Up the Left Coast

Now that I was in Malibu, I looked forward to taking the coast highway up to Seattle. I'd been on most of the route before either on a bike or in a car, but this would be the first end-to-end attempt. No big deal, although it could be pretty nasty if it got foggy/rainy in some of the twisty sections.

First, I had a hell of a time getting the GPS to cooperate--it just did not want to go up the coast! Finally, by plotting waypoints at every possible location, I convinced it to do it my way, and I set off up the coast.

The first hundred miles or so (?) is pretty boring--freeway. When you finally get to the part where the highway follows the coast, it's definitely a relief. This is definitely a great ride, although I can't say I like it as much as the highway north of San Francisco. Again, the wildflowers where in bloom:
And of course, the views are spectacular:
Had an incredibly expensive lunch of fish & chips at Lucia, but the view from the patio where I ate was amazing:
I would tell you the name of the place in Lucia, but as far as I could tell, it was the only building in the town, so it shouldn't be hard to find...

I had planned to stop in Carmel, but thought it was right on the highway, so apparently rode right by it...anyway, at some point the GPS point me away from the coast to San Jose to begin the approach to Oakland. After running the gauntlet of LA rush hour traffic yesterday, I was about to do the same in the Bay Area today! Not fun!

Made it to my aunt & uncle's place for a nice dinner and a place to spend the night, then off again at 0700, to see how far I could get up the coast--I hoped to get further than Eureka CA, where I had stayed last time, and which is kind of a pit. Just before leaving Oakland:

This is probably my favorite stretch of road anywhere--much greener than the southern part, the road is often closer to the water, and lots of cool little towns to drive through. My favorite town is Mendocino, where I always stop for a coffee and a snack, but Elk also looks really cool. Some day I'll have to spend more time there, rather than just zipping through. Here are a few pictures:
The end of Highway 1 in Leggett:
In the redwoods:

This was a long day of riding. I arrived in Eureka around five or so, but still had plenty of light, and good weather, so I decided to keep going as far as I could before it got dark. This is when the best riding of the day began, as the sun approached the horizon, and long shadows fell in the redwoods. The road north from Eureka is a bit schizophrenic--sometimes four-lane speedway, sometimes narrowing down to a twisty two lane road threading the giant redwoods. Crescent City, Klamath, then the Oregon border! I was making good progress. It was getting dark by the time I crossed into Oregon, and just as I pulled into a motel in Brookings OR it started to pour rain, and rained all night. The motel had covered parking right in front of my room, and a diner right across the street--what a great find!

The next morning, the rain had stopped, but it looked like it could start again at any time. I had a long way to go today--from Brookings up the coast to Aberdeen, then east to Olympia, then north to Seattle to end the trip. About 530 miles, mostly on two-lane highways.

The coastal highway up from Brookings is very nice--beautiful vistas of big surf crashing on rocky shorelines. The weather was kind of dodgy, with intermittent showers, but overall not too bad. Rode through Coos Bay, Yachats, Canon Beach, Astoria, then into Washington. Here's a shot from Yachats:

As I crossed the bridge in Astoria into Washington, the theme from Twin Peaks come on the mp3 player--pretty cool! Started raining a bit once I was in Washington, but not too bad. When I got to Aberdeen, I had to call the Leader (the Organizer's main guy for the trip) to give him a heads up about my ETA, and to get a drink. I pulled into a convenient McDonalds which looked very familiar somehow...after I parked the bike it hit me that I had been to the same McDonalds for the same reason (a quick drink) back in September on that tour. Might not sound that weird, but I never go to McDonalds, so it was kind of strange for me.

Again it was rush hour (third major metro area in three days!), and traffic started getting heavy around Olympia. Got pretty heavy as I approached Seattle, and the GPS was up to its usual tricks, trying to get me off the highway as soon as possible--but I ignored it for a while, until it looked like traffic on the freeway was getting really heavy, and it made sense to get off at Martin Luther something or other. After riding for a long way through the city, I finally arrived at the Leader's house, where I would be staying for the next couple of nights.

