June 12: Final Posting for this Trip

It is Sunday June 12 and I am finally doing my final blog for this year's trip.

I arrived home on the morning of Thursday, June 9.  I spent Wednesday with my parents and took Dad and Mom out for dinner in honor of my dad's 83rd birthday and upcoming Father's day.  I left their place on Thursday morning and was home about 10:30.

The trip this year did not come off as planned due to the weather events; that is part of the adventure when riding motorcycle.  I still enjoyed some great roads (especially Hell's Canyon and the road north from Enterprise Oregon) along with many stretches of the Pacific Coast Highway, and numerous other back roads.  I have had great weather during my other trips and it just didn't work out so well this year.  I heard the same comment everywhere I went - "This is the coldest and wettest spring I remember".  In typical years, I would not have encountered the issues I did this year.  My conclusion is that it was the right time of year; just the wrong year.

It was a tough decision to cut the trip short and return home early as I was so looking forward to this trip.  However, with the weather conditions as they were, it was the safe and wise choice.  I could have found ways to ride in the states I wanted to, but the trips are not just about riding in certain states, but rather riding the "fun" roads and really experiencing the various things each state has to offer.  Because I was not able to accomplish this, coming home early was the right choice.

Here is the final snap shot of the route I did on this trip:

 Below are some statistics from the trip you may enjoy:
Total Days: 12
Total Miles: 6,338 (Over 6,000 miles in the first 10 days)
Total States Ridden In: 11
New States Ridden In: 5 (Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada)
Total Expenses: $964
Largest Expense: Gas, 55% of total expenses
Average Miles per Gallon: 45
Average cost per gallon of Gas: $3.88
Most miles in a day: Day 1 - 874 miles
Number of 700+ miles days: 3 (Day 1: 874, Day 10: 860, Day 9:  787)
States I Still Ridden In: 41 - 82% (see top photo)
States I Still Have Not Ridden In: 9 (see top photo)

I hope you enjoyed reading about and following my great western adventure!

June 7: Homeward Bound Continues

Not much interesting to post about the continued journey home. It was the first full day of sunshine, so that was a good thing.  The wind continued to blow but not as bad as yesterday.

I ended the day in Sioux Falls South Dakota and I am staying at a KOA.  When I arrived I first set up the tent to let it dry.  It was put away wet on Monday morning because it was raining at the time and it had just been sitting in the carrying bag sense then.

I can official say "My Butt Hurts!" after today's ride.  Most people don't hear me say that to often!  I covered 860 miles today after the 787 yesterday. In the 10 days since I left home, I have now logged just over 6,000 miles.  It is hard to believe that Monday morning I was driving on snow in California and by Tuesday, I was in South Dakota driving in near 90 degree temperatures.  I understand it was over 100 degrees in Minneapolis today.  I hope it cools down before I get back!

My plan for tomorrow is to stop by and visit my mom and dad on the way home.  Today is my dad's birthday so I call to wish him a "Happy Birthday Dad" earlier this evening.

June 6: Trip Aborted

First, let me say that pictures have been added to the June 3 and 4 posting and the June 5 posting is now available.

Now....
After much thought and deliberation, I have decided to cut my trip short and come home early.  The weather continues to be a major factor limiting my ability to see and do what I intended to do on the trip.  I have been on the road 9 days and there has been at least some rain every day.  For 7 of those days I had to where rain gear for all of most of the day. Below is my account of what happened this morning that helped me come to this decision.

First, it rained all night so when I got up this morning, the first thing I did was put on my rain gear and pack up my tent.  Not a major deal; myself and my equipment were all dry (except for tent of course!).  Because of the rain, I decided to eliminate more of the roads I wanted to ride and just start heading south towards Lake Tahoe.  As I went up in elevation, the temperature started dropping and soon the rain had turned into snow and sleet.  There was several inches of new snow and the snow plow was out clearing the slush from the roads.  The temperature dropped to 32 degrees.  I finally said enough is enough, it is not safe for me to continue to ride in this rain and snow weather every day.  I had reached the end of my tolerance, my patience, my ability to cope with the weather.  I had better stop before something bad happens.

