Another Restored Lost Post

This post is from my 2010 trip out west on my Moto Guzzi 850-T

Back in the tent again! Sure feels good too.I'm in a campsite in Crater Lake hanging out and riding some.Went out before and upon my return I noticed one of the headlight ears ,you know,the things that the headlight is attached to the front forks with,was broken.Well,I did a fix on them in NY before I left and it lasted 7000 miles so I can't bitch too much. Anyway,I dug thru my bag of goodies and found a thin horn mounting strap and some JB Weld.I took a file and bored a hole for a screw at the back end and opened up the front hole to accept the front signal witch also holds on the headlight and manufactured a bracket to fix the damn thing using a screw and nut from the used ignition points I had in the bag and the JB epoxy.It feels solid so I'm giving it an hour to set up and heading out for a ride around the lake.

My time in Bend ,Oregon was really good.I spent some quality time with Robin and her family.Robin is my late friend Barbara's middle daughter .If you read the stuff I was writing last year about my early travels and such you'd know that Barbara and I were very close and her daughters are sort of like sisters to me so it's been good spending time with one in the flesh rather than on the internet.
We went river rafting,hiking,horseback riding,out to dinner a few times and had a great visit.I bonded really well with her husband Scott too and we are already planning to spend more time together soon if possible.I might stop in again before I head east on this trip for one or two days after doing California but I'm not sure yet so we left it up to how things work out for me in my travels.

Crater Lake is really nice.The roads are nice and there is nowhere near the amount of traffic like in Glacier Park.Well,I'm gonna get bold now and try out my bike to see if the headlight bucket stays on and maybe go for a swim in Crater Lake!
Ended up going down this trail instead of swimming and found all these rock formations.It was called Pinnacles Trail.What a great place.Met this young married couple who loved my bike.The husband had a couple bikes including an old Honda so we exchanged emails.He needs some help with it getting it going and doesn't know where to begin so I told him I'd hook him up with some people I know who do Hondas. my headlight fix seems to have worked and all is well with the bike again.

Last night at the campsite there were these young guys who were playing guitars and singing . They were pretty good and played into the night.I enjoyed it tremendously and this morning I went over and thanked them.Later they came by as I was packing up to leave and were in awe of what I was doing.The one guy had a bike and told me I was doing exactly what he wants to do so I told him about Ernie.
Ernie was this old biker I met in 1972 while hich hiking to Nova Scotia somewhere up in Quebec .He was about my age now,60's,and just wandering all over the place camping.I was totally blown away by this guy.We talked for hours about bikes and traveling.I told him of my travels up to Alaska and my bike trip across the country and he told me all about his adventures riding his BMW across Canada.I always thought about Ernie over the years and this morning I became Ernie to someone else! Funny how life works like that sometimes.
Left Crater Lake about 11AM and now I'm in Crescent City California in the redwoods camping.Oregon is behind me now after a two week stay and many great times.I think I'll go back before heading east towards home.I like Oregon.
Well,it's late in the afternoon about 5PM and I 'm getting hungry so I think I'll cook up something to eat and maybe take a swim in the Smith River which is just steps from the door of my tent.Another great place on another day! I love the road!!!
The fog rolled in and that was it for my swim.Oh well,it's cold now and there's no way I'm going in the river .Tomorrow I'm going to try to get a campsite in Jedediah Smith State Park.I wanted to stay there but they were all filled up so I'll go first thing when people depart and grab a site tomorrow I hope .This place is OK but there are no showers,and I need one bad,and it's not as secure as a state park so I'm not good with leaving my belongings while I go off and explore.
Tomorrow I'm going to call this motel I know in Ft Bragg.They have weekly rates and are cheap with the added benefit of a car port with every room!The plan is to use Ft Bragg as a home base and wander a couple hundred miles in all directions on an unloaded bike for a week.I'll be able to cook 'cause the rooms have a full kitchen and eat way better than I have been.Besides,I like Ft Bragg and want to look into moving there a little closer .I'm also exploring the possibility of going north to Canada and becoming a Canadian citizen.I'm kinda sick of the politics here and don't see it changing in my lifetime so maybe I should leave.America is a wonderful country,the people are great and the country is beautiful but politically it's retarded to put it mildly.I'm tired of being a serf serving the rich and that's the reality of life here.Robin can get Canadian citizenship real easy 'cause her mother,Barbara .was a Canadian.Her husband wants to move up there too and he's an ex Marine! We were talking about buying a bunch of land in the BC area and living communally .It might be time for me to seriously consider this.Well,who knows what lies ahead, the here and now is all I really have so I'm just gonna live it to the max.
All day long I have been wanting to paint!I think the road has unlocked my mind in that respect.The ideas are flowing out of my mind and I can almost see them on canvas,It's been a good thing for me to travel like this,I'm happy!
Saturday after checking in at the state park I went into Crescent City to get food and run errands when I spotted a car show going on.Ended up spending the whole afternoon at this show talking to guys about cars and bikes,good places to ride and that sort of thing.It was a nice break from the usual camping and hiking in the woods I've been doing.Felt good to spend time just socializing with people and looking at some cool west coast rides.

