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May 16 Day 18 Yesterday, May 15 Day 17 I broke down my camp at the Needles CA KOA and headed for the southern entrance of Joshua Tree. It was a little under 200 miles from camp to camp and a pretty uneventful but very beautiful ride down. Joshua Tree is a very cool park with a lot of amazing plants and animals. I was surprised at the number of rodents, rabbits, and lizards. I had figured to see plants but few or no animals, but alas my camera has a junk lens and I've got no good pictures of animals because I can't get close enough. Joshua Tree is full of awesome camp sites and in no time I found a great one at the second campground off park drive heading north. It was very hot, around 95 degrees, so I made camp in the late afternoon and hung out in the shade. A couple hours later a Toyota pickup pulled up with a super cutie in the passenger seat and a really cool hippy dude behind the wheel. David and Madelinn had met because David is a couch surfing host and Madelinn is on a cross country tour out of Oregon aboard a Honda shadow. Check out her Instagram @madelinn_rose she is a super cool person and she's making pretty sweet videos of her journey posted on her YouTube channel MadelinnRoseMotorcycle. Both her and David were super cool had a lot of info about the area and where to get gas in Death Valley as she had just come from there. They also explained to me that the yucca are not baby Joshua trees and that the Joshua trees only grow between a certain altitudinal range which is why I saw none in the southern half of the park. After talking for a while longer a strong wind came and blew my camp half into the thorns so I had to thank them for stopping and run to retrieve my gear. Several hours later maybe 10:30 or 11 I was messing around with some nighttime photography when I had a little mishap How? Well the pannier lid was off. And I had just taken a 20 second exposure of myself on the bike with camp and stars in the background. As soon as I heard the shutter close I dismounted in that precarious position where the bike is standing on its own but you could tip it with a finger because the kickstand is elevated just 1 inch too many by the uneven ground. As soon as I took 2 steps towards the camera that big wind came back and blew Furiosa right over. The pannier landed perfectly on a rock and crunched itself in around the luggage rack. After 45 mins struggling I had got it about 70% back into shape, nearly returning it to its original capacity. It's not waterproof and the top won't even close anymore but it still attaches securely to the bike and I've got an extra Rok strap to keep it closed and just incase one of the mounting pucks breaks loose. I want to do whatever I can to bang this pannier back into shape whenever I get home and have hammers and blocks of wood because it's come so far with me and it's absolutely a useful luggage system but I am absolutely going to get soft luggage in the future. Probably the mosko Moto back country soft pannier kit. Other than that it was an absolutely gorgeous night with near half a moon and still plenty of stars. I had lunch/dinner of canned peaches, dintymore stew, and ravioli; listened to some rush and wished I had service to post that pic of my deformed pannier. May 16 day 18 Today I left Joshua Tree headed for Mojave and ultimately furnace creek ranch. The day started out cool at 830-9 when I hit the road and rose rapidly in temperature to 100f at its peak. With my smushed pannier strapped up tight I headed north out of Joshua Tree and into the southern entrance of Mojave. I was surprised but it seems, from what I saw, that Mojave has an even more impressive field of Joshua Trees than Joshua Tree National Park itself. Mojave was huge beautiful and hot. Deep sand shoulders and brutal heat prevented me from pulling over for pictures much of the way because the one time I did ended up getting stuck going back into the road and had to tip the bike out of the rear tire hole it had dug. There is more on my camera coming for tomorrow but... [img=http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160517/46e97ff3bc0c4952a63ee82b6efa0986.jpg[/imghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160517/9e64809276693af80f437ffbcaf14551.jpg] Tonight I've got a cabin to the tune of 200 bucks a night but I'm glad I do because AC and a shower can't really be beat after 17 days on the road and 14 days outside. Also while here I have realized I can't do bad water, race track and Titus canyon in one day so I'm going to do furnace creek to Ryolite to Titus canyon back down to furnace creek for lunch then out on bad water and head for the the sequoias. The past couple of days have been hot and cumulatively exhausting. I am looking forward to resting up in the cool shade of the giant forests. Thanks for reading! Follow my tracks here http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0vOdQ17Gkzl75o9nCrbjzbmjyUZI7hDtx

Interesting question that made me realize I have gone full circle! Started out on relatively heavy bikes, 1972 Suzuki TC125, I weighed 132 and it had over 100lbs on me! Went to a 1978 Yamaha DT 175 at 245 lbs. Jumped to all off road with a 1981 IT 250 at 275 lbs, then to 1982 YZ 250 at 255 lbs, started racing some and stayed on MXers and my body weight stayed around 145 lbs but the last 250 MXer weighed only 220 and I was around 160. Then I went back to heavy dual sports and got a Suzuki DR650 2007 at 260 lbs. Another 100 lb delta. Kept it for many years and finally upgraded to a 2014 Vstrom. My weight 170 now and Vstrom is way out of my weight class at over 500 lbs! Said all that to say I wish the Vstrom was lighter, but the seat height is more of a concern. The weight isn't really a factor until you get it into a tight spot. Riding comfort is the most important thing for me now, acceleration and agility are a close second. To be avoided; loud pipes, all that heavy chrome to make some kind of statement I guess, not interested!

