After 3 years of planning and anticipation, the day came, mid August 2007, to leave on my 14 month motorcycle trip to visit every country in the America's. I, along with friends, Cam, Hartt, and Laine, decided Kawasaki KLR650's would most suit our needs for the trip and were given an incredible deal from Factory Motorsports in Oregon. In addition, Thor was kind enough to sponsor us with full head to toe moto gear- helmets, outer wear, clothes etc.
So finally, following a few dozen good-bye parties in Whistler, BC, Canada, I set out on what would surely be a trip of a lifetime. For the first stop, Seattle, which was not too far down the road, I was accompanied by my girlfriend Karen, and all around awesome dude, Jeremy. I DJed Saturday night at the W Hotel, downtown Seattle with my good friend Mitch who runs the night.After tying up a few more loose ends and saying our final good-byes, Cam and I set out on the first few weeks of the trip by ourselves. We drove south to Portland and from there went west to the Pacific Coast. We had incredible rides as we snaked our way down the west coast of the US. From shoreline cliffs in Oregon to the depths of the Redwood Forests in California, each day seemed to get better and better- and this was just the first week.
We arrived in San Francisco on the 25th of August. We stayed with Matt and Erin, friends of Cam's who he had grown up with in Portland. The two ended up being the greatest hosts ever and put up with a couple of stinky motorcycle dorks which we are forever grateful for. Two days later, we rented a car and drove to the middle of no where in Northern Nevada for the week long festival, Burning 
Man. This year Burning Man had 47,000 people in attendance. And let me tell you, those hippies sure know how to party. People come from around the world and essentially build a small city in the middle of the scorching hot desert. For a whole week, 24 hours a day, the party rages on. There are tons of art exhibits, music stages and just random things you'd never expect to encounter. It was a really fun week. We stayed at the deep end which is the biggest day party at the festival. Cam was able to bartend for a while at the bar where they give out 190 cases of free booze via blender drinks, 5000 or so beers, and two pallets of red bull. Because I 'knew the bartender' I think I drank the majority of it. It gets pretty crazy. You have to survive in the desert for a whole week enduring deathly hot temperatures, intense sand storms where you can't see 5 feet in front of you, and lots of dudes with no pants on. Over all, it's a pretty amazing experience.
After returning to real life, we drove back to San Fran again to meet up with our two other partners in crime, Hartt and Laine. After a drunken reunion, which was also Laine's birthday, we set out the next day for Las Vegas via Yosemite National Park. That night after a long day of driving, we set up our tents and camped for the first time of the trip. The next morning we vowed to never do it again. I'm a big fan of beds.
We had a couple of drunken nights in Vegas, one which included a swim in the Bellagio fountain. We had the bikes tuned up and after a stop in San Diego, hit the road for Mexico. It was a long gruelling drive down the Baja. Had we been on schedule it wouldn't have been so bad. But because we were meeting our friend Dustin in Cabo and had only left ourselves 4 days after crossing into Mexico, we didn't have time for the slow paced scenic way of driving we prefer. So instead we pounded out 14ookm's in 4 days and had the asses to prove it.
We arrived in Cabo and were greeted by a gorgeous 2bdrm condo and a very drunk Dustin. The condo is right on the ocean and has proved to be a perfect spot for a well deserved break from the bikes. Thankfully, the last few days have consisted of beer, swimming pool, beer, awesome food, beer and then just a little tequila. It's been nice to give the ol' chode a break. We leave in 3 days for La Paz where we will board a 16 hour ferry to Mazatlan.
