The Y2K+7 Ride, T.O.P. C.H.O.I.C.E.

(Tour On the Pacific Coast Highway Offering Incredible Cycling Entertainment)

Pictures, Trip Reports, Photo Links, etc.

The Riders…

And their steeds…

Attendees

Name	Home City, State, Country	Bike Ridden
Jenny Chalk	St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada	passenger with Roy
Roy Chalk	St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada	1989 Canadian PC800
Roy Cope	Los Alamos, New Mexico	1997 PC800
Roy Coss	Elk Grove, California	1990 PC800
Revill Dunn	Austin, Texas	1996 PC800
Jim Geary	Felton, California	1994 PC800 & 2005 ST1300
Thomas E. Humphrey II	Clayton, California	1994 PC800
Jeff Johnson	Fremont, California	1998 PC800
Erin Leavell	Gilroy, California	1989 PC800
George Leavell	Gilroy, California	? BMW R1100RT
Larry Littrell	Eureka, California	1997? PC800 (Lisa’s bike)
Lisa Littrell	Eureka, California	walked over from the boat… 🙂
Bruce Mann	San Jose, California for the moment	1989 PC800
Diana Mann	San Jose, California for the moment	passenger with Bruce
Dave Misunas	Santa Cruz, California	1990 PC800
Chris Moore	Fort Bragg, California	1989 PC800
Peter Noeth	Rocklin, California	2007 GL1800
Bruce Pickett	Federal Way, Washington	1990 PC800
Kevin Quosig	San Leandro, California	1996 PC800
Kevin’s fiancee	San Leandro, California	passenger with Kevin
Harvey Roady	Rio Rancho, New Mexico	2002 GL1800
Jason Scarborough	Santa Ynez, California	1989 PC800
Leland Sheppard	Placerville, California	1989 PC800
John Treiber	Lake City, Florida	1996 PC800
Pat Treiber	Lake City, Florida	passenger with John
Bob Walton	Milwaukie, Oregon	1994 PC800
Dean Williams	Springfield, Oregon	1998 PC800 in glorious yellow
Kel Williams	Cottage Grove, Oregon	1999 BMW 1200C
Jerry Wright	Beaverton, Oregon	1997 PC800
29 people		25 bikes, 20 PC800s

Dean William’s Trip Report

Hi, Folks…

Home safe, sound and smiling from the 2007 PCH Ride.

We headed south on Sunday from Eugene. Present for the southbound leg were Bruce Pickett and I and brother Kel. Dave Zagorodney had hooked up with Bruce
in the Portland area and ridden down to Eugene Saturday evening, but he headed back to Portland after dinner that same night. Bruce, Kel & I headed south on I-5 to Grants Pass, then west on 199 thru Cave Junction to the little burg of O’Brien. We then turned south on Waldo Road, wandered thru eventually to California 96, to California 299 west into the Arcata / Eureka area. There were some fun twisty sections between 199 in Oregon and 299 in California, but it was hot, Hot, HOT, and we were looking for shade and cool drinks as much as we were enjoying the road. Got into Eureka in time to clean up and have dinner with the main ride group at the Samoa Cookhouse, which was great food as always, and good times catching up with old friends. Again, Ann Reid had sent a care package of goodies, including entire “Guardian Alien” families for some of her frequent riding friends, and more small “stick” Guardian Aliens for all attendees.

Got up Monday morning and headed for the Bayshore Mall for the obligatory start-of-ride group bike pics, and then it was off to Ferndale and the start of the Mattole Road / Lost Coast loop. Leland was leading the contingent as always, with myself, Kel, Bruce P and Jason in hot pursuit. Had a really good time strafing the corners all the way into Honeydew for the initial rest stop. We pushed the section after Honeydew at a sporting clip as well, down into the Avenue of the Giants, where the lead group pulled in for a rest break and to group back up with the remainder of the pack. Then, it was a pretty leisurely run through the Redwoods and down into Garberville for lunch.

