My 2010 ride was all about reaching a goal. I wanted to ride from one end of the country to the other, and I wanted to really experience some of the differences in culture throughout the country. For 2011, I wanted to go to a different country, taking my bike across the border. But also I wanted to see a lot of people I hadn’t seen for a while. So this trip was much more about people, than setting a mileage goal. This trip was also much more about family than just bikes. My wife and daughter tailed me in the car. That was really nice because I didn’t have to leave them for a week. It took a little of the “thrill” out of riding to be honest, but it was great having my girls with me.

The first day I left early with my sights set on Eureka, CA. It’s about 500 and some odd miles so it was going to be a long day. The girls left a few hours after me since they had to drop the cat off at the kennel. I rode up 99, crossed Manteca and Tracy and picked up the 580 toward the bay area. I followed it up through Oakland and then over the San Rafael Bridge. Most of this riding was uneventful highway riding. Once on the other side of the bridge though, the cities start to thin and the scenery opens up, and the ride got pretty nice. I stopped at some small town and had a coffee while waiting for my girls to catch up. Then we went to Santa Rosa to hook up with an old musician friend of mine. We had lunch with him and his family in Healdsburg and it was a really nice visit. That is such a great town. Cozy, clean, and full of great restaurants.

From there we headed up 101 to Eureka. Eureka was pretty disappointing. It’s an old town with some nice parts, but by and large it’s very run down and there’s bums everywhere. On top of that, AT&T had a trunk or something down in the area and so the entire town was without cellphone, internet, and landline service. Really pretty ridiculous.

The next day we left early and headed up the coast on 101 and this is where the trip got really nice. There is so much beauty in the Northern California coast and the Oregon coast it’s amazing. Just one amazing vista after another, and one quaint little town after another. I honestly could have spent my whole week just exploring this area. And in fact, I’m tempted to do that for Epic Ride 2012. We ended the day in Newport, OR, and had some great micro-brewed beer and fresh seafood. And outstanding day.

The third day we continued up the coast for more of the same. Beautiful scenery and neat towns. We stopped in Astoria and this is another city I could have spent a week at. It’s such an cool old city with a vibrant downtown with so much to explore. We cut inland from there, crossed over the river to Washington and picked up the I5. As we were crossing the state line there are huge lumber yards on the other side of the river and I was completely amazed at the sheer amount of lumber stacked up and waiting to be shipped to who knows where. Amazing. We finished the day landing in Bothel at Michelle’s sister Melisa’s house.

Three days of riding over 1000 miles, so day four would be spent relaxing and visiting with family. Melisa took us to breakfast at this cool restaurant that is built into the basement of a school gym that was built in the early 1900′s. They had fantastic food and my diet was shot right then. We hung out at home playing with the kids that day and then in the evening we all went out for sushi in downtown Seattle. Seattle has many unique little neighborhoods and in that way it reminds me of Chicago. It was a great time hanging with my in-laws and enjoying some fantastic food.

On Day 5 Deanna and I suited up, jumped on the bikes, and headed to Canada! I took some relatively remote roads and it was a beautiful ride wandering through Washington farmland to the border. Once there, we passed through relatively quickly and were on our way to Harrison Hot Springs, about an hour and a half east of Vancouver.

Harrison was nice, though I was really disappointed at the restaurant selection at a resort area. Most were closed at 3 in the afternoon and the one we found open was pretty awful. Harrison Lake however was beautiful and surrounding area lush and green. After eating we decided to ride to Hope, BC, and check out something called the Othello Tunnels. They are a series of tunnels blasted through solid rock for the train line. They were built in the early 1900′s and the area is so treacherous that the train line only ran about 60% of the time and now only 4 of the 14 tunnels are open for people to walk through. Very cool place.

The following day we rode to Mission, BC, which is a small town about 30 minutes west of Harrison, and we had breakfast and did a little shopping. All in all, I enjoyed Canada. There was really nothing fantastic about it other than the scenery though, but then we spent most of our time riding through farm country, so it’s hard to expect to find any fantastic restaurants or anything.

On the way back to Seattle, we stopped along the way to meet up with an old buddy of mine from high school. It was really great seeing him and seeing that he and his family were doing so well.

Our last day in Washington was spent with my daughter in downtown Seattle, exploring the market place. We had some fantastic seafood, did some shopping and exploring. Great times, just me and my kid.

The next day we packed up and got an early start home. The plan was to head straight down i5 and travel as far as we could in one day, hopefully making it to Redding, 610 miles south, before I crashed from exhaustion. We made it in 12 hours. That was my longest single day of riding I’ve ever done, and actually, I felt pretty good. We visited with Michelle’s mom for the evening and then once again hit the road the next day.

