Motorcycle USA 2024 - Part 2

By Green Snake

Day 11 🎲🃏☀️ - Vegas, Day 3, Shin Lim - 3/10 - Sunday

Weather: Little chilly but fantastic.

We went to KISS mini golf, rock-star themed, and played a round. It was harder than a normal course. My friend never played so I taught him before we started. The key to good mini golf is: square your body relative to the hole; don't move so much of your body; don't hit too hard. He did pretty well.

We went to the Hunger Games Exhibition. My friend got us a resident discount. We saw a bunch of Hunger Games stuff and shot a bunch of arrows into a large touch screen. My bow got busted and I picked up another one behind me. I was hoping I got to jump out of trees and shoot people and they would have those laser chests like from Starship Troopers and would get tasered. It was fun either way. This Exhibition is permanently closed now 😭.

We saw the Joel Robuchon restaurant L' Atelier. Many people don't know of him, but he recently passed away and had the most Michelin stars and has a ton of super fancy restaurants all over the world. It's $500+ per person and I didn't exactly pack my suit. I'll have to come back. Showed my friend TopGolf and I would have gone but my hand was busted. It's a high-tech golf place that tracks your golf ball's flight. They also have a lot of game modes.

We ate at Emeril's New Orleans Fish House at the MGM Grandbecause my friend never had Cajun food. Sin. To start, we had the corn bread. The corn bread was great. However, with the additions, it took it to another level, which were: Caramelized onion with bacon, pickled peppers, and honey butter. My friend got the lobster bisque. I got a spoon sample. It had a smoky taste.

I got Shrimp jambalaya with rice, which is something I normally cook. The onions here were very finely chopped into neat squares. The amount of seasoning I use is more than them. I always like more salt. I also use msg and hot sauce. Things, maybe people may not want to eat if they want to survive until 80. I ate the shrimp with my hands to peel the tail. I dropped some food on the table and talked to my friend about how some fancy restaurants have that crumb sweeper to clean the table. My friend got the crab boil with the seasoned butter. These are classics. Minutes later, they came with the sweeper. It made me go "yeah, that one!". I'm a thirsty guy and I love drinking water. They never let my water go below 80%. They were like hawks. And when I ate the shrimp with my hands, they came afterwards with a warm towel with a lemon on top. I didn't even have to say or do anything. It was mind reading. I really like this place.

I ordered the banana pie slice. since it was recommended by Eater.com.(vegas.eater.com)I split with my friend since it was just too much. Dessert was excellent.

The bill came and I threw my credit card down and said "BAM!" like Emeril. The waiter said "That's right!" I asked about Emeril and no one seemed to have any idea about my man. He's been really laying low. I hope he's doing alright. I got to come back another time to learn more of their food ways. We passed out in the parking lot for 20 minutes from the food. "Food gives you energy."

Went to see Shin Lim at the Mirage, the mentalist Colin Cloud, and Casey Thomas an acrobat. I thought the mentalist was cheating but I know that he's here because he's well trained. The lady's act made me nervous with her wild, yet impressive, acrobatics. Shin's sleight-of-hand is on another level. You will be left absolutely confused. A real "Try not to blink" challenge. The final part of his act was absolutely mental and we were both completely stunned. We almost forgot to clap.

Back at my friend's house, he busted out the karaoke machine and started singing Michael Jackson's "Beat it". He knew I had an interest in Adele since she's a very popular and an amazing singer. Her tickets are $800 minimum and if you get the tickets near the aisle, she may even give you a high five and talk with you. I would go, but it's a bit odd for two bros to go see Adele 🥴.

He then put on some Adele and gave me the mic. I knew the lyrics and I attempted karaoke. I'm a "low budget" Adele.

Trip: 0 miles.

Day 12 🎲⛰️☀️ - Vegas, Day 4, Zion National Park - 3/11 - Monday

Weather: Sunny. ~65 F.

