CHASING THE HORIZON

Off to Uncle Sams place

Whattup dudes?

Time for another express adventure. This time to the land of the free and the home of the brave. ( and donuts...mmmmm donuts)

Yep thatS right we re off to visit Uncle Sam.

Spot tracker will be available here from Monday.

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=d0155546855a35183

After a big night at our send off party ( thanks Ro, Jez, Jared, jacinta, shannon and Ishara, we boarded our big jet for the arduous 14 hour flight. And arduous it was. Came close to killing a 2 year old kid that kept kicking the back of my seat, meanwhile darling mum, didn't give shit even after I not so politely told her control the little shit..

 

Our home town looked brilliant as we flew over it.

So after getting absolutely no sleep we arrived to a dull and gloomy LAX. At around 6am.

 

We had heard horror stories of huge delays getting through immigration etc, but we breezed through with no delay at all and straight into our hire car ( only in America us it cheaper to hire a car than catch a bus) and set off to meet our new Friends James and Colleen who had helped us with the purchase of our bike and run a little B&B type business at their very cool house in Claremont.

Bit Scary driving on the wrong side the huge freeways. Speed limit is 65 but no one does that but we soon got the hang of it.

Decided it was a bit early to to arrive at Claremont, so nothing for it, but to make a detour to a massive bike and jetski shop known as Berts mega Mall.

This place is massive and they sell just about every brand of bike and jetski as well as boats. I kid you not I'm coming back here for my next holiday,

 

They even had some sort of tricycle ride going on.

We needed to buy some helmets, but unfortuantly Berts didn't have what we were looking for. Everyone had told us you could buy anything you need at Walmart, so we decided to take a look. No helmets but bloody cheap bikinis.

And yes we had our first Walmart experience. This Chevy Blazer was parked outside, filled to the roof with shit. Plastic bottles paper clothes, you name it it was in there. Only the drivers seat was clear.

 

Then off to The famous James and Beautiful Colleens ultra cool house. To meet our bike and prepare it for the weeks ahead.

 

The bike is in brilliant condition considering it's an 02 model. Only done 24000 kms and I am extremely happy with it.

We still needed helmets, so James very kindly drove us in his little yellow beetle to the famous Chaparall Motorsport store.

Bugger me I thought Berts was big.This place was even bigger. You could spend the whole day ( and a shit load of money ) in here. We had a ball and scored two helmets at a brilliant price.

But first donuts

 

 

The helmet room alone was bigger than most shops at home.

 

Then back home for Mexican beers and out to Mexican for dinner.

Hope you enjoy following our adventures over the next few weeks. If your following our spot and see that we are near to something you reckon we should see or perhaps a great road to ride. Let us know in the comments.

 

Love

Guy & Sam

 

 

Mountains to the Sea

Took the bike on its maiden voyage today. Very happy with it.

Our gracious hosts James and Colleen are bike nuts and have a garage anyone would be envious of and have done some brilliant trips them selves including an epic trip to Ushuaia in Sth America on DR650s.

Our destination would be the world renowned Angeles crest highway and the equally well known Newcombes ranch. Our route took us on some goat track that everyone seems to get a kick out of., so we decided to get our kicks too.

The Angels crest road was brilliant and the scenery unbelievable.

Had a great breakfast at the very popular Newcombes ranch Then more fun on the Angeles forest road which also included a quick stop at the earth moving St Andreas fault.

The local wildlife is a little smaller than what we Have at home but still scared the shit out of me.

 

Back to our luxurious digs and while I set to work bringing you this up date, Sam just luxuriated in the pool.

 

 

Then James and Colleen took us on a twilight tour to the famous Huntington Beach and its famous pier where we had a great burger and watched the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. Was very romantic and the only thing missing was a jet ski.

 

 

 

 

Then home to bed. Totally shattered and tomorrow we set off heading west. Who knows where will end up.

Stay tuned.

 

Highs and Lows

And I don't mean just the temps.

Sadly we had to say goodbye to our new friends James & Colleen. We have had a great couple of days with them and if you ever want to buy a bike or need a good cheap place to stay in LA James is the man to help you out. Contact me for details.

Thanks for all your help guys. We hope will see you again sometime.