Spent Sunday in Jedediah Smith Park hiking in the Stout Grove .What a place! It's an experience that transcends all the normal things we do.These trees are old growth redwoods that are maybe 3000 years old and 325 ft tall!.The energy they give off is unbelievable , there is definitely something there that goes way beyond anything we can comprehend.I love the redwoods!

Had to move on Monday morning.The original plan about Ft Bragg and the motel didn't work out the way I planned so I was thinking of riding inland to Mt Lassen.Can't get into the motel until Sunday of next week so I'm rearranging my ride some.As I rode out of Crescent City it hit me,I have a weather forecast of sunny and high 70's to low 80's on the coast of California in August! I'd be a fool to head inland and miss this rare occurrence so my plans changed again and I headed down the coast to the wilderness area out on the Lost Coast by Petrolia.
I was planning to ride here on an unloaded bike.The road is treacherous in places and on a fully loaded bike is damn near impossible but ,what the fuck I thought and went ahead and turned off at Fernbridge heading out into no mans land.In places the road was like a ski slope with these huge depressions about a foot deep that would just appear out of nowhere and then no pavement on curves that are on the side of a 700 foot cliff with nothing but three strands of fucking barbed wire as a guard rail! I did fine! Knowing this ahead of time really helped me.We came out this way two years ago exploring for a short two hour side trip so I knew what to expect and went slow.

Now in Petrolia and it's late afternoon about 4PM.I'm figuring I'll go the distance and head back to the high way thru the Avenue Of The Giants when I see this small road called Lighthouse Road.I love lighthouses so I had to check it out .The road is paved so what the fuck and off I go.About a mile in it gets rough.Lots of pot holes and broken pavement then turns into a dirt road too narrow to turn around in so I push onward.About another mile and I get to a beach that is called Matolle Beach and on BLM land.I see a sign saying camping with an arrow and I knew I scored!
The beach here is deserted and the campsite has 15 spots with 4 of them occupied .I scoped it out and found the perfect spot with an area for my tent tucked away in this cave made out of bushes out of the wind.Set up and walked over to the self service registration thing where I discovered it cost a whopping 8 dollars a night! I'm staying here for a few days I thought as I payed for the first night.That was 3 days ago!
Just returned from a walk down the beach.It was wonderful walking along this deserted beach nude in the sunshine.Went for a swim in the fresh water that collects at the end of the river.This time of year the river doesn't flow enough to empty out into the ocean and forms sort of a lake.The water is crystal clear and about 75 degrees as opposed to the ocean at 55 degrees .I swam and soaked getting all clean for the second day in a row now.There are no showers here at this wonderful campground but we do have clean out houses and running water in the campsites that is really good to drink so swimming in the river to get clean is no problem at all as far as I'm concerned.
Met this guy this morning as I was cooking my pancakes.He was admiring my Moto Guzzi and telling me how he just sold his 02 Lemans(Moto Guzzi)to buy a sail boat.He's living aboard in Sausalito and sailing the bay but he misses his bike.Well,I can see the boat thing but I'd have to have at least one bike too!
The fog rolled in ending my nudist activities at the beach but as soon as I returned to my tent it popped back out.Today will be my last day here.The weather is changing now.The fog rolled back in again and it's cooling down some.Tomorrow I'll ride!
Well,morning came and I had me a good breakfast.As I sat there eating and drinking my coffee I was reflecting on my time in this wonderful place.What happened is that I met some really good people.It started with this biker that was just passing thru the first morning I was there.He and I were talking bikes and the road for a while and when the time came for him to leave he hands me a bud and says enjoy it and ride safe! He was gone before I could say a word.The rest of the day was nice as I took walks and a swim in the fresh water lagoon and in late afternoon I met Lucy.

