My first day in Death Valley was all about the unexpected.  Pleasant temperatures, mountain summits, and a loss of power with the bike.  Today I was heading to the heart of the park and the lowest point in North America.  The other campers around me started rolling before the sky lightened and I wasn’t too far behind.  Sunrises are gorgeous here and the mornings are cool, but that changes quickly.

– Great Sunrises In Death Valley

– Great Sunrises In Death Valley

I made it to the Mesquite Sand Dunes an hour later.  Which are easily found off the main road.  The hike on them is challenging going up and down over the sand, but rewarding.  Even with a half full parking lot there was plenty of space to take pictures of the empty spaces and contemplate on life in this environment.  The animals that live there have adapted and hide underground during the day.  It was fine at 8am, but they do have the right idea.

– Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Death Valley CA

– Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Death Valley CA

The Furnace Creek Visitor Center has some good displays about the history of the area which consists mainly of lost settlers perishing or suffering and miners trying to strike it rich in one of the harshest environments on the plant.  A pretty touch go either way.  All around the park are historical sites from mines, charcoal kilns, and a castle up north.

I kept on pushing south stopping off at the Golden Canyon and Artists’ Drive.  It’s amazing the colors that show up in these rocks just when it seems like every inch of the place looks like all the others.

– My Motorcycle On Artists Drive in Death Valley

– My Motorcycle On Artists Drive in Death Valley

I pulled up into Badwater Basin right at 12:30.  Hmmm, the visitor center was predicting a high of 109 today.  I’m pretty sure it got there too.  The Badwater Basin in the location of the lowest point in North America -280 feet below sea level.  It’s name comes from a pool located there that a surveyor couldn’t get his burrow to drink out of and wrote ‘Bad Water’ on his map.

Walking out onto the basin it continued for miles to my left and right and ahead.  Telescope Peak loomed over 11,000′ above, the summit of which I’d been standing on exactly 24 hours earlier.  Salt covers the basin area builds up in hexagonal structures providing the only feature to the basin.

– Two Silohettes on Badwater Basin in Death Valley

– Two Silohettes on Badwater Basin in Death Valley

So glad I had a camelback with me as I was sucking on it constantly trying to keep some moisture in my mouth.  Back on the motorcycle I was heading for the southern exit riding through one furnace after another as I came around corners and over rises.  I was ready for lunch, but there was absolutely no shade anywhere!

– Salt Structures at Badwater Basin in Death Valley

– Salt Structures at Badwater Basin in Death Valley

Finally reaching the edge of the park there was still no shade, and I was an hour away from Baker, CA a city I associate with the huge thermometer you see on the drive to Vegas.  It also got me thinking.  All I need to do is hop on I-15 and I can be home in 4 hours.  Shower, bed, food, shade.  ”I can come back and do Joshua Tree anytime.  It’s only a couple hours away from home” I thought.

Getting into Baker I found some shade, a sandwich, and a little bit of willpower to continue to Joshua Tree.  A call home to my parents and thinking about my itinerary more took it right back.  So I did it…

I hopped on I-15, battled the Sunday afternoon exodus from Vegas to So Cal, let the bike do all it could (which was just keeping up with traffic), and arrived at my parents just before 8pm on September 9th.  Only to discover an empty house…  the dog wasn’t even there.  Ok, I’ll move the bike, hide out at the neighbors until they get back, and surprise them then.

Going up to their neighbors I thought I saw my mom inside and then heard her laugh.  This will work too, now I get to surprise 4 people.  I knocked and held my finger up to my lips so the secret wouldn’t be given away.  I didn’t even think about the fact that I was in full riding gear and my hair was going everywhere.  After almost getting the door closed on me, recognition set in and I got to enter to the surprise of all.

It was a great moment for me and my parents.  Plus there were lots of leftovers for me as I told the story of how I decided to come home early and other stories from the summer.  So there we go.  I’m in San Diego 18,377 miles after departing from central Texas.  I’ll be here through Daniel’s wedding on the 25th then will be getting back on the road for October.