My friend and I headed to Zion National Park. This is in the top 10 of the most visited National Parks. It's like a canyon teeming with life inside. We stopped at the Flying J at Littlefield, AZ. Ate at the Chicken place there. The french fry was completely crispy on the outside and only partially cooked on the inside 🥴. Got some electrolit, chicken sandwiches, and cookie dough.

On the way to the Park, the area becomes filled with dry rocky cliffs sprinkled with greenery. We arrived at Springdale in front of the Park. This place was full of happy campers.

We paid for the entrance fee and parked in the visitor center, which is really lucky because it said it was full. We might have had to park in town and get a shuttle in (or out) or walk it. I think luck balances out. I should lose money more often.

Take a look at the map here. Scroll down below for the "Scenic Drive Canyon Route" map with the numbered locations (official map)We went to the Visitor Center and I got a Raven pin. We read some literature and then waited for the bus to take us places. The line was nuts, but the park is huge, so we waited.

The bus took us to the Three Patriarchs. We were the only two who stepped off the crowded bus. I saw some wild turkeys up close, went up the short trail and saw the three big rocks and took some instaxes. We walked across the street and checked out the rocks in the river. Then we walked to the Zion Lodge, then The Grotto. We saw some wild deers about 50 feet away.

We took the bus to The Narrows just beyond the Temple of Sinawava. The Narrows is an adventurous hike where you hike on a path and then hike in a river. You can rent gear such as water pants and a stick to go through this. But we opted out since that's too much adventure. There can also be flash foods and you can die! We saw a pair of crazy climbers on the cliff side. At a river, my friend and I tried to skip rocks. I couldn't do it because my hand was busted. My venison jerky trash (from Arizona) was dropped from my back pocket, but I didn't know until much later. I was disturbed. It must be gone by now. We reached the end of the trail before it turned into a river trail.

I picked up trash on the way back to get back karma. A plastic knife. A tag. A napkin. Another napkin. I went back to the rock-skipping place and I saw my trash and picked it up. Karma restored.

On the drive back, I put on Mike Tyson's audiobook for my friend. Absolutely unhinged behavior and truly unbelievable. 10 out of 10.

Later I found out that you can climb Angels Landing. There's a steep cliff and a chain you use to help you up. You could slip, fall, and die!

We ate dinner at Soyo Korean Restaurant. I ate beef and my friend ate a squid bowl. With a seafood pancake and banchan (side dishes).


Trip: 0 miles.

Day 13 🎲🥩☀️ - Vegas, Day 5, Rivea - 3/12 - Tuesday

Weather: Great as usual.

For breakfast, we had those chicken sandwiches from yesterday and Electrolit. In the morning, my friend challenged me to a foot race. I lost. I need to rematch him later without wearing my steel toed boots and heavy motorcycle jeans.

We went to see the Bellagio Garden. It was an interesting 15 minutes of real plants and flowers. We went out to the Bellagio Fountain. I believe they go off every 15 or 30 minutes depending on the time. So we waited a bit. This is a classic sight of Vegas. I got a few instaxes.

We went to see the Luxor Playground. We played a few games. The wire guide. I was pretty okay. My friend ran out of time. Brutal. We tried the upstairs slide. We tried the labyrinth. My friend did a lot better than me with me giving some guidance with visual cues. We did worse together. We did a poker chip dodge. It was difficult. We played skeeball, which was pretty difficult due to the odd angle. I did pretty well. I slammed my right arm against the thing and started bleeding 🥴. We did the doctor bones game and wasted all of our credits dying to win. You had a bunch of colored-pair bones and you had to match the colors from the body from top to bottom. If you don't have the initial color combination correct then you have to keep correcting the initial combo. And you may die. The staff helped us get a free win using her unlimited credits. Then we got some free stickers and a shot glass with our prize points.

