4th of July trips

4th of July trip to Lake Tahoe, California
Ok so here’s the plan. I was just going to drive down I-5 and then take 50 from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe. I got my GPS all together. On my Iron Butt Ride I had a problem with my power supply. I fixed it this time by using USB power to keep it going. I bought a 12v adapter that had two other 12v outlets and 2 USB outlets. It would power my Garmin fine but it wouldn’t charge my iPods. Weird… It was alright b/c I had two of them full of Country & Classic rock from radio stations I recorded from back home.
The night before I did all of the pre trip maintenance. I rode my bike to warm up the oil nice and hot and as well the chain. After running around town to get oil & my USB adapter I pulled into the garage and dropped my oil. Not too hot that I’d burn my fingers off but it was definitely warm. While the oil was draining the last few drops I clean & lubed the chain. I noticed from my 1000 mile trip that my chain was a wreck. I could notice it in town when the chain would stick on the sprocket just a little longer than it should. My tension was fine and after a quick cleaning it was good as new. So on this trip I took the can of chain cleaner and paper towls with me so I could do that real quick down at Tahoe. I knew 1000 miles was bad and I wasn’t going to do 1700 miles to it. That’s just mean…
I had a half day at work so I was home by 1. I ran some last minute clothes through the dryer, checked out the bike to make sure I had everything. I bought a tent so if I had to stop I could throw that up and crawl inside and sleep. I just straped it to the tail of the bike. Maybe next time I’ll put a Plexiglas piece down first to use as a base so my shoes don’t push down on the tail light. I’m using the Axio tank bag. It’s pretty nice and it has a bunch of handy compartments for my wallet, keys, pen, paper, map, iPod, bottle water, food, and a map if the GPS isn’t working. But it’s leaving little black marks on the clear coat. I’m not going to use it again till I get them buffed out and a 3M protector on the whole tank. I made dinner and I was out the door by 4:30 I took 101 down from Bremerton so I wouldn’t have to pay the $4 toll for the bridge. It was worth it b/c I can go about 100 miles for 4 bucks and it wasn’t out of the way too much. I made good time I stopped in Woodburn, OR first. I gave dad a call. He’s back in Iowa and he’s kinda jealous about me being able to discover the country like this. I usually don’t like to stop too much in Oregon b/c you’re not allowed to pump your own gas so every time you pull up to the gas pump some guy comes over wanting to swipe your CC and pump your gas. I see it as more of a hassle b/c I’m right there anyway. Ever heard of the expression “too many cooks in the kitchen”? You’d just be butting elbows. After hitting the road hard the last thing I want is someone coming up to me and my motorcycle. I just want to relax, fill up my bike, get some food & water in me and take a little break before I hit it again. And I like to fill it to the brim b/c I’m going right out to use it anyways. But if I was going to fill up and park it’d probably over flow. Gas mileage was pretty good. Anywhere from 57 mpg to 51 if I run hard on the interstate. Hard is around 70 mph. But the speedometer is off a bit. So I had to do 80mph on my bike to do 72 mph by GPS to keep up with traffic. But after one of my fill ups I got 51 I slowed it down for the better mileage. I noticed 65 was the happy median. I had a few cars passing me but I didn’t care… I was still getting 3 times as better mileage then them. Having my iPod to really helped. I listened to KGGO Classic Rock that ROCKS!! I used the ask.com internet audio recorder to put them on there. It’s pretty slick it cuts out all of the commercials and leaves some of the talk. I had Anchorman and Old School on my iPod too. I think over the whole trip I listened to both of them about five times. They’re good movies and I quote them a little too much now. It’s easier for me to joke with people using those movies but when someone has no idea what I’m talking about it’s a little rough.

