A Gimp Goes Forth
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After spending eight months to rehab from a broken ankle, one of my first priorities was to pick up tires that had been waiting for me in San Diego and get them on the bike.
I didn't know my next destination, but knew I'd want new shoes to get there.
Opening the tires, I noticed this crease. This would eventually lead to a blow out had a I left the tube in place.
Check and brush off your tubes whenever you open your tires. It's quick, and might save you a massive headache down the road.
... except when spot checking your tubes it doesn't.
I had a slow leak, likely it was pinched when mounting the tire. A dumb mistake that led to a slow speed wipe out, as the front tire just washed out in the middle of the street.
I was a bit sore from the bike crushing my leg, but the pannier bags took the brunt of the fall.
A few days after my graceful flat tire incident, I was up in the Kern River Valley, camping next to some fun weekend partiers. There was a swing setup, and a floating innertube with a glow light attached.
The Kern River was nice, but I wanted to explore more of the Sierra Nevada range, so went further north to Sequoia National Park. This southern campground had a wonderfully crisp river to swim in.
The fallen burnt out trees in Sequoia National Park are big enough to walk through.
Inside an old burned out sequoia.
Kings Canyon National Park can be seen from many vantage points in Sequoia N.P.
Sunsets in the Sierra Mountains. I spent almost every evening seeking out new vantage points.
Labor Day weekend brought party campers to the free camping zone I was in. To escape the drunken antics, I went deeper into the woods and up a difficult dirt road.
Later in the evening, I was rewarded with this wonderful sight.
Some of the stones look as they they were once carved by human hands. Building natural steps hundreds of feet tall.
After the Labor Day revelry, the campgrounds emptied out and I snatched this coveted spot. Spending nearly a week there, it was one of the most beautiful camp sites I'd ever seen.
It was hard to capture, but this moss vibrantly glows in the daylight. The color is nearly unnatural.
I had run out of cooking fuel, and couldn't find any more bottles of yellow HEET in the park.
Iso alcohol can be used, but it's a smelly nasty affair that left carbon stains on anything it touched.
This tick. My backpack was just outside my tent before being loaded up onto the bike. Usually I let all kinds of creepy crawlies live, but for blood suckers get my best to kill it, but this was one tough bug.
I'm grateful it didn't find a way into the tent nor a way to jump off the bag onto my clothes.
Just another evening in Sequoia N.P.
A company I work with in Chicago needed me there in person, so I got a storage locker in San Francisco for the bike and flew in.
On my flight back, I routed through Portland to meet up with my girlfriend at the time. We rented a car and did a road trip blitz through Oregon.
I was fell in love with the variety of terrain in Oregon.
We camped for a night along this beautiful lake. It would have been easy to stay there for a few days if the weather was a bit warmer.
Crater Lake was a sight to behold. The water was amazingly clear. Sometime I'll return with a better camera than my cell phone.
After a whirlwind tour of Oregon, I was glad to be back on the bike.
At a cafe in the northern Sierra Mountains, I met a rider who lived nearby. He got on his old Goldwing and took me through the pass to the eastern side, where I wanted to explore the desert a bit more.
I also needed to change the gearing on the bike and get some other misc KTM things done. I stealth camped above Carson City to bide my time.
My plan was to explore Nevada, Idaho and Wyoming on route to South Dakota.
This natural salt flat was just off the side of the road, and with no fences around, couldn't help riding out there to play.
Work called. There was a very important issue and they would need my availability in another few days. So I blitzed over to Moab, Utah where I knew I could easily camp and work. Unfortunately, on the way come I found out the need for my time was a bit exaggerated, so I went into Colorado, hoping to ride through Wyoming and Idaho on the way back.
This was a great stealth camp at a campground closed for the season.
Another wonderful stealth camp at a closed campground, but at elevation and near a lake, everything was frozen and covered with frost in the morning.
My priority was to get to South Dakota as quickly as possible, but still took the scenic routes whenever possible through Colorado.
It was odd riding a motorcycle past a ski slope that was already open for the season. I think I was the only nutter on a bike out there that day.
DOUBLE RAINBOW!
Toadstool campground looked like a great remote spot. Arriving, I had it all to myself as the sun went down. Bliss.
Until the trains came rolling through the tracks nearby.
Fisherman in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Before heading to South Dakota, I had booked a flight out of Denver to spend Halloween with my girlfriend at the time. I had assumed my trip there would only need a day, but a snafu with a 10 year old license put me in a hard spot.
The license couldn't be fixed for a few days, but that was over a weekend. My flight left on Monday evening. There wasn't a way to fit it in, so I was forced to go from Rapid City, to Denver, then back to Rapid City.
Sigh...
License all sorted, I head back, but only to be troubled by another issue. A hurricane called Nuri in Alaska was pushing unseasonably cold air from Canada all the way down the Rocky Mountains.
In South Dakota, I had to take a gamble between taking the plains side or the Utah side. One, or both might trap me in with snow and ice.
I decided the Utah side, through Wyoming. Every day the below freezing temperature nipped at my heels.
With a nearly flat battery, the motel owner let me wheel the bike indoors, to protect it from the freezing overnight temperatures that may have just let it go flat.
Yes, I STILL have that damn box on the bike.
Deciding to take refuge in one of my favorite places, Moab, I met this recumbent biker who was also heading there from Wyoming. Nice fellow, wish I had grabbed his contact info.
The bike has been going through front spokes at regular intervals lately.
Getting a desparately needed new sprocket and chain on the bike.
I wonder if my Ortlieb saddle bags will fit on a mule?
Charlie, the amazing fellow that he is, took a few other hostel members out for a mule ride one day. I'm immensely grateful for the experience he shared with us.
Afte the mule ride, I misplaced my phone. While hunting for it before dark, I still spared a minute to snap this shot of Utah's wonders.
More beauty around Moab.
I bought a bicycle in Moab, with plans on turning it into a fun touring machine. It also let me join up with one of the bicycle dance parties that occur in Moab.
Everyone had decorated their bikes for the holiday season parade.
After spending nearly two months laying low in Moab, and with winter quickly rolling in, it was time to move on. The day I left, it had snowed prior.
I was going to make a sprint to San Diego, to meet up with my lady friend and join her for a quick trip to Maui.
