jwhite518
Well-known member
It’s official -- I’ve got the Courthouse Fever. The symptoms started showing in October, and then I rode to 6 courthouses and 6 post offices in November. I thought I could control it. As proof, I only visited one courthouse in December. But this month I completely succumbed. I stared at my colored-in map of the state. All those un-colored counties just sat there in a big blob, saying “Visit me, Jerry. Take a picture of my courthouse. Color me in. You know you want to.” The temptation was too much to resist, and here we are today. I planned a route with 24 courthouses, and during the ride I added another. Why did I do that? I dunno. You tell me.
I got on the freeway in San Leandro at 5:45 AM. Right away I picked up a silver FJR going the same speed and direction. We rode together from Castro Valley to the Altamont, then he headed for I-5 south and I stayed on 205 east toward Tracy and points north. I wonder who that guy was. Are you reading this, Mystery FJR Rider?
It was still dark in Stockton, my first stop. Back when I started the courthouse quest one of my rules was that all photos would be in the daytime so that I’d get nice photos. But then I realized that I) it would take longer to complete the quest and II) I might need to take some nighttime photos during the IBR. So that rule went out the window. I bought a very cool travel tripod and read my camera’s instruction manual. This courthouse photo would be my first time testing all that out. The photo came out well enough and I moved on.
San Joaquin County, Stockton
Southbound on CA 99 I ran into spots of fog. It was nothing like last month’s fog and I could keep the speeds satisfactory. My radar detector alerted me to a CHP hidden in the fog, and the guy passing me on the left got picked off. The only thing I picked off were some more counties.
Stanislaus County, Modesto
Merced County, Merced
Fresno County, Fresno
Tulare County, Visalia. As I was pulling up to this courthouse I got a phone call from Paul Peloquin. Here’s where I was standing while we talked.
Visalia was my southernmost location. I headed back north on 99 and visited the farm town of Madera that I had passed on my way south. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of this place before. And that’s why I’m doing the counties, to visit all the little corners of my state.
Madera County, Madera
So far the riding had been fairly mundane. I had followed the central valley on a straight and well-traveled freeway. It was time for that to change as I began the climb up into the Gold Country of the Sierra foothills. I have to thank the computer mapping programs I use for finding these roads because I’m not sure I’d have found them on a map. Road 28 ½? Avenue 21? How about Ben Hur Road? If you are a motorcyclist I recommend you memorize those names because they are some incredible roads. I followed undulating ribbons of blacktop through old cattle ranches and scattered oak trees. The earth looked as if it were prairie grass covering haphazard giant marbles. A bobcat scurried across the road. I envied the people who live here in heaven on earth, and dreamed of living in a place like this myself some day. Eventually I came to Highway 49, turned left, and in a couple of miles I was in Mariposa.
Mariposa County, Mariposa. The modern courthouse is next door to this historic one.
The next 35 miles were another bit of motorcycle heaven. North out of Mariposa the road twists and turns its way down a mountainside. Somewhere it bottoms out and climbs back up. We rode this same highway during a Cal 24 some years ago. Unfortunately a few turns were strewn with sand. I'm not sure if this is deliberately done by the county roads department, or maybe some hauler had a leak. In any case I had to be careful because I never knew when the sand would appear. I had the road to myself for many miles. It was another period of fantastic motorcycling: clear blue sky, warm weather, beautiful mountain roads reserved for me alone.
Eventually Highway 49 connected with Highway 120, the road to Yosemite. My solo ownership of the roads was over. I settled in with the traffic flow and continued to enjoy the scenery. Passing Jamestown I spied the Harley dealership that was a checkpoint on that same Cal 24. I remember doing a slow race administered by Tom Austin and Joe Denton. Then I was in Sonora photographing a courthouse.
Tuolomne County, Sonora. Nice old building on a hill.
For the next few hours I rode along with the considerable foothill traffic as I visited each of the courthouses along the route. The pattern was the same. Ride the speed limit behind some slow cars, pull into a town with an old restored downtown district, find the courthouse, shoot it.
