Phoenix, AZ and San Francisco, CA

I'm back in Brooklyn now but I wanted to jot down the remainder of the trip so I don't forget everything (bad memory).

After Ryan and Cissa (nicest people I've met in a long time) picked us up in Globe, fixed my bike (condenser not grounded..ughhhh), and cooked us tons of food, we finally began the last stretch of our journey to the west coast. We drove a mile down the road and stopped to buy a bunch of water for crossing the desert. Matt picked up the basket of water and helmets and pinched a nerve in his back. He couldn't ride a moped or even sit in a chair normally. The Cruisers end up taking our mopeds to San Francisco, while we fly. Almost coast to coast. Close enough.

San Francisco was a blur of partying, burritos, and amazing rides. The Creatures held a great rally and are all sweethearts.

When I get enough money to buy a Flickr pro account I'll upload all of my pictures from the trip.

More New Mexico and some Arizona

Sunday we left Albuquerque. There was no way to get onto rt 60 without fording a river and riding for 15 miles on the highway. We ended up riding into the night with a full moon shining. The terain looked like another planet. We camped out in the nicest campsite we've been to on the trip. There even was a pile of firewood waiting for us at our campsite. The next morning we met a guy (Art) at a gas station who showed us a black powder six shooter he carried and told us about how he knew the one of the guys who captured Geronimo. Camped out in the woods near a rest stop. None of Matts lights work now.

Blasted down the Apache Mountains into the Salt River Canyon. So amazing. I'll upload a boring video of our decent onto Youtube soon. My bike blows a condenser and the magneto side seal. Fix that but now I can't get the timing set correctly for some reason. Luckly we were only an hour outside of Cruiser territory so they came and picked us up (best people ever!). Really excited to hang out in Tempe. It's nice to see moped people again. Ryan has a cdi/hologen bulb set up that Mahoney would cream his jeans over.

New Mexico part 2

Yesterday we went out to see Matt's cousin, who lives off the beaten path in the sticks. After shooting guns all day we went and got Mexican food out of a truck on the side of the road.

New Mexico

We camped out at Summer Lake state park. Getting there was rough. Spent the entire day driving on flat open land with no gas stations for hundreds of miles. At night we were riding on a highway with a speed limit of 70. Huge trucks on one side, mile long trains on the other. The wind from the trucks going our direction add 2 mph; the wind from the trucks going the opposite direction minus 5 mph and almost knock you over.

We screamed down the mountains into Albuquerque two nights ago. Having huge towering mountains all around you with the city glowing in the dark miles away made really happy that I didn't give up on this trip. We're staying with some friends of Matt's. Yay a stove.

Texas

After finally getting out of Oklahoma (we're stock again) we reached the flat land of northern Texas. We rolled into Amarillo at night and stayed at a crappy motel. Total trucker town. The next day we spent the night at the bottom of Palo Durro Canyon. If someone told me it was the Grand Canyon I would have believed them.

Oklahoma

We've been trapped in Oklahoma for a week now because we blew up our kits and I blew up my motor. Finally on our way to Texas.

Crystal Springs, AR

JC (scooter dude) brought us down 3 miles of dirt road to a crystal mine. Sweet. I have more pictures but I can't post them because my Flickr account has exceded it's upload limit and I have no money in my bank account to pay for an upgraded account. I wish there was a Washington Mutual bank out here.

Tomorrow morning we head west through Oklahoma into New Mexico.

Here is our new route to Arizona...


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Hot Springs, AR

Leaving Memphis was epic. We crossed the Mississippi on interstate. People in cars were taking pictures of us and cheering us on. Drove by two cop cars at a weigh station and finally made it to the exit. Drove through Arkansas bayou country. I've never seen so many bugs in my life. Riding through them felt like it was raining.

Now we are in Hot Springs staying with a scooter dude that we randomly met at a gas station. Drank beers on the lake and had amazing Mexican food.

Day w/e

Depressed in Memphis. We got drunk with some local folks tonight. Nice people...they gave me a ride home and we might go see Neil and Wilco in NYC in December.

13 - 16

I can't keep track of time. We are in Bandit territory now. Louisville has a really rad scene. Last night we walked across a huge abandoned railroad bridge that spans the Ohio river looking out over Louisville.

Day 12

Put on my Malossi kit. Don't have the correct range of jets to tune it though. I have 84 82 72 and lower. If anyone has 74 76 78 and 80 could you send them to me?! I can paypal you $$$.

Day 11

Kristen cooked us some delicious tofu scramble for breakfast. It was so nice to have real food again. I'm really sick of eating diner french fries and crappy salads.

Kits came in the mail. Sweet!

Days 8 - 10

Day 8: Pittsburgh was great and we were so sad to leave. Jeff and Becky made us breakfast twice and took us out to some really nice spots. Super amazing hosts! My bike is now outfitted with some new baskets, thanks to them as well. We got a late start and only got to the border of West Virginia and Ohio. We ended up sleeping under in a U-Haul lot underneath a rental trailer.

Day 9: Hauled ass across the first half of Ohio. Matt's Tomos ran into some trouble. One of his bags caught on fire because it was touching the exhaust pipe, and the little nub on the swing arm that you use to adjust the chain tension and align the wheel broke off. Had to readjust his tire often. We made it to Columbus around 7 where we were staying with John's friends, Kristen and Adam. They were so hospitable and had never even met us before. We all went out to a show at one of the local Columbus music venues.

Day 10: Woke up and went to Handy Bikes. It lived up to all the hype. Massive amounts of NOS parts. Matt got Magnum lollipop chain tensioners and new decals for his Tomos. We left Handy Bikes and began another death run through flat Ohio farmland. Made it to Cinci around 11pm. Chris TBS met us outside the city limits and rode us in to the TBS hangout/shop. There were a ton of people hanging out and wrenching. We went for a ride over the Ohio river into Kentucky. Now we are staying with Kristen and Wade from TBS (awesome!).

Days 0 - 7

Day 0: Took the train out of NYC up to CT where Matt and I were storing out bikes in my parents basement.

Day 1: Left my parents house in CT. 5 minutes after leaving we realized that my Puch had no low end with all of my gear loaded on it. Amazingly enough we made it to a campground in NY state. We bummed a wet piece of wood from a nearby camper and tried to cook our food on it.

Day 2: Woke up with a large stream flowing underneath my tent. The day cleared up nicely and we headed out. Spent half the day pushing my Puch up mountains and the other half riding down them. We ended up in a great campsite compaired to the previous night's. We spent the night cooking on the grill, lighting off fireworks, and drinking beers.

Day 3: Spent most of the day riding through rural farmland. Then we got caught in the rain and dark 30 miles from any civilization. Finally found an inn to stay in and dry our clothes.

Day 4: Rode through miles of amazing farmland and state forests. Definitely one of the most beautiful days of the trip so far. A black bear ran out in front of me. Slept behind a shed in Clearfield.

Day 5: Never eating food from a Wal-Mart again, no matter how poor I am. Got food poisoning. Passed out in front of a church. Finally made it to Pittsburgh. Slept for 10 hours in Jeff and Becky's attic.

Day 6: Jeff, Becky and Jon of sHs are the sweetest people ever. We went to an amazing vegan buffet.

Day 7: Need to order some kits. Bikes are too slow. Hoping 1977 has a Polini.

the route

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