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.