Here is a quick update on the status of my bike, "Matilda", she is in the shop at Streits motorsports in Gainsville, Florida. I went by there today to check on her and found out the problem is the igniter, the device that controls the spark not the spark plug itself. If it were not covered under warranty it would be a $450 part. the neutral safety switch is also bad.

I finally made it home on Sunday August 2 at about 12:30 am. It was a long trip and a lot tougher than I ever imagined it would be. We made it to Port Orford Oregon Sunday night July 26. The next morning, Monday July 27, I headed south into California so that I could see the red wood forest. I started having mechanical issues as I was riding across the Klamath river bridge. My bike shut off and I was on the side of the road for about an hour when a BMW motorcycle that was headed north turned around to check on me. The rider took off his helmet and it was Al whom we had met a few days earlier and camped with at crater lake NP. We pushed my bike to the exit and off of the 101 so that we could troubleshoot in a little safer area. We were still scratching our heads when a couple of indians rode up and asked if we were alright. We accepted all of the help that we could get. Dennis is a member of the Resighini Rancheria band of the Yurok tribe, and we were parked and I was broke down on Yurok reservation land. I ended up camping in Dennis' front yard and eating supper with him and several of his cousins sitting around his fire pit. I met Sonny Man, one of Dennis' many cousins and he said that he could give me and my bike a lift down to Eureka to the Kawasaki dealership Tuesday morning. After several delays we arrived in Eureka Tuesday afternoon and I met one of the most rude non-helpful people that I have ever met. The only mechanic the dealership had was named Craig and he wouldn't look at my bike until I washed it, so I pushed it across the street and pressure washed it. I could understand the need for a wash since it was pretty dirty, but when i returned to the shop he said " just because I said that I was stranded didn't give me any kind of priority over the other bikes that were already inside. I asked him if it would help if I were to take off the plastic fairing and the fuel tank, he said sure but you cant do it inside my shop and you cant use any of my tools. While I was pushing my bike out near a chain link fence I told him that I just rode across this great country, do you think that I would attempt something like that without tools? I'll have this stripped down in a few minutes for you. I was finishing up taking off the fuel tank when Craig walked out and said that he was going to lunch. He returned about an hour later. after several hours of trouble shooting he figured that it was my main wiring harness and said that it would take a week for one to come in and another week for him to install it. i had to find a way home and quick. I wanted a pickup truck but none of the rental places had any available for one way rentals. I ended up getting a Budget 10' box van Wednesday morning loaded up my bike and camping gear and headed west on hwy 299. I slept in the back for three nights and parked it at rest stops.

our worst day so far

yesterday daniel wiped out on his bike less than 100 yards into the trail. he bent his handlebars, broke his windshield and bent his ignition key. still rideable we headed into the mountains, it was starting to rain. when ever we got into the mountains the rain had made the dust into a slick mud that you couldn't even walk on. the mud became sticky and stuck to every thing on the bikes and collected there. i had about an inch and a half of mud stuck to the bottom of my boots.

i dropped my bike at least five times yesterday, it was harder than any thing i have ever done.

Yesterday Daniel's shifter broke again, right where the patch weld was. The guy back in Branson told us that he couldn't weld very well. We made it to the town of La Veta and found a real welder after only three stops, one at the forestry maintenance garage, two at a garage,and finally at the golf course maintenance building. He tacked it in place, checked it for fit, welded the bead, and then let it air cool instead of quenching it. It should last.

we made it to Salida before dark it was about 250 mile day through the mountains. My foot peg on the left side finally came of I patched it in western arkansas. it came off during a power slide turn and I lost it the bike fell over on the left side me underneath again. I managed to miss a barbed wire fence by a couple of feet, and was able to slide my foot out of my boot and pick the bike up.

After arriving in Salida we found it hard to find a place to stay all of the campgrounds were RV only, and the parks we found had signs forbidding camping. Daniel remembered seeing a hostel sign in town so we went back and stayed there for $18. The hostel was really cool, several fellow travelers, 6 total from Florida. We had river rafters and hikers as roommates it was a bunk house setting. we stayed up late telling travel stories.

We met a guy riding his bicycle from VA to San Francisco CA, and you thought we were crazy.

well we finally made it to colorado,we had problems in both western panhandle oklahoma and in eastern new mexico. i took a bad spill in a bad sandy area in oklahoma, the ruts were too deep to do any thing with it. i fell and my right leg was pinned under my right pannier and the bike and i were weighting it down so much that i was just pinned. i waited probably a good 10 minutes for daniel to come and help lift the bike off of my leg so that i could be freed and stand up. i have been wearing my motorcross boots for that very reason, i will have a pretty good bruise and will hobble about for a fell days but no broken bones. it took daniel a while to come back and help because he fell with his also just over the hill from where i was.

in new mexico later that evening daniel broke his shifter lever it has been cracked and finally gave way. he used my small vise grip pliers locked down on it to get him to branson co. i flaged down one of the locals for help finding a welder. he directed us to the house of a welder that was not home, that guys wife directed us to another welders home, he wasn't home so this ones wife called someone else who was there in under 5 minutes to help, he said that he wasn't much of a welder but would do what he could. we went over to the school and opened the door to the ag dept where the schools shop was located, we heard that the teacher was on vacation. what he did was not pretty but it held for the 35 miles of offroad riding to trinidad co. he wouldn't take payment for his services, daniel forced him to take 1o bucks for his time. we have met the best people this country of ours has to offer on this trip.

almost through oklahoma!

We stayed the night in a town called Beaver Oklahoma at the hillcrest motel. We have met a lot of really nice folks on the way out, and Melvin the owner here was no exception. We pulled in yesterday evening, got off our bikes and he was sitting on his front porch in a rocking chair,and told us to come sit in the shade. I bet we talked right there on his porch for 45 minutes before it ever came up about room rates and vacancy.