The beauty of California's central coast

Along the coast of central California, mountain ranges close to a mile high (4.8km) rise from the surface of the Pacific Ocean offering picturesque views that are guaranteed to steal your attention. Well worth the 2 to 3 hour motorcycle ride from San Francisco, CA., this place is famously known as Big Sur. 

We left San Francisco on I 280 S and connected to US 101 S, pretty smooth in terms of road conditions and traffic flow for a Sunday morning ride. US 101 is the longest highway in California offering wide lanes for the rider. We merged on to CA 156 W to get to on to the most scenic ride along CA 1/ Cabrillo Highway offering coastal views of Monterey, Carmel and Big Sur (above).

It was great riding with my brother Alan and Edward. The 3 of us have some Filipino roots and our own unique personalities, we find a pleasing amount of happiness in riding motorcycles. The motorcycle riding community has different personalities, the most evident being Sport Bike riders and Harley Davidson riders. Today was the first time I ever saw both personalities riding together, that's because my brother and I had Sport (Street/Touring) Bikes and Ed had his Harley.

It would be nice if the world's religious advocates could just ride together and put their personalities and differences behind them. Life is short, and their is so much beauty to be discovered.


                                   

Memphis TN to Little Rock Arkansas (Day 5)

Continuing on Route 40 from Memphis, Tennessee to Little Rock, Arkansas was a major challenge. Not only were we trying cut through Arkansas to get to tornado country Oklahoma City, we had to deal with the wind and rain generated by severe weather headed our way. There were so many 18 wheelers on the road, overtaking them one after the other was kind of nightmarish for a novice rider, but there is very little time to process any kind of fear when you are riding to stay alive. These types of situations is where I felt I was really living in the present, cause nothing else really mattered. What mattered was my instinct to be in the moment, focusing on riding my imaginary line on the road, ignoring the trucks to my right while getting blown away, sucked in, and blown away each time I pass them.

Fear of riding in the rain starts with, thinking that the road is too slippery for my tires, I’m gonna slide if I make one wrong move with the brakes or handle bars. What’s up with my visibility? I can barely see, I can’t see far ahead anymore, the rain drops on the outside of my visor, moisture and condensation fogging up in the inside of my visor, then my favorite, water getting spray blasted on me from the tires of those 18 wheeler trucks, all together, it comes down to about 15-25% visibility on a wet, cold, and windy road while riding at about 85mph/136kmh, hell for a novice rider.

Cold conditions causes the body tense up, despite the all weather gear meant to keep me warm, I was pretty cold. Fighting the cold takes up mental space and physical energy, but with enough focus I was able to detach myself from my frozen bones, until about 80miles into the ride, I felt water leaking into my crotch area. Did I piss on myself? Why are my nuts soaked in freezing water? Damn, this is messing up my body’s ability to generate heat. The most likely cause, is that I did not fully zip up my pants. As I result we decided to check into Rodeway Inn, to chill and rest up for the following day.

Creepy Reception at Rodeway Inn, AK

Front room parking at Rodeway Inn, AK

 

El Amigo, Mexican Restaurant next to Rodeway Inn, AK

Memphis TN (Day 5)

The ride to Graceland had purpose, to visit Elvis Presley’s hometown. Being there and learning a little bit more about the King of Rock was somewhat of a spiritual experience, we just felt at peace and happy. A lot probably had to do with surviving hellish riding conditions the past couple of days. We came across hundreds of other people, many making the cross-country journey themselves. Everyone’s contained excitement felt as if Elvis was still alive. We walked around and checked out the souvenir shops, saw his private jet called the “Lisa Marie”, and found out that TCB, which was printed on his jet, stood for “Taking Care of Business”. 

Lisa Marie, Evis' jet, Taking Care of Business (TCB)

Could this mantra be the foundation of his success? We checked into an Elvis themed hotel with Elvis radio joyfully permeating the air and where memorabilia and portraits were always visible. 

Best Western (next to Graceland), Memhis TN

Sign reads: Elvis Fans Parking. Violators will be ALL SHOOK UP!

Lunch at Pollards BBQ, I had my very first short rib tips with barbecue sauce, I prefer short ribs. 

What blew me away was the lightly peppered pork crackling chicharrones I picked up at the gas station. They were like overweight little match sticks that packed a dynamite crunch and amazing flavor which went well with the Negro Modelo Especial beer.

We were happy to be here!

