No. 5: What I've learned in two weeks

Yesterday, I drove the Pacific Coast Highway and it was great, best ride of my short motorcycle career.

I had sushi last night with John (Gen's beau), he's a nice kid. This morning I pushed out of Palo Alto at sunrise. My bike said it was 37 degrees. I wanted to continue riding north but at eleven it was still only 42 and i was only 100 miles north of San Fran. I was in redwood country near the coast. The woods were big enough for guys like Paul Bunyon and Roy Barnaby, but too big and too cold for this Bronx boy. I decided it was time to turn East.

So here i sit in a little cottage on the shores of Lake Tahoe (another magnificent place), pondering these past two weeks. I believe that i have seen and learned a few things. Here goes:

1) Something that may seem bad at the time, may be really good after all. Example: in August of last year, I was pulled over by a NYC police officer in Manhattan for not wearing eye protection. As a result of that, I purchased a new helmet with a full face shield. On Day 3 in Missississippi (crazy ssss's) my shield - not my face - collided with a big green bug at 70 mph. I think the bug was green because the two inch diameter splat was green. Every day I get a whole spectrum of colored splats on the face shield. Thank you officer...

2) I figured out why the desert is so deserted ... because it is horrible On that subject, things that are horrible, add Phoenix to the list. 97 degrees in April is crazy (disclaimer: I apologize to anyone I know who lives in Phoenix, has friends or relatives there or is ever intending to move or visit there).

3) Tom Cassidy was right. Texas is really big ... and I saw a lot of steers there too...



4) The Grand Canyon is a really big hole. Kathy met me in Arizona for the weekend and we checked it out.

5) Snakes do cross the roads in Mississippi ... and they don't like motorcycles.

6) Motorcycles, unlike sailboats, do not like wind on the beam (crosswinds, for all you landlubbers).

7) It does rain in southern California ... in the desert.

8) These United States are truly a wonderful place ... except for Phoenix.


Next: An acquired taste

No. 4: Reaching the Pacific

So yesterday I reached the Pacific Ocean.

This picture will verify that I am truly on the West Coast. I have not been hiding out in Hoboken, nor have I jumped a subway to San Diego (a la Rosie Ruiz). I am here ... in California.

Today, I am actually in Morro Bay. Great town ...

Today was also a great riding day for me. Five hundred miles ... four special roads, and I found the Treasure of the Sierra Madre (eat your heart out Bogie). It is State Road 33. Sixty miles of twists and turns, ups and downs, I was smiling so hard my jaw still hurts. This may be the best piece of asphalt that i have ridden yet. Sixty miles... After twenty I had enough.

The road ends in a town called Ojai, which is also spectacular.

Tomorrow, Highway 1 past Big Sur. This is it. The mecca of motorcycling, highway numero uno. I hope that I am up to it.

Tomorrow night, dinner with my future son-in-law ... I hope that I am up to it.

Next: Lessons

No. 3: On the reservation

OK so now it is day seven and I found the sweetest piece of pavement yet.

I was in the Fort Apache indian reservation (I have already visited the Navaho, Zuni, and Cherokee Rez), on the New Mexico/Arizona border and I came upon Salt River Canyon. The road twisted and turned up 5-to-8 miles, then down 5-to-8 miles, again and again for over fifty miles total.

This wasn't the deepest drop, but it was the only place where you could get a picture. Thanks to a couple from San Diego (I'll be there Monday) for letting me pose.

Next: Reaching the Pacific

No. 2: Tarkington's

On day 3, I was riding down the Natchez Trace Scenic Parkway out of Nashville, Tennessee on my way to Jackson, Mississippi. I realized that I needed gasoline, so I went to my trusty Garmin and hit the fuel button.

A bunch of stations popped up so I went for the Exxon station which was the closest (4.2 miles). And I believe Exxon is the biggest oil company in the USA since it merged with Mobil.

After riding down roads which got smaller and smaller, I ended up on a gravel road which literally ran through a stream, and at the end of the road was Tarkington's.



I didn't quite know what to make of the place, but I needed gas so I shut the bike engine down and was greeted by the dog on the porch and a couple of roosters.

As I walked up to the porch door I could smell the fresh coffee and baked bread and pies. I opened the screen door, walked inside, and the woman behind the counter asked me if I wanted a cup of coffee and something to eat.

I told her that I needed gas and she said I might as well have a seat because it was going to take a little while for the pump to warm up. She threw the switch on the pump and poured me a cup of coffee. I passed on the food.

Her husband was watching me suspiciously from the next room, and I him. She asked me what I was doing in those parts and I flashed my U.S. Merchant Marine card at her and told her that I was a special government agent down from New York investigating UFO sightings.



She didn't ask me any more questions.

The coffee was free....the gas was eight bucks.

America is a great country.

NEXT: On the reservation

No. 1: Getting started

My second day out from NYC, Friday April 17.

This a view of the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee from the Cherohala Skyway ... a long way from New York. If I can find more roads like this one it is going to be a great trip. Lots of leaning and downshifting ... eeeehhaaaa!!!

NEXT: Gas up at Tarkington's