Not the most graceful of beginings-- but we are on our way

Day 01 - Simi Valley to San Francisco Area

We seemed to get started OK. We were up and out right about on time, but 10 miles down the road Bev realized the front tire was just too warn and loaded the bike had a 40 mph front good end wobble. Of course it's Saturday and first dealer did not have time for a tire but Santa Barbara HD was able to squeeze us in so a bit over an hour late we were back on the road.

Figuring we were late we decided to skip the coast road and go straight up the 101. It was a pretty warm ride to begin with and when we stopped in Atascadero, CA the temperature was 108!  50 miles later we were sitting in a Carl's junior trying to cool down...the bike wasn't over heating but I sure was!  I was totally flush so Brad was putting cold clothes on the back of my neck to cool me down...I dug out my cooling vest (a vest you soak in water to help cool you in the heat) and wrapped a cold bandana around my neck.  Off we went again finally arriving at Rubarb's about 5:30 ish.

Spending time with Rhubarb, his lovely wife, and new sweety little angel Sophie was great.  We had a really nice dinner (for some reason the salad was awesome -- we wanted more tonight). We chatted for a long time and then realized it was late and needed to head to bed.

Day 02 - San Francisco Area to Crescent City, CA

Day two started with a great breakfast with the gang from The Ride Central at Peg's in Martinez, CA.  I can attest to the fact that they have a good Spanish Omelet!  After breakfast we were escorted north by the gang for 50 - 70 miles.  As the guys pulled away we continued north heading for Crescent City.

About 50 miles later I had to scratch my eyes...my sunglasses cought the wind and off they went!  They landed right in the center of the road the promptly hit by the cars behind me.  I had gotten these somewhat glasses for free (long story)...after 2 days they are gone...sigh.  Thank god I was carrying extra's.

Once in the Humboldt  Redwoods we headed through the Avenue of  the Giants.  It's always humbling to ride though these majestic trees. 

Making a left through Humboldt Redwoods on Bull Creek Road we wound our way though the great redwoods and up over the coastal mountains to California's "Lost Coast". the ride was teeth rattling in a few places. , so rough that biker teddy jumped right out of his pocket in the rear bag and was just hanging there! He's so brave...! There were 3 short dirt/gravel areas to cross, but all in all I thought the road was in decent condition. We dropped down onto the coastal road to find the marine layer beginning to roll in and chocking off the road ahead of us. The weather went from 80's and 90s in the Humboldt Redwoods to 54 degrees in the foggy, damp, windy, and cool ride back out to the 101. (About this point I stopped taking pictures due to the fog)

On we went to the north on the 101, though the Northern Redwoods. We saw several Bull Elk along the sides of the road with huge full racks of antlers. We also enjoyed a recommended ride on Nelson Drury Scenic Parkway which sported more large groves of the majestic Redwood Trees.

We finally arrived at Crescent City just before dark...a bit cold and hungry but definitely no worse for wear....

Unfortunately it turns out the card reader I brought for the pictures is not working. I promise to update with pictures as soon as I can find a card reader...

That's it for tonight...tomorrow we head to Portland, Oregon.

Final vacation preparations underway!

I can't believe tomorrow has finally come! Saturday, Aug 29 we will be rolling out headed to San Francisco Area or Bust!

Seems like it is taking forever to pack. Not sure why. Might be that I have been a bit over taken buy the smoke and ash the last few days from the La Canada/Flintridge fire.

Brad put a rack on the back of his bike this year and we bought another bag. Since the only extra item we have different then the last trip is my work laptop. We have loads of room....Must mean I can go shopping (j/k)

First stop tomorrow is to visit my dear friend Rhubarb, his lovely wife, and thier new baby Sophie near San Francisco. Then a good breakfast with some No. CA folks from The Ride Central. We'll be riding up the 101 so there won't be many if any reasons to take pictures to take pictures.

Sunday we travel north still to Crescent City, CA. Our plan is to ride through the Redwoods at Humbolt out to an area they call the Lost Coast of California. We also have one other scenic byway...hopefully we will get a few good shots then.

Type at you in a day or two!

Welcome to our blog

In 2005 Bev was working some loooong hours and asked Brad, "Why don't we buy a couple of motorcycles so I can get out of the house". Brad was happy to oblige and soon we had 2 motorcycles in the garage.

Bev thought for sure she was only going to ride locally so we bought bikes to match that expectation...Then we decided to start vacationing on the bikes....900 miles, 1600 miles, and 2 touring bike purchases later...3500 miles!

The bikes went from a hobby to an addiction and we are averaging 10k+ a year and loving every minute.

This is the first year of our bike travels that we will be taking along a laptop on vacation so I (Bev) decided that it might be a fun idea to create our first blog.

We are going to start this thing off right with our Great 2009 Northwest Vacation (leaving Sat. 8/29/2009). This years adventure which runs from So. California north to Canada and south through Glacier NP, Yellowstone NP (which we got snowed out of riding last year), and Zion NP.


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We'll be riding for 17 days and in the end with side trips closer to 4000+ miles...I will post as often as possible and hopefully be able to include pictures along the way. Hope you enjoy following along!

If things work out well we will continue posting about our motorcycle adventures as they come along.