Moab

Worried about my windshield being the death of me, I decided to ask my host if they happened to have a Dremel. No, they didn't have one, but as a machining and welding major they had access to rotary tools. So brought my bike over to the school workshop, and set about lowering my windshield 3 inches with an air powered husky rotary tool. At first I tried a grinding head and that didn't go so well. So I changed to a cutting head.

Ta-da!


My windshield is no longer a safety concern!

The next day. Wednesday, the 27th. I got out to my bike to the sight of frost on my seat, bags, and windshield:



Well, I've certainly never had to wipe frost off my bike before setting out on a 2 hour ride, but I've never had Gerbing's Heated Clothing before. I still don't have hosting in Moab, but I was talking to another couchsurfer and they said "Get to Free Meal and your possibilities are endless."

Free Meal? Apparently, every day at noon in Moab, there is a gathering of folks and there is free food to whoever feels like rolling up. All I have to do, I'm told, is get there and talk to people. That's a little more outgoing than I'm used to but I'll give it a shot. Why not? It did seem like putting all my eggs in one small basket though so just in case I couldn't find anything there, I went to Wal-Mart before leaving Grand Junction and picked up a sleeping bag rated down to 0 degrees. My current bag was only good to about 50 degrees. Maybe 40. If I slept in my clothes. I am determined to get all the way around this country without spending a cent in lodging.

Anyway, with my lower windshield and new and improved Mt. Luggage, I set off for Moab, Utah.



I also had bought a reflective sash from a Military surplus store. The more reflective material, the more likely you are to be seen, the less likely you are to be hit by a car.

On the advice of my host, I took the slower but more direct way over Hwy-128 which may just well have been the most amazingly scenic road I've ever been on. The curves are gentle but the scenery is truly breathtaking. Being that I had a place to be at a certain time, I did not have time to stop and take pictures, but this road took me through a gorgeous canyon along a river. You'll just have to use your imagination.

Moab is a very interesting place. You go into any big city and the people on the street fade into the background. They're part of the scenery. Moab strikes me more like "Toon Town" from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?": Everyone is a character. Everyone I meet stands out in some way, has some story to tell. Maybe that's just because of the circle I run in by going to Free Meal, but there's definitely something special going on here. The ratio of interesting-boring people seems way higher here than anywhere else.

Anyway, I did indeed make it to Free Meal, started talking to people, and got a place to stay for just a night. I had already lined something up for Thursday night. And I figured for after that, I would just keep talking to people at Free Meal.

I ended up staying with a local artist Pete Apicella
(AquaFireArts.com)
and as the official "2010 Community Artist in the Park" (I think that's the title) has a free pass into the parks. So he takes me into Arches National Park for some hiking around.

It's a little mind-blowing:






The next day I went to Free Meal to try and get a place to stay for Friday night (and eat), brought my stuff over to my Thursday host's place, and then picked up Pete for a ride out to Needles Overlook Point.

This place was equally mind-blowing:




While there, I saw one of the most amazing sunsets I've ever seen. And my camera can't even do it justice.


It was all amazing.

On our way back, we were riding over a road paved in gravel with all these little undulations in it. Like a Ruffles potato chip. I was going just a wee-bit too fast and we started to swing wide around one turn. So I push the bike down just a little bit more, just a teeny-tiny bit more, and the combination of bumps and gravel in the road just took all the traction out of my tires. The bike fell out from under us and we low-sided at 25 mph. The whole thing lasted maybe 3 seconds.

I'm lying on the ground doing a quick self assessment and catching my breath and I hear Pete.
"Are you ok?"
"I'm ok. What about you? Are you ok?"
"Yeah I'm ok. Can you get up?"
"I CAN get up, I just don't want to yet. Are you sure you're ok?"
...

Thankfully nobody was seriously hurt. Thankfully the bike ended up in the road instead off it. I was bleeding from my butt. My pants and underwear were torn and so was the skin beneath it. We lifted the bike, rode it back to his place, and then I disappeared into the bathroom to tend my wounds. I got a couple of pictures but I'm not posting them. I'm just keeping them for posteriority.

