“Dudes, I’m going to go on a once in a lifetime route through EEUU on a Harley Davidson. Who’s coming? ” said Cutu on our whatsapp chat. By that time, during the first months of 2019, we all realized we didn’t have the money enough to actually travel to United States and rent a Harley Davidson for 2 weeks. That would be a plan to do further on for the rest of us.

I talked to my father about this crazy plan, not expecting him to say anything about it, just to talk about the dream of doing such a trip. He turned to me and said, “ Let’s go. Who knows how much time we have left, this could be our second route together ”. He’s 68 by the way. After my first route with him in Morocco, 15 days of dusty, rainy, cold, hot and the same amount of intensity than beauty I didn’t have clear thoughts about this being a good idea for him. This kind of trips really bring up the best and worst part of you, and our plan was to make a 5,000 km route along 17 days. This actually ment a 300km daily route, without failing a single day. Every day you fail, you get a +300km to spread among the rest of the days. And not every day was going to depend on ourselves. Crazy. But if we were going to make the decision of doing this route, it would be with all we had in our hands.

A fun fact about this trip was that I was going to turn out 28 years at some point during the trip. And I would not know until I woke up that day. This was such a cool feeling, not knowing what to do, what the forecast would be, how each mile would turn up, how many places would I remember or forget, If someone would fall or get injured… Typing these feelings is making me want to go on a trip again!

All the photographs you’re about to see in this post have been taken with a vintage Canon AF35ML film camera that really caught my eye when I saw it on an internet second hand app. It has a 40mm f1.9 lens which is crazy for a cheap point and shoot camera. It cost me around 15-20€.

I always bring a small analogue camera with me on the trips I do. It kind of makes me really focus on what I want to frame and why. These cameras only have 28-36 exposures and it’s usually expensive to buy and develop the rolls but the feeling of spending that amount of money and being able to slide through unforgettable moments, landscapes and faces opens up such a powerful door to re experience those little details in the frame that I kind of think it’s the best way I could spend my money.

After talking to my dad, looking for sponsors, partners and other methods to reduce as much as possible the amount of money needed to make this trip real we decided to pack all our stuff, buy the tickets and prepare ourselves to free our minds of everything but long roads, vast landscapes and improvised road motels.

Start point: Denver, Colorado // End point: San Francisco, California // 5,000km // 3 motorcycles

One of the most valued feelings for me is the feeling of lightness. And this is something I always get when I’m riding a motorcycle, specially on long routes. You only get to carry what’s essential, your clothes become functional and you get the chance to reduce the amount of thoughts and worries that usually fill your head. Going back to a simpler version of myself has helped me take complicate decisions that usually I would’nt have been able to take. It’s like therapy. You move from a A point to a B point and you get healed on the way.

We had several intense moments during all these days of riding. We had discussions about taking decisions, sketchy road maneuvers, overturned 500kg motorcycles several times, dirt road accident (with me flying over the harley), super rainy days, epic melting heat near Las Vegas… and the list goes on and on.

Even though these Harley Davidson Electra Glide made us feel very safe. We had never ridden one of them but it wasn’t hard getting used to it, specially with the wide roads EEUU have. We had speakers to listen to while riding, radio, bluetooth pairing capability, three big secured suitcases to put away our clothes and essentials, heated grips… I mean this was just like heaven! Or that was what I thought at the first half of the trip. If you think about it riding 300km a day doesn’t sound that hard, but when it’s your 7th day doing 300km you start to really feel the weight of traveling.

I didn’t use internet during the day unless I was in a hotel with Wifi, so I had to use the music I had on my phone. One of my favourite albums I listened to during those long roads was Brontide - Artery (Album) Their instrumental music suited so well those uninterrupted roads watching all those landscapes passed by while the sound of the engine underneath me matched it all to perfection. I can’t remember the moment I put that music in my phone having Spotify, but It felt good having to not choose any song and just listening to what I had in hand at that moment. I felt like listening to that old walkman with only one tape. As I said before, keeping it simple, keeping it light.

The thing we liked the most about the route we designed and the country itself, is the inmense variety of landscapes, temperatures, tones, people and feelings. I remember the time when we drove through a nearly infinite straight firey road until we got to a spot in the Grand Canyon. There we could see so many types of layers and colors at the same time; those massive canyons embracing us, a river at our side, woods at mid range, a huge mountain with snow at the back and a clear sky to put it all that together on top of what was the start of an unforgettable 50-60km road.

Also there was a spot close to Marble Canyon (Arizona) where we had this feeling of being lost. Not because we did’t know where to go, but because the amplitude of our surroundings was so vast that we felt like small ants slowly moving across the plain. I remember driving and looking around while thinking to myself… “Imagine watching a titanic foot appearing from above and stepping just by our side. How would it sound? How would it make me feel? I’m sure just like all those little insects feel like every time we just walk by.” I mean those are thoughts that I’ve only felt in Iceland. Places that are just out of scale for what most of humans are used to.

I had this strong feeling in many other places along our route; like in Monument Valley, Avenue of the Giants, Horse Shoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, Archs National Park, Zion National Park, lost places across Utah… This country changes your perception of scale, it makes you smaller every new place you see. It’s like if someone had just maximized the geography with a pretty effective magic spell.

