The final day and conclusion..

I've come to realize that one of my favorite things in life is being able to have a decent cup of coffee with a friend.  Ben and I grabbed coffee around the corner of his place.  When my barista asked what I was doing in town, I casually mentioned that I was visiting Ben, my boyfriend.  As she asked for me to repeat myself, both the look on her face and the response from my friend were priceless. Ahh, to allow yourself to be immature at choice moments in life can be immensely self-satisfying.

Unfortunately, Ben had to go to work and I needed to head home in order to write an essay or two and DJ a wedding in the upcoming weekend.

The trip was long and as the last leg home generally goes, a little sad and nostalgic.  I made sure to get my last dose of In-n-Out in Redding for lunch, but as I cruised up the forested, rolling terrain of southern Oregon, I went over different points that I learned during the trip and thought about what I would have done differently or rather will do differently on my next journey.

First of all, a link to my photo album from the trip is here.

1) Make sure to not include any 11 hour segments- I think ideally I could run 3-6 hour days with maybe the occasional really long one.  What I did, pushed my adventure more towards a self-styled endurance ride, or as one older gentleman put it, "a young man's ride." While I did cover a lot of ground and visit many a friend, my seat took a while to forgive me.

2) Ride with a friend.  This would have made it easier in the segments between locations to just say, "hey, lets camp here," and have fun doing it. Granted, it's always easier to make friends and divert from your original plan by yourself, but I also wanted to do some more off the pavement trails in Moab and along the way.  One friend would be all that would take.

3) Bees are bigger on the road.  I swear that I had some that hit me that were about the size of golf balls. Unfortunately I have no evidence of this.

4) After my stretch in Colorado, handguards seem like they would be a life saver, they will be added to my bike.  Feel free to make suggestions if you have some for my V-strom.

5) Once again, from my stretch in CO, make sure you have at least one pair of wool socks on you.

6) As a guest crashing in someone's home, always act like you are the biggest inconvenience and go out of your way to let your hosts know how thankful you are.  Because, well you are an inconvenience no matter how charming you think you are and you really should be grateful for your awesome friends.  One of the ways you can show this is by simply sending a thank you note or postcard. Another is by keeping hairs out of the soap in the shower.

7) 2008 Suzuki V-strom dl650. I approve.

8) Make friends.  I met so many great, friendly, supportive people along the way. Some of whom I have even become Facebook friends with (oh my!)  But really, I have found with a little effort of initiating a conversation, asking for or offering help, just flashing a smile, you can greatly enrich your experience (yes it is selfish, but in a good way) and brighten someone else's day as well.  People are amazing.

All in all it was a great adventure.  I thank you for following at least a little of my blog and leave you with a couple uninspiring photos along my last few hours along I-5 in Portland.  I will continue to update this blog on things loosely related to my motorcycle, but doubt it will be epic again for at least another few months or until Discovery Channel sponsors my trip down to South America.  Think about it Discovery Channel.

Happy riding, or happy whatever you do with your life.