PC800 – Page 9 – Not Your Average Engineer

April 18, 2020December 12, 2021

Leland Sheppard’s Home Page

Editor’s note: I am preserving Leland Sheppard’s PC800-related content after his passing. This is one of his pages that I felt the PC800 community would want to have preserved. Leland may be on his final Iron Butt ride but he is not forgotten.

In addition to my fleet of Honda Pacific Coast motorcycles, I also have these:

This is a 2002 Honda Goldwing GL1800. I bought this from a man in Abilene, Texas in February of 2007. This bike has every bell and whistle known to man including, I’m convinced, the kitchen sink. I just haven’t found it yet. This is truly an amazing bike. It weighs 792 pounds dry or, with a tank of gas, over 840 pounds. Yet the minute I start moving, all of that weight is gone. It feels like a big Pacific Coast. And handles like one as well. I rode the back back from Abilene to Placerville, a distance of about 1760 miles in about 48 hours. I got 36 to 45 mpg riding at 76mph. I set the electronic cruise control on the bike and just steered. My plan for this bike is to pull a popup camping trailer with it and do long trips that way instead of with my motorhome. (As long as gas prices are as high as they are, I simply can’t afford to drive the motorhome very much.)

This is a 1989 Honda GB500 Tourist Trophy cafe racer. I bought it earlier in 2006 from a man in Michigan who owned it from the time it was new. This is probably the best handling motorcycle I have ever ridden. This little bike takes tight winding corners and simply straightens them out. It is designed to look like the cafe racer’s of the 50s and 60s and, in that spirit, I wear a Davida puddin’ bowl helmet and goggles when I ride this bike. The exhaust makes it look like a twin but, in fact, it is a 500cc single. A thumper. The riding position is such that I can’t ride it for more than an hour or so before my back and neck begin to go. But since I got it mainly to ride the twisty roads in this area, that works out just fine. It is pure fun to ride. Update: I sold this bike to a fellow in Auburn, CA who is using it to commute…

My Davida helmet and goggles. From the side it looks like a bowl…

This is a 2002 Ural Patrol with a custom paint job. It has a reverse gear, selectable 2wd (sidecar wheel is driven), a parking brake; all unusual features for a motorcycle. Even more unusual is the fact that all wheels (spare included) are interchangeable. The steel used in this bike makes me think of the way autos were built in the US in the 30s and 40s; it’s VERY sturdy. The Ural is made in Russia and was originally a clone of a late 30s BMW.

This is a 2002 Royal Enfield Bullet Classic 500ES with a Cozy Rocket sidecar mounted. This bike has been built in India for the last 50 plus years. Royal Enfield stopped producing motorcycles in England in the late 60s, early 70s. It is basically a 1955 design with a few updates. The Cozy sidecar is also made in India.

I no longer have the Enfield. It has been sold to a man in Connecticut who is giving it a great home.

This is from the inaugural trip for the GL1800 pulling the camper. Here the camper is being packed.

Here we at the top of Monitor Pass on CA89 on the way to Lee Vining and Bodie for Bodie Day 2007.
The GL barely reacts to the fact that it has a 500 pound trailer behind it, either in terms of acceleration or braking.

This picture shows the camper set up for the night.

Besides my motorcycles, I have a hot rod:

It is a 1997 Seadoo Speedster with twin 85hp 2-cycle Rotax engines. The boat is 14 feet long, probably weighs less then 800 pounds and has enough horsepower to push me back into the seat when I open the throttles. Its home is in the Sacramento River which gives me a thousand miles of waterway to explore.

My other “toy” is my coach:

My coach is a 1992 Bounder motorhome, 31 feet, Ford chassis with a 7.5 liter V8 and 4 speed EOD transmission, dual air conditioners, 7.5kw Onan generator, Mountain Tamer exhaust brake by Decelomatic, and more.

Shown here leaving on a trip in 2002 pulling one of my PCs and my little motorboat on the second story of the trailer.

My copilot:

Miss Bailey, half German Shepherd, half Golden Retriever. She has taken over the driving duties as you can see.