So I decided to just start heading back east and heading home.  Unfortunately, the ride towards home was also filled with it share of challenges.  First it was the snow mentioned above.  The snow was followed by 4 or 5 periods of heavy rain as I headed across the Nevada dessert (go figure).  Twice I encountered hail; it didn't even hurt driving in the hail because I had enough layers of cloths on to stay warm!  During one of the rain storms, there was a flash a lightening that must have struck something very close to me.  I have never seen/heard lightening/thunder so close together ; it was just a bright flash and boooom!  Where does one go for protection in the middle of a dessert?  This was followed by several bouts of severe wind.  I saw signs warning of 45+ and 55+ MPH winds at different locations.  As if all of this wasn't enough, as I went by the salt flats in Utah, the visibility was severely limited by blowing salt.  How is all that for 1 day of weather?

So I left California this morning and tonight I am in Green River Wyoming.  I covered 787 miles today and still have over 1,000 miles to go before reaching home.  If things go as planned (am I asking to much at this point?), I am likely to be home on Wednesday.

I will try to keep you posted on any other adventures on my return trip.

June 5: A Day of Transition and Variation

The day started with continuing south along the Pacific Coast Highway.  This part of the coast is undeveloped and naturally beautiful with its rugged shoreline.  In most places, the road is very near the shore.  Actually in same places, the road has almost slid into the water so they were doing repairs.

Next I said goodbye to the coast for the last time on this trip and began my trek inland.  First over the mountains, then into the rolling valleys near Sonoma and Napa.  If I were a wine connoisseur, I could have spent weeks sampling all the wine that comes from this region.  As I am not, I just enjoyed the rolling hills with grape vines and vineyards everywhere you look. I couldn’t even imagine how many bottles of wine come from this region alone.

After the vineyards came the flat fruit and vegetable region.  I stopped at a fresh fruit stand and picked up some strawberries and cherries to enjoy on the trip.  The California strawberries sure look pretty, but the Minnesota grown strawberries are much better tasting.

From there I went north around Sacramento on the freeway and headed northeast towards the Sierra Nevada mountains.  There was quit a temperature change between these locations.  In the Sacramento area, the temperature reached a whopping 72 degrees, the first time it had been above 60 on the whole trip.  This changed quickly as I began climbing in elevation as I continued east.  When I exited the freeway, it was raining and 45 degrees.

I then started riding through the mountains.  The roads and scenery are beautiful. 

Tomorrow I will complete the loops I had planned for this area and start working south towards Reno and Tahoe areas and then continue with more loops in the southern area of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

June 4: I am Dizzy and Tired! (With Photos)

I have never been on so many twisty, curvy roads in one day in my life!  Life is great!  The roads today we just amazing.  Many of them where non-stop twists and turns.  The research done during the winter really pays of on days like this!

Unfortunately the Frogg Toggs (rain gear) had to come out for several appearances again today.  Nothing constant or heavy – just enough to make you want to put on the gear and have to slow down on the roads because they are wet.  Oh well – great time anyway!

I have to report I never did see Big Foot even though I drove even more of the highway named in his honor.  However, I was more successful today in locating other famous giants – the Giant Redwoods.  One of the roads I was on today was the Avenue of the Giants which is a back road that is about 25 miles long and weaves through various “groves” of giant redwood trees.  Talking about making you feel small.  Unless you have seen these trees in person, it is hard to put their size into perspective. 

I did one of those “touristy” things (which I usually stay away from) and paid $4 drive through one of the trees.  Before I went through a full size Ford pickup was able to drive through it.  The clearance is 7ft x 7ft.  Seeing trees that are larger than a vehicle is very cool.

I got to a campground late tonight; it was almost 9:00 p.m.  Earlier I had taken a route inland and had planned to take another road back to the coast.  Unfortunately, the return road really wasn’t much of a road.  So I had to find an alternate route; and there weren’t many choices.  By the time I made it back to the coast I figured it would be easy to find a place to stay.  I didn’t realize there were some stretches where there is nothing for more than 20 miles.  I finally found a KOA campground to stay at.  Because it is in the middle of no where, they only have a satellite internet connection which is very slow so I will have to upload pictures for yesterday and today once I get to be faster connection.

