2008 California Roads Road Trip And The Motogp

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This is long overdue but finally posting it up. Enjoy, I know I did!

Day 1 - Osoyoos, BC to Hood River, OR 602kms

I wake up WITHOUT a hangover which is great. Charles, Adam and I say goodbye to evenyone at SBS and head south. It was 10am and it was already getting hot. Great. In the border lineup Charles is drinking Orange Juice. I recommend to him that it might be a good idea to get rid of it before we get to the border guard... haha. We pass through without a problem and go southeast to Coulee Dam. Have lunch at the first anytown,USA restaurant. Adam has shrimp in the middle of the desert, he is brave... Going through Coulee dam, Soap lake, and Ellensburg is VERY scenic. At Ellensburg we are ready for twisties so we take the single lane hwy along Yakima river and rip it up. What a GREAT highway for a quick burn to get the blood flowing. We quickly learn that a Lotus, white bike, and yellow bike are a pretty big heat score but sheer luck keeps us away from any sort of trouble. As we drive towards Toppenish we can see the smoke from a forest fire in the area. We avoid the fire and take a left turn at Goldendale, WA. Highway 142 is AWESOME. For a long portion it is just a single lane race track. We are the only ones on it. Back on the main highway to Hood River we race a train along the road and find a brand new Comfort INN to stay in for just over $100. You wouldn't believe how soft the towels are! One face cloth is mine now! muahahha! the cycle begins.... We find a shitty looking chinese restaurant for food n beer and it is better than good. Perfect. Great start to the trip!

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Day 2 - Hood River, OR to Bend, OR 400kms

After some morning planning we go down to the bikes to load them up. Adam is heading into Portland to pick up his buddy. We will meet him in Bend. Charles and I roll out of there and go south. We take a slight detour along Copper Spur Road which is well worth it. Some quick tight twisties to wake us up. Provides a good vantage point of Mt. Hood. Geeze the mountains are big here! My Oregon map has all sorts of roads highlighted and damnit I want to hit them all up. Too bad they take so long to get through. Travelling along NF-58 and W Cascades Scenic Byway. Now this road is barely on the map and I can understand why. It barely exists. It's a one lane road with no markings, signs, or life. Throughout this pavement trail are downed trees, overgrown greenery, abandoned boats (Try towing the boat with the VFR but no go) ,and giant pavement dips. Spraypainted on the road is the occasional warning, but thats it. People also use spray paint to indicate where they live. I find out that the boogeyman lives here. The road eventually opens up into a small two lane racetrack with a rushing stream alongside of it. Of course the road has to end and we are put on an alpine highway alongside Mt. Hood. Several great views of the mountain and a shiny Chevron gas station in the middle of it. I was happy it was there... Gas stations are hard to come by. The range of Charles' VTR is quite short as well, so things could get interesting! We stop for Lunch in Detroit. Now I am pretty social so I like to chat to whomever is working behind the counter. I ask about the Lake that Detroit is "famous" for and no one knows anything. The best they can do is point me to an old, faded picture of a portion of the lake. So far everyone I have talked to about their town, knows jack shit about it. After spending so much time enjoying the scenery and the great roads, we are behind so we tighten the route and head south to Belnap Spings. Once we arrive we are dissappointed to find out that the road is closed. DOH! backtracking up the road we just head directly to Bend. It is a short day but a full one. Adam and Drat scout out a hotel and a good place for dinner. We settle and and are ready to head out when Chuck rolls in direct from Vancouver. Chuck is pretty tired from his I5 haul so he heads in early. The rest of us go to dinner at the Astro Lounge which is out of this world! :P

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Day 3 - Bend, OR to Yreka, CA