This page is under construction…

More to come…

April 18, 2020December 12, 2021

This page is an online resume for Leland C. Sheppard, AMSP, AALP, ACDR, ASD, ARD

Work History

Based on what I knew at the time (June 1965), I wanted to become a computer programmer. What I knew was that I could spell both words. I was working at a filling station in Mountain View, California, going to school at night, when an engineer who worked for Lockheed who was a customer suggested that I might be interested in the computer field. He knew I liked machinery and mathematics which is what prompted him to make the suggestion. He was of Japanese descent, a member of the Palo Alto Co-op and I wish I could remember his name and/or find him. I owe him my career.

Since I did not then (and do not now) have a four year degree, I could not enter the field of computer programming directly. The back door I chose got me started as a check sorter operator (on an IBM 1419) at Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco, California on January 3, 1966 at midnight. Yes, the graveyard shift. Since I’ve always been a nightowl anyway, this did not strike me as a problem. Besides, there was no traffic and no parking problem at that time of night in downtown San Francisco…

I started. I worked hard. I had fun. After three months, I was nearly top operator. I say nearly because no one ever topped Ken Parillo. Ken sorted over 16,000 checks per hour and was, as I recall, the only one to ever do that. Top operator was determined by who had the highest average number of checks sorted per hour. The advantage of being top operator, besides bragging rights, was that he or she got the first crack at moving to the computer room and becoming a computer operator. Three months after that, I made it to the computer room.

I was operating IBM 1400 series computers, mainly 1401s with an occasional 1460 thrown in. A few months after that, word came down that an IBM 360 mainframe was coming in. I asked for manuals so I could learn something about the new machine and, because of that simple request on my part, when the new machines arrived, I was given the job of operating them.

I started. I worked hard. I had fun. After a couple of months, Wells Fargo tried to convert their Demand Deposit Accounting (DDA – checking accounts) system from the IBM 1410 to the IBM 360. They had problems. Jobs would abort, I would call the lead programmer, Leo McCann, and wake the poor guy up after he’d been asleep for only a couple of hours with, “Sorry, Leo, but we’ve got another abend.” Leo was very understanding and had an amazing amount of energy. Leo taught me how to read core dumps and taught me machine language. “Look for a 47F0…” Thus I learned machine language before I learned Assembler Language.

After about a year of running the bank’s work on IBM 360s (first a 50 and later a 65), I transferred to day shift and became responsible for the newly formed technical support group. Our function was to do Sysgens, debug software problems (first level at least) and assist with installation of systems type software from the technical programming group at Wells.

This was prior to the government-dictated IBM unbundling of 1969. Wells Fargo had lots of IBM people that lived on the premises. Thus an IBM SE, Marshall Gordon, taught me how to do Sysgens. An IBM FE, Don Texeira, taught me more about dump reading and debugging. I took a PE course, finally, on Assembler Language. I also attended every IBM class I could get on operating system Concepts and Facilities, internals, etc.

After a disagreement with my boss, I left Wells Fargo. The IBM account rep at Crocker Bank called me and asked if I was interested in talking to Crocker, that they needed a Computer Operations manager. I said sure.

I started. I worked hard. I had some fun. Not as much as before but some. I brought a number of people to Crocker from Wells. Developed their operating staff. My first boss, Neils Anderson, and I got along fine. Shortly, Neils left for greener pastures. His replacement was Charley Chappas. Charley and I didn’t get along as well. Charley asked me if I wanted to transfer to Systems Programming. I said sure.

I started. I worked hard. I had fun. But, boy, was I in to my ears. Crocker had developed their own programming language ADLIBS (A Dynamic Language for Integrated Business Systems). It consisted of nothing but Assembler Language macros. I spent the first month just trying to get my feet on the ground with the environment.

Then the bottom dropped out. Crocker Bank disbanded their Systems Programming department. Entirely. Not one person left, as I recall.
But, by that time, I was a Systems Programmer. I had only a month’s experience, mind you, but I was a Systems Programmer. I walked across the street (almost literally) to ADPAC Corporation and hired on as a programmer. ADPAC had developed a programming language by that name (it was RPG-like as I recall) and many of the other systems programmers from Crocker had come over there.

I started. I worked hard. I had fun. But after about three months, I was told I was being let go for performance reasons. I didn’t believe that and insisted on seeing the head of the company. The head of the company told me that I was being let go because the company was in financial trouble but that I could not reveal that publicly. I said fine, as long as you don’t say I was let go for performance reasons. He agreed. In the end, 117 out of 120 people were laid off; I was just the first. And it was not because of my performance…

It was January of 1970 at this point. The job market was terrible. Phil Martinelli, the current head of Computer Operations at Crocker said the bank needed something to control printing of reports for the bank. He asked if I could develop something. I said I could. I had never written a real Assembler Language program.

