California Motorcycle Trip 2006

14 August

I left Colorado Springs about 7:30 AM and headed west on US 24 for Buena Vista, Leadville and on to I-70. I encountered very cool temperatures and low-lying clouds/ fog after going over Wilkerson Pass. I had to stop in Hartsel and zip up the vents on the leather jacket and put on my cold-weather gloves. My first gas stop was Buena Vista and by then the temps had gone up enough that I could use my warmer weather stuff. Then I’m on to Leadville and Tennessee Pass before getting to Minturn and I-70. Did I mention I have an issue with heights? It’s not that this pass has precarious drop offs and the like. In fact, there are guard rails and the road is fairly wide. It’s that I just don’t like heights. I was fortunate here as I’m in the mountain-side lane so I sort of enjoyed the sights. I-70 was as to be expected, light traffic and a few work zones. After riding through the gorgeous Glenwood Canyon I stopped for gas in Glenwood Springs where I happened upon another rider. We talked a little (he was insistent about mentioning that he wanted a choice about wearing a helmet and that I join some organization promoting choice) and then I bid him farewell and I headed off for Green River, UT. The ride from Glenwood Springs to Green River is pretty much as diverse in scenery as one can get, especially the ride through the canyon area just before Grand Junction. I gassed up in Green River (now it’s hot!) and headed off for the 105 mile ride through the Canyonlands and on to Salina, UT. This stretch of road has got to be my favorite because you go through so many changes in scenery and it is a feast for the eyes. I stopped for the night in Salina at a “mom and pop” motel (the Deluxe, I believe) and enjoyed dinner that night and breakfast the next morning at Mom’s Diner (highly recommended).

15 August

I had a nice, leisurely breakfast at Mom’s Diner and then headed for points west in Nevada via US 50 (Loneliest Highway in America). I topped off the tank in Delta, UT and made my way to my next stop, Stateline Gas Stop. Again, the scenery varies enough where I wasn’t bored and, despite the name of the road, there were still quite a few fellow travelers. Again, while gassing up, I started talking to a couple of fellow bikers, one on another Glide, the other on a Vulcan Classic. They were from Oregon and heading back home after a trip to Sturgis. I told the Vulcan rider about VROC (he had never heard of us) and then headed out. The next stop was Eureka where I met up with some more bikers. This time it was a husband and wife on a pair of Harleys on their way back from California to somewhere I don’t remember. I love seeing this where a couple are sharing in the adventure and they both have their own rides. I topped off in Austin, NV after coming down the Austin Grade (yeah, heights issue again but I was on the mountain side of the road again). Now for a little traveler information here. A lot of maps don’t show it but there is a place called Cold Springs about 44 miles west of Austin on US 50. Gas is obviously pricey here ($3.59/ gal) but they have it along with a restaurant, bar (with a pool table) and lodging/ camping/ RV parking. Another 15 miles down the road is a place called Eastgate something or other. It is a gas station and it sits at the junction of US 50 and the road that goes to the town of Eastgate. It was a major brand gas station; I just don’t remember which one. This would be a good midpoint stop for those not comfortable with 100-mile stretches of no services. I got into Fallon late in the afternoon and checked into another “mom-and-pop” motel, had a good dinner at the restaurant they recommended and crashed for the night.