HAHA! ::Snort:: "Posteriority"!

No, but all of that really did happen.

Also thankful the road-rash is very shallow. Just covers a painfully large area. My right butt-cheek. Don't be too worried though, my left butt-cheek is still sexy.

I cleaned up, applied some neosporin, and wove a half-diaper of gauze to cover the area. I wear this diaper from a motorcycle accident. It is the Diaper of Manliness I wear. Then I patched up my pants with duct-tape before riding over to my hosts' house where I warmed up on some local artisanal whiskey and went to sleep.

Today I got to Free Meal late. There was still food but I was told I missed a crowd of 50 or so. I then went to the library to use the internet to buy two new helmets online. I packed up my stuff while getting a place to crash through a couchsurfing friend.

I came over here, went to dinner, and started writing this blog. Then I had another first experience: Dumpster diving! My host lives right next to a local supermarket that has all the local fresh produce and whatnot. They often throw away food that's perfectly good and as long as it's in a wrapper of some sort, why not take it? So I went with him and we found a box of bags of pre-mixed salad. When in Hippie-town, do as the hippies do. Sorry Mom. Sorry Dad. Sorry College. What a couple of days it has been!

My "roommate" for the next couple of nights is a pilot for a local skydiving company and said she could get me in the air for under 2-hundo, no reservation. My funds may be running low but I CAN NOT pass this up. An aerial tour of Canyonlands National Park followed by a jump out of the plane? See you after the fall.

Firsts

While I was in Gallup, on the way to Red Rocks park with my couchsurfing friend, I saw my first tumbleweed! I was so excited. Declaring they had not yet hit a tumbleweed in this car, they swerved to run it over. Now, in my mind it was going to crumple like an origami paper ball but when we hit that thing there was the kind of "thud" one might expect to feel if you ran over a child. I was worried their car might be messed up from it but luckily it was not the case. So now I've both seen and run over my first tumbleweed.

I got held over in Gallup for a day because as I was packing my bike to ride out to Durango, CO; the rain started pouring and the lightning started falling and there was no way I was riding in that mess. My gracious hosts said it was no problem, and my host in Grand Junction said it was no problem. My hosts in Durango however, couldn't accommodate the schedule shift.

So I hit the road for Grand Junction from Gallup. It would have been a 7 or 8 hour ride. Not the most desirable solution but I've spent more time than that in the saddle before.

I stop for lunch in Shiprock, NM which is right up near the border with Colorado and I check my phone. Turns out someone in Durango go back to me so I didn't have to go all the way to Grand Junction. I had a great time hanging with my new friends in Durango and it was a shame I only scheduled a stopover there, but I'm in a losing race with winter right now.

Just outside of Durango I started getting rained on. Then the rain turned to hail. It was tiny, and I thankfully didn't feel it through my layers of gear, but it was my first hail storm on my motorcycle. Yay?

To go from the beauty of New Mexico to the beauty of Colorado is a wonderful thing. New Mexico is almost otherworldly to me, being from the Northeast. The deserts and their rolling hills; the mesas that stick up out of nowhere; truly a sight to behold and a place to experience.

Colorado however, has "majesty".



After my stay in Durango, I headed north through the mountains to Grand Junction. After riding through beautiful winding mountain roads I stopped in to a little town called Silverton (pictured above) for lunch. I ate at a place called "The Pickle Barrel" which was one of 2 places that I found open. I had a good burger and a bottle of a local brand of root beer "Zuberfizz".



Delicious.

Heading out from Silverton, I started a climb up into the mountains. Before I set out on this journey, my parents had gotten me a heated vest and heated gloves that plug in to my bike's battery and today was the first day I was wearing my heated gear. It was plugged in and turned on. Shortly past Silverton on 550, I saw a couple of snowflakes. "Oh wow, I've never seen snow on my bike before! That's pretty cool." Shortly after that I was up in a mountain pass in a full whiteout snowstorm. If not for the heated gear I would have been stranded in Silverton. As it was I was perfectly comfortable.

