13 days, 7 states, 4500 miles, and my hiney hurts.

so, after i whacked off all my hair, i set off across all the deserts on my motorcycle, along with my girlfriend. we actually had a good deal of fun doing this. i'm going to try to make a series of short posts regarding the various legs of our trip, but this one is a starter and a summary:

Deserts we crossed: (see Desert USA for a basic map)

• Chihuahuan Desert
• Trans-Pecos Desert
• Sonoran Desert
  • Arizona Upland
  • Borrego Desert
  • Colorado Desert (It's in California. WTF?)
• Mojave Desert
• Northern Mojave
• Southern Mojave
• Great Basin Desert
• Sevier Desert
• Painted Desert (by the broadest definition)

Mountain ranges we crossed*:

• New Mexico
• Antelope Ridge
• Guadalupe Mts
• Sacramento Mts
• San Andreas Mts
• Cedar Mts (as nearly as I can tell, this was the Continental Divide)
• Arizona
• Peloncillo Mts
• Dos Cabezas Mts
• Dragoon Mts
• Picacho Mts
• Maricopa Mts
• Gila Bend Mts
• Plomosa Mts
• Dome Rock Mts
• California
• Chuckwalla Mts
• Little San Bernardino Mts
• San Gabriel Mts
• Tehachapi Mts
• Temblor Range
• Caliente Range
• Coast Ranges
• Sierra Nevada
• Cathedral Range
• Nevada
• White Mts
• Silver Peak Range
• Monte Cristo Range
• Toquima Range
• Monitor Range
• Sulphur Spring Range
• Pancake Range
• Grant Range
• Egan Range
• Schell Creek Range
• Snake Range
• Utah
• Mountain Home Range
• Confusion Range
• Fish Springs Range
• Coal Cliffs
• San Rafael Swell
• Roan Cliffs
• Colorado
• Rocky Mountains (Continental Divide, again)
• Sawatch Range
• Sangre de Cristo Mts

This list format makes it seem like we crossed a lot more mountains in Nevada than we did in Colorado. The funny thing is, Colorado was ALL mountains and Nevada was mostly high-altitude desert with mountainous accents here and there. But since the whole of western Colorado is one gigantic mountain range, it collapses into "Rocky Mountains" and leaves Nevada looking like the Mountain Champion State. Not so. Hopefully, some of our pictures will bear that out, as I get them posted in the coming days. Oh, and we didn't cross any mountains in Texas. Texas has a few mountains, but they're only in the part that's south of New Mexico, and we didn't get there.

Miles we rode:

• Day 1 - Dallas to Abilene, TX: 345
• Day 2 - to Alamogordo, NM: 344
• Day 3 - to Maricopa, AZ: 457
• Day 4 - to Bakersfield, CA: 550
• Day 5 - to San Francisco, CA: 336
• Days 6-8 - farting around the Bay Area: 274
• Day 8 - to Jamestown, CA: 138
• Day 9 - to Ely, NV: 483
• Day 10 - to Green River, UT: 333
• Day 11 - to Salida, CO: 387
• Day 12 - to Dalhart, TX: 347
• Day 13 - back to Dallas: 467

National parks we visited:

• Carlsbad Caverns
• Yosemite
• Great Basin
• Arches

Other unusual sights/attractions:

• San Francisco Gay Pride Festival and Parade
• Space Age Cafe in Gila Bend, AZ
• Artesa Winery in Napa, CA
• Flying tour of Point Reyes National Seashore and San Andreas Fault, CA
• Royal Gorge Bridge in Cañon City, CO
• Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX

* As far as I can tell. Mountain ranges, especially as they're rendered on road maps, don't have crisply-defined boundaries.