Day 6 - Burns, OR to Marysville, Wa via Salem, OR. – 551 miles
View GPS tracks of Day 6 in Google Maps
Heading down to sea level.


Got up and had the obligatory motel continental breakfast. At least they had peanut butter. Blasted across Oregon. Started making good time, but then lost it when stopped for construction. I saw a Bumper sticker that said “Need Less”. Got through Bend and decided to get gas at Sisters. Should have had a bathroom break in Bend. Man those 20 miles to Sisters were excruciating, I kept looking for a big bush to hide behind. Finally I found a gas station to take a break at. From there it was a fun sprint over the north Santium Highway to Mill City, OR. The Mountain Edge café was a checkpoint on the Grand Tour. It was a piece of Americana. The café is owned by a family. The girls were cooking and waiting tables. They had family members visit; it seemed they hadn’t seen each other for ages. The woman visitor was pregnant, and the father was a young Iraq veteran. At one table was another woman that had brought her retired mother to have pie together. My food was good too. It was a neat little place to come across.
By now my bike and I were getting anxious to get home. Get home mode. I continued west over to I-5. I could see both Roger and Doug’s houses pass by on my GPS. I felt guilty for not stopping. It was still the middle of the day and I assumed they were busy. But I should have stopped. Heading north on I-5 I saw Harley skid marks and investigation paint on the road in Wilsonville, OR. The weekend before there had been a huge pile-up of Harleys riding in formation. Not me, I am flying solo.

My next checkpoint was up in Pe Ell, WA. I took a little detour off of I-5 to the west at Vader, WA. I found some cool twisty roads here. And I saw the strangest thing on my trip. A camel. I fly by this field and out of the corner of my eye I spy a camel. I thought why would there be a camel out in a field? I still don’t know why. I did stop to take a picture. A camel, now I have seen it all. I stopped at the café in Pe Ell. It is a neat 40’s style diner inside. I’ll have to go back and check out the food sometime.
From there I cruised up I-5 to home.

Wheewww…. 2793 miles total. I rode through WA, OR, ID, WY, UT & NV. Thankfully before the trip I cleaned the air filter and changed the oil. I finished off my back tire. I was able to see lots of cool scenery, new roads and met great folks. I was able to push my own distance envelope safely and comfortably. I really enjoyed seeing the gang in Baker City. I also enjoyed the scenery every day. Utah was pretty neat I will have to go back that way sometime. It’s amazing what you can find riding a motorcycle!

The End


View Photos from this trip

Baker to Bonneville Day 5

Day 5 – Salt Lake City, UT to Burns, OR, via Bonneville – 584 miles
View GPS track of Day 5 in Google Maps

The night before I had used one of the motel’s computers to do research on Bonneville. Jeff M had sent me a link with great information. I saw that the Salt Flats usually open by 7 AM. So my goal was to get there as close to 7 as possible. I got up at 5 AM (I am not a morning person and had been up late) and slabbed it west to Bonneville. There was a huge Harley sponsored ride following a pony express route, many many Harleys headed to Sacramento. I passed a lot of them. I arrived at 7 AM Pacific time. Dohh.. it was 8 AM Mountain time. But it turns out that was early enough as folks were still preparing for their runs.

This was an amazing experience for me. I still have my Dad’s old Hot Rod magazines that I used to read when I was a kid, that have pictures and tell the story of land speed records and attempts by folks like Craig Breedlove and Art Arfons. It was cool to be at the location where so much speed history has occurred. Since there were so few folks out there I didn’t get charged a fee to get on the salt. I first went out to the pits. I was shocked to find that you could walk freely from pit to pit and rub shoulders with these guys. I was able to get close enough to touch the engines of cars. I was able to talk to guys on the teams, one the guy that did all the electrical; because I had leathers on he thought I was the rider of a 500mph jet bike. Another was the father of the driver and a crew member of the Mormon Missile. This father was very proud of his son, said he built the hopped up Duramax diesel motor for the car. The father related the story that when the driver was young he and his brother used to fly around on Honda XR75s. They used to jump across the road from ditch to ditch so much he considered putting up a warning sign. The car was idling and sounded great. They were pouring buckets of ice into the intercooler to cool it. They were also putting the body panels on; it was getting close to time to go.

