Speed Is Your Friend

Banking Into Caliente

There was probably a speed limit - (and also the law may have something to say about one-handed photocycling)

Dinner With My Peeps

Riding south on 101 from Seattle, all day. I wanted to have some local fare, but was having trouble finding just the right spot. It was cool and damp (like Oregon is), and the sun was almost down. Along the side of the road I spot this place, just south of Newport, a plugger community called South Beach.

These nice people waved me in actually - note the suitcase(s) of Coors Light. Some of them were talking about what they had just read on a favorite website, and were a bit sheepish around the new foreign two-wheeled intruder.

The group had been crabbing all day. They had brought their haul to this place to have them cooked in a big pot so they could eat them right there in the parking lot. What they didn't feel like eating, they sold or traded to the proprietor to sell to duffers passing by (me). It was very good.

The day ended in Coos Bay.

Ragged Point AM

This particular morning, having ridden from Albuquerque the day before, first-light came on like a dream. The Pacific seemed blown-out and reflective. The color of the morning sun was playing the intro to Axis Bold As Love, the part where Jimi came in as an alien. Ripping distortions, coming over the hills.

Breakfast in Big Sur

A moment of silence, please.

Cool Change

The draw of the jade green sea and the weight of the heavy dew. Mildly incongruous against the put-put-put of the crabber's skiff.

Twist

Yeh, every throttle's got a peg,

Don't hate me for ticklin' it.

Way Out There

Mono Lake

South out of Reno, on 395. No cars. No birds. No wind. No sound but the Buell thumping up and down the foothills without any effort. Over a steep and turning rise, this view made me stop. The guardrail in the foreground is covered, but not littered, with stickers from all over the world.

Looking over the volcanic islands it is possible to see the Cowtrack and Granite mountains to the left with Sagehen Peak and Indian Summit on the right.

With the motor off, it is so quiet the space roars in your ears.