Girl Meets World On A Yamaha FZ-07, Part 1

Tiff and I met at the track, where she races her Ninja 250 with more enjoyment and positivity than anyone else on the grid. When Tiffani got word that she’d be getting laid off from her job in Los Angeles, she didn’t fret. In typical ultra-optimistic Tiff style, she saw it as an opportunity to hit the road on her newly acquired Yamaha FZ-07. What follows are Tiffani’s reports from the road, originally posted for her friends on Facebook but shared here with her permission for all to enjoy. — Ari Henning

So, if you don’t know who I am or what I’m doing here, my name is Tiffani, I hail from lovely Los Angeles, and I ride, race, wrench, eat, sleep, breath, dream about, day dream about, and basically just all around live motorcycles. Before I was a motorcyclist (theoretically, I existed in this form at some point), I was an artist, a hardcore gamer, and an all-around socially awkward nerd. Now I’m just all of those things at the same time, which is decidedly much better. Now, on to my adventure!

Day 1 of being a high-functioning motohobo: Camp secured. Death Valley is weirdly beautiful for a place so desolate, and weirdly full of flowers for a place that calls itself Death Valley. Other moto-camping people I've run into so far all give off friendly track-day people vibes, so I feel pretty good about this so far.

Monday morning I rolled into Vegas and got some real food (including pie for pi day—don't judge me.), then spent the night at my friend Sam’s. I hung out a bit the next day and then headed out towards Zion midday.

Unfortunately, when I finally got to Zion, the campsite within the park was already full. But fortunately, the lady at the desk recommended a free campsite maybe 10 miles or so down the road. I turned around and headed up towards a selection of wilderness campsites at the end of a heavily rutted dirt road. Yay.

After a small "don't be a bitch" pep talk with myself, I rolled down to a camp spot and set up. It was a little rogue and had no sheriff presence, which was a bit unsettling as my solo self, but there was a cute little creek and I didn't want to keep looking. Made dinner boiling some water from the creek, explored a bit, then made it through a long night of cold and wind.

I’m going to explore Zion for real today, possibly stay overnight at the actual camp ground if I can, then off to the petrified forest in Arizona!