California SuperBike tour after work. Hayabusa ->
Squeaked out of work early! 185 mile ride today.
Had very generous loaner bike from my friend… Green Magic was puking fuel 3 nights before after I flew out to the west coast. I got GM running… but pouring fuel out of the carbs.
The SuperBike to the rescue!
Half Moon Bay was gorgeous warm weather and got to eat my fantastic burrito out in the sunshine after work.
Route 1 down to Arata’s Farm. A place I am obsessed with. I would love to own that place and live there. Took the left there off the Rt 1 and into the Tunitas Creek Cutoff.
The 1300cc monster Suzuki Hayabusa is very docile bike to ride – despite what you might think. It is also a quick turner and handles really well. Razor sharp brakes. It has a 190 mph speedometer and actually needs the highest markers unlike many poser cars. That’s how fast this thing is.
The gear ratios are so wide, I rode Tunitas Creek in mostly 1st gear and 2nd gear. I had a near take out several years back on that road on a blind corner with some ass local so I am very leery of that road and blind left corners. Tunitas Creek is loaded with blind corners thru the redwoods and huge california Cedar trees.
Alices Restaurant of course at 4 corners. Pescadero, and some spirited blasts on Rt 1 over the cliffs and ocean. Rode back to Woodside 84 via Pescadero Road from the ocean. Dunbarton bridge had absolutely horrible Friday night traffic – the worst traffic I have ever seen.
Escaped to Niles Canyon and then Palomares Canyon was equal time back to Oakland… DUH! Of course you’re going to ride an empty no car road over a mountain pass.
It’s hard on my wrists though. And the mirrors took tons of fidgeting to get just right. Originally I deemed them useless to me which is scary when you’re lane splitting California rush hour for 3 days. If I owned this I would have to put 1.5″ minimum bar risers on it to tolerate it. I don’t always squeeze my thighs and abs when riding and load a lot of weight on my wrists unfortunately.
But a pretty magical day, and out riding in fresh air and a respite from the cold east 🙂
Route Map:
Posted in Touring by green
First day back riding. 180 mile joyride in the Sierra Mountains! GM Rides Again!!
Since I met the kraken…
After working on the bike over four days, on the 4th day the bike rose from the ashes.
180 miles of giddy bliss riding.
I was excited for days to get back on the bike and ride (if I could get it working).
Route:
Mormon Pass, Immigrant Pass, Highway 88, Carson Pass, Lake Tahoe, Highway 50 back.
I was on a bit of a deadline here, but had to test run it and see if it was ok.
A beautiful ride in the mountains. I was hoping I could make this loop without the bike failing on me. It ran great. The motor sounded great and pulled with power and I still have that gorgeous sounding burbling loud de-baffled exhaust that I love.
The mountains were for the most part hazy – there were active major forest fires in California nearby. So that was a little bit of a bummer. But the roads were great.
Immigrant Pass almost immediately right out of Pollock Pines by the beautiful Jenkinson Lake I’d kayaked on w Jay.
Immigrant Pass is closed in the winter and I’d never ridden it. Glad I did.
At the end of the pass just before 88 I stopped by an abandoned ski area – in fact the TOP of the ski area. That was kind of strange. A few old buildings with damage and graffiti and old chair lift tower and the ends of two that used to drop off skiers. I had to look it up later, but it was “Iron Mountain Ski Area” and it closed for good in 1993. I’m pretty sure there were a few vagrants squatting in one of the building and outside nearby.
Highway 88 to Kirkwood had fresh pavement that’s perfect with big sweeper turns up to the highest parts of the ride.
I passed by Kirkwood Ski area and stopped for pics again like I had done years ago. Carson Pass is really pretty breathtaking winter or summer – it just opens up in front of you after you hit the highest point in the pass over 10,000 feet elevation.
I’ve always loved the meadows coming off Carson Pass and taking the left up small winding Highway 89 to Lake Tahoe.
I was blissed out on this ride. There were very few cars out on the road, it was like having most of it all to myself.
I got back to my friends mtn A frame and loaded everything up and rode back to the Bay.
Rode straight outta Pollock Pines to Sacramento, and had a late burrito dinner stop at dusk.
Got back to Oakland and #vanlife at 11pm.
While out west on this trip I am mostly sleeping in my converted cargo Ford E250 van nicknamed ‘Evan’.
I shower and exercise at the awesome gym at the huge Silicon Valley tech co everyone knows their name.
Posted in repair, Touring and tagged after crash, after wreck, Green Magic, Green Magic Man, Green Magic rides again, rebuilt, rides again by green
Mines Road run Mt Hamilton whole circuit!
Just did the fantastic Mines Road run today. What a treasure this road is, amazing!
It felt like another world out there.
Parts of it felt like the greater LA mountains, like the drive up to Big Bear and Snow Summit and around that area.
One small rear tire slip a inch or two, not a big deal today.
Drove fairly conservative, just enjoying the scenery.
It was hot on the Mines Road side of the mountain I will say that.
I thought “The Junction” bar grill looked pretty cool to check out another time.
About 160 miles altogether.
Just after the Junction area was some pretty straight roadway. I scoped it out and then did 3 blast down it. First Pass, 95 mph, which felt very fast on this small road. 2nd pass, 105 mph. 3rd pass 120.
It was pretty crazy feeling.
Even the pavement was odd colored in spots, just after the Santa Clara line. A blueish grey sparkly color. Very little houses or ranches along the whole road.
Was a gorgeous ride, I will definitely do this one again (and again).
Posted in Touring and tagged Mt. Hamilton by green
Mini Rt 1 tour, Pescadero lunch after work, Pacifica
I was done with the main part of work at 11am and riding from work at noon on Friday!
Decided after four day work with a double up job on a special day it was time to celebrate a little with a joyride to the coast and along it in the sunny weather.
Just before La Honda small center I hit up some sweeping turns and looped it there about a dozen or more times. Was a rush, trying to get the knee down on these huge turns. Didn’t but it was fun!
I stopped at Applejacks hoping to get lunch, but it was close to empty and they have no kitchen apparently. So continued on out of La Honda.
I took a new road for me, up past the Jones Gulch YMCA and eventually got on the windy mtn pass road direct to Pescadero.
This was my third day using my brand new Shoei helmet and I’m really loving it. Very solid feeling, close to air tight and quiet.
Very pretty riding through redwoods and nice twisty roads.
Stopped there for a (late) nice sandwich at the General Store and had a little conversation with a cute girl there from out of town.
Out to the ocean and Pescadero State Beach. I really love the Pescadero area. I dream of living on a ranch there, apparently everyone else does, I saw a house for sale for $1 Million.