I was however, once again lamenting my tall windshield. I remember my dad telling me in a windshield, you either want the top of it below your field of vision, or above it. Not cutting across the middle of it. That made sense. I now know you do not want a windshield above your field of vision. When it gets dirty, you pretty much can't see through it at night and it doesn't take much to get it dirty. I've been traveling with a bottle of Windex in my saddlebags for cleaning it off as I need to. Which is anytime I'm riding and it gets dark.

Another reason you don't want it above your field of vision is in rain...or snow. The snow started to accumulate and freeze on my windshield. In the turns, I was leaning and looking through the turn so it wasn't an issue but anytime the road straightened out I had to reach over the top of the windshield with my left hand and wipe away the snow and ice. It was a slow going, brutal 10 miles. Then I started losing altitude and I got in to Ouray, Colorado.

Ouray is a very cool looking town and I would love to vacation there someday. Of course, I'm tempted by any place that has hot springs. Maybe some day in the future. For now I had to be content to clean off my windshield, go to the bathroom in O'Brien's pub, and keep moving.

I got to Grand Junction around 7:30 so we had dinner, and went to a bar to hang out. The next day I rode up to Colorado National Monument Park. It was great. Nice roads, great scenery, what more could I ask for?







This is the coolest back yard anyone can have. Seriously, my host's house is near the middle of the picture below:



My host practices power yoga. Have you heard of it? It's yoga in a room that's like 100 degrees. Pretty much doing Yoga in a dry sauna. They invited me to come along and the Sunday class is only $5.00. I will probably never have the chance to try it at a better price, so I went along.

Holy crap. I have never sweat so much in my entire life. Maybe on my 10 hour ride from Atlanta to Orlando in August. Maybe. That hour long class was the longest hour of my life. And since the Sunday class is such an incredible deal the place is packed, and it's more like a wet sauna with all the sweat coming off of everyone. It was a special kind of torture. A torture that I paid $5.00 for. BUT it did leave me feeling like a million bucks. Afterwards I had the most refreshing shower of my life and I woke up today still feeling loose and limber. I can see why people do it.

Today I went and bought shoes. I had to throw away my sneakers in New Orleans because they were so worn down that walking around for a couple of hours actually injured my heel. I was wearing my flip flops which were fine up until Gallup when it finally got too cold. As I'm heading to Moab and expect to do a significant amount of walking around all the amazing places there, I figured I should have footwear more properly suited to walking than motorcycle boots (which start to hurt after walking in them for 20 minutes).

I'm heading to Moab as soon as I have a place to stay there. For now, I'm sittin' tight in Grand Junction.

Isn't this the greatest thing to see on a gas station coffee machine?



I dub thee, Sir Edmund Fontleroy! I expect Sir Fontleroy to make some more appearances should I get bored and have time on my hands.

Like so:

New Mexico

When last we left our hero I had just arrived in Santa Fe, NM. It has been almost two weeks since that night so this one's going to be wordy. Wordy and picture-y.

Santa Fe is a beautiful little city. I used my first of only 2 days in the area just relaxing off the bike. After the drop the night before I just wanted to sit back and relax. I woke up late and lazed around. Life is good. On day 2, I rode up into Hyde Memorial Park in Santa Fe National Forest to watch the Aspens change. Hyde Park is a whole lot of sweepers and twisties with beautiful scenery.





Here I am with my invisible friend Sam:


Something that struck me while I was in New Mexico, was how clean the air was. Especially up on the mountain. Clean and thin. At 7000 feet, walking around an overlook and taking pictures was enough to have me breathing hard but still feeling great.

The next day I set out for nearby Las Vegas, NM. I realized that 2 days would not be enough time in the area, so rather than impose on my Santa Fe hosts, I scheduled a couple nights in Las Vegas. Las Vegas, New Mexico is a charming little town that was established in 1835 and is a pretty chill little place.