Early in the morning I am craving a good cup of espresso so I 'squid it' into downtown Bend to a place I noticed last night. The place looks decent so I order my Americano. The barista is more than happy to make it and is quite proud of it when she hands it to me. Just by the look of it I know there is little hope for this place. I manage to make it through half of the swill before I find an article in the paper talking about Thump Coffee. It sounds much better. I put the address into my GPS and it's 1/2 a mile away. perfect, thank you GPS. As soon as I arrive and walk in I quickly realize that they know their coffee here. I sit down and it is perfect. Good start to the day! Back at the hotel I pack my things and bring them out to the bike. I have a new way of securing my luggage to my bike, so as I am putting it on I'm having trouble with the bungie cords. I have to really stretch them to make them work. As I was afixing the last strap I had to reach in to hook it on. Just as I get there WHAP! The end of the cord hits me full force on the bridge of my nose. For thirty seconds I have my hands on my face wondering what the hell just happened. I stand up and check for blood. None. I check again and lots of blood. Chuck is quick with the bandaid but I am going to need more than that. I run up to the room it looks OK, but it's tough to stop it from bleeding. In the end I have to wear a bandaid for the rest of the day. I am lucky I did not get the bungie cord in the eye...

On the road! Today we are going to visit Crater Lake and cross over into California, the zen of motorcycling. We opt out of the boring 97 and take the Cascade Lake Hwy. The hwy must have been recently paved because it is perfect the entire way! Not much in the way of tight curves but averaging 80-90mph is very easy. 120mph would have been ideal... As we reach the end of the highway, it is starting to get hazy, it appears that the smoke from the California fires has moved north. Upon reaching the various viewpoints of Crater Lake, the view is not nearly as spectacular as usual. We can barely see the other side of the crater and all the colours are just washed out. It is still great to see it, but frustrating as well. Making our way out of the park we cannot escape the haze. We stop in Klamath falls for food. We have not spent much time on twisty roads today so we are searching a great road. Thankfully hwy 66 is at our doorstep. It starts out easy and then the last third is heaven. All the corners are cambered, the pavement is perfect. We couldn't ask for anything more. The only problem is two full sized RVs towing full sized SUVs are trying to navigate through these tight roads. To make matters worse they are cutting corners so it is nearly impossible to get by them. Finally I have my chance and the lead RV tries to run me off the road cutting a corner. I still make it by and am happy to leave it behind. The rest of the time no one is in front of me. Upon reaching the I5 we are not a group anymore. We all have a common destination so I just head there. This is my first part of the I5 on this trip and going from single lane roads to a three lane freeway is not pleasent. It's very stressful and concrete hwy is brutal on a motorcycle. After several stops and text messages we find the place we are all staying. The forest fire smoke is even worse here. It is giving the sun an eerie glow. By the time we are ready for dinner, nothing is available. Carls Jr. will have to do. Charles opts to buy Chuck and me dinner. For a whopping $11.87 we eat like kings and laugh about today's events.

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Day 4 - Yreka, CA to Garberville, CA

