2014 Ride to Redwood Forest 6,846 miles!

The 2014 adventure was an awesome trip.  Bill spent three years exploring Southeast Asia while stationed on Okinawa with the Marines.  It was an exciting ride to unite with Brad and catch up with stories from the past three years.  Bill rode to Montana to meet Brad then decide where to ride to from there.  Below are some notes from the ride.

Bill rode 6,846 miles total from northern Virginia to the Redwood Forest and returned to Virginia.  Most in one day was 1,260.

• I rode the Badlands and into Sturgis for a day
• Saw one traffic fatality outside Spearfish
• Met Brad in Montana the next day
•  Blew the main oil seal of the engine. Down for two days repair so we went to the Testy Festy
• Rode some of Lewis and Clark's trial. Notable stop is the Lolo Hot Springs (a festival there too!)
• Rode around Mt Rainer
• Rode the entire Oregon Coast (literally from the Lewis and Clark bridge to the Redwoods)
• Rode through parts of the Redwood Forest
• Rode through the desert highlands of eastern Oregon and northern Nevada
• Rode around the forest fires at the time
• Saw many roadside signs thanking the Fire Fighters
• Exhaust pipe came disconnected from jug leaving Winnemucca, Nevada. Roadside repair kept me going until I got replacement bolts (now a tool kit item)
• Planned a Bonneville Salt Flats race but the flats were flooded
• Before and after linking up with Brad I slept in parks with my sleeping bag.  
• Rode in two days of severe thunderstorms and tornado spotting on the way through Nebraska, Missouri, and Illinois.  It rained the entire route from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and finally cleared up once I reached the Virginia state line.

South Korea 2013

Busan 2013

Greetings from South Korea!  I am anxious to get riding again.  I just spent a short time in South Korea. Too bad I did not have a motorcycle because there were some nice country roads with lots of twisty and winding turns. 

I took a few photos of the road signs here in Korea too.  I think is neat to see road signs from around the world.  I’ve spent so much time driving in Japan that I felt odd sitting in a left side drive automobile (that drive on right side of the road).  The South Koreans drive on the right side of the road just like American drivers.   Historic Korea drove on the left side however after the end WWII they started driving on the right side.

Where I currently live, Okinawa Japan, people historically drove on the left side until after WWII.  The U.S. controlled Okinawa from the end of the war until 1972.  During time of U.S. control, the Okinawans were compelled to drive on the right side.  Six years after the U.S. gave control of Okinawa back to Japan, the traffic changed from the right side to the left side.  This change happened on 30 July 1978.  Okinawa was one of the few places to change from right to left side traffic in the twentieth century.  A former co-worker and retired Marine was on Okinawa during that day.  One day he was driving on the right side and the next day he was driving on the left.  The Okinawans seemed to change all the road signs, traffic lights and everything over night.  I imagine there were a fraction of the signs and roads in 1978 than what we see in 2013.  Of course folks had to quickly adjust to the change.

 

Mirrors are common most Asian countries.  I see them posted at tight intersections and turns.  I like this sign on a bicycle/jogging path.  It shows two bicycles crashing.  This sign was placed at a 90-degree turn under a bridge.

I like this one.  I think it is the equivalent of “slippery when wet.” Note the snowman, rain and swoosh you go over the cliff plunging into the water.

I jogged up a mountain in Busan that had some colorful cherry blossoms.   See the twisty and steep road in the background.

NO Horse drawn carriages!

These were fish drying at the fisherman’s wharf.    

Oh, McDonalds delivers here on scooters.