16 August

After breakfast at the same restaurant I got on US 95 and headed south for my rendezvous with what would be the most “exciting” day of my trip. I gassed up at Hawthorne, NV and proceeded on SR 359 to California and then SR 167 to Lee Vining. I topped off the tank at Lee Vining (to the tune of $4.20/ gal, thank you!) with Yosemite National Park as my next destination. I got on the access road to the park and went a few miles when I rounded a corner and I see this ribbon of a road climbing up the side of what was Tioga Pass. Have I mentioned my concern with heights? Well, I knew this was the only way into California for several hundred miles and I had planned this route myself so I had no one else to blame but me. I swallowed hard and started up the road. It turned out it was a wide road with plenty of shoulder and I was again on the mountain side of the road. It took all the nerve I had just the same to get up there! Just before the top there was a pull-out where I parked the bike and walked over to the edge and got a picture. Now this is where my fear of heights becomes somewhat odd. When I’ve got my two feet planted on the ground I can walk right up to the edge and take pictures and survey what I just came up on and marvel in the engineering it took to build this road. It doesn’t make any sense but that’s how I am. After mounting back up I come around the final curve and there’s a nice paved parking lot where I could have stopped. Oh well. I go through the park entrance and start the long ride through Yosemite. I never realized it was this huge! It’s absolutely breath-taking scenery and I couldn’t figure out what shots to stop and take. There was only one bad thing about this place and that was the drivers. At one point I’m riding along at the posted speed limit (45 mph) on a slight downhill section and I happen to look in my mirror. Here comes this moron flying down the road in his mini-van! Judging by his closing speed he had to have been doing about 60! There is no where to pull over or off and this clown is right on my fender! I maintain my speed occasionally flashing my brake lights in the hope he will back off a little. Nope! He stays there. Finally a wide spot came up so I pulled over as far as I could and signal them to pass. As they were going by the idiot in the passenger seat flips me off! Where DO these people come from? Then of course right behind them is a jacked-up 4 X 4 with three kids in it and they start doing the same thing! It should go without saying that as soon as I had the opportunity to get out of the park I did. I didn’t even make it to Yosemite Valley. Just as a side note here, on the way out of the park I saw the 4 X 4 pulled over by cops or CHP or whoever does the enforcement. Good! I exited the park on SR 120 again not knowing what was in store for me down the road. I stopped at Big Oak Flat for gas and to verify my directions for Mariposa. What the woman told me was that Route 49 (“Old Priest Grade”) was just a couple of miles “up” the road. In reality, California 120 (“New Priest Grade”) goes downhill at the rate of about 1500 feet over 2 ½ miles but there are no guard rails and the drop-offs are over 200 feet in places. Again, I had the good luck of being on the mountain side of the road but there was this couple in one of the new Mini Coopers who was in a hurry to get to the bottom. They, like before, were riding my rear fender until I found a spot to pull over to let them pass. This time, however, they waved when they went by. By this time I’ve had it with exciting vistas and twisties and once I got to the bottom I made a bee-line to SR 99 then stopped for the night in Atwater.

17 August

Today was going to be the shortest leg of my trip to Monterey. I had plenty of time so I slept in and then had a leisurely breakfast before heading out to Monterey. I picked up SR 140 just outside of Atwater, picked up SR 33 at Gustin, then SR 152 to SR 156 just outside of Hollister. I decided to take the business route through Hollister just so I can say I’ve been there. It looks just like any other town; I’m not sure what I was expecting. Then it was US 101 at San Juan Bautista where I ran into a parking lot caused by the highway department trimming trees along side the highway. It took about an hour to go three miles! However, there was excitement happening right before my eyes when another moron in a Toyota car of some sort pulled right up behind a semi that was hauling some steel as we were going up a hill. As you would guess the truck rolled backwards about three feet while this knucklehead in the Toyota was insisting on going forward. In defense of the truck driver, the driver of the Toyota was in his blind spot so there was no way he could see where he was at. As is the usual case in slow-downs like this when I get up to the point where the trimming crews are there are people gawking to see what is going on and then there is the “me first” mentality where people aren’t alternating the lanes to make the transition to a single lane smoother. The rest of the ride into Monterey and the Presidio was uneventful (thank goodness!). I checked in through the Franklin St. gate and proceeded on my way to the Presidio lodging. I had just made a turn heading towards the lodging when I spotted this young lady in BDU’s walking along the road. She turned as I was just getting next to her and it turns out to be Rebecca! Our eyes met and a big grin came across her face. That made the whole trip worth it!