Charles and Adam have their own plans, so Chuck and I go our own way. We head right to Hwy 96. There are some fires along the road but it is still open. Could be interesting once we get halfway through it. The road starts out at 60mph with perfect long sweeping corners. It remains this way until we stop in Happy Camp. A real small town with a cardlock gas station and a statue of Big Foot. We are treated with another extended stretch of perfect pavement. This is where the forest fire smoke is getting thick. We cannot see any firest from the road, but visibility is only about 1/2 a mile. There are also several fire fighter stations. I should also mention that we see about 20-30 cars since we start on highway 96. About 30miles from Willow Creek the road turns into the best stretch of road yet. It is tight, cambered, perfect. One of the top roads of this trip for sure. When we reach Willow Creek we need food. We just went through 150 miles motorcycling heaven. Adam sends us a message and we decide to meet in Del Loma along hwy 299. We go east along 299 when the forest fires get even worse. You can actually see trees that have been struck by lightning and the entire side of one mountain is smoking as well. All along the hwy there are fire fighters stationed to watch for any sparks to cross over the highway. It is pretty intense. At Del Loma Chuck and I pull over. I have a chance to talk to some of the fire fighters waiting and they are pretty tired and know they have a very long haul ahead of them. Just then Adam and Drat show up, we chat and keep going. Just as Chuck and I move on we run into Charles. He is not impressed with the smoke at all and is having trouble breathing. I find this ironic since he is a smoker! Charles is going to start making his way to the Oregon Coast to relax. Chuck and I push on for more physically demanding roads! We go south along Hwy 3 and we reach motorcycle nirvana again! I'm going to be tired tonight! Then if that isn't enough we are now heading west along hwy 36! We have to take another break at Mad River. Chuck is almost out of gas since he is hitting his rev limiter so much. There is also a group of fellow British Columbia riders. We chat and start to talk about routes for the way back. Apparently, we are looking for the exact same road. We figure it must be around Bridgeville. Let's give it a try. We exit hwy 36 in hopes of EVEN better roads but are totally and completely wrong. The pavement is alright but it has several gravel patches. It's not good but I can deal with it. About halfway through the road it turns right to Gravel. Damn. We think it is just a small stretch of it but five miles in we are still on it. We are averaging about 10-13mph and it's tough. My GPS keeps telling me there is a new road up ahead so we have the hope of exiting off this horrible road. Nope, turn after turn it's shite gravel road. We are 20 miles into this "experience" when I just stop to take a break. I kinda laugh at the irony and consider pitching my GPS off into the hills. Chuck is having no fun either but we press on. After close to 30 miles of hell we reach pavement. I jump off the bike and hug the road. PAVEMENT! Just as I do this a fire truck goes by with several emergency vehicles. We take it easy into Garberville and I am amazed how fast 30mph feels. Riding on pavement again seems like a gift. There is no way we are going to make it into Fort Bragg as we are just too exhausted and mentally drained. We find a Best Western in this quaint town and park the bikes. Our bikes are filthy! Just as we think the motorcycle gods hate us we find that there is a hose not 50 feet away from our bikes AND there is a bottle of general cleaner spray in our room as well. A quick wash and our bikes look good as new again. We get into our room and we are just happy to be here. After a shower and fresh clothes, we feel good as new again. There was a small italian place nearby which will be perfect. Inside Secilito's is the most sinage and memorbilia I have ever seen. Not a sqaure inch of this place is not covered. Ambiance I guess... We order some alright pasta and relax. I notice they are making pizzas and they do everything from scratch. I like making pizza at home so I am curious on how to make the perfectly round, consistent dough. It is quite the process and I can't wait to try it at home. On our way out the door we run into the group of riders we met in Mad River. They were stuck on the same shitty gravel road we were on but they seemed to find pavement earlier than we had. One of their buddies ended up lowsiding and breaking his collarbone on the way down. Chuck and I check out the bike later and it is not too bad but the rider's trip is over. You never want to crash on the big trip. What a long, interesting, and great day. Despite the gravel I had one of the best days of riding ever.

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Day 5 - Garberville, CA to Laguna Seca Raceway

