OP
OP
"Pursue your happiness."
Good motto!
Good motto!
Not all who wander are lost
- Thread starter Highway STar
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2015
- Messages
- 1,962
- Location
- near Harrow, Ontario, Canada
- Bike
- '83 BMW R100RS
- STOC #
- 8870
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Day 2. Cleveland to Seymour, IN.
started overcast but cleared and got up to 30 by the time it started raining....
Rolling through Ohio with a bit of regret knowing what fantastic twisters I was missing by sticking to the Interstate. But I had a dinner date in Seymour at the Ride to Eat being held in my honour. Saw a horse and buggy parked on an overpass, someone on their way home from church no doubt. There are a lot of expressions of faith along the road so it was only fitting that I was well and truly baptized in a thunderstorm about a half an hour outside Seymour. With the added zing of a few alarmingly large hailstones thrown into the mix.
The thing about rain rain gear is that you need to put it on before it starts raining or there's no point in putting it on. I'm a bit of an optimist sometimes and think I might get around the end of it and escape unscathed but this does not always work out. It did a good job washing the dead bugs off though and after I wiped it down with a hotel towel I was able to arrive to dinner with a presentable bike, though my gear was still wet. Had a great time with Moddy and his wife at a great restaurant called Rails. If you ever find yourself in Seymour, I highly recommend it. I am so pleased whenever I get to meet new friends through this forum. It is invariably a rewarding experience.
So I have arrived at US 50, and was quite happy with the beautiful long sweepers it turned into once I was outside Lawrenceburg and headed for Versailles. A lovely road so far. I'm glad I picked this route.
Driving south is like fast fast forwarding Spring and I loved seeing everything coming alive. Bursts of white in the wild apples along the road and especially in Indiana, a beautiful lilac coloured tree growing wild by the road sides. If I live to be a hundred I will only get to see this miracle 100 times.
The bike is running well. The roads are good. The weather is (mostly) nice. This is as good as I hoped it would be.
started overcast but cleared and got up to 30 by the time it started raining....
Rolling through Ohio with a bit of regret knowing what fantastic twisters I was missing by sticking to the Interstate. But I had a dinner date in Seymour at the Ride to Eat being held in my honour. Saw a horse and buggy parked on an overpass, someone on their way home from church no doubt. There are a lot of expressions of faith along the road so it was only fitting that I was well and truly baptized in a thunderstorm about a half an hour outside Seymour. With the added zing of a few alarmingly large hailstones thrown into the mix.
The thing about rain rain gear is that you need to put it on before it starts raining or there's no point in putting it on. I'm a bit of an optimist sometimes and think I might get around the end of it and escape unscathed but this does not always work out. It did a good job washing the dead bugs off though and after I wiped it down with a hotel towel I was able to arrive to dinner with a presentable bike, though my gear was still wet. Had a great time with Moddy and his wife at a great restaurant called Rails. If you ever find yourself in Seymour, I highly recommend it. I am so pleased whenever I get to meet new friends through this forum. It is invariably a rewarding experience.
So I have arrived at US 50, and was quite happy with the beautiful long sweepers it turned into once I was outside Lawrenceburg and headed for Versailles. A lovely road so far. I'm glad I picked this route.
Driving south is like fast fast forwarding Spring and I loved seeing everything coming alive. Bursts of white in the wild apples along the road and especially in Indiana, a beautiful lilac coloured tree growing wild by the road sides. If I live to be a hundred I will only get to see this miracle 100 times.
The bike is running well. The roads are good. The weather is (mostly) nice. This is as good as I hoped it would be.
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Attendees to the Seymour, IN R.T.E. today. We had fun!
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Anyone on the forum in Jefferson City, MO?
want to meet for dinner Monday night?
want to meet for dinner Monday night?
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Day 3, Seymour, IN to Jefferson City, MO.
My first full day on US 50. A real treat. Either side of Seymour and the stretch from Union, MO to Linn is sumply perfect motorcycle road. Nothing too technical, no 15 mph curves, just long sweeping turns and up and down grades that make you glad to be alive. Met up with Booger Man just outside St Louis to pick up a new intercom for the wife and then finished the day with that stretch of heaven. Jefferson reminds me of Ottawa, a small town that became a capital city. It's big in some ways but still small in others. Now that I have no commitments other than my end of day target I will try to stop a bit more often and have a look around.
I did have the thrill of seeing a hawk a hawk flying over the highway after having just caught a snake. Pretty cool.
Continuing my project to teach the teenage girls of the mid-west how to get espresso out of a McCafe machine.
My first full day on US 50. A real treat. Either side of Seymour and the stretch from Union, MO to Linn is sumply perfect motorcycle road. Nothing too technical, no 15 mph curves, just long sweeping turns and up and down grades that make you glad to be alive. Met up with Booger Man just outside St Louis to pick up a new intercom for the wife and then finished the day with that stretch of heaven. Jefferson reminds me of Ottawa, a small town that became a capital city. It's big in some ways but still small in others. Now that I have no commitments other than my end of day target I will try to stop a bit more often and have a look around.
I did have the thrill of seeing a hawk a hawk flying over the highway after having just caught a snake. Pretty cool.