I decided to leave before my wife and daughter so they could stay and visit a while longer. I made may way down the worst road in the entire United States; Hwy 99. It’s boring, it’s hot, and it’s in AWFUL shape. For all the money this state spends, you’d think they could at least keep the darn roads paved. Anyway, I made it down to Ripon, CA where I again hooked up with some old high school buddies. It was nice seeing these guys even though with all the grey in our bears and hair and all of us wearing glasses, I realized that I’m not a young man anymore. *sigh*.

A few hours later and I was home and it was good to be home because the Fresno heat was wearing on me. Only one problem, I didn’t have a house key. I called Michelle and they were just passing through Sacramento so I had three hours to wait. Luckily I had cigars and my iPad on the bike, so I went to the store for a few beers and some peanuts and spent the next three hours relaxing on the porch surfing the internet and enjoying a smoke and a brew. Not the worst way to spend a day.

So that’s the trip! It was a fantastic ride, not only for the scenery, but for seeing so much family and friends that I don’t get to see often enough. It was a great reminder that when it comes right down to it, those relationships are the most important thing in life.

Here’s a link to my ride pictures. Time to start planning Epic Ride 2012!

For the last 4 years I’ve been doing what I like to call Epic Ride. It’s a long distance motorcycle ride consisting of at least several hundred miles, often thousands, and several days to someplace I’ve never been. It’s an adventure. It’s me, a machine and nothing but road. It’s interesting people and beautiful landscape. It’s quiet time with the Lord. It’s therapy.

This year I’m headed to our neighbors up north; Canada. I’m leaving very soon, and as I sit here in the garage getting my bike ready and all my gear laid out, I’m getting giddy thinking about LONG days on the bike with nothing but the rumble of the engine and the roar of the wind in my ears. It’s going to be fantastic.

Most people don’t really understand the appeal of long distance riding. They think it’s dangerous, risky, boring, whatever. That’s the routine of life talking. For me it’s bliss. It’s a time to turn off the world, and just enjoy time racing through God’s creation, completely exposed. The only better way to experience God’s amazing creation would be to walk, but unfortunately I don’t have that much time. But when you’re on the road, nobody can interrupt you. Nobody call call or email you or walk into your office. The road is mine. I stop when I fell like it, I eat when I feel like it. It’s my time.

So there’s a very private aspect to it, but there’s also a very social aspect to it. When you do stop, the people you meet are fascinating. We swap stories of where we’ve been and where were going. Theres a camaraderie.

So I’m just completely stoked. Epic Ride 2011 is going to be awesome. Stay tuned because I’ll be posting pictures and writing about my experiences as I head into the beautiful northwest.

My route will start here in good ol’ hot-as-heck Fresno and head north on 99. I’ll jog west on the 580, cut through the east bay and pick up 101 heading north through wine country.

My first stop will be Arcata, CA., a cool little town on the coast in northern California.  I like to have my longest leg of the trip be the first one. I will be exhausted at the end of the first day and I’m already looking forward to a bowl of clam chowder and a cold beer.

From there I will continue up the Oregon coast and stop in Newport, OR. Not sure what is in Newport, but mileage wise it’s right where I want to stop. So I’ll wing it there and see what trouble I can get into.

After leaving Newport, I’ll cut inland back over to I5 and make a beeline for Bothell, WA., which is east of Seattle. My wife’s sister and her husband live there and we’ll be staying there, visiting and enjoying the surrounding area for a week.

I’m taking one day of that week though and heading to Canada. I plan on crossing the border and heading to a little village called Harrison Hot Springs. It’s about 3 hours north of Bothell so it will make for a great ride and leave plenty of time to mess around. I’ll come back the next afternoon and visit some more before heading home.

The ride home will be as fast as possible, straight down I5. We’ll probably spend the night in Medford, OR which is about the halfway point. That’s going to be two LONG days of riding, but as usual with these trips, there’s never enough time.

So I’m super stoked. I wish I had another biker going with me, but it’s hard to schedule vacations like this with other people.

Stay tuned for photos and notes from the road!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Don’t get me wrong, the rally is fun. The time spent there is mostly riding, which is awesome, and there’s a lot of vendor booths and custom bikes and all sorts of things like that to look at, but other than that we didn’t hit any of the planned events. They just don’t appeal to me. And I think the problem is that the culture itself is growing old.

