Turkey Day Runaway - A Non-Traditional Thanksgiving Photo Journal

When life throws you a curveball, leave the stadium.

Though you probably won’t find that on a motivational poster, sometimes a getaway is all you need.

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This time I'm armed with the trio of my VFR1200, my usual orange tent (sans its notoriously leaky rain fly), and a DSLR that still won’t autofocus. I ran away for the holiday, so for a few moments you can run away too -- hopefully on company time.

As is now the custom, all captions/descriptions limited to 140 characters or less, Twitter-style, since modern attention spans are oh look, something shiny!

Let’s roll.

Is there a link to this photo journal?

Most trips start at home. Sometimes they end there too, depending on what substances you’ve been abusing.

This one started very early.

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Everyone loves PCH. The 7th gen VFR…not nearly as universally loved.

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And on the 7th day, there was scenery. And Brian said “behold, it is good.”

*Frowns at blasphemy meter reading*

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This seal is definitely not the kind that killed Osama Bin Laden. It might not even be seal for all I know.

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If you live in one of those places where it’s cold and snowy in the winter, you’re doing it wrong.

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Randomly picked Carrizo Plain as a desolate place where I could camp in peace. Correct on both counts.

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5 miles of sand and dirt on a 620lb streetbike is Very FaR. See what I did there???

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If you’ve read any of my other RRs, you’ll be stunned to hear I drank some Fireball and watched the sun set. I’m a creature of habit.

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Sun set, moon risen, tripod erected. That word never makes me snicker – that would be immature.

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Even though the guys are crazy, even though the stars are blind…

If you show me your 7th gen baaby, I’ll show you miii-iiine

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Shoutout to Patrice in Finance who makes everyone Wear Purple on Wednesday.

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Two captions ago I inadvertently admitted that I know the lyrics to a Paris Hilton song. Hopefully this photo will distract you.

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Day 1 Map:

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More to come.

vguy

Is there a link to this photo journal?

It'll be posted here as soon as I finish each post. Probably will take about a week.

Oh look shiney! Perfect.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Got up early the next day. It was cold. How fun.

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I hated this road so much yesterday I decided to try it again in the dark. Genius.

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Walked out onto frosty Soda “Lake” for sunrise. It was 26 degrees. Did I mention it was cold?

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Thumbs up if you’re freezing to death!

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There are no marmots here. This is unacceptable.

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Why did I wake up so early again? Oh yeah, there it is.

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All joking aside, Carrizo Plain National Monument is cool and empty. Go there.

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Time to go. And by go I mean plug in my heated suit.

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I’m addicted to McDonald’s breakfast. Cardiologists everywhere are licking their chops.

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Pounded pavement and spent the rest of the day shredding Mulholland with a million speeding sportbikes. And this “Lotus.”

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Then to CoCo Ichibanya for Thanksgiving dinner. Later I’ll have fun shitting up my buddy’s bathroom.

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Went to bar in LA. ‘Hawks pummeled Niners in SF. We got drunk. Wowzers.

Day 2:

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Still plenty more to come.

Waiting........ :beer:

Impatiently :tongue:

Another RR and as usual, a fantastic start to an anticipated finish. Thanks always for sharing. Waiting for more..... :beer:

My buddy Kyle lives here. The lowercase i threw me off so I let the bike idle for about an hour before doing a huge burnout.

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Then it was up the Angeles Crest Hwy, which, inexplicably I’d never ridden before. It was nice. Like “Katy Perry’s tatas are nice” nice.

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Having tea and looking down on LA. Come to think of it, I’ve always looked down on LA.

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Mount Wilson. I think I had an ex-girlfriend who did that.

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And, speaking of exes, this is a series my former spouse wrote. I’m too cheap to buy a new mug, and too nice to terrorize her Amazon page.

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There may have been corners. I may have been speeding. I may like tatas.

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Random marmot photo because I can!

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Mt. San Jacinto for the night. Thanks to my hillbilly neighbors, I got to hear plenty of Skynard and AC/DC. Ahhh, to be one with nature.

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Either trying to stay warm or getting ready to kill some hillbillies. Maybe both.

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Day 3:

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Still more to come.

Brian you have set the standard for these ride reports - short snappy text, heaps of gorgeous photos, marmots and maps.

Down into Palm Desert for Mickey D’s breakfast. Bye-bye footpeg feelers.

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Fighting the urge to drop some acid or eat some shrooms. Did laugh at some weirdos filming a music video. Or a porn, I’m not sure.

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This is a cactus. I suggest you don’t let it catch on the side of your backpack, which will tear open and your 250mm lens will fall out.

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I swear to god I rode through JTNP and when I left, I didn’t know what a Joshua Tree looked like. I still don’t. Okay Google…

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If they didn’t have gas in Amboy, I’d still be out there walking. This motel is, um, no longer in business.

