Pit Stop Seattle. May 4 – 8, 2017.
It’s a straightforward ride along I-5 from Portland to Seattle, but I’d find a way to dress it up. I hustled out the door early to give myself plenty of time to meander and catch the Bremerton ferry. The skies were clear and after so much cold and dampness,...
Friends and Food and Floating! Portland, OR. April 30 – May 3, 2017.
Time had come to part ways again. Pete had pushed his dog-sitters to the limit, and he would have to slab it all the way back to San Francisco in a single day (480 miles, blasting my day record out of the water on his first overland haul. Aw)....
Champagne Asphalt and Mudslides. San Francisco, CA to Gold Beach, OR. April 24 – 29, 2017.
It’s been a while, but if you’re wondering what happened to those missing dates between the last entry and this, I flew to Boston to see Fred and take care of some life back east. It seems my current style of nomadism is six of vagrancy and a half dozen homes?...
End of a Bay Era. April 8 – 10, 2017.
Often the best stories are forged in adversity, and by that measure this is not really a great story. It is, however, a story about good times. Pete had long wanted to gather a group of scooterists to camp out, and this would be his first… and possibly last...
Two Days of Obsolescence, the Wormholes of California. April 6 – 7, 2017.
Gina had three months to ride around the country, and for her first day I would be seeing her off. How novel, I get to be the sendoff party! As with so many journeys down the coast, we met at the morning standard, Devil’s Teeth Baking Company. We hashed out a...
Dialing in Alaska from Outer Sunset. Jan 10 – April 5, 2017.
Alaska was in my sights, but it wouldn’t be ridable for months yet. On Jan 10, 2017 I landed in San Francisco from Hong Kong, solo again after a whirlwind month traveling with Fred. The weariness of jetlag shared space with the ache of separation, while gale force wind...
Bridging the Gaps, the Definitive Guide to Steph Sightings in 2016
So, 2016 was a bit of a mess for the blog, and entries jumped around a bit. If you’re reading from start to finish or simply want to catch up, here’s my collection of events as they happened chronologically. From February 4th to 28th, I rode from my winter...
Dos Vesperados, Part 4: The Rally Finale! Scooting into the Sunset. February 23-28, 2016.
In the past, I made a concerted effort to travel slowly and drink deeply rather than touch briefly many places over vast distances. The intention was to break the work-vacation dichotomy that compresses personal time, forcing you to rush through places for fear of missing out. I still prefer...
Dos Vesperados, Part 3: White Sands, Sonorans, Trouble in a Dusty Paradise. February 18-22, 2016.
Early on, I wondered if I would grow impatient at GL speeds – Fred’s had the bulletproof P200 engine in it, but it would still be an adjustment from my 4-stroke modern wonder (snerk, spoilers: I went on to buy a bike with a P200 engine). It turned out...
Dos Vesperados, Part 2: The Hills, Big Bend, and I can see Mexico from my Scooter. February 10-17, 2016.
The ride to Brad’s address took 4.5 hours, because I guess even when I’m gunning for a place I can’t help breaking for a Topo Chico. Fred and his friend (and host) Brad arrived back from a Tacodeli run shortly after I pulled up. I apologize to Brad if it took me a...