It is an earlier start to the day today. Alot of distance and roads to cover! Before reaching the Leggitt/Fort Bragg road, I stopp to check out one of the many drive through trees. We have to get caught in some of the tourist traps along the way! It is good to be back on the Leggitt/Fort Bragg but it isn't quite warm enough to really tear it up. There is more gravel than I remember as well. None the less I have a huge smile on my face the entire time. When we reach the coast it is REALLY cold. Another group of BC riders are at the end of the road and we chat for awhile. They have no idea of all the great roads around here so I spend some time with them outlining the 'must do' roads. Four miles south is the next great road and wow, is it ever! Even better than the Leggitt/Fort Bragg road! No gravel and a better mix of curves. I definitely use all sides of my tire on that road. Some of the sections don't even have a center line so you really have to be tight. This road is another candidate for one of the best roads of the trip. Back on the 101 we head south until we can no longer take it. Break time in Ukiah. After filling up I decide to inspect my tire. To my disappointment I am missing a large chunk of rubber right out of the center of my tire. Great... The tire is still holding the proper PSI but I need to get this checked out. As luck would have it there is a Honda/Kawi dealer one block away. I ask about patching it but they won't do it. Damn, I go to another place and they won't do it either. Back to the Honda/Kawi dealer I bite the bullet and price out a new rear. My front is almost done as well so I decide to get new tires all around. They don't have any Pirelli's except Race DOTs so I settle on a Michelin PP CT2 up front and a Michelin PP on the back. The tires and install are $440 and they did not rush me out the door I had to wait around for 2.5 hours to get it done. I would mention the dealer if they treated me better but I really felt like they saw me in a bind and could not care less. I don't care about the price but it would have be nice to get in and out of there in less time. Chuck patiently waits through all this until we are ready to go. I want to scrub in the new tires on hwy 253 and 128 but he needs to get into San Francisco. I don't want to do this road alone but I do anyway. The first ten corners feel ultra slippery but each one after that is better and better. Halfway through this racetrack of a highway I am railing around corners like I'm at Mission Raceway. I am passed by a R1 early on and find him stopped on the road up ahead. I quickly chat with him and I learn that he needed a new tire and went to the Yamaha Dealer. They had him in and out of there inside of 45 minutes. Damn! I finish up hwy 128 and am back on the 101. Traffic comes to a crawl in Santa Rosa which is when I can do some LEGAL lane splitting. I as start to split, cars move out of the way! I feel like moses. Not all cars get out of the way but I still move quite quickly through rush hour. Traffic is heavy all the way to San Fran but I stay with a small group from Washington to navigate the busy highway. At the golden gate bridge I have to stop for the obligatory Golden Gate Bridge picture. It's an impressive bridge anytime you see it. At the best look out point I run into same group of riders I saw this morning. They are really happy with hwy 128. Back at the bikes the wind has really picked up, I am worried that I'm going to blow off the bridge. Thankfully I don't and the toll booth doesn't charge me the $5 to cross. I stop for gas and call a buddy in town to meet up for dinner. We go to a great Thai restaurant which will probably be my best meal of the trip. Since we both rode in I notice his license plate right away. It says "carssck". I ask why he would put car sick on the license plate but he assures me it isn't. It actually says cars suck! haha, nice. He had to convince the state of California to give him the plate but he kept telling them it said Car Sick. Now it's 730pm and I am close to 100miles away from the Laguna Seca Raceway. I have to make a stop along the way to get camping supplies. This is going to be interesting. I make it to Watsonville in record time. Along the way I blow through a full on radar trap going way over the limit and the CHP doesn't even blink. Good ol CHP! I stop at the Target to pick up an Air Matress, Shoes, and clothes for the weekend. It takes way too long to buy it all and strap it to my bike. My bike now feels too heavy and I have 30 miles to do in the dark. I get to setup my tent in the dark now. I get to the track at 10pm and find that the cornerworking campsite is packed. I find a prickly, sandy spot at the back and set the tent up using my headlights. I constantly check my voltmeter to ensure I don't drain the battery. By the time I get everything in the tent I realise that I am going to have to blow up the air mattress without a pump. By 11pm I am settled in and already disliking camping. The 10 degree, windy weather is not helping either. It better be stinkin' hot tomorrow.

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Day 6-8 MotoGP @ Laguna Seca Raceway

I wake up at 600am and I am totally uncomfortable, cold and wondering why I'm here. I emerge from the tent to be greeted with wet fog and seven degrees. Whatever, move on to the cornerworkers meeting to see what is happening for the weekend. I see some familiar faces and sign in. I check to see what my position is and what corner I am working in. I find my name and see the corner I am in, I check it again... I am in the SAME corner as last year. This is the same corner in which last year I didn't do anything at all. I am pretty disappointed about this but move past it. There is so much more than just the races this weekend. The practices start right at 900am and Casey Stoner is already breaking Lap records from last year. Even the AMA bikes are running insanely fast. New this year is the Red Bull 125cc class. Kids aged 12-17 are given a KTM 125cc race bike. They are all given the same bike so it is completely up to them to be the best. Now that is racing and these kids are talented. Lunch comes around and I am starving. Our corner gets together and we chat about this weekend and past GP's. There are alot of familiar faces from Mission working this corner so that is great but the other half of the people in our corner have no cornerworking (or very little) experience at all. Well considering corner 10 is quiet, this should be fine. The day is pretty busy but nothing too exciting happens. By the time it's over I just want to get back to my tent and find some food. Traffic is insane so thankfully I do not have to go far. I look back at the day I think to myself I should be out riding somewhere! The cold weather, shitty camping, and turn 10 is getting to me. This is probably the last thing I need at the time but I receive word from Adam that he has to return to Portland by Wednesday morning. Arg! I could either go back with him & Drat up the 101 or go on my own. Situations always change so there is not much I can do. After I thought about, it didn't matter. The only thing I really want to see is Yosemite. This isn't the first time I have the opportunity to see Yosemite disapear in front of me. Oh well. Tomorrow will be better.