With James directions in hand we set off and made it all of half a mile before we got lost. Back on track and we decided it was too hot to just sit on the highway so, we headed for the San Bernardo ranges and the ski resort town of Big Bear. Awesome roads and great scenery although our happy snaps won't do it justice.

Cool temps with even a bit of snow on the side of the road in places.

 

Big bear is a very pretty place on a huge lake. Had brekky at the famous Grizzly diner which was cool.thats not the diner behind the bear. That's the toilets.

Then some more fun roads as we dropped Into the Harrison Valley. Temps were going up and we were soon starting to feel the heat.

 

The landscape was bizarre. True desert, massive rock formations with tumbleweed, sand and heaps of the weird looking Joshua Trees. And then amongst all the sand dunes and rocks are these really cool looking homes. ( lots and lots of not so cool looking ones too)

 

 

In the town of Joshua tree we bought our national parks pass and headed into the brilliant Joshua Tree Grand Prix ............Errr I mean national park circuit.

Can highly recommend this circuit. Great fun.

Had a wheelie good time.

Then it was back onto the old Route 66.

 

It was bloody hot and the Roads were straight , so the only way to stay awake was to sit on 100 MPH.

And that's when the trouble started. Bike started playing up. Wouldn't run at low revs and was stalling .

Horrible feeling being broken down in the middle of nowhere, with the tumble weeds rolling and wind howling.

Pretty sure the fuel was actually vaporising due to the heat. ( and high speed). After cooling down it seemed to be fine, but will see what happens over the next few days. And I might drop the speed a bit.

Crossed in Nevada and into the Casino resort town of Laughlin on the Colorado river where we have set up our Farrahs Casino remote bush camp.

 

20 bucks a night and $30 all you can eat buffet including a bucket of 5 beers. woohoo!!

Tough work but whatever.

 

One night in Vegas

Spent the morning rooting around on 66 and made our way into the historic mining town of Oatman for breakfast.

Made a quick stop at the massive Hoover dam.

I was a big scared to look over the side. Others had no such qualms.

 

 

 

 

Then into Vegas stopping along the way to say hello to Jeff from Cairns, but who now lives here

 

Vegas is amazing. Pics won't do it justice. Crazy buildings full of crazy people.

 

The scenery was very nice

 

And the we got married

 

 

 

 

 

 

Footnote: actual events may not have occurred but Elvis assured us he was real.

 

Until Death Valley Do us Part

So apparently the whole wedding thing caused quite a ruckus. Relax kiddies, Sam says there is nomwaybshenwould get married wearing a black top.

So anyway Death Valley is the lowest place in USA with the floor of the valley being 139ft below sea level. It has also recorded the highest ever temperature at 55°

Was not that hot today but it was still quite warm and the wind was treacherous, blowing us all over the road.

Did our first bit of dirt road which was fun.

 

The run in is mind numbing. But once there the road along the valley wall was great fun.

 

Spectacular place and not one you would want to visit in summer.

We needed beer so pulled into the world famous Montain Springs saloon. No strippers or burn outs today but it's a pretty cool bar.

Then it was back to the hotel to meet Sams friend Fiona, who is another Aussie now leaving here. Was nice to catch up again Fiona.

After dinner it was back on the strip and to the New New York casino to see the Cirque de Sol show Zumanity. ( the exploration of human sexuality)

 

Brilliant show which had boobies, so I was happy and Sam got selected to go up on stage and be humilted with a black man, so that was good to. She was last seen disappearing into the stage floor whilst straddling him on a bed, but she was a it disspaointted they didn't have a pole.

Great fun night and can highly recommend it.

Sorry no boobie pics.

 

Tomorrow we leave Vegas and head for the Grand Canyon and beyond.

It's been great but I think I have enough of the bright lights and human flotsam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Canyon. It's Grand.

Vegas was fun, but it was time to escape the bright lights and human flotsam. Plan was to head to lake Mead to hire a jet ski, but the wind was blowing a gale, so that was out.

The ride through the valley of fire was brilliant.

 

Then the Grand Canyon. Didn't think I would be as impressed as I was. It really is a spectacular place.

We went to what is known as Grand Canyon west. Apparently not as developed as the eastern side, which Is 260 mikes from here. I was amazed test there Is no fence to protect the tourists from falling to their deaths, but apparently there has never been a jumper here as opposed to the eastern side where they keep a Tally.

11 thIs year they reckon.