The average age of the folks at these rallies is probably 50+ these days. There’s just hardly any young people there. Now I’m 42 so I’m no young buck, but I realize that to keep things interesting you have to keep things fresh, and youth brings in the new, fresh ideas. These rallies can’t go on forever featuring music from the 70′s and doing the same old cliche biker contests and stuff. The Harley crowd is aging fast and if the industry doesn’t embrace new blood, it’s going to self destruct.

What I would like to see first off is some new music. For crying out loud if I have to hear some hack do “Born to be Wild” one more time I’m going to freak out! That song sucked when it first came out, it sucks more now! Let’s see some new talent like Hinder, or Black Label Society, or Hell Yeah. There’s plenty of current bands doing original music that will fit with the biker culture, it’s time to leave the 70′s behind.

Secondly, let’s start including sport bikers and other types of riders in these things. Why market the event to mainly cruisers? The young guys are all riding sport bikes, let’s draw in some of that culture (and money) and mix things up a bit. What about adventure bike riders? I’d also like to see them do an event at the Las Vegas speedway. Let us take our bikes down there and run them on the drag strip. Now that would be fun.

The other thing that really bugged me about this year was the amount of guys wearing “Sons of Anarchy” vests. I mean, come on guys! Nothing says “wanna-be” like a dude wearing the colors of a make believe biker gang.

Anyway, despite my dissatisfaction with the status quo of the motorcycle culture, I had a great time hanging with my wife and some fantastic friends.

So what drove me to do this? For me this trip was simply about doing something that most people think is “crazy” or “impossible”. It’s amazing to me how people beat themselves down and convince themselves that they can’t do this or that. And I wonder if it’s laziness or fear that keeps people from getting off their butts and doing the things they’ve always wanted to do. I’m 42 years old now and when I tell people I’m playing a gig, or riding a long ride, or whatever, there’s one thing I see and that’s a longing for something more exciting than what they have. Yet, even though that little spark resides in people, they suppress it. The thing they feel compelled to do is “irresponsible” or “dangerous” or whatever. Bah!!!!

I believe we were put here to experience life and to create relationships with our God and with our fellow man. No, I don’t believe life is one big bike ride, it’s not all about adventure, but it is about not pissing away the time God has given us sitting in front of the TV. I went on this trip to see a bit of the world, to see what people are REALLY like and I’m telling you, that freaking box you plant yourself in front of for hours a day is a sorry, lame and sad substitute for actually getting out there and seeing the world for yourself. It’s a gorgeous, beautiful and VAST world that I saw out there and I’ve not even scratched the surface!

I do have some regrets about this trip though. I regret that I did not have enough time. Time to take the back roads and stop at all the oddball and interesting places that are off the beaten path. Time to visit my friends that live all around the country. Time to just meet more new people and hear about their life stories.

Despite that though, this trip was immensely enjoyable because of the relationships that were fostered among friends and family. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this trip it’s that it’s important not to let too much time pass before getting face time with people who are important to you.

So I was going to pass on all this great knowledge about riding gear and preparation and planning and all that crap. But honestly, the best advice I can give to anyone, biker or not, who’s reading this and wanting to go visit somebody or see a place; Turn that darn TV OFF, get your lazy butt off the couch and GO! Seriously, time is trickling away, and you can’t get it back.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about our little trip. Tomorrow this blog will return to it’s usual boring fare of what I’m eating for dinner, how hard work was, or what the weather is like…

…until my next ride anyway.

Utah is a beautiful place. I would say that to me it’s one of the most beautiful places on our entire trip. The ruggedness of it, the texture, and the colors are just amazing. It’s like landing on another planet almost, and the times I’ve been through it I have just sat there and wondered about the forces that created such odd and beautiful formations. One could easily spend a few weeks in Utah alone just exploring and taking it all in.

We blasted across the state as fast as we could. We had over 500 miles to cover, our longest ride day yet, and it was expected to be 112 degrees in Las Vegas. We did make a few picture stops because you just can’t ride past all that beauty without getting a picture, but we made them quick. We finally slowed down a bit at a rest stop before crossing the Arizona border. The weather was still relatively comfortable but we knew once we got back on the bikes we’d be literally riding into Hell.

And this is where I heard that question I’d heard at least a dozen times on my trip; “Boy you must be hot in that jacket!”. I’m just talking about it now so you non-bikers don’t ask it and look stupid. Here’s the deal folks, motorcycle clothing is a compromise between comfort and safety. Generally, the more comfortable the clothing, the less safe it is. I’ve chosen the classic motorcycle jacket for several reasons. First, it’s not all that hot. Really. The leather keeps the sun off my skin and it’s got vents to let air in when I’m moving. Secondly, yet most importantly, if I were to hit the pavement, which could be several hundred degrees hot in the sun, at 70mph, all of my skin would be torn completely off my body. Now I ask you, don’t you think it’s worth it to be a little hot in a jacket? I do.