After lunch, it was a short run down 101 to Leggett, then it was off on “The Ugly Iguana at Lelands Gap”, that 22-mile stretch of rollercoaster road that signals the official start of California 1, the Pacific Coast Highway. Again, I was right on Lelands bumper, with Kel, Bruce P, Jason and Dave Misunas in hot pursuit. Again, the pace was plenty spirited clear down to that sweeping left-hander that gives the first view of the ocean, and we again all met at the pull-out overlooking the beach to let everyone catch up and tell stories. It was then a pretty sedate final few miles into Fort Bragg for the night, and our usual dinner down at The Wharf. Monday is always the most challenging day of technical riding on the entire trip, and this year was no different. It’s a lot of work, but even more fun, and we went to bed tired but satisfied with the day’s ride.

Up Tuesday morning for the ride to Pacifica, but we were missing Kel. He’d left Fort Bragg for home in Oregon at 2:30am, to be home 500 miles later to be at work at 1:30pm. After breakfast, the group headed south on CA-1, only to be stopped dead in our tracks 17 miles down the road. Seems there was an accident further south on the highway that had traffic backed up nearly forever. Maps were consulted, and Leland led us back up north a ways, then on an inland-then south-then-back-west route that contained some fun twisty bits, and eventually dumped us back on CA-1 a mile or so south of the accident, after a 30-plus mile side trip. We then continued puttering south in a leisurely fashion until lunch at Bodega Bay. The group then continued south and most rendezvoused again at the Marin Headlands just on the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge for the usual photo shoots, and then it was across the bridge and through San Fran and into Pacifica for the night. Dinner was at Nick’s, next door to the hotel, and they didn’t put us in our own room ‘out back’ as they normally do, but put us all at one long table out in the middle of their normal dining area.

Wednesday morning we headed south as a group to the junction of CA-1 and Hwy 84, which we took East up to Alice’s Restaurant, where we normally stop for brunch. This year, however, instead of stopping there, we headed south on 35 toward Felton. As we climbed the ridge, we got into very heavy fog, which kept us down to a creeping pace for several miles. However, as we dropped a little altitude and moved further south, the fog started to break up, the pavement dried (mostly) and Leland upped the pace. Soon, we were riding “in a spirited fashion” again, really enjoying the twisty sections on both 35 and Hwy 9, until we got into more and more traffic and finally just puttered into the Cowboy Diner in Felton, owned by our own Jim Geary. Jim and his family and staff had really gotten ready for us, with special menus, great food and five-star service. In addition, Jim had some special shirts made up for PC’ers, as well as setting a flat price of $6 per head for anything on the menu for the PC contingent. Big, big thanks to Jim, his wife Katherine, and his daughter and staff for the special meal we all had there. After lunch, Dave Misunas led the group into Santa Cruz to an oceanside parking area for the group bike photos that usually are taken at Pescadero Beach. From there, it was an easy, uneventful cruise down CA-1 on into Monterey for the evening. Dinner was the usual fun and food at Bullwackers down on Cannery Row. The entire block just south of Bullwackers was cordoned off with literally dozens of police and fire vehicles, but no news about what was going on. Additionally, there was a group of 10 or so young women in the same seating area at Bullwackers who apparently had an early start on the evening and a lengthy bar tab going, so the atmosphere was more loud and raucous than usual, but we still had a good time and great food, once the other group quieted down a bit. Dave Misunas had brought in his laptop with a slideshow of the many really top-notch photos he’d taken so far on the ride, so we all got to see some of the memories we’d made over the past few days. Dave is gifted with his use of the camera, and I can’t wait to see the entire group of photos he took along the ride. Alas, Bruce and I had to say our goodbyes as the group left Bullwackers, as
we were heading back North towards home on Thursday morning, while the other lucky folks continued on south towards Lompoc. It’s great to see old friends again each year, and make new acquaintances, but it’s still hard to shake hands and say goodbye, knowing it’ll likely be at least a year before I’ll enjoy the company of many of them next.

