Another year, another CA trip planning

[twistedcricket]

I know, I'm not here much these days, but I did make NAFO last year (what a great area!). That was 4 weeks after I rode out to CA (SF Bay area) for a work trip.

Now I have another CA trip. This time to LAX....or laxative....something.

Route planning begins!

I've never been through NM or AZ, so the route, as of today, is from omahell to KORNEY, NE, then meander southwest through KS, CO to Santa Fe, NM. That's roughly a mid-point. The remainder of the trip to Irvine (or Santa Monica, my friends may be moving) is another 12+hr day. Not an issue for me, but with what is likely to be man-vegatable-melting heat through AZ I'm looking for suggestions of stops (water breaks, meals, fuel stops, shade) and lodging options.

I only have two days to get out there, over a weekend. I plan to spend the week "working remotely" and attend a wedding on Friday and start the trip home on Sunday. The return trip is Labor Day weekend... I know, get out of LA earlier than Sunday, but maybe I'll wait until Monday to leave LA?

I can bring a small tent, sleeping bag, etc. I'd prefer not to as it'll be hot, even overnight? Hotels are fantastic....

Bike will be prepped for this trip (unlike my last adventure); including, but not limited to, brake fluid change, new rotors (70k miles now, and they are a little warped), likely new tires (purchase July of 2016, before the CA and NAFO trips, plus commuting the remainder of 2016), coolant change, oil/rear diff change...

I very much doubt, right now, that I'll have much time for riding while I'm out there, but if there are short late afternoon/evening rides I'd be game to go!

New since then? hand guards... holy crap Brodie, thank you for that suggestion! They've made early season commutes so much better!

 

[Bugnatr]

Best time to leave LA is real early Sunday morning. Almost no traffic...by big city standards.

 

[Brodie]

If at all possible...

Angeles Crest Highway

One of the best ways to leave the LA Basin. Do it if you can.

Brodie

 

[twistedcricket]

Best time to leave LA is real early Sunday morning. Almost no traffic...by big city standards.

If at all possible...
Angeles Crest Highway

One of the best ways to leave the LA Basin. Do it if you can.

Brodie

So, leave at 6am Sunday and take that Highway? Route home is starting to take shape! Thank you!

 

[Cibrd0wn]

40 through NM and AZ is great right now and plenty of places to stop along that route. It's also much cooler than 10.

 

[bruinFJRguy]

There are SOOO many good roads in Southern California. My favorite so far has been Hwy 33 on the stretch north of Ojai. I did that a week or so ago with a buddy on a weekday and it was paradise! Great roads, no traffic. It was awesome. Yes, Angeles Crest Highway is epic also. I believe both roads are very busy on the weekends.

Other roads to check out north of LA are the whole Los Angeles Fores area. Angeles Forest Highway is just west of Angeles Crest but is a little more "highway"ish. Upper Big Tugunga, Lower Big Tujunga, Soledad Canyon, Sand Canyon. From there if you want to head east you can take Mt. Emma, and I think it's called Verdugo Canyon to Big Pines and be on the back side of Angeles Crest Highway (Hwy 2). From LA, Angeles Crest goes all the way up to the ski mountain resort town (small one) of Wrightwood, but it's closed now., so Verdugo gets you there from Mt. Emma. It's a big loop around that top stretch of Angeles Crest Highway, basically. Then you can jog across the desert further east to the San Bernardino National Forest. About two weeks ago I took Hwy 18 up the back side of the mountain from Lucerne to Big Bear, rode around Big Bear Lake through the town, and then down the other side of 18 towards Redlands. Very good roads. Had to slab back home across I-10, though. But I planned to head south to 74 and work across to the coast (more on 74 below).

Also north of LA, there are a few good canyons in the Santa Clarita area. I believe Bouquet Canyon and San Francisquito Canyon are good roads. It seems to me there is another there.

To the west there is the notorious Mullholland Hwy and the portion known as the "Snake." Often on a Sunday afternoon you might bump into Jay Leno with a 1920's Bentley, or some such thing. Also over there near the coast is Latigo Canyon (very good) and Kanan Road, and there are others but those three stick out to me at the moment in that area as ones to check out.

