Worley, ID - 709 km

“Happy Trails” to us, or “Memories Were Made of This” or “On the Road Again”. All these kept running through our heads as we made our way northeast. Hard to believe we are writing our last blog for this trip as we will be home tomorrow. We have had a great ride but, as usual, the time has gone by too fast.

May not have mentioned that in Oregon you are not allowed to pump your own gas (no self-serve) unless you are a motorcyclist then the attendant happily hands the nozzle to you. See attached photo for other exceptions at some stations!

We were blessed with another great sunny riding day. The day consisted of “remember whens”. Including the year we coasted down hills as we almost ran out of gas in central Oregon – that lovely camp site beside the river where we were warned not to go in the grass due to rattlesnakes (has been closed for a few years now) – the 50’s style drive in hamburger place where we had lunch – the motel on the hill where we walked to a small family owned grocery store and bought the most delicious authentic Mexican food and the list goes on! It seem we have ridden most of the roads in the Pacific Northwest now and all hold memories.

The last part of the ride was through the rolling Palouse country where the farm land it getting very green and always looks so fertile. It is among our favourite motorcycle rides. There is now another kind of planting that has taken place since our last ride in this area. They now have fields of power generating windmills along with signs warning of falling ice. There were always a lot in the Columbia River valley but they seem to have spread throughout Southern Washington.

Wonderful Palouse Country Motorcycle Roads

 We actually put on more kms than we had wanted but we did have an aim of making it to Worley. We were disappointed with the poor selection of slots in Sparks and wanted to renew our faith as the machines here, even if they aren’t paying lots, are still pretty fun.

Redmond, OR – 575 km

Today’s ride started on the coast of California at 10C and ended up in the arid ponderosa pine forest of Oregon at 29C. The initial ride was on the Redwood Highway 199 from Crescent City and true to its name it wound through the majestic redwood forests. About the only down side was the sun was in our eyes most of the way and the contrast between the forest darkness and the bright sun was disconcerting.

We then caught Interstate 5 in Oregon from Grant’s Pass to Eugene, then eastward on 126 to Redmond where we are for the night. Highway 126 is a very nice ride along the McKenzie River and over Hoodoo pass through a massive 2003 burned area. This area of Oregon is volcanic in nature so the mountains are the typical volcano shape. We stopped by the Sahalia waterfall to take a break in the afternoon.

Volcanic mountain

Sahalia Falls

It is interesting the people that come up to talk to you while on tour. Today we had a panhandler at an I5 rest stop who was fascinated with Raindancer’s reverse gear. Then there was the lady from Portland who liked the Olympic license plate. And the fellow who wanted to know how we kept cool while riding. I guess we must be viewed as approachable bikers.

They have something very interesting in Oregon (the state with the best recycle program) – recycle machines. Just feed your bottles and cans into the slot – the machine reads them, takes them in and either shatters them or crushes them. It then issues a ticket for you to cash in for your refund!

Bottle Recycling Machine

Crescent City, Ca – 377 km

We started off with the usual California coastal foggy weather, a bit cool and moist but at least no rain. We could see the nice weather in the distance and were pretty happy when we actually connected with it. For the most part we had a wonderful sunny day of riding though the temperature dropped every time we got close to the coast.

It was so pretty and pristine along the coastal Hwy 1 but again the road was very winding. On some curves the pavement had been gouged out by travel trailers hitches. There were frequent signs advising against double axle trucks, and at times against trailers as well and we could see why. Also warning signs where tsunamis have potential impact. The worst corners were the really sharp slow to 15 mph (and one slow to 10!) curves on a grade. Doug needed to nearly stop the bike to get us around. Not too much traffic but what did get behind us was let past as soon as possible. As we got further north Hwy 1 turned into Hwy 101 which at times was a freeway.

Eventually we made it into the very impressive California Redwood forests. It was pretty comical how each tourist establishment would have their claim to fame – world famous grandfather redwood, world’s only single tree house, world famous confused road, world’s largest tree and the list goes on! And for those who may remember the bumper stickers reading “Trees of Mystery” you will be happy to know they are still there. No, we did not stop. We limited our stops to State Parks, one stop was dedicated to a Saskatchewanite who moved to the California redwood area and championed ecological responsibility. A very nice redwood snag was there showing the value of these dead trees to the ecosystem.