May 14 Day 16 This Morning I left Kaibab a little disappointed I didn't get to see north rim, but there's still the southern side, so I headed for Grand Canyon NP and the south rim. It started pouring as soon as I got off the bike there so I only had a minute to snap pictures and accidentally left my cam on manual focus for the first 3/4 of shooting so it was all bs accept for the last 10 pics. I got soaked all the way through and was dry within 10 minutes of riding out of the storm. I had considered camping I or near Prescott Az but in the end I decided to skip the rest of Arizona and head for Joshua tree tomorrow. So tonight I've made camp in the needles KOA to charge up shower and head into the desert. The ride here was beautiful and by far one of the most interesting things I've seen so far was the little shelters along the road in cliff dwellings AZ. Tomorrow I'm headed for Joshua tree which will be the southern most point in the journey. Sorry for the lack of pictures I'm charging my camera and GoPro batts tonight so tomorrow should be a great day for riding and shooting! I am thinking over the next few days Joshua tree, Death Valley and then sequoia parks. For Death Valley I'm thinking of heading through ash meadows towards to Ryolite into Death Valley through Titus canyon and then to tea kettle junction and racetrack playa then out towards sequoia. Feel free to chime in here guys let me know about some good spots/trails/gas station through Joshua tree, Death Valley and Sequoia! Thanks for reading! Check out my tracks here http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0vOdQ17Gkzl75o9nCrbjzbmjyUZI7hDtx I'm not sure if I'll be around there then but if I end up within range I'll be there!

May 13 day 15 Two days ago... May 11 day 13 I packed up my camp at slick rock campground in Moab, said goodbye to the new friends I had made, and headed towards four corners. The ride there was beautiful (191 to 262 to 162/41 to 160) and uneventful but I personally found four corners itself so boring there I forgot to take out my camera. I walked around the monument and was about to get on my bike and head towards Mexican Hat when I met two friends in a jeep out on a road trip from Kansas City. Nick and Hayden are videographers and youtubers who film mostly with drones and GoPros. I told them where I was headed and they decided to follow me for some footage and of course I agreed because who could turn down drone footage of yourself riding in the middle of your adventure!? We ended up making camp about 20 miles outside Mexican Hat at the Sand Island BLM Campground, and I am glad we did. What an incredible place to make camp. 15 per site per night and the place was crawling with reptiles and rock formations and petroglyphs all within a 1/4 mile of any site. Nick, Hayden and myself made camp there and took some drone footage of me riding around the dirt track behind the campground. As well as some incredible aerial shots of the vibrant green San Juan River valley surrounded by desert. Once the stars came out we pulled out my dslr and tripod to see if we couldn't get some shots of the night sky. --------------------- May 12 Day 14 We decided to head towards Zion in the morning, and make camp somewhere to charge up all our camera go pro and drone batteries. We ended up at the hurricane KOA and it was pretty good. The ride there. found Monument Valley to be the best part of the ride and a very moving and borderline spiritual place. I would recommend that ride to anyone who's got the time for sure.(163 to 160 to 98 to 89 across the southern edge of lake Powell to 389 to 59 to 15 into hurricane KOA). We made camp, got to shower and charge all our gear, enjoy some ice cream and access to a nearby Walmart to restock on random items and get ready to go into Zion in the morning. We also stopped by this really cool lake a mile from be KOA. ------------ May 13 Day 15 This morning Hayden, Nick and myself headed for Zion early hoping to beat the rush for the gate and things went awry as soon as we got into virgin. GoPro problems had me pulling over to sort it out which got us separated and screwed up the footage of them following me. Then miles long lines traffic and 90 degree sun had me turning around so quick and headed for a less populated area. Nick and Hayden had decided to stay and push on through the crawling line of tourist driven cars. I am glad to have camped with them but it's much easier to travel solo. I stopped at a gas station and whipped out my butler map of Arizona and decided to head for north rim. I stopped at Jacob lake inn for a top shelf bacon cheeseburger don the way where I saw a ton of bikes, Harley's KTMs and old Honda VFRs and a lot more I forget. While talking to some other bikers it turned out North Rim is closed until Sunday so tonight I made a free dispersed camp inside Kaibab forest. It's a beautiful and very private spot to set up camp. And I found a new piece of jewelry for Furiosa Looking at my map I'm pretty sure tomorrow I'll head for the south rim of the Grand Canyon stop to check it out then turn south again towards Prescott and make camp somewhere around there . Right now it's dinner of ramen, canned peaches and pistachios; a little bit of journal time, then sleep. Thanks for reading Follow my tracks here http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0vOdQ17Gkzl75o9nCrbjzbmjyUZI7hDtx