Calaveras County, San Andreas. The famous Jumping Frog story took place in Angels Camp, which is not the county seat.
Amador County, Jackson
El Dorado County, Placerville. Why isn't Placerville in Placer County?
Placer County, Auburn. This landmark courthouse is visible from I-80 when you're heading west down the mountain. Unfortunately the photo doesn't show the pretty dome.
Nevada County, Nevada City. This place has a great Old Town area. Sally and I did the "Run For The Colors" 10K race here about ten years ago. The courthouse was up on a hill on a steep and narrow street.
At this point in the ride, the sun was going down and it was getting colder. My next destination was Downieville, which is also the northeastern corner of my route. I've never been there before but I trust my maps and GPS to get me there. It's right on Highway 49. The road closes in. Gone are the broad vistas of the Gold Country mountains. Now I'm riding in a narrow canyon seemingly without end. The highway subtly gains altitude. I see my first bit of dirty snow on the side of the road. The sharpest bends inevitably have a layer of muddy sand covering the roadway. I stay in the tire tracks on the edges of the lane. The snowy road shoulders appear more frequently. I'm the only vehicle on the now-dark roadway, and if I had seen another motorcycle I would have been shocked. It's journeys like this that make me happy to be an LD rider.
I came around a turn and there were the lights of Downieville, such as it is. This tiny, isolated place is shoehorned into the mountains. You've got to be pretty self sufficient to live up here. My GPS didn't know where the courthouse was and I hadn't noticed any street signs. I asked a bundled-up man walking his dog, who directed me across a little bridge and up a steep hill to the police station/jail/courthouse. The road surface was wet with runoff. I'm sure in a few hours it will be ice, impassable on a motorcycle. The courthouse steps were covered in snow, which you can see partly in my photo. There's a chain across the steps, forcing visitors to take the wheelchair ramp to access the building. I try to call home with a status check, but there's no cell service up here. How do these people live? Next thing you know, you'll be telling me they have dial-up internet.
Sierra County, Downieville.
At this point my ride is halfway done. I've ridden about 500 miles and bagged 12 courthouses. The next leg of the journey begins much like the last leg ended -- on a deserted mountain road named Highway 49. This time I'm headed south. As is always the case when riding to a new and challenging place, the trip out seems to take about half as long as the trip in. I remember going down Mt. Evans in about 15 minutes, and it took an hour to get there. Our mind plays tricks on us.
Again my GPS guides me down some obscure roads in the direction of Oroville. I can feel the air warming as I descend. As I get closer, my phone has a signal and I call home. Sally and Claire tell me about the NFL playoff games they watched. I have to pause that conversation for a minute to talk to some sheriffs who have the road closed due to an accident. "Off route. Recalculate?"
Butte County, Oroville.
Now I'm in the central valley farmland again. This time it's dark and chilly. Not much to do but ride to the twin cities of Marysville and Yuba City. Why is it that Marysville is the county seat of Yuba County, but just across the river Yuba City is the county seat of Sutter County. Shouldn't Yuba City be in Yuba County? Ah, the mysteries of life.
Yuba County, Marysville. My only shot that didn't include a building.
Sutter County, Yuba City
Now I'm on my way westward across the valley to Clear Lake. If my route were a box, this would be the top edge. I connect with my sister Debbie and she tells me about the inauguration concert that I missed because I was riding. Bruuuuuuce! Hopefully someone recorded it and can send me a copy. Highway 20 between I-5 and the lake looks curvy on a map, but it's the high speed sweeper kind of curvy. Nice! It's getting really cold and my toes are freezing. In Lakeport I plan to find an inside place to take off my boots and insert those heat packs. I also want to put on another jacket between my electric liner and my outerwear. All the way to the courthouse and out again, nothing is open. Even the gas stations are on 24 hr unattended mode. I just suck it up and hope for a good place in Ukiah.
