Rideforsmiles, Solo Australian to Africa Europe and Beyond, starting June 26th 2011.

Cheers David we hope to get to San Diego at some point as nephew lives there, be good to catch up for a drink and a chat if you've got time.

We left San Francisco and were heading south to Santa Cruz it was only 80 odd mikes away but in the end it took us 9 hours with all the stops we made.

We rode into town and picked up the spare keys I had ordered from Dean in Bmw, that was a bonus all done it has been a little concern only to have one key that would open the panniers not that we wouldn't survive but with the patience I show sometimes Id probably take a hammer to them if they held me up for more than 10 seconds if I wanted something out of them. It was a really nice day so we headed off to do the photo op in front of the Golden Gate Bridge, it has been the first day that the bridge hasn't been totally covered in fog other than the first day we arrived so we were able to get a few nice photos and got to watch some of the Americas Cup boats in practice mode racing around the bay.












After doing that we cruised around some of the other spots we had missed on the outskirts of town and then it was on the highway towards Half Moon Bay and the famous surf spot Mavericks. Now there was never going to be any surf there but being a surfer and watching so many surf films on the place and my favorite big wave surfer of all time Mark Foo drowned while surfing there it was going to be nice to pay some respects to a surfer that inspired me to charge a little harder as I grew up.

The famous viewpoint at Mavericks



We arrived at Mavs and went for a walk around the point watching as the seals swam in the shallows looking at the surrounding area and trying to picture just how insane it must to be here when the surf is cranking.

Did the photo op at the point and then headed into town to grab some lunch, while Ev was ordering some lunch I went and had a look in the local surf shop owned by Jeff Clark the legendary soul surfer that rode the break by himself for 15 years before anyone else dared join him in 1990.

While I was in there I met Eric (Nelson) a local filmmaker who has made some of the great big wave movies High Noon at Low Tide and Twenty feet Under and was the first to shoot footage of Mavericks. Eric had stayed in Australia in Kingscliff up the road from where I lived and had some good memories of his time there so we had a good chat about Oz and Mavericks. I met Jeff's wife Cassandra in the shop but they were a littl4 busy so I took off and went back and joined Ewa for lunch.

While I was having lunch Jeff turned up so Eric came over and introduced us it was really nice to meet someone who challenged himself constantly like he must of. Surfing big waves is a pretty amazing thing to do and I have the utmost respect for the guys that do it, there's one thing about the ocean it doesn't matter how good you think you are if mother nature wants you she can take you any time, I've had my share of surfing in biggish waves in the past and when you do surf in conditions like that you aren't trying to conquer her but share in her power it really is an amazing experience and what Jeff used to do time and time again by himself at Mavericks for 15 years is top shelf stuff, a gift I'm sure he doesn't take for granted for one second, to meet him was a privilege and a honor one of the very true big wave legends.

Video on Jeff off youtube, just amazing what these big wave pioneers did and all alone for no reward, just the thrill of being one with the ocean.



Me and Eric doing the photo op together



Jeff was telling me he now sometimes rides stand up paddle bards and as I have trouble surfing now because of my injuries he was telling me to come over to the dark side ahahahah nice try buddy ahahahah you never know he reckons he surfs then out in Mavericks now, crazy stuff.



We chatted for awhile then said my good byes to Eric and Jeff and back on the road towards Santa Cruz was really nice to meet the guys, living in Byron Bay region I've had the good fortune to meet some of the great surfers, actually the car I had the accident in was former world champion Martin Potter's car, I bet he's had a few wipeouts in his time none that put him in a careflight helicopter and intensive care and in bed for a year but memorable wipeouts all the same.

Back on the road and with a few stops later we are on the outskirts of Santa Cruz relaxing, I forgot to fuel up when I left Mavericks so by the time I arrived in Santa Crus the bike was running on fumes I haven't taken it over 40 k's on reserve before but I'm guessing it was pretty damn low by that stage. We tried a few campsites but two of them were full and one was some Christian camp so we just rode up and got a hotel on the highway so all good I can do some research on where we are actually going, well we have turned inland and are heading towards Fresno and the Sequoia's

Went into the Sequoia National park today and did the General Grant and General Sherman trees they were amazing, the General Sherman is the oldest living tree apparently and between 2300 and 2700 years old. The park itself isn't as impressive as the redwoods so if you had to choose one or the other id without a doubt say the redwoods were the ones to see, it was pretty cool to see the oldest living tree in the world though.

We rode out of the park as it was just so busy, im sort of already over the crowds in the US national Parks so we ended up in a small town called Exeter not far away. The riding through the park was nice albeit a little slow but that's ok the views more than made up for that.
Tomorrow we head into the hills and ride the Sherman Pass I'm a little suss on the fuel situation with it being a 170 miles to the other side so I'll be cutting it fine on this piss poor little tank on the Gs 800 and for some reason my fuel consumption has been down a fair bit, im not sure if it's the fuel or the bike but the other day I only got 270 k's out of a tankful and I was just cruising along, I know when I hammer it I can get as little as 200k's out of a tank which really sucks, the new Gs has a 23 litre tank I wish it was interchangeable with my model but its not unfortunately.

From there we will hit the 395 and into Death Valley and over to Las Vegas, everyone's been saying it will be too hot to ride it but what's the worst that can happen if we have a problem out there, I have to set up some shade and have a drink while Ewa walks off into the desert to find us help, gawd love a, by the way Ewa don't forget a cold drink when you come back honey ill be waiting, toodaloo sweetheart.

