Big-D
Well-known member
Well, I departed Lake Havasu on Monday July 6th at 07
o. My plan was to head straight for the coast to get out of the heat, but by the time I was half way to Barstow, it was already 103. Arrived in Buellton about 2:30pm and stayed at the campground called Flying Flags. I brought along my tent and other camping gear. Once in Buellton, the temp was cool and felt really nice. Especially the fog. I wanted to take some good pictures, but anything much further away than my arm was too foggy to be seen. Left the campground early Tuesday, heading up the coast towards Frisco. Of course the Fog became so thick I couldn't see much, including the road. Took almost a full day to reach San Francisco. Along with the Fog, traffic and the road repairs near the Golden Gate bridge. Then Hwy-1 after Frisco is all winding and dipped in fog. Did I mention the temp was in the lower 50's and I had my fully vented jacket on and I got pulled over by a local LEO wanting to know why my headlights were not on. Well officer, probably because they both happened to be burnt out at the same time. Oh gosh dolly said the LEO, I expect you to pull into that NAPA parking lot and fix'um right now pronto or else I might start writing your name on this here ticket. Why of course mister LEO officer, I'll most certainly do that for you. By the way, seeing you are from Arizona, you don't suppose you just might be packing any weapons with ya don't ya think? Mind if I just have a quick look? Sure mister LEO, can we do it in that NAPA parking lot? Nope, I think I'll just have a little look right here along side the city street so'in all these nice folks can yell **** at ya while we have a little looky see. But first I think I'll invite some of my LEO friends over too. Why looky there, here come a couple more of your buddies and they have their lights on, don't suppose they are welcoming me to the Bay area do ya? Hey, looky here, what do ya suppose these pills are for? Well LEO officer, I am a diabetic and I take them there pills. Why son are they not in a prescription bottle with yo name on it. Maybe we should do a test on some of these here pills to see if they might be the illegal type. Well Mr. LEO, I put them in that M,T,W,Th, F, S,S, case so I don't forget which ones I need to take. Tell me, have you ever been arrested? Not yet Mr. LEO! Why, am I about to be? What about the little number and symbol on my pills, can't you just call Inspector Harry Calahand or someone down at headquarters and ask them to translate those codes to you without having to take my pills away. Hell, if you take them away, I'll have to turn around and go back home. Wait a minute here, why are you carrying a hammer? Is this a weapon? No sir Mr. LEO, I use that hammer to knock some sense into my head to never come this way again. OK mister Arizona motorcyclist, I guess we will allow you to leave now that all of San Francisco has yelled something at you while we dug through your underwear along side the road. But you had better pull in over there and fix both of your lights mucho plenty or we might not be so nice next time. Yes sir Mr. LEO, but can I have my hammer back because I might need to pound in my tent stakes with it? I guess I could find a rock..............maybe!! Wow, that LEO and his friends were all so nice to allow me leave only after an hour or so and the 90 minutes it took to replace my headlight bulbs was fun too. Best 2.5 hours fun all in downtown San Francisco. I really didn't want to leave early anyway, I love hanging out with LEO's on a busy street in Frisco any day!!