I also spent some time in the Speed Demon pit to look at their car. The switched from the 8 cylinder motor they had made a record with to a 4 cylinder Mopar. They were waiting for a transmission to put into the car. These crews were interesting to watch. Speed Addicts, intelligent folks with long histories of trying to find out how to go very fast. They also reminded me of NHRA mechanics I have seen, able to thrash at a moments notice and respond to almost any issue as they come up.

Also in the pits was a motorcycle with a turbine engine, and a snowmobile that were planning on making record attempts.

I saw the Mormon Missile driver getting into his driving suit to make a run. I had been warned that they lock down the course when a run is made. So I jumped on my bike and headed over to the spectator area. This was an area at approximately the middle of the speedway at 5.5 to 6 mile. It was fun to ride on the salt. It was very easy to ride on and it would be fun to see what the top speed of my bike is. ;-) When I got to the spectator area I met two hardcore land speed racing fans, almost groupies. Also a Frenchman on business was there. One of the fans was from Minnesota and had driven his white 1955 Fairlane to the salt and had recently had it up to 120mph on the salt. He felt that speed was his drag limit. The other fan was from Colorado and had a rusty old Subaru. He had a huge lens on his camera. These guys were fun to listen to, they new incredibly detailed facts of recent speed runs and enjoyed sharing their knowledge with us. They both had radios on so we could hear when the course was closed, and actual speed numbers as they happen. It got kind of slow out there, all you can do is wait for the car and track to be ready for a run. I am glad I brought sunscreen as the salt really reflects the sun.

Eventually the Mormon Missile made its first speed run. You could hear the car spooling up and shifting before you could see it. Then it streaked by, very fast….. I heard them call out on the radio 355mph. Later it started its backup run. But in accelerating the turbo spun up and the boost caused the wheels to spin and the car spun out. But the crew pushed the car back and another attempt was made. This time it went through the traps a bit slower but a record was made at 341 mph, and I was there. :-)

Here are the records set during the week:
World's Fastest Motorcycle, BUB 367mph
World's Fastest Snowmobile, ~205mph
World's Fastest Hydrogen Powered car, Ohio State University 303mph
World's Fastest single-engined Diesel, Mormon Missile 341mph
Top Speed 425+ running just a small block, Speed Demon SEE VIDEO
200mph Jet Bike, Mike Carlton.
http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.php/topic,6381.0.html


It was afternoon and I needed to get as far north as possible today. So I rode off of the salt into Wendover to use a car wash to get as much salt off of my bike as possible. Then I headed east on I80 to Winnemucca. Along the way I really started to get fatigued. My late night and early wakeup was catching up with me. So at Elko, NV I pulled off looking for some grass to lie down in. I found some at a Casino just off the exit. I tried to find as inconspicuous a spot as possible, hoping that a security guard would not notice me. I took my rolled up Gerbing liner with me to use as a pillow. I put my earplugs in and tried to sleep. I don’t think I actually slept, but I did get rested after lying there about 20 minutes. I then went down the street to a Wendy’s for a lunch of chili. After the rest and the food I was good to go, feeling refreshed.

At Winnemucca I headed north toward Oregon. This is very desolate high desert area. A place you can really make up time. After seeing one of the largest deer at dusk, I took it a little easier. Late at night rabbits kept trying to commit suicide, running across the road in front of my bike, stopping a the last second. One didn’t stop fast enough. I did get a late night Iron Butt type experience, riding through a moonscape in the dark. All I could see was what was illuminated by my headlight. I rode for an hour not seeing any lights or a soul. Kind of eerie. I ended up arriving at Burns at 10PM. After I checked in a very loud fire alarm siren could be heard across the whole town.

Go to Day 6 of 6

Send email to Jeff

Baker to Bonneville Day 3 and 4

Day 3 – Baker City, OR to Burley, ID via Nampa, ID – 451 miles
View GPS track of Day 3 in Google Maps Notice the chart has elevation and speed data. After clicking link, drag your mouse over the chart.

