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

Las Vegas

From Flagstaff I headed to Las Vegas to meet up with my friend Gina and her boyfriend Jade. We cooked up some spaghetti squash for dinner and then went to a dive bar on the strip. We only had to pay for 3 of our 6 beers because we rocked at gambling!

Sedona/Grand Canyon/Flagstaff

Haven't had time to post in a while so I'm condensing several days into a single post.
From Flagstaff I headed down highway 89A to Sedona. The drive was super switchbacky and scenic, traveling through forests and mountains. The red rocks pushing up through the trees were beautiful. I walked around Sedona (a huge tourist trap) for a while and then hit up Oak Creek Brewery to wait for my friend Leah whose flights were all getting delayed. It turned out that she wouldn't be able to make it to Flagstaff that night on a plane so she rented a car in Phoenix and drove to meet up with me. The rental agent felt so bad about how she had been treated by US Airways that she got upgraded to a Mustang convertible for free. Once she was in Flagstaff, I dropped my bike at my friend Peter's apartment and we cruised in style towards the Grand Canyon.
We stayed in Sally's (the sweetest woman ever) spare room that we found on airbnb.com. It's about 20 minutes from the south rim of the Grand Canyon, but since we got in so late we didn't have time to do the Grand Canyon that night. Sally informed us that there was a meteor shower happening so we went into the back yard and laid out under the stars to watch the show.
It was incredible how many stars we could see, especially given that I'm from Seattle and can only see the really bright stars...if it's not cloudy. We could see stars all the way across the sky and all the way around the horizon. We could see the Milky Way and used Google Sky to identify Jupiter and many constellations. We saw lots of shooting stars, and even a few that left trails in the sky as they burned up.
The next morning Leah and I headed for the Grand Canyon armed with a picnic that Sally packed for us. We walked the rim trail and then shuttled over to Hermit's Rest. From there we hiked down into the canyon for a while. One of the warning signs said that last year 400 groups had to call for help to get out of the canyon, and one of the main reasons was "lack of preparation and planning". Since we were starting the hike late and didn't want to get rescued by helicopter (an expensive proposition), we didn't hike all the way down. As we walked/shuttled around the canyon, we were brought in and out of view of the canyon. Over the two days we spent at the canyon, it never became any less impressive. It's breathtaking, and hard to explain just how impressive it is. We grabbed some pizza and beer and headed back to Sally's to turn in early. We were tired since we stayed up super late watching the meteor shower and hiked all day.
The next morning we headed back to the canyon with another picnic breakfast/lunch and headed east from the visitor center instead of west like we did the previous day. I'm not sure if it was the direction we headed or the fact that it was a Sunday, but the overlooks were much less crowded, which was nice.
After the canyon, we headed down to Flagstaff for the night. We stayed at another place found on airbnb.com, which was listed as an art gallery. We assumed that we'd be above the art gallery, or in an attached room, but we were actually in the art gallery, surrounded by installations. The walls were covered in art for sale. It was not what we expected, but was pretty awesome anyway.
Sedona Photos
Grand Canyon Photos
Shameless plugs for the places we stayed (the places and hosts were awesome)!
Grand Canyon
Flagstaff

Flagstaff

Rolled to Flagstaff from Peoria...it's only about 120 miles so it was an easy day of riding. I hung out at Hops on Birch for several hours until my buddy Peter got off work. Then we hit a bbq place and another brewery. Not much else to report.

Peoria, Part 2

I spent most of yesterday catching up on sleep. Got breakfast at a local bar, nap, met up with my friend Christian for lunch, nap. Went to REI to replace my sleeping pad which doesn't stay inflated and bought a couple other things I didn't know I needed. I grabbed dinner with Christian at Carlos O'Brien's Mexican Food (seems ethnically confused) and then we grabbed drinks with some of his friends. Christian looked sharp for work so I had to take a picture. I should have gotten a picture of his license plate too, it says PEORIA.
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Peoria, Part 1