My friend re-parked his car to renew the free resident parking benefit. We can't let Vegas win 😎. We went to Alain Ducasse's restaurant Rivea to claim our reservation. Pronounced "Re' vay ahh." The elevator had a big special oval button just for this restaurant. We had the tasting menu. They brought out the breadsticks which were long and thin. I thought they were incense. It came with a complex dipping sauce with too many ingredients for me to remember. My friend came back and enjoyed the view at the top floor of this casino. He thought the breadsticks were chopsticks. Fancy restaurants are always doing unexpected avant garde stuff.

The chickpea fry was perfect. I don't say that at all about any food, but this truly was. I had to say that outloud. The shape, the texture, the crisp, everything. I wanted to eat a whole tub of these in the mystery dip.

The whole meal was excellent. Tomato Salad, Lobster Risotto, Sea scallops with truffle vinaigrette, Angus filet mignon with duck foie gras and black truffle sauce. The dessert was Limoncello baba. It was some type of sponge cake with lemon juice. Lemons are always great for sweets. I don't think I'll see dessert like this again for a while.

These people were all pretty cool and informative about my goofy questions. The wall had this interesting 3d river effect with tiles that looked like blue post-its. They also had this elaborate glass piece on the ceiling.

You know you're getting old, when all you can think about is how much time it would take to clean all this. After the meal, the security guard let us on the balcony. The views from this side of the balcony were stunning.

The Kawasaki dealer texted me. Two more recommendations, hydraulic fluid replacement and brake pads. I haven't touched those things. You don't want to know the bill 🥴.

I was cleaning and checking my gear. My swim trunks were too small. I almost re-broke my hand again by trying to get the top button closed. Then I could see some muffin top. Brutal.

Trip: 0 miles.

Day 14 🎲🃏☀️ - Vegas, Day 6, Hell's Kitchen - 3/13 - Wednesday

Weather: Great.

I did laundry this morning and read more of my book. I washed my rain coat in the machine gently and dried it in the sun. You have to really baby these clothes to prevent damage. Before, this made me smell like a wild animal with all the dirt and dead bugs hitting it nonstop for several days. I had a race rematch with my friend. This time I wore light flip flops. He lost. Brutal.

I wanted to go to Wing Lei. A Michelin star Chinese restaurant. But it was booked for 2 weeks. Brutal. So we went to Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen. The only reservation was for 4:30pm. At the door, the Gordon Ramsay full sized video gave us a greeting. It was packed. We sat at our table and had the 3-course tasting menu. Everything was excellent. It made me want to learn how to cook this stuff. Wait staff was attentive and friendly. I gave them an origami dinosaur. We ate: Hokkaido scallops; fancy Beef Wellington; some type of warm cake with ice cream (Sticky Toffee Pudding). I really like this kind of uncommon, contrasting hot and cold dessert. Before I left, I took a picture of Hell's Kitchen Season 1 winner, Michael Wray. I saw all of Season 1 as a kid on my television and remember watching him win a stunning victory.

We went to The Sphere to observe it and take instaxes. I was able to see the yellow emoji face after 10 minutes of waiting. Saw my first hummingbird in my life on top of a tree making some noise.

We went to Round 1 again and my friend got a small yellow tiger. We went to attempt a Time Crisis score again. But we got 4th place again. Only slightly better. Brutal. It was hot, I was sweating, and my mouth was drying out.

We played billiards here. I won 2 times. For the 3rd game I explained basics, tactics and strategy to my friend. I learned from reading Billiards for Dummies.

We went to the gas station to get some Electrolit and my body started cramping just then. Today I was able to do one fist push up. But my middle finger is bruised and I can bend my right hand back a little more.

Trip: 0 miles.

Day 15 🌵🌊☀️ - To San Diego, - 3/14 - Thursday

Weather: Beautiful yet slightly chilly.

Picked up my bike and paid the bill 💰. I let my friend get on my bike and release the clutch. I was really nervous since he had no training. He enjoyed looking at all the fancy bikes. He's a tall guy and some of the bikes are just too tall. I showed him the Honda Gold wing(wiki), a giant spaceship of a bike. I saw the 40th edition Kawasaki Ninjas. They had a lot of extra bells and whistles. The temptation grows...