I contacted Greyhound Computer Corporation to find out about renting time on a 360 mainframe. They said that Allstate Insurance Company had a research center (JBRC) in Menlo Park, California which was about 20 miles from where I lived in Sunnyvale. They said that Allstate only used their machine (an IBM 360/50) for 12 hours a day and that from 8PM to 8AM it, and the whole computer room, was available.

He knew I had no money, that I was hoping to sell the product to Crocker, that there were no guarantees. He also knew that Allstate had a machine that was standing idle and that, at least, there was a chance that I could make good. He convinced his folks at Greyhound to give me the opportunity in spite of the fact that the money for the rental time would arrive, at the earliest, after my project was complete.

I started. I worked really hard. I had a tremendous amount of fun. For three months, I furiously coded and tested my “General Purpose Spool Utility”, a multitasking, print line restartable, highly user configurable, print spooling system. I coded at home during as much of the day as I could stay awake for and at the keypunch machine at Allstate the rest of the time. It was me and the security guard in the building. I had a 360/50 (or was it a 370/155?), DASD, 1403N1 printer, 2540 Reader/Punch, keypunch machines and a rented 2311 disk pack with my life on it. At 8AM, I would blearily say good morning to the Allstate operators and head home for a few hours of shuteye and a bunch more coding.

Finally, it was done. I went to Crocker and demonstrated the system. It worked and they liked it. They bought it. After hassling with the legal department for a couple of weeks (or was it a month?) to get the license straightened out, we had an agreement. A couple of weeks after that I had a check for $10,000. After I arrived at home, there was a knock on the door. When I opened it, the Greyhound rep was standing there with a bottle of champagne in one hand and the other hand extended to receive something. I put a check for $5,000 in that hand, invited him in and we celebrated.

I wish I could remember the Greyhound rep’s name. I’m surprised I don’t. I owe him a huge thank you. I thanked him then but would still like to say it again.

The former IBM rep for Crocker and an associate had started their own company. For the next several months, they tried to market my print spooling program in the San Francisco Bay Area. At one point, we made a presentation to EDS in San Francisco. They turned us down because they had something called HASP. I had never heard of it and little did I know…

With no further sales of the program on the horizon, I decided it was time to go back to work. Since I already knew the people there, I talked to the folks at the Allstate Insurance Company research center where I had rented my computer time.

I started. I worked hard. I had fun. Allstate hired me as Systems Programming and Computer Operations Manager. I managed an operator and a half and two programmers. I was the systems staff and did all Sysgens, debugging, etc. I also wrote an SMF reporting system and a large bunch of Assembler programs during the 2 and 1/2 years I was at JBRC.

In May of 1973, I was recruited by EDS to go to work for them as a Systems Programmer in their San Francisco data center at 1 Beach Street.

I started. I worked hard. I had a lot of fun. I was there for 4 and 1/2 years. I debugged a lot of problems, wrote a ton of Assembler code, mostly SVCs, utilities and exits. I applied a lot of maintenance to the MVT 21.7 system they were running during most of that period. That was pre-SMP time and everything had to be figured out and done by hand. It took me several months of work to get one QSAM PTF applied…

In 1975, while still at EDS, I attended a presentation at SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) in Palo Alto. It was a meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club. The presentation was being given by a little company called MITS introducing their Altair 8800 computer. Also at that presentation, talking about his BASIC interpreter which was available on paper tape, was a skinny, gangly young kid with red hair and glasses. His name was Bill Gates.

In April of 1976, I bought a desktop computer made by Tektronix, Inc. It had a screen that was 10 inches wide by 8 inches tall. That screen had a resolution of 1024 x 768. Data was stored on a 3M 1/2 inch cartridge tape (DC300A). The machine had a Motorola 6800 processor and 24K of user memory (32K was devoted to the system ROMs which contained a BASIC interpreter and all necessary code to run the machine and its peripherals). I started developing software to do analysis of stocks. I had plans of hooking into the NYSE and trying to make stock buy and sell decisions based on the 15 minute delayed ticker data that was available.

In November of 1977, I left EDS to start my own business. I was sure, at that point, that small computers would be the wave of the future and I wanted to be in on the wave. My software business was dedicated to developing packaged software to run on the Tektronix 4051, 4052 and 4054 computers and to do custom software and consulting for the same machines.