Dropped off the bike at South Sound BMW, and asked them to do the 6k mile service before loading the bike in the container. Flew home on Easter Sunday.

Total miles from Ocean City MD to Seattle: 4,861.

In the Land of Milk and Honey

I was pretty relieved to have made it to Globe, but the town was pretty blah. A couple of fast food joints and the typical motels. Had another pretty blah Mexican dinner, tuned in to the Weather Channel, and hit the rack early.

Once again, it was raining when I went for breakfast, but had pretty much stopped by the time I hit the road. Again it was about 34 degrees, and as I left town, I was in for a surprise--I wasn't out of the mountains yet at all! I don't know why I assumed that there were no more mountains after Globe--I hadn't researched the question at all, hadn't even asked anyone in town--but that sometimes happens on the road.

The road climbed, the temperature dropped to freezing or below, and soon there were patches of ice and snow all along the road. Given the recent rain, I was once again worried about black ice so took it slow and easy and gradually wound down to the lowlands. As I rode toward Phoenix, the temperature was much warmer, and desert wild flowers were blooming all along the road. Think I rode right through the middle of Phoenix and Tempe, along the Old West Highway and Apache Blvd. Miles and miles of traffic lights and huge RV sales lots. Tempe looked nice, upscale college-town kinda place. Finally turned NW toward Kingman AZ, where I encountered more traffic light hell. Some guy from Louisiana in a caddy pulled up next to me and asked why we had so many lights in "my" town. Shrugged my shoulders, he wouldn't have been able to hear any answer.

Finally broke free of the traffic lights and rode for a couple of hours. Pretty boring ride--straight, flat, and windy. As I pulled into Kingman, looked around for traces of Route 66, but didn't see anything. A little disappointed, I pulled into a Jack-in-the-Box for a quick lunch. As I was going over my map, a guy came up and asked me where I was headed. I told him wasn't really sure, maybe Twentynine Palms or Palm Springs, maybe Idyllwild. Those destinations were all pretty much the same direction, so he pointed the best road to take (through Needles and Amboy), and said to forget Idyllwild, because there would be too much snow up there.

Huh? Snow in Southern California? I didn't know there were mountains that high down there. Anyway, I took his warning about Idyllwild with some grains of salt and set off on the route that he recommended. I'd planned on taking Interstate 40 west for awhile before cutting south, but after a few miles on 40 I saw signs for the "Historic Route 66"--eh, what's this?

Got off the Interstate and started along a fantastic stretch of road--part of the original Route 66--very narrow and twisty, with a couple of cool little towns thrown in. Here's a pic from an old gas station along the way:
A little further on, after some serious twisties, I ran right into the town of Oatman, a full-fledged tourist trap. Dozens and dozens of cars, a crowed of people, some kind of Old West Show right in the middle of the road that blocked in my bike for half an hour until it was over. And this was on a Monday in March, jeez what happens on summer weekends? Cool little town, but kind of a surprise in the middle of nowhere.

Kept right on, pretty soon turned south through the desert to Twentynine Palms. Nice and warm, if nothing else. More desert wild flowers. More wind. Pulled into Twentynine Palms with about an hour till dark, decided to keep going to Palm Springs. Lots of traffic and lights between 29Palms and Palm Springs, but finally made it there, after another GPS-induced detour: it directed me onto a gravel road through a huge wind turbine farm--kind of fun! Should've taken pix...

Palm Springs was horrible. It was getting dark as I pulled in, so I wanted to find a hotel quickly. All were either full or too expensive, but finally I had to settle for one of the too expensive ones. Dinner was miserable, with the restaurants near the hotel simply packed with geriatrics, and terrible service. Had to walk out of one restaurant when they didn't acknowledge my presence after like 20 minutes. But at least it was warm, with no threat of snow.