I must admit I was tempted to push a couple of the other tourists over but restrained myself. Why do people turn into retards on holidays? It puzzles me.

Sam braved the spectacular skywalk which has a 1 metre thick glass floor. I preferred to keep my feet on solid ground. I don't do heights me.

We are staying at an Wild West themed ranch which is Run by the local Indian tribe. Pretty quirky, and totally disorganised, but but good fun and we have an awesome view from our pachio.

Could be worse. Could be in jail.

Sam reckons the local poles would leave some splinters.

 

Had a great feed of Ribs, Mash and beans, while a cowboy sang sad songs.

Was great fun, but now I think I need a therapist.

Weather has turned to shit, rain wind and cold, so tomorrow is going to be interesting,

 

Overland Expo

Bit of a rest day today. Had a late breakfast at the lodge.

Then back to our ultra cool cabin. Bit cool during the night though.

Just kidding this is our cabin.

Got picked up by Jenn and Steve and called into the local camping shop for a look.

Then headed out to Lake Mormon for the Overlanders Expo.

 

 

Unfortunately the wild weather put quite a few exhibitors off, but we still got to check out some pretty cool stuff.

What about a TW200 complete with trailer. Perfect for that slow speed Solo Simpson desert crossiing.

Or perhaps this Ikon KTM 950 SE if you wanted to do it a bit faster.

We loved all the 4wd vans on display. I would love something like this. They are so cool and would be brilliant in Australia.

Or perhaps a freightliner dual cab camper complete with ultra luxurious interior.

6 wheel drive JK Jeep matching trailer.

Or what about a $550000 Earthroamer.

Or even just this cool looking Dodge 2500 farm truck.

After the show we headed back into town to the brilliant Back Barts old time western steakhouse.

A great night with great food, great wine and even better people. Thank you Jenn and Steve for a great couple of days.

Tomorrow it's back on the bike and we head north.

 

Getting our Kicks

Or perhaps getting kicked.

I told ta today was going to be interesting.

Weather was looking very ominous, but despite this we hit the mother road again.

 

Punched closest gas station into Thelma the gps, but unfortunately it turned out to be a gas tank, not a service station. And that's exactly where we ran out fuel. The closest real gas station was 14 miles away.

 

 

Hmm now what? Nothing for it but to hitch a ride, so that's what we did. Fortunately Jennifer and Robin, a lovely couple from Idaho Falls pulled up and not only did they take Sam the 14 miles to the servo, but actually brought her back again. ( I did wonder after they had left if I might never see her again but all good)

Thank you Jenifer and Robin, We will try and look you up when we get up that way.

So after that little drama, we were on our way again. The actual Route 66 road is not very exciting from a riding perspective. Rough as guts and straight as an arrow. Perfect for the gay pirates on their monstrosities.

Miles and miles of nothing until you come across a dilapidated old town with the obligatory themed shop selling 66 merch.

Yea meet some interesting people though.

 

At Seligman the rain started and it got a bit chilly. Everyone we came across said we were mad, which might actually be true. I'll check with my Therapist. We had thoughts of stopping and finding a motel. But decided to push on to Flagstaff. We were saturated anyway.

It's quite a climb up to Flagstaff which sits at about 7000 ft. Who knew rain turns to snow when it's cold and high eh?

 

It got real cold, my visor was freezing over and it statred bucketing down.

And the road got a bit slippery. I discovered that ice sliding at 120 is great fun.

I was going as fast as I dared, worried that I would get hit up the ass by a truck. I can understand how they have those massive pile ups over here now. No fucker slows down.

We were doing 120 and getting passed by cars and trucks. Doing at least 140. I could'nt see a thing.

Yep that ice on my visor and screen.

It was fun though and very pretty. Sam had a ball, even though it was so cold the camera wouldn't always turn on due to the cold.

Finally made it into Flagstaff were we checked into our mountain chalet and made ourselves at home.

Then off to the Beaver street Brewery with Our Aussie mate Steve from adventuremoto.com.au ( great stuff if you need anything) who is here for the Overland expo, which we will check out tomorrow. ( as long as it's not snowing)

We had a great night with Steve and the gorgeous Jennifer and also met Eric and Justin from wolfman luggage which was very cool.

 

 

Heli Canyoning

It was a bit of a chilly start as we left Flagstaff and begun our run North. Still lots snow still on the ground on the road to the south Rim of the Grand canyon.