Taking the bike for a spin, everything felt correct. The brand new tires were very grippy and were harder to lean. They got better over time.

I ate the spring rolls and some of the lemon desserts his family got from Hakkasan, a fancy Chinese restaurant. We said our sad goodbyes and I left. I noticed the fuel limit was maybe increased to maybe 40 miles. The acceleration and top speed were back to normal.

I'm a fan of Fallout: New Vegas, an absolute classic of a video game, and if you're a fan too, you're going to see familiar sights like Primm, Goodsprings, Joshua Trees, etc. Primm even has a large rollercoaster. I decided to skip seeing the Mojave Desert.

California was the most scenic state I visited. It has mountains, hills, oceans, cliffs, forests, deserts, and everything in between. After much delay, It was a beautiful sight seeing California. I was up in the mountains on the I-15 and was almost blown off by the high winds. It would just suddenly push me a few feet in one direction. I had to seriously slow down. I saw some flowers blooming en masse. I passed The World's Tallest Thermometer.

I stopped at the Mobil gas station in Victorville, CA. The gas prices made me rub my eyes. Almost $6 a gallon 🙈. For reference, every other state didn't even break $5. East coast is about $3 and change. I made it through Los Angeles and even lane split at 20 mph since it's legal here. Lots of traffic jams here. I obnoxiously made noise as I moved.

I made it to San Diego to see my friend. The parking garage I wanted to stay at refused to detect my bike. So I asked my friend where he parks his car and he parks in the public. I put all my gear in his place then parked my bike next to his car. Saw a man with a machete on his back 🥴. I wanted to go to Round 1 in San Diego, but it wasn't fully open yet.

We went in my friend's fancy Tesla to Coco Ichibanya and we had to wait 20 minutes. This place is a popular Japanese-owned chain and has the best Japanese curry. I normally order chicken cutlet with cheese and naan bread, level 4 spicy. I like adding the pickled vegetables and the house sauce. In Japan, they even have a sweetness level too, but not here. This place had the garlic naan bread, which I got. I forgot to be basic and take a picture 🥴.

We didn't go to Mitsuwa, a Japanese super market chain. They got interesting food and events there. It was closing too soon.

We went back to his fancy apartment. We went to the roof and saw most of the city and the Pacific Ocean. He showed me his book collection. He gave me a Duo, a green owl of Duolingo. I slept on a large air mattress.

Trip: ~345 miles.

Day 16 🏄🍋☀️ - To Los Angeles, - 3/15 - Friday

Weather: Sunny, but not hot.

We went up to the rooftop to see the city in daylight. It was surreal that I really did make it here. On a Ninja 300.

I ate an omelet for breakfast. I couldn't get lunch with my friend since I had to meet up with another person who said they could meet up at 1 pm. We said our goodbyes and I left for Dana Point on the I-5. Next to my bike was Machete man again. I wanted to chat him up but he was talking to someone in a truck for a while.

I saw more large patches of blooming wild flowers. At this time, there are "superblooms" happening in certain areas. By superblooms, there are massive amounts of flowers as far as the eye can see.

I arrived at Dana Point and ended up on the scenic road CA-1, a road hugged up against the western California coast. This road even goes to the famous Big Sur, a scenic, rugged area of coastal line.

I parked and went into Carmelita's. My friend didn't show up and was ignoring their phone. I waited, then ordered the $20 burrito, ate it alone, checked my phone, no messages, and left. Brutal.

It turns out they "forgot" within the span of one morning 😐. I missed having lunch with my previous friend for this???

I headed north to Los Angeles. It's called the "City of Angels" but really, it's the city of traffic jams. Los Angeles is the second biggest city in the US with a population of almost 4 million. I did more lane-splitting, which is legal. I think I was almost squished between two vehicles. So I slowed down from 39 to 20 mph. I think I was the only guy with yellow New York plates in an ocean of white California plates.