Down a little south of LA, from Orange County headed east on your way towards AZ is Ortega Hwy, aka Hwy 74, somewhere around there you can connect to a loop around Palomar Mountain, which I have not done. I believe Ortega will take you through Lake Elsinore. There may be some other roads over there to check out, and then 74 will eventually take you through to Palm Springs, I believe. That is surely a much more adventurous way East towards AZ than slabbing it on I-10.

I hope to have a bit of time this summer to ride. So, if you want, feel free to reply here in this thread or send me a PM and maybe we can organize something. It seems to me the routes north of LA would make sense to hit on your way down, then maybe the more coastal routes, and hit 74 when you leave town. Of course, Hwy 1 Pacific Coast Highway is probably pretty epic just about the whole way down, if you want to work your way over to it.

There are plenty of roads in CA, in the parks in the middle of the state (which I haven't been through on a motorcycle), in wine country in Northern California (go on weekdays when there is no traffic and no drunk "tasters" on the road), and then of course the So Cal roads. Freeway traffic can be gnarly, but I'm sure you know splitting is permissible, just be cautious.

Hope that helps!

 

[bruinFJRguy]

I got your route backwards. Coming across headed west you'll probably want to pick up 74 (I think) around Palm Springs, ride the good roads of your choice between there and Ortega (also 74), then slab up from Orange County to LA. I'd personally do my hanging out, maybe do the Mullholland Snake and coastal roads on Sun, then head north on Angeles Crest on Monday when there is less traffic, but leave a little later in the AM when there won't be people racing down the mountain to get to work in the city. There will be more traffic in the city on Monday AM, but the ride on Angeles Crest will be more pleasant for sure. Angeles Crest gets very busy on the weekends with racers, cyclists, and lots of general tourist traffic. It's actually a pretty dangerous road on weekends, I think (although I do ride it). If Angeles Crest is open all the way to Wrightwood by that point in the season you'll probably want to do that, and if not then jog across Upper Big Tujunga to Angeles Crest. You can go further up than that even if it closes evventually but you'll have to turn around if it's not open to Wrightwood (probably worth it to go up, though).

That;s a lot of rambling that might not make total sense. Hopefully these road names point out good areas to check out on a map for purposes of planning, anyway. Also, I don't know where all the camping is a little further north, but I know there are a few state camping areas off Angeles Forest Hwy.

 

[bruinFJRguy]

40 through NM and AZ is great right now and plenty of places to stop along that route. It's also much cooler than 10.

If you did take I-40 across, you would then take I-15 south from Barstow to the Victorville/Hesperia area. If you wanted to do a big loop to get into LA, you could then jog out to Lucerne and do 18 up to Big Bear, 18 and 330, or 38 down to Redlands area, then 243 south from Banning and work your way to 79 around Palomar Mountain, or skip Palomar altogether, then take 74 west from Lake Elsinore to Orange County and then a short slab on I-5/405 north to LA/Santa Monica. Then the aforementioned routes north and out of the LA area when you leave.

 

[twistedcricket]

40 through NM and AZ is great right now and plenty of places to stop along that route. It's also much cooler than 10.

If you did take I-40 across, you would then take I-15 south from Barstow to the Victorville/Hesperia area. If you wanted to do a big loop to get into LA, you could then jog out to Lucerne and do 18 up to Big Bear, 18 and 330, or 38 down to Redlands area, then 243 south from Banning and work your way to 79 around Palomar Mountain, or skip Palomar altogether, then take 74 west from Lake Elsinore to Orange County and then a short slab on I-5/405 north to LA/Santa Monica.

Then the aforementioned routes north and out of the LA area when you leave.

They moved to Marina del Rey; which I expected. I like this idea. Of course the "fastest" route is to take 80/76/70/15, but I'd rather not ride through Vegas. So I think I'm going to take 80, to HWY83, HWY40, HWY287, HWY 350 to I-25 down to I-70. Adds a lot more miles but...probably better scenery.

