June 28
Ernie is on a Triumph Explorer 1200. 2013, purchased in January with 3,000 miles. It’s in perfect condition (well, except for a little battery glitch that every now again indicates he has no gas…). It fits him like a glove, and if I may say he looks like a total stud on it. Like he is on a stallion! My bike is a 2016 Triumph Tiger XRX low. Not sure how many low adventure bikes have been made in the past… but it can’t be many. Why the low? Well, because I’m not as tall as I think I am and bikes loaded with gear are heavy. I didn’t even think or notice when I bought the bike, but it didn’t come with a center stand - which is kind of a must to do even the simplest kind of maintenance to the bike. So Cascade Moto Classics custom built me a sweet center stand. Problem is it sits on the same bracket as the side stand. A few phone calls and a week later I thought Cascade had it all figured out. Kelly returned our bikes to our driveway, which sits on a slant. We packed the bikes (on the slant) so it wasn’t until our first gas stop that we realized I had a side stand that was too long - no lean whatsoever. We talked briefly about how maybe I could find a slant to park on… we thought about finding a slant to park on every stop for the next 13,000 miles and figured we’d better find a machinist to cut and weld my stand. Enter Rod and Jim - the hero’s of day one. And in many ways week one as if they hadn’t fixed me up straight away, we would have missed all our next campsite bookings, July 4th weekend, etc. etc. They were very kind, very honest, and left us with lots of advice about our tires, my chain - and some good old fashioned old man humor about traveling abroad. Many thanks Rod and Jim of Cycle Parts in Eugene!
(pause)
In part I wanted to write about the mini adventure we had today because I think our interaction with the guys at the cycle shop was just the beginning of a long series of good outcomes with good people (especially in those situations where something not so good is happening to us. Hope! I have hope about people!). But also… it was very sad to have so many goodbyes and I was avoiding writing about it. But as far as goodbyes go, I can’t complain. We had some pretty fun and happy send offs. In addition to some mushy moments with Kandy, we had our party on Prescott, the final HH with Christine and Laurie (clw!), a final four hour chat fest with Tonya, a full weekend with the Reynolds family at the coast with some mini visits with the Ortmans and a final field survey with Kristin and her geology team, a last supper with Natural Grain, and a super sweet send off from the neighborhood
with 8-10 little arms waving goodbye (thanks Sarah!). Ernie and I are surrounded by wonderful people!
Wolf Creek Campground - Site 12. Campfire. Coors lights.
Tara to Ernie - “Do you have anything you would like me to add to our notes for today?”
Ernie - “Something about how when things go wrong you get to have experiences you wouldn’t have otherwise had. Like meeting Rod and Jim”
June 29
Ashland, Oregon may be the whitest city we have ever been to. I remember this website - “Stuff White People Like”. It’s all here in Ashland. Its funny until it isn’t…
I wrote those last sentences at lunch. We dined at a cute cafe right on the creek, right next to Lithia Park. Now come sun down - we have done a 180. Normally Ernie and I would avoid dunking our bits in rivers and creeks that have visibile dirty diapers, broken glass, and trails of cigarette butts on the banks. But it was 104. On the pavement riding through Redding it was probably 110. So against our better judgement but in desperation to cool our body temp, once we arrived to our destination we walked across the highway from our campsite and went in “the river” (and yes, I put in in quotes because it is highly possible it isn’t an actual river and more of a man-made flow of ick from an inland location, which demands quotation marks). The silty scumy bottom was so gross. When we got back to camp Ernie said “I think I’m dirtier now than before we went swimming”. Our desperation was also probably at max because we had taken two trails from our campground that said “Beach Access” and both had erosion issues that prevented us from accessing “the river”. The sweat kept pouring. Our red cheeks got redder. Bright side: we did see a huge turkey on trail #1 and found a giant wall of blackberries on trail #2 (i.e., tomorrow’s breakfast! The blackberries, not the turkey).
At Woodson Bridge State Recreation Area. It is kind of nice. Kind of shitty. Very hot and humid. Ernie made a fire just to keep the mosquitos away. Not sure it is working.
Tara to Ernie - “Do you have anything you would like me to put in our journal today?”
Ernie says “It was very hot.”
Yep. Fire not doing a damn thing about the mosquitos.