Met with my friend in Northern Los Angeles. He was living near some mountains. He talked about how he can go skiing in the snowy mountains and then later that day, go surf in the warm ocean. We walked around the neighborhood to pick up trash from the storm. I saw a bunch of lemon trees growing on front yards and back yards. This is the first area I've been to where growing food on your front yards was normalized and we need more of that. I should note, some fruit trees may need a second fruit tree or frequent pruning to fruit, some may need years to fruit. He showed me his lemon tree in his backyard. And I even saw a big avocado on the floor from his neighbor. Finders Keepers.

My friend is one of few motorcyclists I know. He rides a blue 2011 Harley Superlowand a 2011 Ninja 650R. I met his girlfriend and all his cats. I am very allergic to cats. I noticed my face was getting itchy. I've never really been to Los Angeles. There's a lot of places to go and see in this big city, but I only picked a few.

All three of us went to Griffith Observatory by car. It's public so it's free, but not the parking. We wandered around to find good parking but it was too packed. So we went and parked at the bottom and hiked up. We saw a free spot at the top 🥴. There were a lot of people here to see the sunset over Los Angeles. We saw the free exhibits. We went to the gift shop and I had to get some merch. I got a sticker for my helmet and a pin for my bag. We went to the Cafe which cost a gazillion dollars. "Water for $6? Is this normal in California?" They also had fancy Wolfgang Puck Sandwiches. We stayed about 100 minutes total. We didn't get to see the Camera Obscura since it was dark. If you look right, you can even see the Hollywood Sign.

We went to Burbank. We all ate at In-N-Out, double-double animal style burgers. Then went to Round 1 at Burbank. I loaded up my card and they gave me two free Cardcaptors Sakura keychains. I haven't seen this show since I was a kid. It's a show about a young magic girl who captures monsters with her friends.

I played Street Fighter arcade against my friend. They must have gotten these straight from Japan. I played as the foot lady and I mostly lost. I could barely read the Japanese. I was able to set a high score in Gun Bullet X. We played Big Buck Hunter  and I won, but barely with my busted gun.

At home, we contemplated putting me in a tent to survive the cat house allergens. Maybe put the tent inside and put an air purifier inside the tent. Maybe hook up the air purifier to my face with tubes 🤔. For now, I was surviving.

My friend and I had a long talk about life until nearly 2 in the morning.

Trip: ~138 miles.

Day 17 🏄🍋☀️ - Los Angeles, Part 2 - 3/16 - Saturday

Weather: Excellent and sunny.

I woke up to their gray cat who wanted some petting. And my stomach was being goofy. I didn't feel like moving much today. I told my last two friends that I was going to be late by one day and they were ok. I mean, afterall, I rode a motorcycle across the entire country to see them, throw me a bone. I achieved a 500 day streak on Duolingo. I'm trying to learn Japanese and so far, I understand a broken amount.

We played Street Fighter 6 at home. I got his expensive arcade controller. I lost 11 matches in a row. Brutal.

I looked at and paid my big bank bills 🥴. We went to a gym so my friends can workout. My hand was still busted. I could barely bench press the bar at the moment. A gym leader said she rode a KTM motorcycle before it got jacked from her drive way.

The three of us went to eat Kazunori in Koreatown. This place has great sushi and a great price, so it's always packed. We went a bit early so it was mostly empty. This place is always packed in New York for dinner. Made the people there an origami dinosaur.

Went to Pharaoh Karaoke for two hours. Time went by quickly. The package we got also came with a lot of alcohol, enough for maybe 5 people. But we're just two people and 1 designated driver. We were initially overwhelmed by the selection of English and Asian songs. The remote looked like a dinner plate full of buttons. I don't remember too much, but we sang some Paramore, Taylor Swift, Fleetwood Mac, Adele. My friend suggested the popular Japanese song Baka Mitai (ばかみたい) from the Yakuza games. I tried to do Eminem's Stan. Peppy images and videos would cross the screen as I rapped about a song about a crazy fan driving his family off a bridge. That song was a bit too much speed for me. At the end of each song, there would be a korean lady on the screen that would give you the "heart" hand sign and give us high scores.