We arrived at Grand Canyon airport and were very lucky to be able to get straight on to an hour long heli tour of the Canyon, despite it being a very busy day due to the weather having stopped the Helis from flying for the past 2 days.

It's a great way to see the canyon and one I would recommend to anyone if you ever visit here. The Canyon really is spectacular. Our pics don't do it any justice at all.

Sam took so many pics I think we nearly ran out of fillum.

After our spectacular tour we headed for the village along with 2 billion ( approximately) other cars. Not sure they we too happy with us splitting our way to the front, but no wayi was sitting in line waiting.

 

We have had enough of the canyon and straight roads so are heading north. The East road out to the highway was great fun.

 

 

We holed up the worlds most expensive shittiest hotel room in Page and had Mexican and a litre of ice cream for dinner.

 

Happy days.

 

 

Zion and Bryce

Page Arizona has nothing going for it that we could see, so We set off early and crossed over into Utah. Where there are even more big rocks.

 

 

The weathers looked ominous as we approached Hurricane.

Went through the appropriately named Rockville and into the spectacular Zion national park. ( pronounced Zyon for you knuckleheads wot can't read proper)

The road through the park is so windy, that they had to cut the buses in half.

 

Zion really is a beautiful place. Fortunately the weather held as we went through.

 

Saw some really big cows.

 

Next stop was Bryce Canyon national park, which we had been told was just as spectacular as Zion.

 

Unfirtunatly we can't confirm that as we didn't see as much as we would have liked. The rain was pretty heavy and the fog thick.

Then it started to snow.

The view from the lookouts was limited

Didn't stop Sammy from taking pics though.

 

It's was bitterly cold and we were saturated so we decided to sprint back down to The town to warm up.

And that's when the trouble started. Apparently in Utah 60mph in a 30 zone is enough to to see you thrown in jail.

My excuse that Sam was suffering from exposure and altitude sickness fell on the deaf ears of the big fat donut eating butch bitch, Who was convinced I was going to pull a gun and shoot her.

But I'm not bitter. It's just fun tax

 

And then we found a nice little cabin in Escalante.

 

 

 

The end for today. Headings to Salt Lake City to buy a tyre tomorrow. The heat and long straights Of Arizona have destroyed the rear.

 

 

So how bout this weather in summer eh? Come in May they said. That's our riding season they said.

Yeah Right!

Started out nice enough. Blue sunny skies and a great run over Boulder mountain.

But then it started to get a bit chilly.Not too bad but enough to find hard to find old mate when it was pee time.

Even Bambi thought it was cold and decided to run out in front of us just to get her ( and ours) heart rate pumping.

Highway 72 made us forget the cold though. 50 miles of brilliant road and literally only one other car in that time. Fantastic fun.

On highway 31 from Huntington to Fairview it got real cold and real high. The snoball fight at the top left Sam exhausted, due to the thin air.

 

 

9600 ft. Australia's highest mountain Mt Kosiosko is only 7300ft.

And then it got real black.

We made it into Salt Lake City before the rain started and had a new vacantly re fitted at Suzuki of Salt Lake.

The price was great and the service brilliant. Aussie bike shoos could earn a lot from these Guys.

Nothing was too much trouble. Free oil top up. Cleaned the chain, wanted to wash the bike but I talked them out of it, and loads of local info.

Great bunch of guys

.

 

And then it got even Blacker. And we got saturated again.

 

The Lake did look Spectacular with all the storms though.

Met our new Friend Jan who we are Motostaying with. (Couch surfing for motorcyclists) who took us out to dinner at the brilliant Bonneville Brewery, where things got a bit out of hand.

 

 

 

Brilliant day and a Great night !

 

Jan is going to take us for a ride tomorrow, which is bound to be fun.

 

Living in our own private Idaho

We had a great time staying at Jans very nice house. This morning He proved what a champion he really is and In True Aussie tradition decided to pull a sickie and come for a ride with us instead.

 

 

We headed out if Salt Lake City via some very scenic and fun mountain roads and valleys.

 

The Monte Christo pass was bitterly cold and vis was virtually zero.

 

We had a great time chasing Jan up and down the passes.

We rode into the very pretty Bear lake and instantly regretted not packing the jetski.