June 30
Lesson of the day = communication. Ernie and I have Sena headsets that we are using to communicate with each other on the bikes (hand signals are so 1980’s). In all seriousness, they are essential. The first sign of trouble or issues or concern for ourselves or bikes or other vehicles - we can communicate. Due to a mistake on my part our headsets weren’t fully charged when we left camp this morning, so they quit working around 1-2 pm. And it was 2-3 pm that shit got crazy on I-5. Almost unbelievable amout of vehicles and trucks. And all trying to go 70-75 mph. And at 95 degrees. And with a 20 mph crosswind. And lots of road kill. Constant and aggressive scans to look for brake lights, people changing lanes, when we could cut in and pass, etc. Was very, very tense and (at least Tara) did not deal well with those conditions sans communication. Don’t want to be in that situation again! We bought special plugs that will connect our headsets to the battery tender, so those cables will now live in our pockets! To most of you I-5 corridor CA drivers - I feel sorry for you and your aggression and your seemingly terrible sense of self and others.
Eventually we safely made it to San Luis Reservoir. The only State Park within a 100 mile radius. It’s dry and hot and not awesome and there is some sort of small non-biting dipteran that has taken over the place (seriously, each bathroom must have 1 million of these insects). The firewood delivery lady (in her golf cart) gave us a sneaky way out to avoid traffic tomorrow (thank you!). They charged us an extra vehicle fee (not cool - CA state parks go by # wheels!), which prompted Tara to deliver a few words to the gaggle of State Park Rangers who eventually decided to charge us said fee. The kids all around the campsite are loud and seemingly high on sugar products… we hope they crash soon. Ultimately it is a swell enough spot that will get us to Mexico by July 4th. (For those who don’t know, we wanted to be out of country by this country’s most sacred celebration).
While the sun was setting we did a bit of moto maintenance. Ernie taught me a few things - he is a good teacher.
And now its post-dinner and Ernie is playing the guitar for the first time on our trip. Well, tuning his guitar to play shortly. AH - and just as I typed, there it is. Black Mountain Rag.
Funny back story. When we were packing for the trip Ernie wanted a scanned copy of Black Mountain Rag on his iPad - one of his (if not the) favorite songs to play. I asked him if there were any other songs to scan and he said no. It only took a few seconds for me to think about the reality of him playing one - and only one song - for five months… He didn’t ask me to, but I scanned his whole songbook, made a .pdf, and loaded it up on to his iPad.
Ernie is on a Triumph Explorer 1200. 2013, purchased in January with 3,000 miles. It’s in perfect condition (well, except for a little battery glitch that every now again indicates he has no gas…). It fits him like a glove, and if I may say he looks like a total stud on it. Like he is on a stallion! My bike is a 2016 Triumph Tiger XRX low. Not sure how many low adventure bikes have been made in the past… but it can’t be many. Why the low? Well, because I’m not as tall as I think I am and bikes loaded with gear are heavy. I didn’t even think or notice when I bought the bike, but it didn’t come with a center stand - which is kind of a must to do even the simplest kind of maintenance to the bike. So Cascade Moto Classics custom built me a sweet center stand. Problem is it sits on the same bracket as the side stand. A few phone calls and a week later I thought Cascade had it all figured out. Kelly returned our bikes to our driveway, which sits on a slant. We packed the bikes (on the slant) so it wasn’t until our first gas stop that we realized I had a side stand that was too long - no lean whatsoever. We talked briefly about how maybe I could find a slant to park on… we thought about finding a slant to park on every stop for the next 13,000 miles and figured we’d better find a machinist to cut and weld my stand. Enter Rod and Jim - the hero’s of day one. And in many ways week one as if they hadn’t fixed me up straight away, we would have missed all our next campsite bookings, July 4th weekend, etc. etc. They were very kind, very honest, and left us with lots of advice about our tires, my chain - and some good old fashioned old man humor about traveling abroad. Many thanks Rod and Jim of Cycle Parts in Eugene!
(pause)
In part I wanted to write about the mini adventure we had today because I think our interaction with the guys at the cycle shop was just the beginning of a long series of good outcomes with good people (especially in those situations where something not so good is happening to us. Hope! I have hope about people!). But also… it was very sad to have so many goodbyes and I was avoiding writing about it. But as far as goodbyes go, I can’t complain. We had some pretty fun and happy send offs. In addition to some mushy moments with Kandy, we had our party on Prescott, the final HH with Christine and Laurie (clw!), a final four hour chat fest with Tonya, a full weekend with the Reynolds family at the coast with some mini visits with the Ortmans and a final field survey with Kristin and her geology team, a last supper with Natural Grain, and a super sweet send off from the neighborhood
with 8-10 little arms waving goodbye (thanks Sarah!). Ernie and I are surrounded by wonderful people!