Left Lordsburg and headed to Peoria to meet up with my friend Christian. It was 97° as I was passing through Phoenix, and the heat wiped me out. We watched the 2nd presidential debate and argued over which candidate was lying more. We're both pretty cynical about the whole thing so even though he's leaning Romney we can still be friends. Afterwards we grabbed sushi and went to an alehouse for what else?...craft beer. My list of craft beers I've tried on the trip that I can't get in Seattle is up to 153.
Odometer: 11,993 miles

Lordsburg

Lots more of head down and 90 getting to Lordsburg. I passed through several border patrol stations with no problems. I bet they profile really hard because some let me roll through without stopping, and the only question I ever got asked at the others were "Are you a citizen?" Also I'd imagine it's pretty difficult to hide illegals in a backpack. I gave up on finding non-fast food for dinner in Lordsburg. 2/3 of the buildings seem to be out of business.
Odometer: 11,667 miles

Van Horn

Tim rode out of the base for about 15 miles with me. Most of his friends from pilot training ride too, but couldn't get out of bed since they stayed out so late. There was a nice, windy road between Comstock and Ozona for about 80 miles. I only saw 3 other cars on that stretch...it would have been a bad place to get stranded. After that stretch it was head down and 90 to Van Horn. There's not a lot in West Texas, so nothing else to say.

Laughlin Air Force Base

After leaving Austin I headed towards Del Rio, a small border town where my friend Tim is in pilot training at the Air Force base. We grabbed Texas style bbq at Rudy's with a bunch of his Air Force buddies and then all went to see Argo, which was very well done.
Afterwards, we played flipcup and pyramid at a friend's house and went out for some country dancing. I kind of want to call it a hoe down, but I don't think it actually was. There were plenty of people in cowboy hats and boots though. We finished up the night with a Whataburger.
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Austin, Part 3

I slept in way late and went to lunch with Colleen and Greg. We went to BJs Brewhouse and I got a flight of 8 tasters. Afterwards i watched the VP debates and then we headed out to see the bats take off. I wouldn't have believed how many bats lived under the bridge near my cousin's house!
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Austin, Part 2

I dropped my bike off for new tires, brake pads, and oil. My cousin Greg and I went to Round Rock Donuts, famous for their Texas Donuts (about a foot across). Paying for the service was somewhat of a fiasco since the charge was higher than my credit limit and I had lost my debit card. Once again my dad saved the day although it was embarrassing to call him for money in front of the cashier.
I bought a new phone charger and headed to Chuy's Tex Mex for dinner with Colleen, Henry, and Greg. I was still pretty wiped out from traveling so I went to bed at...gasp...10pm.
Odometer: 10,761 miles
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Austin, Part 1

I rode from Lumberton to Houston and met up for deep dish pizza and local beer at Star Pizza with Mitochondria420 from the Motorcycle Subreddit. He refused to let me pay for anything, what a classy guy!
After that I stopped by Nasa but didn't have time for a tour, just time to gawk from the parking lot. I did, however, make time for the brewery tour at Saint Arnold. Mmmm, so delicious. I chatted with Shaggy Dew, somewhat of a local legend in Austin. He has hitchhiked 100k+ miles all over the U.S. and now does bicycle trips all over the country. He only brings a small bag of food and a sleeping bag on his trips. I got his business card and apparently he makes, "Bad Ass Chain Maile and Damn Fine Jewelry".
After waiting a while before riding again I headed toward Austin and had the first bad food on my whole trip. I thought all Texans were supposed to be good at killing and grilling things but I was wrong (: I made it to Austin and my Aunt Colleen, Uncle Henry, and cousin Greg's house. I was sooo happy to get a shower after several days of being smelly (in New Orleans, there was a power outage at the water treatment plant, so all water had to be boiled before use). Also I love their dog Brody!
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Lumberton

Leaving New Orleans, I managed to forget my phone charger. I also did a bad job of strapping my stuff onto my bike and my sleeping bag got too close to the exhaust, scorching a large hole through it. Also parts of my backpack melted onto the tail of my bike ): Then I lost my debit card...not a great day for me.
I camped at a tiny state park near Lumberton, Texas and grabbed dinner at Crazy Jose's where I promised the waitress she'd make it into my blog. Hi Devan! On the way back into the campsite I noticed the sign "Poisonous Snakes Exhist in Park". I asked the park ranger about it and he said a bunch of things that weren't comforting like, "There are only cottonmouths if you're by the creek". My campsite was in Creekside Campground. I wore my armored boots everywhere!
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New Orleans, Part 3

