There it is.

The Northern States Crossing was a success.  I rode through a bunch of new states: Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana.  Made it to my Ghost Town in Montana. Fished across the country in the different states.  Camped, lodged, and wung it on my exploration, whilst staying on back roads and cruising through the small towns that make up the fabric of The United States of America.  Went from hot humid east coast days, to windy frozen mountaintops.  I saw interesting places and met interesting characters, in places that nobody sees or visits anymore, because highways drag everyone on direct routes, more expediently.  But the best roads are the two lane roads, that you can stare down forever, or wind through mountain crags, or disappear into miles of winding corn fields in the middle of farmland America, then come out through miles of lava flow.  But the best times are always the memories that stick with me the most.  Like the mama Buffalo charging me, on that scenic loop through South Dakota.  Or the surprise discovery of a grand canyon of desert shelves and cliffs falling into massive lakes, through eastern Washington.  Getting wasted in a small town, and not remembering serenading everyone, whist rolling around with my guitar on a kitchen floor.  Hanging out on the banks of Lake Eerie fishing with my buddy Pat.  Hanging out in Cleveland, making a door sign, and having guitar jam sessions on a porch overlooking abandoned buildings.  Camping behind a sign on the edge of Devils Tombstone.  Having a hawk fly right next to me.  Paragliding from the mountain tops of a ski resort in Idaho.  And so many more memories to come, and be made with friends.  

I recently had relatives move to the pacific north west, and so I was excited to see their new plots of land and locations.  Cousin Kyle lives in the panhandle of Idaho, and cousin Rian lives just on the outskirts of Seattle.  I took a slow country road from Kyle's to Rian's on the Scenic 2, which goes from Sandpoint, Idaho, all the way out towards Seattle.  I did however jump down to a highway for about 50 miles, because the roads going either way were nowhere near my destination at the hour of night I was pushing. While hanging with my family, I hiked around and got a tour of Kyles large wild acreage of land, went mountain biking with cousin Rian, and I hiked Snoqualamie Falls with my Aunt Kathy.  Got to make puzzles with my cousins, and see the cool things that the young'ns are painting, or creating, or making videos of.  And Rian was such a sweetie and took me and grabbed me from the airport when I flew to SF for Sam and Seth's very fun filled wedding weekend. So yesterday I was back on the road on a new leg of my cross country trip, this time dropping down the west coast. I decided to use the day to explore and ride through Mount Rainier National Park. Another place that my park pass paid for itself. What a beautiful park, such nice people hiking around, I had lunch at Longmire Lodge, visited the Longmire Museum and picked up a fuzzy little road buddy. My new road pet, a fuzzy squirrel puppet. 

So now I'm on the backroads heading south, and covering my old territory the west coast.  Dropping down from Seattle, to Portland, to Arcata, and seeing lots of folks and places in between and along the way.  In the meantime, in the event of making more road memories, and looking forward to seeing new things, here's to hunting down small towns and staying on those backroads.

See you on the Road. 

Thanks for reading!