Next day we met for breakfast. It was even better than the day before, as it was free! Keith J. was generous and bought it for us. I owe you one Keith. I rode south to another checkpoint at Horseshoebend, ID. Along the way I saw a crew hydro seeding and wondered if grass would grow on my helmet. ;-) I had considered going to the Bignasty Hillclimb, but when I got to Horseshoebend I found I didn’t have enough time left, losing an hour to the Mountain time zone. So instead I decided to ride the best twisty roads in the area. I rode up through Garden Valley to Lowman, ID and then down to Boise through Idaho City. Brian and I had ridden this last year. I then proceeded to a wedding in Nampa, ID. I had sent dress clothes with my daughter so I changed so I didn’t look like filthy biker scum. ;-) I tried. My daughter and the trio she sang in did great. I also got to meet my daughter’s fiancé’s family. After the wedding reception, I quickly changed back into my Blackbird persona said my goodbyes and got back on the slab for a few hours. It was getting late at 7pm but I wanted to get as far south as possible. I made down to Burley, ID.


Day 4 - Burley, ID to Salt Lake City, UT via Dutch John, UT. – 556 miles
View GPS track of Day 4 in Google Maps Wow, look at the elevation changes.

My goal today was to pick up the Grand Tour checkpoint in Dutch John, then get as close to Salt Lake City as possible. I had seen a post on the email list that Pete Springer had just been at Bonneville and there was a chance that some record attempts might still be going on during the week. Brian had helped me form a nice route through Logan, UT. There is a cool twisty road that heads east out of Logan, really cool. Took it easy in construction areas and it was a good thing as I came across a black Chevy Cobalt that had radar blasting. Whew that was close. The pass drops down on Bear Lake which is an incredible aqua color. Then I stopped by Kemmerer, WY, which has the mother JC Penney store. Then on to the Flaming Gorge near Dutch John, UT where the checkpoint was. Wow the gorge is beautiful with red rocks and a huge lake. The twisty roads were awesome. I stopped for a photo op and a break at the end of the gorge. I kept hearing voices, sounded like a couple guys talking to each other. I thought maybe someone was camped near by. OK, I was tired after riding all day, but I was starting to think my brain was playing tricks on me. So I pulled my helmet off and my earplugs to get a better fix on the location of these voices. I walked around and the sound didn’t change. Doh! My cell phone in my jacket pocket plays mp3s and had been playing a radio station podcast. I guess maybe I am sane. ;-) I got to the checkpoint, the Red Canyon Lodge, and had dinner, Smoked trout bruchetta. Yum, yum. At that stop I had put my camelback on the back rack of my bike. Well of course I forgot to put it back on. I rode up the road a ways and realized it was missing. I went back to the lodge and the store manager came out with it, knowing I might want it. That was nice of her. It was getting late and I needed to head west fast. I backtracked over the awesome twisty roads back to I80. Then I slabbed to Salt Lake. A cold front was hanging over the area and in the dark it got down to 38 degrees. My bundling and electrics are only good for about 48 degrees, so after a few hours of this I was ccoooollld… But in the end I made it to the west side of Salt Lake City. That way I didn’t have to deal with any traffic in the morning.

Go to Day 5 of 6

Baker to Bonneville Day 1 and 2

Baker to Bonneville 2009

A tradition I have enjoyed for years is to ride with the Devlins and SABMAG friends in Baker City at the end of September. The weather is great at this time of year in Eastern Oregon. I had been dying to take a long ride. I had 3 days of vacation burning a hole in my pocket. Last year we did not have a get together in Baker as Devlins had moved after their ride around America. But Jim has moved back and they scheduled the ride again this year! Also my daughter was singing in a wedding on the Sunday after the ride, down in Nampa, ID. I have also been riding to the Rose City motorcycle club Grand Tour checkpoints this year. Since I was already going to be this far south I thought it would be fun to pick up the Horseshoe Bend, ID and Dutch John, UT checkpoints. During the trip I realized I could stop by Bonneville along the way.

This was a great opportunity to meet again with awesome riding buddies, ride some of my favorite roads, and find new ones. I also was riding farther south and expanding my envelope. I am an Iron butt wannabe and want to continue to learning my limits. This trip would be long days through beautiful country. I ride a 1999 Honda Blackbird CBR1100XX that I have modified to be comfortable for Sport Touring. I was comfortable on it for long days.

