California!

Yesterday was awesome on many levels. As the title of this blog implies, we are back in California! We still have a way to go to get home, but there was something about crossing the northern California border into my home state that was immensely satisfying.

Before I get too far, let me introduce Oregon Jim, one of our RX3 riders who hooked up with us for the Western America Adventure Tour a couple of nights ago in Port Orford. Jim recently re-entered the wonderful world of motorcycling after being away from it for awhile. Good stuff, and Jim, we enjoyed meeting and riding with you!

We were on the road at 7:30 yesterday. That may not sound like such a big deal, but trust me, when you are in a group this size, rolling out on time is a minor miracle. Every big ride with multiple riders I’ve ever been on has experienced this challenge. I heard that there’s actually a formula somewhere that allots a certain number of additional minutes you should add for each rider. Nah, we’re not gonna do that. I learned a few years ago that you just announce a departure time and then leave at that time whether folks are ready or not. People kind of figure it out after that. That’s what we did yesterday.

You know, I spoke about that solitude thing a few days ago. I like it. Even when riding in a group, there’s time to think. I did a lot of that on this trip.

We saw and rode the routes of many famous western US trails on this ride…the Texas trail, the Bozeman trail, the Oregon trail, the El Camino Real trail, the Lewis and Clark trail, the Nez Perce trail, the California trail, the Butterfield trail, the Great Western Cattle trail, and more. This ride has been impressive on many levels. Seeing the historical markers for all of the famous trails had me thinking about what things must have been like back in those days.

Are you old enough to remember who Ward Bond was? He played the wagon master in the old ’50s TV series Wagon Train. Crossing all of the historic trails I just mentioned kept driving my thoughts to Ward Bond for some reason. We’re making this ride on incredible motorcycles; our ancestors made the trek in horse-drawn Conestoga wagons before there were McDonalds, Subways, or even roads. They just did it. They must have been incredible people.

I found myself thinking about what it must have been like going these kinds of distances 150 years ago and more. I wondered if guys like Ward Bond struggled to get everybody moving in the morning on time. I don’t think so. If you weren’t ready to roll with the wagon train when it was time to roll in the morning you risked being left behind, and there were real consequences if that happened. You could get scalped.

Okay, back to the main attraction…our ride. We crossed back into California and we’ve been following Highway 101 (which originated as El Camino Real, the trail Father Juniper Serra followed in establishing the Jesuit missions extending from Baja to points north).

One of our first photo ops in California was the redwood forests. Here’s a shot of Lester, Tony, Zuo, and Kyle…

I know what you’re thinking, and no, Lester’s Yul-Brynner-like appearance was not the result of any failure to leave on time (it wasn’t me who scalped him). Lester is always ready to roll on time when we leave.

We’re extending our trip by one day. Everything is fine with the group and with the bikes; what’s not so fine is the heat. As soon as Highway 101 turned inland yesterday, the heat became overwhelming.

You may recall that on the first day of our grand adventure, we rode through 105 degree temperatures in the Mojave Desert. Well, we’ve been on the road riding about 300 miles every day for 15 days now (today is our 16th day). There’s a difference between riding in that kind of heat on Day 1, and doing it after you’ve been on the road for 15 days without a break. These guys are troopers and no one has complained about anything, but I’m not doing big days in that kind of heat. Instead of taking two more days on the road through the heat, we’re doing to do it in three and we’re going to hug the coast coming home.

Today, it’s an easy 130 miles into San Francisco. We’ll get in around noon, and we’re spending the day there. If you want to hook up with us, we’ll be staying in the Van Ness Inn at 2850 Van Ness Avenue.

Tomorrow we’ll ride California’s famous Pacific Coast highway down to somewhere south of Cambria, and then we’ll pick up the last 200 miles on Saturday.

Last night I had another nice surprise…our good buddy Don Knight visited with us at the hotel. Like me, Don has both a CSC 150 and an RX3. He likes CSC. So do I! Don, thanks for taking the time to make the trek to Willits. I enjoyed meeting you.

One last thing, and I’m backing up a couple of days for this. One of the best parts about the Oregon Coast Highway a few days ago are the magnificent art deco bridges. Here’s a helmet cam video rolling across one of them I thought you might enjoy…