Central Coast->SF->Sac->San Jose->Hollister->Home

****LONG WINDED POST WARNING****

Well, I returned from my latest trip. I took the laptop with me so I kept current with all the happenings here. I posted pics in the galleries, but I'll drop a few in this message as I expound on my journey.

Friday morn:
Got off work and came home and changed front tire...see tire thread for details on that one. Long and short, I'll be changing it back today. Loaded up my gear, and headed out. I left here and went for the Pacific Coast Hwy Route. Lunch in Monterey (no pics as coast was foggy, cool) Made it to SF and had to nap to recover. I think the weight of the backpack with clothes plus laptop was too much for my lower back and butt to take for a long haul.

Sat:
hangin in the city with friends... Shot from the balcony:
We bottled some beer they had done the primary and secondary on. By we, I mean they, and I assisted by drinking. After all that work we decided to head over to Oakland and eat at a mexican place with great margaritas. Don't recall much of the rest of Sat.

Sun: Loaded up and headed for Sacramento. My butt and back are recovered from the trip up now. I make pretty good time by just taking the freeway up. In Sac, I meet Todd, my sis-in-laws boyfriend. Todd has planned a scenic little ride for us. Todd pic:

See, Harley riders can be our friends, too. Although, I did notice the Harley's waved more when I was with Todd.

We were mostly on Hwy 49 around Jackson, Auburn, Ione, Sutter Mill(I think) A lot of little gold mine towns. Some pics:

this statue was in Auburn where we had lunch....





Todd showed me this old gold mine near Jackson I believe...



Then we headed through some twisty roads and through a couple little towns like I pictured above. Before getting to Auburn, we crossed the American River and I have a few pics here:




You can't see the river in all those, but they were shot from the same place looking different directions. It is a very scenic area, and a popular swimming hole. Unfortunately, I had no trunks, and as it was a crowded place with children present...no skinny dipping.

After Auburn, we headed out onto the freeway for several miles of lane-splitting fun. Boy were the cagers fumin. We passed Todd's gf stuck in traffic, but we didn't know until they told us later. (We were concentrating on not getting hit back pissed off cagers). After getting home, it was nap time. Later, we went and watched Todd play hockey and drank beer (my trip seems to have a common theme developing). I don't remember too much after that. Just kidding.

Sunday morn: Up bright and early... 5am My mother in law was visiting so I gave her my backpack to return home for me so I could ride with 20-25 lbs less weight on my back. Big improvement. After she left, I went back to bed to get up at a respectable hour. Left Sac around 830am I think... Had to start my day here:


Blueberry scone and mocha for breakfast 2nd day running... Hmm, maybe that's what I need this am since I can't sleep anyway....

Off down the 160 or River Road out of Sac. I call the Sacramento River, but I'm not sure if that is really the name as I never saw a sign, I just know I started following it in Sac...



there were several drawbirdges along my path which I thought was really neat as I haven't seen a whole lot of those. Our rivers in Missouri were too big I guess.



On the same road, I started to blow by this building and glanced over and thought it looked really cool. I believe it said Old Sugar Mill but it may be a winery. I'm not sure but here it is:


I stayed with the river for quite a while and went through some neat little river towns then crossed over what I guess is still considered part of the bay, but I'm not sure since I was so far inland...


this was probably the windiest riding I have experienced. I am sure I was in a lean most of the time and the gusts moved me a foot at a time. Looking at google maps it looks like I was crossing from Sherman Island into Antioch. From there I lane splitted the am traffic heading for the 680 and got off on a backroad that I knew through a pass by Mt. Diablo and into Walnut Creek. In WC, I got on the 680 and made double-time through San Jose and down the 101 to Gilroy where I headed over for Hollister. I didn't stay long in Hollister, just for lunch then down 25 for miles and miles of fun. I wish I had more picutres, but I was having too much fun riding. The roads were everything from long, straight to hilly curvy and all grades in between. The road surface was great and the traffic was light... I made wuick time to Pinnacles Nat'l Monuent where I snapped a few more pics:



Then I napped right here under this tree for a half hour or so... It was a very cool spot. If I had had a book, I would have probably stayed longer. I was getting eager to see my wife and tell her about the trip, though. I kept thinking about when she gets used to riding, we'll go see places like this...

that shot is looking up through the tree where I was napping. I thought it looked neat so I took a pic.

From pinnacles, I got back on the 25 for several more miles of ear-to-ear grinning twistie action. Probably one of the best sections of road on my trip. Hwy 1 is awesome, but there are so many people to deal with. 25 is twisty, scenic, and deserted...My favorite combo.

At the end of 25, I made a short jog left onto Peachtree Road. This was a tough call as the 198 to Coalinga looked like a blast, but it was going out of the way. Maybe next trip...

Here's Peachtree: Note how narrow it is...





There are more in my photo gallery if you're not getting enough from this Megapost... After Peachtree Road, the road became Indian Valley. I got lots of shots of the fire damage. You guys may have seen this in the news. Some of these areas still seemed to be smoking, but it was probably just the wind kicking up ashes...





From there I followed it all the way to San Miguel where I got on north river road and went to Paso Robles. Paso is just a few miles north of home for me. At home I stretched out, and you guessed it, had a few beers...

I probably will be doing short trips like this several times a year. I'm pretty spontaneous about it, but I try to mention it here on the board when I'm getting ready. Anyone is welcome if you want to tag along. I tend to run a fast pace, but will always stop and wait after a while. After this one, I can make some reccomendations. No backpack. It's just too annoying after very long. A tank bag or saddlebags would be much better. Soften suspension settings. I had mine set pretty stiff because I'm using balsting corners around here, and I could feel it after the trip. I know I could have changed it when I stopped somewhere but th

en when I hit the corners it would be too soft. Those of you who made it this far, congrats. This is my longest post to date and between loading the pics, cropping them, recalling the journey and typing it up, it has taken me 2+ hours. If you enjoy the pics and are new to VFRworld, browse the galleries, I have posted over 100 pics from around the central part of California... Keep the rubber side down and have a good one...

 

Nah, damn, I wish I had known I was heading there sooner. I kind of decided last minute. I'll try to put a heads up sooner so vfrworlders can jump in at any point of my path... I have a BMW friends who lives in Jackson, but I didn't remember to call him until after I was back home form riding... I saw a few VFRS in your area, and one GSXR crashed. They were strapping him to the backboard when we rode by. That was right after we started riding... It looked like he broke the front end completely off to me...

 

It would be nice to have a trip with some other people so I could get action photos. Unfortunately, my camera is not great so they usually end up blurry, though. I am pretty stoked about the trip I just took and I'm ready to take another. I want to go over to the mountains next. I can't wait to take that winding road up to see the giant sequoias in sequoia nat'l forest.

I forgot to mention in the long post that the whole time I was on peachtree road, I didn't meet or pass another person. Then on Indian Valley I saw one car going the opposite way. It was awesome... My bike is in pieces right now as I dropped the forks out to take in to have the seals replaced. I should have done it myself, but I have never done it and wasn't sure what all was entailed.

 

Yeah, I'm in Atascadero. I gave the backpack to my moter-in-law who happened to be in Sac the same day I was and she brought it back in her cage. Then I stopped in Paso after getting back and grabbed it. It was very much easier that way. The added weight of the laptop was what did it I think. The 300 or so miles from Sac to Atascadero were no sweat without that thing strapped to me. It was just like a nice day trip. I hope to do it again this month or next. Not sure where to go, though. I'm thinking pretty strongly about the Sequoia Nat'l Forest...