I have included map links from everytrail.com. I was able to upload tracks from my GPS. Some of the tracks include speed and altitude charts. The track data has been edited. ;-)


Click on the picture to see my GPS track in Google Maps



Day 1 - Everett, WA to Baker City, OR - 412 miles
View GPS track of Day 1 in Google Maps

On Friday I worked a half a day and then slabbed it to Baker City, OR from Everett, WA. It was about 400 miles. It was kind of a boring run with some traffic on I90 before and after Snoqualmie Pass. But a day on a motorcycle beats working! :-) I arrived at Jim and Penny’s friends, Keith and Paulette’s in Baker about 7pm. Everyone was out in the garage playing ping-pong. The garage was cool, Keith has a workshop at one end, and the garage was full of dual-sport bikes. We all talked and had fun. Then we had pizza! Others had their refreshments, while I continued to drink out of my camelback. We all had had long days so we called it a night fairly early, well I did at least. Thanks Keith and Paulette for letting a bunch of rowdy bikers party at your place!


Day 2 - Dooley Mountain Highway, Unity, Austin Junction, Ukiah, Granite, Sumpter, and then back to Baker City, OR. – 239 miles

View Day 2 tracks in Google Maps

Next morning we met at the Oregon Trail for breakfast. That place has not changed for years. They always serve great food, and the staff is awesome! Jim led us out of Baker to Dooley. It was kind of surreal here, as the group was almost the same crew that had ridden together a few years ago in this area when a car had crashed into a couple of us. It was great to have Don with us; he was driving in his motorcycle like Miata. Dooley is a twisty snake of a road. It was fun as usual, Jim, Rob and I riding the pace. I appreciate the safe pace that Jim set. We had good safe fun. ;-) We took a break at the Unity Reservoir as we have for years. Just after Austin Junction we turned on the Long Creek road. This is a fun road too, twisting along Long Creek of course. We turned north on 395 and had lunch in Ukiah in a convenience store. It was kind of weird sitting next to racks of candy and foodstuffs within reach of the table. We met Brian who had ridden down from Seattle.

Then we Uhhh… blasted the twisties from Ukiah to Sumpter. We were able to rock and roll on these roads. At one point I noticed I had gotten a little bit ahead of Jim. I thought, now is my chance, maybe I can lose him. ;-) Once I got a few corners ahead I was out of site. He was still charging, sure he would catch me around the corner. I don’t think I was going much faster, just hidden around the corner. I had been watching for Bob, he said he might meet us at Granite. Well I saw him and another bike at a turnout, back away from the road a bit. I pulled in to meet with him. I also met his friend Josh. I stop to say Hi, and then Jim flies by. We think he would be right back, but he was still chasing Jeff. :-). We headed up the road and found Jim stopped along a straight stretch. When we left I rolled on hard, hoping Jim would take the bait, but noticed instead Penny very close in my mirrors. Man that R6 is fast! The road between Granite, OR and Sumpter is awesome, one of my favorites. It reminds me of riding a dirt bike in a tight trail. We stopped and took a break in Sumpter.

Then we headed back to Baker for a barbecue at Keith and Paulette’s. Lots of good food, stories, lies and theories given. Paulette brought out some awesome cobbler! It was a great end to an incredible day!

Go to Day 3 and 4 of 6

View Photos from this trip

Baker to Bonneville 2009

Page 5, More bikes and return to Yokohama

As it was afternoon at this point it was time to head for Yokohama. We decided we would take some of the toll expressways to make time. I am glad we did, because one was the Skyline expressway. It is a nice road that climbs and drops and climbs forested mountains near Mt. Fuji. You could see places where Drifters have been practicing. At one stop we had a good view of Lake Ashi, one of the 5 lakes of Mt. Fuji. Incredible views were in every direction. We dropped down out of the mountains, through a town and back on to the expressway. Wow, you go through toll booths on these expressways, and a few miles down the road is another toll booth. I had told James I’d pick up all the tolls, but at one point I said half joking “how many more toll booths are there?” I think between the both of us the tolls were at least $40 bucks from Mt. Fuji to Yokohama. The roads were great and the expressway bypasses the congestion in towns. It was worth it to me.