The whole reason I wanted to stay longer in the Area was to get up to Taos. Taos is an art town just north of Santa Fe, and has an approximately 1000 year old pueblo on the North side. I went with my host but we didn't get in to the pueblo because we left a little late, and we kept stopping along the way for pictures:







And that is totally ok. I don't regret not getting in to the pueblo. It would have been cool but we had a great drive up there. We walked around town for a bit, and then went back through the same windy and scenic mountain road we took up there. The moon was so bright that night up in the mountains we actually drove for a solid 2 minutes with the headlights shut off and could see perfectly. It's exhilarating, driving without your headlights at night. If there was anyone coming up the road we would have turned them on so they could see us and it really was bright enough that it wasn't dangerous; but it's just something that we as drivers don't do. It's a step out of the comfort zone and just a peek into recklessness. Seeing lightning out the side windows, we pulled over at an overlook and watched a thunderstorm for a little while over the valley. The perfect way to end the day.

And, dear reader, do you know what the perfect way to begin a day is? Soaking in a natural hot spring.


If it didn't start raining on us, I probably would have just stayed there all day and had to stay an extra night. After the hot springs, I packed up my stuff, picked up some Octane booster because my bike has expensive tastes and 90 Octane gasoline just isn't high enough to keep her from complaining, and headed out to Gallup, New Mexico.

Gallup is also a pretty cool place to visit. It might not have much going on, but it's along Route-66 and is right next to Red Rocks State Park. New Mexico is beautiful and the area surrounding Gallup is no exception.



Unfortunately, my hosts were busy all day at work, so I got in touch with another couchsurfer and we went hiking in Red Rocks Park. Red Rocks park is a great place to go hiking and has some mind blowing scenery. I wish my camera could properly capture it although the fact that it was overcast didn't help with the pictures.









My host suggested I head on over to El Rancho, so I did. It's an old hotel with a lot of character and I'd say if you're going to pay for lodging in Gallup, El Rancho is where you want to stay. Rooms start at $82.00/night which seems pretty good to me.



I had a great time in New Mexico. Right now I'm in Grand Junction, Colorado but I've stayed up so late typing this that I feel ill so I'll have to finish catching this blog up in a few days. I'm going to sleep.

Otherworldy sights near Roswell, NM

Usually I'm taking things at just the right pace. Sometimes it feels like I'm taking my time like the 4 days that turned in to 5 weeks in Austin, but lately it feels like I'm rushing. Rushing so much that I'm almost free-falling from destination to destination. Of course, by "lately" I'm only talking about the last 3 days. A lot has happened in a short period of time.

Let's start in Abilene. The morning I awoke there, my host took me to Sharon's BBQ. The food was quite good. As I understand it (and I understand that I understand very little) there are 2 things to do in Abilene: Eat at Sharon's BBQ, and eat at Harold's BBQ. The places have an interesting back story. Apparently Sharon and Harold used to be married and ran Sharon's BBQ together. They went through a divorce bad enough that now you've all heard about it, and Harold opened up a competing BBQ place two and a half miles away. So which place you like better is kind of a thing in Abilene. If I swing through again I'm going to have to try Harold's.

Here we are!


After a sliced brisket sandwich which was good enough that now you've all heard about it, I loaded up my bike and headed west as so many pioneers before me and after a good 7 hours passed, I was in Roswell, New Mexico: Supposed site of a UFO crash landing in 1947.

Something interesting I noticed is that as you go west of Dallas, the available Octane ratings of gasoline go down, but the prices stay the same.




Anyway, when I got to Roswell, I ask my host "What's the most Roswellian thing I can do here?"
He told me about White Sands and that it would probably be best to get there just before sunset. Meanwhile I'll have the first part of the day so he tells me about the art museum and it sounded like it would be worth a go but I only have 1 day here.
"I'm not really in the mood for art. What is the kitschiest tourist attraction in Roswell?"
He hands me a card describing "The Roswell Spacewalk".
He tells me the "UFO Museum and Research Center" is pretty good too, but this one definitely takes the cake.

Behold some of the scenes:








It was fantastic. Well worth the $2.00 admission fee.

