North America by Motorcycle with my Dog
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Some interesting trip stats off the top of my head:
total miles: just under 10,000 by about 23 miles. So 10,000! w00000t!!
Total trip time: 32 days
Total Cost for Hotels, campsites, or a place to sleep: $0 ! I didn't pay for a place to sleep the entire trip. Camping, a guest, or crashing next to the bike at night the whole way.
Number of tires used: front 1 (original), Rear 2, and need to change it again
Number of actual, certifiable near-death experiences: 3
Number of mechanical breakdowns: 1
Number of mechanics who worked on my bike: 4
Number of people who helped me or befriended me: 30+
Number of times I started to ride off without checking to make sure Sierra's crate was fully zipped: 3
Number of of times I declared "This is definitely to most beautiful sunset!": 11
Avg miles per gallon: ~32ish
Top speed: 100mph
Number of times pulled over: 1 State: Utah Ticketed: no Reason: badass dog
Number of mystical "enegry zones" encountered: 5
Number of poeple who I thought might be trouble: 2
Number of times I ran out of gas: 1
Distance from nearest gas station at the time: 3/4 mile
Number of tunderstorms experienced: 7
Total days driving in rain: 5
Total days driving in 100 degree or higher heat: 10
Total number of road hazzards manouvered around: 50+
Number of times bike went down: 3
Number of times bike went down while moving: 1
Percentage of trip driven on non-interstate highways: 65+%
Longest period of time without sleeping: 40 hours
Distance traveled during that time: 1100 miles
Enjoyment and Adventure Factor: 10 out of 10
September. My how time flies.
OK, here's the dealio. I made it to Maine. Went to IT. That was about 4500 miles in 14 days. Then I traveled around New England for a while, met some cool people in Vermont from New York, and stayed on their farm for a week. The barn was full of motorcycles in various states of repair, and we noodled on those while the dogs, they had 4, all played and chased deer and swam in the lagoon. Dog-gone fun!
At some point one morning I decided that I was going to get back to California in time for Burning Man. I was planning to leave when the Great Blackout of Unknown Origin of 2003 hit the region. i delayed for a day, then hauled bootie westward - Go West, young man, go west! Made it back in time to get to BM on the first Sunday, spent 10 days in the desert, just north of where I almost became a highway marker staking out where my bike ran off the road on the last day of the return portion of the cross country trip.
I know, this is lots of high level info.
Luckily, I kept good notes of my journey, took some pics and video, and am planning to post some of this stuff as I get the chance. I think I'll end up doing a broadcast-delayed version of my trip, where I discuss each day, but with, hopefully, some interesting observations given the slightly removed perspective.
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