17-21 August

While visiting Rebecca we did everything we could in the short amount of time we had. In a nutshell: we went to Benihana’s (my first time) and I discovered I liked sushi, we visited Cannery Row a couple of times (Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Co. is to die for!), took a short ride down the Pacific Coast Highway and spent Saturday afternoon at Laguna Seca watching some of the vintage car races and walking through the paddock area taking in all the historic race cars that were there. The only thing we couldn’t do was 17 Mile Drive because of the Concours D’Elegance taking place at Pebble Beach Golf Course. At $175/ person admission I guess they manage to keep out the riff-raff. All in all we had a fantastic visit with each other. I got to see first hand how young airmen behave these days and what she goes through at the Defense Linguistics Institute (she’s learning Chinese).

21 August

Again I slept in and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the local Denny’s before turning in the rental car. I waited around until 11:00 AM when Rebecca got her lunch break. This was convenient because her class room is right across the street from the lodging facility. We said our tearful goodbyes then I headed out for the Pacific Coast Highway north to San Francisco. The Devil’s Slide area had been repaired a few weeks before I came out west so there were no detours off the PCH. I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge about 1:00 PM and stopped at the vista point on the north side to get my prerequisite picture to prove I was there with the bike. As far back as I can remember I’ve always loved going over this bridge. I’ve even walked to the midpoint from the north end. This is one of those instances where my fear of heights doesn’t affect me. Go figure. I arrived in Rohnert Park about 2:45 PM after an easy ride up US 101. My brother-in-law was there to greet me as well as my 3 year old nephew. The next five days would be the busiest of my trip.

21-26 August

As I said, these were the busiest days of my trip. I, along with my two sisters, moved my mother and brother out of their home of 34 years into a senior’s apartment complex in Petaluma, about 8 miles south of Rohnert Park. This move was a welcome one from all members of our family. My mother and brother do not have to contend with little kids or young people making noise or trashing the property. My mother will fit in well with the senior community and will be able to be in a more social group then her past neighborhood. There was not much riding involved here but I did get to spend some time with friends from the Chevy Nomad Association and had dinner with an old childhood friend and his family one night. I accomplished all that I had planned on this portion of the trip. By Sunday I was ready to go back home.

27-29 August

I left a foggy and cool Rohnert Park (as it is it seems every morning) and took the back roads through the wine country on my way to pick up I-80 just west of Fairfield. I-80 was a nice relaxing ride on Sunday morning with light traffic and beautiful weather. The ride through the Sierra Nevada Mountains was its usual scenic route despite being an interstate. I stopped at Donner Summit and the scenic overlook at Donner Lake for a few pictures. I gassed up at Reno, Lovelock, Winnemucca and Carlin and stopping for the night in Wells. On Monday it was the final leg on I-80 and then picked up I-15 at Salt Lake City and made my way down to Scipio where I took US 50 into Salina. From there I back tracked my previous route on I-70 stopping for the night in Grand Junction. Because Tuesday’s ride was going to be fairly short I slept in, grabbed breakfast at the local Village Inn and headed east on I-70 to Denver and then I-25 back home to Colorado Springs. It sure is good to be back home!

Final Thoughts

This was the first long distance solo ride I’ve done. I took the Harley Electra Glide in order to determine if I was going to keep this bike. I’m happy to say it more than exceeded my expectations. It is now a keeper. I will have to get an Airhawk pad for it though for future long distance rides. I went 3,142 miles on it and it averaged 40 mpg and it ran flawlessly.
Traveling cross country on a motorcycle is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. It gave me the time to be with myself and think how my life has changed so drastically in the past two years. It also gave me the chance to see our great country and its wide open expanses where there is “nothing” for miles on end. I am truly blessed to live here. This trip has prepared me for my next adventure in the coming year. That will be a motorcycle trip to Anchorage, AK. I now look forward to that with great anticipation.

Accompanying photos of this trip report can be found at:
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/553638359sALSDl