Cookeville, TN to Jackson TN (Day 4)

Decided to stay a night in Jackson TN, halfway between Cookeville and Memphis TN.

Front room parking at Best Western Carriage Inn, Jackson TN

About to unpack gear at Best Western Carriage Inn, Jackson TN

Comfort food, at large Chinese buffet restaurant, we were the only one's there.

Hazel, VA to Cookeville, TN (Day 3)

After a good night's sleep we packed our gear,  

Packing gear in the morning, Holiday Inn, Hazel, VA.

 had a hearty breakfast,

Eggs Florentine at Holiday Inn, Hazel, VA.

 then hit the road for Tennessee.

Riding into headwinds, and the type that pushes and pulls when you overtake these 18 wheelers.

I had imagined Tennessee to be the type of place where we might come across some trouble for not being Caucasian. My ignorance created images of Mississippi Burning and alternative sects of the KKK setting our bikes on fire, it was far from it. To my delight, it was quite comfortable, in fact the Manager of the Best Western Motel was Mr. Patel, Indian I believe. This place was surrounded by all the fast food joints you can imagine, so if you are a fan like Alan is, yo'll be on cloud nine. We dropped of Alan’s bike down the road for its first service, and since we were too tired and hungry to track down the best place for barbecued spare ribs, we had a huge slab of porterhouse steak at Long Horn.

Porter House Steak, at Long Horn, Cookeville, TN.

Winchester to Hazel, Virginia (Day 2)

We left at around 7:30am, it’s the first time for me to intentionally ride through rain. Weather forecast this morning indicated severe weather and thunderstorms along our route, so we decided to see if the weatherman really knows what he is talking about.

Daily weather check, Motel 6 Winchester, VA

With one cup of coffee in me, we take off into the grey & cloudy horizon. Within in minutes, 45 F temperatures began penetrating my 4 season riding gear at 80mph. Same thing I had to deal with yesterday. Along the right side I caught a glimpse of a family of deer, thought cute for a second, then had to raise my alert level. Light drizzle turned into rain quick, visibility was reduced especially behind those 18-wheelers who impeded visibility in general for all vehicles on the road, but much more it seemed for someone on a motorcycle who was getting sprayed on by water flying out of the 18 tires of the many trucks we had to overtake. This was my first real test of nerves and focus. Nerves to trust my own motorcycle tires on wet roads and praying that I would not skid or slide under a one of these trucks. Focus to hold my line while over taking these trucks when all I could see are blurry objects (vehicles) and the yellow lines to my left and the dotted white lines to my right separating me from these trucks and other cars.Totally out of my element, I had to apply tunnel vision and extreme focus as my body would tense up while over taking these big rigs. Freezing ice cold wind and rain along with overcoming my fear of dying forced me to grip my handlebars so tight I began to lose the sensation on my fingers, so I taught myself some finger exercises, shoulder rotations and practiced a lot of deep breathing (not found on youtube videos) to improve the bodies circulation and maintain muscle coordination. As I tuck in and squeeze the gas tank with my legs, the windy conditions, wet roads, and over taking these long ass trucks at 85-90 mph offered zero tolerance for any mundane thoughts.

After 40 miles Alan decides to exit the highway, while parked in front of Denny’s, he tells me his 4 season gloves just ain’t cutting it, he heads for the restroom to put his numb and light blue colored fingers under the hand dryer.  We didn’t really talk much about that scary ride and just focused on trying to figure out which of the 20 or so bacon inspired breakfast variations on the menu. Every opportunity you get to lift your spirit on a journey like this is truly special and critical no matter what it may be. In this case it was BACON.

Sure enough after this meal, we were recharged and fired up to ride in the rain again.

After a 100 or so miles we pulled into the Holiday Inn Express in Hazel, Virginia. 

It looked like a luxury suite compared to the Motel 6 we stayed in the night before, it was like a reward for surviving the day. 

We unpacked to change into more civilian looking clothes, checked the hotel facilities, and since the sun came out a bit, we decided to test the video cam called the Drift HD Ghost (Go Pros competition) and visit Starbucks. It was nice to ride without all our gear. 

 

We found what we were looking for at Starbucks and noticed that the old monochrome pictures on the wall depicting one of the first Starbucks store had the logo of the Starbucks lady with her breasts exposed, nipples included, another mood lifter making the coffee that much better. 