Another night in the tent and it seems even colder and more uncomfortable. Who honestly enjoys camping anyways! Here I am back on corner 10 going through all the days events. Again Casey Stoner is breaking lap records and the AMA bikes are not even 4 seconds behind the MotoGP bike times. AMA bikes are relatively stock except for suspension upgrades, chains, tires, etc. Nothing major can be done to AMA bikes and yet they pull laptimes just behind GP bikes. So thats what $1,000,000 in motocycling technology gets you. 2-4 seconds faster on Laguna Seca Raceway. Kinda interesting when you think about it! At lunch I decide to use my "access anywhere" pass to check out the pits. Damn, nothing is happening here. I make my way over to the the massive Ducati Island to see their setup. It is pretty impressive. There are some really nice fully restored Ducati bikes which are worth seeing. Lavazza coffee has a setup on Ducati island and they are offering espresso to anyone who asks. They are also featuring a Ducati red espresso machine signed by some Ducati racer. This would be the ultimate in home poser material for any Ducati owner (Scott, Patrick I KNOW you have one. DONT LIE!). Back at my corner I decide to go further down turn 10 and flag. Nick (nickridiculous) takes my place and I spend the afternoon there. Well I should have stayed! A motoGP bike wen down right where I was but I couldn't run out because I was flagging. Irony! The minute I leave my station something happens. So I just wave my yellow flag with ethusiasm. Finally some action in our corner. The next race was for the 125cc class. What a great race, these kids know how to race and put on a show. One of them crashes further up in Turn 10. The bike is unrideable so the rider has to walk back. Two cornerworkers can't move the bike so they just pick it up. As the rider walks by my station, he doesn't look much different than my 8 year old nephew. He acts like he is 20 years old. All these kids are way too mature for their age. No lego building or Thomas the Tank engine here. The day finishes and we all go back to camp. There is a free BBQ waiting for us which is nice. I also meet a few new faces. This is probably the best thing about cornerworking, most of the people in the camp are willing to give the shirt off their back to help you out. One person in particular keeps tellimg me about how great Yosemite NAtl park is. Lenord has me convinced that I had to go on the rest of my trip alone to check it out. It would be well worth it, he also adds that I could stay at his place in Chico when I ride through. Well, I wasn't considering going but how could I miss out on this. I'm also talking to two other riders (who I knew from Mission) about riding back with them. Two good options. After dinner I go back to my tent to change and get ready to check out Cannery Row. I notice a few ants in my tent but no big deal. As I move stuff around I notice more ants. Then I move my motorcycling gear and it's a full on invasion. I made sure not to have ANY food in my tent but the ants were attracted to all the dead bugs on my gear. I pull everything out of my tent, shake it off. Now my tent is empty, but it's full of ants. I pick it up and shake it so all the ants are in the corner. I set the tent down and give them a healthy spray of Pledge. That slows them down. I am able to clean them out this way and put everything back into my tent except for my gear. I give that to another cornerworker to store away from the ants. That's done. Two of us head down to Cannery Row to check out the bikes but when we get there it was a bit of a let down. There was not much going on and less bikes than last year. What makes the trip worthwhile is a Honda NSR 250 made totally street legal. I don't know how the owner did it but he did. There are a few other interesting bikes but nothing really worth the pictures.

