Prelim. Planning, NoCal Advice Needed.

[Killtimer]

Day 1: Canmore to Spokane WA.
Day 2: Spokane to Klamath Falls OR.
Day 3: Klamath Falls to..............?????

This is where I need some help. I've ridden the coast a few times both directions, and while it's beautiful, I'm afraid that the weekend traffic might make me crazy.

I'm looking at a fun but not too taxing 400 to 500 mile run into the area east of Sacramento, and south of US 50. What I'm looking for is a funky town/small city destination with a bit of ambiance and history. I'm interested in..... well, anything interesting. I'm pre-booking accommodation for this run (a first) to dodge the holiday weekend bullet, that's why larger urban centres are my stops. Routing I'll do with the help of Pashnit and a few other sources once I have a destination, but I'll take any suggestions for this as well.

This should leave me with a 350 to 450 mile day Monday into SLO so I can be at my smoooooozing best for the evening's frivolity. :beer2: Any and all help with this greatfully accepted. TIA

[STPilot]

Well. . . let me see here. . . . Sutter Creek or Jackson on Hwy 49 about 30 minutes south of Hwy 50. Sleepy towns with gold mining history. Sonora is another cool little town, but it's a couple hours from Sac. Let me think about that a little more. How far south of 50 do you want to go? :D

[Killtimer]

Sonora is an option and I've stayed there before. The only downside is, it's a little pricey. On the other hand there is a great restaurant downtown. :) Let's see, Klamath_Susanville, then 70/89 to Truckee, down the west side of the lake, then 88 over to Jackson and 49 south. ~475 miles, on those roads prolly 10 hours saddle time. It's a maybe. Sonora would be the furthest south I'd want to push for. Keep em coming. :clap2:

[STPilot]

I'm not comin up with anything real "exciting" here KT. Since you're comin in on Hwy 88, you may want to look at Jackson or Sutter Creek. Jackson is bigger, but sutter Creek has a little more charactor. There's not much on 49 between Jackson and Sonora. Angels Camp is a nice little town, but it's almost all the way to Sonora. I'll keep thinkin!!

[Killtimer]

I'm not locked in to 88, only to Klamath Saturday night. My madness is to try and deke around the Bay Area sprawl to the east and then shoot across to SLO from somewhere around Bakersfield or even southwest from Visalia. I'll be working my way up the coast to Sonoma with wife on the return leg so I'm looking for new options on the way down. I'll consider all alternatives at this point, but hope to book accomodations by the end of next week.