I-40, through Kingman, AZ, down HWY95, 247, catch that 18 past Big Bear Lake and then into the City. That will be at the end of a long second day, but I don't want to pass it up.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[twistedcricket]

CCT replacement parts ordered. Re-reading most of the forum and came across a few people changing theirs out. Not sure how mine has survived this long, but I don't want it dying on the trip. The weather here has been "swampasshot" so I haven't been motivated to get in the garage and get the FJR set up for the maintenance. It's time. Need to get this stuff done well in advance of the trip...

 

[twistedcricket]

Chain tensioner replaced.

Coolant flush completed.

Brake fluid change completed.

Oil Change done.

Rear Diff fluid changed.

Accessory power wiring cleaned up. (not changed, replaced a wire that was too short, verified grounds)

On to route planning... New mid-point is Durango, CO instead of Santa Fe. There's a planned stop in AZ to visit GalaxyBlue as well.

 

[twistedcricket]

I got your route backwards. Coming across headed west you'll probably want to pick up 74 (I think) around Palm Springs, ride the good roads of your choice between there and Ortega (also 74), then slab up from Orange County to LA. I'd personally do my hanging out, maybe do the Mullholland Snake and coastal roads on Sun, then head north on Angeles Crest on Monday when there is less traffic, but leave a little later in the AM when there won't be people racing down the mountain to get to work in the city. There will be more traffic in the city on Monday AM, but the ride on Angeles Crest will be more pleasant for sure. Angeles Crest gets very busy on the weekends with racers, cyclists, and lots of general tourist traffic. It's actually a pretty dangerous road on weekends, I think (although I do ride it). If Angeles Crest is open all the way to Wrightwood by that point in the season you'll probably want to do that, and if not then jog across Upper Big Tujunga to Angeles Crest. You can go further up than that even if it closes evventually but you'll have to turn around if it's not open to Wrightwood (probably worth it to go up, though).
That;s a lot of rambling that might not make total sense. Hopefully these road names point out good areas to check out on a map for purposes of planning, anyway. Also, I don't know where all the camping is a little further north, but I know there are a few state camping areas off Angeles Forest Hwy.

I'm trying to route home along Angeles Crest Highway on Google Maps and no matter what I do with it, I can't go east to Wrightwood. Is it still closed? Is there a website I could check? The CalTrans site says no trucks....

My friend's plans have changed so they won't be there the entirety of my stay. As of now, my plan during the week is to chill, maybe get to an Angel's baseball game (maybe) and otherwise be a tourist. I suppose late afternoon side-trips might be multi-hour excursions returning me back closer to 10p?

I could leave Sunday or Monday morning (Labor Day). I haven't decided which. It largely depends on how much work I accomplish during that week up until Friday. Escaping from LA via SR2 and taking 2 lane roads for the better part of the day...then likely slabbing it the rest of the way home.

 

[bruinFJRguy]

I think I suggested ACH before the sinkhole happened. Not sure if it's open. CalTrans should say. It was supposed to be closed for some time, so I imagine it still is. I can try to do some recon for you. I'll try to post back soon.

 

[bruinFJRguy]

I've sent the word out looking for intel. As an alternative, you could ride ACH up as far as possible and if you run into a closure you could double back, get in Upper Big Tujunga, go over to Angeles Forest Hey, head north to Mt. Emma, over to Big Pines up to Wrightwood and then down 138 to I-15. That is all from memory, not a map, so the route might vary a bit but that's more or less right.

 

[bruinFJRguy]

Some local folks are telling me ACH is open all the way now. Might have to go check it out for myself!

 

[twistedcricket]

Made it safely Monday morning at 1:30am. LA traffic after 10p is kinda fun

Side note: anyone know where I can get a Shoei clear face shield locally? Amazon says it'll be delivered on Thursday/Friday, but that isn't inspiring confidence.

Scratched mine pretty bad Saturday night so I ran with the smoke shield last night...

EDIT: I have it on good authority to check our Chaparell Motorsports. They have "everything"

 

[twistedcricket]

Made it out and back without issues!

A short ride report forthcoming. Because of the heat I opted to skip the fun rides

Which only means I need to get back out there for them!

 

[n2osx]

Glad you had a good trip. I need to revisit some roads down there myself.

Carl