The Trip

The next morning I stopped in Portland to get new tires on the bike. Once again the saying "If there is a "MLK" Blvd you're probibly in the ghetto" came to mind.... and yup. The bike shop was a little sketch but the old guys had my tires and the price was ok so it all worked out. I was back on the road by approximately 11:30. It took a while to get through Oregon and the heat was starting to get to me, As I entered Northern California I got my first taste of triple Digit Temperatures. Near Reading I noticed a big change in the temperature every few miles. It was the rocks on the side of the road. If there was gravel on the side of the road on the south side of a mountain it was radiating the head even after the sun was starting to set. You could defiantly feel the difference between the north and south sides. Once the sun set my fun was only just starting to begin. I could not find my two campgrounds so I just headed south. I was mentally breaking down and made the decision that I was going to head towards San Francisco so i could see the Golden Gate Bridge. I eventually just broke down and realized that I was beat down and I needed a good nights sleep to regroup my thoughts and go from there.

In the morning I realized that the golden gate bridge was going to add 3+4 hours of travel that I didn't have the time for so I proceded down California. It was well over 100 degrees, I was not ready for that heat by any means. It was so bad that I had to ride with my shield down on my helmit and had to stop for water every 45 minutes or so. I just happened to catch Los Angeles in rush hour. Normally this would have been miserable but riding a motorcycle does have its fringe benifits. I have never split lanes before but I have to admit, it was a rush. I was sitting still in the HOV land and notice 2 or 3 bikes driving between the cars every 5 minutes or so. After about 30 minutes of watching this I got a little dareing. I waited until a loud bike went past and followed suit. He would go by and you could see the cars freak out and get over as far as they could. It was nice b/c I was loaded up and was only sneeking through by inches.

Orrigionally I had planned on driving down to Tijuana but after talking to several fellow 2 wheeled adventurers they warned me that if i ride my bike in i'll be luckey if I walk out. But keeping in the adventorus spirit they told me to go to Mexicali. Apparently there is less of the shady business. With that in mind I cut down to a small border town of El Thats where I spend the night.

Normally I am pretty good about taking my parents advice but on this instance I took an unnessary risk and luckly got away with it. My father works for a private contractor doing distructive testing of gun barrel failures. Apparently there is some termoil with some top mexican officials and all government emplyees that are going to the Yuma Proving Ground were advised not to travel over the border. After breaking myself physically, mentally and financially for this trip I was feeling invincible.

First thing in the morning I headed for the boarder.Centro, CA. Thats where I spend the night.