Race Day! I curse the weather and head out to my corner again. The three of us working at our station are getting antsy. The bad weather and consistent hurry up and wait game has us laughing at every little joke we can think up. It sure makes the time pass and the day more enjoyable. With the amount of fog, the racetrack is only seeing about 6-8 hours of sun in what are some of the longest days of the year. Before we break for lunch, we are all told that all cornerworkers are no longer allowed in the pits as some cornerworkers were a little too nosey and some elitest motoGP types got irked by this. This is really unfortunate since its the best part of the whole job! By the time the motoGP starts the sun is out and everything is good to go. Even into the first lap I get the feeling that this is going to be a great race and it is. It is impressive to see Rossi keep Stoner in check in the entire race. Then when Stoner tries to pass on turn 11 and ends up lowsiding the whole track does a collective "ohhhhhhhhhh" I see Stoner lose control of the bike but don't see him go into the gravel. Incredibly impressive when he crashes, picks up the bike, and STILL remains in second place. Rossi seems destined to win. When the checkered flag goes down all cornerworkers go out to the edge of the track to wave all the flags. I am first out and Chaz Davies is still finishing the race. He goes by me about 3 feet away fully on the throttle. I take a step back and have second thoughts about being out here. Then Rossi and others come around and Rossi practically does a 12'oclock wheely right by me. Damn, I wish I had my camera to take a video. The race is over I decide to head into the pits depite the earlier warnings. I waited all weekend for this. When I arrive the three GP bikes are cordoned off and Rossi, Stoner, and Vermeulen are being congratulated by there team. They then went up to the podium for all the festivities. Another few feet closer and I would have been hit with some of the champagne being sprayed. I stick around for as long as I can as there is the AMA superbike race coming up. Being in the pits for the post race celebration made this weekend all worthwhile. The AMA race is pretty quiet and not as interesting as they usually are. After that there is some cleanup and we are done. Back at the camp there is no way I was going to camp the last night so I pack up my stuff slowly and wait for traffic to subside. In the end I decide to ride back with Joe and Colin. They are heading north and are open to my route alternatives. I really don't want to ride by myself and the route I have planned seems pretty good. When I leave Laguna to a Motel 6 there is a conveniently placed In n Out burger nearby. I love this place. It's the best fast food burger you can get. After dinner I coordinate with Joe and Colin and go to my room. It is so nice to have a roof over my head and to be warm. I was cold the entire weekend. Bizarre weather. I go to bed early only to be woken up by what sounded like a helicopter on the other side of the wall. It is impossible to sleep and impossible to understand what is happening next door. I just start laughing, I could call the front desk and raise hell but whats the point. I will be leaving at 600am tommorow anyways. It eventually stops. Back to riding tomorrow, the real reason I am on this trip!

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Day 9 - Laguna Seca Raceway to Garberville, CA

By 645am Joe, Colin, and I are on the road. We are going to take highway 9 to Alice's restaurant and highway 35 into San Fran. About halfway up hwy 9 we hit the fog and tempature drops to 6 degrees. Not again! The fog is so heavy that the road is wet and the condensation is covering my visor like it's raining. As we reach the top of the mountain we are heading up, it is sunny. It is shortlived as we start heading back down the mountain. By the time we reach Alice's restaurant I have never been so cold on a motorcycle. We stop for breakfast to warm up and then continue to San Francisco. We make it through the fog but still no sun. We do not reach sun until about 1200pm. What's wrong with California! I start wondering about this whole Global Warming issue. It can't be right! Just as the sun is coming out we take the Stewart Point Skagg Springs Road over to the coast. Another great road with racetrack like engineering. I leave my riding buddies behind since the road is so perfect, I just do not want to hold back. The road then turns to something better suited to touring bikes (which Colin and Joe had) but I still have a lot of fun. This road is another do not miss. At the coast we head north and this is when I find out I am riding with two hooligans! Joe is using every inch of his tire on his BMW GS1200 and so is Colin on his Triumph Tiger. These guys can ride! In Fort Bragg we have lunch and then take hwy 20 back to the 101. Motorcycling heaven is found again. This road is even better than the previous one. I swear California road engineers are all a bunch of racers. By the time I finish this road I check my tire and it looks like I rode a few laps at Mission Raceway. Colin and Joe arrive soon after me and are spooked by some traffic and deer they almost ran into. Back on the 101 north we make it as far as Gaberville to stop for the night. We stay at the Sherwood Inn and where we meet a fellow VFR rider. He has a mint condition 87 VFR in white. He is very proud of his bike, as he should be. My bike looks like it had just been through hell. We chatted about VFRs for awhile. Back at the room the three of us go to the store to buy some food and drinks. We go back to the hotel to plan the next day and have a few drinks. Once we figure out a route I decide to head back to the Italian place I went to on my way down. They recognized me there and I ask if I could learn how to make the perfect pizza dough. Sure enough I am back there pounding the dough, shaping it, tossing it. So easy when you know the proper way to do things. I end up making a HUGE extra large pizza with all the toppings. I put it into the oven and 10 minutes later out comes the perfect pizza pie! That's amore! I sit down to eat it and chat with everyone at the restaurant. At least these people actually know about the town they live in and are happy to be here. To make things even better they don't even charge me for the pizza. I leave a big tip and go back to the room.

