Well! I'm back.

Didn't get to go all the way to Seattle, but the wife deigned to allow me a private trip to San Francisco, a total of 900 miles over 3 days.

Rule #1 - On hot days on Interstate 5, do not ride 8 hours in a short sleeve shirt. I never knew the hairs on your arm could hurt sunburn when the wind whipped them around. After several hours (stopping every 110 miles or so for gas and a butt break), I pulled into a rest stop and decided to rest my overloaded eyes (wind, sun, dust) and catch a few zzzzz's. I lay down on a picnic table under a roof at 3:p m with my jacket liner under my head and woke up at 4 (I heard snoring and looked around to see who it was. They must have run off since the only one close enough was me.)

Feeling much better, I continued but decided to take a cross highway to the 101 which was about 20 degrees or so cooler. I'll never take the Five freeway again during the summer. :beat I hit the Frisco suburbs about 6 and found a hotel. Enough for the first day. I didn't add it up, but figure I did 390 miles the first day.

The next morning I drove a loop over the bay bridge and the golden gate and headed south. It never got over 60 or so the entire time. The middle of August in California and I had on my sweater, riding jacket (winter), and riding overpants. Was nice and toasty in them though and by noon I had gotten rid of the pants.

What I really wanted to do was see the aircraft carrier the Abraham Lincoln. No dice. I was going to stop in San Luis Obispo (half way to LA) the second day when to my surprise, NO HOTELS. Not one, nada, zip. I kept riding past Santa Barbara where the carrier was and another 70 miles to Thousand Oaks (practically home) where at 11:00 pm I stumbled into a hotel bed. I was bummed.

I thought about riding back up Sunday morning, but my Right fork had blown a seal and oil was pumping out fast. Sigh...

Met some fellow Christians at a gas station (they were on a royal star but I didn't hold that against them) and we had a church service. It was great.

By this time, I had to be careful over bumps and especially driveway lips because every time I hit one or touched the brakes too hard, the front end bottomed out. I just installed my SUPERBRACE on the front end before I left and it kept the front end stable so I guess it was a good thing.

You don't need shocks on the freeway, but it helps.

Today, my wife and I were checking out the local repair shops for quotes (is $360 high) to replace the seals and I think I've fallen in love with a Goldwing. It's the same shade of blue as my toyota Highlander and seems to be calling to me.

Well, I guess that's all.

It's good to be home but it sure was a blast.

J.