I started. I worked hard, oh god, did I work hard. I had a ton of fun. I had, and to the best of my knowledge still have, the only microcomputer-based project management system that would produce a Time-Scaled PERT Chart. Not a Gantt chart but a true PERT Chart. My customers included IBM, American Enka (a textile firm), International Paper Company, etc. In 1980, I reached an agreement with Tektronix to have them market my project management software, called MicroPERT, for me. Life was good.

In mid 1981 the bubble burst. The IBM PC was introduced and based on its early success, Tektronix decided to get out of the desktop computer business altogether. With that decision went my marketing agreement.

From 1981 to 1986 I worked on converting my software and my business to the IBM PC world. I had to reduce my prices by about 90% to compete. At one point, Lotus was interested in MicroPERT. At least the engineering division was. Then the business and engineering divisions were merged. The business division was not inerested. I managed to find no takers. So…

In 1986, I went back to work for EDS. I commuted weekly between Redding, California and Denver, Colorado. I was working on a project that involved both PCs and mainframes, Assembler and C and more. That project was shelved a few months later and I transferred back to what was left at 1 Beach Street in San Francisco; by that time EDS’ data center had moved to Sacramento. For the next six months or so, I worked on converting Honeywell COBOL programs to IBM COBOL to run under CICS. I then worked on several different projects, some mainframe, some PC, some DEC Vax before parting ways with EDS at the beginning of 1989.

I heard that a local bank was looking to transfer their data processing operation from Daly City, California to Sacramento, California. I was interested. I applied. I was hired, partly because a man I knew at EDS back in the 1970s was there. He told the man responsible for hiring while pointing at my resume, “Hire him. If he doesn’t work out, I’ll quit.” Based partly on that display of friendship and confidence in me, I was hired. I know that man’s name and if I ever hit the lottery, Deroyce Holmon will retire with me, if he wants to.

I started work for First Nationwide Bank (later California Federal Bank) on a contract basis in October 1989. In January of 1990, I was converted to a full-time employee and relocated with the rest of the folks to the Sacramento area in July of 1990. I was with Cal Fed from then until the end of 2002. I was a Senior Systems Programmer. I installed operating systems, OEM software products, did assembler coding, software debugging and troubleshooting, installed vendor maintenance, and performed other tasks as called for. My last project for the bank involved designing and developing an application that used four languages: ALC, REXX, HTML and JavaScript. With the sale of Cal Fed to Citibank, my services were no longer required and I was laid off. I never finished the four language project.

After I was given notice that I would be laid off, I contacted the man who originally hired me at Cal Fed. I started work for his group on the 7th of January 2003 as a Senior (boy, I’ll say) Systems Programmer at Bank of America in Concord. I commuted (by motorcycle) from my home in Placerville to Concord (a distance of 116 miles) three days a week; I telecommuted from home the other two days. That continued until May of 2006 at which point I begain telecommuting full time after the bank changed their policies regarding telecommuting (it was all or nothing…). I telecommuted full time from May of 2006 until I was laid off in January of 2007. These layoffs are becoming a pain…

What can I do for you?

1. Design, code and test assembler language programs. Batch programs, SVCs, exits, subroutines, etc.

2. Debug, modify and maintain existing assembler language programs.

3. Got an SVC dump you can’t decipher? I probably can.

4. Got an operating system to install? Upgrade or maintain? Troubleshoot? I can probably do that too.

5. Got a program product from an ISV to install? Upgrade or maintain? Troubleshoot? I can deal with most of those as well.

What do you need in order to obtain my services?

1. Money in your budget to pay me for my time. If you are the client, I ask $100 per hour with a 2.5 hour minimum unless it’s in the middle of the night in which case it’s a 5.0 hour minimum. Payable monthly at least; preferably semi-monthly.

2. A dial up line or internet connection so I can access your data center from my PC at home.

3. A discussion with your security folks to get them to set up IDs and passwords and dataset rules to give me access to whatever you need me to get at.

4. Agreements with your software vendors that will allow me to access their support people and/or online troubleshooting facilities.

5. A way to get in touch with me:
My home phone: 530 621-2451 – please leave a message
My email: leland@lcsheppard.net – ditto

6. A description of what it is that you need me to do.

7. How much time you are allotting me in which to do it.

And that’s it!

