Although I originally intended to leave in September my current grant cycle for work (I'm in research and development) ends at the end of March and I have agreed to see the project through to completion.

On the downside, I won't be doing any long trips for a few more months. :nono:

On the upside, I'll have some more money in the pocket to travel for longer with after March. :thumbup1:

19: Got bored. Have Two Weeks. Gone Riding
 

I committed to finishing out our current grant cycle with work. This places me in the workplace rather than the saddle until the end of March.

It's the holidays though and I convinced the office overlords it was imperative that I leave for a bit. I have two weeks starting tomorrow, no question about it, I'm going riding.

EDIT:
Here's an little update of a trip from Seattle down the west coast that I took in December - January.

http://i.imgur.com/k8dwLh.jpg

Left Seattle, Cold, and wet.

http://i.imgur.com/ebkQrh.jpg

Please have better weather further south.

http://i.imgur.com/DVW0vh.jpg

Oregon Coast is looking...wet. Won't stop raining.

http://i.imgur.com/kBaekh.jpg

A little bit better.

http://i.imgur.com/1NkpXh.jpg

Dat Sun. Now in San Francisco.

http://i.imgur.com/nOtuIh.jpg

Northern California coming into Cambria.

http://i.imgur.com/sxBokh.jpg

Ventura, CA.

http://i.imgur.com/KOFeOh.jpg

Sun setting on CA 1, time to find a place to stay.

http://i.imgur.com/yLOPrh.jpg

Waking up on the beach.

http://i.imgur.com/3pqyWh.jpg

Heading in to Malibu.

http://i.imgur.com/2vSKTh.jpg

Bougie Hollywood hills.

http://i.imgur.com/bodSCh.jpg

LA

http://i.imgur.com/4AUxBh.jpg

Kid rockin the hawk helmet pretty hard while shredding on the scooter.

http://i.imgur.com/YssrBh.jpg

Venice beach by day.

http://i.imgur.com/Or0Bfh.jpg

Skater at the venice beach skate park by night.

http://i.imgur.com/o0SyOnGh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/2ulyah.jpg

When hostels are available I prefer to stay in them. It's more fun kicking it with other people from other places and is almost just as cheap (in CA). Stayed here a couple days.

http://i.imgur.com/BONSWh.jpg

Rear knoby is getting tired, I packed another one though that I had laying around so I'll probably replace it soon.

http://i.imgur.com/COv0mh.jpg

Planning to meet friends in San Francisco for new years so I started heading back up the coast. Mmmm dats nice.

http://i.imgur.com/0hfP2h.jpg

Somewhere near Big Sur.

http://i.imgur.com/4sUxBh.jpg

Back end started getting squirly in the corners on the beautiful road that is CA 1 from Cambria to Santa Cruz. Pulled over to find that I had a slow flat.

http://i.imgur.com/sHGLqh.jpg

Found the culprit. Took the Opportunity to swap out my balding tire for the spare I had been lugging around too.

http://i.imgur.com/pJTeCh.jpg

As far as places to change a flat and mount a new tire go, this is hard to beat.

http://i.imgur.com/QfgU8h.jpg

Mind as well make a sammy while I'm patching the tube.

http://i.imgur.com/6QV71h.jpg

Old tire off. New tire to be mounted.

http://i.imgur.com/GeZz7h.jpg

Back in San Francisco. Hippie bus spotted.

http://i.imgur.com/sU2Qah.jpg

Getting grub in the hate.

http://i.imgur.com/HIFH9h.jpg

Sweet architecture.

http://i.imgur.com/824Rbh.jpg

Chilling at the park with friends.

http://i.imgur.com/KJUPkh.jpg

Raged on new years, this was all that was left the next day.

http://i.imgur.com/mBciBh.jpg

Rolling out of my friends place in the Mission.

http://i.imgur.com/BzTljh.jpg

Getting back onto the coast to CA 1. I prefer the dirt but mmmmm those blacktop twisties look good too.

http://i.imgur.com/boicYh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/BreXWh.jpg

Back on the coast heading North.

http://i.imgur.com/P89RQh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/QImxgh.jpg

Moo-cow.

http://i.imgur.com/wgPPZh.jpg

Great coastal riding.

http://i.imgur.com/EEyFth.jpg

Rolled past this place and stopped to say hello and ask where the good food can be had. Locals always know best.

http://i.imgur.com/w5LiTh.jpg

Pretty awesome show/work space.

http://i.imgur.com/DVr9Lh.jpg

Sweet bike. The panels were hand-rolled by the owner.

http://i.imgur.com/7p0PAh.jpg

Duc.

http://i.imgur.com/vcQkth.jpg

Probably so fun to ride around on these roads in the summer (or even now).

http://i.imgur.com/g9pizh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/m4Iqih.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/B9DMch.jpg