Lake County, Lakeport. Advanced nighttime photography: manual settings, tripod and timer, I'm shining a flashlight on my rally flag. It looks like crap but in a real rally with a better flag I think it would pass.
Mendocino County, Ukiah. A difficult photo because the building is covered by huge trees. The best I could do was photograph the steps.
After the Ukiah picture I found an open mini-mart and got my toes warm again. Next time I won't wait so long. Now I'm on my home turf. The next five counties are considered part of the Bay Area because they all have bay shoreline.
Sonoma County, Santa Rosa.
Marin County, San Rafael. Frank Lloyd Wright building, wish I could have done it in daylight.
Napa County, Napa. Everything's fancy here, even the old town area.
Solano County, Fairfield.
Contra Costa County, Martinez. Interesting ride past a big oil refinery to get here. I know of one lunatic who rode all the way here from Ely, NV, and BACK, in a rally, to get the city limit sign because of the Z. That guy's got some kind of fever too, somebody send him a doctor!
And now my ride is nearly done. I've gotten all 24 courthouses. All I have to do is ride home and get an ending receipt. But I'm feeling pretty good and the idea comes to me: 25 sure is a nicer number than 24. Can't I do another one? I haven't gotten San Francisco County yet, so I run the numbers on my GPS. It only adds 25 minutes to the ride. What the heck, let's go for it! You see, I really do have Courthouse Fever. Here is photographic proof.
San Francisco County, San Francisco. Includes obligatory encounter with street person.
Twenty minutes later I was home.
Now it's time for the summary. I think this is my favorite Saddlesore 1000 ever. It was certainly the most challenging and longest. It took me about 23 hours to ride 1034 miles. I had 25 photo stops, three gas stops, and a warm-up stop. I got to see the incredible range of scenery this state has to offer, from flat farmland to beautiful foothill scrubland to narrow mountain canyons to upscale wine country to urban street scenes. I experienced our state's history, from the 1848 Sutter gold discovery site all the way to last year's million dollar skyscraper condos overlooking the Bay Bridge. I was cold and I was hot. I was tired and I was tired. And you can't beat the feeling of accomplishment that comes with finishing a feat like this. I strongly recommend this ride to anyone who wants to discover California. Thanks for reading.
Here's a map of the counties I covered on this ride.
I got on the freeway in San Leandro at 5:45 AM. Right away I picked up a silver FJR going the same speed and direction. We rode together from Castro Valley to the Altamont, then he headed for I-5 south and I stayed on 205 east toward Tracy and points north. I wonder who that guy was. Are you reading this, Mystery FJR Rider?
It was still dark in Stockton, my first stop. Back when I started the courthouse quest one of my rules was that all photos would be in the daytime so that I’d get nice photos. But then I realized that I) it would take longer to complete the quest and II) I might need to take some nighttime photos during the IBR. So that rule went out the window. I bought a very cool travel tripod and read my camera’s instruction manual. This courthouse photo would be my first time testing all that out. The photo came out well enough and I moved on.
San Joaquin County, Stockton
Southbound on CA 99 I ran into spots of fog. It was nothing like last month’s fog and I could keep the speeds satisfactory. My radar detector alerted me to a CHP hidden in the fog, and the guy passing me on the left got picked off. The only thing I picked off were some more counties.
Stanislaus County, Modesto
Merced County, Merced
Fresno County, Fresno
Tulare County, Visalia. As I was pulling up to this courthouse I got a phone call from Paul Peloquin. Here’s where I was standing while we talked.
Visalia was my southernmost location. I headed back north on 99 and visited the farm town of Madera that I had passed on my way south. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of this place before. And that’s why I’m doing the counties, to visit all the little corners of my state.