I always like to stop at this one overlook at take a picture:
Along the 1 up through Half Moon Bay and Moss Beach. I stopped at the Moss Beach Distillery here just to see the beach in the daytime there (only been there once at night).
It was a beautiful beach view up some small cliffs. I walked out to the peak of one cliff, and found out later it was all restricted. Was kind of funny because there were tons of people around and Distillery staff and no one said a thing to me. Took a few ‘illegal’ pictures there I guess you might say.
There were humpback whales spouting out in the ocean.
I tried to find that beach overlook and wound up on California street and down to a little beach park there that was quite cute and I plan to go back to on a warm day and enjoy the beach there.
Onward toward Pacifica, and I stopped at a beautiful overlook on a turnout on Rt 1 in the curves before Pacifica:
It was a beautiful day out there, and I was pretty thrilled to get some ocean riding in. Very peaceful out on the road. The water always makes me feel calm.
Posted in Touring by green
Grapes! Upper Outer Napa, Berryessa after Davis.
Got released at 3pm so decided to take the very long and very scenic way back. I did this before on the 2 day trip to Sac, Hwy 88, Tahoe, and back, so I remembered this route with fondess.
It was also hot again today but upper 80s rather than 100s. As long as I did not stop for long at all I was fine moving.
Lake Berryessa was worth riding around for the roads alone just south of it! Those roads are fantastic and very pretty too, loaded with fast sweepers (and sometimes dirt / rocks in road this trip).
Took the Pope Valley pass road out of the upper west of Berryessa
Approaching Pope Valley, I came over a slight rise in the road, and it just opened up ahead of me… No one in line of sight at least 1-2 miles out, nothing! Was in a cruising gear around 4k but I just pinned it. Up to 110 there… heh. Ah, I have to calm down a little. Then the Pope Valley Cross Rd, (where 110 happened again).
I saw some really lovely grape leaves at vineyards around Pope Valley so I decided I needed to keep going past my turn off for a really solid photo op. Almost got it near the tiny P.V. Elementary school, but rode on.
Jackpot!! One of the most beautiful spots – I could hardly imagine it was just waiting up the road from me to come and find on my joyride. It was breathtaking, just spectacular. Only had my iPhone but I probably took 70 pic anyway. Pics do no justice, but in person it will take the breath from you. Reminded me of the gorgeous landscapes in “Jean de Fleurette” and “Manon des Sources” french films of Provence.
I went a little farther actually, and turned around right at this cool old barn:
Doubled back, passed the very cute looking Pope Valley vineyard (I WILL return and tour this when open!), and took Howell Mtn Road (a very steep pass with some crazy turns going up!) back towards the south and Angwin.
Deer Park Road back down the pass with lots of turns and passed Viader vineyards on my right without knowing it – a spot I wine tasted a little more than a year ago… Feb 23 2014 to be precise.
On to Silverado Trail – the small side highway, and the best way to cruise through Napa, and passed some very cute real estate and lovely vineyards.
The little turn off road to Shafer Vineyards and Quixote Winery.
Stopped at Stag’s Leap for some pics of the pretty mountains behind it including Chimney Rock.
I CAN’T DRIVE 55!
I had been riding on reserve… all the way since I throttled to 110 the 2nd time at Pope Valley. You know where this part is going right? I made it precisely to 50 miles on reserve and into American Canyon before running completely flat out of gas. No stations in the past 5 miles at least… My iPh map GPS position kept trying to say I was on top of a gas station. Uh, yeah, thanks, I would know if I was at a gas station.
I figured I was 1 mile away from the next one south. And there was an incline on a very fast highway here… great. Wonderful. A work truck finally came by to the intersection I pulled over at, and I asked them if they knew exactly where the closest station was. They said south about a mile so. I walked back to bike, and they yelled over to me “How much gas ya need?” (ooh!)
“Just a trickle to get me there is all see…” So they produce a gas can and dump a half tank into GM right then and there! They said they’d rather I take it all so they don’t have to worry about it tipping and leaking in the back of truck. And I told them I should pay for the gas and pulled out cash and they said Nope, you’re good! Really nice guys to bail me out. That guy had a shovel head HD bike he said along with “lucky we ride too”. I was.
Was getting pretty tired out from the long day and riding. I left the house in the morning in the pitch dark to ride up to work in Davis after all.
I was pretty zoned on the highway south after the Carquinez bridge and decided to bail out for my own safety and take San Pablo Dam Road the whole way back which was a very good decision. I perked up being on that road rather than the awful super slab. Had a couple cold ones in the fridge waiting for me when back. It was a pretty spectacular day!
Posted in Touring by green
Magical Monterey trip. Big Sur. Great work!
Had an amazing work trip down to Monterey. Working at the Concours d’Elegance, something I have always wanted to see.
Now there were far more Lambos down there than Prius cars!
Client put me in a magical hotel, the best hotel experience I’ve ever had. Monterey Bay Inn. The staff was terrific, and it was such a small boutique hotel on the water there were no common space rooms, so that meant breakfast was brought to your door every morning!
I was surrounded on two sides by beautiful Monterey Bay on the top floor of the Inn. I found out later I got The Honeymoon Suite – literally – my work buddy had been there last year for a wedding. I had a marble bathroom and open tub that looked right out to the ocean and a balcony over the water. It was fantastic every morning and often I’d get back to enjoy it in the late afternoon.
The cars were awesome there. And I got released early one day (we started early most days), and I got changed fast and took Green Magic down the famous Route 1 coastline into the heart of Big Sur.
At the final place I stopped at – just beyond Julia Phiefer beach with the rock formation cutout – I pulled in a great turnout with beautiful southern view. There I saw whales galore! Breaching out of the water, I couldn’t count the numbers I saw. I only had my pocket Canon SD camera with me with silly zoom so here’s the best pics I could muster with it.
We had great meals for the trip, frequenting the Tiki Bar restaurant maybe 3 nights. An easy walk for our crew from two hotels.
I’m hoping to go back next year for this event, it was the best assignment I’ve had this year!
My beautiful hotel room views out both directions:
Riding down Route 1 to Big Sur Saturday.
The magical view from Nepenthe restaurant.
Julia Pheiffer beach, near where I turned around.
Those are the flukes of the whale’s tail. Also the back of one coming out of the water highest mark above the rocks.
The Bixby Bridge.
Riding down to Monterey on day one. Wednesday. Zipped out of work in Belmont asafp, to beat some traffic and make a crew dinner in Monterey. Got there a little early so snapped some pics just north of town. Had to pack a fair bit of gear for 4.5 days and a shirt and tie and fancy shoes for Sunday.
My favorite car of all time: 1966 Ford GT40. I would own one if I could! Sex on wheels.