Ok, so the first part of the day over with, I saddled up and rode the 3 hours to White Sands National Monument across the beautifully scenic US-380. I kept stopping to take pictures.





When I got to White Sands I was a blown away. I got there just as the sun was kissing the horizon and as I rode between the huge dunes lining the path, I must admit I was filled with giddy excitement because this kind of environment is so vastly different from what I've been through so far. So different that it feels like you could be on another planet. The fact that there was nobody around just left the imagination free to wander wherever it will.









Everything is so beautiful out here. The sky is a little higher; the horizon is a little wider; and at night the stars don't just show up and mingle, they throw themselves a party.

It pains me that I only scheduled one full day in the South of New Mexico. Had I known, I would have scheduled 3 nights in Roswell. The first night would be arrive and sleep. The first day would be spent exactly as I spent my day, only I would have camped in White Sands. Leave early the next day to return to Roswell and then spend a few hours in Bottomless Lakes. It's a nearby park and it just sounds so cool. Take the rest of the second day to do anything else around town, and head out on the third day.

Oh well. Maybe next time.

Now here I am in Santa Fe after grueling 4 hour ride. Out here in the desert 3 weeks into autumn, it's hot during the day, and near freezing at night. When that sun goes down it cools off incredibly fast. Today at sunset I put in my jacket liner, donned my chaps, put rubber bands around my pant legs so air doesn't come in, and put on thin little knit gloves, slightly thicker wool gloves, and my old slightly beat up doeskin gauntlets. I wrapped a bandanna around my face to keep what little wind crawls in my helmet out.

I am on US-285 between Vaughn and Santa Fe. There is nothing on 285 between Vaughn and Santa Fe and I'm not exaggerating in the least. It is almost 100 miles of absolutely nothing but pavement. 50 miles from either place, I pull over because what wind was making it through my three pairs of gloves was making my hands feel like they were holding ice. I pulled over a little too far into the shoulder however and was at the point where the road bows down a little..."It's probably fine" I think to myself before deciding I don't need to change position. I couldn't even lean the bike onto the kickstand because it just hit the ground. "It's probably fine" I think to myself as I turn the handle bars to the left to put what weight I can on the kickstand. It wasn't fine because just as I start to dismount, the bike falls over. And since the road was declining toward the outside, my bike wasn't just on it's side, it was almost upside down. Both wheels in the air.

I didn't even try.
Panic: I'm going to be stranded out here for a week!
Salvation: Lights on the horizon! Better flag them down.
Frustration: They seriously just drove by?
Realization: I'm wearing all black head to toe. Better hold my helmet while I wave to people because it has reflective material all over the back.

What?: Oh thank New Mexico, he stopped! Let me set this helmet down and take my ear plugs out so I can talk to him...wait he's driving away! Hey! Did that really just happen?

Thankfully a few minutes later 2 good Samaritans stopped at the same time and good thing too because lifting the Valk took all three of us. Why do I need a bike like this again?

I said my thanks and they went on their way but I didn't even get their names. I gave them both my blog address though so if you guys are reading this: know that you were heroes to somebody today.

I took out my middle gloves and put on long cuffed latex gloves over my leather gloves and now my hands were just fine.

I'm looking forward to exploring the Santa Fe region for the next couple of days. For now though goodnight Santa Fe, goodnight Earth, goodnight Universe.

Improvization

Original plan was to circle around the country, stop off in Alaska, and get back to New York by the end of October. 5 months is all you need to drive around the country right?

Well sure. That's a pretty excessive amount of time if you're driving around just to get from coast to coast or if you have one major destination in mind. But for a trip that has several major destinations and at least one significant break down, you need a bit more time.

Here I am in Roswell, New Mexico and it's already been 4 and a half months.

I still have to get to Utah, Arizona, California, Oregon, and Washington before Alaska; which is kind of the big turnaround point in this trip.





Alaska.




Alaska.



