So after looking through some photos of my trip I thought I'd try to share a little bit more about my big trip. Just a little more context and colour to show the route, culture and life on and off the bike. I'll keep it fairly brief for the most part and hopefully the photos and videos will do the rest.  

Here is the route I took through USA (and a bit of Canada). I was joined on the first weeks of the trip by a friend (Phil) on his Victory cruiser. As you can see, the ride started off from Vancouver, BC and headed south via a stop in my hometown of Victoria for too many beers with friends. After that we hopped a second ferry to Port Angeles, Washington and rode through the Olympic peninsula along highway 101. We stuck to this highway almost all the way to Los Angeles as it is has more scenery, less truck traffic, more camping and much better riding roads.

Ferry to Vancouver Island

Cannon Beach, Oregon

Redwoods, California

Laguna Seca Race circuit

Once we got near LA we turned east and headed for Joshua Tree. The temperature started rising quickly. Note to anyone travelling USA and plan to camp, buy a National parks pass. We entered Joshua Tree after the Rangers has left for the night and had to pay on exiting the park the next day. They wanted something like $30+ per bike but were nice enough to let us know about the pass. $80 covers all the National parks and is good for two people/bikes. The pass had paid for itself in the next days. I think there are other perks to the pass as well


Joshua Tree

European super model 

After Joshua Tree we headed to Las Vegas to visit my cousin and take in the spectacle.
Red Rock Canyon
 

More supermodels

The LV strip

After Vegas we rode up to Zion National park and camped for the night before carrying on through Bryce Canyon. Some fun (and red) riding roads packed with turns and scenery.

Zion NP

 

Bryce Canyon

After the ride through Zion and Bryce our arms were shaking from excitement and from the exercise of hundreds of sweeping turns. We took a short break at a general store where we chatted with a fellow biker and then carried on to Fish Lake, Utah and booked a small cabin for the night. Our stomachs were in need of food and beer so we found the classiest place in town for a feed. A nice, old lodge with some authentic decor.
 
Fish Lake Lodge

Seems to be a lot of wildlife in these parts.

I had to leave Canada to see so many beavers!

Our luxury cabin for the night

 
...and our house pet

Phil only had about 3 weeks to do this trip and would have to return to northern Alberta as he was about to have his first kid.So the next morning he was up early to put in some highway miles at speeds that my bike doesn't enjoy like his does. From then on I was riding solo all the way to Panama.

So off I roll on my own. I headed toward Salt Lake City for a new rear tire and found a TKC80 relatively cheap south of the city and had it mounted. 

Too many road miles has this one looking like a Goldwing tire

I carried on past SLC with the idea of staying in Lava Hot Springs but for some reason that didn't happen. No campground or rooms available that were a reasonable price or something so I carried on heading north. This ended up being one of those days when nothing spectacular happens and I ended up in a budget motel in a town called Chubbuck eating Jack in the box. Still 1000x better than a day at work.

Setting off the next day I aimed to get to somewhere outside Yellowstone National Park. It wasn't a long ride so I took a side trip to Mesa Falls and took in the nature.

 
Somewhere outside Ashton, Idaho

 
Yours truly at Mesa Falls

 
Mesa Falls

Idaho aint just potatoes

The wildlife is getting a little bigger now

I arrived in West Yellowstone at dinner time and had nothing organized for a place to stay so stopped in at a great pub and had a feed and watched some hockey (because I'm Canadian). The bartender told me about some free camp spots a while out of town that interested me but by the time the food was done I was ready to set up camp nearby, have a fire and drink some beers. So I paid the exorbitant price for the KOA and drank a couple too many beers followed by a couple too many sips of whiskey. The next morning came too quickly. 

I have a thing about making sure I burn all firewood that I pay for so I had stayed late up to get my moneys worth. I inevitably woke up late with the the taste of whiskey still in my mouth and started to pack up slowly. Once on the road was headed east through Yellowstone. Jawdropping scenery teamed up with not so common wildlife and thermal geysers. I didn't have any plan to go see all the sites, I just was making my way east via the park. Much better than the interstate. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the ride. I ended the day in Cody Wyoming at a motel with a hot shower to wash the campfire and whiskey off myself. 

Now that you have a little context of the trip up to this point, I will post the first video (below) as it is the riding footage I have cobbled together from Washington State to Yellowstone. PLEASE subscribe/like/comment to the channel and thread if you enjoy these videos/pics/words. I've been spending a decent amount of time on these postings and edits and it helps to know that you're out there watching, reading and hopefully enjoying and taking some inspiration to go for another bike trip. I'll probably keep making the videos and posts regardless of the support because I'm enjoying reliving the trip of a lifetime. Ride safe and stay tuned for more. But please do subscribe! ;)
 

youtu.be/2gOvMEgWnsI

Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCakX6onAToIG1VgIlexWl9A