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After a little issue with the first shipper, stidelivers.com did an outstanding job and delivered the bike directly to my hotel in San Diego. I hit the road on Friday and here are the summaries of the first two days.
Day one 7/7 left SD at 10, lunch with friends at 2 in Santa Monica. stopped by Venice Beach for a few pictures and to dip my toes on the water. Headed north on the PCH through Malibu, absolutely stunning views all along the road.Stopped for Coffee in Santa Barbara, which is a bit
Ike an arty Newbury Street. Ten miles up I settled in Goleta and have a few IPAs at the Mercury Lounge a 5 minute walk from the Super 8
Day two, 7/8 on the road at 8:22 and headed to SF and perhaps north. stopped for a couple of pictures, cloudy and cold, but still awesome mountain and farmaland views. Stopped for coffee and a bagel in Morro Bay. Continued up the coast, through Big Sur with spectacular roads and views, through Monterey and stopping is Los Gatos to find an end point for the day. I wanted to get through SF and found a Days Inn just North, in Novato. Drove though San Francisco, which looks like a nice place to visit and drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, which was a real thrill.
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Nice. Two of my old home towns. Malibu and SF.
What an awesome adventure this is going to be.
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This sort of thing is always a good time. How long are you taking for the whole journey?
I rode San Diego to Portsmouth NH last October, but by the southerly route -- SD to NOLA, then turned left.
PCH is wonderful all up through there and beyond. I've ridden the SLO to Bay Area segment several times.
PhilB
"A free man must be able to endure it when his fellow men act and live otherwise than he considers proper." -- Ludwig von Mises
1993 Ducati Monster M900; 265,000 miles -- killed by minivan 30Oct17
I'm planning about two weeks, but the schedule is very loose.
Day 3 7/9. Novato to Crescent City, CA. The PCH beat me up pretty good with all the switchbacks and the going was slower than I hoped. Only 366 miles today. as promised, the Northern California coast was beautiful, even with fog and temps in the low 50's. also saw a group of 5 big Elk graving at the side of route 101, amazing animals and clearly possessed of a calm that only comes from being completely in charge! I met a father and son traveling for 27 days from SoCal through Canada on GS1200's and then ran into a husband, wife and son who were going south on the PCH as I was headed North. the folks on SportTouring.net told me to keep an eye out for them, but I never imagined we would actually cross paths. They took a picture which may already be posted. Another great day. Crater Lake Tomorrow!
Soooooooo jealous! Looking forward to reading more about your adventure.
Safe riding - are you riding the bike in the picture, or? Got GPS?
Thats a trip I would love to do someday,,
I'm on that VFR loaded with givi hard bags.
So far my fat ass 52 yo body is doing fine on it.
This is defintely on my bucket list!!
Day 4 7/10 started out a little misty and 50 in CA, but as I moved inland it cleared up to become a truly beautiful day. I headed directly to Crater Lake, OR and it was as stunning as promised, then a stop in Chemult, OR for iced tea and chicken taco salad at a nice local diner. After lunch, it was a straight, 200 mile shot up 97 and east on 20 across the Oregon Badlands. High desert, sagebrush and vistas that seem to go on forever. Stopped for the night in Burns, OR.
Day 5 7/11 a nice sunny day to start for the first time. Left Burns, OR at 7:30 and stopped in Vale OR at 9:30 after a quick 110 miles across scenic farmland as yesterday's high desert gave way to lower elevation, more water and more life. Crossed into Mountain time about 50 miles back, so it's now 10:30. should hit Idaho soon, headed to Idaho Falls. Wildfires, Moon Craters and giant Buttes accompanied my ride into Idaho Falls. Idaho Falls is a nice, clean town with small falls and a large Mormon Temple. After checking in, I took the motorcycle to a self service wash and cleaned off all the bugs and then went for a 3 mile run along the river (two more sure signs that I'm not a "real" biker). Now I'm having Dinner at the Sandpiper where the special is fresh caught Gold River Salmon.
Found your picture and your thread here.http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/...c,72923.0.html Epic Ride for sure, Enjoy this beautiful country!
Venice beach
Morro Bay
Golden Gate bridge
Endless California coast
Ten feet from this big boy
Snow on crater lake
Crater lake
Idaho wildfire
Craters on the moon
A big butte![]()
Day 6 7/12. A quick 100 miles from Idaho Falls put me at the West Yellowstone entrance and I spend most of the day tooling around at a leisurely pace and stopping to take a lot of pictures. No bears or bison, but I did get to see Old Faithfully erupt and lake Yellowstone was great. Even the right from the East side to Cody, WY, through the Shoshone National Park was spectacular. The landscape changed a lot from scrub desert to huge rock formations. Cody, WY is a cowboy town gone commercial, but the have rodeo every night and a local steakhouse has a shoot out at six. 265 miles today. So for I've covered a total of 2152 miles. Tomorrow should mark the halfway point.
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I'm glad there are some here who appreciate this. It's a great trip and I'll be well over 5,000 miles in 14 days.
sometimes I get the sense that if you're interested in anything other than racing at Loudon, track days, or racing all the way out in western MA ( if you can trailer the bike there ) then there's little interest within NESR
"A free man must be able to endure it when his fellow men act and live otherwise than he considers proper." -- Ludwig von Mises
1993 Ducati Monster M900; 265,000 miles -- killed by minivan 30Oct17
Great pics... thanks for sharing your journey!
Day 7 7/13 on the road to Mt. Rushmore. At 7:50 odometer at 5460. Cloudy and 66 but expected to hit 90s today. As predicted, it was hot! Crossing Wyoming through the Big Horn National Forest and then on To Hill City, SD for the night. After checking in about 4 I went for a 3 mile run, a dip in the. Pool and an early dinner before riding up to Mt. Rushmore to see the evening lighting program. The ceremony was terrific, but the lighting made it impossible to get good pictures and the ride backwash a little hairy. it gets really dark out here! after dropping everything back at the Hotel, I'm relaxing with a old beer at the Mangy Moose Tavern. 478 miles for the day and 2630 for the trip overall.
Phil,
I don't know if the problem is that I left New England or that I'm riding on streets, but not peg scraping every switchback when I'm 2000 miles from home and by myself and loaded with gear.
Perhaps it's the VFR! Never hard core enough for some, but it's proving to be a capable long distance runner, as a 2600 mile week with my less than perfectly conditioned 52 y/o body can attest.
Last edited by OreoGaborio; 07-14-12 at 05:06 AM.
-Pete LRRS/CCS #81 - ECK Racing, TonysTrackDays
GMD Computrack Boston | Pine Motorparts/PBE Specialists | Phoenix Graphics | Woodcraft | MTag-Pirelli | OnTrack Media
The Garage: '03 Tuono | '06 SV650
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Great write up! I look forward to all the updates. I'm doing this trip in 2017