After driving the PCH and seeing a lot of friends and family I was ready to get away from the coast and all the ridiculous traffic of Southern California. My journey will not be complete until I reach the other side of the Pacific ocean on the east coast of Australia, or possibly New Zealand. Below are a few pics of the turn.

One thing I realize as I’m going through my pictures is that I never take any with the people I’m with! You guys know who you are but I just wanted to say a special thanks to Adam and Erin for the beers and epic bananagram games in Seattle. Jeff and Liz for the awesome hospitality and San Francisco experience. Vanessa and Danielle for giving me the things only Dana Point can offer. And Kempster for San Diego, the club was definitely going up on a Tuesday. After finally heading east I had the pleasure of seeing my brother from another mother who also happens to share the same birthday as me, Bo. Thanks to the Vander Wilt crew for putting their lives on hold for a couple days while I came through. Stuart and Keri for having the Dos Equis and pizza on hot standby for my arrival. And last but not least my favorite uncle Jackson, who, although was not driving down the same road as me, was taking the same journey… No Chamba.

 As far Southwest i could drive in California

Went over the border to Mexico at Tecate

This was further down the road once I got back to into the USA. The border fence is quite the structure when you get to see it this close.

Decided to take this little off-road trail up this valley. I soon regretted my decision due to the fact that it was 90 degrees and I was soaked with sweat about a 1/2 mile in.

Rolled over 3000 miles on the odometer and the pic below it is where I was at.

Currently can’t remember the name of this canyon but this is where I took my drone out to do a little filming.

Freaking love this place.

Day trip to the Sandia Crest overlooking Albuquerque.

Hiked up the side of this hill to the entrance of the Sadia caves. You can see my motorcycle sitting on the side of the road if you look close.

The cave….

On the road to Chama

Eldorado Dam

This is my aunt and uncles cabin around Chama, NM. Lots of good childhood memories here.

A pretty sad picture right here… this is the lake the cabin is on. It used to be about 50-60 FEET higher when I was a kid. You can see the small river running through it now and the old water lines on the side of the hill.

The Indian Reservation I rode through on the way from Chama to Durango. Lots of dirt roads and NO traffic so it was great!

Lunch spot for the day

and then I hit the 4000 mile mark

Silverton, CO

The Alpine Loop just south out Ouray, CO. I WILL be back to do this one day. It looks like an awesome off-road trail from around Ouray to Lake City. This is also the first placed I layed my motorcycle over, and it happened twice! You can see the only damage 2 pictures down. 

This is as far as I got before I had to turn around

My accommodations in Ouray. Great place if you’re going through this summer, all brand new remodeled rooms.

The drive doesn’t stop getting better! Beautiful little valley on the 141 in CO.

Same story

Repeat

One more time.

I can’t imagine waking up to this every morning, but someone has to do it! Thanks again Stuart and Keri!

About the only thing you can take a picture of driving down I-80 in Nebraska. Rode 865 miles that day and I hope to never do it again.

And for the past couple days Ive just been hanging out in Iowa, spending time with the fam. In all reality my next post will be coming from across the pond in Portugal!! WOOOOOOHOOOO!! So damn excited to get over there!

Until next time…

So the trip has begun! 14 days in and I already feel like I have WAY too many stories to be able to tell over a blog post! Good news is that I have been journaling daily(almost) so at some point down the road I’ll be able to remember some of the crazy things that have happened along the way. The days of riding with a really sore back, neck and ass have finally started to be a thing of the past and I have slowly started to weed out some of the gear that I thought would be a great idea when I started this trip.  I had some pretty serious doubts the first 2 hours of the trip after I had gotten off the plane in Seattle, packed up my motorcycle and just started driving. Back and hip cramping, shoulders hurting, rain, cold, and of course a sore ass made me second guess my decision to buy a motorcycle I have never ridden before, ship it to Seattle, and drive it around the world. But its amazing what 14 days can do. I’m ready for the next 500.

Overall, I feel like I prepared well for this trip and all my gear and machine has been performing just like its supposed to. The first three days in Washington and Oregon I rode through about 12 hours of coastal downpours and 99% of me and all my stuff stayed completely dry! It was actually a huge surprise but now I feel much better about tackling the rest of what mother nature will bring at me.  There are only a few lingering things (Visa for Pakistan) that I have been stressing about and other than that its been free and easy down the road I go.

Below are some of the pictures I took as I made my way down the coast from Seattle to Red Wood National Forest.

Day 1

Finally got my motorcycle packed up in Seattle at Alaska Air Cargo and I’m ready to hit the road! I arrived at about 5:30A.M and left there around 9A.M.

Heading north on Highway 9 in Washington

Day 2

Home for the first night, at a motel in Olympia, WA. My desire to sleep my tent after riding in the rain = 0

Finally made it to the coast!

Lake Quinault, WA

Day 3

No bueno waking up to rain. This was by far the worst day for it so far. It poured for the first 5 hours of the day

The end of the Lewis and Clark Trail, Seaside, Oregon

Bad ass picture of my helmet

Heading down to the largest mainland cave in the US, which also happens to have a lot of sea lions in it.

The cave…

Day 4

Heading into the deep fog

Made it to good ol Cali-forn-i-a

Just getting into the redwoods! This is what I was most excited about driving through the USA. I have never done it before and they did not disappoint

First campsite of trip! To be continued…