DAY 6 WESTERN STATES RIDE

Stayed late this morning everyone did laundry and minor maintenance didn’t leave until well after ten.

Headed east towards Lake Tahoe and quickly started climbing into snow covered mountains. Drove over Donnor Pass and soon found ourselves with four to six foot snow drifts on the side of the road. Dropped down into Incline Village on the north end of Tahoe it’s no wonder people like to come here, it’s beautiful. They were still skiing in the mountains but the large winter crowds have left and the summer crowds not yet arrived. The lake is full of buoys devoid of boats the docks are empty and many of the homes along the shore still shuttered.

Leaving Lake Tahoe headed down the hill to Carson City the capitol of Nevada, not much to look at. Leaving we headed into the hills again and several miles of twistys latter were in Virginia City home of the Ponderosa. Virginia City was full of motorcycles on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. It is a favorite local ride a combination of Jerome, Sedona, and Bisbee. Then it was back into the mountains onto another great road CA state route 20 ending the day in Yuba City back in the flat lands. We are only 20 or 30 miles north of where we started this morning but close to 300 miles on the odometer somewhere northeast of Sacramento.

DAY 5 YOSEMITE

Headed to Yosemite after breakfast, great ride from Mariposa to the park, twisty roads along the river all the way in. Once in the park drove to Bridal Vail falls and walked up to the view point. Mist from the falls surrounded you and the rocks were wet and slippery. With the latest snow followed by warmer weather all the falls were flowing and beautiful. Next stop was El Capitan a forbidding rock that rises hundreds of feet above the valley floor. We've all seen it in pictures but it is more imposing in person.

After lunch left the park and tried to head over Tioga Pass but it was still closed do to snow. Ended up leaving out the north west park exit I don't remember the road but it was beautiful two lane twisty road.

Before the day was over we ended up on state route 49 named after the 49ers from the gold rush of 1849. The road is a two lane road that follows the same path. It connects many of the small gold rush towns right down the narrow main streets of Sutter Creek, Placerville, Drytown, Goldhill and numerous others including Sutters Mill were the gold rush started.

We are currently in for the night in Auborn,Ca after spending the entire day on two lane.

DAY 4 WESTERN STATES RIDE

I'm now calling this the western states great road ride of 2009. National Parks are nice but no longer a high priority.

Left Morro Bay this morning and after a quick stop turned onto Route 1 headed north. Ocean breaking on the rocks to my left cliffs to my right flipped on the radio as the road opened up ahead in time to hear the last stanza of Springsteen singing:

"The dogs on main street howl,
'cause they understand,
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister, I ain't a boy, no, I'm a man,
And I believe in a promised land."

Road north all morning enjoying one of the greatest coast roads in existence. Past San Simeon up through Big Sur from waters edge to the cliffs high above winding back and forth mile after mile.

Stopped for lunch in Carmel By The Sea at a little Bistro just off the roadway. After lunch continued into Monterrey before turning inland.

Yea, it was as good as it sounds.

Not to many pictures today just the ones locked in my head. An image on the screen or written description just doesn't do justice to the day.

Headed inland and stopped for the night just outside of Yosemite, head there in the morning.


PS
Krys, saw several convertibles with the top down enjoying the road and the day we have to do that.

DAY 3 APRIL 15

Woke up to a phone call from the room next, quick look outside! Checked it out and saw snow on the bikes, ice on the ground and cloudy skies.

Before long we staged a raid and like navy seals freeing a captive commandeered the breakfast room where we stayed until well after breakfast.

Harley shop in Bakersfield said take route 58 west you won't be sorry. We did and we weren't. One of the most beautiful and challenging roads I've seen. Know as the Carrisa Highway it winds from Bakersfield to San Luis Obispo. Beautiful weather deep blue skies a few scattered clouds temps int he 50's and a road that was part Yarnell, part Oak Creek, and part indescribable, all two lanes.

Stopped in Morro Bay for the night walked down tho the waterfront from our motel for dinner.

Shaky start turned into one of those this is why we are here days.

DAY 2 DEATH VALLEY

Left Pahrump this morning and on to Death Valley. Near Furnace Creek passed a small settlement with the Death Valley Health Center? The What? Death and Health should not be in the same name. Death Valley was incredible different from what I expected uploaded lots of photos.

Left Death Valley and went from -200 in altitude to almost 5000 feet in less than an hour. Then turned south skirting the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada's for the rest of the day. They are very imposing mountains rugged and snow covered. The weather channel kept insisting that the roads we were on had very high winds and that travellers should use extreme caution. This made riding tense and a little challenging but not impossible with frequent rest stops.

Finished the day a little short of where we thought we would be, someplace called Tehachapi, but found a nice restaurant and sat there visiting for about two hours, after all it was Tuesday.

Even with the cool weather and wind I just love riding with friends. As Joni Mitchel said in "Coyote", "I'm just a prisoner of the white lines on the highway".

DAY 1-APRIL 13 WESTERN STATES RIDE

Left Phoenix on time met Jan in Chino Valley and got on the road. North on 89 to old 66 towards Kingman. As we were driving down the road I noticed several contrails from jets in an otherwise clear blue sky. I thought about the people inside those metal tubes with there knees in someones back looking at the world via a half inch thick ten inch high plastic window while breathing recycled air.

I hope they were going somewhere exotic but most were probably engaged in more mundane activities. I then looked around, wide open spaces, the feel the wind, the sound of the engine, wow what a way to travel.

The saying is really true "It's not the destination, it's the journey".

Drove over the Hoover Dam with the bridge under construction not sure how long it will still be open.
Stopped for the night in Pawrump, NV they didn't even have paved roads until the sixties now they have a Best Western and several brothels!

Chuck

WESTERN US RIDE 2009

We are a about a week away from our ride. Jim and JB won't make this years ride but we've added CE and Ken to our group. We are leaving April 13 with no real destination this year. Planning on remaining in the western US visiting some of the National Parks and coast line via two lane scenic roads.

What parks we actually get to depends on time and weather, promised the wives that we would ride for three weeks then turn for home. It doesn't matter to me where we go just spending time on two wheels and two lane with good friends.