Day 14
Today’s Mileage: 657
Total Mileage: 5468

The ferry docked at 8 AM, I was the last bike off at 8:45 making sure everything was squared away on the bike before I bailed out. Got gas and was on the highway by 9 AM. Kevin was heading off to Idaho to park his bike at his Dad’s so he didn’t have to pack it up and move it to Idaho the next week. I had a appointment with South Sound BMW to get an oil change as I was a bit overdue for one. I think South Sound is the biggest BMW only dealership I’ve ever seen. Their service department was great and their floor sales people were awesome. I picked up some new gloves since the ones I’ve been wearing were pretty beat. After heading out from the dealership with new synthetic oil I motored down the freeway towards home.

Once again passing through Oregon (That weird state). I still don’t understand why you can’t pump your own gas other than to employ people who need to be employed. The two gas stops I made in Oregon were interesting as always as I won’t let someone else pump my gas on the bike. I passed Crater Lake and was really tempted to take the scenic bypass to see the lake but I decided not to, and save it for another ride. I’m not a fan of Interstate riding but the 5 from Bellingham to the California border isn’t too bad of a ride. I finished off today after dark by getting a hotel room in Shasta Lake. Overall, pretty mellow day.

Day 15
Today’s Mileage: 685
Total Mileage: 6153

I woke up early and got on the road before 7 AM. I had fueled up the night before so I basically had to throw my bag and my ass on the bike and twist the throttle. After coming out of the mountains north of Redding the 5 got well, boring as hell. Good thing I had music and XM Radio! I found several new ways to sit on the bike. With my feet on the crash bars, on the rear pegs, laying on the gas tank…etc. In Sacramento I stopped to get gas and some food at the McDonald’s across the street and a nice lady waved at me as I pulled through. After going inside for food I noticed she was wearing riding gear. She invited me to sit with her as she was waiting for the rest of her women’s riding club. She was fascinated and asked to take some pictures so she could share with her husband. Apparently her husband really wants a bike like mine to make a similar journey.

Eventually I hit LA and realized that the worst part of my whole trip was LA. Traffic was bad. At one point someone thought they were Johnny Law and tried to cut me off by closing the gap on me while I was lane sharing. He discovered that I really didn’t care and was going to get around him anyway, unfortunately my left boot scratched the side of his car as I squeezed through. I really don’t understand why people get upset when a bike is moving through traffic. Most people don’t realize that bikes will overheat if they aren’t moving, and it increases the risk to the rider if you’re sitting still in traffic as people will forget you’re there and roll into to you. Anyway, after fighting my way through LA I hit clear traffic in Orange County and motored on home from there.

I’ll post a trip recap in the next day or two.