Redwood Snag

We did stop at the funkiest (not one of our usual words) little store on the side of the road. It sold everything from souvenirs, pop, wine, food stuff to all sorts of baby needs and all crammed into a pretty small space. We bought a carved redwood tree, our souvenir for this trip as so far we hadn’t picked up anything.

Later at one of parks along the way we were able to pick up a little handlebar companion as is our usual pattern on our motorcycle trips. This one is named “Cabbage” after the skunk cabbage at home so. . .can you guess what he is???

Cabbage

A few years ago when we travelled the Oregon coast we stayed in Crescent City as the Curly Redwood Motel so are have a little bit of nostalgia and are here again tonight. We will walk across the street to the seafood restaurant for dinner later.

Fort Bragg, CA – 352 km

We left Newark this morning at 10:00 after an early get up (5:35 am) to go with Cathy and Eileen on their morning walk around the little lake and through the local park. We saw some nesting egrets and some nesting herons as well as lots of Canada Geese and goslings. This has been their daily routine for years. We have walked with them in the past. For some reason we don’t seem to walk as fast as they do. Could it be called retirement and the slower pace we are now accustomed to?? Could it be the long walk Eileen and Kevin had us do yesterday?? Anyway, it was a great start to the day.

The rather late start was to allow the morning commuter traffic to abate somewhat with the hopes that we would not run into severe slowdowns or jams. And it worked (just - as a car ahead of us blew a tire and pulled off onto the center median - we left him behind). We dutifully paid our $5 toll for the privilege of riding the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge which allowed us to see San Quentin prison and to access California HWY 1 to travel up the coast. We weren’t sure this was the best plan as it can be really foggy this time of year but overall it wasn’t too bad.

Beautiful Northern California Coastline

In spite of bits of fog/sea spray/drizzle it really it turned out to be an enjoyable ride. The scenery is awesome, the road very windy and not too busy though sure has potential to get clogged up as it isn’t possible to do any speed or pass with the up and downs and multiple curves. They do have numerous pull over spots though so that does help keep the traffic flowing.  The temperature hovered around 17 for a good part of the day but dipped to 11 as we were getting ready to stop.

We stopped for lunch at a sandwich shop in the Point Reyes area and also at Bodega Bay, where Doug taught at the research station while he was at U of C in Berkeley. It is supposed to be famous for its salt water taffy so we had to stop for a sampling at a local shop.

Ever Tried Margarita Flavoured Saltwater Taffy?

 

Bodega Bay

 Tomorrow we will continue up the coast, weather permitting.

Newark, CA - 0 km

First to explain who we are staying with and visiting. 19 years ago Norma met Cathy and Dave (who were are staying with) and John and Eileen (live right across the street) on a cruise through the Panama Canal. Over the years we have kept in touch and formed a long distance friendship. We have visited back and forth and 6 years ago Doug met them when we visited them on our way back from Florida on one of our motorcycle trips. We felt we were long overdue for a return visit so made this be the year for one.

We had a lovely BBQ last evening with the four of them as well as John and Eileen's son Kevin who is home from college.

Today we played San Francisco tourists with Eileen as our guide. We drove to Oakland and took the ferry across to SF to see the sights. We got off the ferry at Pier 1 and walked for what we think was a few miles (three hours worth). We spent most of our time on the waterfront including Fisherman’s wharf. Highlights included the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory for a chocolate sundae, watching the performers on the pier, poking through the various shops, the sea lion colony and looking at the various ships. We even found ourselves at a mushroom shop right at the ferry dock. Doug was in his glory looking at all the mushrooms and taking pictures and commenting on the exorbitant prices they were charging for them.

 

The ferry ride itself was an economical tour of the Bay itself including views of Alcatraz with stops at Angel Island and Alameda Island.

Alkatraz

We ended the afternoon with a very nice seafood pasta dinner at a San Leandro restaurant. All in all we have had a great relaxing tourist day.

John, Eileen and Kathy

Tomorrow we will ride up the California coast unless fog prevents this from happening and we have to go inland.