5 working days and 5 pack up and check shit out days and the Silicon Valley experience shall be coming to and end.

The hot springs adventure last weekend was the tops. I was the only overnight guest so had the whole place to myself after 8PM. Spent 20 of my 24 hours there either in a sauna, hot tub or the swimming pool. Soooooooooooo nice. Highly recommended, folks.

Plans from here on, you ask?

Well, short term, it’s spend time checking out Muir Woods, the Monterrey Aquarium, NASA Ames, and a few other local spots too busy to see during weekends, haul shit to Bend and get settled in-ish, play and spend time with friends for a week or so. Then fly back down here, check out the back to back comedy onslaught of Bill Burr and Doug Stanhope, wrap up last minute business and head off on the big moto trip.

Long term, no fucking idea. This has become a regular occurrence throughout life and I’ve come to accept it. GIS gigs are lean these days west of the Rockies at my level and the ‘moving somewhere ever 1.5 to 2 years for a gig’ has run it’s course. Time to settle in somewhere and make it work. Not sure where that is, but you’ll be the first to know once I get it figured.

Trip prep is going swimmingly. Got the first round of gear selection figured and will be doing some dry runs with packing and set up. Put the raising links back on and holy shit, what a difference!

(For non-motorcycle people this may get moto nerdy for a bit)

After ditching the stock rear spring and having Top Gun rebuild the dampener while installing a dandy little 7.4 kg number, the KLR went from sloppy and piggy to fun. Did progressives, a fork brace and smaller fender up front earlier to get that under control, so for around $300 the pig went from spooky to quite capable off road. Still seemed a bit low with the stock dog bones so got some risers and the suspension went from good to awesome. After coming south I figured I’d throw the stocks back on for a more manageable ride height and while it felt a little wonky it was left so. With how low it rides stock I threw the raisers back on a month ago and have re-ridden many of the routes  I found here and fuck, never should have taken them off in the first place. Handles so much more crisply and just feels better, never taking them off again. Need some stock and lowering links for your Gen 1 KLR? Got some.

In describing my trip to friends here I’m getting a lot of good little spots to check out. Refined the route a bit and have been spending spare time combing through Google maps and travel sites for more goodies to check out along the way. This is gonna be so much fun. Here is a link to the .kml files I’m building the route around. More a general idea than a set route, but something to work with. Pull them into Google Earth to check ’em out if ya wanna.

And should the summer wear on without reasonable offers of employment, the folks down here liked me so much they offered the possibility of a new contract after a mandatory 3 month layoff. This leaves the possibility of taking the summer off to do a ton of moto trips, travel, play hang with friends then come back down for another year of bitching about how I hate it and making enough $ to live comfortably on and pay down student loans.

We shall see.