Milestones

[ShinyPartsUp]

Hey geek,

Just catching up. I'm glad you liked my backyard. Newport has some great restaurants and shops -- so does Florence. The stacks along the coast are fun to look at, and the ride heading north is actually my favorite direction. Cape Perpetua was a hoot with tight twisties, no? As for Haceta Head, my wife made me haul a big assed log and root system off the beach and into my truck for the garden once -- nearly killed me. Eating at the B&B there is on my to-do list. Supposedly they have a 3 star chef and ghosts for guests.

But stop posting pictures of the left coast, or people will keep coming here. Promote someplace like Detroit, will ya? :lol:

next time you make it this way let me know...

Fun read.

 

[BikerGeek99]

Hey geek,
Just catching up. I'm glad you liked my backyard. Newport has some great restaurants and shops -- so does Florence. The stacks along the coast are fun to look at, and the ride heading north is actually my favorite direction. Cape Perpetua was a hoot with tight twisties, no? As for Haceta Head, my wife made me haul a big assed log and root system off the beach and into my truck for the garden once -- nearly killed me. Eating at the B&B there is on my to-do list. Supposedly they have a 3 star chef and ghosts for guests.

Ghosts and guests... Dammit, 'soon as Sooze reads that, I'm gonna have to start saving for another trip out there...

But stop posting pictures of the left coast, or people will keep coming here. Promote someplace like Detroit, will ya? :lol: next time you make it this way let me know...

Man oh man, Oregon... What a, uh, horrendously ugly area, with a bunch of assenine locals who, um, were rude to travelers and, ahem, we can't wait to not go back there. Ever.

Detroit. THAT'S the place to go.

Betterer?!?

 

[Khunajawdge]

As to the rest of your comment, dude - I live in Ohio,

My name is NOT "Dude", it's George! There are lots of us named George out here.

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

Hey geek,
Just catching up. I'm glad you liked my backyard. Newport has some great restaurants and shops -- so does Florence. The stacks along the coast are fun to look at, and the ride heading north is actually my favorite direction. Cape Perpetua was a hoot with tight twisties, no? As for Haceta Head, my wife made me haul a big assed log and root system off the beach and into my truck for the garden once -- nearly killed me. Eating at the B&B there is on my to-do list. Supposedly they have a 3 star chef and ghosts for guests.

Ghosts and guests... Dammit, 'soon as Sooze reads that, I'm gonna have to start saving for another trip out there...

But stop posting pictures of the left coast, or people will keep coming here. Promote someplace like Detroit, will ya? :lol: next time you make it this way let me know...

Man oh man, Oregon... What a, uh, horrendously ugly area, with a bunch of assenine locals who, um, were rude to travelers and, ahem, we can't wait to not go back there. Ever.

Detroit. THAT'S the place to go.

Betterer?!?

Mo' better! Keep up the good work and I'll swipe some WFO10 swag for ya. :innocent:

 

[BikerGeek99]

I've read that northern Kali is not like southern Kali.

Still haven't been to SoCal, so I'll just take their word for it.

What the hell... These guys followed us all the way from Bemidji?? Or are they imposters... Hmm....

Odd weather in these parts. We're in northern Kalifornia, in late July, mid-afternoon, and saw this kind of stuff.

Then we'd roll out of that and see this.

After rolling through Eureka, where Sooze and I went on a hunt at Target and Kohl's, looking for a turtleneck for her (she was quite chilled by this point, thanks to the cool weather, no sun, and being in the elements as we all are when we are on 2 wheels) to no avail, she toughed it out and we made it down to Fortuna, California, for the night.

Within walking distance from our hotel was our kinda place: Eel River Brewing Company.

And now, for our nightly FOOD PORN!!

Mmm... Soup...

Sooze had the chicken.

I had their lamb special.

Miles ridden today: 346, witnessing some majestic, rugged coastal scenery.

Sláinte!

 

[BikerGeek99]

July 22, 2010.