Hotel and balcony and a breakfast morning. The early breakfast moments each morning right by the water were sublime.
Grill of the 1937 Delahaye 145 Franay Cabriolet.
Last full day work there: Sunday show. Yes, that’s an actual ’65 Shelby Cobra Daytona.
Posted in Touring and tagged Concours, Concourse d'elegance, Ford GT40, Highway 1, Kawasaki, Monterrey, Ninja, Pebble Beach, sexiest car of all time, Zx6e, zzr600 by green
Carson Pass, Lake Tahoe, Hwy. 50 Sac overnight, Berryessa, Napa
Had a client ask me to work in Sacramento and got me an overnight hotel so I thought I would squeeze in some good riding in the Sierras and the gold mine towns.
Day 1: 400 miles. (399.5 to be exact). Oak 4 to Sac, to 49 Jackson, 88 to Carson Pass, on to Lake Tahoe. 50 back.
Day 2: Sacramento to Davis and then small highway to Lake Berryessa, and on to Napa Valley. Up and Down Bar in Point Richmond for a beer at the end and back to Oakland.
First Day:
Route to get to Sac via 4 and the 5. I checked in and dumped all my clothes and work gear and headed out. The heat was scorching and not fun. Was still pretty roasting miserable even to Jackson, CA an old gold rush town. Jackson had some very cool large mining structures just outside of downtown on the famous 49.
Tried to find a nice place for a very late lunch around 5pm, but most of the restaurants were closed on Monday. Had to settle for a truck burrito which was decent.
On the way up the 88 Carson Pass I was still boiling and craving me some cheap ice tea sugary drink, so I gave in to the bad urge at this little stop and met a few friendly locals:
This was highway 88 towards Carson Pass and Kirkwood.
A nice stop on the 88:
By now the extreme heat had finally started to break and let up. But only just barely. I turned into a sweaty mess at the Kirkwood resort road taking pictures in my leathers. That was a bad idea. A paving delay I had to stop for there and was so hot I had to strip off the helmet and leathers to almost breath.
I had never done the next section in nicer weather and it was much more beautiful than I remembered during my snowboard video years.
I hit the 3 way intersection and headed towards Hwy 50 and Lake Tahoe.
Some heavy rains had just pounded through here and everything was a startling green and some very wild misty vapor rising off the road backlit with the sun was pretty otherworldly.
I pushed on to old stomping grounds: South Lake Tahoe. I really knew I should be heading back towards Sacramento with the coming darkness but I couldn’t resist blowing right by Hwy 50 and cruising the soaking roads into Lake Tahoe itself. I raced down a private Marina road to try to see the Lake quickest, and all I got to see was this sorry bit of water. Cue the letdown.
Oh yeah, and there was this rainbow thingee rising out of the Lake too:
Ok, so you are let down too and want to see the actual Lake? Ok ok, I turned around and took the other T branch and went for it until the end to a very private property area but snapped some picks anyway after parking illegally there:
I back tracked south back to the Hwy 50 turn and headed up the 50. It was much more beautiful than I remembered, and I used to drive that road a fair amount back then too:
Made it back to hotel quite late. Hit up In N Out burger for a late dinner. I was pretty fried by that point (so I guess fries and burger made sense).
Spent a nice quiet night at the hotel and left in scorching heat late morning back towards the Bay.
I rode out towards Davis and then headed off the super slab to take in some pretty (hot) farmland and some vineyards eventually on my way to Lake Berryessa. I’ve never seen this Lake, just read about it. It was pretty cool! Some great fast roads on the southern tip and rode to the northern tip.
I sat in the shade at the top of the Lake for awhile to cool off and stripped off all my clothes above the waist. Could almost manage to be cool there in the breeze. Just before I had finally taken off my jacket and had it wedged between my lap and the tank it was so hot. We’re talking 103 degrees and full sun here.
Then off towards some back roads to Napa. I came down Napa from a really nice eastern road, finally stopped at Soda Springs cute general store for a very late lunch and cool down in the shade.
It was a great trip.
Posted in Touring by green
Yosemite, Sonora, Tioga, Sierras, hot springs! 775 mile trip 3 nights camping
“All loaded up and everywhere to go.” – Green Magic Man
Just got in from a 3.5 day trip and 3 night of moto camping with my friend.
It was an awesome trip.
But to tell this tale, I really must back up to the prior day. My friend flew out and rented a brand new just broken in BMW R12000GS with 600 miles on the clock. I will review that bike later in the post.
We joined a friend who owns a ‘Busa for a short 2 hour ride on Saturday. My bike immediately, right out of the driveway, runs like Sh&t. It has a severe stumble and just running awful. Recall from prior posts, Green Magic had developed what I called a ‘hot idle’ issue. Anytime the temp climbed from normal 1/3 reading to 1/2 on the temp gauge and the fan kicked in, like on a warm day at a traffic light or two it would pull away stumbling terribly, and have a rotten idle and die without throttle often.
Well, I don’t know it yet, but they are related.
Saturday the bike reaches a permanent horrible running state, and after about 20 miles into the ride, I throw in the towel and know I have to head home. It’s not getting better, and I need to start tearing apart the bike looking for who knows what. I have no idea and I’m not happy. It is T minus 27 hours to planned departure and I have to work all the next day Sunday as well.
I ride back, make posts about it on the forums HELP!, and stew.
B comes back and is positive about it all and declares we will find the problem and fix it. I guffaw.
Two burritos later, we remove many fairings, the gas tank, the air box and I start digging right away into looking for pinched fuel lines (none apparent), while B is looking for vacuum leaks. He thinks vacuum leak, although I am really thinking electrical / spark issues.
I examine the ignition coil closest to me. BINGO. I find the smoking gun. The HT lead (spark wire) coming from the coil is not even held in tight, it’s slid out 1/2″ to 1″ at least. It’s also the only part on the motor wet, just the wire and the coil insert area. I remove the wire and it’s a horrible mess, all oxidized green and burnt looking. The inside of the coil is bad news too, heavy oxidation and the spike / prong has been long corroded and gone (I recall that from when I cut and replaced all my spark plug wires nearly 3 years ago to get Green Magic to start and run again).
So we clean it all out, chop 1″ off the wire and re-bend the longer core wire around the insulation. We E. tape around the wire where the compression fitting would slide to, to widen it a little bit. The tighten it all up and it’s pretty snug again.
I am feeling very very confident this was the issue and I was running on 3 cylinders, or 3.5 or 4 sometimes depending on heat and expansion and resistance and the wire slipping farther from the metal conducting end inside the coil. I have no spare coil, and it’s not the best repair, more like a patch. But I’m desperate to have a bike running that will make this trip, and that’s that.