Getting further north, passed a motorcyclists favorite sign, the one with the squiggly line and a mileage number indicating upcoming tight turns and for how long. This one said "next 21 miles".

http://i.imgur.com/svwb2h.jpg

Making that morning breaky'. It was starting to get colder and colder.

http://i.imgur.com/qT60Kh.jpg

Bomb oatmeal success.

http://i.imgur.com/qCVYVh.jpg

Avenue of the giants.

http://i.imgur.com/I3hKUh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/8jZrRh.jpg

You don't have to eat shitty while camping. Made 5 of these and fell asleep.

http://i.imgur.com/xrCUIh.jpg

Back in Oregon meow.

http://i.imgur.com/hOTLuh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/HCxIL9Vh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/WhXeDh.jpg

Headed home.

http://i.imgur.com/y4ZRph.jpg

Mental batteries recharged, now back to the grind on Monday.

http://i.imgur.com/yobkISah.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/pzsXKkBh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/PQQgaXnh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Gqia7h.jpg

Met Robert here, he was riding his bike around the US when he found out about a brain tumor that was hitching a free ride. Got surgery, and is now gearing up to go back and "put a tire in every state that I missed". Champion.

19: Up-dating? Upping the date? Date-upping?
 

Alright so once again I prove bad at updating this thread. As with writing this trip report, planning and executing a trip has been a learning experience. "Planning, and executing"...man that sounds terrible now. I used to put a lot of time and effort into thinking about what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. When you are doing something new I suppose that's a smart idea, and that process has brought me to where I am now, which is great. Having a better idea about how I like to do motorcycle travel. Through my last trip up North to Prudhoe bay I got a more fleshed out understanding of how I like to do things. I've realized that when traveling on my bike, just like any of my other interests or hobbies, I like to fly by the seat of my pants. Be well prepared with your equipment and knowledge beforehand but always do what feels right in the moment, have a blast, and try to avoid any regrets (both good and bad).

This new found understanding I realize has really just been a return to baseline. I have always enjoyed life most when I didn't plan it out. When I do everything I can to do my best at what I'm doing, have the most fun I can while doing it, and enjoy life for what it is right then, that's when I feel most fulfilled.

I look back now at all of my planning and it feels like just a bunch of mental masturbation. Sort of silly. Something to kill the monotony of a 9-5 job post graduation. I guess it served its purpose, hundreds of hours on ADVrider, looking at gear reviews, planning out where I wanted to go, etc. It really took up a lot of time and gave me something to do. It did, however, also give me a basic level of competence in something that I was/am still pretty new to, which is smart when the act of doing that activity poorly could get you into a pickle.

I've always been a methodical person when preparing for things but not if it takes the excitement and element of the unknown out. Now that I have a basic knowledge base and have acquired the necessary equipment to do what I want to do - enough to at least keep me out of major trouble http://d26ya5yqg8yyvs.cloudfront.net/mwink.gif - I think it's time to bring this adventure motorcycling thing back towards how I really prefer to do things, well prepared and poorly plannedhttp://d26ya5yqg8yyvs.cloudfront.net/Laughing.gif.

I am still heading South, but with a very different mindset, one that I enjoy much more and am way more familiar with. I'm confident in my kit, my gear, and my senses. Anything past that will be handled on the fly and addressed accordingly. My last "plan" that I'm making is to leave on September 1st...yeeeah yeeeah I accepted an extension on my work contract (AGAIN!http://d26ya5yqg8yyvs.cloudfront.net/deal.gif) but it has worked out for the best. I have no time-frame, no goal, no destination, and no real direction. If I'm going to be in my 20's and wandering I mind as well enjoy it!

A couple months ago I went down the coast to visit friends and spin the wheels so I'll put an update in here shortly on that. Oh and I took the blog/website down that I had been cross-posting on and, as I presumed, all the photo links on ADVrider went down as well. Not sure how I'll be putting photos up in the future but I'll see if I get around to uploading the old ones again at some point. EDIT: See post #54 for pics

Cheershttp://d26ya5yqg8yyvs.cloudfront.net/friday.gif

20. Tooling and Tooling around
 

So I finally made time to put my new 688 piston kit in that I ordered from Eagle Mike. I did a cylinder swap and the ordering process was super simple and prompt from Mike...I on the other hand was not as prompthttp://d26ya5yqg8yyvs.cloudfront.net/shog.gif and took far too long to install and return my cylinder to Mike, thanks again for your patience Mike!http://d26ya5yqg8yyvs.cloudfront.net/thumb.gif

The install went smooth and everything worked as projected. After a bit of tuning I think she's running near perfect now. I did the swap to solve oil burning and as of today she hasn't burnt a drop of oil after a fair amount of high stress long rides.

If anyone has a 'burner' and is in search of a fix, I highly recommend the kit!

