Tenchi
Well-known member
This weekend I turned 25, and to "celebrate" I did more than just take a day off work. I took the entire previous week off work and went down to California.
End of day stops:
Day 1: Holiday Inn, Florence, OR (370 mi)
Day 2: Holiday Inn, Fort Bragg, CA (400 mi)
Day 3: Rodeway Motel, Berkeley, CA (180 mi)
Day 4: Curry Village, Yosemite, CA (200 mi)
Day 5: as above (50 mi)
Day 6: Home in Seattle, WA (920 mi)
I was supposed to be doing this with someone else, but he bailed on me at the last second so I was flying solo. US101 was pretty tame until the WA/OR border; I would even go so far as saying that skipping that section and slabbing it down I-5 before cutting across at Portland is not so bad. The roads were in reasonable condition in the southbound direction, but I noticed a lot of washed out sections that had been patched in the northbound direction. That it was raining quite hard the entire time didn't exactly lead itself to the most enjoyable experience either. It also broke my phone, so I was without a phone for most of the trip.
Through OR, US101 picked up. For some reason, as soon as I entered OR, the rain stopped. There was a section inland that was pretty good. Of course, there is a downside to "good" sections. I think I had been on the road for all of 6 hours when this happened:
She let me off with a warning
. The roads were still inland a bit and ok, but nothing spectacular until 60 mi south of Florence, OR*. There's a hill with "Ocean View" and an arrow on it; ignore the sign, but be ready to turn off at the next road, because you're greeted with an amazing view of the OR coastline.
The rest of the trip down 101 was pretty good after that. I had gusty winds with an off shore breeze and some rain, but overall it wasn't that bad. Heading into California, all of a sudden the sun comes out. I now know where the sun is hiding for those 230 cloudy days in Seattle - in California. Welcome to the land of lane splitting. I stuck to the speed limit until CA-1, which was a good thing as the fuzz was keeping a close eye on everyone. CA-1 started off with 22 mi of winding, twisting roads; because the conditions were good and everything was going my way, I had a lot of fun. I noticed that CA-1 didn't have many warning signs, which doesn't matter to me, but coming from WA a new rider may be lulled into a false sense of security. A little advice for someone from WA or possibly OR attempting this same trip.
I didn't sleep that well in Fort Bragg, so I wasn't exactly in the best condition for the next bit of CA-1. For those that have done it before, they'll remember that there's an insanely twisty section with cliff faces on both sides and cattle grating on corners. This was made even worse by off shore gusting 20-40 mph winds and heavy rain that made those cattle grates more slippery than ice. If I ever find the person who authorized putting those in, a public flogging will be in order. It would have been awesome on a day with good conditions, but I have to admit that it wasn't the most fun when I did it, which is a real travesty. I ended up cutting across to US-101 slightly before Santa Rosa, heading in to Berkeley, and sleeping for 14 hours after I got back. SF didn't see a lot of touristy stuff from me; I will say that the AT&T store near the Golden Gate Bridge is the most useless shop ever, and that SF is very Mary-Jane friendly.
I took the back roads out from Berkeley to Yosemite, partly because I wanted to see a little more of SF before I left. The fog was still in, and I ended up going up some huge hills. I have a whole new level of respect for bicycle riders in the bay area. Cut through the university, past inspiration point (which was not inspiring because there was fog everywhere), and saw some of the most dangerous driving I've ever seen in school zones. If you love your kids, don't send them to high school in Berkeley, CA because the drivers there are total c*nts. Outside of SF, there was no really good way to get to Yosemite, but taking the back roads meant instead of straight lines, I was faced with meandering roads. Not exactly a bad thing. Drivers were speeding on average ~15 mph over the limit. I took CA-120 into Yosemite, without any incidents.
After entering Yosemite, I rode for about half an hour before I stopped to take a photo. I'd learned that it payed to slow down before entering a tunnel and look around after exiting the tunnel - if someone gets upset, you can say it was for safety, but the real reason is that you can have a good look around to see if there's any worthwhile views in the area. Well, I did this, and a car overtook me over the double lines, only to slam on the brakes and miss this view because they couldn't stop in time to pull in to parking:
Their loss. The roads around Yosemite were pretty awesome, but heavily policed with no passing opportunities (turnouts were available but required drivers to use them). Points to view if you ever go there are Glacier Pt, if it's open, and the valley of the Giant Sequioa trees**.