Button it all back up and fire it up at 11:30pm. I take it down the hill and it runs absolutely perfect. Woohoo!!! I am thrilled.
Next day I work all day Sunday until 7pm, and race back to dump gear and scramble / panic / bark to load up all the gear as fast as possible. I waste at least 10 minutes searching for the damn usb to mini usb cable that will power all our devices which ratchets up my time panic and fouls my mood. By 9pm we are KSU (kick stands up) and off and running!!
Day (night) 1: About 180 miles at night. (The irony is that we ride the most miles on this leg besides day 2)
We ride 9pm until 12:30am until we hit the campground in Jerseydale. This is all superslab riding fast at night (we pass most cars). The temp is 52 degrees when we leave – quite cold for weather here lately. It was cold riding back from work two hours ago and it’s getting worse. I layer up with two long sleeve shirts, my TMZ moto armor and Frank Thomas padded jacket with everyhting shut / buttoned up and all helmet vents closed.
It’s a cold start and continues until we get through the Altamount Pass (I place I hate due to torn up roads and constant horrible blasting winds that blow me all over the highway). Turning south on the 580 and onto the even faster superslabs here, we pass a few small plateaus and suddenly the temp jumps from 51 to 78 degrees and we can feel this instant wave of heat. It’s very welcome and cheering for this ride and the farm smells are abundant as we can almost taste the heat.
B got super tired by Merced and we almost had to stop altogether and get a cheap hotel there. I think having a $25K rental bike in that town made him think twice. He had some water and seemed to recover a little bit and off we go. I told him after Merced there’s likely nothing. Mariposa will be all booked out this time of year. So if we continue we likely have to commit to the whole way.
We hit the 140 which is a great road and have it all to ourselves, no cars. Riding through the night following my friend in the dark I am smiling and happy at this stage. It reminds me of trips when we were in our teens and twenties together and riding beautiful summer nights in NH and Cape Cod.
I have extremely vague directions on how to get to this site, and never been there. I’m a little anxious riding there in the pitch dark. I am riding as fast as I can on the very twisty roads off 140, outriding my headlights in corners – not smart.
I finally locate this remote campsite, it not only exists and is open, it’s a very pretty and serene place to my relief. Great location about 9 miles off the main road 140 into Yosemite. This place is a gem. I find an open spot quick and we pitch the tent right next to the bikes. As I’m fumbling with the tent B comments “Look at the stars!” I look up and they are incredible. This place is so still and quiet and nothing is around it.
Day 2: Roughly 235 miles via Sonora Pass.
We get up and the campground is gorgeous. I am thrilled to be back in nature, far away from it all. The stillness, the animals, the trees… magic stuff this blue sky filled morning.
I walk to the end of the grounds (short) and scare a deer who trots off. There are cows in a pasture nearby too. The crow was making a serious racket since dawn and I see him fly overhead in the tall pines and redwoods.
We pack up everything again – this time more leisurely and a little more sensibly and ride back down to Mariposa. The roads back to 140 are beautiful and thrilling. We have 3 deer crossing these roads as we ride. In Mariposa, we gas up and stop at a small diner there for breakfast.
The staff are nice, and the food was pretty good – a beef breakfast burrito for me with coffee. This place just reminds me of Weirs Beach and a touristy place but I like it. It’s already quite hot here – real hot. It’s hard to be in the sun with any gear on. I post the Revenue Service a whole bunch of coin for my estimate (because I’m such an outlaw), and off we go – heading for the famous “Mini Dragon”.
We head north on 49 from Mariposa and stop briefly in Bear Valley for me to show B some of the gold rush era ruins.
We stop at the summit for pics and then hit the “Mini Dragon”. Rt 49 from Bear Valley to Coulterville is superb, an exquisite road in top shape today.
Both B and I note later that the tar snakes induced rear wheel slip while cornering hard. The road is amazing, perfect pavement, pretty much zero gravel or sand in any corner. And we just fly through all these corners. It’s a total blast.
A stop in Coulterville is next. We ride by the old chinese grocery east of the small town center, and then park back in town. We walk around briefly and again, it’s very hot here as well, just like September. 
We get back and start a new leg I’ve never done before, 49 North from Coulterville to Sonora. I’m looking forward to more great twisties, but the road there is so-so. Fun, but not like the portion south. We stop at the dam / lake overlook and then in Chinese Camp – a gold rush semi ruined place I’ve wanted to check out. The current population is like 160, and it’s really gone downhill since the heady 1850s days. Many abandoned properties in the small town center. 
Frankly, there’s little to see here so we move on to escape the dominating heat as best we can.
Then off to one of my favorite roads in the world – Sonora Pass. It’s closed down half the year due to snow but not today!
Due to heat and it getting to be 2pm I start getting very tired and loose focus in the early portion of Sonora Pass, so I have us backtrack slightly to Strawberry, where we stop at the Strawberry Inn and sit out back in a great large roofed gazebo type thing on stilts perched high above the nearby Stanislaus River. A welcome break, it’s quite nice with the sound of the river flowing under us.
The pizza, well, best not to comment on it I suppose. Ok, one word – Cisco. ‘Nuff said.
But I do feel a bit better after we split the large pizza and drink a lot of ice water. The blonde foreign waitress waiting on the other tables sure is cute. (Why are we the only ones with the waiter?)
Back to riding and about to close in on the best parts of Sonora Pass.
Sonora Pass. My favorite road:
I drove this road with my same friend B back in 2011 when we drove my Integra cross country. I had been searching for this magical beautiful road that I once did during my snowboard years. I kept thinking it was Hwy. 50 into South Lake Tahoe, but those roads are worlds apart.
We absolutely hammered the roads near the peak and then down the other side east. Just flying through them, no cars to slow us down.
The summit is gorgeous and we loop back for twisties and for me to photograph this area: a spot that feels like Mars or the moon with the smooth rock faces all around.
Heading down east from the summit we are flying through the turns, ripping it up. It’s a complete blast and stunning scenery.
We pass what looks to be a roadside mining shack with small park, and eventually a Marine Mountain warfare training base where there are attack choppers spinning up and 2 Hueys! My favorite helicopter, from the Vietnam era.
We eventually hit 395 and head south with dreams of hot springs in our heads to soothe the aching muscles – we’ve done some heavy turns mileage today and last night was a tad brutal too. We stop briefly at the lovely Mono Lake mtn overlook rest stop. 
Heading back 395 South we stop at the last outpost – Mammoth Lakes for dinner. After riding around a little B resorts to his phone and finds a well rated Mexican place. The rating and single $ symbol and I’m sold!