Madera County, Madera
So far the riding had been fairly mundane. I had followed the central valley on a straight and well-traveled freeway. It was time for that to change as I began the climb up into the Gold Country of the Sierra foothills. I have to thank the computer mapping programs I use for finding these roads because I’m not sure I’d have found them on a map. Road 28 ½? Avenue 21? How about Ben Hur Road? If you are a motorcyclist I recommend you memorize those names because they are some incredible roads. I followed undulating ribbons of blacktop through old cattle ranches and scattered oak trees. The earth looked as if it were prairie grass covering haphazard giant marbles. A bobcat scurried across the road. I envied the people who live here in heaven on earth, and dreamed of living in a place like this myself some day. Eventually I came to Highway 49, turned left, and in a couple of miles I was in Mariposa.
Mariposa County, Mariposa. The modern courthouse is next door to this historic one.
The next 35 miles were another bit of motorcycle heaven. North out of Mariposa the road twists and turns its way down a mountainside. Somewhere it bottoms out and climbs back up. We rode this same highway during a Cal 24 some years ago. Unfortunately a few turns were strewn with sand. I'm not sure if this is deliberately done by the county roads department, or maybe some hauler had a leak. In any case I had to be careful because I never knew when the sand would appear. I had the road to myself for many miles. It was another period of fantastic motorcycling: clear blue sky, warm weather, beautiful mountain roads reserved for me alone.
Eventually Highway 49 connected with Highway 120, the road to Yosemite. My solo ownership of the roads was over. I settled in with the traffic flow and continued to enjoy the scenery. Passing Jamestown I spied the Harley dealership that was a checkpoint on that same Cal 24. I remember doing a slow race administered by Tom Austin and Joe Denton. Then I was in Sonora photographing a courthouse.
Tuolomne County, Sonora. Nice old building on a hill.
For the next few hours I rode along with the considerable foothill traffic as I visited each of the courthouses along the route. The pattern was the same. Ride the speed limit behind some slow cars, pull into a town with an old restored downtown district, find the courthouse, shoot it.
Calaveras County, San Andreas. The famous Jumping Frog story took place in Angels Camp, which is not the county seat.
Amador County, Jackson
El Dorado County, Placerville. Why isn't Placerville in Placer County?
Placer County, Auburn. This landmark courthouse is visible from I-80 when you're heading west down the mountain. Unfortunately the photo doesn't show the pretty dome.
Nevada County, Nevada City. This place has a great Old Town area. Sally and I did the "Run For The Colors" 10K race here about ten years ago. The courthouse was up on a hill on a steep and narrow street.
At this point in the ride, the sun was going down and it was getting colder. My next destination was Downieville, which is also the northeastern corner of my route. I've never been there before but I trust my maps and GPS to get me there. It's right on Highway 49. The road closes in. Gone are the broad vistas of the Gold Country mountains. Now I'm riding in a narrow canyon seemingly without end. The highway subtly gains altitude. I see my first bit of dirty snow on the side of the road. The sharpest bends inevitably have a layer of muddy sand covering the roadway. I stay in the tire tracks on the edges of the lane. The snowy road shoulders appear more frequently. I'm the only vehicle on the now-dark roadway, and if I had seen another motorcycle I would have been shocked. It's journeys like this that make me happy to be an LD rider.
I came around a turn and there were the lights of Downieville, such as it is. This tiny, isolated place is shoehorned into the mountains. You've got to be pretty self sufficient to live up here. My GPS didn't know where the courthouse was and I hadn't noticed any street signs. I asked a bundled-up man walking his dog, who directed me across a little bridge and up a steep hill to the police station/jail/courthouse. The road surface was wet with runoff. I'm sure in a few hours it will be ice, impassable on a motorcycle. The courthouse steps were covered in snow, which you can see partly in my photo. There's a chain across the steps, forcing visitors to take the wheelchair ramp to access the building. I try to call home with a status check, but there's no cell service up here. How do these people live? Next thing you know, you'll be telling me they have dial-up internet.
Sierra County, Downieville.