Lucy is a 24 year old Chinese girl born in China, raised in Mass. and wandering the country basically doing what I'm doing only in a car. She's looking for her new path in life.We spent two full days and nights together just talking and exploring all the possibilities each of us had .It was an amazing time.She had some pot and got me to smoke some with her.This is the first time in 25 years I smoked pot mind you.It was pretty good and we sat around the fire talking until late into the night under a full moon.The relationship we developed was strictly platonic but very intense.On the second day we hiked into the wilderness area quite a ways just taking in all this incredible scenery and collecting driftwood for our campfire on our return.I cooked dinner that night and we ate as the sun set into the Pacific .It was a very enlightening experience getting to know this young woman.
This morning Lucy and I said good bye and went on our separate journeys in search of our own new paths in life. Three hours later I'm pulling out of this gas station in Garberville when I hear my name being called and it's Lucy! We said a second farewell and I blew out of town looking for a campsite and some lunch.
Now I'm in this state park.Not the best place but there is a shower and I can go into Garberville from here in 10 minutes
Garberville is a very cool place with all these new generation hippies all over the place and all these old hippies wandering about as well.They have a marijuana festival here every year where all the local growers show off their wares! I got to sample some of that the second night with Lucy when we smoked some of that bud the biker laid on me Tuesday morning.Three hits and you're gone ! Pretty potent stuff.Well,I'll probably never do it again so what the fuck,I might as well enjoy it while I'm here and it's free.
While at that BLM campsite I also met this other biker.Yesterday(Thursday) he rolled in just checking it out when he spied my bike lurking in the bushes.He hung around long enough to meet me and then was gone.It turned out he was Dutch and flew over here.Went to Texas,bought a new BMW and rode it to Key West ,Fla then up the east coast into Canada,out west,up to Prudhoe Bay Alaska!,down thru BC and the west coast .He's going to ride all the way south to Bolivia! Man,I'm meeting the strangest people on the planet! It's fucking GREAT!!!
Been in Garberville for 2 days now.I'm liking it more and more.went into the town before and just walked around.Took in two art galleries to see what's up with that business and the deeper I look the more I realize that this is something I can do for sure.Bought Celia a hot plate with a beautiful turtle on it in the one place then went to this taco stand where I was talking with this young woman behind the counter about New York City.It seems she wants to go to NYU and really loves the city so I was giving her some ideas on places that are good to live like Brooklyn.She got real excited when I brought up Brooklyn 'cause she's been hearing just what I told her.Looks like there are artists all over this place. She's an aspiring writer.Lucy was into designing jewelry and clothing as well as painting.Something is drawing me here and there's no denying it.It's the artists.Yeah,there are lots of us on the east coast but the freedom out here is way more profound than in New York.People are different out here and I feel more comfortable here than in that wasteland of Long Island that I live in.
Think I'll go walk this trail I heard about from my neighbor here in the campsite.Speaking of neighbors,he grew up 5 miles from me! We were talking about it earlier and both came to the same conclusion that this place has way more to offer than the east does.So,I'm off on another walk thru the woods to see what I can find.
The woods were great! I walked down this trail for about an hour and a half thru new growth redwoods and had the place all to myself which gave me time to think about what I am planning to do next in this life.I've pretty much decided to open up an art gallery in Ft Bragg preferably but am open to other locations as well.I've been thinking of taking on a partner or two in this venture.Over the past couple years I've become involved with some artists thru my motorcycling and we are all into the vintage bikes so I think I'll start my search for a partner there.Who knows where this will lead if anywhere but I have to explore it in depth.It's as if I'm driven just like I was to go on this trip.I think the two events are related and the trip was the beginning of the whole thing.The ideas are coming freely now.It's as if I'm being led down the path by the hand.Can't wait to get to Ft Bragg tomorrow and set up house in the motel with the kitchenette .It will be sort of like home in a new place as I look around at stores for rent and explore the possibilities .You see,I couldn't do this on vacation but now that I'm alone here my time is my own and I'm not inhibited by someone else wanting to do other things.I have a feeling this is all going to come together.My time frame is about four years.I need to build some bikes to sell,then sell my property up in the Adirondacks,then my 66 Valiant convertible and I should have about 50 grand or so to start with.If I can get one or two other people interested who have that kind of capitol then it will fly.A gallery featuring our work as artists and our work as motorcycle restorers as well as local artists work on consignment with some jewelry and clothing thrown in later on if it starts to happen.I see these places here and there but none have vintage motorcycles and that can be a real draw.There are bikers all over the fucking place and we have money,we like nice things,and we spend it as we ride!
Took another walk on the river this time.Picked up a few pieces of driftwood to burn tonight in the fire pit.A branch fell from a tree in my campsite so I took it as a sign I need fire tonight and went off to get wood.I like fire when I'm camping.It sort of mellows me out and what the hell,I still have half that bud left so I may as well get stoned while I sit by the fire alone.
Tomorrow I ride.Down the coast I go and get indoors for five days as I think and plan out my future.I miss the camp at the beach.There was a steady flow of very interesting people in that place.My time there was short but I think it's where I finally found what I've been looking for,not the actual plan but more like the freedom that it takes to come up with it.There were some very free people at that place from the bikers I met to Lucy and the musician with the dogs.He was another character looking for his future.We all seemed to come together there at the same moment in time almost as if to help each other find the way and then just disbanded and all went in different directions on our own journeys .

