Category: Trip Reports
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An evening in Vikingsholm
In the summer, this place is packed. The Vikingsholm parking lot is overloaded with cars on top of the $10 usage fee that goes to the state parks. What about in the fall, on a… Read more
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The 5 o’clock ride
Yes, it is true that it is always 5 o’clock somewhere. At this moment, it’s 5 o’clock in Lake Tahoe, California. And yes, it’s time to go out on the motorcycle. One of the key… Read more
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The Climb to Eagle Lake
Getting to Tahoe has been a journey. At first, I thought I wanted to live alone and rent an Airbnb. However, I’m so glad I rented a room from friends I know up here. I… Read more
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Finding a new I-580
I’m settling into week three (and I know I’m behind on two blogs) but I wanted to quickly capture the essence of my evening. It’s different living in a small town. I’ve never spent a… Read more
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Farm Road 109
This is my first motorcycle ride back from the Sierras since moving to the East Bay and it was decidedly different in good and unexpected ways. I did my first long ride in almost 3 years.… Read more
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Mountains of gold – Highway 88
Autumn is in full swing! While there is not one chorus of yellow, orange, and red singing in unison across the mountainside like other years, all of nature is now is in the chorus. I’ve… Read more
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Highway 89 – Crossing Monitor Pass
Ask any experienced photographer “what is the best camera?” and they will almost always tell you “the one you have with you.” Having had a few solid point and shoots, a big SLR with interchangeable… Read more
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The Squirrley Rear Sprocket
That rattle in the sprocket was really starting to worry me. Whenever I’d touch it before it always seemed solid. I called Santa Clara Cycle who recently (< 350 miles ago) put a new tire… Read more
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Kingsbury Grade Run
Now with the motorcycle safely in the garage and most of my gear up here (minus my heated vest), it’s time to go riding. I know at home I tend to like to have my… Read more
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Retrieving the bike
So it’s day two in Lake Tahoe. To say it was cold was an understatement. The morning started off in the low 20s. A friend of mine was traveling from South San Jose up to… Read more
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It came upon the midnight clear
I remember that warm, summer night lying in my bed at camp just before midnight looking out at the thousands, no hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of stars just beyond the trees. All of… Read more
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A second splash of fall color
It’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog. Working on the house took longer than expected. Writing blogs got hard with Dragon for Mac. I upgraded to Dragon Dictate for Mac version 6… Read more
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Swedish Meatballs
Looking at the map, my dilemma was clear. I had two great options both in opposite directions from one another. To make the decision harder, I didn’t really have a good sense of how quickly… Read more
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Norway: Out on the farm
I’ve long been a fan of Navigon, a navigation app for iPhone and Android. The benefit to using Navigon over Google Maps is that all of the maps are preloaded on the phone. You don’t… Read more
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Off to Norway
I fulfilled a dream today. I remember in middle school social studies class learning about the world and all of the different places in it. Much like every kid in America, we covered the world… Read more
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Coworking in Lake Tahoe
I spent a lot of time thinking on the Memorial Day Mingle when my last long motorcycle tour really was. On that ride, a lightbulb went off that it was the Memorial Day Mingle last year. … Read more
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2015 Memorial Day Mingle
There are two rides I’m really proud to have contributed to Homoto’s riding culture: The Mid-Winter’s Tour down the Central Coast and the Memorial Day Mingle through the Sierras. The Memorial Day Mingle celebrates togetherness between… Read more
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Christmas on two wheels
Last year was the first year I was able to attend the South Bay Riders’ Toy Ride. Mike, a longtime motorcyclist here in the Bay Area, organizes this ride. Each rider is to bring a… Read more
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Riding less to ride more
Where did this year go! It didn’t seem that long ago that I was writing the article “A Rider Greets Autumn.” Unlike other years, this year has not been one for motorcycling. My bike sat in… Read more
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Off to Central Florida!
This year I’m headed to Central Florida three times on business: once in August, once in October, and once in November. Everyone at work gave me the, “You’re going there?” My good friend Rob whom… Read more
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Touring the National Mall
Before I left, I had mentioned to my roommates that I was going to be in Washington DC for a business trip. Both of us were thrilled as it turned out all three of us… Read more
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An evening shopping at the National Mall
I’ve never actually been to Washington, DC until now. For some reason we never had a school trip to go see our nation’s capital. Nor was there a family vacation in that neck of the… Read more
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Memorial Day Mingle – Day 3
Ibuprofen is a God send. Michael suggested I take some to help reduce the inflammation from the bug bite. It worked like none other! While I wasn’t quite normal, things were looking a lot better.… Read more
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2014 Memorial Day Mingle – Day 2
I was tired last night. I was surprised how hard I had slept. I knew something was not right the moment my face moved. The insect bite really had swollen up overnight. We iced it… Read more
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2014 Memorial Day Mingle – Day 1
The Memorial Day Mingle is our “season opener” as most of the Sierra passes are open and it’s time to brush off the winter coat and go have some curve carving fun up in the… Read more
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Home in Sydney
I’ve received a lot of questions on where I was living in Sydney during my stay. I didn’t stay in a hotel as that would have been prohibitively expensive for a three month stay in… Read more
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Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylon Lookout
I loved the BridgeClimb but was bummed out that I couldn’t bring a campera up to the top. I decided to climb up the Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylon Lookout as you could bring your camera. I… Read more
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Kuranda Sky Rail
They (being folklore in the States) say everything in Australia tries to kill you. I’m not sure that’s fully true, but I will say there were some things that spooked me in this post. Warning:… Read more
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Kuranda: Butterflies, Birds, and Kangaroos
Butterflies I had about four hours to spend up in Kuranda. It instantly became clear to me why Kuranda was such a popular destination for hotel guests. It was very much geared for families with… Read more
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Kuranda Scenic Railway
Saturday was a total wash for me. I felt sick all day. Usually I’m pretty resilient to seasickness, but I think the duration and intensity finally got to me. The bus was flying around corners… Read more