I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for reading this.

Leland C. (formerly Chuck) Sheppard

If you want to see a “standard” resume, use this link: Leland Sheppard Resume

Notes:

1 – AKA Chuck Sheppard to the people I’ve worked with for the past nearly 41 years.

2 – Ancient Mainframe Systems Programmer

3 – Ancient Assembler Language Programmer

4 – Ancient Core Dump Reader

5 – Ancient Software Debugger

6 – A Real Dinosaur (move over T-Rex!)

April 18, 2020December 12, 2021

Bodie, Tioga Pass, Yosemite Loop Trip Report

Date of trip: I have taken this trip a number of times, both solo (one day) and two up (two day with a stay at Lee Vining overnight). You can only take this trip from late May (if the winter snow was light, otherwise Tioga will still be closed) until the middle of October. Before and after that, one or more of the passes (particularly Tioga) are likely to be closed. There is a link to Cal Trans Road Information at the bottom of this page.

The route:

Starting from Placerville, head east on US 50.

Take the Sly Park Exit in Pollock Pines. Turn right (south) at the foot of the ramp onto Sly Park Road.

Continue on Sly Park Road for five miles past Jenkinson Lake/Sly Park Reservoir to the junction with Mormon Emigrant Trail. Turn left (east) on Mormon Emigrant Trail.

Stay on Mormon Emigrant Trail until it dead ends at the junction with CA88. (Warning: This stretch is about 33 miles with NO services of any kind.) Turn left (east) on CA88.

Continue on past Silver Lake, Kirkwood and a real little gem, Caples Lake:

Continue on CA88 over Carson Pass, past Red Lake, through Hope Valley, past the junction where CA89 from Lake Tahoe joins CA88, to Woodfords where the junction where CA89 turns off toward Markleeville. Turn right (south) on CA89.

Continue south on CA89 through Markleeville to the junction with CA4. Turn left (east) on CA89.

Continue on CA89 over Monitor Pass to the junction with US395. Turn right (south) on US395.

Take US395 south through the Walker River Canyon, through Bridgeport to the turnoff to Bodie (CA270) just south of Bridgeport. Turn left (east) on CA270.

Continue on CA270 for 10 miles to the end of the blacktop. The next/last three miles is washboard gravel. It is rough but negotiable. I usually run about 15-20mph through this section.

Bodie is an absolutely fascinating gold-mining ghost town. No services except for bathrooms and some bottled water if the museum is open. Well worth the trip. $2.00 per person admission fee; it’s a California State Park:

From Bodie go back the same way you came. (There are alternative routes out but most of them require a 4WD vehicle to negotiate). When you get to the junction of CA270 and US395, turn left (south) on US395.

Continue south on US395, past Mono Lake, to Lee Vining. This is about the half way mark. Food (and lodging if you are doing this trip in two days) are available here.

From Lee Vining, continue south on US395 for about 1 mile to the junction with CA120. Turn right (west) on CA120.

Continue on CA120 over one of the most spectacular stretches of road on the planet, in my view, over Tioga Pass (9945 feet) to the Yosemite east gate:

The entrance fee is either $10 or $20, even on a motorcycle, to get through the park. Save your receipt for when you exit the park.

Continue on CA120 west through Yosemite past Tuolomne Meadows, Tenaya Lake to Crane Flat. Turn left (south) at the stop sign at Crane Flat and go down into Yosemite Valley to see Half Dome, El Capitan, etc.

Continue down into the valley to the stop sign at the junction with CA140. Turn left (east) and continue on into the valley.

For a spectacular view (from “Valley View”), turn right (south) at the junction with CA41 (Wawona turnoff). Just before the tunnel, turn into the parking lot on either the right or the left side of the road. Watch out for buses, tourists, kids, dogs, etc. This spot is called Valley View and is world famous for its view of Yosemite Valley, El Capitan, Bridal Veil Falls and Half Dome. It is also very busy. It is worth the stop, I think:

When you leave Valley View, go back down hill the way you came. You will go past Bridal Veil Falls (viewable from Valley View) and rejoin the road into the valley. Continue on into Yosemite Valley.

I usually make a stop at Camp Curry for a soda, potty break, etc. I then tour around through the valley, past the campgrounds, past the Ahwanee Lodge, through Yosemite Village and back out the way I came in. Gorgeous scenery; usually a lot of traffic, too (in the valley).