 

We then check out Walmart to buy additional layers of thermal clothing in hopes that it would prevent the cold from reaching our bones on the road. At this point I felt like I was getting a slight fever and could only hear the bed calling me.

Blue Cheese Burger at Holiday Inn, Hazel, VA

New Jersey - Pennsylvania - Virginia (Day 1)

Jersey City, New Jersey

The weather forecast indicated potentially bad weather along our path but if we timed it right, we could slip through these hazardous conditions. The day we rode off from Jersey City, NJ we knew we had to ride through freezing temperatures 35 F and some rain through Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Ready to ride, today is the day. (Jersey City, NJ)

We head out of the city and unto the highway. As the cold air found its way into my all season protective gear and helmet I wrestled with the thought of not getting blown off the bike at highway speeds averaging 85mph. At one point we had to stop in the middle of the highway, cause I realized the tapping sound I kept hearing was was the metal button of my helmet strap (which I routinely forget to secure throughout the trip) hitting the helmet. You see, I haven’t ridden a motorcycle in 12 years, in fact my preparation for this trip was watching highway safety riding videos on youtube. 

Rest Stop in Pennsylvania.

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Winchester, Virginia

 

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We arrived in Winchester, Virginia, where we met up with Natasha for lunch at the Butcher Station.

 We ate free range meat dishes and did a little catching up and reminiscing about our crazy high school days at International School Manila over 20 years ago.

Pretty beat from riding 400 miles in freezing temperatures, Alan and I knew that we needed to get rest for the remainder of our 3000 mile journey straight across the middle of America. Upon saying our good byes, it was nice of Natasha to warn us that a rain-storm was heading our way, which we confirmed that evening on the news. Let me tell you, when two brothers are determined to get from the east coast to the west coast in 10 days, severe weather forecasts are taken with a grain of salt, after all we know that mother nature is unpredictable. So in the back of our minds we hoped that she would be in our favor.

We checked into Motel 6, primary criteria for accommodations was motorcycle parking right in front of the room. We wanted to avoid waking up to stolen motorcycles. We did have a heavy duty chain and lock used to chain both bikes together.

The rooms were quite spacious, clean and comfortable. 

There were a few restaurants in the area, but we ended getting food delivery. No free breakfast here but you get free coffee. That evening Alan got a fever that he sweated out, this was not going to stop him from the road trip of his dreams.

 

Road Trip Prep: New Jersey: Kawazaki Z1000 and Yamaha FZ6R

New Jersey to California:

When my brother Alan told me he was riding a motorcycle across America for his 40^th birthday, I thought about what it would be like to join him. Last time I rode a 600cc bike was in 2001.

Within a few days he scored a brand new 2012 Kawasaki Z1000, his dream bike. I knew at this point he was serious, not wanting him to go by himself, I decided I would come along, after all, its his big 40, and I'm always up for an adventure.

  

It was fun researching bikes and visiting motorcycle dealers, a week later I finally ended up with a 2009 Yamaha FZ6R from craigslist. Great Sport Touring bike for the novice rider like myself. I love this bike. Upright riding position, forgiving 600cc engine, decent wind protection, and my favorite stealth color, black.

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Key items I packed for the 10 day cross-country road trip:

Helmet, Winter gloves, summer gloves, all season winter and waterproof motorcycle jacket and pants, motorcycle boots, 5 pairs of (socks-t-shirts-and underwear), sweater, 2 long sleeve shirts, windbreaker jacket, long johns, whiskey flask, flashlight, macbook pro, ipad mini, jambox Bluetooth speakers, iphone, Canon G12 digital camera, mini tripod, HD video cam, sneakers, jogging pants, few hundred dollars in cash, and duct tape. The electronics were packed into my Mission Works (Sanction) backpack, and the rest went into my Timbuk2 Pilot bag. I brought along some water proof covers from an old pair of motorcycle saddle bags. The key player was my Rock Straps, which held both my bags and all this stuff.

Weeks leading to the trip, all I thought about were how my brother or I were going to die on this trip. It boiled to two scenarios. First was getting run over by an 18 wheeler truck, the thought of getting rolled over by even half of those wheels played itself out every night. Second way was the two of us Asian dudes coming across some spin off or hybrid sect of the KKK, in which case we would be beaten or torched to death just for fun. When I could no longer deal with these nightmare scenarios, I asked my bro what his daily thoughts were, and he said it was of dying on the road as well, so that ironically made me feel better.

Scene in Jersey City, NJ a week or before the trip