Day 1 - Emmett to Vale

I pulled out of the driveway right on schedule at 9am and almost immediately hosed my schedule by stopping at Wal-Mart in Ontario Oregon to pick up some last minute snacks and to check my bag for forgotten/missing essential items. Now I have been to Ontario and Vale many times but I took lots of pictures for the sake of those that haven't. Vale has lots of murals on the buildings downtown, as well as a creepy motel at the end of town.

Mother said not to stay at this motel.

I Topped of the gas tank in hopes of making it through Juntura (I don't know of a gas station there) all the way to Burns.

Day 1 - Departure

Well the time has finally arrived. I have every thing packed and ready to go. My bag doesn't look too bad on the bike. Its a little big, but I always over pack. The worse thing that can happen is the one thing you don't prepare for.

The weather is beautiful. Yesterday it was really HOT, 95 degrees. But as I was getting the motorcycle ready last night about 10pm some thunderstorms rolled through with lots of lightning and a good douse of rain. So it is cooler today. I am guessing about 75 degrees in Boise, but will probably reach 85 in the dessert where I am headed. The sky is blue with partial clouds, perfect riding weather.

Looking forward to an exciting (and hopefully safe) ride today. Hope my butt doesn't get too sore. I will post pictures once I get to a hotel (assuming they have internet) some time this evening. First rest stop: Vale Oregon.

And I'm off...

Getting Excited

This morning I picked up my motorcycle from the service shop at Snake River Yamaha. Wow, they weny over my bike with a fine tooth comb and lubed, adjusted or fixed absolutely everything including adjusting the valves, changed the oil, trans oil and rear gear oil, replaced sparkplugs, and adjusted the carb for two and a half bills. Money well spent. They even gave it a quick wash, not a detail job like I would do at home, but way cleaner than when I dropped it off. 

It felt good to be back in the saddle again. My motorcycle has been in the shop for 6 days now. They actually had it done on Saturday but it was raining and they are closed Sunday and Monday, so today was the first day I could get it. The best part was when I rode it to work--NO MORE "Tick-Tick-Tick"! Now I can start my trip with peace of mind and confidence that my bike is in the best shape it can be in for the long ride.

I am getting excited because its getting warmer each day. Yesterday was beautiful but a little breezy. Today is going to be warm, and tommorow we expect to see temps hit 90 degrees.  The day I am supposed to leave is predicted to have afternoon thunderstrorms, but I should be reaching the California border by then. Hopefully I won't get caught in a cloud burst. 

Prep and Packing

I have been trying to ride my motorcycle to work as much as possible to help prepare me for the upcoming trip to Sonora California. Of course the weather has not been cooperating at all, so I have only ridden about 2 or 3 times a week. I actually live in a small town about 45 minutes from Boise, so I am used to hour long rides... but 6 hours in a day will be challenging. Two weeks out from my trip and I start noticing a slight "ticking" sound on my motorcycle-- Joy!

Of course I was planning on changing the oil before I left on this long trip, so I am thinking maybe I should just check and adjust the valves while I am at it. After all I have done my fair share of shade tree mechanic work. But being a "Jack of all Trades, Master of None" has its disadvantages. I soon discovered that this job was going to entail more work and trouble than I was willing to take just a few days before the trip. So down to the motorcycle shop I went.

Now I have been to Snake River Yamaha many times to dream and drool over the beautiful machines there. (BTW - I already have my next bike all picked out.) Any how, $145 seemed like a deal to have the valves professionally adjusted, and for another $75 they changed the oil and did a full tune and service. Small price to pay for peace of mind 600 miles from home. However this definitely set my trip budget back a few notches.

I was planning on purchasing some Olympia mesh pants for $220. They are very versatile with mesh zones on the outside, a wind and water-proof liner on the inside, armored knees and hip padding, and a nice feature is the zipper stops short of the hem so you can have the hem custom fitted to you. Unless the Olympia gods see fit to reimburse me for this fine endorsement, I will be without them for this trip. Back to the old stand-by, my snowboarding pants. They will be fine if its cold or raining, but I won't be wearing them other than that (too hot). I am having a friend sew some extra Velcro on the ankle cuff so that I can cinch them down a little tighter since I won't be wearing snowboarding boots on my motorcycle.

