The Trip North - Day One

June 15th, 2013 - the departure date
Roadtrippin' is not the easiest when you have a trailer attached to your car, which is transporting a sports bike. I had never traveled like this before. I had been on a road trip from coast to coast, so I knew what I could expect of the ride (sleep, rest stop, food -  repeat). 17 hours? No biggie. Try 39, from LA, CA to Richmond, VA. Been there and done that.
I learned what one must be prepared for, when road trippin' in general and with a trailer.

1. First and foremost, check your tires and have a spare! What wasn't obvious to me was so obvious to others - a tire that wouldn't have survived 17 hours on the I-5 and could pop at any moment. But it looked fine to me!
2. Have a spare tire, in case a tire does pop or gets flat...who knows what can happen on the long road.
3. Learn how to change that tire. During the past months I've been reminded changing a tire is an easy process, which can save you from waiting for triple A and save you $ as well. *Note that I do not yet know how to change a tire, but I road tripped with someone who does. In the event that you do not have tire changing knowledge, drive with someone who does.*
4. Securing a motorcycle to a trailer takes time. Account for that in your travel timeline. Securing a trailer takes less time, in my experience, but make sure you have all the necessary tools and equipment to do so, such as having a tow hitch (key piece!) to attach the trailer to.

The final product.

 With a couple of setbacks that, we finally left LA, a bit later than we had planned to. The drive on the I-5 to NorCal is quite boring, as some readers know through experience. *Cue Polina's nap times* Sometimes that drive can have some excitement, such as traffic (wait, I thought we left LA hours ago...) and an accident:

Other wise, the road looked like this:

Dry land.

Vineyards.

Cattle. Cows, bulls, goats, horses - you name it, I saw it. 

Finally, some excitement...but really? City of Trees? Oh Cali!!

Then, a fire.

The brightest green I saw on the road that day! Rice paddies!

Ah, sunflowers.

Then the road was no longer dry. Now there were trees, hills, mountains and lakes! There were also stubborn deer who hung out by the side of the road, but I wasn't quick enough to photograph them. Just imagine Bambi, because I did see a baby deer.

The beautiful (and large) Lake Shasta!

Awesome Mt. Shasta!

A beautiful sunset to end a day's drive. Final stop = Weed, CA.

 

 

 

The day came to a close in Weed, CA, where people sit on bridges and look at the freeway traffic below. That is their form of entertainment. With a population of only 3, 000 people, you can't blame them. The city of Shasta is home to the original Black Bear Diner and is only a ten minute drive from Weed. So guess where I had some great tasting fish and chips for dinner!
Speaking of dinner, on the way to Black Bear Diner, instead of hopping back on the freeway, I explored the side roads, which were very dark, surrounded by tall trees on both sides, and filled with bats! Yes, bats! Bats who were hunting bugs. Bugs who are attracted to headlights. Headlights that were on my car. This chain reaction allowed me to see bats! What a day!