Adventure Before Dementia

10/07/2022

Day 17 - Green River to Denver Colorado,
343mils (553km).
One day, one ride, two very different and extreme enviroments.
From the desert floor in Utah to the snow capped mountains in Colorado, I'm speechless.
The snowman photo's here where taken on top of Pikes Peak Colorado 14,115feet.
Denver, the capital of Colorado, is an American metropolis dating to the Old West era. Larimer Square, the city’s oldest block, features landmark 19th-century buildings. Museums include the Denver Art Museum, an ultramodern complex known for its collection of indigenous works, and the mansion of famed Titanic survivor Molly Brown. Denver is also a jumping-off point for ski resorts in the nearby Rocky Mountains.

10/07/2022

Day 16 - Las Vegas Nevada to Green River Utah including a ride through Zion National Park 469 miles (754km).
Utah is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its west by Nevada. Utah also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast.
Capital: Salt Lake City
Population: 3.151 million.

10/03/2022

Day 15 - Santa Monica to Las Vegas Nevada 287 miles (461kms).
Started my way back east today, took over 2 hrs to get out of LA city, the traffic in this place is a dogs breakfast the movie escape from LA couldn’t be truer.
Los Angeles looks good on paper but personally it’s not my cup of tea.
And yes I found Elvis he was exiting a food court off the Vegas Strip riding a disabled scooter, "The King is Alive"

10/03/2022

Day 14 - San Francisco to Santa Monica Los Angeles 432 miles (695kms)

The San Francisco to Los Angeles coastal drive on the Pacific Coast Highway – or PCH – rolls through small California coastal towns, crosses magnificent bridges and delves into dense forests. The scenery along the SF to LA coastal drive is simply breathtaking – and the Big Sur coastal drive section is certainly a highlight of the trip.

As an old time tragic of the smash hit TV series MASH I had to make a stop at Malibu Creek State Park the location where most of the Mash series was filmed.
Then it was off to Santa Monica for dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co on Santa Monica Pier and a good sleep, its been a massive day.

10/03/2022

Day 13 - Red Wood State Park camp ground to San Francisco City 470 miles (756kms).

Great chance to tick another two things off the bucket list, drive over the Golden Gate Bridge and visit Alcatraz Island.
The steep streets of San Francisco must be seen to be belived.

In its heyday, it was the ultimate maximum security prison. Located on a lonely island in the middle of San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz—aka “The Rock”—had held captives since the Civil War. But it was in 1934, the highpoint of a major war on crime, that Alcatraz was re-fortified into the world's most secure prison.

10/03/2022

Day 12 - Crescent City California to Red Wood State Park Camp Ground (42 miles / 67km)
Camped overnight in the Red Wood forest, slept amongst the giants.
An amazing and peaceful experience the silence of the forest was deafening, of course there was the occasional animal sounds but it almost felt scripted making the experience even more memorable.
The tallest of trees reach heights of more than 350 feet (107m).
The tallest tree in the world is names Hyperion, which reaches 379.7 feet (115.7m). Redwoods can reach a diameter of 24 feet and 1.6 million lbs.

Redwood National and State Parks are a string of protected forests, beaches and grasslands along Northern California’s coast. Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park has trails through dense old-growth woods.

09/29/2022

Day 11 - Newport Oregon to Crescent City California, 231 miles (372kms)
Pacific Ocean road to LA.
Crossed over the state line from Oregon to California today and instantly everything was more expensive, fuel, coffee, food etc. California is the second most expensive place to live in the United States outside of New Jersey.
The 101 highway is known as one of Nth Americas most scenic roads and it hasn’t disappointed.
Cresent City will be my launching ground for tomorrow’s venture into the Red Wood State Park and the avenue of the giants.
Stay tuned!

09/29/2022

Day 10 - I have finally made it to the Pacific Ocean 🌊 👍 🏄‍♂️
Portland Oregon to Newport Oregon, 141 miles (227kms)
Ten days and 3,600 miles (5,793 kms), four time zones, four seasons (sometimes daily), every type of landscapes imaginable, 6,745,876 bugs that splattered their way into my helmet visor and a bike rider that is in awe of the sights, sounds, smells and the unpredictable nature of traversing this country on a motorbike.
Riding such an adventure allows you to seek mindfulness and presence through the forces of internal combustion and adrenalin.
The motorcycle enables the perfect relationship between rhythmic movement and internal stillness, drawing out the physical life force like no other way I have found.
Riding a motorcycle is a highly visceral experience, far more so than driving a car.
You are fully exposed when you ride, with only your machine and your clothing to provide you with any means of “climate control” and protection. Love it or hate it, all the sensations of your surroundings are magnified – riding a motorcycle through the rain is a far more unpleasant experience than driving through it. Same thing for the blistering heat, which can be completely exhausting and unpleasant on a bike.
But riding your motorcycle on a beautiful sunny day no other means of transportation can compare. The smell of fresh air and flowers, pine trees and the ocean mist mixed with the warmth of the sun on your body, or a cool refreshing blast of air as you ride, there’s just no comparison to how that feels. It’s an easily accessible gateway to heaven on earth. Throw in the experience of the sky putting on a show over your head and there just aren’t words for how that feels.

09/28/2022

Welcome to California, the most expensive fuel I’ve encountered yet on this trip!.

09/28/2022

09/27/2022

Day 9 - Hood River Oregon to Portland Oregon, Mt Hood and Mt Saint Helens, 263 miles (423km)
A shorter ride today allowed me to take a beautiful ride up into Washington State to see Mt St Helen’s National Park.

Mount St. Helens (Elevation: 8,363′.). is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It lies 52 miles northeast of Portland, Oregon, and 98 miles south of Seattle.
On the morning of May 18, 1980, after weeks of small tremors, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake shook beneath Mount St. Helens and triggered an enormous eruption.
Fifty-seven people were killed when Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980. It is the deadliest volcanic eruption in U.S. history.

I then headed down to Mt Hood which is perpetually covered in snow all year round before heading into Portland city for the night.
Mount Hood (Elevation: 11,249′) is a potentially active stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It was formed by a subduction zone on the Pacific coast and rests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located about 50 miles east-southeast of Portland, on the border between Clackamas and Hood River counties.

Portland, Oregon’s largest city, sits on the Columbia and Willamette rivers, in the shadow of snow-capped Mount Hood. It’s known for its parks, bridges and bicycle paths, as well as for its eco-friendliness and its microbreweries and coffeehouses. Iconic Washington Park encompasses sites from the formal Japanese Garden to Oregon Zoo and its railway. The city hosts thriving art, theater and music scenes,
Elevation: 50′.

09/27/2022

Day 8 - Burley Idaho to Hood River Oregon, 557 miles ( 896km) s**t this was a big ride, very tired tonight but worth every minute of it!
A dramatic transition from the open farm land of Idaho traveling west into the rugged unforgiving landscape of Oregon.
Rode an amazing 175 miles on off road fire trails through the Umatilla National Forest heading north to Hood River.
Todays ride provided 4 seasons and an ever changing landscape from open plains to desert emptiness to tall red wood pines, simply amazing.