Kings Canyon National Park

After leaving Yosemite fairly early in the morning I decided to drive on to Fresno and then check out Kings Canyon and the grove of Giant Sequoia. Fresno must be quite low because it was about 70 degrees there (beautiful day) when I left for KK.
Being the ignorant Southerner that I have become, I didn't realise KK was so far up into the mountains. As I headed up to the roughly 13,000 feet the weather of course got colder.

Approaching the KK entrance gate there was snow laying around but that was to be expected. What I didn't expect was just how cold it was. Even though I live in the South now, I have lived in Switzerland and Sweden where it often snows, so I'm used to it. The Rangers were stopping every car to make sure they had appropriate gear (snow tires, 4x4, warm clothing, etc). I came prepared and so was fine. The best part about going to a National Park in late winter is that they tend to be deserted. When I got to the camp ground not only was I the only one there but I had to make my own trails - the road hadn't been ploughed in a day or so.

The next 3 or 4 hours I spent huddled in the car, having a late lunch and getting my bedroom ready for the night ahead. Not to mention sheltering from the snow storm that decided to dump right then. The result was fresh powder and an amazing view from my window.


I discovered in the middle of the night that I could have been more prepared for 12* weather. My blow up mattress is great down to about 40*. Then the air inside turns VERY cold. I woke up about 2am with my back like ice. Luckily, the friendly people at Suzuki had deemed it necessary to put heated seats inside my rental. I climbed into the front, started the engine and thawed for the next 20 minutes or so, spending the rest of a fitful night in the drivers seat. I woke around 8am to a beautiful, if still ridiculously cold, morning. The Giant Sequoias were the reason I was here and what better time to see them. Words don't do them justice so I'll just post one of my videos.

All I can say is that it was a wonderful experience and I'd recommend it to anybody. I'll be going back as part of my big trip to see the area in the summer and experience a whole new set of wonders.

San Francisco to meet the cousin

My cousin Katrina, who happens to fly for Qantas, emailed and said she'd be in San Francisco for a few days and would I like to join her. Always the opportunist, I switched a few items and booked a flight. Not only would I get to see her (we grew up one street apart and were very close, although she says I tortured her) but I could take some extra time and some camping gear and head off to see a couple of the California's National Parks, at a time when very few people would be around.

So after the exciting trip home from Florida, I learned, thankfully, that due to the snow in the South various flights had been delayed or cancelled. My mother had been kind enough to call them and Delta put me on a direct flight rather than through the snow-bound Cincinnati, and better yet, it was an hour and a half later - 8am is always better than 6.30am.

Arriving in SFO about an hour after my cousin Katrina meant she would already be at the hotel and I could go straight there, throw down my bags and have a quick nap. Of course, that didn't exactly happen. Due in no small part to the fact that I hadn't seen her in about 5 years, we decided to go out and find some lunch and wander the hills for a while. I think we got back to the hotel with sore feet about 5 hours later but it had been a wonderful warm day in comparison with what I had left behind in Atlanta.

The next day we would venture further a field to collect a rental car and head to Carmel.

The tripping begins - Florida in March

Early March brought every conceivable type of weather to the South East and I rode through them all, but that's later this episode.

Fri Feb 29 (perhaps an omen) was the first of three planned mini trips before I head off for the real deal.

I left Atlanta on a sunny, warm Friday afternoon on my Suzuki V-Strom 1000, an adventure touring bike with heated grips and a plug-in for my heated vest (which I figured I wouldn't need in Florida) for those uninitiated, to visit with my Georgia neighbors Doug & Irene at their Florida home.

The plan was to hang out, go fishing, ride our bikes up to Daytona for the races and some bike week festivities and then head back to Atlanta Friday 7th so I could fly out to San Francisco to meet up with my cousin on Sunday. It worked out mostly like that - Read on !

A convenient detour along the way was Dublin, GA, an opportunity to join my extended family for my niece Brittany's 12th birthday. After getting only slightly lost trying to avoid a wonderful 'all lanes blocked' traffic jam in downtown Atlanta, I completed an uneventful ride and arrived in Dublin around 8pm. The V-Strom thankfully eats up the miles easily and with little stress on the body, not to mention getting around 50mpg.

Dublin meant time to relax with a few drinks and get re-acquanited. We chatted into the night and spent a very relaxing few days, setting plans for the next visit, sometime after I return from San Francisco.

Monday morning meant finishing the last 250 miles to Florida. Another beautiful day, I arrived early evening. A quick post ride inspection of the V-Strom showed desperate need of a new rear tire. I'd been hoping it would last until I got home where I can still buy wholesale. No such luck and a day or two and $160 later I was sporting a new Metzeler Tourance (awesome tire by the way).

The following days were lazily enjoyed playing in the warmish Florida water, driving around Melbourne, dining on Irene's fantastic cuisine, checking out the car lots (another story) and planning our trip up to Daytona. That's when the best laid plans started to go awry. Predictions of rain caused our Daytona day to be postponed to Thursday, which was OK because that coincided with the running of the Super Sport races and the Flat track events. We made it through an ominous looking day without so much as a spot of rain until the trip back to Doug's place (2hr's away) when it unceremoniously poured the whole way. Thankfully, after reading the weather report, we watched from the comfort of his new Tundra as many poor biker's got VERY wet .

This delay in going to Daytona lead to my staying longer than planned so we could visit with some friends for dinner Friday night - although this wasn't essential, there was the promised meeting of a very pretty and recently single young woman involved, so of course departure plans were readily changed. Keeping in mind that I was scheduled to fly out Sunday morning at 8am to San Francisco, so there was no longer any wiggle room so and I HAD to leave Saturday morning.

Of course, as we enjoyed a great Friday evening of wine and food with friends, mother nature was planning my retribution. Although the sky was mostly clear when I was preparing to leave (a bit of rain has never bothered me) heavy rain and gale force winds were forecast for Florida, followed by a major cold front with the likelihood of snow and ice in most of Georgia - LOVELY.

As I said in the beginning, March threw it all at me, although I'm pretty sure I missed out on heavy rain. The whole thing is somewhat of a scary blur now but I must say, at the time I truly wondered if I would make it home in one piece. Keeping in mind I've been riding for over 25 years and have experienced pretty much everything the road has to throw at you.

The wind I experienced out there (for about 8 hours) was the most mind numbing I've ever experienced on a motorcycle. Strong wind from one direction is challenging enough, but gusts of 45mph coming from both directions causing the bike to swerve across 3 lanes at highway speed is just not the type of excitement I enjoy, not to mention the 18-wheelers that were doing the same thing in front of and beside me. I stopped once or twice at rest stops to chat with other motorcyclists, discovering from 40 year Harley veterans that it wasn't just my type of bike getting a hammering.

I figured when I turned from I-95 to I-10 in Jacksonville it might get better as what was a side wind would become a head wind. It did somewhat until about Macon where the temperature started to drop, and drop, and drop.... By the time I got to Atlanta, it was 24 degrees, had snowed a couple of times and I had been on the bike for about 10 hours. Although I didn't have my true winter gear with me, I did have Doug's heated vest and Irene's neck fleece - two very welcome additions. All I can say is, it's amazing what you can get used to.

Thanks to Doug and Irene for putting me up and putting up with me.