Click for more Pictures from Death Valley

– Empty Road In Death Valley

– Empty Road In Death Valley

I opened my National Park Guidebook and the first thing I find out is that Death Valley is the US’ largest park outside of Alaska.  Next, they have a peak of 11,049′ towering over Badwater Basin at 11,329 feet below its summit.  Huh, well that’s interesting; intriguing even.  It wasn’t that long ago I was summiting peaks in Canada.

– The Man

– The Man

All day I was trying to work my way south to Death Valley, but I had lots to do.  Get my Burning Man posts uploaded, sort and upload the pictures, and grocery shopping the usual items plus one unusual.  Sitting in the public library of Coleville California a guy came up to me in a hurry.

“You’re the guy traveling on the motorcycle?”

“And you went to Burning Man, right?”

“Can you come give a presentation to my 2nd grade class on Burning Man?”

All the dirt and dust on the bike gave me away.  I was sorting through my pictures when he came up so I gave an impromptu 30 minute talk on Burning Man to 10 2nd graders.  They loved the pictures and had plenty of questions.  Plus I got a school lunch out of the deal surrounded by the class while I filled the teacher in on the event more.  He’s in for next year, just needs to convince his wife

With my delays I made the decision to ride at night to get closer to Death Valley.  Just the third time I’d ridden at night all trip and the first voluntary time.  Sometime in the first half hour of this the liners of my bike pants blew off the bike and a 75 mile loop looking for them was unsuccessful.  So much for that idea.

Still I got close to the park and pulled off at a dirt road where I threw my mat a sleeping bag on the ground to stare up at the millions of stars and best view of the Milky way in my life.  Incredible!

I was up at first light heading into the park as the sun came over the horizon.  The desert sunrise was only slightly less awe inspiring than the star gazing the night before.

Even with a few photo stops and breakfast I was at the parking lot for Telescope Peak by 9am for a 7 mile hike (one-way) to the summit I spoke of earlier.  I had to keep telling myself I was in Death Valley.  Not what my impression of the park had been at all.  Sure it was dry, but the elevation took care of the heat and plenty of shrubs all around.

– Telescope Peak 11,049 Feet

– Telescope Peak 11,049 Feet

All my hikes throughout the summer have added up and I was at the summit over an hour before I expected to be finding three others there already.  We had a nice chat and I was able to get a picture taken before they left when I laid down for a short nap.  My motorcycle had started acting up the night before and now I had time to hustle down and take a look at it.

– Brian At Telescope Peak Summit

– Brian At Telescope Peak Summit

It was a troubling problem as all my top end power was gone.  Hit the gas at 5,000 rpm and the bike would totally bog down.  I keyed in on the air supply and spark plugs primarily because these were the two things I could actually work on where I was.  The air filter wasn’t bad, but the spark plugs were past due and I put in the new ones.

A quick test drive felt promising and I was rather pleased with my day until I discovered I’d lost my camera case.  The case was broke, but my spare battery and a (thankfully) empty memory card were in there.  I fumbled through all my stuff 5 times before finally giving up on it.  Two items I’d liked gone in two days after losing nothing for months.  Not a good way to end the day.

Click for more Pictures from Death Valley

– Funky

– Funky

I didn’t go to many of the scheduled events, but really how much are you participating in them rather than watching?  I wandered most of the city,  stopped where I wanted to, stayed up all night (and the following day) twice, worked as an uninvited bartender 3 times, found old friends, made new ones, and enjoyed every minute there.  Tough to say I didn’t participate after all.

– Do I Ever Sleep and What Am I Wearing?

– Do I Ever Sleep and What Am I Wearing?

I left Burning Man 54 hours ago after spending 200 hours off the motorcycle and in its confines.  I still feel like I’m in a dream and will wake up back there any moment.  Reality is coming back and the feeling is fading, but two plus days of feeling out of place is a long time.