Now, what to pack? And how am I going to fit all my stuff in my saddle bags? I'm not. I bought a medium sized Bilt gear bag at Cycle Gear that should be more than sufficient to hold all my crap, and hopefully wont look too bad strapped over the top of my saddle bags. I can't really afford "motorcycle" luggage at this point. I am considering a small tank bag to put my mp3 player, a bottle of water and a map in. We will see.

This will be my first long trip on the motorcycle so I am sharing this list of stuff to pack for all the other first timers out there. Remember the Boy Scouts moto "be prepared"? Well I am my father's son and he packs everything but the kitchen sink "just in case". No doubt my list doesn't fall far from the tree:

Emergency Stuff

• Tool kit + some better Allen wrenches and a Leatherman multi-tool on my belt.
• LED flashlights (head band and hand held) + batteries.
• Printed maps and information about hotels, restaurants and gas stations along the route (no GPS)
• Cell phone + charger.
• Roll of toilet paper.
• Hand sanitizer or wipes.
• Hand warmers.
• 2 refillable water bottles with spouts that let you open and close with one hand.
• Jerky and some trail mix.

Gear

• Helmet + ear covers.
• Sun glasses (polarized) and riding goggles + cords.
• Gloves - insulated gloves for cold weather, full leather gloves for cool riding, and thin leather (bicycle style) gloves for warm weather. 
• Riding Jacket (mesh + wind/rain liner + quilted liner).
• Cold weather pants (snowboard pants in this case).
• Riding boots.
• Bungee cords.
• IMPORTANT post trip edit: sunscreen and lip balm (found out the hard way)

Clothing

• 2-3 tee shirts.
• 1 pair jeans.
• 1-2 pair shorts.
• 4 pairs of underwear.
• 4-5 pairs of socks - 1 extra warm, 2 long, 2 short.
• Sleep shorts.
• Swim trunks.
• Long sleeve over shirt.
• Warmer pull over or hoodie.
• Walking shoes.
• Belt.
• Bathroom Kit (tooth paste + brush, deodorant, razor, medicine, etc.)
• Travel towel.
• Stuff sack for dirty or wet clothes, etc.

Fun Stuff

• Mp3 player + headphones + USB cable.
• Camera + batteries + USB cable.
• Notebook or tablet computer + charger.
• Pen and paper notepad.
• Day pack for short excursions.

I will add more later if I think of anything else.

The Trip Conceived

After a twenty-something year hiatus from riding, I am now back in the game. I spent last fall learning to ride again, only this time I was NOT nineteen and invincible. My first priority is safety. My second priority is fun. Those two are sometimes diametrically opposed, so I figured that I better learn how to do this right the second time around in order to maximize both at the same time.

So after getting my permit I enrolled in Idaho's STAR (Skills Training Advantage for Riders) program. Its a full day of classroom instruction and riding skills tests that when completed successfully results in getting your motorcycle endorcement without having to do the riding test at DMV. I highly recommend taking this  program regardless of your skill level or experience (they offer several different skill level courses). Not to mention that my friend Mike (that got me back into all this) happens to be married to a STAR instructor (who also happens to ride a shiny new Harley!)

And as is likely to happen, after getting my endorsement I went on a couple of rides with Mike and his wife. We did an easy but enjoyable trip from Meridian to Murphy, then stopped for some Pizza in Marsing, then back home. (see Meridian to Marsing loop route) Another time we took a more challenging ride with lots of 50-60mph turns from Hill Road in Boise up to Idaho City (see Boise to Idaho City route). Hill Road is a fun and beautiful ride by itself with lots of people enjoying it on bicycles as well. But Idaho City is  a classic ride out of Boise. We had burgers and fries at Trudy's Kitchen for lunch, along with many other motorcyclists, then headed back to town. It was an awesome day.