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Day 10 - Garberville, CA to Canyonville, CA

Another early day. I wake up to a fire alarm but soon realize it is an alarm clock. We are on the road by 630am and reach the coast before 900am. Again the fog and cold is getting to us. We have had enough. We take Hwy 299 East and decide to head north along the 96. Guaranteed good roads and good weather. The best thing of all is the lack of traffic. All the way up to Happy Camp there is very few cars to deal with. We only deal with forest fire smoke which is twice as bad as when I went down. We take Grayback Rd to Cave Junction in Oregon. This is a very windy road but too much debris too really move fast along it. I am pretty tired from the cold in the morning and the long, challenging road of hwy 96. We stop for some Mexican food along the way before we hit the I5. Joe is eager to get home for Wednesday night, so Colin and I stop in Canyonville for the night. Cheapest accomodations of the trip. $55 for a decent room. Here is why. This town is owned by the Casino, they have bought up almost everything in the city to ensure they can build and expand whenever they please. The Casino bought the land and buildings from the motel owners and they pay them a salary to keep them in business. So really the $55 a night is just what is costs to run the place. Small town with a HUGE casino. Strange. I spend some more time talking with the motel managers and their two kids are world champion weight lifters. One kid is 8 years old and weighs 60lbs and he can bench press over 80lbs. The older one is 14, weighs 160lbs but can bench press 240lbs. Every town and person has their story!

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Day 11 - Canyonville, CA to Kennewick, WA

This is going to be a long haul. Colin is visiting his parents in Kennewick and I have been invited to as well. We have alot of ground to cover so we start the day off with an excellent road to Tiller. Heading north we cut through the forest and were treated with more great pavement. It came down to single lane road with new pavement. I was having a great time when I saw the sign "road ends" ARGGGGGGGGGGGGG. More gravel. No gradual end either it was pavement then gravel. Back to 10-13mph speeds through the mountains. Thankfully it was only 10 miles but 10 miles too much. It took alot of time to get through so we changed our route and headed east. Stopped in Diamond Lake for breakfast and filled up with gas at $5.64/Gallon. Zoinks! Should have looked at the price before. To make up some time we just headed north on the 97 to Prineville. It was a 200kms straight road haul that just drained me. So boring. Thankfully the rest of the day will be better. We are making decent time but we have to change the route again. It's the direct approach now but along quiet highways. Early on into our trip I see a sign for the painted hills. I have heard about these before and decide to check it out. Wow, was I glad we did. Never seen something like that before. Seemed like we left the planet with how unique these hills were. As we pressed on we must have still be on another planet (or Arizona) because the colours and rock formations were something out of Star Trek. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. Enjoying the scenery we come up a hill and are instantly transported back to earth. We are driving along endless prairies. How did this change so fast? We reached Kennewick by 645pm which was perfect. It was over a 700kms day today. Just as I went to bed at 1100pm, someone decided to mow the law. Who mows the lawn at night! I started laughing because whomever was mowing the lawn was hitting everything. 3-4 times the mower had to be stopped to dislodge something that was run over. Random!

The ol' bug in the eye!

[elevation]