Anyway, we got back on the bikes and started toward Vegas and the desert. Folks, it was HOT. By the time we got to Vegas it was 104 I think, which is better than 112, but not by much. At one point I had pulled out a water bottle and was squirting myself while riding and thinking what a smart guy I was, until the water in the bottle heated up to 100 degrees and then it was like squirting jacuzzi tub water on myself. Awful. The good thing was that we only had about 2 hours of really hot weather to ride through. Our plan to leave early had at least saved us from any hot riding through Utah and the worst of Vegas. We pulled onto Fremont Street, checked into our hotel and then went looking for a beer.

We ended up going to a bar called Mickey Fynn’s where my old bass player Rich from South of Shaw was playing. We had a few beers and listened to his new band for a bit, then we went strolling down Fremont street. They had a Styx cover band playing that was really good so we kicked it and listened to Mr. Roboto, Blue Collar Man, and a few other old rockers.

At one point we noticed that there was some dude in the crowd dressed like Prince. Weird. Then we saw a dude dressed like Paul Stanley, except he was the sorriest looking Paul Stanley I’d ever seen. His costume was lame looking and all baggy on him, he had a bad wig on, and dude, if you’re going to do Paul Stanley, you had better have some super manly chest hair. This guy was a loser. And then his loser buddy who was dressed like Brett Michaels strutted up. Apparently a Brett Michaels costume just consists of jeans, a cowboy hat and tons of eyeliner. Apparently these idiots were taking money for pictures with vacationers. Holy crap. Vegas is the only place in the world where people actually pay to take pictures with a bad copy of a famous person. Lame.

However, Vegas is Vegas, and it was fun just people watching. We decided to hit the sack early and hit the road at the break of dawn again the next day. We didn’t quite get off before sun up though since I had been watching my diet and I had not yet had a scrumptious plate of Chicken Fried Steak and Eggs. So we had a killer breakfast and then we hit the road.

The ride back to Fresno was uneventful as expected and we rolled up to my house in good time. We had our daily cigar and some of my home made American Biker Ale and then Robert headed home to hang out with his kid who he hadn’t seen in two weeks. It was a great end to a fantastic adventure. Robert, thanks bro for riding it with me. It simply would not have been the same without you.

I’ll wrap up this blog series in my next post.

Kansas was not nearly as miserable as I expected. It’s not as flat. It’s not as ugly. It is though every bit as boring. Unless you take into account the little town that touts the worlds largest prairie dog, which I suspect is an actual dog, or maybe a cow, then it’s a barn full o’ fun!!

The eastern part of Kansas is actually quite pretty. Basically rolling green hills for miles and miles. The western part is flat as a pancake and is nothing but corn fields. Still, I liked it. But then again, I love farmland. To me farmland means hard work, simple values, and great food. Plain and simple.

We stayed the night in a little town and then the next day we ventured into Colorado and the Rocky mountains. Now, the first thing you hit when you roll into Colorado from the east is Denver and folks, I was not impressed. Denver is not a mountain town, in fact it’s a lot like Fresno in that it’s as flat as a pancake and sits at the base of a mountain range. It’s not as hot as Fresno though, but every bit as smoggy.

So we blazed through Denver and into the mountains and the return trip suddenly got really enjoyable again. The Rocky’s are full of super fancy resorts and snow capped mountains. It’s also the home of Buffalo Bill’s grave! We had to stop and check it out since I had heard of Buffalo Bill but I really had no idea who he was. Turns out he was a buffalo hunter, surprised? He went on to become a scout for the army at the time when they were busy kicking the indians off their land. After that he went into show business and started a traveling circus and wild-west show. he was pretty successful, but made some sour choices along the way and ended up dying fairly broke, but hey, I bet he had a lot of great stories to tell.

As we headed west we cut through this fantastic canyon, and friends, it was breathtaking. I don’t even know how you build a road through something so rugged. It was amazing. I just wish I could have pulled over and took some pictures. It was the best part of Colorado for me and once again I made a mental note to return some day.

We ended up in Grand Junction which is a neat little town. I was kind of freaked out because the week before I left on our trip I saw a TV show about some dude who murdered his wife in Grand Junction, but as usual, TV is nothing like real life and the people of Grand Junction were super nice. While at the hotel we discovered they had a live band coming in so we retired to the pool area to have our customary beer and cigar and watch the band.