I decided to leave the Fog, the cold and all of those really nice LEO's and head on over to the 101 by Santa Rosa and head north straight away. And then I though since the 101 was also foggy and cold, I think I'll skip the coast and turn off at Ukiah and head for I-5 and make a b-line for Oregon. So as I arrive in Redding and its 103 degrees. Feels like home, hot and miserable. As I climb the mountain I decide to turn off and go see Crater Lake since I've never been there before. My trusty GPS tells me there is gas coming up in forty miles. I think great because I am getting really low, but I came make it 40 miles. As I nearing the turnoff for Crater Lake I see my much needed gas station in the distance. As I pull up I notice “oh great, its out of business”. OK, now I am on reserve as I turn towards Crater Lake. I ride about 15 miles and see a sign that reads Crater later 30 miles. OK, how far can I go on reserve? Maybe if I slow down to 50mph I'll get a little further. I ride past this little camping/ RV resort and pull in to ask about gas. They tell me that there is a little place about 4 miles up the road that has gas but they had better call them because they run out of gas often. So this nice lady gets on her phone and calls up the road. Yes sir, they are plumb out of gas, but don't you worry cus Crater Lake has gas and they are only about 17 miles up the road. Well, I guess I don't have a lot of choices here. They bid me good luck, have a nice trip and watch out for deer, there has been about twenty people hit a deer this past weekend. OK, thanks for the advice, I'm sure Bambi will be waiting special for me to ride past the way my luck has been going. I pull in to Crater Lake and gas up as full as I can get her. Whew, that was close. I stay about an hour and take a bunch of pictures. Then I head out the north entrance and start heading for Eugene. There is this guy that wants to drive really fast in a Nisson Maxima, so I let him go by so he is now my jackrabbit. I pull in behind him and follow about a half mile behind. Then I see we are going about 105 and I'm thinking LEO will let him go past and get me, so I slow down. Ot two minutes later, I see a Sheriff in the bushes. Apparently he must have just missed my friend in the Maxima. Another close call. But now on Highway 58 the sun is downing down, Oregon is having heat waves and the sun is in my face all the way to Eugene. By the time I get there, my UV protectant shield on my Shoei RF-1100 has allowed enough sun shine through to burn me on my face making me look like a big ugly raccoon. Looking at myself in the mirror I resemble the zombie on the old 3-Stooges shows. I get a hotel at Motel-6 in Eugene right nest to a Denny's. I jump into their pool to cool off and relax and 5 minutes later its 9pm and I'm told to get out because the pool is now closed. I get dressed and go have some dinner to recollect the past few days. Thursday morning, today, I grab some bacon & eggs and head on down the road, but first I need some gas. I start riding all over Eugene and can't find even one gas station. I ride down 4-5 roads and say to hell with this and enter the freeway I-5 north. I push my GPS to take me my planned route and it tells me to turn around and go home. At this point I'm about to chuck my gps, but then I see a sign that says “$1000 Fine for littering” and decide not to take a chance. Maybe I should have borrowed one of BeemerDons maps made of paper. So I type in my daughters address and then take the next exit and start heading east, not listening to the directions my gps is telling me to take. Finally, I get into some really beautiful roads with lots of trees and a nice LEO in a black Dodge Charger pull in behind me as I come into this little town of Mill City and gives me this nice escort for about 10-15 miles. I think he was hoping I'd make a run for it.
So here I sit in my daughters house waiting for her to get home from work. I'm contemplating giving Eric (OCFJR) a call and arranging a meeting time tomorrow for coffee. I have never actually met Eric and this would be a good time to discuss darkside riding, among other things. Although my trip is only half way, I will say this. This has been a blast so far. Even my experience with the LEO's of the world turned out to be laughable afterward. The roads have been great and even the cold felt great after being in the heat. Oregon is suppose to break all of their heat records this week, I think I might try the coast on the way home, but avoid San Francisco all together. My Russell seat works perfectly. No sore *** once. It made my entire trip worth it. Even though every bug in the entire world now lives in Oregon, I was able to test my Rifle windshield all the in the up position. And some of those bugs still managed to get past my windshield and fly straight into the half inch opening in my helmet visor to hit me right in my sun glasses. Pesky little *******s. I really need to stop every mile or so to scrap my visor and windshield with a putty knife. Oh I forgot to mention how much fun it was to play with these two new Camaro's on I-5 that thought they were fast. Oh please.......... about the time I heard them drop into passing gear they were already eating my exhaust. Had about 15 people ask me “hey man, is that a car tire, that thing sure is wide and flat”, yeah it sure is a car tire and it rides great and I hardly even know its back there.
