Going to the rally - day 3

Monday, August 22 - It was cool when I woke up in Yuba City, the bike was covered with dew. That's something you don't see where I live. I wiped it off, loaded it up and headed through town on Hwy 99 - the last leg of my journey to Crescent City. I passed through the city of Chico, a college town. The upper Sacramento River Valley is nothing but agriculture, as far as the eye can see. Orchards, farm fields, the whole nine yards. I have developed a new respect for California, the immense scale of their agriculture industry is very impressive. I know now where a lot of the food I eat comes from.

Further up 99, I crossed the Sacramento River again as I entered the city of Red Bluff. It was a real nice, clean town with a lot of old well-preserved buildings. I went through town, stopped for gas, then turned off of 99 onto Hwy 36, which would take me west to the coast. Hwy 36 starts out in gently rolling hills, passing small ranches and farms as you start to climb into the mountains. I stopped in the town of Platina for some water. Here's the General Store:

Hwy 36 is essentially 150 miles of twisties and up/down grades, it took me 4 hours to get through it. I was exhausted by the time I reached the coast. The best part was the last 25 miles or so, as it takes you through a dense redwood forest. It was in the afternoon, but it was so dark it was like riding at night. I reached Fortuna, and stopped in at the Eel River Brewing Company to pick up a t-shirt. A special request from one of my sons.

I then started north on US-101 towards Crescent City. Since I was now near the coast, it was much cooler and I made good time to Eureka, where I stopped for gas and visited Redwoods Harley-Davidson to pick myself up a t-shirt. From there, it was about 80 miles to Crescent City, and I arrived at the Curly Redwood Lodge shortly after 5:00PM.

Going to the rally - day 2

Sunday, August 21. I woke up in Castaic, California. Castaic is just north of the San Fernando Valley on I-5. After an unspectacular McDonald's breakfast, I started north on I-5 towards Sacramento. After about 45 miles, I exited I-5 onto Hwy 99, which would take me through the central valley cities of Bakersfield, Fresno, Merced, Modesto, Stockton, and eventually to Sacramento. I stopped in Merced and went to lunch with my older brother, Dennis. We visited for a couple of hours and I filled up the bike and continued north. After I left Merced, I noticed my right side Kuryakyn longhorn highway peg was out of position. I bumped it with my toe and saw that one of the bolts had come loose. I was worried about losing it, so I pulled off Hwy 99 at Lodi and pulled into an empty parking lot and tightened it up. Back on 99, I soon came to Sacramento and crossed the Sacramento River and continued the 35 miles north to Yuba City, my destination for the day. Total miles = 446.6.

Going to the rally - day 1

Saturday, August 20: I left home around 07:15 AM. I had to get through 300 miles of desert on I-10 so I wasted no time. I stopped in Quartzsite AZ for gas (168 miles). Quartzsite is about 20 miles East of the Colorado River, and the California state line. Two hours later, I stopped in Thousand Palms (Palm Springs area) for lunch. It was around 104° degrees when I left the restaurant. I wanted to fill up, so I stopped at a gas station in Palm Desert (135 miles). I also stopped by Palm Springs Harley Davidson and grabbed a nice t-shirt. Just past Palm Springs is a gigantic wind farm.Thousands of wind generators line both sides of I-10. I know why they located it there. I fought a real nasty headwind all the way to Banning. I exited I-10 onto I-210, which took me around Los Angeles along the eastern foothills instead of through it. Right after I got on the 210, traffic came to a halt. It was backed up for about 3 miles, due to what I would later learn was a brushfire along the freeway. I shuffled along, moving about 1 bike length at a time for about a mile. That's how long it took for me to build up the courage to split lanes (legal in CA). After I watched a Goldwing pass me, I decided it was safe, so I very cautiously moved between the traffic lanes and made my way to the front of the backup. After that, it was smooth sailing all the way to Castaic, where I am spending the night. I am just a few miles North of Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park. Total miles for the day = 480.8.

I only took one picture today, of part of the wind farm from the Harley dealers' parking lot.

A new friend comes home

On April 1, I picked up my new motorcycle from the dealer. It is a 2011 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Ultra Classic Limited. That's a lot to say, so Harley calls it simply an "FLHTK".

The color is psychedelic purple/vivid black. It has all the bells and whistles:

 103 cubic inch engine, ABS brakes, cruise control, security system, four speaker sound with AM/FM/CD/WX/CB sound system, oil cooler, and many more features. The picture doesn't do the paint job justice. It really is a beautiful motorcycle.

Rest in peace, my friend...

On March 15, 2011 I crashed my beloved 2007 Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad on my way home from work. I suffered relatively minor injuries, but my motorcycle was later pronounced dead by my insurance company.

She served me faithfully for 52,000 trouble free miles. She left me too soon. I had done a lot of work to her, performing numerous custom modifications and adding tons of accessories.

Two weeks later, my injuries had nearly healed. I settled with my insurance company and went looking for her replacement. Rather than buy another cruiser and spend countless hours and a lot of money trying to make it into the bike I wanted, I went ahead and bought the motorcycle I have always wanted.

"The two-wheeled exploits of one man and his motorcycle"