West meets East - Cali to the Carolinas

[IT_Mike]

Today will mark the beginning of my adventure; I’ll be riding a newly acquired K13GT from California to South Carolina. 

I purchasing a 2009 K1300GT from a wonderful gentleman here in Lodi, CA who has decided it’s time to get off of two wheels. We had a great conversation over dinner last night, discussing our glory days and riding history, and will meet in a few hours to finalize the transaction. From there, I head West! 
Yes, West. No sense in coming this far and starting the trek without going those last few hours to the water. If I plan to ride virtually 3,000 miles, why be stingy over a hundred more or so? I’ll ride out to the coast and grab a sample to take with me. From there, next stop will be Lake Tahoe! I’ll keep adding to this thread as the week passes, and will include photos.

 

You can find the whole plan here, I’ll update it as the situation changes.

West meets East

[IT_Mike]

The adventure begins...

 

 

Having started in Lodi, California and detoured over 250 miles to see the Pacific while I was out here, I wound up at Lake Tahoe Monday night.

I' saw warm beaches, ice fog, and snow in a single day...only in Cali.  Oh, and temps? 96 at the beach, 38 in the mountains

Day two took me down 395 to 190 and Death Valley, what amazing views! 

 

I started the day cold in South Tahoe, California. It was 43 degrees. 

I cleaned myself up, packed my camping gear, and hit the road. I took 50 around the lake, stopping for pictures, before connecting to 395.

U.S. 395 is a highway filled with beautiful sights. I was on it for a couple hundred miles before hooking up with 136/190.

190 is amazing. This is the highway through Death Valley National Park. Oh, and the NPS hits you up for $25 for the privilege of driving on this public highway. 

Tight corners and sweeping curves for the motorcyclist, fantastic views for those with air conditioning. 

This was my first time driving through DV. It was challenging. Unlike those in cars, a motorcyclist has no protection for the sun, no A/C, no access to cold beverages while moving, and is at constant risk of having an accident due to sand or gravel.

 

I spent the night in Henderson, NV, just East of Las Vegas. I’ll keep updating but it’s time to head out to the Grand Canyon. GMaps says it’s four hours away. I’ll get some pictures over hear shortly but if you want to see them now, they’re on my facebook page: Mike’s facebook

[IT_Mike]

A few teasers..

[RPondaRoad]

Nice photos of the new bike Mike...from the images it looks to be in mint condition.  I'm glad you posted the photos here for those of us who don't do FB.

[IT_Mike]

I’ll be posting more when I get home, hopefully on Sunday. FB is simple due to linkage on my phone and will store the photos, whereas this site can only upload 15MB at a time or I have to find another site and provide links.

[IT_Mike]

[Selden]

I believe strongly that everybody should do these two things at least once in life:

 

1. Ride/drive coast to coast : It's the best way to get a feel for the tremendous diversity of the land and people of this great country.

2. If you want to eat meat (I do) kill your own food : If you are still willing to eat meat after killing, skinning, and gutting a fellow animal, fire up the grill.

[IT_Mike]

Here’s an album with all the pictures...unedited so try not to judge

Amazon Photo Album - West Meets East

[TEWKS]

Great pictures, Mike! Glad the L/D purchase worked out so well. 

[IT_Mike]

Played a little on the way home...

The Clearwater light on the right of the bike didn’t make it home successfully, flooded in the last miles of rain.

[Rinkydink]

Wonderful stuff. Again, I appreciate the non FB photos as I had to give it up. Ride safe, enjoy, and keep ‘em coming.