Some of the countryside on the way to the Sequoia National Park was dry but really nice.









Boys and their toys over here in the states









Ewa enjoying America's Christmas tree the General Grant



A couple of young pups growing in the carpark, these little fellas are about 1500 years old.



Me in front of the General Sherman biggest living tree at between 2300 and 2700 years old, amazing.



The views on the ride out were pretty nice so was an enjoyable ride

Your RR is awesome as usual. After the states, are you going to Central and South America or back to Australia?

Hi Blue Im heading into Mexico by the 2nd of October then riding down through Central America to South America, I plan to be in Brazil for the soccer world cup next year so got a bit of time to get to there, im actually not even sure what month it is on but im guessing between July to September sometime.

It is scheduled to take place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014.

Cheers Blue that's nice to know it's sort of sooner than I was thinking but its ok gives me a goal to get to the bottom of South America then start heading up. I want to slow down a bit when I get down there its been a mad 6 months.

By the way we have taken a day off and I was going through my blog and realized I hadn't uploaded many or any photos for that middle section of Malawi to Egypt so have been going through and adding a few from that part of the adventure, it was the time Advrider stopped letting you just use attachments and you had to link it to another sight and it took me awhile to sort out my smugmug account.

This is what happens if you misbehave young Ewa lol



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Hey Sheldon Kiko here, what route will you take thru Mexico? Greetings from DXB

Hey mate, I'm not exactly sure id like to ride Copper Canyon. Mike the American guy I rode with through north of Africa lives somewhere in the middle north of Mexico City so plan to be in that neck of the woods at some point so if I entered somewhere in the middle it would all link up but then there is my nephew in San Diego who would be nice to catch up with and that would mean id enter through Baja and Tijuana, ill know more in the next week or two, any suggestions.

After spending a few days relaxing in Exeter a one horse town it was on to the trail of the 100 Giants Parker Pass, Sherman Pass and 9 Mile Canyon Road which would take us towards Death Valley and what a fantastic days riding it was, here's just a few photos of the day.

Ok a one horse town with no horses



An old saloon in the middle of nowhere, I guess its not in the middle of nowhere if you live around here but it was for me.



Heading out towards the Parker Pass.



Then we came across the Trail of the 100 Giants, if you are ever in this part of the world put this on your agenda, absolutely amazing, not to mention great riding around here and pretty much had it to ourselves other than a Polish couple who Ewa got talking to and one other couple, it was so nice after the other parts of the Sequoia National Park that were absolutely chocker block with people.



Lets play where's wally, can you find Ev she is in this picture somewhere.



Give up this might help

Simply amazing

Finished with the Parker Pass now its onto the Sherman Pass

Time to wind our way down the 9 Mile Canyon Road another amazing road to ride. There was a little sand and dirt on the Sherman Pass that made the ride a little tricky and kept the speeds down but with the views like they were it was all fine to go slow and enjoy all this, we only passed 3 cars in 57 miles so its a fun ride.

Mojave desert or Death Valley mmmm Death Valley it is.



Riding north along the Owen Valley I think it was.



Turning right off the 385, Death Valley next stop.

Met a couple of Ukrainian guys that live in Chicago out on a few week ride, after chatting to them for awhile at the regulation sign photo we headed up the rod and camped the night not far outside of Death Valley.

After a few beers with the boys and another couple who had been to the Burning Man festival it was off to bed with only the fly screen of the tent which made for a beautiful view of the starry sky, falling asleep watching the sky taking in as many falling stars as we could was a pretty nice way to finish off what was an amazing day, great riding fantastic scenery and very nice people.

But then it was up at 5:45 to get packed and gone to try and beat some of the heat, which worked for awhile.

Going over this rise the temp rose about 10 degrees Celsius then it was on for the young and the old.



Yeah thanks for the warning Mr Sign but in all my motorbike gear I don't need reminding.

Heading into Death Valley the scenery is beautiful actually a hell of a lot like Namibia, only in Namibia its mostly all dirt roads not nice tarmac like here..

The weather was pretty good this morning not to hot at about 38 degrees Celsius or 115 degrees so I decided Id go for a bit of a ride on my own along one of the rougher dirt tracks to have a look, well you wouldn't believe it, I go over the rise and sort of getting into it and hit some really deep soft sand and whoa the front goes the back goes I go forwards, backwards and downwards and hit the deck. It wasn't a big off, standard stuff really but unfortunately for me my foot got pinned under the back footrest so here I am trapped lying on my side with my leg pinned under the bike.

I tried to leaver it off my foot with my other leg but that wasn't going to happen on the angle I was pinned. Anywhere else this would be no problem but in Death Valley it could quite easily become a big issue with the severe heat so I settled down for a minute and did what any true adventurer would do, started screaming like a baby ahahahahah

I knew Eva was sitting just over the hill so was hoping she would hear me shouting out for her. Well luck was on our side again as fortunately I was only a little ways away from where I left her and with no other noise she was able to hear me over the hill, I waited for a few minutes and there she was walking over the rise, when she saw me under the bike lying on my side she dropped everything she had in her hands and came running to help. Together we were able to move the bike enough to remove my leg and myself form under the bike. I was fine, it was just a matter of getting the bike up off my leg and checking it out and away we went, so there you go had my 2nd small off in 92 000 k's so got to be happy with that.

It just goes to show though just how easy you can get yourself in difficult situations, I'm sure being trapped under a motorbike in the back tracks of Death Valley isn't high on the list of many adventure journals of wisest things to do lol

Back on the road again and off to one of the lowest places on earth, Badwater Basin.