Day 4 (Texas to New Mexico)

We left Texas on our way to Albuquerque a little later than we planned. Especially after the mentally slow girl at the cash took 15 minutes for mike to pay for the site. We also got up too late for the free breakfast thing.
We stopped at target to buy water and baby powder. If you have never used baby powder while riding you don't know what you're missing. If you do then you know why wanted to get some.
We left target for what felt like the most boring 50 hours of my life but I think was actually around 3. Texas is BORING.
That all changed when we got to new Mexico. It was winding roads and beautiful mountains.
We decided to ride past Albuquerque to Gallop. Mike found a state park to camp at and it was only $10. As we pulled off the road there was a sign that said the park is 7 miles off the road. It was the best 7 miles I have ever ridden. Simply incredible. Hairpin turns. Sweepers. Blind corners. All on beautiful roads with no dirt at all on them. We setup camp and a group of horses came over to greet us. 
We ended up camping on the beach next to a guy with an RV and 2 bikes outside. We chatted with him for about 2 hours in his RV as there were at least 10,000 bugs in our small spot on the beach. Also being woken up by huge crows and barking dogs was not what I had planned.

Day 3 (Tulsa to Texas)

I got up this morning feeling pretty happy that we stayed in a hotel. Other than a sore butt from the crappy ducati seat I'm pretty well rested. We ate the free breakfast at the hotel which was great as they had DIY waffles which are my favorite.

The plan for the next 2 days is to ride to Amarillo tonight and stay at a nice campground mike found. By tomorrow night we should be at the grand canyon. The night after should be Vegas :) 

We made it to Amarillo Texas. The first thing we noticed is that the gas only goes up to 90 octane. Weird. Also instead of staying at the camp site mike found on the map we took the advice of some guy that we asked at the gas station. We ended up not driving 30 or so miles south of Amarillo and went to a RV park just down the road. Not only did we save 60 miles of driving and gas but it was $7 cheaper. Plus this place has a little breakfast thing in the morning and free wifi all over the park.

As I was unpacking a very nice recently retired couple came up and asked me about our trip. After I told them a bit about what we were doing they said they were off on a walk but to come by if we wanted to. After mike came back from the store we went over and they were super friendly and gave us a tour of their kick ass RV with a garage in the back for his motorcycle. We talked with them for about an hour and a half and each had a couple beers. When we were saying our goodbyes we exchanged emails and said if we came back or they came to Canada we could meet up again. Hopefully we see them again as they really changed our opinion of Americans from the south. Although the man did tell me about the gun he has hidden away in the cab of his truck.

The weather is great tonight. It cooled off very nicely and there is no humidity which ahould ale for a very nice sleep. Tomorrow apparently we may go see the worlds largest tram ride in Albuquerque that jonathan told us about.

Day 2 (Columbus to Tulsa)

We left our resting spot for the night at about 3:15 after packing up in the dark. Fueled up and headed out. Cincinnati was pretty nice looking. Louisville had some pretty cool bridges near the KFC Center. At around 7 mike decided he was too tired to ride and needed a nap. We pulled into the rest area on the blue star memorial highway.
Our original goal was to make it to St Louis but since we started so early and are more than half way already we figured after the rest stop we could ride on past St Louis and get as close as we can to the next goal. Putting us a day ahead of schedule will let us spend more time in California and Colorado.
I went to the bathroom at the rest stop and there was a cop sitting on the sink. As I turned the corner I realized why. There was a prisoner in full shackles standing there. Weird.
We made it to St Louis at about 11:15 local time. We stopped at the arch which while neat is not quite worth the $4 per bike they want for parking on a dangerous uneven slope of a parking lot. As expected the weather is hot as hell. The plus side is it was supposed to thunder shower today and it has been clear skies all day.
My mom was mad at me and told me she would pay for a hotel tonight so I can get some sleep. Thanks mom, you're the best! 
The plan so far is to ride to Tulsa for the night and tomorrow ride to

Mike had to stop to get his dry bag replaced. In his hatse when the cop was ushering us out he ripped off the seal on the top. We ended up stopping at the largest bass pro shop in the world. I think it is the single coolest/largest store I have ever been in.
We stayed the night in Tulsa enjoying the fact that we saved ourselves a day and a half to enjoy other places because we rode about 1450km today and 750km Monday.

Day one (Toronto to Ohio)

We left at around 11:30 this morning hoping to stay out of traffic and have a nice easy cross at the boarder. As we were nearing the Niagara falls exit Mike and I decided to cross at fort Erie instead. The drive to Fort Erie was nice but the wait at the boarder was much longer than crossing at Niagara. Lesson learned.
After we crossed the boarder I turned the iPod I brought specifically for GPS and it didn't get a signal. Mike tried his GPS but it was impossible for him to see it in the sunlight and it didn't have Bluetooth so he couldn't hear it in his helmet. Shit!  So we ended up half guessing the route by road signs. I knew out first stop should be around Columbus, Ohio. We made it there by stopping at a few McDonald's for some free wifi. Apparently every McDonalds has free wifi.

Around dinner time we were looking for places to eat and Mike wanted to celebrate our first day on the road with a delicious burger. We ended up eating at a converted rail train. Pretty neat and the food was pretty delicious.

After dinner we figured we would finish our ride to Columbus and find a camping spot. As we got into Columbus we decided both of us could get a head start on tomorrows drive so we kept going. We called it quits for the night about 30 miles outside Cincinnati. We pulled into an out of the way spot behind a huge water tower next to corn field. Free camping! Setting the tents up in the dark was less than ideal. It's also hot as hell but we're both tired so we should sleep fairly well.

Update: According to the nice cop that came to see us we weren't going to have a good sleep. We are up at 2:45 packing all our stuff. Not even 3 hours sleep. Ssshhhhhhiiittttt! Apparently under the water towers in the states is not a good place to camp. Our plan of finding free camping obviously won't work so we will have to pay for real camp sites.

The day before "The day"

This is a blog about a trip that my friend and I are taking across the states on our motorcycles.

The route is about 11,000 km. The bikes we will be riding are a 2011 Suzuki SV650 and a 2012 Ducati Monster 696. This is my first year riding a street bike and Mikes first full year on a street bike. As of right now my experience on my bike is 7200Km and i believe Mikes is just over 8000Km.

My packing list is:

- Gears Canada Rain suit/Boot covers
- Icon waterproof gloves
- 6pr Socks
- 4pr Underwear
- Sweater
- 2X T-shirt
- Shorts
- Sweat Pants
- Tent
- Sleeping Bag
- Inflatable mattress
- MSR Pocket Rocket Stove w/2 large fuel canisters
- Camping shovel
- Camping cookware/cutlery
- Tinted visor
- Snacks for the ride

The GoPro camera i ordered from amazon which was supposed to come on Monday is now coming on Wednesday so i will have to buy another one for the trip. The plan is to leave Mississauga around 12PM and see how far we get before packing it in for our first night.