Sadly this was where we said goodbye to Jan.

Jan it was an absolute pleasure to meet you. Thank you for all your help. Hope the 1190 purchase goes well and hope you come down to visit us at some stage.

We'll line you up with a couple of Aussie Sheila's.

And we really aren't as weird as you think we are.

 

After saying goodbye to Jan, we pushed on for Lava hot springs in Idaho. We arrived just as a massive storm hit so we decided that was enough for the day and checked into the very quaint old school Riverside inn.

 

The basement of the hotel has three hot spring baths which were a great way to warm up after this mornings freezing ride.

 

Then into town for a pizza and margaritas and watched the world go by Idaho style.

 

Retired to the sitting room complete with old style leather arm chairs. All that was missing was cigars.

Hopefully tomorrow. We will get into Yellowstone national park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grand Teton and Yellowstone.

 

First stop today was Idaho falls which surprisingly has a huge waterfall literally in the centre of town. Very pretty.

Unfortunately we missed the turn off for the potatoe museum, which gutted us.

We headed over the Fenton pass into Wyoming and into the world famous ski resort of Jackson hole.

No skiing today though.

Only 3 thousand Elk were killed to bring you this monument.

 

 

Bit too touristy for us so we headed for the Spectacular Grand Teton national park.

And. Spectacular it is. Like riding through a postcard.

Found Bullwinkle at a servo. No sign of Rocky though.

It wheelie is spectacular.

The equally famous And spectacular Yellowstone national park was next.

 

Saw Deer, Moose, bison, foxes but no bears yet.

 

The weather once again closed in so we headed for West Yellowstone.

Booked into a random hotel and went for a walk.

Came across a shooting range where you could shoot a M6 machine gun and a 9mm pistol for 70 bucks. I couldn't resist blasting the shit of Zombie girl. Got a couple of good head shots too.

Awesome fun

 

Check out the vid here.

https://youtu.be/iUoV8Fh9uas

 

We had a couple of beers in a local bar and while sitting Thought I saw there saw an old school mate of mine walk past. Thought nothing of it and went for dinner at a cheesy diner.

Back to the motel and I send a message to Steve and bugger me if he isn't staying in the same motel. How's that for coincidence..

 

Great to meet up with ya mate.

Heading back into Yellowstone to search for Yogi and Boo Boo.

 

Old Geezers and Crowd pleasers

Was brilliant to catch up with my old school mate Steve. We had breakfast with Steve and his wife Jodie, then they boarded their bus to continue their tour. We headed back into Yellowstone to try and spot a bear in the wild

Came across a massive traffic jam.

 

Was a bit unnerving having these big buggers wander past just inches away.

 

 

There is some crazy thermal shit going on in this part of the park.

 

Interrupted Ol Wylie E Coyote just doing his shit in the woods.

 

He looked much happier after.

 

We visited the world famous Old faithful geyser

 

And while waiting for it to do its thing, nana Sam set about making some sammiches.

 

The geyser itself was quite possibly the most underwhelming thing we have seen. So much disappoint. And so many Asian tourists. I was wishing I had the M6 from last night. Would have been so much more fun.

 

Even the Amish were disappointed.

 

We had resigned to the fact that we were not going to see a bear, when suddenly on the way out we came across this old bloke. Not great pics, I know but trust me there is a bear in there. He was busy eating something (possibly an Asian tourist ) and was hiding in the trees so we couldn't get close enough to get a decent pic, but it was pretty cool anyway.

 

Satisfied we had achieved our goal, we took off through the picture perfect scenery and spectacular roads on our way north.

 

And then on que the rain came. Saturated once again.

 

Decided to pull up at Great Falls, where the cars are held together with duct tape.

 

Rust? What rust?

 

 

On our way home.

Was a very slow start today. Woke to pouring rain and 5°. Perfect.

Eventually we had no,option but to brave it out. It wasn't much fun particularly as we had a 60 mile commute up the expressway.

However after about an hour of freezing our asses off the weather lifted just as we arrived at Gkacier national park.

 

A very beautiful part of the world but we were dissapointted to discover that the highly reccomended road to the sun was closed as it was covered in snow.

 

As we were only 10 miles from the Canadian birder we contemplated crossing over, but in the end decided to leave Canada for another trip and took the more southern crossing of Glacier national park. Which is also very scenic.