After our very chilly entrance to Futura, CA, yesterday, this morning dealt us more sunny, clear skies and pleasant temperatures. After our Daily Routine, we continued south-ish.

While not the coast, this was OK.

Redwoods, eh? Hmm...

These were some tall damn trees.

As we were headed south, and the sun was still rising from the east, the sun shone through the trees in cool ways at times.

I saw a sign for a visitor center and took the turn-off. And I am glad we did.

Outside the visitor center is this damn big redwood trunk section which helps to add perspective to how big these things are.

Wow. Just wow...

So with riding boots on, I'm right about six feet tall. And this tree started growing in the 1100's!

 

[BikerGeek99]

After contributing to the visitors center (by way of buying souvenirs), we hopped back on the bike and started winding our way out, the way we came.

But not without a stop for pictures, of course!

The lighting made it tricky for our point and shoot cameras to get good pics, but we did the best we could.

Witnessing the majesty of the redwoods up close was really something to behold.

I got lucky with traffic to be able to go out into the road to take this picture.

Years ago I was in Chicago visiting a friend. We went downtown and walked up to the Sears Tower because my buddy had been told that if you walk up to the Sears Tower and stand about a yard from it and look up, you'd get dizzy. Well, they were right. This was close to the same feeling.

I think I'm gonna hurl!!

One of the trees had a funky “zit” or whatever you call it.

I'm telling ya – all ya need is a camera with a timer and a cheap tri-pod, guys...

 

[BikerGeek99]

After our little photo op, we were back on the road.

Once again, riding along a river or stream.

We were treated to blue skies once again.

We saw this and just started laughing.

We didn't stop, but this roadside Trash 'N Trinket shop was all about Bigfoot.

We were in and out of the redwoods.

Besides the Bigfoot shop, there were other tourist traps along the way.

The terrain changed yet again.

This kinda looked like a hippy hangout to me.

We skirted the north shore of Upper Lake on Route 20.

 

[Old Michael]

...I had their lamb special...

I suppose it's a weakness, huh?

Not here to judge.



Geek, am I mistaken, or did you not stop in Eureka for a bit?

I won't be like one of those knobs who points out that you missed a ton of cool stuff in

this or that area, ....but....you missed a ton of cool stuff in .....

You didn't miss too many giant glasses of beer though.

Friggin' lush.

 

[BikerGeek99]

...I had their lamb special...

I suppose it's a weakness, huh?

Not here to judge.

I set that one up, WAITING to see who'd take the bait.

Congratulations! You're that guy.

Geek, am I mistaken, or did you not stop in Eureka for a bit?

Not yet. That's still coming...

I won't be like one of those knobs who points out that you missed a ton of cool stuff inthis or that area, ....but....you missed a ton of cool stuff in .....

You didn't miss too many giant glasses of beer though.

Friggin' lush.

All in all, we missed more stuff than we saw. We knew this was going to be the case, though. And, no I didn't miss too many giant glasses of beer. Mmm... Beer...

 

[beemerdons]

Fantastic Ride Report, BikerGeek99; I'm sure enjoying this with your great photographs and interesting narrative! Keep On Trucking, Doo-Dah Man! (Sorry, an acid flashback from a Dead concert at the Fillmore!)

 

[BikerGeek99]

As we got farther from the coast, the temperatures were steadily rising.

Not only were the roads scenic, we also hit some nice twisties. Kinda reminded me of Tail Of The Dragon or the Snake.

Not only was the road twisty, it was also in really good condition – no crap in the corners, no broken-up pavement to speak of...

We came out of that into a valley.

The Napa Valley!

This cracked me up. See the big pot thingamabobs? There was a guy inside the one on the left and a gal was taking pictures of him.

 

[BikerGeek99]

We rode past vineyards and wineries along the road.

Yeah, it woulda been nice to have had the time to go visit a few of the wineries, but by now the temperatures were quite warm and I really just wanted to be off the bike and out of the heat, so we just headed to the hotel. We checked in and went through our Routine.