At this point my ride is halfway done. I've ridden about 500 miles and bagged 12 courthouses. The next leg of the journey begins much like the last leg ended -- on a deserted mountain road named Highway 49. This time I'm headed south. As is always the case when riding to a new and challenging place, the trip out seems to take about half as long as the trip in. I remember going down Mt. Evans in about 15 minutes, and it took an hour to get there. Our mind plays tricks on us.
Again my GPS guides me down some obscure roads in the direction of Oroville. I can feel the air warming as I descend. As I get closer, my phone has a signal and I call home. Sally and Claire tell me about the NFL playoff games they watched. I have to pause that conversation for a minute to talk to some sheriffs who have the road closed due to an accident. "Off route. Recalculate?"
Butte County, Oroville.
Now I'm in the central valley farmland again. This time it's dark and chilly. Not much to do but ride to the twin cities of Marysville and Yuba City. Why is it that Marysville is the county seat of Yuba County, but just across the river Yuba City is the county seat of Sutter County. Shouldn't Yuba City be in Yuba County? Ah, the mysteries of life.
Yuba County, Marysville. My only shot that didn't include a building.
Sutter County, Yuba City
Now I'm on my way westward across the valley to Clear Lake. If my route were a box, this would be the top edge. I connect with my sister Debbie and she tells me about the inauguration concert that I missed because I was riding. Bruuuuuuce! Hopefully someone recorded it and can send me a copy. Highway 20 between I-5 and the lake looks curvy on a map, but it's the high speed sweeper kind of curvy. Nice! It's getting really cold and my toes are freezing. In Lakeport I plan to find an inside place to take off my boots and insert those heat packs. I also want to put on another jacket between my electric liner and my outerwear. All the way to the courthouse and out again, nothing is open. Even the gas stations are on 24 hr unattended mode. I just suck it up and hope for a good place in Ukiah.
Lake County, Lakeport. Advanced nighttime photography: manual settings, tripod and timer, I'm shining a flashlight on my rally flag. It looks like crap but in a real rally with a better flag I think it would pass.
Mendocino County, Ukiah. A difficult photo because the building is covered by huge trees. The best I could do was photograph the steps.
After the Ukiah picture I found an open mini-mart and got my toes warm again. Next time I won't wait so long. Now I'm on my home turf. The next five counties are considered part of the Bay Area because they all have bay shoreline.
Sonoma County, Santa Rosa.
Marin County, San Rafael. Frank Lloyd Wright building, wish I could have done it in daylight.
Napa County, Napa. Everything's fancy here, even the old town area.
Solano County, Fairfield.
Contra Costa County, Martinez. Interesting ride past a big oil refinery to get here. I know of one lunatic who rode all the way here from Ely, NV, and BACK, in a rally, to get the city limit sign because of the Z. That guy's got some kind of fever too, somebody send him a doctor!
And now my ride is nearly done. I've gotten all 24 courthouses. All I have to do is ride home and get an ending receipt. But I'm feeling pretty good and the idea comes to me: 25 sure is a nicer number than 24. Can't I do another one? I haven't gotten San Francisco County yet, so I run the numbers on my GPS. It only adds 25 minutes to the ride. What the heck, let's go for it! You see, I really do have Courthouse Fever. Here is photographic proof.
San Francisco County, San Francisco. Includes obligatory encounter with street person.
Twenty minutes later I was home.
Now it's time for the summary. I think this is my favorite Saddlesore 1000 ever. It was certainly the most challenging and longest. It took me about 23 hours to ride 1034 miles. I had 25 photo stops, three gas stops, and a warm-up stop. I got to see the incredible range of scenery this state has to offer, from flat farmland to beautiful foothill scrubland to narrow mountain canyons to upscale wine country to urban street scenes. I experienced our state's history, from the 1848 Sutter gold discovery site all the way to last year's million dollar skyscraper condos overlooking the Bay Bridge. I was cold and I was hot. I was tired and I was tired. And you can't beat the feeling of accomplishment that comes with finishing a feat like this. I strongly recommend this ride to anyone who wants to discover California. Thanks for reading.
Here's a map of the counties I covered on this ride.
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