Roberto’s turns out to be great. Very good food, and plenty of chips and perfect salsa and ice water coming. Although inside is full we are offered a place outside and it’s great.
We grab a six pack of Corona – now to find that hot spring I last went to in 1998 and 1999… I think I remember all those unmarked gravel roads through tundra… yeah…
Anyway, I decided to go a newer way with more paved roads and less hairy gravel and trust my GPS to lead me. It actually works and I get right to the ‘ole crab cooker. Nice. And although there are other cars at other spots, it’s empty so we claim it!
And then… we soon realize the hot spring is more or less broken. The source doesn’t have enough water to run thru the rigged up pipes to heat the tub so it’s mild lukewarm at best. We tinker with the hot source piping and try to ge the tube more underwater for awhile but cannot get more output in the tub really. Dammit!
But it IS gorgeous here, and we have the area all to ourselves, so I crack a beer. Yes, that’s right I Crack a beer. As in, no proper opener and crack the entire top off on a rock but don’t realize what I’ve done. Not aware the glass is all cut at the top, I don’t even feel it cutting into my lips. After a long sip, which is tasty, hmmm…. I seem to be spitting blood. Why yes, that’s blood there. Oh damn, that stupid thing happened again…
I decide I’m too tired and ham fisted to open a fresh coldie, so I have B crack the next one for me. At least we have beer and a stellar view as the sun has set behind the mtns. It is a bit chilly here with pretty impressive winds breezing through this open area below the mountains. The tent gently flapping at night often sounds like a wild animal investigating.
Day 3:
Wake up to our beautiful surroundings. It was a cold air night out there, but plenty warm in the tent with the sleeping bag. Crab Cooker:
My friend is an early riser anyway, so the night before I told him when he gets up extra super duper early go forage around for another hot tub, ok? There are plenty around this area, but I only knew this one from the past.
He comes back as I am clearing my eyes and says he’s found one not far away and it has plenty of hot water from the source!
So we mosey over there through the sage brush / tundra whatever all this stuff is, and voila! HOT TUB!!
We go WOT on the pipe tap – wide open throttle, lol. The very hot water streams in and slowly heats up and is soooo nice. We wish we had this last night but oh well, at least we get a fantastic hot soak in to start this lovely day. I note to self the exact location for next moto camping trip here soon… We alternate short bursts right by where the tap enters the tub on our backs, it’s so hot it feels like ultrasound… very good stuff.
We are dry by the time we take the short walk back to our campsite, and saddle up and ride back up to the dirt road – carefully in my case as I’m now pretending to be a dirt bike in heavy sand and junk. Hours in the tub would have been nice but we’re off to see Yosemite and do some hiking there today.
We get back to 395 via the Benton Hot Springs road and head back north passing Mammoth Lakes and ride to Lee Vining. Here we stop for coffee and muffin / bagel. I water up our platypus and camel bak pouches in the restroom sink. And other things are done in there.
We depart the downtown and turn west onto Tioga Pass, this pass I’ve always wanted to ride. In my snowboard years, this route was used by many with sleds (snowmobiles) when it is shut down in the winter and built up legendary road gap jumps here, huge kickers, drops and amazing backcountry powder footage.
While I take the GoPro off my bike’s charger and set it up for this ride section, B dumps all our water and fills up with much more delicious natural spring water which is at a pullout on the left at the start of this magical road.
The ride up Tioga Pass is simply stunning. Awe inspiring mountains and views, it’s just so beautiful. We do some DY passes with the slow set. It’s a blast. We have a ten minute delay at the ranger gate to get into Yosemite proper with all the cages buying passes and the process is slow. In this heat I zip ahead in the breakdown lane and I shut my bike down on the side of the road and walk up to talk to the friendly ranger there. She’s quite nice but informs me we can’t split or drive around (she mentions the word ‘illegal’). OK, she was pretty peachy so I’m still in a good mood. I wait for my friend to get pretty close and fire up Green Magic and join the scrum. Through, we enjoy many minutes of fast riding without a car in sight.
I’m running low on fuel but the plan is to fuel up Tuolomne Meadows as I clearly see a fuel icon in my tank bag Yosemite map. I know it will be overpriced by a fair amount as I was here last year, but I’d rather give the silly overcharge to the park than Lee Vining or Bridgeport. Did I mention that the 6 packs in Bridgeport were priced at $12.99 at the Chevron??
Tuolumne and to the west heading out of the ranger station is also gorgeous. Very cool massive smooth rock structures and big wide meadows. We pass 3 juvenile deer munching by the roadside there.
A stop down the road for a quick bite of grape nuts and water my friend points out all the climbers in the distance – hadn’t even noticed them, the scale of this place is deceiving:
Spot the climbers!
I spy this amazing pull out and have to stop for pics. And just next to it on the next corner is the following parking area with a back view of Half Dome.
Onward we move towards the lower valley. Very pretty riding. Two supermoto guys (actually fully motocross with knobbies) join us and we do some spirited passes of cages. It’s terrific for our evil purposes, all new pavement with no lines painted yet. (Officer, I thought it was a passing zone – ?) There’s some large stops for road maintenance, where I kill the motor and sit under the shaded trees. We do finally make it to the valley floor. I pull in to snap pics of a waterfall and get all my hot gear off.
From now on down here, it’s synthetic hi vis T shirt, short, sneaks and helmet only thank you ATTGATT militia. It’s hot and we are riding like 15 mph everywhere. I road bicycle a LOT faster than this and I’d probably run away from bears about as fast. We hit Degan’s deli for a relaxing lunch on the patio of quite nice subs.
Ride to the final (full / closed / stay away) parking lot by Upper Pines and start efficiently packing in our expensive gear in the locking hard cases and run a cable lock through B’s jacket and our two helmets. I actually leave my SLR locked in the top case and hope for the best. As it turns out… my bags get rifled through when I’m gone.
Off to hike the Vernal Falls, I’m not overly psyched about it as I’m just repeating what I did last September and gosh, there must be tons of beautiful hikes here… but I don’t know them and we don’t want to waste any time… so off we go. We make 1.5 mile trail to the top of Vernal Falls very quickly – even though it’s super steep the last 1/4. We decide (very fortunately) to push on to Nevada Falls and add on another 1.6 miles… now this is new territory for me and I like it! We get to the same elevation as the waterfall – though it’s still obscured. I thought there was supposed to be a view of Half Dome up here but see no view. I spot 3 ladies sitting down resting. I approach and ask which direction they came from and if there was a view a little higher up that way. The middle seated brunette speaks up and says there is no view all the way up that trail. They left at 6am to climb to the summit of Half Dome, there wasn’t much of a view up there and were returning.