Thursday, BP and I grabbed a quick breakfast and headed towards home. We initially had planned to do a “casual mosey” pace, with some off-the-beaten path tracks included. After some consultation, we decided to simply head east to pick up I-5, and pile up the miles. Consequently, we made it the nearly 700 miles into Eugene, which meant home for me and left Bruce with a chance to get a good night’s sleep before his last 260-ish mile leg back into Federal Way.

It was again, quite simply, the highlight of my riding year. Thanks again to Leland for his planning and conscientious leadership of this ride, and for being so willing to set a hot pace during the twisty bits! As mentioned earlier, it was great to see all our friends from past years rides, and folks I’d not met or spent much time with before, like Jerry Wright, and Roy & Jennie Chalk from Merrye Olde England, via Eastern Canada, and Jeff from Fremont, who learned just how fast old folks can ride while following Leland down from Alices to Felton (Grin).

I’m weary and glad I’m off the bike for a day or two, but am already missing the ride and good friends.

Dean Williams
Eugene, Oregon

98 PC800 “Nata Harli” … in glorious yellow
HSTA / IPCRC / IBA member

Bruce Pickett’s Ride Report

T.O.P. C.H.O.I.C.E.
Tour On the Pacific Coast Highway Offering Incredible Cycling Entertainment!

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Day 0
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Eugene, OR to Eureka, CA

Kel, Dean, & I left Springfield at 0900. The first leg was simple: South on I-5, take a right at Grants Pass on US-199, leave the highway at O’Brien, just past Cave Junction, on Waldo Road, then find our way through the Siskiyou Mountains on backroads with a GPS that wants to do things its own way. I was leading because, supposedly, I had the equipment to guide the way. But within a quarter mile on Waldo Rd., the GPS was indicating roads that were obviously not going to take us where WE wanted to go. After 2 or 3 miss starts and a 20-minute jaunt back towards Cave Junction, we finally got on track. And then we were cookin’! In more ways than one. The road took us up and over the mountains towards Happy Camp on a marvelously scenic and twisty route. And nary a car anywhere! But the further south we got, the hotter it became. By the time we hit CA-96 it was 96-degrees! And it just got hotter from there. We followed along the beautiful Klamath River, and I was very tempted to find a place to park and go jump in. But we pressed on in search of gas and refreshments. Finally, a small convenience store and bait shop appeared on the horizon, and we ran in there as fast as possible after we stopped. It was now 100 degrees outside, and the air conditioning inside the store was bliss! After polishing off a 32-oz Gatorade, a 24-oz water bottle, and some trail mix, I was prepped to step back out into the blast furnace. CA-96 began dropping down into the Klamath River Valley , and the sun had passed its zenith, so the temperatures began dropping too. At 92, it felt nice and cool! By the time we got to Willow Creek and US-299, the 84 degrees felt kinda chilly. On to the coast, and about 20 miles out, we ran into thick overcast and the temperature plummeted to 55 degrees. It had dropped 45 degrees in a little more than an hour! In my mesh jacket and microfiber teeshirt, I was downright cold! But I wasn’t going to stop and change jackets because we’d just managed to pass a bus that had been constipating the traffic flow because the driver had refused to use the slow lane. We got into the Motel 6 in Eureka just before 6. Except for the heat, the ride over roads new to us had been fantastic! We all would like to redo the route sometime – under cooler conditions!

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Day 1
Monday, September 10, 2007
Eureka, CA to Fort Bragg, CA