On the drive back, I was sitting in the backseat looking at the front figuring out how long I could ride my bike in this heavily inebriated condition. I figure maybe 5 - 10 minutes before I crash.

At home, we watched Barbie and hydrated. Their cat almost ripped off my hand off for no reason. We watched Barbie at home. What an odd movie, but I really liked Ryan Gosling's Ken. Lots of "kenergy."



Trip: 0 miles.

Day 18 🌉⛰️☀️ - To Ukiah - 3/17 - Sunday

Weather: Sunny but chilly.

I woke up and their gray cat wanted some attention, again. Even after tearing up my hand. I had to apply bandages. Cats are truly bi-polar.

My friend applied Rain-X to my visor. Much later in the trip, I had to wipe it off due to all the dead bugs on my visor. I said my goodbyes and left North. I skipped Yosemite National Park. Too many parks. On the way north, there was a strange flower smell from the blooms. It was like licorice. I ate the new Smashburger Jack-in-the-box at Bakersfield, CA. It was great, I enjoy smashburgers. There were a lot of signs about water problems and politics, and a lot of fruit trees. California looked pretty good to me during this time. I hear during the summer, it looks like the movie Dune. Excellent sci-fi movie, by the way. My lower back was hurting and I had to stop at a Westley rest station at Vernalis to lie down.

I saw huge windmills on the way to San Francisco. I passed Oakland and San Francisco due to the massive crime wave. I visited San Francisco almost a decade ago and I just had this sense of death at a BART station.

I saw the Golden Gate Bridge from a distance. I went on the US-101 to Ukiah. Towards the north, it is really mountain-esque with rivers, mountains, trees, vineyards, and windy roads. It was getting colder. Gas station attendant told me his friend took his bike cross-country then sold his bike. Sad!

I met with my friend late at night. I haven't seen this guy in over 10 years. He went outside. I think he heard all the noise. He was cooking barbeque and brought me in. After eating the food, I was tempted to buy all this equipment for my house. He talked about this area having: Murder Mountain, Glass Beach, and giant redwood trees. I gave his kid a bag of sour gummy worms and gave him a brief warning about sugar and obesity. I gave his other kid the Sakura Cardcaptors keychain. I don't think they know of it.

We both knew the guy who's grave I'm going to visit in Missouri. They gave a rock painted like a watermelon for the grave. I gave them a green healing rock that I got from the Meteor Crater's gift shop.

I showed my friend and his wife some of my gear. I tried to put on my swim trunks in front of them but they thought it was too much and laughed.

Did laundry, passed out.

Trip: ~500 miles.

Day 19 ⛰️⛰️☀️ - To Redding - 3/18 - Monday

Weather: Great and sunny.

Ate an American breakfast with the family. We played Gang Beasts  on Xbox against the young one. I was able to beat him in the first match and declared myself the Champion loudly. But then he rematched me and I lost. Then I looked up how to actually play the game on my phone. It's a really rubbery fighting game.

My friend and I fought him in a free-for-all in Gang Beasts. The kid started complaining that we were teaming up on him, but I said that there was never any agreement, and we aren't teaming, we're just going after the champion. My friend won and is now the new champion.

My friend told me of his near death experience on his Suzuki GXR😬. The whole front was totalled. He said he was lucky to be alive. I waved goodbye at everyone. Off to Redding...

CA-20 was incredibly scenic with a large lake that you can easily drive into if you aren't mindful. Also many cliffs, which you can also drive off of. Also, you can easily go into the opposite side of traffic and get run over. And there's a lot of winding roads. This is the most memorable road I've been on in terms of scenic variety and danger.

At this point, my hair is becoming more unkempt and wild and is starting to creep into my vision in my helmet.

On the way, I saw Mount Shasta. I got to Redding to see my science friend. Initially, I thought I drove up to a random driveway. There were two kids that approached my bike and me in my spacesuit. I saw the kids had a science shirt, so I knew I was in the right place and wasn't going to get shot.