I have been looking toward Alaska as the ultimate destination since setting out on this trip. Alaska represents something to me. I'm not 100% sure what, but it stands out in my mind. Maybe because riding a motorcycle into Alaska is an impressive undertaking in and of itself, and it's a sense of accomplishment that I seek. Maybe I simply remember how stunningly beautiful Alaska is, and I want to experience that again with a better appreciation for it. Maybe I'm still sour over never being able to beat Oregon Trail on the Apple IIGS all those years ago and I need to put that game in it's place.

Anyway, Alaska is not an if. It's a when. And I think by the time I get to Northern California, as I intend to go, it will be in the dead of winter and I won't be able to get to Alaska.

So the new plan:
Spend the entire winter in California, earning as much money as I can, and head up to Alaska through Oregon, Washington, and B.C. in the spring. I'll probably be back to New York next September...but no promises.

If I had a gun for every ace I have drawn, I could arm a town the size of Abilene;

Don't you push me baby, 'cause I'm all alone; And you know I'm only in it for the gold

I'm spending tonight in Abilene, Texas before heading to Roswell, New Mexico tomorrow.

My last few days in Dallas were fairly uneventful. I met a new friend, I ate things, I played video games. I didn't want to ride all day before I had a new radiator cap.

There I was in Dallas (technically I was in Irving) waiting on a cap that would show up on Friday, when a friend of mine from High School who recently enlisted in the Army starts talking to me on facebook. Turns out he's stationed at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Also turns out he's deploying to Afghanistan in about 2 weeks.

Fort Polk is only 300 miles from Irving and I used ride that long on my little Honda 250 every weekend. So hell and damn yes on Saturday I am going to hang with my boy before he ships out.

Then it turns out there's some huge party the night that I'm getting there. Ok...I'm going to party with a bunch of soldiers who go to war in a week? Now I was thinking it's gonna be a hell of a night and not in the good way. I can't party that hard. I'm too laid back, but I'm going anyway, and gosh-darnit I'm gonna have a good time.

Well, someone apparently worried they dropped the ball mentioning the party, not knowing if my friend was invited or not tried to cover themselves by saying it was a birthday party for the host's son. That made my friend think it wasn't worth going to and we ended up just chilling out in the barracks, drinking, playing video games, and watching movies. Just like old times but with more alcohol!

Here's to you, Private Ochman.



Here's the center plate for his body armor.

I thought it was all pretty cool.

We hung out, we had fun, and the next morning I was miraculously up before noon and back to Dallas because I was scheduled to be in Abilene tonight.

Of course, they didn't want me to leave: ["Did I remember to be adorable today? I think I did...better keep being adorable just to be sure."]

And by "they" I mean the cats because now there was finally a human who had the same schedule they did.

Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Abilene.

Dallas.

Here I am in Dallas.

My first night here, my friends took me for some tacos from a gas station. I was mildly fearful. In my mind tacos from a gas station are preceded by relinquishing all your possessions and writing a very serious note to your family.

However, my friends assured me they were nothing to be afraid of.

We roll up to this gas station/car wash with a taco window. As you can tell by that line of cars, these particular gas station tacos are apparently good enough to line up for.



We order 5 of each kind and it comes out to just over $30 for 25 tacos.



Simply put, they were great tacos.

That, I guess, was my big adventure here in Dallas. I can't really think of too many more dangerous activities than eating tacos from a gas station.

I also went to Dealy Plaza; the place where J.F.K. was shot.

Am I crapping my pants outside of the infamous former book depository? I'm not saying.



Here I am on one of two grassy knolls on either side of the plaza. Is it THE grassy knoll? probably not.



THAT is THE grassy knoll. I think.



Somewhere between where this picture is taken and that overpass, the man who put other men on the moon was shot.



I went to Dealy Plaza out of some sort of feeling of obligation. I wasn't particularly fascinated with the place. I didn't feel any particular connection to it. This is a place where history happened.

Now, I know we don't have a lot of history compared to other countries, so I guess it's important for that reason alone, but maybe the true gravity of where I've been will dawn on me at a later date.

Meanwhile, I have been there so I can now reflect on it whenever I feel like it.