Here's some pics

http://i.imgur.com/zcdEHPuh.jpg

Time to rebuild the heart of the KiLleR. She had been a 'burner' since the day I got her and although the cost of a 688 kit will buy a lot of oil, I don't like that she doesn't run the way she is supposed to and it's a pain in rural areas to be thinking about where/when the next place is to get full synthetic oil, etc. A 688 kit will fix the oil burning and she'll be all the happier for it.

I have a garage at my place in Seattle that I cleared out and filled with my tools and bike stuff. My friends and I named it 'Af-man-istan'. Here you can drink beer at any time of the day, blast music, get dirty, play darts, you name it. All females entering Afmanistan must apply for a visa.

http://i.imgur.com/8Kmbksph.jpg

This is the exhaust header where burnt exhaust exits the motor, look at all that soot build-up!

http://i.imgur.com/XrPy5mqh.jpg

That's a fair amount of burnt off oil, there were times when I was pulling long days on the road at high revs that I could be burning through half a quart and it shows!

http://i.imgur.com/sZejgUsh.jpg

Pulling the top end off the cylinder, it wasn't scored and the bore looked good. Those damn stock piston rings just aren't built to spec with tight enough tolerances. At high revs the oil-scrubbers just can't keep up and it'll slowly burn through your oil to keep things lubricated.

I say nay-nay though, not anymore.

http://i.imgur.com/ikMhd6Ih.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/2JQ0POAh.jpg

Lots of carbon build-up on the piston head. Interestingly after I took the piston out and left it on a desk by a window in the sun the oil build-up slowly just crinkled up on itself like paper shriveling up and just flaked off?? Pretty odd.

http://i.imgur.com/ZxuBVMQh.jpg

All the bits to be put back on. Checked the valves etc while I was at it obviously. Had to order some new shims as the tolerances had tightened up smaller than the shims that I had available.

Thanks Eagle Mike for the fast shipping!

http://i.imgur.com/kfSpo8Fh.jpg

Dammn look at that shine. New piston is a bit lighter and bigger. Rings fit nicer too so shouldn't be any oil burning.

http://i.imgur.com/R8VWLu6h.jpg

Bike almost back together. Went through the break-in period meticulously working the motor harder and harder with different oils as the rings and piston worked themselves in. After some fiddling with carb adjustments and jetting she's getting dialed in.

http://i.imgur.com/CP6Gfr2h.jpg

Went out to to eastern Washington to get some dirt riding in. Did a couple legs of the Washington Back-country Discovery Route, which is pretty gosh dilly-darn good. A big fire came through in 2012 and much of the route between Ellensburge and Cashmere (day 3?) was burnt out.

http://i.imgur.com/fd3f64Ph.jpg

For acres and acres it looked like this.

http://i.imgur.com/ZVx9SiQh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/S27kz23h.jpg

The ash was really thick, glad I was riding solo and no-one had to follow in the cloud of ash behind me.

http://i.imgur.com/LKinx2Ch.jpg

The views were gorgeous,

http://i.imgur.com/CW3meLEh.jpg

the riding superb,

http://i.imgur.com/IH9y5oEh.jpg

and the exposure was great.

http://i.imgur.com/7GiCtUfh.jpg

My camera battery died as I realized I swapped out the wrong batter back at home so I used my camera on my phone instead to try and catch the sweet scenery. The ride from Cashmere to Chelan (day 4?) is really nice and the views were awesome. Didn't see anyone besides 2 other riders that were on top of Chumstick Peak.

http://i.imgur.com/FWGSNpPh.jpg

The views on top of Chumstick Peak were 360 degrees and too nice to not call it a day and camp for the night right on top.

Choke cable snapped the next morning when I tried to start the bike so I'll need to replace that. Bike still started with a little coaxing.

http://i.imgur.com/v53o1tW.jpg

Dropping back down in elevation the next day and there started to be farms and orchards.

http://i.imgur.com/2HaWblB.jpg

Headed back towards Leavenworth snapping a last shot over a wood bridge. The cold water acts like natures AC unit cooling all the air flowing over it so it was a nice spot to cool down for a bit before heading back.

Also to note, not a single drop of oil burned since the install of the new piston/cylinder/rings and under high stress and for long periods of riding, installation success.

Posts 13 and 14 are now up
 

Pics update: post 15 is now up
 

Pics update: post 16, 17, & 18 now up
 

All photos are now back online and these posts are up:

16: Catching Up
17: Catching Up (continued)
18: Catching Up (continued again)

No-Moto-Boundaries: New Ride Report Thread
 

Heyo, I left on Sep. 1st and have decided to continue this ride report in a new thread. Since I originally created this original ride report thread over a year and a half ago my mentality and plans about this adventure have changed a fair amount, and definitely all for the better (see post #33 above). Rather than changing or editing this thread to fit my new plans I have decided to start a new thread and in doing so preserve this one.

Come follow along here for the next chapter: No-Moto-Boundaires