Well it started to get dark and chilly. I stopped at a rest stop to fill up on food and I put on all of my weather gear and a sweet shirt. When I get all dressed up the cold is nothing to worry about. But it does come in a little around my neck to my face. I have something for that but I forgot it at home. It looked like I was going out to play in the snow. My all weather gear is my gortex tops and bottoms from when I went to Iraq. I was making good time. My butt wasn’t hurting yet I think I was only 450 miles in to the trip. It’s 855 miles to Tahoe going by I-5 and HW 50. The seat is a little bit more comfortable with more clothes on. Well I was about 40 miles away from the boarder and I needed to fill up. I stopped in a little town. I didn’t think of it but the gas station was closed. Well in everywhere else you can still pump gas when they’re closed. Nope… Not in Oregon. I tried it twice before I said forget it and rode on to a station that had there lights on. It’s now 30 after midnight. The road is pretty cold by now and I’m getting pretty tired. I stopped at a rest stop and noticed that they do not allow tents. Well that’s crappy. There should be an exception for people traveling on motorcycles. B/c you can sleep in your car or truck but you can’t sleep on your motorcycle. And when I was in there, there were over 30 cars sleeping at the rest stop. I was the only motorcycle. That’s probably b/c the other motorcyclist know better and get a hotel room. So I found myself a nice picnic table and took all the things that would come off and back in there bags. I took my backpack off and used it for a pillow. I had all my clothes in there so it wasn’t too bad. I had my helmet in one hand and I put my leg over my tank bag. I set my alarm on my phone and held it in my hand. It was 1 and I needed to leave around 4 so I could get there around noon so I would still be able to do some stuff when I get to South Lake Tahoe. I slept a couple hours and I packed the bike back up and hit the road before the sun was up. I crossed the California border in the dark and stopped at the first rest stop to see the sun come over the mountains. I took a few pictures with my camera and took one with my phone and sent it to my mom. The family likes to keep in contact when I ride. I am riding alone so that’s the best way to keep track of me. I don’t have my counseled weapon permit yet and I’m sure it would be an issue for crossing so many state lines I don’t want to go to jail quite yet. For having a weapon on me. Everyone I talked to about my picnic table bed was worried about me b/c it’s a high volume & high speed area like a rest stop. Anything can happen. It’s a crazy world out there.
I ran into some other bikes in California. It doesn’t matter if you have a Harley or a full blown sport bike but it just matters that you’re out there on the road on two wheels. I get a lot of questions about my ride b/c I ride with an Iowa license plate. Live in Washington and I’m two states away now. The California desert areas kinda reminds me of Iraq there wasn’t much vegetation and the trees look about the same. And the soil is just rock and sand. Iowa kinda spoils me. We have BLACK dirt there. I filled up in Sacramento and jumped on 50. It was kinda funny. Back home our in town side streets are 35 mph but in Sacramento they are 50 mph. Make’s sense now those people run around crazy. And if you have a pickup truck and it’s not lifted 6+” it just doesn’t look right. There are nice, windy, and mountainous roads the whole way. But on the way down there was a RV that was having brake problems I guess b/c they were going down the hills about 5 mph. I just put the bike in neutral and coasted the whole way down. I stopped and took a few pictures and I took some pictures for some other people. I was at the house around 1230.
They really have a good family there. They have the house and then they have a cottage where there is a bed in every corner in any room. Someone had a boat and they were out tubing in that. It was a bas boat with a 250hp on the back of it. It booked across the water pretty good. The water was amazingly clear. Out in the middle of the water it was a little chilly but that didn’t stop me from diving into the water a couple times. The water by the beach was waist deep 200 yards out. We had to push the boat out to keep sand out of the prop. Later that night we grilled steaks, grilled corn, and I got into the Bud-Lite n’ Lime.
For the 4th we went to a little hole in the wall lake that we had to drive to through these one lane roads. The roads kinda reminded me of Italy. But our cars were still looking new when there cars are all beat up. We parked and hiked the rest of the way. This lake has a bunch of cliffs on it that you can jump off of into the water. One of the smaller ones is about 15 feet getting bigger to one that had to be about 50 feet. If you fall off of that guy wrong you’re braking some bones. As soon as I showed up there I ran into my friend’s mom on a kayak and we took off for the smaller cliffs. And I jumped off it twice and we headed back to shore. We were a little late and the girls had already jumped off of the cliffs. We we’re all sitting on a big boulder out in the water. We’re watching this guy on the 40’ cliff that was trying to jump off of it. He’d go to the edge and take a few steps back. He’d walk forward like he’s going to go and he’d stop. I stood up and hollered, “come on man you can do it!!!” I started clapping my hands till he jump. He just needed a little motivation that’s all. I asked someone to take some video with my camera while I jumped. I grabed my camera and showed em all how to work it. I rode out there on the kayak with two other big guys in the kayak so we put that thing under the water with about 2” coming out of the water. Once I got up there I went up to the edge to check it out. I took two steps back and three steps forward. Make sure if you do a big jump like this to remember to cross you feet, don’t land butt first but land feet first, and cross your arms. I took a deep breath b/c I wanted to float back to the surface. The wind was a little chilly but it was nice and warm in water. Later that nite we had fedichini(sp) Alfaro, burgers and corn on the grill. The fireworks on the water was awesome!! And the first song after the national anthem was “she thinks my tractors sexy”!! And afterwards I ended up playing spoons for the rest of the night with the girls. They were a lot of fun!! They were all sisters, they got along really well, and it looks like they keep together pretty good.
Sunday I was on the road by 5:50 but this time I took 395 from the east side of the lake to I-5. Those were some fast moving back roads back there where I was able to run 70 on. As soon as I got back into California I ran across this tree that had a bunch of shoes in a tree along the highway. I wonder if it means anything.
I didn’t have any problems on this ride. It was one of my longest rides. And at about 1300 miles my knees and my butt were starting to hurt. I folded the sweat shirt and put that on the seat. It raised me up enough to take the pressure off of my knees and it felt pretty good on my backside. The seat was good for about 40 miles and then it moved a little bit and it wasn’t as good as it first was. There was good weather for the whole trip. When I arrived back to Seattle the traffic was bumper to front tire for about 20 miles. From looking at the type of vehicles coming back I’d say it was everyone coming back from the 4th of July weekend. Bunch of trucks with grills in the beds and a bunch of RV’s.
By the time I got back it hurt to just lift my leg over the bike to get off. I just sat in my driveway texting & taking the last pictures before I got off. But I quickly recovered. I think my after my Iron Butt Ride I was worse than I am now. I felt pretty good in bed where last time I couldn’t even sleep on my back. My legs feel like I got a workout.
This morning was the only time I got into rain. I can ride almost 2000 miles with great weather… But the little 2 mile ride to work it was all rain. That’s Washington for ya.

If ya have any questions i'll be more than happy to answer them