Today, many people had their share of humble pie – including me. A number of really experienced riders overshot corners on the Lost Coast. My own share of the pie came on the “Honeydew Highlands”, the twisty mountain roads just after leaving Honeydew. The riders of our group, in order, were Leland, Dean, me, and then Kel. Very close to the summit, I came around a blind right-hand corner and saw a bunch of dirt-fall on the road. I went wide to the outside and thought I was going to miss it, but my rear-end slipped out on the loose dirt. I didn’t go down, but I was startled by the sudden slipperiness. I was still thinking about it a minute later when I saw Dean’s brake lights come on as he was rounding a descending left-hand corner up ahead. When I got closer, an orange diamond sign appeared that said “Slide Ahead”. Here’s where my problem came to a head. I was still thinking about the “then & there” instead of the “here & now”. I was still thinking about how I could have handled the previous problem better, when I was suddenly faced with a new hurdle; my brain locked up as I was expecting to run into a closed road ahead. The momentary loss of concentration left me way out of position to decelerate into the corner. I saw that there was a wide space of dirt past the corner instead of the usual cliff and trees. I straightened the bike up and clamped on the brakes as hard as I could without locking them up as I was headed off the road and into the berm. Dirt and gravel flew through the air as I left the pavement. After scrubbing the speed down from 40-ish to about 5, and still being upright, I steered Blue Pacific back up towards the road edge so that I didn’t get stuck in soft dirt . I came to a complete stop right at the edge of the road. No damage to anything, except my pride. Kel was right behind me in the curve and saw the whole episode. At first he thought that I was going to go hot into the curve, then he thought I was going to go wide in it, then he was wondering if there was any cell phone reception to call for an ambulance. When he came up to me sitting on the upright PC, he looked me over with concern and asked if I was all right. I told him that I was still there, then I indicated for him to go ahead of me. I was shaken and intent upon slowing down my riding for a while, and I did not want a faster rider on my tail. Just as I was coming off the hill and into the thick redwoods, I caught up to the three lead riders. They had sensed that something wasn’t right and had throttled back. I was surprised to actually catch up to them as they were still moving. Shortly, on the Avenue of the Giants, we stopped for a rest and regrouping. I was a bit subdued, but we were now on mostly relatively flat roads and wouldn’t be challenging any cliffside roads for a while. After lunch at Garberville, we pressed down 101 to Leggett and began assailing the 22 miles of twistiness of the “Ugly Iguana”. I was pursuing Dave Misunas, but was having a hard time keeping up with the pace. The specter of my earlier miscalculation was still with me and I was not pressing as hard as I might have. The only thing that kept me up with the leaders was when they were delayed by slower traffic. But we got down to the shoreline road without incident. About a half-hour later, Dean, Kel, & I were signing in at the Super 8 in Ft. Bragg. That evening at “The Wharf”, as we were waiting in the parking lot for the rest of the PCers to arrive, a couple of red CBRs pulled which were emblazoned with DestinationHighways.com logos. I surmised that these were the authors of the Destination Highways motorcycling guides. I went into the bar, found the riders, and learned that they were indeed the authors of the books. I spent 20 minutes talking with Brian Bosworth. He waxed eloquent on the fabulous roads around Mendocino and suggested that we should take in the nearby Ukiah-Comptche road. I explained that we were on a planned trip and probably wouldn’t be able to deviate from the plan. He said that was too bad and that we’d truly miss out on a great cycling experience if we bypassed that road. But then, plans can change.

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Day 2
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Fort Bragg, CA to Pacifica, CA

Kel left us at 0230 am to return to Eugene to go to work. I told him not to wake me for his departure. At 9 am, Dean Williams, Roy Coss, Dave Misunas, and I waited alongside CA1 for the Pacific Coast Horde to sweep down from the north. We joined in at the end of the procession and headed south. Just past Albion, not far down the coast, we came to a stop behind a long stream of traffic backed up behind an accident. Leland and Roy put their heads together and came up with an alternate route to take us around the constipation up ahead. They settled on the Ukiah-Comptche Road! Just the previous night, Brian Bosworth had recommended to us in The Wharf that we would really regret not doing the Ukiah-Comptche road. Deja Vu! Plans Do change! We took the airport road to meet up with the Ukiah-Comptche Road part way through, and the airport road was underwhelming to say the least, but the U-C road was very, very good! Brian had been right – this was a road that shouldn’t be missed! We were twisting through the forests for over an hour, and by the time we got back to CA1, we had only progressed a few miles past where we had stopped for the accident! But we had been moving and having fun instead of sitting on the road. The weather in the morning had been overcast, but by the time we had lunch at The Boathouse in Bodega Bay, it was bright and sunning and warm, but not hot. Dean & I headed down the coast, but by Stinson Beach, I was getting tired and sloppy. At a stopsign, I told Dean that I had to take a break, so we pulled off down a side road and rested for 15-20 minutes. Back on the road, we headed for the Marin headlands at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge. I was surprised to see Leland & Co. there already – I had expected them to be enroute to Pt. Reyes Lighthouse. But they had bypassed that and had passed us while we rested at Stinson Beach. The GG Bridge was as picturesque as always – brilliant orange steel latticework backdropped by the blue of the bay and sky, and the white of the city. We left the headlands and crossed over the bridge in time to make it for the motorcycle no-toll period (“Carpool vehicles with three or more persons, motorcycles, and buses receive free toll passage between the hours of 5 am to 9 am and 4 pm to 6 pm, weekdays…”, http://goldengatebridge.org/tolls_traffic/toll_rates_carpools.php ). Then the harrowing passage through the Streets of San Francisco on our way to Pacifica, just down the road. But we pulled in to Nick’s Sea Breeze Motel at Rockaway Beach without incident.