Didn't do a whole lot today. Worked on some graffiti and checked out Bourbon Street. Besides that I just tried more local beer with Nicky and AJ.
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New Orleans, Part 2

Went to breakfast with Nicky and AJ and a bunch of Nicky's JVC friends. I had grits for the first time and they were only ok. Rode across the longest continuous bridge over water in the world on my way to Abita Brewery for some tasters. I met back up with Nicky and AJ at Bulldog Bar for some more local beer, and bananagrams. Nicky destroyed me and AJ in every round.
Odometer: 10,063 miles
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New Orleans, Part 1

I discovered this morning that I camped by an awesome lake. Too bad I found the campsite in the dark and didn't have time to enjoy it. Rode to Good People Brewery only to find that they were closed for a private party, so I found a brewpub nearby.
From there I rode to New Orleans as fast as I could to stay with my friend Nicky and her boyfriend AJ. Tried some local beer, of course and now it's bedtime.
Odometer: 9977 miles
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Athens

I got a super late start today since I was on the phone until 3:30am. Rode down to Athensm GA and went to Terrapin Brewery. I was trying to meet up with one of the founders whose info I got from Jamie (Brewer at Harpoon in Boston), but we played phone tag for a while and didn't end up meeting up. I grabbed dinner at Trappeze and set up camp for the night. I started retroactively making a list of all the different beers I've tried on the trip and was able to come up with 120 beers. I know I'm missing about 20 or 30.

Chapel Hill

I left my campsite at Mount Roanoke early but didn't have too far to go today. I decided to take back roads instead of highways for most of the way. I got into Durham and checked out a historic ballpark with my Uncle John. Then we went to dinner near a newer ballpark and a brewpub for tasters.
I'm staying with friends of my friend Leah. She bailed me out of not having a place to stay (: I've finally left nasty weather behind. It was 80 and humid today!
Odometer: 9039 miles
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Blue Ridge Parkway

I left Charlie and Marisa's this morning after leftover steak and potatoes for breakfast and headed towards the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was some of the best riding I've done on my whole trip. Twisty roads, not crowded, great pavement, and plenty of overlooks with picturesque views.
Odometer: 8754 miles
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Burke (Washington D.C.)

Nothing too exciting today, just rode down to Washington D.C. to stay with my mom's cousin Charlie and his wife Marisa. The directions were confusing because I rode on 6 different highways that were numbered ending in 95. Once here, I went to dinner with Charlie and Marisa. We sampled beer and I got a drunken rib eye (marinated in pale ale).

New York, Part 2

I rode around the rough streets of New York for the day. Really the streets are rough, quite awful in fact. It's like the people who paved them didn't have steam rollers. Anyway, I had been warned about crazy drivers and didn't experience too much of that. They all drive like me, which is to say somewhat aggressively. I should have been warned about the crazy pedestrians who cross whenever they feel like it, often in front of cars or buses.
I went to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the way to the Staten Island Ferry. The views from the ferry were great and it was free! After that I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge to take in the views. At the insistence of my friends Kaetlin and Rinky I went to Caracas Arepa for lunch. I decided to go to the Brooklyn location because I hadn't really been off of Manhattan very much. I had some delicious food and beer although I'm still not quite sure what an arepa is...some kind of grilled corn thing. Anyway mine was full of chorizo, jalapeño, and cheese.
On the way back to Manhattan I went through Williamsburg and saw lots of Hasidic Jews coming out of service with full on earlocks and these big fluffy hats. I hear they're called Brooklyn Cowboys.
After dropping the bike back by my friend Robin's apartment, I took the subway to meet up with my friend Mary Grace for dinner. We grabbed dirt cheap falafel and walked around Greenwich Village. We ended up also going to the Shake Shack for a Shack Burger and a Black and White (vanilla/chocolate shake).
After dinner we hit up a shush bar, which I had never heard of. There was quiet music playing, and when people in the bar got loud enough that the music was drowned out, the bartender shushed everyone. She even went outside at one point to shush a truck driver that left his truck beeping in reverse. The walls in the place were covered in frescoes which seemed classy, but on further inspection, everyone in them was hammered or sexually harassing someone, and there was one guy getting eaten by a shark. Also there was a dragon. We finished up the night at an Irish pub that brews their own beer. The choices were 'light' or 'dark'. It was impossible to order just 1 beer, when you ordered they always brought 2.
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New York, Part 1