Ok, so about 15 minutes later on top of the falls B tells me that one of the women was all flustered speaking to me and digging me hard. What??! How did I miss that? The cute one in the middle? Yep. Doh!
Anyway, hiking up here turns out to be a major highlight of the trip. The top of Nevada Falls is staggeringly beautiful, especially when we decide to take the slightly longer and less steep route out and that’s the mind blowing part!
We make moving target goals of when we want to leave to ride out of Yosemite on 140 in daylight. The longer hike out and we are going slower / normal speed due to us each sustaining very minor pulls hiking up, we settle on 7:30pm ksu. I have to spend time trying to scrape off all the nasty titanium dioxide sunblock in the restroom that has no soap so my leathers and helmet don’t become a sludgy mess. This is a constant problem and annoyance on the road with long breaks and sunblock.
Back to my bike I see a few things strewn around, damn, my soft saddlebags got rifled. Yeah, by like a stupid squirrel. There’s a claw mark in my seat and shredded plastic bag remnants. I didn’t even have any food in there nut hound. Despite this huge setback (joking), we make the 7:30 ksu cutoff.
We ride 140 out and stop somewhere a little past the “town” of El Portal (whatever that means up here) and hit a spot for dinner. My friend is quite annoyed with the fish basket, and rightly so, with two tiny pieces of white fish and tons of breaded nastiness. I do note, however, the fries are excellent, and my turkey avocado sandwich is very good too. There are some kids and a Dad hanging around my bike. I couldn’t be bothered this time to pull the tank bag which has my Nikon DSLR in it, and my passport. It’s weird they hang around for 10 – 15 minutes sitting almost on top of it on the curb area I wedged the bike into to be near a window. I keep looking out from my booth wondering if this is going to be the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona moment where it’s there and it’s gone in one blink. My hip is in near agony from the pull early and all locked up so I am hobbling around and sitting sideways in the booth. No plan to run out there. Finally they leave although not before “Dad” oddly bouncing a 4 pack of toilet paper he’s been holding on my seat several times as he addresses his kids. What on earth? Why? Don’t most people know not to touch someone’s motorcycle? I’m ok with it but I know other’s sure aren’t.
Anyway, we watch the final 30 seconds stretched over 15 minutes and the Golden State Warriors win on the telly so that’s nice for California.
B sort of, well, decides he’s done with the camping thing. He wants to see about a room right here at the resort. I say good luck and he finds they are booked out, but down the road has overflow space at $129 + tax. Not so bad all things considered, but I was so looking forward to camping again at the spot from the first night! And we wouldn’t have ridden a little out of the way on 140 if we had intended to lodge somewhere heading back west… Anyway, we go to see it, and there’s a note that says all people must check in 3 miles back at the resort we just came from! My friend, I can tell by what happens next, must be irate, because barely stopping to read the sign he throttles back out on the highway towards the other direction and the campground, going very fast.
In the dark I keep looking for our turnoff and then flicker my lights and flasher to turn left and on we go through the windy dark mountain roads back to camp. This time I make sure to select a spot with a big table close by to make it much easier for the gear. It does make the night and morning much more enjoyable.
I slept so-so. The pain in my hip hit a crescendo around 2-3 am I am guessing and it was quite hard to sleep. There is also a funny sleep talking incident that night in the tent. I slightly bump B and it goes like this:
B: “Wha… huh” (pause) “So what exaclty are we trying to improve in this situation?”
Me: (pause… thinking…) “… the functionality?”
B: (soft) “Ok” and off asleep again snoring. It was quite funny.
It was hot there, hot enough I slept on top of my sleeping bag all night.
Day 4:
We get up relatively early and have some grape nuts and almonds breakfast there. And head back out on the 140 to Mariposa again. When we get there we decide we can wait a little longer and I’d prefer to stop in Coulterville anyway. The coffee place is closed (Wednesday) and bakery as well but I make a nice little discovery with the Coulter Cafe & General Store:
Nice cup of coffee with free refills, and B and I split a pasta salad. The owner’s husband and I get into a nice long conversation at the bar on my second cup of joe. Very friendly and nice filling me in about the local town history, their business, and the Hotel Jeffery’s history when I ask and the recent fire that happened and shut it down. I’m looking forward to a brew there in the rebuilt bar next time.
I admire the ladies room sign as I scrub off more sunblock in the men’s room from yesterday – this time with soap.
After getting geared up we head out back West on the 132. It’s a really nice road I enjoyed tremendously last September with some really beautiful scenery. It’s hot but keeping moving we are ok. It’s on the this road we switch up bikes and I put the 1200 through it’s paces.
Twice I stop fully and go WOT on the BMW 1200GS through gears 1, 2, and 3. Hmm, that’s probably a buck 10 there… The bike has a wheelie nanny that in an aggressive and ugly / jolting way shuts down the party with the wheel barely off the ground every time I grab a lot of throttle at a stop. It also kicked in when I shifted full throttle first to second gear. It’s… well entertaining, I suppose. Really the best thing is blipping the starter button and the initial exhaust burble. Yeah, it’s got a lot of torque down low – more than my bike – but I couldn’t really care. I guess I really like the raw animal brute force top end power of an I4 supersport bike. And I don’t mind at all to drop a gear or two for a fast pass for example. Simply put, this BMW is not my bag. It might be my bag at $5000, but not at $25K. I’d take a MultiStrada any day over it as would my friend. It does many things ok / well but that’s not good enough for me at all. I want a ripping cornering machine, light feel, really just sport or sport touring. The BMW is far too much of a compromise. I will note we wind up getting almost identical mileage on a tank of gas in the twisty mountains earlier today. And it sure is big, roomy, comfy to ride and quiet with the windscreen. It also has pretty impressive braking. And it does seem to corner well on a few of the fast sweepers I hit, but these are not tight turns to properly evaluate. All that weight is high up, the bike is very tippy feeling. I come close to dumping it sitting still once. If it handles off road well, that could be a major plus, but I really don’t ride off road, so not a big plus for me. Psycho expensive and frequent fussy maintenance isn’t my bag either. I like low maintenance in general let’s say.
We stop in Empire just east of Modesto for lunch, at this point I’m pretty famished and talking about Mexican at the gas fill up has my stomach going. We stop at a cool spot where the waitress is cute, friendly and brings us lot of extra salsa which is quite good, and ice water. B and I remove all our gear and riding pants and boots to cool off, it’s that hot out, full sun and 90s central valley.
After lunch it’s a pretty straight shot back west. We go the longer route on Redwood throughout the mountains and avoid the awful 580 from Hayward to Oakland. It kills my back – I hate that road. We arrive about 8 minutes early to intended time of 3pm. We unload the gear in under 10 minutes and re-pack up my friends gear in his rental and off he goes to SF to return it. It was a truly amazing trip, one of my favorite motorcycle trips ever. The scenery was just spectacular and I’m immediately thinking of returning to the road and my next trip!
