Chase Kimball wrote:
> Brandon!!! We need a trip report from California! Did you go to Sam
> Wo?
No.
>Did you die of shame trailering your beautiful bikes to
> Sacramento?
All right!! That's it!! All of you folks, who complained about us
being 'wimps' and trailering it in, I hope your happy now!!! :^)
'We'...ahem...decide to save cash and be *real* bikers. So I parked the
car and trailer, replaced the GTS's tires and headed out. (Tire
evaluation in future posting!)
We rode. We rode hard. And wet. And windblown. Through road
construction. Through fog. Through just about anything that could come
our way, with the exception of snow. Yea. So there! :^P
All right, all right. It was...ahh...how should I say? An 'adventure'?
Trips on bikes tend to become those quite often, so it's not any big
surprise to me anymore when it happens. (Always take duct tape!)
Due to time constraints of my fellow GTS owner, (he couldn't get off
work until noon), and after a leisure lunch, discovered that we had to
'hotfoot' it across I-80 starting about 3 pm in the afternoon. We
arrived in Sacramento, California, about 1:30 am. We got rained on, paid
$2.39+ a gallon for gas, and went through some exciting road
construction, mostly in the dark. With some fog added in, just to make
it interesting in the road construction areas!
Well, I hope you are all very happy now! (Just kidding, just kidding!)
Next day, we slept in, had a late breakfast and generally loafed around
in Sacramento and then later, hit some nice restaurants for lunch and
dinner. (Highly recommend "The Elephant Bar" restaurant.) Of course,
that was different than we had originally planned to do, so for all of
you, (Ha!), that were waiting at "The Potsticker" for us, (Ha, Ha!)
soooorry 'bout that!
We got up early on Thursday and had a quick breakfast. When we went out
to start the bikes, my bike's battery decided it was time to go to
battery heaven. Mothe...sonofabi...lousy....aauuugghhh!!! Got on the
phone, called a local battery retailer and 30 minutes and $50 bucks
later, we were on our way. (Not a bad price for a 'on the road'!) I
suppose it was better that it happened there instead of BF Egypt, but
still.... Anyway, we headed across the Bay Bridge into San Francisco
and then across the world famous Golden Gate Bridge. I am awed every
time I cross that bridge. It is so beautiful. We then went around Point
Reyes on Highway 1 and followed it up past Bodega Bay into Jenner where
we had a nice authentic Mexican dinner. After we ate and shared some
lies, we cut across to Healdsburg where we spent the night.
Next day...off to the Redwoods!!! We blasted up Highway 101 until we
arrived at "The Avenue of the Giants". Its about 20 miles of the
thickest redwood groves that you can possible imagine. Every time I go
through there, I can't believe the size of the trees. They are so thick
and tall, you often cannot see the sun directly and almost require
lights to see, even in the middle of the day! Ferns, wildflowers,
clover, and climbing vines are the order of the day. Just fantastic!
After spending the better part of the day just hanging out in the
groves, having lunch and some light hiking, we went back into
Garberville, just outside the forest to spend the evening. We had a
great pasta dinner in a local deli that also baked some killer pastries.
(Gotta get back on the diet now....sigh...)
Next morning, south to Leggett then west to Highway 1. We followed the
coast down to Fort Bragg, (beautiful vista's...), and then cut across on
Highway 20. Well...I've never been on that part of 20 before, but I can
tell you...it was a riot!! More curves than Anna Nicole Smith and twice
as fast! (I think.) Anyway, a bikers paradise. And I have to make a
quick mention here. This road really reminded me of the joy of owning
and riding a GTS. Quasi-sport stance, torquey motor and easy handling
really shine in this environment. 35 miles of the biggest grin on my
face! Wheeee.....!
Then back to Sac for the evening where we took my sister out to a nice
dinner, (she 'let' us stay with her for several nights, so....it was, at
least, the decent thing to do), and got a good nights sleep.
Got up, fueled up, and started back. And then the wind hit. At first, it
was great because it was a back wind and the miles dropped like flies.
Somewhere in Nevada, it became crosswind, and then 'gusting' crosswinds,
at the tune of 30 to 50 mphs! Yeesh! We rode the rest of the way back
mostly under 70 mph and leaned at a 20% angle. I swear the left sides of
my tires are more worn than the right side! Guess I'll have to start
riding the on-ramps a bit harder to 'even' things up!
2085 miles. 5 riding days. 1 battery. Not bad, not bad at all.
>Did you get to see your Redwoods?
Yep.