One feature of the toll roads is huge rest areas. They have the normal bathroom stop, but include restaurants, outdoor booths selling food, convenience stores, and even a gas station. We stopped at one; it had a kind of carnival atmosphere to it. And literally hundreds of people stopped at it. We also saw a very large selection of bikes that had been out riding that day. I saw lots of Japanese bikes we don’t get in the US, Moto Guzzis, Ducatis, BMW, a couple Harleys, custom scooters, and some cool two stroke sport bikes. I like the sound of the two stroke square 4 Suzuki RG500, very cool. We got something to eat, James got the Burrito hot dog, I got the minced chicken on a stick.

We headed toward Yokohama on the expressway. The traffic was heavier than in the morning, but no worries this is Japan, we just lane split. It was an odd sensation to see brake lights come on all around me, but I just followed James between cars and didn’t slow down. It became quite natural to do this.

We eventually made it back to Yokohama and James stowed the bikes. Thanks to James for an awesome ride. He is a great tour guide. That helped a lot to; I just trusted where he was taking me and just followed along. All the while I was soaking up the scenery.

From there I walked back to my hotel and picked up my luggage. I took a train and then the subway up to the Asakusa region of Tokyo. Of course I rode the subway the wrong way, but thankfully I got to my Ryokan in time. The next day I spent as a tourist in Tokyo. I took the subway down to Yoyogi park to see the park and the Meji shrine. Then I came back to Akihabra, and the Ueno motorcycle mall. I took more pictures there and explored the bike shops. Then at night I went to Ginza which is kind of like Times Square in NY. Lots of lighted up buildings.

The next day I shopped for gifts, then caught my flight from Narita back to Seattle.

I accomplished all the goals I had set for the trip:

Learn more about LEAN and Moonshine from the Sensei.
I saw more and learned more than I could have ever expected. Now to apply it. I saw companies that are years ahead of us in efficiency.

Ride on a Shinkansen bullet train at 180 mph.
Wow was that cool, it is an awesome way to travel.

Absorb as much local culture as possible.
I was amazed at the industriousness of the Japanese people. Every person seems to be busy and working hard. It is their way of life. In the city they seem to work from 9am to 10pm. In walking around my hotel one morning I saw an old woman out in front of her building picking up small scraps of paper. Another woman was washing the chrome trim around an entrance door to a building. I didn’t witness any crime (well maybe some motorcycles trespassing). It is a nice feeling to be able to walk in an urban area at night and not have to worry about crime. Also Japanese people seem to truly care about one another and visitors. It felt like a big family. The goal seemed to be “get along at all costs”.

Try not to appear as an ignorant American
OK, I will be honest. That may not actually be possible. ;-) I did try though.

Ride a motorcycle on the wrong side of the road in Japan
Check. It was not near as hard as I had expected. You get used to it quick.

Don’t create an international incident.
As far as I know there are no outstanding bulletins or warrants. But we did try our best to cause an incident.

Thanks for reading my report. I hope it helps folks know more about Japan. I saw some an awesome country and some cool bikes, I had to share. It was a dream trip for me, a chance of a lifetime. I am thankful I had the opportunity!

Here are some links to video taken on the ride. Some video was shot using a camera attached to the handlebar of the bike. The rest is taken with a digital camera.

Video of riding into mountains 34MB Large

Video of mountain road riding 31MB Large

Video of lane splitting 14MB

Video of Suzuki RG500 Gamma 9MB

Video of riding in Yokohama 17MB

Link to Yokohama to Mt. Fuji Region in Google Maps

GPS tracks in Google earth













Page 5 of 5, The End

Jeff

View more of my Japan photos

Page 4, The Bosozoku

We had seen some Bosozoku riders pass by. In researching the web on Japan before the trip I had happened on to YouTube videos of some extremely flamboyant styled motorcycles with riders making all kinds of racket with their bikes. It almost seems like they are trying to play some sort of tune. What I do know is that these guys are the “rebels without a cause” of Japanese riders; unless the cause is to annoy people. ;-)

Here are some links to YouTube clips:

Bosozoku tune Bosozoku Bikes

I am concerned they might get some sort of carpel tunnel injury, whacking the throttle the way they do. When I was in Yokohama I heard packs of these guys making as much noise as they could as they rode around the city late at night. Actually I like the sounds better than loud flatulent Harleys we have around here.