Posted in Touring and tagged 49, camping, China Camp, crab cooker, hot springs, Hwy 49, Little Dragon, Sierra Pass, Tioga Pass, Touring, yosemite by green
Trip north from Orange County 518 mile day
All Packed up and ready to go. 10:38 a.m. Start mileage: 53,290
A morning stop in L.A. on the way up. 11:48am. Just had to do it with Green Magic:
Went back to downtown, Skid Row to be precise as I cannot find where the f*ck the stupid 10 West to Santa Monica is. Must be the rarest sign in LA. No access, I drive around in circles like 6 laps and 30 minutes swearing furiously into my helmet. Anyway, after going backwards and then backwards again on the 10E – twice no less to take the 2nd damn exit so I can loop back and make it onto 10 W – geez give me a break – I finally lane split the traffic choked highway 10 to Santa Monica. Then after zigging and zagging get ahead of traffic on the 1 northbound into Malibu. Text and pee break across from Pepperdine – nice location, school. 1:30pm.
Malibu:
A lot of bikers just congregated at this restaurant. Was jammed. Some tuner kids too. And I guy wheelie-ing down the road one knee on the seat…
Stopped in Santa Barbara – Montecito precisely – and got a take out burrito from Los Arroyos (done that before there). 4:40pm. Was ok, and ate it next to my bike and back onto the 101 very briefly and the lovely 156 pass!
Stagecoach Lane turnoff at the peak of the pass. I’ve always loved this view:
Getting near desperate on fuel. Was very relieved to see Los Alamos coming up, a town I detoured in coming south.
Notice the Ferrari Dino GTS in the background. I sure did. I was so excited to check it out, as it’s one of my all time favorite ‘cages’, and combined with being so tired, I let the side stand pull it’s usual ‘trick’. It’s happened to us all. I drop the bike at the fuel pump right here. And yeah, GoPro was running so I guess I will have to post that in shame.
A quick stop not far out of Los Alamos. Very pretty wine country, and yeah, I peed right there too.
My favorite rt 101 stop: Pismo Beach again. Wasn’t as dark as the camera suggests it was. I wanted to stay longer and have a proper break, but I’ve made so little mileage today and I am pissed about it all, and the sun is getting ready to set. So rig up the GoPro for the nice section on Rt 101 leaving Pismo and get on my way.
It’s from here on I drop the hammer and don’t let up.
I ride 100 miles straight until my next short break at Wild Horse Road, King City, for my final fuel up. Not off the bike long, but I do clean the damn bug corpses off my helmet visor again. I take time to eat an apple right by the fuel tanks, there’s a nice fuel aroma to enjoy with the fruit taste. 150 miles to go still. So i ride another 100 miles straight. Had planned to split it 75 / 75 but I get a little second wind and ride the wave. I also don’t want a long final leg either. Mostly cranking on the hwy 80 mph and sometimes 85 keeping up with fastest cars out there. On this trip I start gripping narrow the handlebars and move a thumb over the grip like the fingers to change it up for the body. It helps. I also stretch my leg fully out in front of the fairings a few times which actually helps a lot – the E has a cramped knee position. Final stop just south of San Jose on Silicon Valley lane or something. Walk in paces up and down the end of the street. Shoot out a text and back into the night. I arrive into Oakland just before 11pm. There’s some Indian take out food awaiting me! End mileage: 53,808 518 miles about 12 hours total.
Posted in Touring by green
Trip to Baja Mexico!
Just got back late last night from a trip south of the border.
Blazed to Mexico from Santa Ana and through Tijuana (been there). Customs was quick and I was through.
Tried to find a cute late lunch spot in Rosarito. No such luck. It’s a dirty pit of a city.
I did however, manage to find Splash, with an excellent view by the water. It’s at KM 52, “Libre Rosarito Ensenada” in the town of Primo Tapia across from the road Via Lactea.
A 3pm lunch, it was a nice break because of this view:
Onward to Ensenada. I took the local road here, because it was actually closest to the cliff and the ocean and prettier, I could also cruise a little slower and enjoy the beautiful views. This point was particularly beautiful. I had to stop and snap some pics.
location: Rosarito Beach Municipality
Baja California, Mexico
32.148632, -116.893150
After the Libre “Free” local road stopped following the beach, it wound under the highway and inland. So, I took a little detour and drove inland on the regular route 1. I’m glad I did, the farm country here was breathtaking. There was also some medium exciting turns throughout the mountains there that I shot GoPro of. I couldn’t believe how green it all was inland, a lucky time of year for Green Magic Man!
After rising to a little plateau, I decide to double back, hit those turns harder back to the ocean route, cuz I want to see more ocean.
The new “scenic highway” toll road 1D is just that: one of the most beautiful roads I’ve ever driven on between Rosarito and Ensenada. Particularly the section north of Ensenada, Salsipuedes Bay, is unbelievable. The route follows majestic high cliffs over the dazzling ocean cut literally through a few mountain ridge backs and around this stunningly gorgeous bay. I GoPro a lot of this portion and stopped multiple times for pics of the amazing view. It’s a fast highway 2 lanes each direction and mostly empty. Nice fresh pavement.
I only thought about doing this trip late the night before riding back from a long day at work. I suddenly had all next week off – at least cleared for the moment – so instead of heading north on the 1, I thought about a totally spontaneous trip to Baja Mexico.
I looked up a few things in the morning, which delayed my leave until 11am, but I did find info that only the southern beaches Playa El Faro, and Playa Estero were worth seeing in Ensenada.
As it happened, after the grimy, traffic clogged, hot, and nasty downtown I happened to spot a sign for El Faro. I took the right turn until it Ts. Left to Estero right to El Faro. I went left. This beach apparently has been completely taken over by a posh gated resort. I find out, though, you can visit it independently. Which is what I do. I walked around a bit, and figure it’s gonna be expensive here ($87 is “best” rate for a single I’m told later at desk).
Estero Beach resort views.
Walking to the end of the gated property, I slip through a fence, and I spy with my little eye, a much more modest looking area next door north – El Faro. The vantage point here:
So back I go to the fork.
I follow the the road until the end to the unsurprisingly named El Faro RV resort and camping.
I speak to the guy at desk, this place is near empty this day, and he quotes me $48 for a single. This is right on the beach, and the best beach in the area, and I really want to stay here. I say, how about a flat $40? He checks with someone and says “ok”.
The room is pretty huge, with a front living room complete with “retro” couch. 