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If you add up the max temperatures the last 3 times I rode a motorbike through here prior to this, it equals more than 350 degrees.

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Just about cleared this guy out while definitely not going over 100mph. He stayed around to investigate.

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If only my re-flash had removed the top speed limiter…

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I went looking for a backcountry campsite. After getting stuck in the sand 3 times, I gave up. Rehab is for quitters!

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On a whim I hustled up to Dante’s View for sunset. There was a view, but I dunno who Dante is.

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Proof of view.

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Furnace Creek for the night. Could’ve made do with an actual furnace.

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Day 4:

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:lurk:

Another great vacation, thanx for taking us along.

Whens the next one? :smile2:

cruzinaz

Another great vacation, thanx for taking us along.

Whens the next one? :smile2:

Thanks. Uh, whenever I get some time off and some gas money.

You could vacation for a living but that might ruin it. Enjoyed it.

Fantastic!!! And the colours in this last few pics, wow!!

Tnx man! Safe riding.

C

Basically every picture here needs to be a VFRD featured gallery photo at some point. Thanks for sharing!

Like the night&stars shots

What settings do you use (aperture, ISO, seconds opening)?

Dutchy

Like the night&stars shots

What settings do you use (aperture, ISO, seconds opening)?

Hey Dutchy, all the ones here were shot at 30 seconds, ISO800 (because of the moon lighting up the landscape, without that I'd probably use 1600 with long exposure noise reduction), and f/4 because that's as wide as my cheapo 18-55 lens goes.

Nice pic's Bro... Don't know how I missed this one... I guess my friend never told me that he went on a short trip... :goofy:

crazybrother

Nice pic's Bro... Don't know how I missed this one... I guess my friend never told me that he went on a short trip... :goofy:

haha well, it was impromptu, to say the least. Came up with the idea and left 48 hours later. I'm always on standby.

Wonderful shots, Brian - each photo tells its own story. Although I love my 800, your shots of your bike caught it from every good angle; and it hit me that time has really been good to VFR1200. Thanks a bunch!

sedgett

Wonderful shots, Brian - each photo tells its own story. Although I love my 800, your shots of your bike caught it from every good angle; and it hit me that time has really been good to VFR1200. Thanks a bunch!

You're welcome, glad you enjoyed. And congrats on your new 800...every time I see the one at my local dealer I think about a trade-in...

Very Fun Reading!!!! sorry- i know - cheesy........ .

It would be amazing to see your photography in action at the TMAC event....... ask Baileyrock to free up some funding and have him bring you in for the event. He might even have gas money for you !! You might even find a Marmot or two...... or a hillbilly - same diff.

Awesome RR's and thanks for sharing them.

KanadianKen

Very Fun Reading!!!! sorry- i know - cheesy........ .

It would be amazing to see your photography in action at the TMAC event.

Haha cheesy is ever-present here in wine country.

I tried to swing a work trip that would've allowed me to go to drop by TMAC (my only dragon run was on a 1984 GL1200 lol), but I couldn't make it work.

No way I would object to being brought out there though...I like your thinking. And I like shooting hillbillies!

Great shots, although I'm sure you already know that.

Sometimes more pics, less text is a nice relaxing way to go on a virtual trip with someone.

Cheers.

Okay, the photography is awesome. I ride a VFR and also tote a "real camera" much of the time. Great to see pics taken with something other than a smartphone. You have skills. What are you shooting with, btw?

indianagenius

Okay, the photography is awesome. I ride a VFR and also tote a "real camera" much of the time. Great to see pics taken with something other than a smartphone. You have skills. What are you shooting with, btw?

Thanks man. All of these were taken with my old (circa 2010) Canon T2i with the standard 18-55mm kit lens (that of the "no longer autofocuses" fame). It's a terrible camera that's been beaten to death hiking, dirtbiking, and being dragged around the world -- and is now going in the dumpster. 6d will take its place in the tankbag -- look for marked improvement in future riding photos. Yee-haw.

I shoot everything raw and do my HDR stacks with Photomatix Pro 5. Everything else I run through a pretty standard Lightroom/Photoshop workflow.

Thank you. And people here think vacation USA is just theme parks, movie stars and Vegas. I am now educated. Stunning.

Great ride report,thanks for taking us along. HONDA should have used your shots to promote the 1200. You would have made Honda a boatload of money.

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All can say is wow.

Wanted to thank you after the fact for mentioning some of the places in this post. I got a chance a week ago to ride the Carrisa Highway (58) which has some fun parts, skipped past the Plain (105 degrees too hot for this white Canadian), and headed over to the 155 to Kernville which is an absolute gem of a road. I'll have to go back later in the day or early in the morning sometime to see the Carrizo Plain and the petroglyphs.