Honestly, the adjustment to Burn Man was far easier for me than that of coming out.  That probably has a lot to do with being on the road for so long already.  I know some get tired of the dust and sensory overload.  At least one group in my camp left early when the call of a shower and bed took over.  I was ready to stay another week if it kept going.

As an unintentional form of shock therapy I had 4 voicemails from friends when I finally turned on my phone near Reno that there was a great job opening for me in San Diego.  I returned the calls, but it was more than my mind could handle.  Even without BM that was the last thing on my mind and WAY too much for me to think about 2 hours after leaving.  I’ve put that on hold until I’m back in San Diego so at least I can give it some legitimate thought.

I met a friend and fellow burner in Reno for a night before his flight back.  Even the normal excitement of a casino was muted.  What could compare to an 8 day 24 hours per day rave?  Doing laundry was the only thing that felt semi normal and that’s because the only other people there were covered in playa dust also.

– Night Art Car Ride

– Night Art Car Ride

The following morning my BRC neighbors were leaving a note on my bike as I came down with my gear.  After we said our goodbyes me face-to-face ties to the event were cut off and I felt lost.

– Another Cool Tree

– Another Cool Tree

Looking at a map to make an actual plan rather than a direction, south, took me to the east side of Lake Tahoe where it was cold and windy.  After spending a few unproduction hours on the internet there I began to look for a camp.  Going solo into a National Forest was when I finally began to feel semi-normal and find familiarity.  On finding a serene and secluded camp I knew right away I’d be here for two nights allowing me to walk and write my mind back up to speed.

Aside from the 45 minutes of panic when I discovered my camera fell out of my pocket it’s been just what I needed.  Of course this happened on a day where I was making my own way through brush and trees with no easy was to retrace my steps.  The only good thing was that it had only been 15 minutes since I’d taken a picture.  Maybe that was the playa’s one last gift to me of finding it in the brush.  I could strongly do without the spot on an inner lens that the playa left me though….

– Great Place To Clear My Mind

– Great Place To Clear My Mind

With my return to a familiar setting and a day solely on my own I can now I’m most of the way back on my own two feet.  I am still missing the other set of feet I wandered the playa with though.  I hope you can tell from my last few posts that I had a great Burning Man experience.  If you are at all considering going, DO IT!  Not only go, but get the most out of it – go early and stay late if possible.  It’s an experience you can’t duplicate and one I now have for the rest of my life.

The Playa Provides

I know I said this was familiar yesterday, but it goes further in my opinion.  Not only does it provide, but it gives you what you need even if you didn’t realize you needed it.  Everytime I was on my way to one place and ended up somewhere else there was a point that I stopped and realized that I wouldn’t have been having this exact experience if I’d gotten to where I planned.  And that the new experience was one that didn’t want to have missed.  Trust me, it makes sense when you’re there…

– Thunderdome, Yes That One

– Thunderdome, Yes That One

Size

50,000 people and I never saw troubles of any sort.  The distances between places are big also.  Over two miles across the camping area and a 5 mile diameter for the outer perimeter.

– BRC At Sunrise

– BRC At Sunrise

Esplanade

Energy and entertainment go 24/7 here.  The complexity of the structures shocked me.  Cranes and man lifts are used to construct 6 story tall buildings.  None of them are the same either.

– See the Delivery Truck in the Corner –>

– See the Delivery Truck in the Corner –>

Conditions

Dust, hot and cold, rain, and the most vivid double rainbow of my life.  The terrain is stark but beautiful throughout with mountains rising on all horizons.

– Dancing Sculpture In Dust

– Dancing Sculpture In Dust

Art Cars and Sculptures

The amount of effort and size of these was shocking to me.  I don’t even see how some of them got there and how no one fell off them during the festivities.

– Dragon Art Cars

– Dragon Art Cars

Time

Extremely fluid and only as relative as you make.  Even like this the days fly by and the weekend is approaching even when you feel like you just got there.