There was some shopping areas close to the hotel and we found a spot to eat dinner. Just a little local Mexican joint. So here is our nightly food porn!

Mile ridden this day: 280, in temperatures ranging from about 50 in the morning to at least 96.

And that concludes July 22. More to come!

 

[BikerGeek99]

July 23, 2010.

This is a day I'd really been looking forward to. I'll explain why as the day goes on.

The morning was a tad cool – which felt really nice after the heat yesterday – and overcast. After a quick fuel stop (at a place where it seemed like every damn employee at the amusement park across the street stopped in for their morning Mountain Dew and doughnuts) we rode out of Napa, past a race track!

As we headed back north and toward the coast, the skies began to clear.

Our route today was a little different than yesterday so we rode through some different areas.

It was a fairly easy and scenic ride.

The scenery through here kinda reminded me of M*A*S*H.

Except for this area. The terrain here showed the scars from a brush fire.

We had gotten on 101 in Napa and pretty much stayed on it the whole way.

Traffic through Willits sucked. Both ways.

Looks like someone has a sense of humor.

 

[gregory]

BG,

was there a few years back, great ride! I see they still have the

SP BUS

Do they still have the Blues Brothers ride? I was about +20, 25 when I went through that area. Pretty much figured I was gonna get a performance award right then and there. Thankfull "Jake and Elwood" were fans of the Feejer.

 

[BikerGeek99]

Do they still have the Blues Brothers ride? I was about +20, 25 when I went through that area. Pretty much figured I was gonna get a performance award right then and there. Thankfull "Jake and Elwood" were fans of the Feejer.

Dunno! If it was there, we didn't see it, but we also didn't stop. That's kinda cool, though.

 

[BikerGeek99]

Whenever I go by a place selling stuff like this, I just have to wonder: who actually BUYS this kind of stuff? What kind of person sees one of these things and thinks, “Oh, yeah – that'd look great at home!”

I think Sooze took a picture yesterday as we were heading the opposite way along this same stretch of road.

We found our way back into the redwoods.

WARNING! Tourist trap ahead!

We found our way back into Eureka, CA, where we would spend the night and hang out with the west coast FJR peeps at the Western FJR Owners Rally, or WFO. This was the rally hotel.

A couple of nights ago, while we were at a hotel with mediocre (or, NO) internet connection, I made our reservation at the Red Lion on my iPhone. There were 2 fatal flaws with this: first, since we were on vacation, I had kinda lost track of what day it was; second, I was relaxing that evening, enjoying a tasty adult oat soda.

So you can see what's going to happen, right? Yep – I made our reservation at the Red Lion for the wrong damn night. And they were sold out for this night.

Shit.

There was another hotel within walking distance, so we rode over there and got ourselves a room. Crisis averted.

After going through our Routine of unloading the bike, unpacking our crap and changing out of our riding gear, we walked back over to the Red Lion to see who was around.

The WFO folks had their own roped-off parking, which made it nice to keep idiotic cagers away from the bikes.

We made some new friends that night. Hiya, Greg!

And got to see Dolly again. Last time we saw Dolly was in Quebec about a month prior.

While the paid rally registrants had their group dinner, Sooze and I just hung out in the bar and ate. Mmm... Sooze had a chicken wrap.

I had a soup and salad combo.

 

[BikerGeek99]

Having just turned forty, my bladder seemingly immediately shrank by several orders of magnitude requiring me to … well, you know. On a trip to … well, you know, as I was walking by the front desk of the Red Lion, I saw some dork standing there in full riding leathers with a goofy-looking yellow helmet on. Hmm.... Who, you ask, could that dork possibly be??

Yep – the one and only Old Michael. After he got himself settled, he came in and joined us at in the bar. (That's him on the right.)

I think the beers were kicking in since I was starting to do the self-taken picture thing again.