For the next day, I decided to check out Joshua Tree National Park, do a lap around the Salton Sea, and maybe head up to Idyllwild before riding to the coast to spend the night. Joshua Tree was very cool, again there were lots of desert wild flowers blooming. This time I got some pictures:It had definitely warmed up while I was in the park, up to maybe 80 degrees. At this point I set off for the Salton Sea, which I have read much about over the years--wasteland, environmental disaster, horrible investment for beachfront property, and more! So I eagerly set off to see it for myself. As I approached the sea from the north, the first surprise was that the area looked rather lush and was quite beautiful, with mountains overlooking the blue water of the sea. The wasteland appeared soon, however, as I headed south along the eastern side of the sea. Not so lush here, in fact it was pretty much just dirt. Lots and lots of dirt. I figured I'd get gas and lunch at a little dot on the map called Bombay Beach, which sounded rather inviting. Unfortunately, Bombay Beach turned out to be just a collection of dingy mobile homes, and I decided not to venture into them in search of fuel and food.

I was getting low on gas, though, and who knows if the little dots on the map ahead of me had gas stations? This is where the GPS comes in handy--it gives a range for known gas stations--while these individual locations are wrong more often than not, it at least helps pick out the bigger town by the clusters of gas stations. A little ahead I found a gas station, but no where for lunch, so I ate some trail mix at the gas station and headed off to round the southern end of the Salton Sea.

Given how warm it was--now about 85--I decided to take my chances with the snow in Idyllwild--yeah, right, snow!? I figured it was only a couple of hours away, so I'd run up there and decide whether I wanted to spend the night there or keep going to the coast. Things went fine until the last town before the road started climbing--it got hotter and hotter--north of 90, and there was tons of traffic and stop lights, so I was about to pass out by the time I finally broke out of the traffic and headed into the mountains.

It was a beautiful ride up to Idyllwild--hilly, curvy, lots of flowers then higher up lots of pine. And a few patches of snow. When I finally pulled into Idyllwild, there were snowbanks all over the place, although the roads were fine. I was really hungry and thirsty, so picked out a cafe with a table outside and enjoyed some leftover St. Paddy's Day cookies and some coffee. Also pulled out the map, trying to figure out if I should stay here or keep going, and if so, where to?

Idyllwild was nice enough, but a bit sleepy. And if I stayed there I'd probably have to worry about black ice in the morning as I rode through the mountains. Staying on the beach somewhere was generally a more attractive option anyway, so I decided to head to Malibu.

As soon as I left Idyllwild and headed down the mountain, I hit the big snow banks on the side of the road--LOTS of snow:

But the roads were good, so I made good time, just in time to hit rush hour in LA...traffic kind of sucked, but the worst was when the GPS directed me off the freeway at one exit, through a massive traffic snarl, and then back on to the same highway--probably cost me half an hour.

Hit the coast at Santa Monica and rode up the coast highway just as the sun was setting. Got to Malibu as darkness fell, and checked into the first beachfront hotel I could find--Casa Malibu or something. Not cheap, but a nice place, and right on the beach:
I retired to the sound of waves crashing on the beach after a long day in the saddle, an over-priced pizza, and a cigar and beer on the balcony.

Across the Mountains

I'd been worried about getting through the mountains the whole time I was planning this trip; some of the passes don't open until May or June in the best of times, and even the better/lower passes can easily be hit with a heavy snowfall in March. In fact, March is apparently Colorado's most snowy month. Before leaving DC, I was able to find web cams showing live conditions at some of the passes. For instance, here is Monarch Pass in Colorado, the highest pass along Route 50: Monarch Pass Web Cam. When I looked at it before leaving DC, it didn't look very inviting--the whole road was covered in snow, with large snowbanks on the sides.