Day 12 - Kennewick, WA to Home

We start the day with an 80 mile haul west to Yakima. My tolerance for major highways is pretty thin with all the quiet roads I have been riding on. We make it to Yakima for gas and head to Mt. Rainier park. The road along hwy 12 and Rainier mountain is great. The scenery is spectactular. I can't believe how massive Mt. Rainier is. It puts our mountains to shame. There are so many great view points and I cannot capture the size with my point and shoot camera. Just before we leave Mt. Rainier park we stop for lunch I have the best bowl of Chili I have ever had. Good coffee too. At this point I am ready for home, I would like to be there now. We decide on heading to Port Angeles and take the ferry across but learn that we can't do that. It is booked solid, not even two motorcycles can fit. Since there is a toll on one of the highways everyone is avoiding the highway and heading to the ferries. We are faced with the I5 or some back roads paralelling the I5. The back roads are just as busy and never ease up before we are halfway through hwy 9. Nearing home I come around a corner to a Semi halfway into my lane, thankfully I am already in lane position 3 and avoid certain death so close to home. I see a sign on a firestation saying "better to arrive late than never". Point taken! Colin and I split off in Deming and I head to the truck crossing. I load up on too much duty free booze and go through the border with no problems. The border guard doesn't even ask. Soon after the border I am home, the bike is parked and am done. I stand in front of my bike for minute and just enjoy the incredible trip I just took. Best one yet. Looking back at how things turned out, I would change virtually nothing. I'm sure after I rest up I will be ready for my next haul.

I should really leave my bike in Southern Oregon or Northern California.... :rolleyes:

[motogpfan]

Darn what a excellent job,thanks for sharing.Thats what I call a trip report WOW!!!!!!!!!!

[alwaysaware]

Looks like it was lots of fun. Cool pics. Sorry about that bug in the eye. :rolleyes:

[VFRedleg]

Darn what a excellent job,thanks for sharing.Thats what I call a trip report WOW!!!!!!!!!!

:rolleyes: Great stuff. The painted landscape pics are incredible.

[Guest]

Great report and excellent pics - I know who to hit up for info if I ever find myself heading down there.

[michaelf3]

Wow! Great trip, report and photos. Someday I'll have to off my behind and do one or two of those type of trips. Thanks for sharing.

[AussieinUSA]

Great write up :rolleyes: :unsure: :491: Awesome pics. Thanks for sharing

[vfr_steve]

WOW EPIC report!! Fantastic. It must of took you an age to prepare that. Great job!!

[SEBSPEED]

Awesome report!! :rolleyes:

How does one go about getting to be a corner worker for a GP?

[toddulu]

awesome write up!!! I'm jealous that all your google maps worked!

[superfunkomatic]

great report. looks like a great trip. that's a lot of km's/miles in a very short time. looks, and sounds, like you had a great ride.

[Wheatie]

PURE ENVY ! !

[elevation]

I was quite happy with the amount of kilometers/miles per day. The last two days were a bit much but overall it was nothing like the trip I took last year.

Awesome report!! :rolleyes:

How does one go about getting to be a corner worker for a GP?

Just apply!

I volunteer at the local race track here in Vancouver (Mission Raceway). The Westwood Motorcycle Racing Club (WMRC) does all the cornerworking for Mission. USARM (which coordinates the cornerworking for the MotoGP) thinks highly of the WMRC. Long story short, a group of us heads down and we work a corner for the races. This was my second year and certainly is an experience. You get to see the motoGP for free, camp for free, and you get a couple of Ben Franklin's in your pocket.

The most important thing about working at the GP is your ability to listen, respect the rules, and at all times be in a state of 'cat like' readiness! They seem to have no problem letting almost anyone help out with cornerworking but please go there to help and not for the free access. The world is watching and USARM wants to show what professionals they are.

[Guest]

Superb narrative and pics!! Thanks for sharing. :lurk: :beer: :rolleyes:

Oh yeah, I really like the white bike luggage solution of hanging the sport saddlebags over the tail pack instead of the seat to avoid heat transfer/scratching/melting, etc. from the 6th gen pipes. What brand of tail pack/saddlebags are you using? Any problems with it sliding around at goofy lean angles? Thanks again.

[SEBSPEED]

The most important thing about working at the GP is your ability to listen, respect the rules, and at all times be in a state of 'cat like' readiness! They seem to have no problem letting almost anyone help out with cornerworking but please go there to help and not for the free access. The world is watching and USARM wants to show what professionals they are.

I would have no problem doing that, of course the free access would be great(especially the pit pass part!), but I know where to set boundaries(don't try to help the teams adjust the chain slack while you're in there...), and I would love to be a more visible example of how to respect the sport and be ready to help at a moment's notice. :beer:

You get paid too?!? :lurk: Bastage! :rolleyes:

[Guest]

Amazing!