I got started a bit later than I meant to leaving Boston but still got to New York before rush hour. I got caught in a downpour, but the rain pants Emily and Larry gave me worked like a charm. Also to make my outfit more ridiculous, I've switched from small newspaper bags in my boots to heavy duty garbage bags.
I went to dinner with my friend Rowen for her birthday and also ran into Richard which was a surprise. I had stayed at his place for a night in Madison but he was out of town so I didn't see him then. After dinner we went to the Rockwood Music Hall and heard an awesome free concert.
To round the day out, I met up with my friend Robin from grade school and high school and we had a beer and shot the shit. It was great to remember times and people from our past.
Odometer: 8042 miles

Boston, Part 2

I grabbed lunch with my friend Annie near MIT and caught up with her. We had to be quick because she was in between experiments and had limited lab time. I had a salad- gasp- probably the only healthy thing I've eaten on my trip.
From there I went to the Harpoon Brewery to get a tour only to find out that they had a beer festival going on. I met a bunch of great people, tried some awesome beers, and still fit the tour in. The tour was really cool and I got to learn a bit about the beer making process.
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Williamstown/Lancaster/Boston Part 1

I'm being lazy and rolling several days of blog into one post.
I was a bit delayed leaving the shop so I got to Williamstown late. I grabbed dinner with my cousin Rebecca and we tried to watch The Hunger Games but were too tired. I headed to Lancaster in the morning instead of trying to go after dinner.
The road to Lancaster was beautiful going through mountains and forests with the leaves changing colors. Unfortunately it was raining the whole way and water was getting in the bottom of my jacket and soaking down into my pants. I was quickly sitting in a small puddle...not too much fun. Also my boots aren't as waterproof as they used to be so my socks were soaked through.
My aunt Emily and uncle Larry saved me in Lancaster. I used their dryer while we ate lunch and they gave me some bags to put my feet in before putting the boots on. Kinda silly, but does the trick of keeping my feet dry. They also gave me a pair of oversized waterproof pants that fit over my armored pants. Conveniently, I can cinch them up higher than where my sweatshirt was getting wet so they kept me dry on my way to Boston. When I'm wearing them I look like a sexy Steve Urkel.
I'm staying with my friend Kellen in Boston. Traffic was horrendous getting here so I was late and missed my dinner plans. Kellen and I grabbed some late food and beer and were ready to pass out soon after.
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Yardley (Philadelphia)

I got started pretty early heading towards Philadelphia. The leaves are starting to change in western New York and Pennsylvania and it's beautiful to see. It really hit me that I've gone all the way across the country when I saw a "New York City 78 Miles" sign.
My cousin Joseph that I was staying with recommended a local pub so I headed there. I had been trying to figure out when/where to get the next service done on my bike, and I ran into a couple women there whose friend runs a bike shop so he is servicing my bike right now. Funny how that kind of thing works out. Based on my interactions at the shop and on the phone I'm much more confident in the work getting done than I would have been at the shop I found on yelp.
Right before heading into the shop I jetted into central Philly to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. I didn't have time for a tour but it's still cool to see that kind of historic stuff sprinkled into a modern city.
Odometer: 7529
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Niagara Falls

From Cleveland I scooted up to Niagara Falls. The ride seemed to take way longer than it should, but the views were completely worth it. It wasn't as tall as the Shoshone Falls I stopped by in Idaho, but there was a lot more water going over. Since the ride took a long time, I ended up doing some night riding in the rain. The road was still hot enough that I could see the rain steaming off of it making a low layer of fog. It was super creepy...like right out of a horror film. I found a questionably legal camp site for the night and packed up super early so I wouldn't be found out!
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Cleveland

Headed from Maineville to Cleveland, a short trip. I stayed with my cousin Whitney and her boyfriend Scott and we went to the BSpot for dinner (Burgers, Brats, Beer). Afterwards I sampled a bunch more local beer. All in all not super eventful but...beer!

