Sierra Nevada

I've slowed my pace quite a bit. The population of California is actually greater than Canada's so there are plenty of places to stop every few hours.

After a night in Clearlake in the crappiest campground so far, I rode to Yuba City to send a box home of stuff that I got tired of carrying plus a Burger King lunch in front of the laundromat. 

I'm having too much fun on these roads through endless hills. All the backroads are well paved and have these turn-outs every couple miles for slower traffic. I found a campsite near North San Juan, which is just east of Rough And Ready (real name). Awesome campground (find the blue dot) on the shore of a man-made lake in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. There's gold in them hills!

Eureka!

After 3 weeks less a day I made it to California.
I found a campground in Klamath where I met a couple guys from Lafayette Indiana: Marshal who rides an Indian Chief and Fred who's on a Harley Electra Glide. That night in the campground we shared a dinner that consisted of fried chicken and rum!

The next morning we had some breakfast together, rode south on the 101 for an hour and parted ways.

I spent the rest of the day driving through the giant redwood forest, and followed a road called 'Avenue of the Giants'.

Oregon coast

I drove from Mount St. Helens and stopped in Portland Oregon for groceries. When I finally got to the coast it was getting late and impossible to find a campsite that wasn't fully booked (saturday night, first weekend that school's out: my bad!). I stopped to ask a local for directions and he offered that I stay in his backyard. That's how I met George, a retired Episcopalian minister, who let me pitch my tent on his lawn, offered that I use their shower and made me some coffee in the morning.
Next day I continued down the coast towards California.

Washington

I made it to the west coast after a full day of riding from the Okanagan valley. More beautiful country and amazing roads through Washington state's Columbia river valley, then through Stevens Pass (elevation 4,056 ft) in the Cascade Mountains.
Eventually found my way to Avi's house, an old high school buddy I haven't seen in 25 years. We got together that night with friends from high school, Vinnie and Adam, to reminisce about the old days, who's doing what, etc. A great time that was long overdue. 

The next day I didn't even start my bike, but instead Avi took me on an urban hike through the hilly streets of Seattle to see the sights and a lot of blown glass. That night we went out for supper with his lovely family for bbq (big here in the states) and gelato.
From Seattle I headed south towards Mount St.Helens, that famously blew its top in 1980.

Portrait made from chocolates!

Mount St. Helens

With Avi and Vinnie

Okanagan

From southern Saskatchewan I rode to Calgary and spent a couple nights at my friend Mario's place. Beautiful house and a lovely family. We even had barbeque steak for supper. What a treat! I replaced my clothes bag for a real waterproof one and did some much needed laundry.
From there, we headed west into the Rockies. Mario rides a Harley Road Glide 1700 cc. We stopped at Lake Louise for a break then had lunch in Revelstoke. It was cold and rainy for most of the way until we got to the Okanagan valley. At least I got to test my new bag (this one is really waterproof :-)).
We set up camp in Peachland (real name) and used it as a base for day rides around the lake and area. Fresh fruit, wines and beautiful scenery. The roads are great fun to drive too: full of twists and turns, but it makes it hard to enjoy all the views!

Lake Okanagan

Lake Louise

Roadside attractions (large and small)

Curious things seen along the way...

Lenin in Seattle!

Ghandi in San Fran

An actual London bridge moved to Lake Havasu City, AZ