On the way back out, turn right at the junction of CA140 and CA120. Turn right (north) on CA120 back out past Crane Flat.

Continue north on CA120 past Buck Meadows, through Groveland, Big Oak Flat, down a 5 mile nothing-but-curves stretch called Priests Grade, past the Moccasin power plant, past Don Pedro Reservoir.

Continue on CA120 to China Camp and the junction with CA49. Turn right (north) on CA49.

Continue on CA49 to the junction with CA108. Turn right (east) on CA108/CA49.

Continue on CA108/CA49 through Jamestown, past Railtown 1897 (worth a visit if you have time and like trains), to the junction with CA49 just before Sonora. Turn left (north) on CA49.

Continue on CA49 through Sonora. When you get to the deadend at Main Street in Sonora, turn left (north). That is CA49. Sonora is a neat town if you have time to stop.

Continue on CA49 through the gold rush towns of Columbia (slight side trip if you have time – stage coach rides, etc.), Angels Camp (of “celebrated jumping frog” fame), San Andreas, Mokelumne Hill, Jackson, Sutter Creek (neat little town), Amador City, Dry Town, Plymouth (in the heart of the new “wine country”), El Dorado, Diamond Springs and, finally, Placerville.

Gasoline:

You are in the boonies. Gas stops are few and far between. You need to plan your stops fairly carefully, depending on the time of year. The earlier in the spring and the later in the fall, the more distance between gas pumps, particularly in Yosemite.

You will find gasoline in:

Placerville
Camino
Pollock Pines
outside of Sly Park Reservoir
at Kirkwood (this is about 40 miles from Sly Park and is VERY expensive – at least a dollar more per gallon than the prior station).
just beyond Woodfords (about 2 miles south of town at a store back in the woods on the right side of the road; don’t blink or you will miss it – 1 pump, 87 octane only)
sometimes at Markleeville; one time the station is open, the next it is not…
at Walker on US395 (this is about 40 miles beyond the pump near Woodfords)
at Bridgeport
at Lee Vining (this is 51 miles after the last station if you took the side trip to Bodie)
at Tuolomne Meadows in Yosemite during the summer season.
at Crane Flat in Yosemite most of the time (this is 71 miles from Lee Vining; it is about 40 miles into Yosemite Valley and back to Crane Flat – no gas available any more in Yosemite Valley).
Buck Meadows
Groveland
Big Oak Flat
China Camp
Sonora
Jackson
all the gold rush towns north of Jackson except Drytown which really is dry…

Food:

There are stores in a number of locations and restaurants and cafes in most of the towns, villages and hamlets along the way except for Bodie.

Lodging:

There are resorts, motels and campgrounds in many spots along the route except for Bodie.

Speed, time:

Allow plenty of time. Except for a couple of stretches on Mormon Emigrant Trail and along US395 and CA120, most of this route is winding and fairly slow going. Many stretches are very winding and down to 30-40mph. I can do the whole trip in 14 hours if I stop for 30 minutes at Bodie, 45 minutes at Lee Vining, 20 minutes at Camp Curry and not much else. If you are doing the trip in two days, Lee Vining is about the perfect half-way point. The whole trip is about 450 miles.

Cautions:

Gas stops can be few and far between. Heed the gaps in the above list and you should be OK.

The scenery is so drop-dead gorgeous, I have to be careful not to run off the road. I also have to be careful not to stop too often or I will never get anywhere. Every other corner is a photo-op. You are in, around, over and through the Sierra Nevada mountain range for most of this trip.

You will be going from about a 1000 foot elevation to 10000 feet. The temperatures, even in the summer can range from the high 40s (at Bodie and Tioga Pass) to the 90s (in Yosemite Valley and going north on CA49 through the gold rush towns); you will need to dress accordingly.

Because of the long stretches without services, I usually carry liquid for drinking with me.

Most of the passes on this route are closed in the winter so it pays to check with Cal Trans Road Information before going to be sure that the roads are open.

Summary:

This is a wonderful trip. Gorgeous scenery, wonderful motorcycling, tons of western US history. It is a visual feast. I’ve been over this exact loop 6 or 8 times and never tire of it.

Although the trip can be done in one fourteen hour day, I would recommend doing it over two days. The Honda Pacific Coast is the only motorcycle I’ve ever owned that was comfortable enough to ride that many hours in one day.