Part two will be forthcoming. I start my journey back towards home this coming Monday morning. I plan on avoiding the heat, I think I brought part of Lake Havasu with me to Oregon. And those bugs, I think they must be best friends of those Frisco cops sent here to harass me.
o. My plan was to head straight for the coast to get out of the heat, but by the time I was half way to Barstow, it was already 103. Arrived in Buellton about 2:30pm and stayed at the campground called Flying Flags. I brought along my tent and other camping gear. Once in Buellton, the temp was cool and felt really nice. Especially the fog. I wanted to take some good pictures, but anything much further away than my arm was too foggy to be seen. Left the campground early Tuesday, heading up the coast towards Frisco. Of course the Fog became so thick I couldn't see much, including the road. Took almost a full day to reach San Francisco. Along with the Fog, traffic and the road repairs near the Golden Gate bridge. Then Hwy-1 after Frisco is all winding and dipped in fog. Did I mention the temp was in the lower 50's and I had my fully vented jacket on and I got pulled over by a local LEO wanting to know why my headlights were not on. Well officer, probably because they both happened to be burnt out at the same time. Oh gosh dolly said the LEO, I expect you to pull into that NAPA parking lot and fix'um right now pronto or else I might start writing your name on this here ticket. Why of course mister LEO officer, I'll most certainly do that for you. By the way, seeing you are from Arizona, you don't suppose you just might be packing any weapons with ya don't ya think? Mind if I just have a quick look? Sure mister LEO, can we do it in that NAPA parking lot? Nope, I think I'll just have a little look right here along side the city street so'in all these nice folks can yell **** at ya while we have a little looky see. But first I think I'll invite some of my LEO friends over too. Why looky there, here come a couple more of your buddies and they have their lights on, don't suppose they are welcoming me to the Bay area do ya? Hey, looky here, what do ya suppose these pills are for? Well LEO officer, I am a diabetic and I take them there pills. Why son are they not in a prescription bottle with yo name on it. Maybe we should do a test on some of these here pills to see if they might be the illegal type. Well Mr. LEO, I put them in that M,T,W,Th, F, S,S, case so I don't forget which ones I need to take. Tell me, have you ever been arrested? Not yet Mr. LEO! Why, am I about to be? What about the little number and symbol on my pills, can't you just call Inspector Harry Calahand or someone down at headquarters and ask them to translate those codes to you without having to take my pills away. Hell, if you take them away, I'll have to turn around and go back home. Wait a minute here, why are you carrying a hammer? Is this a weapon? No sir Mr. LEO, I use that hammer to knock some sense into my head to never come this way again. OK mister Arizona motorcyclist, I guess we will allow you to leave now that all of San Francisco has yelled something at you while we dug through your underwear along side the road. But you had better pull in over there and fix both of your lights mucho plenty or we might not be so nice next time. Yes sir Mr. LEO, but can I have my hammer back because I might need to pound in my tent stakes with it? I guess I could find a rock..............maybe!! Wow, that LEO and his friends were all so nice to allow me leave only after an hour or so and the 90 minutes it took to replace my headlight bulbs was fun too. Best 2.5 hours fun all in downtown San Francisco. I really didn't want to leave early anyway, I love hanging out with LEO's on a busy street in Frisco any day!!I decided to leave the Fog, the cold and all of those really nice LEO's and head on over to the 101 by Santa Rosa and head north straight away. And then I though since the 101 was also foggy and cold, I think I'll skip the coast and turn off at Ukiah and head for I-5 and make a b-line for Oregon. So as I arrive in Redding and its 103 degrees. Feels like home, hot and miserable. As I climb the mountain I decide to turn off and go see Crater Lake since I've never been there before. My trusty GPS tells me there is gas coming up in forty miles. I think great because I am getting really low, but I came make it 40 miles. As I nearing the turnoff for Crater Lake I see my much needed gas station in the distance. As I pull up I notice “oh great, its out of business”. OK, now I am on reserve as I turn towards Crater Lake. I ride about 15 miles and see a sign that reads Crater later 30 miles. OK, how far can I go on reserve? Maybe if I slow down to 50mph I'll