Home:  preferrebly on the road, temporarily in Seattle or San Francisco.

Job:  Gainfully employed doing what I do best with not quite enough vacation each year.

Bikes I currently own:  DL1000, Ducati Monster S4, SV650, DRZ400S

Bikes I have owned:  Honda Nighthawk (my first bike)

Bikes I have spent a lot of time on: 2001 Triumph Tiger (New Zealand), DR650 (Costa Rica), TT250 (Dirt bike school)

Nine years ago I moved to the West Coast with a new job in San Francisco.  I learned pretty quick that there was no parking in San Francisco!  So (with other anecdotes that I may reveal if we ever meet) I had an excuse to learn how to ride a motorcycle.  Never looked back. Currently, I reside in both Seattle (most of the time) and San Francisco (some of the time).   My motorized vehicles inlcude four bikes and a Ford E250 van.  Needless to say, I commute on my bikes year round (well, unless it snows in Seattle).  The van is to haul bikes if necessary and more often, to haul my white water kayaks (see kayak bio TBD).

My first adventure ride (more like a short tarmac tour) was on my first bike, a Nighthawk 750.  I packed up some camping gear and headed north out of San Francisco up US 1 to the Bannana Coast (an often sunny California coastal area).  I was hooked.

Year two of biking put me on a Ducati Monster.  Yes, I toured on the duc, learning what to pack and what not.  I started with some long weekend juants into the Sierra’s and stretched into more serious trips including a five day Death Valley trip and a 14 day southern cascades (Crater Lake) trip (where I did my first 100 miles on gravel, and yes, it was on the duc!).  This was in preperation for my first serious Adventure (with a capital A) trip.

After working for five years, my employer told me to take six weeks off with pay and ‘do something different’  I was told to use the six weeks or lose it! I was inspired by a one Craig Hightower , who went on these long motorcycle trips to Alaska, Baja, Western states.  He rode a Triumph Tiger and didn’t stop when the pavement ended.  I liked that idea and I wanted to go somewhere….. different….

Four weeks in New Zealand on a Tiger followed (see My New Zealand trip), followed by two weeks in Costa Rica, three weeks through the west and many more.

Needless to say, the Ducati settled back into street retirement and I found a most excellent deal in a Vstrom followed by my current favorite, the DRZ400.

Do check out my old site for all my past motorcycle adventures.  New site still getting decked out.