As I approached Dodge City a front of snowstorms was blowing into the mountains, pretty much all the way from Arizona to Canada, and I decided that it would be a Really Bad Idea to try to make it through Colorado. Flagstaff AZ was the next logical choice, but there were also snowstorms predicted to hit there...

Not many options left...I could head all the way south to Las Cruces NM and then west to Tucson, or I could try to get through the mountains a bit further north, from Socorro NM to Magdalena NM to Springerville AZ to Globe AZ, and finally to Phoenix AZ. I decided to make a decision at Carrizozo NM, where I could ask the locals about the road to Springerville.

Route 54 from Tucumcari to Carrizozo is a nice ride with no traffic, although the wind was kicking up pretty good. While filling up in Carrizozo, I bought some maps and bumped into one of the few bikers I'd met so far on the trip, who had just come from Socorro, and had done the Springerville route the day before--road conditions were fine, he said, but it was "pretty windy". The wind didn't seem that bad...this guy was an old timer, so you wouldn't think a little wind would bother him, but he was on a Harley, so who knows? I immediately dismissed the wind from my mind, since I'd just come through the same wind from Tucumcari, and it wasn't anything special.

So, after having some coffee and stale cinnamon rolls, about 11:00 I decided against the wimpy southern route and left Route 54, setting off to the west to Springerville.

Immediately after leaving Carrizozo, I noticed that the wind had picked up a little bit...or rather, alot. It was much windier than the road from Tucumcari, and was blowing hard and steady, whipping tumbleweed across the road like rockets. OK, I guess the old-timer was right...The road was flat and straight, however, so the wind didn't present much of a problem, and I figured it would die down around Socorro when I entered the protective shelter of the mountains.

The road starts climbing in Socorro as it heads into the mountains, but it was the weirdest mountain road I've ever been on--long, straight, and up and up and up. Few curves, or ups-and-downs, just up up up. And windy. Windier, in fact than down below, and the higher I went, the windier it got.

Past Magdalena, the road seemed to reach a vast, high plateau, the location of the Very Large Array radio telescope site. The wind on this long, straight stretch of road--maybe 40 or 50 miles--was absolutely brutal, forcing me to lean into the wind and blowing me off to the right when it gusted really heavy. Had only seen one other bike since leaving Carrizozo, and I figured everyone else had taken the wind forecast into account... Finally approached the VLA site, which is pretty cool looking, and considered stopping for a quick tour or a photo, but the wind was blowing so hard I was actually afraid it would blow me over if I stopped, so I kept on going.

By this time, I was kind of exhausted from fighting the wind, and decided to pull over in the next town, a little burg called Datil. I eagerly pulled in front of a little cafe situated to block the wind, dismounted the bike, and walked up to the cafe. Closed! There basically wasn't anything else in Datil, so I pulled out some left-over fried chicken from yesterday (day before yesterday?) and had a great lunch. Here's the scene:
After the tasty lunch I was ready to hit the road again. Luckily, the road got more curvy here, and the mountains blocked the wind a fair bit. The ride became more pleasant!

Rode through Pietown and Quemado, pulled into Springerville AZ maybe 3 o'clock or so, filled up with gas...what's this....snowflakes? Indeed, it was starting to snow in Springerville. The snow was very light, and not sticking, so I decided to proceed--hopefully it would blow over. Within a couple miles it stopped altogether--great! But in a few more miles it started again, and much heavier--visibility down to quarter mile or so. Then it stopped. Then it started again. You get the idea. Finally I made it to Show Low, where a lull in the snow reigned. There were lots of motels and restaurants in Show Low, so I thought about staying in Show Low, but I hated to stop so early...and only another 90 miles to Globe, which I had penciled in as my destination...push on!

