Brandon, good to read you....adventures and kicking back to reminisce a bit.
Been to all the places you've described but alas in a van......ah shut-up
SAs :-)). Fret not next time IT WILL be on a bike.
George green with envy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brandon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2001 1:55 AM
Subject: Re: Trip Report?
> 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.
>
