Got a bus north to San Rosa where the bike is waiting for me at a dealer. Big thanks for Sgt Bilko for unloading and his cousin’s who stored it till I arrived. It was good to have the bike again after months of using public transport. I opened a slightly mouldy pannier – the voyage through tropics had put pannier lid seal to the test. The pack Arabica was undamaged. I lit up the primus and put on a brew; I was in need of strong coffee. Standing there in the Californian sunshine the bike looked great. It was parked up with a heap retired pacific highway patrol bikes. They were knackered from chasing pot smoking hippies, untaxed surfer trucks, and making daily doughnut runs to Sana Cruz. Each bike had a California Police badge, truncheon holder and about 120K on the clock. With a combine total of over 4 million miles enough to go round the earth 200 times my bike was in good company. I don’t plan to go that far, but it I could just get me to Arctic Circle and back I would be .