We rode down the road a ways and James saw the Bosozoku stopped at a rest area. So we turned around to see if we could get some pictures. Cool another cultural exchange. Oh, I forgot to mention, these guys are basically gang members, some call them “Speed Tribe”. They hang out and cause trouble, in an anti-social way. This is out of the ordinary for Japanese, as they normally try to not stand out. Also, supposedly these young toughs are junior Yakuza candidates. I didn’t see any missing fingers though.


James explained in Japanese my fascination as a foreigner and asked if it was OK if I took pictures and video. They were happy to oblige, and actually showed off their bikes and noise. Their bikes have flashy bright colors, chrome and polished bits. They turn their turn signals skyward for style; they fold their license plates up horizontally so they are difficult to see. Most bikes have a huge padded sissy bar on the back too. One guy showed me that the gauges on his Honda Hawk were USA spec and read MPH instead of Kilometers. A couple of the bikes were two-strokes and help to fill the higher frequencies of their orchestration. The riders have a certain style too; they wear painted half helmets with a visor, vests with fur collars and brown knee length boots. One guy was sitting on the curb sipping a canned coffee drink with two fingers and smoking a cigarette, looking like a modern day James Dean. Here are a couple links of a bike revving and the tribe leaving the rest area. They got together and were blipping there throttles for a mile or so. We could hear them for awhile in the distance.

Video of Bosozoku riders 5MB

Video of Bosozoku Bikes leaving 19MB


Continued on Page 5 of 5...

I found more pictures and put a "+" sign on the additions.

Jeff

View more of my Japan photos

Page 3, Monkey Bikes and more gates

The next morning we got up folded our futon mattresses up and took off. We went for breakfast, kind of Denny's like with good coffee. The restaurant was across the street from Lake Yamanake so we had a nice view. It seemed like bizarro world to me. Everything around me reminded me of places I would ride to in the States, the lake, the restaurant, but the people, the language and most signage was Japanese. I had to keep pinching myself "I'm in freaking Japan".

After breakfast we rode down the street a bit a came across a group of Monkey bikes. We just had to stop and look at these things. A monkey bike is basically a tricked out Honda Mini-Trail. Normally these are bikes for kids, or used as pit-bikes as stock they only have 50cc of displacement. But these monkey bikes had been heavily modded out. They use larger motors some 110cc and others bored out to 138cc; the larger capable of 90mph. They put things like performance exhaust, oil coolers, disc brakes, carbon fiber, and aluminum to make them fast. Since the bikes are not stock, they are very illegal. So the riders are basically squids and they scatter in all directions when chased by the police. So these guys were on some sort of group ride, standing in groups chatting. Nice guys, they seemed pretty cool. With the monkey bikes were other types of bikes, a few sport bikes, I saw a CBR600 and a Hyabusa. A very modded scooter was with them too. It was funny to see men straddle these puny little monsters. When they took off it looked odd to me, but they seemed to be having a great time.

Today our goal was to loop around Mt. Fuji. We went around the north side first, eventually dropping down to go back east with the mountain to our left most of the day. Today we explored more tight twisty mountain roads. The roads are used for selective logging and have been paved. At the side of most roads concrete retaining walls hold the bank back. The roads usually have a concrete trough/ditch for water runoff. It is amazing how much work has been done on these roads. They are in great condition and look like they will last for many more years. As we had practiced the day before, going around gates led us to many desolate roads. James had a map with tons of squiggly roads we were looking for. He also had a GPS so we had some idea of where we were most of the time. We kept looking for roads that would take us higher up on the mountain. Sometimes the road would turn to gravel, sometimes to a soft dirt road. Both the DR and Dakar handled any condition well. On some downhill sections of road we turned our engines off. We were hoping to see some wildlife. At one stop, we saw what I think were antelope? in a field below. Then James matter of factly said, “There are wild monkeys out here too”. Like this is a normal thing. (freakin Japan). We continued our coasting but didn’t see any monkeys. We kept getting glimpses of the mountain, we were so close. Later in the day clouds kept trying to hide the peak from us.