Toms

I bought a pair of shoes for a needy child, and what do you know? Toms hooked me up with a pair for myself. What a deal! I shipped my flip flops home since it's getting to cold for them and got some shoes. These ones will dry quickly when wet and pack down very small so they're pretty perfect for my trip.
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Maineville

Did King's Island with Richard, Stephanie, and Dan all day today. The park was so empty it was awesome. We rode 16 rollercoasters in about 6 hours, and maybe stood in line for a total of half an hour. King's Island has the longest wooden roller coaster in the world, which we rode twice, and a coaster that goes 80 miles per hour which we rode 5 times. Also it was my first time on a hanging coaster and a flying coaster. The flying coaster did a number on the holes in my jeans, which are now much bigger...I'll probably need new ones soon. My Aunt Susan and cousin Michael came over for dinner. Such a fun day.
Odometer: 6628 miles
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Cincinnati, Part 2

Oktoberfest all day. Not a lot else to say...did Oktoberfest with Tim and his friends, continued Oktoberfest with Richard, Sharon, Stephanie, and Dan. Oh man, I drank way too much.
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Cincinnati, Part 1

I left Ann Arbor way later than I meant to and met up with my Aunt Marie, Grandpa, and Stepgrandma for lunch and beers. Made it to Cincinnati very late but got German Oktoberfest food and beer plus a really nice Stein. Crashed with my friend Tim and met a bunch of his friends who were, of course, awesome.
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Ann Arbor

After a very windy night of not much sleep, I left the upper peninsula of Michigan and headed to Ann Arbor. Crossing the Mackinac Bridge was scary...gusty wind on grating. Yikes!
In Ann Arbor I stayed with my friend Tim's parents. Tim's dad drove me through the University of Michigan campus pointing out various things, and then we went to Blimpy Burger for dinner, an Ann Arbor favorite. They are very particular about how you order there, but honoring their rules was worth it for a delicious quad stack.
After dinner I went to Grizzly Peak and Ashley's, two local brewpubs, for tasters.

Odometer: 6323 miles
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Ignace

Nothing too eventful today, just made the 400 mile trek from Madison to Ignace. I got rained on for about 3 hours, but already had all my waterproof gear on for warmth anyway. The north shore of Lake Michigan is unbelievably pretty. I'll take more pictures tomorrow on my way out.
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Madison

The 150 miles from Chicago to Madison took for freaking ever because there was road construction for about 100 miles with a speed limit of 45 mph. I tested the cramp-buster-as-throttle-lock on the way and it worked like a charm. Between that, an ace bandage, and ibuprofen, my wrist will be ok. Also it was really cold once I hit Wisconsin so I pulled over at Walmart to see if I could get a scarf. It's not winter, so I couldn't buy one. I had to make a scarf out of a pair of fleece pajama bottoms. Everyone at the checkout gave me super weird looks as I took my pocket knife to the brand new pants (:
Once in Madison I found a bar called the Tipsy Cow serving local brew and got some tasters. I met up with Sara (a friend from college) and her friend Megan for dinner at Great Dane, which conveniently makes its own beer as well.

