A motorcycle travel blog by my brother

[Matt Derrick]

So my brother is currently riding his motorcycle down the 101 in California right now, and he's going to be riding back up from Los Angeles up through moab Utah. He's blogging about it here for anyone that's interested: www.travistriumph.com

 

[drewski]

Another traveler in the bloodline...very nice.

 

[creature]

& he has an old Triumph... good fer him!!

looking at a '78 honda.. small bike .. just a 185.. probably vibrates like fucking hell.. but... gets about 80 mpg..
i've done the 101 with love, many times, but never on a bike..

my will for his safety goes with him...

if he needs a nail up his fucking nose, lemme know..

 

[creature]

holy fuck...

it looks like he's having a *great* time...

 

[Odin]

Partaking of In and out...
Double Double and a shake.
Awesome.
I wish they would bring em further east... I miss the west coast. :')

 

[creature]

mm..
i hitched & jumped to san fran way, way back.. 16.. i'd only got to see the bay briefly, though & the next jumps took me up & down, but inland..
the last jumps were into WA & then utah..

all of this was chance, and was only over the course of a week.. i
hopped the 1st train in kansas, got to reno, jumped again.. the yard hands were pretty cool, but they warned about the bulls..

in any case, over the next 8 years or so, i did about 4 trips east to west, but never made it beyond the built up areas, other than the desert..

did a shitload of hitching in the east, maine to lower florida, ohio, tenn, yadda yada,
but it wasn't until 1995 that i got an eyefull on CA1...

blew my mind..

not long afterwords i became embroiled in a fight with new york state, & *personally* dragged some bureaucratic asses through the fucking courts kicking & screaming..
nothing so satisfying as watching an asshole ex-boss nearly have a nervous breakdown, because he is *forced* to tell the truth..
(97-civ 8565 MGC, P**** vs. the NYS DOT.. the case number may be fucked, but i really don't care, anymore..)

soooo...
dad keeled over kind of slowly, & in 2005 i hit the road again..

dealing with the state as a pro se litigant was a little stint that cost 8 years..
lots of anger, lots of hate & a choice to either throw it away, or continue to feed it to *other* bureaucratic strangers,
who knew nothing about me, except that i spoke the truth,
& they were being paid, clearly, to defend at least mediocrity & the wrong, and were probably too weak or too fucking disinterested in
anything of real importance to see how evil that actually is..

so, having actually *won*, because at the last all they were speaking were demonstrable lies, i said "fuck it. it isn't worth any more hate",
took care of stuff on the family end

& fucking went..

katrina had passed, so i went down to a rainbow hippy relief camp with some folks who were volunteering..
that camp peaked at serving 3,000 meals a day to anyone who asked..
super good food, too.. mostly natural, a hell of a lot of organic, & no forced ideology on anyone..

waveland missisippi got hit by the eye, but nola was the flooded city..

fuck.. the fucking feds were so fucking slow getting into new orleans, that the cops *asked* rainbow to set up their camp..

2 buses, just to *start*, filled with kitchen gear & food, ***kicked out*** of new orleans by the red cross & fema, because they weren't "official"..
& yet? when the feds & the red cross finally made it to waveland?
they looked at how fucking organized & functional shit was, & said "wow. we're going to use your camp area as our base of operations.."

now ***that*** is fucking irony..

sooo... onward to the west coast..

the cliffs..

the ocean...


the places where you can still feel the animal you are...


i found everything i wanted..

except my friends & family were back east.. couldn't leave.. not just then..

did some other stuff.. the bahamas (the real Bahamas.. not the nassau/disney shit)..

some canada..
those fuckers are just as fucked up as we are.. at least the ones that *are* fucked up...

almost got to africa, but the shithead i trusted probably would have left me to be bloodlet, so i guess it was good i dinna make it..

& about another 4 trips west & up & down the coast &.. blah blah blah..

but never on a fucking bike, Bowser..
& never on a godammned Triumph...


you are the fucking ruler, at the moment, sir.

there are "5 guys" out east.. about as good as In&Out, but no drive throughs, that i know..

i almost wonder if they aren't kind of associated.. they really are pretty fucking similar..

remember the godammned prickly pear fruit!!!
you should know about them.. use gloves & or singe 'em..

i have to make a choice..
work my ass off & head out later, or say "fuck it", & do it now..

if i hold on to sept 21, i'll be in pretty good shape..

thought there would be some real interest in the boat gig, but it's starting to smell like a fart, unless proven otherwise..
if you need work, ND is the place, momentarily.
if you can pass a piss test & a background test, you could probably get a job as an engineering/surveyor's assistant, with a place to live, probably for free.
if not, you probably can *still* find work..

i'm taking my $$$ & not only heading back to the coast, but will probably blow it on yet one more idiotic attempt to change the world..

the way to really, really, really piss off people who are in charge, is to begin a change they can do *nothing* about..
unless they do evil shit.. but..
even then?

change is fucking stronger than evil..
in any case, good luck on your trip...

i envy the wind you have
& am happy for you that you have it..

if you meet captain Sanjo, or Starship Riptide, of fae Ten, or alex the Troll Elf, let me know...
they were good friends...

may you find many nights with stars & peace & wine

& friends you will love,
but may never see again...

*

 

[creature]

Just went through yer whole blog.. sans videos, since i dun have flash, but the pics are freaking great..

dunno where you are, but north of santa cruz, if yer aeound there, before half moon bay, heading north, look for "canyon road"..
found it by wandering, but ask yer gps...
it's a long ass dead-end road, but there are some fucking trees down there that are *awesome*.. a real quiet area, too..

the more i read, the more convinced i am to do the next stint on 2 wheels.. not sure, yet..
water sounds real good, and my dream machine is a sandrail..
that or thinking a sidecar..
dropped 2 fucking bikes, years ago.. dented 1 & killed the other..

not afraid, but.. man.. i hate complications when it comes to wheels..
the west coast, though, is good.. people are way more aware than out east.. way more..
the crucial thing, & i know you know it, is you don't ride a bike like a car..

you ride it like you are crossing a fucking rattlesnake pit..

stay out of the reach of fangs..

that being said, may the road never give you less than 7 seconds of prescience...

ride, mofo..

& if yer south of yreaka, get your ass onto the rough road of the coastal trail, very near the golden bear casino..

& fuck, yeah..
there's *another* spot, deeper in..
not far from the northerly end of CA1, south of it..

look for ***this*** fucking sign:

trust me..

winding, hard, a bit off road, dirt, rocky, 1 lane..
worth it..

anyways..

fly....

*

 

[drewski]

unwatching the fuck out of this thread now ::wtf::