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Day 3
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Pacifica, CA to Monterey, CA

Dean and I went out early to fill up the bikes and ourselves. We quickly discovered the joys of Bay Area morning traffic! We crossed over CA1, hoping to pull in to the Shell station on the east side of the road, but the traffic coming down the hill was too thick and we couldn’t get across, so we went up the hill only to discover that the traffic congestion coming down was about a mile long! To get back down to CA1 and the Shell station, we’d have to go through that. Neither of us was too interested in doing our first lane-splitting exercise, so we followed the flow back down the hill. After filling the fuel tanks, we then pressed south to find Denny’s – and Dave Misunas! The three of us had breakfast and waited for the north-bound congestion on CA1 to die down before we headed back to Nick’s and loaded the bikes for departure. In years past, lunch has been at Alice’s restaurant in LaHonda, but this year, we accepted the offer of Jim Geary to partake of his Cowboy Diner in Felton, just a few miles north of Santa Cruz. We left CA1 to take Skyline Drive from LaHonda to Felton. The road is a wonderful motorcycling road, but this day it seemed misnamed – it really should have been CLOUDline Drive, as the overcast ceiling was at about 2400 feet and the road at the ridge went up and down between 2300 and 2500 feet. We were in and out of the clouds so often that I thought that I should have had an instrument pilot’s license to be there. I expect that on a sunny day, that Skyline Drive is a fun and popular road for motorcyclists – today, it was challenging with low visibility and damp corners. But we came down into Felton and had a great time at the Cowboy Diner with Jim, Katherine, and family. Many thanks to the Geary family for extending such a great invitation to us! Lunch was delicious, and we were given wonderful gifts of Pacific Coast teeshirts – they even had an XXL size that fit me! In Santa Cruz, we found our way to a lovely park commanded by a picturesque lighthouse by the bay for a PC photo opportunity. Then southward again towards Monterey. The road now was pretty much straight freeway lined with various crop fields, including Strawberry Fields Forever! Dean & I stopped in Marina, about 10 miles short of the way into Monterey. We have traditionally stayed at a motel here because of its easy access on and off the freeway. Later, we moseyed into Monterey to join the rest of the PCers at Bullwhackers. While cruising for a place to park, we discovered that the street one back from Cannery Row was sealed off by Police and Fire vehicles. The K-9 units were out and barking up a storm. After parking, I saw a fellow with a badge walking past, so I asked him what was going on. But he was just a rent-a-cop out on break to find his dinner – he didn’t even know that there were any real police in the area. His answer to my question? “Somebody must have done something wrong.” Oh, really?! My, he was astute! Dean & I had a little free time before dinner, so we checked out the waterfront. Sealions lazily adorned the rocks a short ways off the beach. The slanting sunlight glinted off the buildings on the hills overlooking the bay. It was all quite peaceful and picturesque. We then wandered back to Bullwhackers just as the PC Horde showed up. The hostess showed us to a couple tables around a fireplace out in the open courtyard. After a wonderful dinner in the company of friends, Dean & I said our farewells to everyone; on the morrow, we would be turning northward and heading for home.