I find motorcycles like magic machines, they’re able to take you further and further away than you could ever imagine. They take you there as fast as you have the guts to. They help you create memories. They acompany you wherever you go. You get to create a relationship with an engine that amplifies your limits and provides you with a wide variety of experiences soaked in joy and happiness. It’s like a second heart. These are thoughts and ideas that cross my mind every time I ride, I just become aware of what I’m feeling in that moment and I can just be thankful for it.

Riding motorcycles teach you many lessons, but for me, the most important one is that it makes you appreciate the little moments before they’re gone. Think about it, you’re in constant exposure to danger and anything can go wrong while you’re on the motorcycle, but you still do it because you have faith and trust and you’re definately not going to stop living just because life is dangerous. You just get used to it.

One of the most difficult parts of the route was Las Vegas - Palm springs section, not only because our shoes where nearly melting while driving and we were breathing hot air like we had a boiling spaghetti pot under our noses, but because this was a turning point in the route, I DROPPED MY CAMERA WHILE RIDING;

My canon camera strap broke while riding at 120km/h in a highway near Las Vegas. The camera was nearly destroyed, all scratched and dented. My dad got really worried because it’s an aditional risk taking photographs from a moving motorcycle. In the highway I had to turn quickly when I noticed the loss of weight of the camera in my back, and that’s a very risky situation not only for me but other vehicles. My camera fell and the strap got stuck in the exhaust so I literally dragged the camera for 100m until I was able to slow down in the side road. I looked back through the rear view and I saw the body of the camera going round and round catapulting bits and pieces on its catastrophic manuever. It was a hard hit, it’s my profesional gear and It was almost gone, but for my surprise that evening I was able to fix it with a plier and was able to keep shooting, at least in JPG Automatic mode. That night I had it clear in my head, I had to keep on going forward leaving all the worries behind. There are some adventures that just can’t get screwed.

Cutu and I really wanted to see all that architecture from the 50’s-60’s in Palm Springs; clean, modern and minimalistic, so we spend all morning riding around watching the houses while my dad stayed in a Cafe resting. The problem was that when we finished hunting for midcentury houses we went to the Cafe and the air conditioner was at full power so Cutu went down the day after. Imagine being in the boiling 40ºC desert, with fever and soar throat + having to ride for another 300km every day. I remember him K.O. sleeping on top of his Harley when we stopped in a small cottage resort in the deep woods of Gorda, Big Sur (California). Eventhough this happened, Cutu is a tough guy, he was back to full potential a few days later.

Oh San Francisco what a beautiful city! We spent a couple of days resting and adventuring ourselves, on our motorcycle of course. What I most liked about the city was its light and the flow of history i could feel through its streets. Music, skateboard, art, this feeling of freedom in its population.

And of course Yes, we did it, the “must do” downhill zig-zagging ride of Lombard St (careful here you want to keep your mind and machine straight, a fall in this street could be pretty messy), the Golden State Bridge, Port of San Francisco and many other slopes roads and places around the city. San Francisco gave us energy to rest and prepare ourselves for the last section of the road; Big Sur Coast Highway all the way up to Avenue of the Giants in north of California and all the way back. It was a long section but it was going to be worth it until the last kilometer.

We finished the route with this.. “Dude, we nailed it” kind of feeling. Every step or decision we took, improvised or not, led us on the right way. All of us safe and sound, riding in between these enormous unhuggable - milennial trees for at least 30-40km non stop like if we were being swallowed by the woods little by little. And last but not least; What about diving in the river naked “of course”?. You can’t go to the states and not swim in a lost river throwing away your clothes while running for one of the most fresh and natural swims ever. This is for me the best picture of them all, the one that describes the feeling of freedom in the most accurate way. I remember the temperature of the water, how the trees smell, the sound of the animals around us. These are the kind of memories you really want to keep, and look for.

Everything in this universe is submitted to time and this means everything follows a cycle. Our trip finished, and that is precisely what made it that beautiful. We knew it will some day come to an end so you tried and lived it with as much intensity as possible. It’s our Motor-Cycle. A dad, a son and a friend. Each one of us riding through our interior route during hours every day, but together, sharing a plan, sharing memories and sharing a single road across a huge country. After the whole journey, in the confort of your home, your family, you understand that riding a motorcycle is pure therapy, it helps you ask yourself questions, as it helps find out answers, it clears your head from anything that is not relevant and it kind of gives you this meaning.

Below: One of the few photos taken from the three of us together. Zion National Park, July 2019.

Thank you.

P.S: Oh I nearly forgot, the best part is, WE ALL THREE GOT INKED the night before coming back to Madrid. We were buying something for next days breakfast when I saw a tattoo shop and joked “Dudes, we should get a tattoo before we go back, it’s the route of our lives come on”. They looked back at me and joked for a second but Cutu quickly said “Ok let’s do it” So we got in the shop and got inked directly 10 minutes after the joke. DEN - S.F. initials with a harley road sign and a number 1. Nice and easy. It was like a mutual agreement, we felt like we had lived the same experience and we were all in the same page, I mean, look at my dads face! That was my dads first tattoo so imagine the situation here. I guess you only live life once right? Well that was what this trip was about; L I V I N G !