SEQUIM — After 26 days and more than 5,700 miles, Jessica Berry and Stefanie Gates arrived at the 7 Cedars Casino with a successful cross-country motorcycle trip in their rear view mirrors.
Barry, of Port Angeles, and Gates, of Sequim, were greeted by dozens of friends and family members and a big yellow sign that read: “Welcome Home Jessica and Stef.”
It also said: “Biker chicks rule.”
The journey began July 22 on the Atlantic coast in Norfolk, Va.
They rode red Kawasaki KLX 250 dual sport off-road motorcycles, spending most of the time on the Trans-America Trail.
The Trans-Am Trail incorporates dirt roads, cattle trails, forest roads, gravel roads and single track trail. It’s mostly off-road with a little pavement mixed in.
Berry and Gates were not available for comment Sunday evening.
“Stef had been planning it for about a year,” said Gates’ mother, Penny Gates.
Stefanie Gates, 25, works as a paramedic for Clallam County Fire District No. 3 in Sequim.
They recently met when Gates took a patient to Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles.
Berry, 33, works as an emergency-room nurse at OMC.
The two became friends and started planning their trip.
“In spring of 2008, I decided that no matter what, I wasn’t waiting any longer and that the summer of 2009 I was riding the trail. No excuses,” Gates posted on her blog July 15.
“A ton of preparation has gone into this trip. . . . We’ve done a ton of riding, bike maintenance, gear sorting and research and are just about ready to leave.”
Berry and Gates posted daily updates with photos onto their blog, which can be viewed at www.sjrideswest.com.
From Norfolk, Berry and Gates wound their way though Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
They reached the Oregon coast on Friday and spent the night in Coos Bay, Ore.
“We’re on the coast!!!” Gates blogged on Saturday.
“WOO HOO! It still doesn’t seem real that we are here. It feels like we haven’t been gone that long, but it seems like it was forever ago that we flew out to Virginia.”
From Coos Bay, the pair rode up the coast and veered inland to Portland, where they rode into downtown Saturday.
They finally arrived at the 7 Cedars Casino shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday — two days ahead of schedule.
Jessica Berry is married to Jeff Berry. They have a 3-year-old son, Cooper, Penny Gates said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
