A long way away, with only one pair of spare underpants

Well, here I am in a bar writing my blog. In a way I had always imagined that this was the way my life would pan out, sitting in a bar somewhere with a beer - High Sierra Pale Ale in this case - earning my living...

Yes, you've worked it out, I'm in the US. Specifically in San Francisco, one of my favourite places in that great country. Sadly I'm not wriring this in Specs, my favourite bar here, because the light is just too bad in there. Never mind, this place is okay too down here by the Embarcadero.

So, I hear you ask, what are you doing in a bar by the harbour in San Francisco, Bear? Why aren't you in the office like everyone else? How come you get to goof off and drink High Sierra while the rest of us are, like, working?

Oh, the load of sheer jealousy I hear in those tones...

Let's make it worse.

I am here to ride a bike, of course. I collected it a few days ago in Los Angeles and I rode it up here by way of a friend's place and the Big Sur Highway. The friend is Clement Salvadori, who is sort of the US West Coast version of me - he writes for bike magazines and puts together touring books, and he lives in a wonderful house built by his wife Sue. And the Big Sur Highway is... glorious. Imagine the GOR ten, twelve times as long and hardly broken by towns. Anyway, you'll read more of this in ARR and especially Cruiser.

Why especially Cruiser? Because the bike I've been riding is a Honda Fury.

Yep, the factory chopper that nobody could believe would be made by Honda. I won't give too much away at this stage, but let me say that I cleaned up a Cavalcade 1000 on the coast road and a BMW K1300S in the hills on it. Yes! And I'm not even quick! Oh, all right, the bloke on the Beemer was a weekend rider - at best. But it was funny watching him check the mirrors repeatedly to make sure that was really a chopper sticking to his tail! And the Kawasaki rider was trying, seriously.

I was admittedly in "light" mode chasing the BMW, my luggage back in the hotel in Monterey. Luggage? On the Fury? Well, I've got one of Andy Strapz's AA Bagz on the minuscule pillion seat, and I'm wearing a Honda backpack. That probably looks a bit weird, but it works. Mind you, I'm down to the basics: one change of underwear and the smallest computer I could find. Plus cameras, maps, Old Bloke stuff like glucosamine tablets and a light jumper to wear under my Tiger Angel Guardian suit when I cross Tioga Pass in a couple of days - it was snowing there when I last looked.

Yesterday.

But I'll fill you in some more when I get to the other side - and the 44 degree temperature of Death Valley...

Here's to motorcycling.