– Lovely Playa Sunrise

– Lovely Playa Sunrise

Events

Again, full of variety and covering ALL subject matters.  Several that I tried for weren’t held as scheduled.  Here are a few that I picked as samples:

• 1940s tea dance
• Make your own dildo
• Cheezy 80s Porn Movie Night
• Sangria Soiree
• Past Life Exploration Dig

Like I said at the start, you never know what you’re going to see next, so go see it for yourself!

Camp Nomadia = Tailgating

So happy this was my home for 8 days.  Everyone was friendly and interesting.  There was a community drink table and food table which were always full.  It wasn’t until day 7 that amount of alcohol on the drink table went down from the day before despite our best efforts.

– Camp Nomadia Happy Hour

– Camp Nomadia Happy Hour

Outer Circles = Kentucky Derby Infield

One big party that changes every 25 feet.  Costumes, entertainment, and noise.  You never know what you’re going to see next anywhere on the playa.

– The Feel of Burning Man

– The Feel of Burning Man

– Sarge and His Canned Bacon

– Sarge and His Canned Bacon

The Playa Provides = My Summer’s Travels

I felt at home in Burning Man from the beginning.  Everyone is there to have a good time and help others out however they could.  It was like condensing the 5 months of goodwill I’ve experienced this summer into one day and then repeating it for 7 more days.  If you have a need or desire it will be filled.

My favorite was returning to my tent in the middle of the day after wandering for a few hours to find a brand new pair of sweat socks in a zip-lock waiting for me at my tent.  How perfect is that for someone traveling on a motorcycle?  Small, useful, and always needed.  No note or anything and after my initial surprise it made perfect sense.

Self Reliance = Also My Summer’s Travels

My tent ended up in the motorhome I caravaned to the event with.  I used a little creative motorcycling to get in and beat them by 1.5 hours once the line stopped.  It was so strange for me to be where I was going to sleep and not be able to do anything.  Once the RV arrived my world was in order again for the rest of the week.

– Double Rainbow and My Tent

– Double Rainbow and My Tent

People Like Motorcycles

This was confirmed on Day 1 when some Harley riders from Oregon came over to chat and we ended up hanging out doing shots for a few hours and went on all week.  Ten minutes before I was ready to go Tuesday morning a pickup came tearing up and a guy jumped out with a video camera wanting to do a quick interview for a Burning Man project he is putting together.  He saw the bike and wanted my story.

I’ve also heard that there is a picture of my motorcycle and tent on the main Burning Man site, but haven’t been able to find it myself yet.  If you come across it send me a link please!

– Art Car Reflection and Temple

– Art Car Reflection and Temple

One of Burning Man’s main tenants is Self-Reliance.  Bring what you need to survive, and party, in the desert for 8 days and leave no trace behind when you go.  The execution of this principle has evolved into a shadow of the intent, but it is still farther than most people are accustomed to.

– Get There Early and Pick Your Spot

– Get There Early and Pick Your Spot

I say shadow because they now have a coffee/drink shop and sell ice.  This is in addition to the continous food a drink give aways throughout.  Believe me, no one is going to starve or go thirsty except by choice.  The playa will provide.

I have been living more often than not under this principle since April so the change was not that great for me.  The logistics of bringing what ended up being 9 nights in Black Rock City does provide challenges for motorcycle travel however.

Community

How did I get around this issue?  With Burning Man’s other tenant, Community.

Within 5 minutes of registering as a potential member of Camp Nomadia’s site I had an offer to carry water for me.  Ignoring the volume of 10 gallons of water requires its weight alone is 85 pounds.  Far better for an RV to carry that than me.

After that came an offer from another Nomad to meet in Alturus, CA to caravan and help with anything else.  They brought in my additional groceries as more of a convinience than necessity and unitentionally my tent as well.

