direction. Lots of waving and thumbs-up. Went through some smallish towns and over lots of Topes. What is a topes? ha ha Anyways, I stopped in a small market to get some more water and some food. Then I was off down the coastal dirt track. Right off I thought about turning around. The things the guys from the camp said were ringing in my ears. But I pressed on. I rode to Cabo Pulmo, a great dive spot, but it was too windy to camp. Cabo Pulmo
So I pressed on further south. Not many travellers on this stretch of road. Came up on a sandy track that led to a beach. I said what the heck and went for it. I got down a ways and started thinking about letting some air out of the tires. So I pulled over and dropped them down to 20psi in the back and 15psi in the front. WOW! what a difference! Shoulda done that to begin with. Much better. Now I can really cruise.


Most of the 100 miles I was whooping and laughing aloud. But really had to stay focused. the scenery was awsome, and I stopped many times to gawk and take pictures.

I took a couple of videos while riding,
that was challenging, riding one handed with a 250 dollar phone in the other, trying to hold her steady and keep it on the road. I soon had pavement in my sights and pulled over to air up the tires. I also had cell service so I called my wife. She said that I should check availability at our condo, so I did and booked a studio for two nights, fifty bones/night!!!. Way better than a windy night on a secluded beach on the Sea of Cortez. So into San Jose del Cabo I went.

The resort is pimping and the staff are very helpful. It's right on the beach and has a bunch of pools. Should be pretty fun!

BURRO!!! pretty cute from a distance, even better when not on the road. End of the dirt! What a BLAST!!! Airing up the tires. 42psi Rear/33psi front.

later luke

WOW! DAY 18-La Ventana

The days are running together and I've lost track of the hours of the day. now I live by my hunger, the tides, and if it is geting light or dark. Pretty sweet. I have not been able to post as much as I would have liked to so the next few paragraphs will be a long synapse of what youve missed...

Let's recap... The trip into Baja has been both exciting and motivating. you realize that the "world" we live in of working and buying things and down to even the day to day grind is somewhat erased on a trip like this. Just what people need to put a real smile on their faces. As I have made my way through the Baja I've really fell in love with both the area and the people, gringos and natives alike.
Take the beach I stayed at, playa Santispac, I was recieved by the beach campers and the locals with open arms. People who I haven't known but for a few hours are offering me the use of their kayaks and R.V. bathrooms/showers. and anything else they have. Only having to buy the first drink at the restaurant and the rest are on the house is pretty cool, too.

Well, after I wore that beach out I cruised on to Loreto, just a short ride south. I figured that since it is a farely large city that they would have cell coverage. NOPE. But I did manage to stay in a R.V. camp for 5 bucks, with great facilities. The dog in the yard right next to my tent barked all night, I mean all night. Then even though I was wearing earplugs, the chickens woke me up very early. I guess when the guide book says it is noisy at night they mean it. I met a nice lady, Helen, from Vancouver Is. She is on a motorcycle trip most of us only dream about. Now retired, she is able to ride for a while, stay for a while, back track and do it again. she hopes to do the entire Hiway from alaska to argentina. very cool. I left there after she made me an excellent cup of coffee, and headed out towards La Paz.

It was a great ride and wonderful scenery along the way. Mountians jutting up from the sea and the vegitation is so green from recent rains. Most of you have never driven roads like this. Back home our paved forest service roads are in better shape. You also have numerous obsticles to avoid; cattle, burros, horses, birds, semi-trucks, dust, wind, no shoulder on the roadside what-so-ever, unmarked corners, rebar poking out all over the place along the ditches beside the roads, HUGE pot-holes, and many other things that will keep you on your toes.
Twisty road coming up!
Washed out!

So with all that in my way it didn't stop me from arriving in La Paz. Big city. I felt like I needed more money than I had on me so I stopped at the atm. Met a great local guy there named Rigo. he chatted with me in limited but good english and i was able to listen intently as he told be about his recent trips he had taken to British Columbia and Tucson, Arizona. He invited me to go camping with him at the end of Febuary at a Ranchers meeting. I will not be able to cause I will still be in Cabo. I am sure they will have a grat time. I will ride through where he is going to camp, so i will check it out.

One rigo and I parted ways at the bank I headed through town and up to a pennisula with free camping on the most amazing beaches. Had to ride through deep sand to get to a spot, but didn't dump the bike this time. I used combo of LOTS of throttle and good balance. One of the campers came by later and said he could hear my bike coming through the dunes and saw a 3 meter rooster tail of sand. that is so cool. He was shocked to see my street bike had made it. I said its the indian not the arrow. Complementing myself for my advanced riding skills. LOL! I had a nice dinner of fish ceviche and a Pacifico. All for 60pesos.($4.50) I went to bed soon after it was dark so I could be up early to catch some fish. When I was awakened in the morning before dawn by very loud spashing noises coming frome the sea, turns out to be about a 1000 birds eating breakfast of sardines. I quickly got up and grabbed my pole. Caught a couple of nice size fish. don't know what they were and didn't get a photo, so you'll have to just believe me. Soon after that action was over, I broke camp and throttle my way back out of the dunes toward La Paz. I needed to get a new snorkle mask and some new lures and some food stuffs, pretty easy to find and soon after I was on my way to a new camp, in La Ventana.My camp in La Ventana, Kiteboard Heaven. Although no wind right now:(


Along the way I found this place. Beach of the dead. They are trying to change the name to Beach of Dreams. Ha Ha


Here I have met some great people from all over. They dome for the wind to board and surf. They took me out and showd me a good time, food and entertainment. I had to get up and stun them all with my open mic night skills. They were slighty impressed, I think. That wrapped up last night and went back to camp. I must have bumped my stove geting into the tent cause this morning the fuel was gone! good thing I have a 2 gallon can of gas waiting for me to make stupid mistakes like that one. So after refueling my stove I fried up some eggs and tortillas. There are these little red ants that get into everything. Not good. Bug spray kills them. That is a comfort...

I just got back from a return trip to the Beach of the Dead, where I took the bike on a dirt road. Fun stuff!

Then I went snorkeling for a couple of hours, lots of cool fish, huge schools of medium sized fish. Also Hiked up to a Muslum styled palace. huge lots of money going into the contruction of that place, no workers were there so I poked around. Three elevators in the place, cause its on a hill side next to the sea. I was really bummed when I got there and realized my camera was in my topcase on my bike, a 20minute walk away. so no photos, just use your imagination to see what millions of dollars will buy you in the baja. I honestly have never seen a private home that nice. Mtv Cribs would have fainted.

Well thats most of whats been going on down here. so until next time. later luke




!