No sooner had I left Show Low city limits when it started to snow again, harder than ever. This time it didn't stop, and the road became much more twisty as it entered some mountains. The snow wasn't sticking, but the roads were wet, hopefully not with slush, which would be bad. Thought about turning around after 10 miles, after 20 miles, but ended up pushing on, with snow or freezing rain almost the whole way. I finally made it to Globe with plenty of light left, and rode around a bit looking for the best place to stay. As far as I could tell, there was only one restaurant in town that served beer (Irene's Mexican joint), so I decided to stay right across the street in a hotel chain.

The ride would have been fantastic if I hadn't been so worried about the road being slick, but as it was I was pretty worn out and ready to get off the bike. I'd made it through the mountains! Only another 90 miles to Phoenix!

From St Louis to New Mexico

Stayed in St Louis for a couple nights and set off along Route 50 to Jefferson City to visit a relative. I left around seven in the morning, and hit some serious fog once I got close to Jeff City. Lots more traffic on this stretch of Route 50, with lots of trucks and enough dips and curves to make it tough to pass. Had a good visit with my aunt for a few hours and then pushed on, hoping to reach Dodge City KS for the night.

Didn't get very close to Dodge City--it got dark around Emporia KS, so I decided to stop there--must be lots of hotel rooms in Emporia KS on a Friday night in March, right? Wrong! Most of the hotels were full from a college softball tourney or some crap, so I got the only room I could find--the honeymoon suite at the Rodeway Inn! This was living--the heart-shaped hot tub and everything! But had to pay $125 for the privilege.

The hotel had a decent little bar, with good chips and cheese dip, free wings, and cold beer. I watched the Georgetown basketball game while I drank some beers and looked at the map. Meanwhile, the local happy hour crowd (about twenty geriatrics) were giving me funny looks, maybe because I was eating so many free wings, or because I hadn't bothered to change out of my riding pants.

After the basketball game, I lounged in the suite's heart-shaped jacuzzi (really!) while watched the Weather Channel to plot the route ahead. Colorado and the mountains north and south of there were getting dumped on with snow, so Route 50 to California was a no-go--had to divert south, but didn't know how far south yet... I would take Route 50 to Dodge City then break south on Route 54, which heads south-southwest through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, and then decide if I would go all the way to the Mexican border (yuck, boring!), or try to dash through Flagstaff or somewhere like that.

When I got up for breakfast at O'dark thirty, it was about 35 degrees and pouring rain--not good!--but by first light the rain had stopped and I made pretty good time. But it got colder, not warmer, over the next couple of hours, down to about freezing, and the damp air made it feel even colder--riding when you're really cold seems to have the same effect as alcohol--numbs your brain, slows your reactions, etc.--it was time to stop for some coffee to thaw out.

I pulled over about halfway between Emporia and Dodge City, had some coffee and a couple of donuts, and stepped into the telephone-booth sized bathroom to put on some warmer undergarments. I had to dodge the people coming in and out of the bathroom, but finally got changed and back on the road.

Well, here we are in Dodge City, but there isn't much here...some fast food joints and a bunch of tourist places closed for the season. Had a heavy lunch at KFC and then--you know this is coming--got the hell out of Dodge.

I regretfully left Route 50 and set out for Tucumcari NM. I was making pretty good time when I got nailed for a speeding ticket outside of Liberal KS...bastard cop got me while I was rushing to get to a passing lane to pass four semis where were crawling up a hill. I explained that I was passing the trucks, but he said I wasn't, would listen to reason. Very polite, pleasant, sneaky, ambushing cop.

After Liberal KS slowed down a bit, made it to Tucumcari NM by about 1800, still plenty of light. I found a perfect dive motel across the street from the Lizard Lounge (I ain't picky). Apparently Tucumcari is on one of the scattered remnants of Route 66, because it had some of the familar cheezy motels, but in general the town looked like it had seen much better days--half the motels and gas stations had been shuttered for quite a while, although maybe it was seasonal as well. But, uh, didn't look like it... Watched more Georgetown basketball--they lost to Pitt in the Big East tournament final--and tried to figure out where to make the run through the mountains.