Where to Stay

– Group Shade Assembly

– Group Shade Assembly

I should probably go back to finding a camp.  There are 3 main types:

Theme Camp – Large group with elaborate setup and common facilities.  You often have to pay to be part of these and have designated responsibilities while there.

Common Interest Camp – Size and setup will vary.  Mine had about 90 people with 3 planned happy hours, one Technomadic Lifestyle workshop, and a group shade/hangout area.

On your own or with friends – Usually a basic setup farther away from the center.  Often not as inviting for strangers to stop in at.

The selection for me was easy as most of my research and even decision to go was from this Burning Man guest post on the Indie Travel Podcast website.  I looked into Camp Nomadia from the link there and knew it was where I belonged.  It turned out to be an absolutely fantastic camp.  There were people ranging frmo 6 months to 60+ from all over the US, Canada, and EU getting along, having fun, and happy to contribute whatever they could.  Nomads rock!

Gifting

Another part of Burning Man’s community effort is gifting.  This can be anything from helping wash dishes or carry ice, bringing small trinkets to give out, to your camp making food or drinks for all that come by for a couple of hours.  At its core it’s not an exchange of you did this for me so I need to do something back.  It supposed to be done purely as a feel good experience.

Being space and budget constrained I still wanted to do something.  I ended up picking 4 photos from my trip to give out.  I made 25 copies of each and put the location, my name, website, and BM location on the back.  People really did seem to like them and I had fun giving them out.  This will also make it easy to keep in touch with the people I met.

– Making Your Own Drinks Is Faster

– Making Your Own Drinks Is Faster

– Body Paint

– Body Paint

What to Wear

Dressing up in costumes is very much the norm at BM as is undressing as far as you like.  I wasn’t quite ready for the latter option and aside from my motorcycle gear which feels normal to me now I didn’t bring any costumes.  In this case, again, the playa provides with costume shopts that let you pick from whatever they happen to have at the time only asking that you return them before you go.  It is far more common for them to have womens clothes than mens, but cross dressing is encouraged.

Necessities

An Open Mind and Good Attitude – I’m convinced this is all you need to travel anywhere.  In fact I met up with a friend at BM that I originally met in Malaysia 4 years ago who traveled for 6 months in South America with just this, a pair of cargo pants holding his toothbrush and deoderant, and a credit card.

Bring layers.  100′s during the day and 40′s at night is normal

Prepare for wind and dust.  Dust masks, googles, and bandanas are required.  The playa dust is very fine and gets everywhere.  I found that zippers are prone to problems, especially on tents.  I would bring a can or two of compressed air just for this next time.

A Cup – All bars in BRC are Bring Your Own Cup to cut down on trash.  Pimp it out before you go to make it easy to recognize.

Sunscreen and sunglasses

Wet wipes for you to clean with.  NEVER put them in the porta potties.

Trash Bags to store your sleeping gear in during the day to keep the dust off and take your trash home at the end.

Tank/Bottle for gray water (cooking, cleaning teeth, etc) don’t dump it on the playa.

Earplugs and sleep mask.  You will want to sleep during the day at some point and the music goes 24 hours a day.  Staying in the outer rings cuts down on noise some.

Boots – I used flip flops about half the time, but my feet needed protection by the end of the week.

Notepad and pencil – keep in touch will all the interesting characters you will meet.

Gatorade – staying hydrated is key.  Piss clear.  I tried to drink 3 liters of water or gatorade within 5 hours of waking up and did fine all week.

Drink Mixers – Everyone brings alcohol, but not all bring mixers.  Take your favorite to share. Tequilla always went first at our camp along with the margarita mix.

A Bike – By far the best way to get around.  BRC is big.

Camp chairs, folding table, carabiners.

There is always a chance a things going missing or being broken so take care of what you bring.

Vocabulary

Playa – the large open flat area in the Black Rock Desert where Burning Man is held.  During the winter the playa is a lake only a few inches deep.

Black Rock City (BRC) – Nickname for the city created during BM on the playa.

