Final Thoughts

Now that the trip is done and I've had some time to reflect, I thought I'd reminisce about the highlights and lowlights of the trip. It's been an amazing experience getting to see how people do things in all parts of the country and breaking out of my comfort zone. I rode 14,460 miles and tried 200+ beers (30 or 40 are missing from the list). I somehow only got rained on for a couple hundred miles or about 4 hours on the whole trip, ended up camping 13 nights, staying with strangers 3 times, and catching up with lots of friends and family. Thanks so much to everybody that I stayed with!

• Best Riding
  1. Pacific Coast Highway - Switchbacks through the mountains with views of the ocean. Incredible.
  2. Beartooth Pass - Switchbacks through the mountains climbing and descending almost a mile.
  3. Blue Ridge Parkway - Switchbacks along the top of a mountain range.
  4. The Redwoods - Switchbacks through the forest in the moonlight and fog
• Friendliest Strangers
  1. Beardstown, IL and Quincy, IL - When my rear tire got a flat, random strangers in Beardstown found me a motorcycle shop in Quincy that could give me a replacement rear tire (while I didn't have cell phone service), patched my rear tire for me, and sent me on my way. The shop stayed open late on a Friday to get me a new rear tire and back on the road. Nobody I talked to would let me tip them or buy them lunch or dinner.
  2. Philadelphia - Bike shops were giving me a hassle about getting an appointment for a tune up. Two random girls that I met at a bar set me up to get a tune up a their friend's shop first thing in the morning.
  3. Chicago - So many people bought me drinks when they found out about my trip
• Worst Drivers
  1. Boston - On 2 occasions, drivers pulled up behind me, merged to the left as if to pass me, and then merged right again, forcing me onto the shoulder.
  2. Washington D.C. and Houston (tie) - So many drivers here just drive like jerks. Any time I was moving faster than someone else, they cut me off.
  3. Tacoma, WA - It makes no sense, but from about 30 miles south of Tacoma, to about 20 miles north of it, you can go much faster in the right 2 lanes of I5 than the left 2 lanes. Drivers here have no idea how to pick which lane they should be in based on their speed.
• Best Views
  1. Santa Monica - The ocean views here were incredible. It didn't matter how many times I saw the ocean, it never got less impressive.
  2. Grand Canyon - Again, it never got less impressive even though I spent a couple days here. It was really hard to take in the scale of the canyon. Also since it's so removed from the city the night sky is awesome. Happened to see a meteor shower on the first night there, with the entire Milky Way in the background.
  3. Kansas - I really didn't expect this at all, but since Kansas is so flat, the sunset is a full 360 degrees around the horizon.
• Worst Roads
  1. New York City - It's bad enough to navigate congested streets where pedestrians don't think twice about crossing against the lights, but when you're worried about getting bucked off your bike by the bumps in the road, you start to see why everyone takes the train.
  2. New Orleans - Same story as New York. It'as hard to navigate a new city when you're worried about getting bucked.
  3. Illinois Freeways - I could understand if the people patching the roads in Illinois didn't try that hard or messed up on occasion, but it seems like they're actively trying to put speed bumps in the freeway. My wrists were sore for several weeks after riding in Illinois for a few hundred miles.
• Best Drivers (really should be Most Considerate)
  1. Southern California - Drivers here drive fast. One of the most frustrating things about driving in Seattle is people driving under the speed limit, especially in the left lane on the highway. In Socal, it's hard to be the fastest driver on the road, which was a refreshing change of pace. Cops don't seem to want to chase motorcyclists either. Also since lane splitting isn't illegal, drivers will actively get out of a biker's way. They're hyper-aware of us, unlike Boston drivers (see above).
  2. West Texas and Idaho (tie) - Drivers will pull off to the shoulder to let other drivers pass on 1 lane roads. People let you in when merging and yield the right of way, even when they don't have to.
• Best Beer
  1. Pacific Northwest (I may be biased) - I wouldn't trade the craft beer scene out here for any other in the country. There are so many good breweries around, and we also get beer from all over the country.
  2. New England - Lots of very inventive beer out there. Unfortunately, in the city it's all overpriced.

Seattle

I left Portland to head home. It's only 170 miles, so it was any easy day of riding. 3 hours later I was at my parents' house for lunch then moving all my stuff from their house back to mine. Once I was all moved in, I ate dinner with my parents. Leah got a bunch of my friends together for a surprise welcome back party that involved much beer and chocolate chip cookies (:
Odometer: 14,460 miles.
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Portland

From Eureka I headed to Portland to meet up with my friend Lauren. We hit a brewpub for local beer and caught up, but I was pretty wiped so we didn't do much else.

Eureka

I left San Francisco intending to take the Pacific Coast Highway all the way to Redwood National Forest and camp, but the going was pretty slow. The road was awesome, with more mountain switchbacks along coastal views. Once the sun set it started to get really foggy, which made for some cool riding through forest twisties with the moonlight filtering through the fog. It was probably the most technical riding I've done on the whole trip so it wiped me out. I ended up stopping about 40 miles short of where I wanted to and just camping in Eureka.
Odometer: 13,933 miles
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Emeryville

I left Monterey and headed toward San Francisco, which wasn't a very long ride. I met up with my friend Adrienne for beer and pizza in Berkeley, then met up with my friends Alison and Emi at The Independent Theater to watch the Giants game. Heading from Berkeley across the Bay Bridge during sunset was the first time I saw San Francisco. It actually reminded me a lot of Seattle seeing the city on the water and the shipping cranes. Next, we headed to Toronado for local beer.

Monterey

I left Long Beach this morning and headed for Santa Monica to go to Urth Caffé, which Leah recommended. Next I took the Pacific Coast Highway up to San Luis Obispo and hit a bbq spot for lunch recommended by my friend Jonathan. I rode up to Monterey, stopping to watch the sun set over the ocean, and then met with some of my Aunt Therese's friends at a brewpub for beer tasters.
Seeing the Pacific Ocean was kind of like seeing the Grand Canyon. It didn't get any less spectacular the more I saw it.
Video of the ocean
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Long Beach

Rode from Las Vegas down to Escondido to see the Stone Brewery. Jeremy, one of their lead brewers, gave me a personalized tour and then I tried some beers in the tasting room. There was an awesome couple next to me who paid my tab! After tasting beer I headed to Long Beach to stay with my friend Chris.
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Odometer: 13,012 miles