The weather here is cool , mid 60's and windy with abundant sunshine.Great camping weather and I'm sure it will be a good night for a fire.Tomorrow should be a repeat of today from what the little weather radio I have tells me so my ride down the coast should be a pleasant one.This tent time has been good for me too.After all that walking and talking out on the ocean it's good to collect my thoughts and write again.Guess I'll be posting this tomorrow night from the coffee shop in Ft Bragg. Too bad I don't really have any friends in San Francisco but , maybe that's for the best. Money is tight and getting tighter by the day and that place is a real sponge for money so when my time in Ft Bragg ends I'll head north and then east to Mt Lassen to check out the Volcanic National Park there then up to Oregon and north east into Idaho and on to Missoula and Cosmic Bob's again.I know,I said I wasn't going to go back and see him but I changed my mind and am going too. I know he's crazy and armed to the teeth but he's still my friend and hopefully there is still some hope for the crazy bastard ! This story needs more time to play out and besides,I need to observe him more to create Cosmic Billy.

So, there you have it . My hopes and dreams from this trip have yet to be realized but are still alive .Yes they are somewhat changed . The location is now Arizona , no art gallery is going to happen , but at some point in the near future say 2 years from now we will be heading west for good to Arizona .We can't afford California and there is just too much bullshit to deal with in that state . So, we'll visit and enjoy it while we live next door in Arizona and enjoy all the benefits of a less intrusive and parasitic government . As I head into this winter of 2019 - 2020 I'm getting my Moto Guzzi all ready for another of these trips out west.Won't be going up here to Crater Lake  but may hit Northern California .I'll be heading south to Southern California ,Arizona , and perhaps a trip across the southern US towards home.The fun is just beginning as I start to make plans and work on the bike. Next project on the bike is all new gaskets and oil seals in the motor . Gonna start buying them next week. Today I'm going to paint ! Started two paintings. One has been languishing for two years unfinished and the other I started last month up at my camp. Time to clear the deck and move forward again.