The promising looking bath and shower turn out to be less than stellar the next day.
I ask at check in “cervesa”? And he says I have to drive back down the road towards town. I stash my bag and zip into town and the second place has the stuff. I grab me a Dos Equis and a premixed canned Capt. Morgan and cola. Nice. And wrap it up in my shirt and zip back to the resort / beach.
I finally get to enjoy a cold beer by the beach as the sun has just set and I sit peacefully until it goes to darkness. The pic is the view from my beach there.
Back into town after dark, I stop at Del Reys Tacos which is a little bigger than a stall on the side of the road. Decent beef tacos (2) and a cheese enchilada and Fanta Orange all for $4.25. On the short ride into town, Green Magic does not like the local heat and stalls often in protest. The road is a hot dusty mess.
Back to the beach again and have Mr. Morgan accompany me for the dark walk on the beach. 
I walk around and enjoy the peaceful beach and waves gently crashing. I’m the only one on this beach, there’s one street lamp to light the whole thing up (or really only attempting to). I think to myself: it’s about 10pm, I am here by myself, and it’s Mexico. As calm and beautiful as this beach is right now, and as much as I’d like to walk and stay more, I decide I should probably pack it in. I can hear people saying “you got mugged on a Mexican beach at night alone and you’re surprised??!” “Why were you out there alone?” and me having not much to say in response. Hell, I’m weary anyway, so I hit my room.
I scrounge 3 discarded bricks and make a “ramp” and wheel my bike up into my room, as any good motorcyclist to Baja does. My “living room”. 
Settled in later, my bed is surprisingly nice and firm, quite comfy.
All I can hear is the ocean, which is quite something to be said if you’re in Ensenada.
Next day wake up. My view out the back patio door.
Have the breakfast of champions: old(er) nacho chips, and a peanut butter power bar I absconded from work last week and broken off hardened bits of an 8 day old peanut butter sandwich, I broke bits off to get around the mold blooms. Yummy!
I eat this on my back deck type of thing. It comes with the older seating enablement devices.
Walk on the beach, it’s pretty tranquil and lovely. Some other tourists about but calm nonetheless. I walked to each boundary, there’s some sort of military property to the north,
and the slightly snootier Estero beach resort and the inlet to the south. It’s low tide but I spy a nice deep spot on the estuary / inlet. 
The point you see there is where I’m headed next.
Back to room, contacts in, Navajo style under shorts – check. Back to beach I dive headfirst into the water here: 
Nice swim, the water I’d estimate was about 62 degrees, not bad for early March! I’m the only one swimming about.
Back to room, fast shower and pack, I’m pushing check out time. So on to that shower review. 
Firstly, the water stinks of sulfur. And with the water “pressure” I might be able to generate more moisture with my saliva and lick myself clean like a cat does. Oh well, at least the water heater made the water not freezing, although not warm.
The resort road to my room.
Packed up and checked out. Final view of lovely El Faro beach.
Exiting the resort road.
After packing up and handing in key, I’ve decided I will head to the far south end of the bay and should be something to the drive and something pretty to see right?
It actually IS quite nice. Not too far, about 25 miles to get to the farthest point. It’s hot, but if I keep moving I can just avoid sweating in my leathers and keep my bike happy. It does NOT like getting hot on this trip. It’s very prone to stalling idling at lights when hot, no matter where I’ve set the idle adjuster screw.
The road gets higher up in the mountain with some nice fun little turns here and there. Very relaxing ride out to the point. 
My hotel man tells me about the blowhole or La Bufadora, and that there’s only 3 like it in the world, one here, one in Hawaii, and one, um, elsewhere, I dunno. I recall quickly reading something about that yesterday before I left.
Mostly I just pointed it to this, um, point, because I felt I should and there must be something worthwhile to see.
My hotel guy tells me to go see the blow thingee and eat at Bananas which is good (it’s not really – or at least what I get there later is not good).
So Bananas, huh? You’ve been there. A super touristy spot. It’s three stories overlooking the water at lands end, feeling like a small version of Cancun’s Señor Frogs. 
Subpar fish tacos. Just fried white fish without much flavor and over priced for Mexico. Whatever, at least I could see the ocean and the bike from my table. 
My table and Green Magic down below.
After lunch I walk to La Bufador. At first it’s a little underwhelming. But wait for it… I hang around longer than the other people and some pretty spectacular eruptions occur at odd intervals. I’m talking like a 60 foot ejection of seawater, and once all over a crowd of people at the observation area! I GoPro, canon camera it all. It was pretty damn cool. 
Back on the road to head north. I don’t know it at the time, but I pretty much wind up riding the whole back to The U.S. and on to Santa Ana with very few breaks. In hindsight I probably should have stopped at either of those spots on the way up for an early dinner by the sea. But I didn’t and I guess I was worried about the border crossing.
Salsapuedes Bay rest area overlook on the way back north:
Speaking of which, super hot in TJ, the signs make little sense near the border area. I lane split probably 300 cars easily all stacked up going nowhere. I probably cut 2 hours off my border crossing. I also made an illegal lane change from some improperly signed route to the border which turned out to head back downtown (Bah, Tijuana!), so I slow down by the rows of jersey barriers and at the near last point dodge the small gap in some barriers and back onto the right 4 lane road (which is oddly empty at the moment), to go right into the border checkpoint.
I zip through pretty quickly, I cut my motor and push it the final 12 car lengths to the border dude. Again, Green Magic is acting up and rebelling against any real heated idling.
Once through I stop at the 2nd US exit and fill up on cheaper and realer (yeah, that is a word hehe), U.S. premium gas. I’m thinking at this point it’s about 6pm and I should find a spot to eat and take a long break. But I’m not really hungry (really? really), so I push on. Then in my head I can’t figure out where to eat anyway, and I do recall recently finding again the great mexican spot my friend took me to in Santa Ana. So I resolve to power up there and eat when back in town.
I ride the setting sun out and make a final rest area stop about 50 miles from Santa Ana. It’s been a looonnnggg time in the saddle, really since, the southern bay tip of Ensenada, so I gotta move them muscles and pace around the rest area. Re-insert my ear plugs because I didn’t do a very good job last time and the roar on the freeway has been near deafening and certainly annoying. Jam them in good and now I can enjoy some quiet heavier throttling on the super slab north.
Funny thing was, I arrived back in Santa Ana with my takeout (chicken burrito with extra diabla sauce on the side) the same moment my friend pulled in from work at about 8:45pm. So we sit and enjoy some wine together and get caught up.
More Photo and video links to be posted here soon.
Mileage: start 52,827 to 53,290 end trip
I think I’m well past my oil change. And the bike seems to use oil a bit too.
Posted in Touring by green