He was impressed and dumbfounded that I did this on a Kawasaki Ninja 300. He told me about his near death experience on his KTM bike. He turned a curve too fast and almost died. He has a big Titanium screw in his arm. He said was able to do a pushup after surgery and years of healing and stretching. I still can't do a regular pushup at this point but my hand is getting better. When the bike tells you to go faster, I personally think that's the devil tempting you. My friend says that's the hare tickling your butt.

I asked him to roll out the red carpet for me and he didn't disappoint. Saw his wife and his kids. I got them Redding beef jerky and two bags of sour worms. I took some worms and beef jerky. Call it a delivery tax. We thought the beef jerky was too sweet and they should tone it down.

We went on a brief nature walk with his kids. I saw his chickens and shot a model rocket. I shot the first one and it landed fine. The young one shot the next one and it went in the tree. The older one wanted to shoot the rocket next and that landed ok.

We ate the wife's chicken pot pie and left over pizza. The chicken pot pie was done by the book. Classic recipe. I was eating it and almost forgot to take a picture.

My friend also knew the friend whose grave I was visiting. I asked him for a grave rock. He gave me a green-ish triangular, sharp piece of marble. He said that was the best rock in my possession. I disagreed. It looked like a moldy piece of cheese. We thought about asking his wife but she's too biased. And then I said, "Hey, let's ask your kids!"

The kids were fighting in some lego Playstation game. I walked past the kids and put down five rocks on the ground. A potato rock, a gray triangular rock, watermelon rock, green crystal geode, and my friend's green triangle. The infinity stones. I said, "Hey kids! Pick your favorite rock!" The kids chose the watermelon rock and my crystal geode. I was very smug. Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen 😈. The wife said she liked the green triangle 😑.

We played Call of Duty Black Ops on the PS3 like the old days. His controllers were pretty busted from the years of use.

I had to clean off the massive amount of dead bugs off my helmet. His family had to leave early to do stuff so we passed out early. As I was trying to sleep, their gray cat came out of nowhere and started walking on me as I was laying down. How rude. I lured it away. Then their cat jumped up and scratched my arm in the dark. I knew it wanted me to pet it so I got down and petted it. Cats are truly bi-polar.

Trip: ~185 miles.

Day 20 ⛰️⛰️☀️ - The North Trip - 3/19 - Tuesday

Weather: Sunny but freezing to chilly.

I said my goodbyes and started the first day of the North part of my trip. I had no more deadlines, so I started riding a bit slower (70 - 80-ish mph) so I can relax and listen to my audiobooks. I also didn't do any more brutal 10 hour slogfests. I normally ride at 80 - 90-ish mph. When I can't hear my audiobook that well, that means I'm going 90+ mph.

It would have been nicer to have literally any friend live in this stretch of land. When you travel to new lands, you are a literal outsider.

I went east on the CA-44. What I didn't know was that it was on a snowy mountain and it was absolutely freezing up there. Add windchill to that, and I couldn't ride any faster. At a certain point, I could only ride 30 minutes at a time. My fingers were in such pain that they were swollen and turning purple at the tips. I was worried about frostbite. I would have to stop, and put my hands on my hot muffler. I was glad when I started to see less snow.

In Susanville, California, I was tempted to stop on the side of the road and take a picture of the mountains. It was really scenic.

Made it to Round 1 in Reno, Nevada and set a high score #5 in Walking Dead. Reno is like a lighter Las Vegas. The roads beyond Reno are desolate. Just pure desert.

At a gas station in Lovelock, NV. I leaned up against a wall and broke my Penn and Teller Souvenir cup. Brutal. I ate a slice of pizza and got gas. They were selling Mike Tyson themed nicotine. There are less gas stations in this area. So you really have to stop every 100 miles.

I stopped at Winnemucca, NV. I ate at Bambu Sushi. Got ramen, mochi ice cream, and some boba tea.

Trip: ~373 miles.

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