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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