At that point we were as far north as we will go this trip and are now heading West and on our way home.

The weather was still looking menacing, but we abated to dodge all the showers.

It's memorial weekend here and all the little towns are holding garage sales.

This bloke wasn't fucking around.

 

We crossed back into Idaho and as we were being taunted by kamikaze Deer jumping out in front of us Checked into a very cool log cabin motel and had a spa then dinner at the local brewery to watch the sun set.

 

The spa was actually broken so Sam had to fart to get bubbles happening.

 

 

 

Settling into Seattle

First day we didn't rain hail or snowed on. Did get shit on by a bird though, so that was nice.

Today was basically a transporter day to get across to Seattle.

Passed through some pretty lakes near Spokane, but otherwise long straight sections of road very similar to the farming country back home.

We kept Our selves entertained by stopping at every Kitchy cafe and bar we came across.

Past the massive lake Coolee. We teally must pack the jetski next time.

Stooped for homemade lemonade.

Then up and over the spectacular Stevens pass.

We found a nice little spot to take a break and have a picnic, but that didn't last long as Sam was attacked by killer leaches while taking a pee.

We arrived in Seattle and are motostaying with our new friends Tadd & Gaila who put on an awesome BBQ and invited some of their frIends over.

 

What a brilliant night.

Even had Hubbly bubbly. How cool is that.

 

Going to spend a couple of days checking out Seattle.

 

Sleepless in Seattle

Had an awesome day today. Tadd and Gaila rounded up Pheonix ( and tapas the wonder dog) Richard and Jeff and we all met at the home of Starbucks coffee in downtown Seattle. I'm no huge Starbucks fan but this place was pretty cool with a massive coffee roasting and brewing operation. The smell was glorious.

 

Meet Tapas. Rides everywhere in Phoenix's back pack and loves it. Very cool.

The guys took us on a brilliant tour of Downtown Seattle.

We then boarded a ferr and crossed the Pugeht Sound to the beautiful island of Vashon. Brilliant back roads and beautiful scenery.

Brilliant day with brilliant people.

There's no better way than to explore a place with the locals.

Thanks Guys we had a ball.

Tomorrow we are braving the big city all by ourselves.

 

 

Big crabs, big sheds and big planes.

Spent This morning exploring Seattle. Saw some fish being tossed at the market.

 

 

Saw the crab that they catch on TV. It's big.

Then we went to the Boeing factory. It's big.Largest building in the world apparently

 

 

Then we went home via the worlds biggest traffic jam.

 

Did an oil change on the bike then a big dinner.

Tomorrow we continue South. It's been so good staying with Tadd & Gaila.

If your a touring motorcyclist, check out their website

www.motostays.com and sign up. It's brilliant.

 

Of Mountains and Lakes.

Sadly we said goodbye to Gaila and Tadd today. Our stay with them has been brilliant. So generous and heaps of fun. We hope we will see them in Australia at some stage.

 

We set off for the spectacular Mt Rainier national park, and before too long got our first glimpse of the mountain.

 

 

The roads around here are brilliant. Motorcycling paradise.

 

The 20 mile detour to see the Mt St Helens volcano is rough as guts due to the volcanic activity but well worth it it.

The volcano last erupted in 1980. I had a little eruption myself. Or is this an erection?

 

Spectacular Glacial lake.

The 100 mikes if twisties wore me out. I had to take a little baba nap.

We hit the I5 interstate and battled the traffic through Portland and its spaghetti junction freeways and have ended up at Robyn and Toms spectacular lake house at Veneta.

This place is brilliant. We spent the afternoon sitting on the duck on the lake. Swimming drinking and generally having a great time.

 

 

 

 

Then dinner with Robin and her boys Caiden and Perry. Thanks for a great night guys and for teaching me how to blow a duck whistle.Sorry we did get to meet Tom though. A memerable day.

 

 

 

Not Crater lake, bears and happy campers.

A rushed start to the morning as the boys had to get off to school, but we had a great time with Robyn and the boys and their beautiful house. Thanks guys and yes the water does spin the other way in Aus.

Robin had suggested that we would enjoy the road to Crater ake , so that's what we did. Unfortunately we didn't actually make it to the lake as we didn't have enough fuel to get in and out but The roads to the tuRn off however were brilliant.

