Mile 7451

Mile 7451, San Francisco. We stayed in Oakland, and rode in on Sergio’s bike while Gonna stayed covered in the parking garage (the place in Oakland was an amazing, modern loft on the inside. Outside: a tent city under the overpass. Gentrification in its infancy). We rode across the Golden Gate Bridge and to the […]

Around mile 2280

Around mile 2280, on the way to Sedona. On naming bikes: My first bike, a Honda NC700X, was named Hoss from the start. I’d been looking for a name for the Scout as soon as I got him, but nothing fit. Riding through Arizona, Cat Power’s cover of Silver Stallion came on. You have to […]

Kilometer 13910

Kilometer 13910, in the desert of Baja California. Border crossing and paperwork for the Scout completed, we started across the desert, the kind of desert I had in mind back in January. Cacti spiking sand and dry grasses, endless but for mountains hazy in the distance. What I did not picture: driving rain and lightening. […]

Mile 1908

Mile 1908, Monument Valley. Over the gravely roads that scare me so much (not as much by now), to get to my campsite. That was the first time setting up a tent by myself. I had sent back the bulky 2-person tent because I was worried about weight (I know better now, but I’m still […]

Mile 6833

Mile 6833. Salt flats, but make it fashion.

Mile 6834

Mile 6,834, the Bonneville Speedway On a tip from a couple of bikers passing through the same gas station, we found out that the motorcycle speed trials were going on at the Bonneville Salt Flats. There’s dingy salt for miles leaving Salt Lake City, but you get to Bonneville and it turns a pristine white. […]

Mile 1686

Mile 1686, Arches National Park. My first national park of the summer. Since there was no way the Scout and I were going to even attempt the Jeep trails, I decided on a tour. Traveling alone, there isn’t a way to take a tour solo that isn’t cost prohibitive but there’s also no good reason […]

Mile 5301

Mile 5,301, passing through Wyoming on the way to Steamboat Springs Big sunset in the middle of a small moment on the road.

Mile 4381

Mile 4381, Cody, WY Pow, pow, pow

Mile 5593

Mile 5593, Great Sand Dunes National Park. Imagine riding through Colorado with its scrubby roadside greenery and generous touches of wild flowers when you see a field of tan slopes echoing the purple mountains behind them. Those are the great sand dunes.