From DC to St Louis

OK, the bike was prepped, the route was planned, so I was all set to leave for Seattle on Sunday, March 9. I'd been keeping a close eye on road and weather conditions in the Rockies, since that's where I figured I was most likely to hit bad weather or icy roads that would cause problems. From other folks on ADVRider.com, I got some favorable weather and road reports--it looked like Colorado might be a go!

That's about when I started paying attention to Cincinnati. On March 7-8, Cincinnati got a foot of snow! Most snow ever, or something. Again helpful folks on ADVRider said the roads there were pretty icy, so I had to wait until March 11 for roads to clear enough to go. I finally left DC on the morning of Tuesday, March 11, destination: Cincinnati!

For the next couple of thousand miles, no pictures. Either too cold, or too boring, or both, so no pix till the Southwest.

Anyway, the ride out of DC hit lots of traffic of course, finally broke free of the suburbs, and the road got nice just before Winchester VA. Past Winchester, went into the mountains of West Virginia, where there were lots of curvy roads and patches of snow. Worse was all of the gravel and sand which had accumulated in the switchbacks on these roads...between the gravel and the fear of black ice, I rode pretty slowly.

Road was nice till Parkersburg, then pretty dull into Cincinnati. Stayed at a Red Roof Inn in Cinci. In the high-twenties the next morning, waited a bit for things to warm up, then hit the road. I had planned to follow the road along the river leaving Cinci, but the GPS didn't cooperate and I road through various Cincinnati neighborhoods until out of the city, where I picked up Route 50 again. Destination: St. Louis, where I would stay with my family.

Route 50, what to say? Not the most exciting ride, but virtually no traffic, and few of the little towns with lots of stoplights that can slow you down so much...so I made pretty good time. By the time I got to Illinois, it was north of sixty degrees, and lots of guys were out riding their bikes in the good weather.

Made it to St. Louis by about 1600 despite the weather-induced late start.

Let's Get the Show on the Road

OK, so that was the plan, but I didn't know if I'd be able to make the trip for various personal reasons, but wanted to keep my options open. Originally the Organizer told me the bike would have to be in Seattle to be loaded into the container by April 17, so I envisioned a wonderful springtime cross-country ride. Great!

Later the Organizer told me that the date had been moved forward significantly, to March 28! It snows in March. And rains. And is cold as hell. That doesn't sound nearly as fun!

Briefly considered having the bike shipped to Seattle instead of riding, but that would ruin the "round the world" aspect of the trip, so I decided to suck it up and ride it out, leaving March 9 to allow myself as much time as possible to make it to Seattle in case I hit bad weather or had a breakdown. I also scheduled a service for the bike with South Sound BMW near Seattle so that the bike would be ready for the long haul across China and Russia.

Before the trip, I started thinking about the load plan, installed more "farkles" (bike accessories), and looked at potential routes out to Seattle.

My favorite plan was to take Route 50 all the way from Ocean City, MD to Sacramento CA. Route 50 is a US highway, two lanes for most of its length, and generally stays out of the big cities. Perfect for a bike trip! From Sacremento, I'd hit the coast in the Bay Area, visit some relatives, and head up the coast to Seattle.

Once I'd gotten the bike sorted to my satisfaction and got some nice weather, on March 6, 2008 I took a test ride from DC to Ocean City MD and back along Route 50. Kind of a boring ride, but I wanted to start Route 50 from its beginning in Ocean City, so had to do it. Here are some pix of the rather empty beach. Pretty nice, actually:


And here's the boardwalk, and the sign indicating the beginning of Route 50.