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Day 4
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Monterey, CA to Eugene, OR

Neither Dean nor I wanted to wait around, so breakfast was quick at Denny’s and we were on the road northward by 7:15. We had a long way to go – 650 miles from Marina to Eugene. We had originally planned to do some twisty backroads north of Oroville and around Lassen Nat’l Park, but I’d had many days of good riding and my hunger for riding was satiated, so we headed straight to I-5 and then cruised north on the supereslab. At lunch in Weed, CA, I brought in the GPS to do some route planning. I had an idea that I might be able to make it all the way home to Federal Way after dropping Dean off in Eugene; that would work out to just over 900 miles. I also had some thoughts that if I could make it home, that with only a little more effort, I could stretch it into a SaddleSore 1000. Before hitting the Oregon border, the last exit in California on I-5 is #799. That’s a long road! We got onto I-5 at exit #407, so we had traversed about half of the state heading northward. But we still had another 195 miles to make it to Eugene, and another 260 more to make it to Federal Way. By the time we hit Medford, I was starting to show the first signs of weariness. I felt that I could safely make it to Eugene, but any further would be pushing it. I decided to forgo any attempts to do an impromptu SS1k, or even trying to make it home. I stopped in Eugene at the same Motel 6 I stayed at on the way down. Dean stopped long enough to see that I got a room and extend farewells, then he headed for the barn. By 9 pm, I had the bike cleaned up and covered. I did a couple checks of routes with the GPS; to get home, the shortest distances were via either I-5 or I-205 through or around Portland, but both were notorious for severe constipation during rush hours. I figured that it would probably be just as well to wait until 8 in the morning to leave in order to get to Portland around 9:30 and try to miss the bulk of the “rush”. I put myself down for a well-deserved good night’s sleep.

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Day 5
Friday, September 14, 2007
Eugene, OR to Federal Way, WA

I guess I’ve been around Dean too long – I woke up at 5 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I got up at 5:20. I did the morning rituals and was on the road by 6. I figured I could either wait around the room or wait in traffic around Portland. But I was wrong; I ended up waiting in traffic in Coburg! I-5 came to a standstill just south of Sprague Road, then I essentially walked the bike most of the way to Egge Road where the contents of a semi-trailer was being transferred to another trailer beside the road. The OSP had the right lane closed around the trailers. All the way to Portland, I was weighing the merits and deficiencies of I-5 vs. I-205. Which would be best? I-5 is the shorter of the two, but it goes right through the middle of the heaviest congestion in downtown Portland. But I-205 has earned a reputation of having almost as much congestion, and its longer. But at the junction where I-205 splits off to the east from I-5, the choice was clear – I-5 northward were long lines of stopped vehicles in all lanes, and the exit for I-205 was moving. Traffic on this bypass turned out to be slower than normal, but it was moving all the way. Thirty-six miles later, after crossing the Columbia River and into Washington, I rejoined I-5. The way north from the Portland area was uneventful, and I got home safe at 10:40 am. This trip covered 2111 miles. It had taken 5 days to go south and 2 days to come back north. And in those miles there were lots of sMiles. And lots of friends. I
thoroughly enjoyed myself, and I greatly appreciate the time and effort that Leland has put into hosting this event every year. And I also want to extend my thanks to the Geary family for their tremendous hospitality at the Cowboy Diner in Felton. To all the old friends that came back to the Pacific Coast Highway, and all the new friends I met there for the first time, I extend my hearty thanks for coming and best wishes until we meet again.

‘On the road again
Just can’t wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin’ music with my friends
And I can’t wait to get on the road again
On the road again
Goin’ places that I’ve never been
Seein’ things that I may never see again,
And I can’t wait to get on the road again.’

