Day 2 still going strong

Today was another great one. We woke up to a huge thunderstorm and thought it was going to be a bad day. Luckily by the time we ate and geared up the weather had cleared andwe headed out under dry skies.

We hit a few technical sections but nothing like yesterdays mud. Although after saying that I do have to mention graham pulled off one of the best crashes so far.




His fender was so packed with mud that his front whel would not spin and made him lose all control in mud. We pulled off the fender and cleaned everything up so he can now actually steer. He's got that going for him now, which is nice.

We also met these friendly pups along the way. If I had any way to carry them I would be theowner of two dogs right now. Here they are camped out under the red devil.



Near the end of the day we worked our way into the foothills of the ozarks (sp?). Really pretty rolling hills that I did not manage to get a single pic of.

At the end of the day we had logged 170 miles which is way under what we were hoping for so tomorrow is an early start to make up time. Gotta sack out now. More tomorrow.

What a first day! Motorcycles hitting the ground already.

What a nutty day. I will have to upload some pics later but it was a great first day!

I met up with graham in memphis after a looooong plane ride and we were shortly on the road. We hit about an hour of pavement to get to the trail. We hit the dirt with smiles on our faces and were making great time until we hit some nasty mud sections. After hitting the mud our progress slowed from 40-45 mph to about 2mph. Bikes started falling and the temp just kept rising. It was a workout and we had some parts damage (palmers beak from his dakar and grahams hand guard and shift lever) but it was all around a great day.

We are now hanging out in the hotel room blasting the ac and working on finding food in this tiny town.

If this was the first day I wonder what is in store... More tomorrow.

In the air

I just woke up from a sweet 30 minute nap bringing my total sleep since getting up at 6.30am yesterday to about an hour and a half. Whew... What time is it?

Did get to meet my parents for breakfast in the atlanta airport. It was fun catching up but I was a little loopy from the flight. Can't wait to see them in seattle in a few months.

I am excited/nervous. Can't wait to meet palmer and graham and get a few miles under our belts.

I get to meet my new motorcycle today too!! Think I am going to name it the red devil.

More later...

Lets do this!!

So I finished up packing. At least I have everything that I am taking as I don't have a single place left to stuff anything.

I talked to P-man earlier today and he is rolling down the road on his way to Memphis with both bikes and will be meeting up with Graham tonight. Wow, this is really happening!!

I decided I would update my google maps file and add in Arkansas because looking at all the milage we are going to do without Arkansas made me scared. Adding more will make me feel much better right? Holy crap we are riding a long way!! Why is this just sinking in as you are 2 hours away from getting on a plane you may be asking. Hmm, good point. Well here is the updated map.

Packing up and getting ready

Well tomorrow is the day the trip begins. I can't believe how fast this day has gotten here. Seems just like yesterday Palmer, Graham and I were riding across Tennessee dreaming of one day doing the whole trail.

Tonight will be filled with last minute packing details and putting the final touches on everything. Palmer should be picking up the Uhaul about now and starting to load up motorcycles. Uhaul, if you are reading this we would never load motorcycles in your vehicles (but we are).

On the right hand side you will see a link to a sub blog. Not to say that it is a lesser version of this spectacular piece of writing and photography but it has a very limited purpose. For this trip I purchase a SPOT device that will allow me to check in with friends and family when I don't have wifi or a cell signal. It is a pretty cool little device (check out www.findmespot.com to learn more). All the blog http://tatprogress.blogspot.com/ will do is have our location posted as I check in.

I will be posting our location periodically, like the one below, as we go but for anyone who really wants to know where we were most recently you should check it out.

Also, Natalie and I went out for a final nice dinner before I hit the road and she gave me the coolest present, a flip-cam!! So with this super cool little video cam I can post video on here as we go across. Airport security is going to hold me forever with all the electronics I am carrying tomorrow.

For now we have a wide open map with nothing but a route. Can't wait to start putting some locations on there as we head across.

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Relaxing weekend

All the pics here --> Click Me

Natalie and I headed over to Whidbey Island this weekend. We were going to try to stay over on the island but after calling around everywhere Friday and Saturday we found everything was either booked or $350 a night. There was one campground that was first come first serve so I tossed some camping gear in the car just in case.

We made it over to the island around 2:30 and headed straight for the first come first serve campsites. By some crazy miracle we ended up grabbing a campsite. So, with our sleeping plans all taken care of I started to explore Whidbey a little. Natalie explored her eye lids for a while which was well deserved after an 18 mile training run that morning...



and I went out to explore the fort that I had heard was cool. I got up to the fort and instantly felt like I was 7 years old. There were so many cool places to climb around and holes to fall in, soooo cool!!



Anyway, I explored around for quite a while and then went back to camp to check on sleeping beauty. On the way down I ran across this little guy



I got back to camp about the time Natalie was moving again and we setup camp, visited with our neighbors for a while and then headed out to a gallery opening that a co-worker of Natalie's was featured in. We had a great time at the art show; one of those times when you look at your watch and time has flown by. From the gallery we headed to eat what would be hands down the best meal I have ever eaten in the US (The best anywhere is currently held by an Italian place in Victoria, BC). I had a plate of mussels that were pulled out of the water that afternoon for an appetizer, and then Natalie and I both had Halibut that was so fresh. Everything at the restaurant was local which = really fresh and you could taste it.

After such a great dinner we retired to our campsite for the night. The next morning we got up and took a little road trip up Whidbey Island, over deception pass, and back over to I5 which took us back down to Seattle. Such a relaxing weekend and I am very sad to see it end.

Next weekend will be spent doing last minute preparations for the TAT (Trans America Trail) ride with Palmer. Meeting Palmer in Memphis where he will have two motorcycles waiting and then we take three weeks to ride from there to the Oregon coast all off-road. Stay tuned...

It has been a while but I made it out for another trip

I got out last weekend with Dan and Frank for a little east side desert camping. The plan was to hit up some fishing, get some sun, and take it easy for the weekend. We were sucessful in each of our goals. Unfortunately the fish were sunfish only. Actually that is not true, I think Dan did manage to throw a bass over his shoulder and into the weeds while fly fishing.

In the end we all had a great time. We also managed to see a rattlesnake wich was very cool. I think I got a little too much sun if that is possible but it felt great anyway.

Hopefully we can get another trip going before I head out for 3 weeks of motorcycle riding with my brother but time will tell.