It’s not everywhere you get to see forests and cliffs butting up to the ocean.  Or boulders strewn in it at the shore.  There was even a gray whale spotting at an overlook in California.  Grizzly bears don’t seem so big now, but I still don’t want to come across one.

– Wave Crashing at Hidden Beach

– Wave Crashing at Hidden Beach

– Stand of Redwoods

– Stand of Redwoods

The main reason for this route though was to go see the Redwoods, the worlds largest trees.

The Redwood parks are actually somewhat confusing as three state parks butt up to the national park and many of the activities are attached to the state parks.  It didn’t help that I missed the first ranger station after taking a scenic coastal route detour.  No big deal normally, but I wanted to get a driving permit for the Tall Tree Grove.

Instead I ended up at the Klamath Overlook and took a hike to Hidden Beach.  It was wonderful being able to walk along the coast without running over other people.  The couple hundred miles I did on Highway 101, while beautiful, did reinforce my decision to travel inland in California later on as you spend more time watching out for cars and construction than the coast.  I’ve also come to the conclusion that no matter how big or long a road construction zone is only 5 people are allowed to being do work at any one time.

An unexpected highlight of this hike was coming across a banana slug working its way across the trail.  Never seen one before, but it was easy to see how it got its name.  Plenty of time to get some closeup shots of it too.

– Banana Slug

– Banana Slug

Once at Hidden Beach I had the place to myself and spent an hour watching the waves come in over the rocks and around the outcrops in the ocean.  Time seems to go away doing this as the ocean drowns out all other sounds.

I finally did reach a ranger station later in the day, but all of the driving permits were gone for the day.  I checked the attached campground thinking I could do it in the morning, but California wants $35 to camp at a state park due to their budget crisis, no way!

– Redwood Treetops

– Redwood Treetops

Instead I rode to the Lady Bird Johnson Grove and took the short hike there.  The trees here are massive, it’s hard to believe they get even bigger.  Its a very serene place as the forest absorbs the any sounds.  You automatically find yourself slowing down and stopping to stare up at the treetops.  This doesn’t go away either, even on the way back seeing some of the same trees they were still just as impressive.

One interesting thing I’ve noticed in my two weeks back in the states is that my stops have been getting longer.  Part of this is I got spoiled in Alaska where you could ride well into the evening so now if I start early I think I have tons of time to get where I’m going.  The other is that as the list of places I’ve gone has grown on my panniers I get lots of questions from people about where I’ve been and what I’m doing.  I can nearly always tell when this is going to happen as I’ll see the stares as soon as I turn in to park.

– Lonely Hills of Hells Canyon

– Lonely Hills of Hells Canyon

I’m still totally happy with my choice of motorcycle.  It’s gotten me where I’ve wanted to go everytime.  I met up with a KLR rider yesterday and we split a camp last night.  He said he tries not to go over 55 or the gas mileage drops way down.  On my sprint back to Lake Louise I was doing 75 most of the time and still barely dropped below 50mpg.

That sprint did do some damage to my chain.  The one time I’ve bought a proper chain lube from a bike shop and it wouldn’t last 200 miles compared to at least double that with cheap stuff.  I was able to self-diagnose that and confirm it at the HU Meeting.  Even though this is my first bike and I’m still learning lots of the parts are right there to look at and figure out.

I bought a new chain and sprockets in Boise and am carrying them on the bike now.  The chain is slightly loose and out of adjustment.  Still I’m going to try to get back to San Diego and do the work there figuring that is only about 1,500 more miles.  I’m strongly thinking about ordering a center stand to put on then as well to help with that and tire changes.

The HU meeting gave me lots of ideas about what I should be carrying on the

Hose Clamp Cruise Control

bike and how to do a few new jobs.  I’ve already added a couple of items since then such as spare valve stems, baling wire.  I’ll be giving some strong consideration to tire levers after this trip and adding to the tools I carry.