Of course Mike and his Wife ride pretty regularly and every year they plan a week or two long trip across the West. I am fairly confident that this is the highlight of Mike's year as he goes on and on about it both before and after. I am also fairly confident that this motorcycle thing is a disease that spreads rapidly, because now I have been bitten, and that itch needs to be scratched!

So this summer I conceived an excuse to ride my motorcycle to some mystical far away place; my Parents house in Sonora California. Okay not so mystical, but I don't get to visit them very often because it is far away (about 12 hours), and the bed and meals are free. Typically this trip runs from Boise to Winnemucca Nevada on Hwy 95, then down I-80 to Reno, and pick your route from there over the Sierra Nevadas to Sonora. This route, while efficient, is quite boring, straight, through the dessert, and Interstate 80 is all 75mph through Nevada. Not my idea of a "motorcycle trip". I spent some time trying to figure out how to get from here to there without going a million miles out of the way or exceeding 2 days, and yet avoid the Interstate freeways. This is the route I ended up with. Day one is a little boring but there is no avoiding that. Day two will be mostly through the Sierras so I will have to pack and prepare carefully to make sure I don't get caught in some unexpected weather. 

With the route set, I am trying to nail down the date. I would prefer to travel when its warm, but not burning hot since half my trip is through high dessert. So late July and August are out. I have other plans in early July so it looks like late June is it. As my departure day looms in the near future I am apprehensive about the weather. We have had an un-seasonably late spring here in Boise, and its been raining every few days and only 50-60 degrees. In fact it rained all day just this last Saturday. I guess I will be packing rain gear for sure.

The anticipation is growing. I could hardly focus at work today. I leave in just a few days!

A Boy and His Dreams

When I was Nineteen I was broke and car-less. I found a small motorcycle for $500, a 1980 Yamaha SR-500 "thumper", that became my only source of transportation for the next two years. Of course I was young and dumb and knew nothing about motorcycles, riding safety, gear, etc. But hey I had to get to work and back and besides the weather was mild in Northern California. It
was fun while it lasted but all good things must come to an end.

Fast forward twenty-some odd years, a wife and three kids later, and the SR-500 (by now a Japanese cult classic and cafe moder's dream) still sits in my garage--not running. It doesn't need that much work. New tires, chain, air and fuel filters, re-upulster the seat, and she should be ready to ride. Well last summer I decided to have a mild mid-life crisis and became determined that I was gonna get that motorcycle running if it killed me. $500 later I got it to start and run down the street... but had to push her home (several times). It seems that some carburator work is in order (not my specialty).

Meanwhile my then workmate and friend, Mike M., spared no moral grief encouraging me to fulfill my motorcycle dreams. He has a firm philosophy that things with two wheels should be purchased with the highest happiness quotient possible regardless of cost (debt). He also happens to ride a beautiful and expensive Harley Davidson, aptly named "Fuego" to match the custom flames on the tank.  In fairness, I must give Mike some of the credit (and blame) for what happened next.

After weeks of postponed gratification from the failed SR-500 project, I began spending my free time pouring over Craigslist and drooling at $6000-7000 (used) bikes such as Yamaha's 1100/1300cc V-Star or Honda's 1300/1800cc VTX and the like. I began to narrow my search to the following requirements:

• 750cc or larger Cruiser
• Electric start
• Gas gauge
• Shaft or belt drive
• Under my $3500 budget (okay I was willing to spend $4000)

After looking for weeks I was beginning to think that I would have to settle for a 650cc Honda Shadow in order to be within my budget. But knew from the SR-500 days that anything less than 750cc is not enough to haul my fat butt up a hill or cruise comfortably at 65-70mph.

I finally found and rather quickly purcahsed (before I came to my senses) something that fit all my wants and desires: Behold, my 2003 Suzuki Volusia VL-800. Okay so its a FAR cry from a Harley, and its known as an "inexpensive" bike, but it got very good reviews and it came with all the goodies: aftermarket intake, Vance & Hines exhaust pipes, windscreen, light bar, saddle bags, even a helmet and vest. And did I mention that it was only three grand?!

 Can you say "Ooo, shiny!" The journey has begun...