Arizona

Pheonix

Leaving Mexico was not the first choice, but the radar forecast on my route home was weighing heavy on my mind. So once crossing the border, I headed to Pheonix, where I arranged a place to stay at one of the Couchsurfing hosts, Caleb. I kinda feel bad when I only need a place to stay and not really exploring the area, but it is what it is, I’ll probably host some travelers in the future that will be in the same situation and I will understand.  At least Caleb and his friend took me out to a pretty good restaurant and enjoyed a chilled night out.

California – Oregon – Washington

So from here, I will be taking two other stops before I reach Vancouver, yes two sleeps. Going long distance between sleeps leaves little time to smell the roses. First stop is Bakersfield, coming up the interstates was the only way to make time and distance. With some large cities enroute, I had to plan the time to beat and avoid the traffic, Los Angeles proved to be the most congested. Lucky, having two wheels here makes a difference, stopped traffic means split lanes, moving through stopped traffic is so rewarding, somewhat mischievous in a way.

After Sacramento, the rain started and it came down steady and harder as I got further north, the temperature keeps dropping, luckily, the lowest it went was 4 Celsius. A couple of high passes is enroute, and I was not looking forward to Shasta and Grant Pass. I figure higher elevation can have snow but what i did run into was an accident on Shasta Pass and I followed the GPS detour which took me through a bypass in the state park. The first couple of kilometers was good, then it became gravel, then the image of “Romancing the Stone” scene where they were sliding down the flooded hillside jungle popped into my mind. The trail I am on now had water running on the side, in the middle and some parts on both sides while the pouring rain is fogging up my visor. A truck approaches, I flag him down, asked if the road actually exits back onto the Interstate, he assured me it did and said my bike can make it, just be careful, he says. GPS says about 6 more kilometers, so armed with knowledge that there is an end to this madness, I ventured forward.

This is where my bike finally get named, “L’il Shasta”. It is fitting as this sport touring bike was out of her element on rough terrain and shined through and came out on top. I had almost lost control of L’il Shasta a couple of times, lucky I had experience with a motocross and mountain bike techniques and lots of luck on my side. Someone out there is looking after me!!

This next two days were wet and cold, Grant Pass was not an issue except for crazy drivers driving way over the limit in crappy weather.

The image sums up how it was all the way into Vancouver.

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