On the way back, I took CA-120 to I-5, and slabbed it home. The only two noteable things that happened were I almost got "deered from above" - about 50 ft from a tunnel, a deer jumped out from on top of the tunnel, landed on the road, then bounded off. Had I been going a little faster, I would have been its landing pad. The second was I was enjoying the winding I-5 through the mountains, and saw a car on my left side - gave it a little more throttle, only to look at the "Department of Correctional Services California" logo painted on the door with the police car escorting them. Whoops. No fine, but I did get a 85-90 mph escort all the way to the border.
I had run out of money because I was footing the full bill for accomodation instead of just half of it, so I figured I would ride until I got tired, then pull into whatever accomodation was close by. The previous 2 days of rest came in handy here because I didn't get tired until about 20 mi from home, so I just went home. I have more photos that are available on request of course, but these are the ones that I thought were most relevant to the actual riding itself. For the record, you FJR owners would have a lot of trouble getting the photo of me standing on a rock in front of the half dome, all alone. I was all alone because the only vehicle that could stop there was a motorcycle (I rode straight onto a rocky outcrop) and I think the clearance on the FJR's are a little too low for that area.
* Apparently I made quite an impression in OR. My buddy had booked the accomodation, and as such could cancel it in place of me calling up and doing so. When he called to cancel it, they originally said they couldn't do it, after which he explained he was supposed to be riding with a friend down the coast. The concierge immediately said, "Oh, you were supposed to come with Kris! Oh, let me see what I can do." and was extremely helpful after that.
** Special credit to Niehart and the folks that were at the Maupin, OR ride. Your words of, "keep to the right tire track on the twisties" as a warning to avoid oncoming cars entering my lane were something I was constantly thinking about, and even though I usually ride that way where possible, it probably saved my life in Yosemite. A Ford Explorer missed me by about a foot and a half on a blind right hander; a pretty big margin until you consider I was on the right side of the right tire track in my lane.
End of day stops:
Day 1: Holiday Inn, Florence, OR (370 mi)
Day 2: Holiday Inn, Fort Bragg, CA (400 mi)
Day 3: Rodeway Motel, Berkeley, CA (180 mi)
Day 4: Curry Village, Yosemite, CA (200 mi)
Day 5: as above (50 mi)
Day 6: Home in Seattle, WA (920 mi)
I was supposed to be doing this with someone else, but he bailed on me at the last second so I was flying solo. US101 was pretty tame until the WA/OR border; I would even go so far as saying that skipping that section and slabbing it down I-5 before cutting across at Portland is not so bad. The roads were in reasonable condition in the southbound direction, but I noticed a lot of washed out sections that had been patched in the northbound direction. That it was raining quite hard the entire time didn't exactly lead itself to the most enjoyable experience either. It also broke my phone, so I was without a phone for most of the trip.
Through OR, US101 picked up. For some reason, as soon as I entered OR, the rain stopped. There was a section inland that was pretty good. Of course, there is a downside to "good" sections. I think I had been on the road for all of 6 hours when this happened:
She let me off with a warning
. The roads were still inland a bit and ok, but nothing spectacular until 60 mi south of Florence, OR*. There's a hill with "Ocean View" and an arrow on it; ignore the sign, but be ready to turn off at the next road, because you're greeted with an amazing view of the OR coastline.
The rest of the trip down 101 was pretty good after that. I had gusty winds with an off shore breeze and some rain, but overall it wasn't that bad. Heading into California, all of a sudden the sun comes out. I now know where the sun is hiding for those 230 cloudy days in Seattle - in California. Welcome to the land of lane splitting. I stuck to the speed limit until CA-1, which was a good thing as the fuzz was keeping a close eye on everyone. CA-1 started off with 22 mi of winding, twisting roads; because the conditions were good and everything was going my way, I had a lot of fun. I noticed that CA-1 didn't have many warning signs, which doesn't matter to me, but coming from WA a new rider may be lulled into a false sense of security. A little advice for someone from WA or possibly OR attempting this same trip.