Tomorrow I finish my route along the coast and then head inland for some riding on the western side of the state.

June 3: I found it at Last: Sunshine, Glorious Sunshine! (With Photos)

When I got up this morning, there was a mysterious orange glow on the eastern horizon.  I was told that it was the sun.  Just was what I was looking for!

So I started my planned route for the day which was further exploration of the Oregon coast along with an inland tour of some twisty roads that I included because the weather was cooperating.  The Pacific Coast Highway in Oregon is beautifully and varied.  At some points you are riding right along the ocean shore, at other times you are riding the black ribbon of highway through a lush canopy of trees, and other times you are driving through small towns. I have posted a few pictures just to wet your appetite.  At some places, there are large sand dunes on shore and even several miles in land.  The sand is very fine.  I brought some home as a souvenir.

My trek in-land proved to be interesting as well.  I had the route planned on my GPS but I am not sure how I ended up on the road I did.  It was definitely on the back roads.  I traveled more than 40 miles and only saw 2 other vehicles.  In many places, the road had moss growing on it because it isn’t used very much.  Then the GPS wanted me to taken even less traveled roads which I did not do, so I got to hear “Recalculating” in a more and more angry voice because I was not obeying.   Eventually I found civilization again.

Late in the day in northern California, I was also on a back road that goes up to a “Snow Park” – as the signs called it.  Because of this, the road is kept open all winter but there was definitely a lot of snow left up there.  In same places the banks were still 10 feet high (see photo).  I was even pleasantly surprised to find another fellow motorcyclist taking the same back road into the mountains still covered in snow!

One of the things I didn’t expect to see along the Pacific coast Highway is Elk.  I would have never put together Elk and the ocean.  There are warning signs along much of the Oregon as well as northern California coast warning you to watch for elk.  There were even a couple of viewing points where elk are often found. 

The road I am currently driving and where I am staying tonight is known as Big Foot scenic Drive.  I have been watching closely for him but have not sightings to report.  Wouldn’t that be an interesting story to tell?

I am spending the night in a small campground in Orleans California (still pretty much in the middle of no where).  No internet, no phone service, only a small grocery store to get some food to eat.  Ah, the joys of the wilderness.  Only the sounds of the river to put me to sleep.

During my 6 days of riding, I have now traveled 3,500 miles and driven in a total of 9 states.  Of them, I can add 4 to my new list of states ridden in: Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and California.  You can see my route so far in one of the photos above.

I will be spending at least the next couple of days exploring California.  In the northern area, much of the time will be along the Pacific Coast Highway.  In the southern area, I will be heading in land to the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

June 2: A change in strategy - a change in plans

The initial plan for today was to head west across southern Washington and see Mount Rainer and Mount St. Helens.  It wasn't raining when I left the hotel this morning, but it didn't take long before it started.  It was again cold (50 degrees), wet, and very windy (from the west so I was driving straight into it).

I decided a new strategy was needed.  I gave up on seeing what I wanted in Washington and decided to head directly for the Oregon coast.  Using the GPS, I found the fastest way to Portland, unfortunately this meant another long stretch of freeway but I needed to do something different.  I still had to battle the strong west wind but the rain did stop for a period of time during this stretch.  Once I reach Portland it again began to rain off-and-on but not like the constant rain previous days.  I final reach the Pacific Ocean (top photo).  From there I began driving the Pacific Coast Highway which follows the ocean coast from Washington all the way to Mexico!  I plan to continue driving south along this highway until I find sunshine! 

The rain has been very light and intermittent since I have been along the coast - that is much easier to tolerate.  According to what I can see on Weather.com (best source of weather I have) - light rain is expected again tomorrow along much of my route.  I'll just have to remember my new motto: "South until sunshine!"

I am camping tonight at a KOA campground in Waldport Oregon.  It is along a ocean bay so I went for a walk on the beach tonight.  Planning to do the walk again in the morning before I depart.  I find the sound of the ocean to be very relaxing.  If you listen quietly, maybe you too can hear the ocean.