“On the road again
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We’re the best of friends
Insisting that the world be turnin’ our way
And our way
Is on the road again
Just can’t wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin’ music with my friends
And I can’t wait to get on the road again”

“On the road again
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We’re the best of friends
Insisting that the world be turnin’ our way
And our way
Is on the road again”

“Just can’t wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin’ music with my friends
And I can’t wait to get on the road again
And I can’t wait to get on the road again”

Be seeing you,
Bruce Pickett
Federal Way, WA
’90 PC800 “Blue Pacific”
’97 KZ1000 Police Special
’05 GL1800A “Big Blue”
http://bluepc.home.comcast.net
IBA, AMA, HRCA

Leland Sheppard’s Trip Report

Hi Coasters and PCHers,

Well, the eighth annual ride is in the history books. And a dandy it was. Best weather we have EVER had. A little fog in Eureka, low clouds along Skyline on the way to Jim Geary’s place and a little fog in San Clemente and that was it. Sunshine but cool temperatures. No rain. Amazing. And the new route we took to get to Eureka was a dandy. We went almost straight north to Red Bluff, CA and then rode CA36 all the way to the coast. As the sign says 140 miles of twisties. What a way to start the ride through the twisties of the PCH. Saturday evening, we had dinner at Cafe Marina on Woodley Island. A couple (she’s a PCer, he an STer) who live on their boat nearby, Larry and Lisa Litrell, came over to join us for dinner.

I liked 36 so much, I came back on Sunday and did it again. Actually, that was our normal Sunday ride which includes the western portion of 36. Almost no traffic on 36 either day. Yeeeeehaaaa!!! Sunday evening, we had dinner at the Samoa Cookhouse and it was delicious as usual. And everybody found their way back afterwards!

The Motel 6 in Eureka has deteriorated rather badly over the past few years. The police were there both nights hauling someone off. I think we might try another location next year…

Monday, we did our usual thing and got the bikes together at Bayshore Mall in Eureka and got pictures. The Lost Coast was gorgeous. Rough as usual, but gorgeous. We got over the hill from Honeydew and stopped in the Redwoods for a time. Only a few people turned north this time; my coaching ahead of time didn’t help… Sigh… 
Lunch at the Getti-Up in Garberville was fun as usual. And the Ugly Iguana (CA1 from Leggett to the coast) was its usual delightful self. Tom Humphrey counted over 300 curves, as I recall. The roadway was superb and the traffic minimal. 22 miles of roadway that rivals Deals Gap in my book. Coming out of the Iguana one gets the first view of the Pacific on CA1. There is a large area for parking right there and, as usual, we took advantage of it. Allows the adrenaline a little time to settle as well… On into Fort Bragg and a nice dinner at Silver’s at the Wharf. After an ice cream stop at the local home made ice cream store on Main Street, of course.

Tuesday, we started out with more traffic than usual. Hopefully people are NOT catching on to the fact that this is a better time to travel than summer… An accident on CA1 stopped us for a while. But with the help of some locals, also stuck there, and a Thomas Map book Roy Coss was carrying, we worked out a detour and took it. As it turned out, the folks who waited got through before we did but we had a nice little side ride right in the middle of the day. I had a portable CB hooked up and Peter Noeth was on his GL as tailgunner and, using the radio, we managed to keep everybody together through the detour that no one was familiar with. Lunch in Bodega Bay in sunshine. Late lunch but lunch nonetheless. By the time we got to Point Reyes Station, it was late enough that I decided to skip the lighthouse tour that we usually take. We continued on 1 through Stinson Beach to Marin Headlands and spectacular views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. We got over the bridge during the commute hours so we missed the usual $5 toll; motorcycles go free during a certain portion of the rush hour. On to Rockaway Beach in Pacifica and a nice ocean view for the evening. And delicious prime rib (or halibut steak) at Nick’s Restaurant next door for dinner.