I didn't sleep that well in Fort Bragg, so I wasn't exactly in the best condition for the next bit of CA-1. For those that have done it before, they'll remember that there's an insanely twisty section with cliff faces on both sides and cattle grating on corners. This was made even worse by off shore gusting 20-40 mph winds and heavy rain that made those cattle grates more slippery than ice. If I ever find the person who authorized putting those in, a public flogging will be in order. It would have been awesome on a day with good conditions, but I have to admit that it wasn't the most fun when I did it, which is a real travesty. I ended up cutting across to US-101 slightly before Santa Rosa, heading in to Berkeley, and sleeping for 14 hours after I got back. SF didn't see a lot of touristy stuff from me; I will say that the AT&T store near the Golden Gate Bridge is the most useless shop ever, and that SF is very Mary-Jane friendly.
I took the back roads out from Berkeley to Yosemite, partly because I wanted to see a little more of SF before I left. The fog was still in, and I ended up going up some huge hills. I have a whole new level of respect for bicycle riders in the bay area. Cut through the university, past inspiration point (which was not inspiring because there was fog everywhere), and saw some of the most dangerous driving I've ever seen in school zones. If you love your kids, don't send them to high school in Berkeley, CA because the drivers there are total c*nts. Outside of SF, there was no really good way to get to Yosemite, but taking the back roads meant instead of straight lines, I was faced with meandering roads. Not exactly a bad thing. Drivers were speeding on average ~15 mph over the limit. I took CA-120 into Yosemite, without any incidents.
After entering Yosemite, I rode for about half an hour before I stopped to take a photo. I'd learned that it payed to slow down before entering a tunnel and look around after exiting the tunnel - if someone gets upset, you can say it was for safety, but the real reason is that you can have a good look around to see if there's any worthwhile views in the area. Well, I did this, and a car overtook me over the double lines, only to slam on the brakes and miss this view because they couldn't stop in time to pull in to parking:
Their loss. The roads around Yosemite were pretty awesome, but heavily policed with no passing opportunities (turnouts were available but required drivers to use them). Points to view if you ever go there are Glacier Pt, if it's open, and the valley of the Giant Sequioa trees**.
On the way back, I took CA-120 to I-5, and slabbed it home. The only two noteable things that happened were I almost got "deered from above" - about 50 ft from a tunnel, a deer jumped out from on top of the tunnel, landed on the road, then bounded off. Had I been going a little faster, I would have been its landing pad. The second was I was enjoying the winding I-5 through the mountains, and saw a car on my left side - gave it a little more throttle, only to look at the "Department of Correctional Services California" logo painted on the door with the police car escorting them. Whoops. No fine, but I did get a 85-90 mph escort all the way to the border.
I had run out of money because I was footing the full bill for accomodation instead of just half of it, so I figured I would ride until I got tired, then pull into whatever accomodation was close by. The previous 2 days of rest came in handy here because I didn't get tired until about 20 mi from home, so I just went home. I have more photos that are available on request of course, but these are the ones that I thought were most relevant to the actual riding itself. For the record, you FJR owners would have a lot of trouble getting the photo of me standing on a rock in front of the half dome, all alone. I was all alone because the only vehicle that could stop there was a motorcycle (I rode straight onto a rocky outcrop) and I think the clearance on the FJR's are a little too low for that area.
* Apparently I made quite an impression in OR. My buddy had booked the accomodation, and as such could cancel it in place of me calling up and doing so. When he called to cancel it, they originally said they couldn't do it, after which he explained he was supposed to be riding with a friend down the coast. The concierge immediately said, "Oh, you were supposed to come with Kris! Oh, let me see what I can do." and was extremely helpful after that.
** Special credit to Niehart and the folks that were at the Maupin, OR ride. Your words of, "keep to the right tire track on the twisties" as a warning to avoid oncoming cars entering my lane were something I was constantly thinking about, and even though I usually ride that way where possible, it probably saved my life in Yosemite. A Ford Explorer missed me by about a foot and a half on a blind right hander; a pretty big margin until you consider I was on the right side of the right tire track in my lane.