We had gone around enough gates that we weren’t sure how to get back to the legal side. On one road we saw a sign that claimed we would be cited for trespassing, and James was hesitant. His Japanese side wanted him to not break laws, but my American side wanted to. ;-) I told him let’s keep on exploring past the sign and I will pay the ticket if we get caught. Thankfully we didn’t get caught. On the west side of the mountain we started to drop down to more major roads. But at one point we saw some troops in fatigues on the road ahead of us. So we paused so they could march away from the gate we wanted to go around. They were gone pretty quick, so we headed down to the gate. This one was pretty well blocked, we had to go down a little swale, then climb a pretty steep bank, then up over the top we got around the gate. It was easy on the dual sports, but no way could I have done this on a street bike. We started to see more riders out enjoying the day. Once in awhile a bike would pass us. I saw a bike coming up fast, it flew by. It was a twin two-stroke bike like a TZ Yamaha, and he was on the pipe. He past us just before the entrance of a corner, he just swung his leg out and flicked the bike down on the right and railed the corner. The bike sounded very cool, and the smell of bean oil was awesome. Two strokes on the street, freakin Japan. Up the road we stopped and took a little break where some fellow riders had congregated. Some came up to talk to the weird Gaijin. While standing there, some Bosozoku riders roared by. We got on our bikes and followed hoping to run across them.

Here are some video links.

Video of twisty mountain road 13MB
Video of first night’s evening ride toward Mt. Fuji 8MB

Continued on Page 4 of 5...

Jeff

View more of my Japan photos

Page 2, Moonshine Mt. Fuji Ride

James used to ride a Blackbird and is still on a forum with me. He had offered to let me ride his wife’s black Suzuki DRZ400. I am still amazed at his generosity, but that is very Japanese so I understand. He has lived in Japan for 16 years and I think it is wearing off on him. He rides a blue BMW F650GS Dakar, a very nice on-off road bike. We ended up taking an overnight loop around Mt Fuji.

In the morning we met near my hotel in Yokohama where his bikes are stored. The ride out of Yokohama was fun; it was not too hard to remember to stay on the left side of the road. I just always yelled "LEFT" in my helmet every time we pulled on to a road. We went over to his place and picked up some gear. His wife even made us some breakfast, she is also very nice. Good people. I am honored to have met them. James had mentioned that filtering/lane splitting was the norm and to be ready. This was my first experience and I loved it. Although at more than one point I did think to myself "Wow, I hope my bars are not wider than his" ;-) Between trucks and buses was close. We finally got out of town on the toll expressway. We stopped at a rest area; these rest areas are huge and we saw at least a hundred bikers meeting up. Out on the road seemed like 10 times the number of bikes on the road here. Maybe 10 percent Harley, the rest ranged from every bike made. Lots of domestic bikes, ones we can't get. Like the CB1300 SUPER BOL D'OR, I like that one. I even got a brochure at the dealer later.

After we got off of the expressway we rode up on this tiny narrow road into the mountains; turns out all the roads are tiny and narrow when not on an expressway. That is why folks drive such small vehicles. Normal American cars almost take up the whole road. But the bikes were perfect for narrow situations.

We rode tight twisty roads toward Mt Fuji. We stayed at the end of Lake Yamanakeko with a view of the mountain and the lake. After we checked in we went for a quick ride up the mountain as far as we could. The road was closed, but we just went around the sign. But maybe we should not have. Up the road we passed a bunch of military vehicles going the other way, including some Hummers. It turns out this was an area where the Japanese Self Defense Forces practice. Apparently they lob shells onto Mt. Fuji a dormant volcano. But they didn't seem to mind us so we kept going a little ways until the road was completely blocked. There must be snow on the road above that point. On our way out we went down a road that was not posted keep out, it looked like a place where tanks must practice, it had some steep sloped concrete ramps and terrain like a track. We took a small trail to get out and had to stop to lift a rope gate to get out. I looked down and saw what looked like a functional artillery shell next to my front wheel. It was about a foot long and a couple inches in diameter. It must have fallen off of a truck or something. We did get off of the mountain without being arrested though. I guess we didn’t try hard enough.