Wolf Creek Campground - Site 12. Campfire. Coors lights.
Tara to Ernie - “Do you have anything you would like me to add to our notes for today?”
Ernie - “Something about how when things go wrong you get to have experiences you wouldn’t have otherwise had. Like meeting Rod and Jim”
June 29
Ashland, Oregon may be the whitest city we have ever been to. I remember this website - “Stuff White People Like”. It’s all here in Ashland. Its funny until it isn’t…
I wrote those last sentences at lunch. We dined at a cute cafe right on the creek, right next to Lithia Park. Now come sun down - we have done a 180. Normally Ernie and I would avoid dunking our bits in rivers and creeks that have visibile dirty diapers, broken glass, and trails of cigarette butts on the banks. But it was 104. On the pavement riding through Redding it was probably 110. So against our better judgement but in desperation to cool our body temp, once we arrived to our destination we walked across the highway from our campsite and went in “the river” (and yes, I put in in quotes because it is highly possible it isn’t an actual river and more of a man-made flow of ick from an inland location, which demands quotation marks). The silty scumy bottom was so gross. When we got back to camp Ernie said “I think I’m dirtier now than before we went swimming”. Our desperation was also probably at max because we had taken two trails from our campground that said “Beach Access” and both had erosion issues that prevented us from accessing “the river”. The sweat kept pouring. Our red cheeks got redder. Bright side: we did see a huge turkey on trail #1 and found a giant wall of blackberries on trail #2 (i.e., tomorrow’s breakfast! The blackberries, not the turkey).
At Woodson Bridge State Recreation Area. It is kind of nice. Kind of shitty. Very hot and humid. Ernie made a fire just to keep the mosquitos away. Not sure it is working.
Tara to Ernie - “Do you have anything you would like me to put in our journal today?”
Ernie says “It was very hot.”
Yep. Fire not doing a damn thing about the mosquitos.
June 30
Lesson of the day = communication. Ernie and I have Sena headsets that we are using to communicate with each other on the bikes (hand signals are so 1980’s). In all seriousness, they are essential. The first sign of trouble or issues or concern for ourselves or bikes or other vehicles - we can communicate. Due to a mistake on my part our headsets weren’t fully charged when we left camp this morning, so they quit working around 1-2 pm. And it was 2-3 pm that shit got crazy on I-5. Almost unbelievable amout of vehicles and trucks. And all trying to go 70-75 mph. And at 95 degrees. And with a 20 mph crosswind. And lots of road kill. Constant and aggressive scans to look for brake lights, people changing lanes, when we could cut in and pass, etc. Was very, very tense and (at least Tara) did not deal well with those conditions sans communication. Don’t want to be in that situation again! We bought special plugs that will connect our headsets to the battery tender, so those cables will now live in our pockets! To most of you I-5 corridor CA drivers - I feel sorry for you and your aggression and your seemingly terrible sense of self and others.
Eventually we safely made it to San Luis Reservoir. The only State Park within a 100 mile radius. It’s dry and hot and not awesome and there is some sort of small non-biting dipteran that has taken over the place (seriously, each bathroom must have 1 million of these insects). The firewood delivery lady (in her golf cart) gave us a sneaky way out to avoid traffic tomorrow (thank you!). They charged us an extra vehicle fee (not cool - CA state parks go by # wheels!), which prompted Tara to deliver a few words to the gaggle of State Park Rangers who eventually decided to charge us said fee. The kids all around the campsite are loud and seemingly high on sugar products… we hope they crash soon. Ultimately it is a swell enough spot that will get us to Mexico by July 4th. (For those who don’t know, we wanted to be out of country by this country’s most sacred celebration).
While the sun was setting we did a bit of moto maintenance. Ernie taught me a few things - he is a good teacher.
And now its post-dinner and Ernie is playing the guitar for the first time on our trip. Well, tuning his guitar to play shortly. AH - and just as I typed, there it is. Black Mountain Rag.
Funny back story. When we were packing for the trip Ernie wanted a scanned copy of Black Mountain Rag on his iPad - one of his (if not the) favorite songs to play. I asked him if there were any other songs to scan and he said no. It only took a few seconds for me to think about the reality of him playing one - and only one song - for five months… He didn’t ask me to, but I scanned his whole songbook, made a .pdf, and loaded it up on to his iPad.