Wednesday, we leave a little later because it’s a short day. We turned inland onto CA84 at San Gregorio heading up into the hills. Only this time, instead of stopping at Alice’s, we turned south on Skyline Boulevard (CA35). It was overcast and on Skyline, we got right into the clouds. Visibility got down as low as a couple hundred feet a couple of times. Once we turned off CA35 onto CA9 and started dropping down toward Boulder Creek and Felton, we got out of the clouds and back into just overcast. Arriving at the Cowboy Bar and Grill in Felton, Jim Geary, Pcer, host and restaurateur greeted us warmly. Even had a special welcoming menu printed up. Had a delicious lunch during which Jim treated many of us to Pacific Coast t-shirts he had acquired. After lunch, we got a group photo of the people attending the ride. Thanks much for the hospitality and good food, Jim. Because of the low clouds and lousy visibility back up the hill, we decided not to retrace our steps but to go on to Santa Cruz where Dave Misunas led us to a parking lot on the coast that we could use for our annual bike photo. Thanks again for that, Dave! Back out in the sun, we got some nice pictures of the bikes and Monterey Bay. We continued on south into Monterey for the night. Dinner at Bullwacker’s was fun as usual, in spite of the fact that the street in front is now one way. After dinner, yours truly started out the wrong way and quickly retreated back to the parking spot from whence I came before I got run over. As usual, we were on the patio at Bullwacker’s. Yours truly took a wrong turn on the way to Bullwacker’s and one on the way back. Not sure why that place does that to me; I seem to repeat that each year. Anyhow, we finally got back to the Cypress Tree motel. 

Thursday morning and we lost a bunch of people at this point; they turned around and headed for home. We, in the meantime, headed down through Carmel and Big Sur in more sunshine. Only 74 miles of twisties on this one. Only… 🙂 A few of us stopped at Ragged Point for coffee and pastries. Still in the sunshine. Our usual lunch stop, The Rusty Pig near Oceano, was out of business. We had sandwiches at a new place next door but that one, the Mesa Cafe and Coffee Company, got mixed reviews. While we were there octogenarian PCer Walt Elliott stopped in to say hello. He and his son Paul have been on the PCH ride several times. On we went to Lompoc. For dinner that evening, we took a ride to Santa Ynez where Jason Scarborough’s wife put on a backyard feast to remember. We had a delicious meal and enjoyed Jason’s family, friends, home, dog and backyard very much. Thanks again to Jason’s wife and to Jason for their warm hospitality and good food. Once again, Peter acted as tailgunner for me with the radio so we could insure that everyone got over and back OK. Jason came over to the outskirts of Solvang to lead us in to his place. I managed to find my way back out! 🙂 

Friday morning we lost a few more folks who turned for home or in different directions. The diehards left for San Clemente and environs. We stopped at a Mickey D’s in Oxnard for lunch as usual. We made one other pit stop and that one got us into the rush hour traffic a little bit but by that time we were in Dana Point and had only a short distance to go anyway. We made it to San Clemente and the Casablanca OK. That evening, we walked over to Dave’s Mexican Restaurant and had a delicious dinner. Saturday, we took our usual side ride to Temecula and Mad Madeline’s for lunch. Good burgers, good fellowship. A new PCer from southern California, joined us for this ride. Good to meet you, John. Glad you could join us. By this time, we were down to four bikes: Me, Jason, John and John and Pat Treiber. When we left Temecula, John and Pat dropped off as their motorhome was stored near there. Jason dropped off to see friends in Oceanside so it was just John and me arriving back at the Casablanca. The traffic on the Ortega Highway (CA74) was quite a bit worse than usual this year and the construction didn’t help. Saturday evening found me, Peter, Jim Geary and Jason heading for a N’awlins style restaurant that Jim found while wandering around San Clemente. Good eye, Jim. The four of us walked up the hill to Iva Lee’s for a delicious dinner. Good thing the return trip to the motel was downhill… 🙂 

Sunday, Jim and Jason headed north for home while Peter and I went back across the Ortega to catch I15. At the junction with US395, I turned off while Peter continued on to Calico (ghost town) and environs. I rode up US395, along the eastern edge of the Sierras for the rest of the day. Had a delicious burger at Walker Burger and then headed over Monitor Pass on CA89 (#1 road in northern California according to Destination Highways), through Markleeville, over Carson Pass on CA88 and down Mormon Emigrant Trail to home.

As I said, a dandy trip. I can hardly wait to do it all over again.

🙂

Leland