We rode back to our Ryokan (motel) and on the way stopped at a great Italian restaurant. I was looking for some protein so I had the salmon pizza, very good. Later we went to our traditional room and put down the futon mattresses and made our own beds. I was beat, very sleepy after riding in all that fresh air. We were on the east side of the mountain, the side you see from Tokyo, the next day we would ride around the mountain and see it from all angles. We saw Monkey bikes in the morning...

Continued on Page 3 of 5…

Jeff

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Page 1, Moonshine Japan Trip April 2009

At work I participated on team in a LEAN activity called “Moonshine Wars”. Teams were given processes in the factory that need improvement. Our team came up with a quicker way to drill holes in cargo floor beams. Our team won against 21 other teams from the company. Our “Grand Champion” prize was an expense paid trip to Japan for a week. We got to spend the week with Chihiro Nakao “Father of Moonshine” to tour Japanese factories. He is a teacher so we called him “Sensei”. He consults with major companies around the world (Porsche, Mitsubishi, IHI to name a few) to help them become LEAN using Japanese methods. He mentored with Taiichi Ohno. I am just amazed he spent time with a scrub like me. He wants to give back by mentoring others. He also shared with us his country's culture. We were enrolled in what was called a “Moonshine Seminar”. The term is used because moonshine runners built their stills out of readily available materials at hand; each still might have been different, but functional. Each factory we toured had Moonshine Shops, where whatever was needed on the factory floor could be fabbed up very quickly. Kind of like our garages where we prepare our bikes for trips.

To me this was a dream opportunity, a trip of a lifetime. I work in engineering, but have been interested in improving manufacturing processes. I have been a fan of Japanese engineering and manufacturing for years. I have had Suzuki’s in the past, and I currently own Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Honda motorcycles. I also have a couple Japanese cars, an Acura and a Mazda Miata. So to be able to witness products being produced in Japan was a huge honor.

My goals for the trip were to learn more about LEAN and Moonshine from the Sensei, ride on a Shinkansen bullet train at 180 mph, absorb as much local culture as possible, try not to appear as an ignorant American, ride a motorcycle on the wrong side of the road in Japan, and not create an international incident. ;-)

Before the trip, I met a new friend on a motorcycle internet forum who offered to let me ride his wife’s motorcycle for a couple days. So after the Moonshine Seminar we took a ride around Mt. Fuji on dualsports.

Our team flew from Seattle, WA to Narita, Japan, then to Nagoya, Japan

At the beginning of our Moonshine Seminar, we got some cultural training at the Inuyama Festival. This is a festival that happens each spring while the cherry blossoms are blooming. The blossoms are called Sakura and the Japanese people adore them. The have picnics under the trees at night with Sake. The festival was intense; it has been running for about 375 years in a row. It was held at the Inuyama Castle which is one of, if not the oldest castle in Japan, placed in its current location in 1573. The festival is hard to describe, so I have included a couple links. But what I saw were these tall three level floats on carts, with dolls on the top level, the next level is where the dolls were controlled, and the bottom level had young kids playing recorders and drums. This whole contraption was being pushed by a crowd of guys yelling and grunting, having to lift the cart some to steer it. They would move the cart to a gate that is an entrance to where a god is, and then perform with the doll a little play for the god. I think this was to please the god? It was an interesting festival and all age groups seemed to be seriously interested.

Info on the Inuyama Castle and Festival

Inuyama Festival on Youtube

During the week we toured several factories; Mitsubishi, the plant where the Japanese Zero was produced, Yazaki, ICM, a Toyota Motomachi auto plant, Hitachi Appliance and IHI who produces jet engine turbine blades. At each plant we walked fast while sketching in our notebooks. Our Sensei said, “No questions, look and you will know”. It was hectic, fast paced and I loved it. Lots of learning happened that week. We were treated like Rock Stars at each plant; we had buses, taxi's, trains and bullet trains to whisk us around the country. We also stayed at some of the best hotels too. We even had exposure to a traditional Japanese bath. Lots of fish for meals, all three, I even ate a fish eyeball. At the end of the week we Americans had had enough fish. We went to a place for burgers near the Tokyo Dome. ;-) Boy were they good.

Then after the working tour, I met my new friend James and his wife in Yokohama. We had dinner and made plans for the next days ride…

Continued on Page 2 of 5...

Jeff

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