When we first got to the hotel (and I discovered my reservation gaffe), another guy rolled in looking for a room. He was also denied and we wound up a couple door down from him at our hotel, and he walked in here for a bite to eat. We just couldn't get away from the guy! Damn if I can remember his name, but he was a nice enough fella from Alberta riding (I think) an HD Heritage Softail. I think I freaked him out when I took this picture; it was worth it.

Eventually the WFO folks' dinner dispersed and some of 'em found their way back in the bar, including Mr. & Mrs. ShinyPartsUp. We talked with these two for quite a while and found ourselves laughing a lot. Damn good people.

And, of course, Old Michael, one of the guys I really wanted to meet while we were out there. We had a blast hanging out with him – he's got a quick wit tethered to a dry sense of humor that I can appreciate.

We also got to see Fairlaner again – we met him in Tennessee at EOM '09. He'd spent time on the phone with me helping to walk me through how to wire up the FF50's on the FJR. Wouldn't have been able to get that done without his help. British humour, though. I just don't get it.

After a while, the crowd inside migrated outside for the parking lot BS'ing which is a staple of all FJR owners rallies we've been to.

So there was this guy, Carver, being That Guy with Dolly. Shiny looks like he's a porn producer or something doing a lighting check. Weirdo. And that's Petey in the background, prolly getting ready to use his mad ninja skillz again and sneak up behind me to scare the bejeezus out of me. Again.

Get yer tongue back in yer mouth, Carver, ya perv.

Me and Carver. Pretty sure the beer was kicking in by now.

Dolly was making the rounds.

Me and madmike2.

MM2 and Dolly seemed to, ahem, get along OK.

There was another WFO attendee that we were really looking forward to meeting. Tyler. If you're not familiar with Tyler's story, go and Google Tyler Risk. Tyler was in a very serious motorcycle accident about a year ago and her condition was touch-and-go. But there she was, and after following along on her journey since her accident, it was an honest pleasure to be able to meet her, give her a big hug and talk with her a bit. Here's Sooze, Tyler and that damn Dolly again...

Here we have (left-to-right) Hans (JamesBurleigh), Greg (Gregory), Mike (in back, AKA ShinyPartsUp), Tyler, me, Mike (madmike2) in back, Sooze in front, and Karl (airboss), who was sporting a busted-up shoulder due to a recent little get-off of his own.

Good times, folks. Good times indeed. Notice that everyone in this picture (that you can see) is smiling? That ain't because of the beer. Not at all.

 

[BikerGeek99]

Old Michael wanted to see the Ultra (or so he said – I think he just wanted to clog up our terlet, damn him) so we walked over to our hotel for show-and-tell. This, of course, led to something that seemed like a good idea at the time.

OM sitting bitch on a Harley.

I was laughing my ass off.

After our show-and-tell and goofy photo op, we went back to the hotel parking lot and there were just a few peeps left out and about.

I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of parking lot BS-ing going on. Hell – it was only 9:00 or 10:00 or so, and the lot was damn near empty! Dang left-coast wussies. Hell, at EOM, we're up way too late, and at CFR, there was a group that stayed up until about sunrise. Sheesh. Oh, well.

Since the parking lot was deserted, we headed back in to the bar and got to meet up with, and shoot the breeze with, Matt, AKA Ignacio.

Had a good time talking with ya, Iggy!

Carver was there as well, telling a story that .. well, note the expressions...

Eventually the remaining crowd in the bar dispersed and it was time for us to head back to our hotel for the evening. It was an absolute hoot to meet the west coast FJR peeps – Sooze and I are both very, very glad that things worked out and we were able to stop in and say hey.

Miles ridden today: 280. The miles were insignificant, though – the smiles, memories and laughs we had during our all-too-brief visit with the WFO folks are what we'll remember most from this day.

And this night ends our time on the west coast. Beginning in the morning, we begin our trek back east, officially heading back towards home.

 

[RaYzerman19]

It's easy to figure out..... the parking lot was empty 'cuz the rest of them were out with Dolly........