 

We stopped at a store and bought some picnic stuff and found a lovely spot on the river to take a break. Tempted to go for a dip but a but too chilly.

 

 

We dropped down into Sams valley, then Thelma. ( the gps voice) suggested a cheeky little 40 mile short cut over a 7000 ft mountain. It was great fun. Had a few moments on the slippery gravel road.

 

And then it happened. It was one thing to see a bear at Yellowstone the other day, with all the Rangers and other people around but to actually see one in the wild, was brilliant. Not sure who shit themselves more. U.S. Or the bear. Sam was so excited, she actually swore, which doesn't happen very often. It was brilliant and yes I know our bear pic taking skills suck. But if you look closely you can see him scampering off under the tree.

 

 

We werE very happy campers when we made into Happy camp and our shitty motel room. What a difference a day makes. From luxury lake house to shit tip. Local pizza was good though.

 

 

 

Awesome highways and Avenue of the Giants.

An epic day today. We packed up our happy camp and On the advice of our friend Klavdy, we set off on some of the most amazing riding roads you could imagine. Miles and miles of brilliant scenery and awesome twisties.

 

Was so much fun. We soared like Eagles.

Came across interesting people too. These guys were giving away free hand made Jewellery......just cause they can.

 

Took another cheeky short cut across the mountains and stopped to take in the veiw. Didn't see any bears today though.

 

Had a big moment when taking this shot and nearly got a free helicopter ride after getting tangled up in the tar snakes. Had to turn my undies inside out after that.

Tar snakes are where they have repaired cracks in the road and in the heat the tar gets soft. Horrible to hit if the crack under neath catches the front tyre.

 

But hey it could have been worse I spose.

 

We have trashed the rear brakes and both tyres, so will try and get that sorted tomorrow.

 

Had to take to take several breaks. The roads are so tiring.

Avenue of the Giants was next on the list. A huge forest featuring the largest trees in the world. It really is something to see.

I couldn't resist. It's not every day you get to wheelie through a tree.

The Legget to Fort Bragg was amazing, but with no brakes a little treacherous.

And then we finally hit the coast. Home Is just 16000klms that way.

 

We motored into San Rafeal near San Francisco, where we are moto staying in Lowell and Anna's ultra cool house.

Unfortunately Lowell and Anna are not here, but they left beer in the fridge, so all is good.

Tomorrow morning we need to get the bike sorted and then meeting our Friend Julia form Germany in SFC for lunch.

 

 

San Fog Cisco

So today was maintenance and tourist day. The awesome roads of the past few days have taken their toll and we had to replace both tyres and rear brake pads. On the recommendation of Lowell who owns the home we are motostaying in we headed to Santa Rosa motorsports in Santa Rosa. But of a ride to get there, but well worth it. The service these guys offered was brilliant. Nothing was too much outlets and they even lent us a bike to go and get some breakfast on, while they did their thing.

 

 

No it wasn't a mini bike., that's just a big fuck off truck. I live me and want one. Someone buy one for me..

 

We exchanged porn pics with the boys.

 

Great bunch of people. Highly reccomend them to you if you are in the area. Australian bike shops take note you backward fuckheads.

When the bike was done we scooted into to San Fransisco, to meet our dear friend Julia from Germany who we first had couchsurf with us in 2009. We have been great friends ever since. . She is currently living in SFC ( local speak) and studying.

The Golden gate is an impressive sight to behold. ( not that we saw all of it, due to the fog)

It was so great to meet with her again, she jumped on her pushy and took us on a guided tour of the waterfront and Pier 39.

 

But along the way we took a diversion to check out the famous Lombard st.

 

I had enough of the crowds and the stupid red lights and stop signs on every intersection, so we decided to go up to the lookout at Twin Peaks, which apparently gives a great panoramic view of the city.

 

This is what we saw.

 

It was cold and miserable, so we made our way back home to a lovely dinner for two, while the storms got friendly in garage.

 

Sadly we never did get to meet our hosts Lowell and Anna as circumstances meant that they had other things going on. It's kinda wierd to spend time in someone's home when they are not there, but that's what motostaying is all about.

 

Thanks Lowell and Anna for your awesome hospitality ( and the beer) and hope that everything works out ok.

We hope we can return the favour sometime.

Early night tonight so we can get up early to watch the Moto GP, then we are off to Yosemite.