One of the best (and cheapest) ideas was using a hose clamp on the right hand grip for cruise control.  It’s a poor man’s throttle rest.  All it does is let your thumb rest against the nut when you’re at full speed, but that’s enough to let the other for fingers open up and give your wrist a break as well!

Once in San Diego I know I’ll be leaving more behind than adding to my load.  I’m looking forward to that primarily to give me some spare space to make packing easier.  It will be interesting to take a good look at everything and figure out what I haven’t used at all.

I’ve also started to see much more steady, and growing, traffic to the site.  I’m really happy about this as I’ve been working hard on it to provide interesting and useful posts.  Getting comments, tweets, and emails from new random people is exciting for me and lets me know I’m doing something right.  Thanks to all of you for coming by and helping to get the word out about my motorcycle travels.

Riding through Oregon on US-20 I pulled into the first gas station in 68 miles to discover they were already closed at 7pm.  Normally not an issue, but you Oregon requires an attendent to pump the gas for you.  Or at least they do for cars on the bike all they’ve done is swipe my card for me and hand me the nozzle.  Rather than push on 20 miles I probably could have made, but not definitely, I went a mile back to a rest stop.

There I heated up dinner, ran my 6′ cable lock through all my bags, laid my tarp on the ground next to the bike, and put the thermarest and sleeping bag on top.  There  I was for the night.  Only 50 feet from the highway laying on the dirt.  Earplugs took care of most of the road noise at least.

I took care of business in the morning and ended up on some really fun roads going to Bend.  A few miles of dirt forest road, but most it was freshly paved, empty, and twisty.  They didn’t bother putting up many speed suggestion signs for the turns so I was kept on my toes as they approached trying to anticipate how little I needed to slow down for each of them.

– Crater Lake

– Crater Lake

My primary goal in Bend was to find a place with wifi that would be open Sunday morning so I could do my fantasy football draft.  That project was derailed early on as I got to talking to a local who took me around to a couple of his favorite bars until it got dark.  All of a sudden I had to find a place to stay at night and didn’t know where to go in the morning.

Luckily, a National Forest was nearby taking care of the first problem and I found a laundromat listed with wifi with google maps on my iphone.  In the morning, my lack of searching earlier became apparent as I was in a ritzy vacation community trying to find the laundromat without standing out too much and getting asked to leave.  I found wifi everywhere, but no inconspicous place to get on it and have a plug.  The only outlet I found was an extension cord right in front of a grocery store.  At least they had benches and shade so I setup shop there.

An hour into this setup someone came by to ask if that was my V-Strom in the parking lot.  He has toured around on his Goldwing before and was curious about my trip.  Within 10 minutes he was drawing out directions to his house and offering a shower, laundry, food, and his sons were there who had all the fantasy football magazines and advice to offer.  Awesome!  I packed all my gear up and set off.

– Across Crater Lake to Wizard Island

– Across Crater Lake to Wizard Island

I ended up getting all that, plus dinner, and slept in a bed for the first time since Gallup New Mexico!  They had four generations staying there for the week and adding one more person didn’t seem to be a big deal to any of them.  By the next morning I was already turning into Tom’s favorite new son so I had to get out before any sibling rivalries started.

Despite the generous hospitality I was anxious to get out and go see Crater Lake.  The pictures of it are always gorgeous and everyone said don’t give you the scale of how big it is at 6 miles across.  I found out a few hours later for myself and it lived up to its billing.  The blue of the water was even darker than that of the clear sky and absolutely pristine.  The lake is over 1,000 deep on average and almost 2,000 feet at its deepest point.

– Crater Lake from Mt Scott

– Crater Lake from Mt Scott

I drove the entire rim road stopping frequently to check the views from all the angles.  I also took the 2.5 mile hike up Mount Scott to the highest point in the park.  My main motivation was to see the view of the surrounding forests expecting the crater rim to block much of the lake.  That wasn’t the case though and the view of the lake was fantastic from there as well.  Its a park well worth visiting and easily seen in a day even with travel.