get a little further. I ride past this little camping/ RV resort and pull in to ask about gas. They tell me that there is a little place about 4 miles up the road that has gas but they had better call them because they run out of gas often. So this nice lady gets on her phone and calls up the road. Yes sir, they are plumb out of gas, but don't you worry cus Crater Lake has gas and they are only about 17 miles up the road. Well, I guess I don't have a lot of choices here. They bid me good luck, have a nice trip and watch out for deer, there has been about twenty people hit a deer this past weekend. OK, thanks for the advice, I'm sure Bambi will be waiting special for me to ride past the way my luck has been going. I pull in to Crater Lake and gas up as full as I can get her. Whew, that was close. I stay about an hour and take a bunch of pictures. Then I head out the north entrance and start heading for Eugene. There is this guy that wants to drive really fast in a Nisson Maxima, so I let him go by so he is now my jackrabbit. I pull in behind him and follow about a half mile behind. Then I see we are going about 105 and I'm thinking LEO will let him go past and get me, so I slow down. Ot two minutes later, I see a Sheriff in the bushes. Apparently he must have just missed my friend in the Maxima. Another close call. But now on Highway 58 the sun is downing down, Oregon is having heat waves and the sun is in my face all the way to Eugene. By the time I get there, my UV protectant shield on my Shoei RF-1100 has allowed enough sun shine through to burn me on my face making me look like a big ugly raccoon. Looking at myself in the mirror I resemble the zombie on the old 3-Stooges shows. I get a hotel at Motel-6 in Eugene right nest to a Denny's. I jump into their pool to cool off and relax and 5 minutes later its 9pm and I'm told to get out because the pool is now closed. I get dressed and go have some dinner to recollect the past few days. Thursday morning, today, I grab some bacon & eggs and head on down the road, but first I need some gas. I start riding all over Eugene and can't find even one gas station. I ride down 4-5 roads and say to hell with this and enter the freeway I-5 north. I push my GPS to take me my planned route and it tells me to turn around and go home. At this point I'm about to chuck my gps, but then I see a sign that says “$1000 Fine for littering” and decide not to take a chance. Maybe I should have borrowed one of BeemerDons maps made of paper. So I type in my daughters address and then take the next exit and start heading east, not listening to the directions my gps is telling me to take. Finally, I get into some really beautiful roads with lots of trees and a nice LEO in a black Dodge Charger pull in behind me as I come into this little town of Mill City and gives me this nice escort for about 10-15 miles. I think he was hoping I'd make a run for it.
So here I sit in my daughters house waiting for her to get home from work. I'm contemplating giving Eric (OCFJR) a call and arranging a meeting time tomorrow for coffee. I have never actually met Eric and this would be a good time to discuss darkside riding, among other things. Although my trip is only half way, I will say this. This has been a blast so far. Even my experience with the LEO's of the world turned out to be laughable afterward. The roads have been great and even the cold felt great after being in the heat. Oregon is suppose to break all of their heat records this week, I think I might try the coast on the way home, but avoid San Francisco all together. My Russell seat works perfectly. No sore *** once. It made my entire trip worth it. Even though every bug in the entire world now lives in Oregon, I was able to test my Rifle windshield all the in the up position. And some of those bugs still managed to get past my windshield and fly straight into the half inch opening in my helmet visor to hit me right in my sun glasses. Pesky little *******s. I really need to stop every mile or so to scrap my visor and windshield with a putty knife. Oh I forgot to mention how much fun it was to play with these two new Camaro's on I-5 that thought they were fast. Oh please.......... about the time I heard them drop into passing gear they were already eating my exhaust. Had about 15 people ask me “hey man, is that a car tire, that thing sure is wide and flat”, yeah it sure is a car tire and it rides great and I hardly even know its back there.
Part two will be forthcoming. I start my journey back towards home this coming Monday morning. I plan on avoiding the heat, I think I brought part of Lake Havasu with me to Oregon. And those bugs, I think they must be best friends of those Frisco cops sent here to harass me.