The band was three dudes, told old codgers on harmonica and rhythm guitar and a young kid on lead and they were playing some wicked blues. Man, I thought these guys were awesome. Now that I’m old and out of the club scene, I think I could see myself playing in a band like that. They were just tearing it up and having a great time.

During the breaks they had a young gal come up and play some guitar and sing and she was really good too! 15 years old and she was singing and playing like nobody’s business. She’s going to be really good in 5 years or so. The only downside was when she called her somewhat haggard mom up to sing with her. Now I think it’s great that she has a good relationship with her momma, but please, this is a rock and roll show, not the family sing along hour. Bokay?

Anyway, good times were had by all and we slept like babies as we prepared ourselves for the longest ride day of the trip. 520 miles to Las Vegas Nevada.

The little one is soooo cute. I wish I could have spent more time hanging with her. As soon as she started getting used to me we had to go which sucked, but she’s such a sweetheart. While out to dinner my niece’s husband Matt would start to quietly clap and as soon as the little one heard that she would start dancing in her seat and doing this little shoulder move that was just the cutest thing. She was the star of the restaurant.

The second day we had off we decided to head into downtown Nashville and see some sights. I had a few friends I wanted to hook up with but unfortunately there just wasn’t enough time. One thing that was really cool though was that we visited Andrew Jackson’s home. My daughter said she learned more about history in that visit than she did in 4 years of high school. If you ever get a chance to go, check it out.

Tennessee as a whole is chock full of history. They’ve had three (I think) Tennessee residents become president and Tennessee was a major player in early American politics. It’s a fantastic place if you can handle the absolutely awful humidity! I’m sure one can used to anything though if you live there for long enough. I’m still kind of freaked out that it rains in the summer there. I’m such a Californian.

So after our two days off, Robert and I packed up the bikes and headed north. We blazed across Kentucky and stopped in a quaint little town called Paducah which is on the Ohio river (somebody correct me if I get my rivers mixed up, there’s so many out there!). Paducah is a neat little town. All brick buildings and mom and pop shops. The surrounding area is full of machine shops and small business and then further out is all farming. I really liked our ride though and I’ve made a mental note to someday return and explore.

We crossed Kentucky and headed into Illinois and then came across a problem. The highway was being worked on and so we could either endure long delays (in record heat and humidity) or head west on a minor highway. We decided to take the detour. The only problem was that I missed the detour signs that led us back to the highway and we ended up cutting across rural Illinois. We didn’t mind though. Once again we were surrounded by beautiful green farmland for as far as the eye could see. Every 40 miles or so we’d come across a tiny little town, cruise through main street, and then back into more farmland. Folks, this is what America really is about. This detour was fantastic and if I had to run cross country again, and had more time, I would have mapped our trip avoiding the interstates altogether.

It’s kind of funny too how these little towns try and generate a little extra cash. They all come up with gimmicks to get you to stop. One town touted itself as the home of Popeye. Yes Popeye. As we cruised through town characters from the Popeye cartoons were everywhere. We didn’t stop. ha! Another town was called Metropolis even though it had a population of probably 5, and had Superman crap everywhere. Pretty funny.

We eventually hit the interstate just south of St. Louis and encountered what was the worst section of our trip. Missouri sucks, my friends. My brother jokingly said the state name should be pronounced “misery” and he was right. It was ungodly hot. at least high 90′s. Now my Fresno neighbors are probably sitting there laughing since as I type this is nearly 100 here in Fresno. However, humidity is the important factor here. Our humidity here in Fresno is probably about 15% right now. In Missouri it was more like 98%. This means that you sweat like a pig from the heat, but because the air is so moist, your sweat never evaporates. It just sits on your skin, which means you can’t cool off. I swear it was the most miserable 4 or 5 hours on the bike I’ve ever experienced.

To top it off, we stayed in a little college town called Columbia which happened to be the most God awful little town I have ever seen. Maybe it was just the exit we got off on, but the motel was beaten down and dirty. Robert noticed a hypodermic needle and rubber strap in the street on the way to dinner. It was just awful. We both slept with one eye open thinking somebody was going to break into our room and shank us in our sleep or steal the bikes.

We awoke to find our throats untouched and our bikes safe. We didn’t waste any time though getting packed up and hitting the road. That’s one place I hope never to see again.

The next 8 hours would take us across Missouri and into the home of Dorothy and Toto; Kansas.