Odometer: 5596 miles
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Chicago, Part 3

I spent a good bit of time this morning figuring out where I'll be for the next few weeks to make sure I'll finish the trip on time. Looks like I'm on schedule, but I'll have to hustle a bit. I tried to lunch at Standard India Restaurant, recommended by Leah and Nathan for the buffet, but it was closed so I settled for a Thai restaurant close by.
I tried to make a DIY throttle lock similar to this, and was moderately successful. The contraption I rigged up had 2 pieces, one of which clamped the other closed around the throttle. It proved to be too hard to operate with gloves on, so I scrapped the idea. I managed to slice my finger while working and had to make a DIY bandaid since I had my toolkit with me but not my medkit. I figured out how to use my crampbuster as a throttle lock so the problem is solved regardless.
After fiddling with throttle locks for far too long I went to the bar on the 96th floor of the Hancock Tower. The views were incredible. I knew Chicago is big, but it's hard to tell when you're down on the streets. Seeing everything from high up really tells you the scale of the city. A Swedish guy that was trying to recruit me away from Google bought me some Goose Island brew to drink while taking in the city.
After drinks at Hancock Tower I headed to the Greek district for dinner with Jeremy, who interned at Amazon with me 3 years ago. Had a bit of a scare getting to the restaurant as I entered the freeway on the left and had to exit on the right 1000 feet later. That's 5 lane changes, one about every 2 seconds.
I'm currently trying some local beer at a spot called Local Option. Hopefully nobody buys me Malort tonight.
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Chicago, Part 2

I rode the L with my cousin, Leah, and her boyfriend, Nathan, to grab breakfast at Do-Rite Donuts. I asked a bunch of dumb questions about the stuff we passed on the way like "Which river are we crossing? Oh...the Chicago River."
After breakfast I met up with Garrett, who interned with me at Google a couple summers ago, and some people from ChicagoMotorcycles and we rode some twisties and country roads near Starved Rock.
Leah had cooked a Rosh Hashanah dinner when I got back so we ate brisket, fried cauliflower, and challah bread. After that we hit up Oberweis, a local dairy, for some ice cream.
Next I grabbed drinks with my friend Sam who I played sports with in elementary/middle school and went to high school with. We drank some local brew, and the bartender insisted I do a shot of Malort, a Chicago liquor that was originally intended to be a medicine. It's not really popular anywhere else. Odometer: 5411 miles
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Chicago, Part 1

Made some bacon and french toast before leaving Davenport today. I met up with redditor Vegall_st for a beer and to swap stories in Morris. He's on a motorcycle trip around the country as well. Got in to Chicago around dusk and chatted with Leah and Nathan before going to bed. I was so wiped.

Davenport

It took me 8 and a half hours to get to Davenport from St. Louis, which should have been a 4 hour trip, because I got a flat tire. The tiniest rock was wedged, sharp end in, into my rear tire right next to the tread. I was lucky I pulled over when I did. I couldn't tell on the highway that my bike was riding differently, but my rim was sagging almost all the way to the ground. Luckily, where I pulled over there was an auto shop that plugged it for me and sent me on my way to Quincy (60 miles out of the way) to get a new tire installed. It was the longest 60 miles I've ever ridden wondering if my tire would make it all the way, and if I'd get to the shop in time to get a new one before they closed. I didn't make it in time, but they stayed open late on a Friday to get the job done. So awesome!
When I finally made it to Davenport, I walked around the city a bit with Paige, then we went to Great River Brewery and Front Street Brewery.
Odometer: 5007 miles
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St. Louis, Part 3

I went to the City Museum with Tom today and we climbed all over the place for several hours. The City Museum is kind of like a jungle gym for adults featuring a 10 story slide, but they also have some random stuff like the world's largest pencil and the world's largest pair of underwear. Afterwards we grabbed lunch and sampled beer at 3 breweries; Schlafly, Urban Chestnut, and Buffalo. I met up with Tom and Susan later for drinks at the Moonrise Hotel's rooftop cafe, and the views were awesome.
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St. Louis, Part 2

Checked out the Gateway Arch today which was amazing and hit Charlie Guitto's for lunch. Then I went to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis to see the mosaics. It reminded me a lot of St. Mark's in Venice. Grabbed pizza for dinner with Tom, Susan, Ben and Gavin followed by some froyo at Ben and Gavin's favorite place, Tutti Frutti. Tom and Susan had school open house so I hung with Ben and Gavin. We watched Shaun the Sheep (Wallace and Gromit spinoff) and played some more with Contraptions.
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