End of Day 2

Two days down, a whole lot more to come.

Day 1 started off poorly. After prepping for this trip for the previous two days I was still not fully ready come morning. I was up late Wednesday night getting stuff on the bike worked out and getting computer/GPS stuff working right and in this all I didn't have time to pack. Getting up early and packing for a six week trip really isn't the thing to do, assuming that you want to pack everything you need... I packed and unpacked, then packed again and STILL forgot stuff (notably my iPod). I finally left the house two hours later than anticipated which, had I been running this first day alone, wouldn't be a problem. What was a problem is that I had my friend Emily waiting to meet me at the start of Highway 1 north of San Francisco. Not good.

Once we met up things went well. Highway 1 is a gorgeous road and is only hindered by two things: slow drivers and wind. Those two combined to make an almost unbearable ride. Once we got a little north the road cleared up and the wind died down making the day go by much better. By far, my favorite part of the day was riding the last 30 miles or so oh Highway 1 before it meets up with US101. There was no traffic, the road was full of twists and turns, the road surface was excellent and teh scenery was amazing. I would love to ride that road again one day.

On that last stretch of Highway 1 we passed a large group of Harley (cruiser) riders and this only foretold what was to come. At the turn off for the drive thru tree there was a slew of Harleys and their riders gathered at a bar and, as we headed out to the campground, we saw more and more Harleys. Apparently there was a rally taking place this weekend dubbed "Redwood Rally" or something like that and it's basically the Sturgis of the west. The road to the campground was littered with bars and swarms of Harleys at each one; the campground was overrun with thenm too.


The pictures of this day can be found HERE

Day 2 was a very good day, starting at the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt and ending in the middle of Oregon. The roads were amazing and there were fewer windy sections than Day 1. After the culmination of Day 1 on Highway 1 and the start of today on the Avenue of the Giants/US101, I would love to come back to the redwoods and spend a weekend or a month just exploring the great roads and forest.

Coming out of the forest I was in awe of the beaches and coastal landscape, it was breathtaking and made me giddy for some reason. After stopping for pictures and having cell reception for the first time in 15 hours I sent some texts and was on my way.

The ride up through Oregon was more of the same breath-taking coastal views punctuated by short jaunts through the trees. There are two annoying local traffic laws that I failed to remember until I was in the state: no lane sharing and a 55 mph speed limit. Not that there was much traffic to be lane sharing with anyways but I had to forcibly stop myself several times when coming to a stoplight. The speed limit is easy enough to follow but it feels like you're crawling along compared to the 65 mph limit in California. I really think Oregon neeeds to get it's act together on this.

I finished off the day by riding inland a little bit to meet a fellow Ninja 250 rider and rest well under a proper roof :)

There is far more to come and I'm getting more and more anxious for each new day to start and see where I find myself at the end of it.

Day 2 photos are HERE