The idea is born

So where should I start? After selling our company in July 2007, I took some time to travel around the US on a motorcycle. Liked the trip a lot, and generally liked traveling by motorcycle. Here's my first bike in Glacier National Park (currently parked in DC waiting to be sold):

It's a great bike, but a "cruiser" style, and I didn't feel confident taking it down gravel roads to trail heads, camping sites, etc. And I'm not really a "polish the chrome" kind of guy. At the same time, out west especially I noticed quite a few funny-looking, really rather ugly, BMWs with big aluminum boxes on the side, everything covered in dirt. These were "dual sport" bikes, in particular BMW's take on the dual sport: the GSs, or Gelande-Strasse (ie, on and off road) meant for traveling off the beaten path. Lots better for serious traveling:

• bigger wheels,
  
• better suspension,
  
• better riding posture,
• better windshield,
  
• more power,
  
• more rugged,
  
• no chrome,
  
• much bigger fuel tank (8.7 gallons).
  

Kind of ugly, but much better to ride. Bikes you can take almost anywhere, certainly on any type of road. This ad clinched it for me ;-):
Anyway, after renting one for the day while I was in Vegas, I ordered the latest GS (2007 R1200GS Adventure) while I was in Utah, with delivery planned for late October. Here's the bike on its first foray outside of DC, to the Shenandoahs in early November 2007:

I guess the real reason the GSs appealed to me so much is that I had realized that motorcycles and adventure travel were a perfect match. I tired of the backpack/bus/hostel routine many years ago (too slow, inflexible), and the backpack/rental car/hotel routine (too boring) not long thereafter. On a motorcycle, especially a dual-sport, you can go anywhere, don't have to physically carry your stuff on your back, but aren't enclosed in the isolating bubble provided by a car. Perfect!

Anyway, at some point last year while surfing the web I found a motorcycle trip from Beijing to Munich, organized by a group which shall remain unnamed (you'll see why) but which I'll call the "Organizer". The Organizer sets up trips all around the world (Silk Road, Africa, Southeast Asia, etc.). The trip looked pretty serious, and those wishing to participate had to submit an application to determine whether you had the riding skills and temperament to make the journey--the Organizer said that participants typically had been riding for many years and many hundreds of thousands of miles. At the time I had been riding for about three months and had a total of 1600 miles under my belt. But how hard could it really be?

Usually I avoid organized group trips like the plague, because having someone else do all the planning takes a lot of the fun out of the equation for me. In this case, while I was confident that I had the necessary travel experience to do this kind of trip on my own, I had to acknowledge that my almost total lack of motorcycle knowledge/experience meant that going with a group would be a much better idea, at least this one time.

So I submitted an application to the Organizer, playing up my extensive travel experience despite my rather limited riding experience. They basically told me that because of my limited experience and my type of bike (BMW R1200C), I wouldn't be a good fit. But if I got more experience and a more suitable bike, they'd reconsider.

Anyway, I ended up meeting with one of the Organizers last fall at a BMW campout near Seattle, with a bonfire, food, beer, whiskey, cigars, and a bluegrass band--a great time!

I completed my US trip in mid-October and picked up my new GS at the end of October, and basically rode it a bit all winter. Went on short trips to the Shenandoahs, Gettysburg, and lots of rides up to White's Ferry outside of DC.

So the new GS and the 15k miles from the US trip were enough to convince the Organizer that I could make the trip from Beijing to Munich, so I began thinking about some add-ons to make it a proper round-the-world trip:

• ride from DC to Seattle, where it would be put into a container for shipment to China,
  
• ride from Beijing to Munich as part of the Organizer's trip; and
  
• continue on to Brest on France's Atlantic coast to make it "around the world".

Hopefully I'd pick up enough mechanical experience to be able to do similar trips completely solo in future.

To Blog or Not to Blog?

Kind of dubious about this whole blogging thing, but I thought I'd give it a try, because I never seem to get around to e-mail or send postcards to everyone, or to keep a journal, or even to think much about the traveling I do.

Maybe a blog will help me focus on the interesting parts of my travels, hopefully without too much embellishment?

That said, don't be too disappointed if I decide the whole blog thing isn't for me and the blog dies a lingering death...so we'll see...