Continuing my project to teach the teenage girls of the mid-west how to get espresso out of a McCafe machine.
OP
OP
Day 4. Jefferson City, MO to Dodge City Kansas.
Well, the biggest disappointment today was just missing the cutoff at Roy's BBQ in Hutchinson, Kansas. Got there just after they closed.
Highway 50 is pretty much a well mannered divided highway from Jefferson City to KC, but not much of a motorcycle road. Once past KC I was battling seriously blustery winds all the way down I-35 to where 50 becomes 50 again. Then it wasn't so bad wind-wise but the livestock trucks going by the other way were like getting hit with a wind hammer. So it was pretty tiring. The fantastic open sky and horizon to horizon vistas made up for the fact it was pretty flat and straight riding. I'm still glad I picked this route 'cuz I'm seeing the stuff you would miss on the Interstate, the farmers doing their thing, the massive grain silos, the small town squares with the county court houses. I'm still on a pretty tight schedule but it feels more relaxed than being on I-70. Definitely warm down here in Dodge City but I just checked my next stop in Gunnison, CO and it is going down to somewhere in the mid-30's tonight, or 1 degree C for my Canadian friends. That's cold. So instead of spending the day getting undressed as I ride, I will be getting more and more clothes on as I get higher and higher into the mountains.
Mountains! Twisty roads! Right on!
Ride safe everyone!
Well, the biggest disappointment today was just missing the cutoff at Roy's BBQ in Hutchinson, Kansas. Got there just after they closed.
Highway 50 is pretty much a well mannered divided highway from Jefferson City to KC, but not much of a motorcycle road. Once past KC I was battling seriously blustery winds all the way down I-35 to where 50 becomes 50 again. Then it wasn't so bad wind-wise but the livestock trucks going by the other way were like getting hit with a wind hammer. So it was pretty tiring. The fantastic open sky and horizon to horizon vistas made up for the fact it was pretty flat and straight riding. I'm still glad I picked this route 'cuz I'm seeing the stuff you would miss on the Interstate, the farmers doing their thing, the massive grain silos, the small town squares with the county court houses. I'm still on a pretty tight schedule but it feels more relaxed than being on I-70. Definitely warm down here in Dodge City but I just checked my next stop in Gunnison, CO and it is going down to somewhere in the mid-30's tonight, or 1 degree C for my Canadian friends. That's cold. So instead of spending the day getting undressed as I ride, I will be getting more and more clothes on as I get higher and higher into the mountains.
Mountains! Twisty roads! Right on!
Ride safe everyone!
OP
OP
On the wide prairie....
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Good meeting up with you Jock. Wishing I could ride along with you. Ride safe my friend.
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Day 5. From Dodge City, Kansas to Gunnison, CO. It was 14C this morning in Dodge, was up to 33C by the time I got to Pueblo and then back down to 15 at the Monarch Pass.
You know I really love the prairies but there is nothing like riding to the top of a mountain for an hour. And then going down the other side.
Highway 50 was pretty well either a four lane Interstate wannabe or a nice two lane road. But flat and for the most part straight though it does wander North and south like an old highway should. Meeting lots of nice folks along the way, which would not happen on an interstate.
Passed 3 STs today. 1 red one with a GW and couple other riders in Cañon City, one between there and the Monarch Pass and a silver one on the way up as I was coming down. There were quite a few bikes on the stretch from Cañon City to the pass at Salida, and with good reason. As good a stretch of motorcycling as you will find. Not too technical. But not too busy either. Spectacular scenery!
You know I really love the prairies but there is nothing like riding to the top of a mountain for an hour. And then going down the other side.
Highway 50 was pretty well either a four lane Interstate wannabe or a nice two lane road. But flat and for the most part straight though it does wander North and south like an old highway should. Meeting lots of nice folks along the way, which would not happen on an interstate.
Passed 3 STs today. 1 red one with a GW and couple other riders in Cañon City, one between there and the Monarch Pass and a silver one on the way up as I was coming down. There were quite a few bikes on the stretch from Cañon City to the pass at Salida, and with good reason. As good a stretch of motorcycling as you will find. Not too technical. But not too busy either. Spectacular scenery!
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At the pass. It's all downhill to LA now!
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Day 6. Gunnison, CO to Flagstaff, AZ. Highway 50 is a good ride as far as Montrose. Nice easy sweepers for the most part. Spectacular along the lake. Looks like a drought is in progress though, the water level is WAY down, and it's Spring for god's sake! I got on to 550 south to get to Ouray and thence to Durango. This is quite the highway, with a lot of hairpin turns along the way getting you up and over a couple of passes. Much of it with no guardrail on the downhill side which reminded me a lot of the mountain roads in South America. The scenery is incredible. I met some lovely Aussies at one of the overlooks and we chatted about bikes while the brakes on their Winnebago cooled. In the end I felt a little rushed as I had a long way to go so I would probably plan to do the ride both ways and go on from Montrose on 50 the next time if I had the time.
Because - as incredible as the scenery is coming out of the mountains into southern Colorado I found it a very challenging ride to get to Flagstaff from there. I took 160 out of Durango as far as Tuba City (god, how I love that name) and then 89 down to Flagstaff. The roads were in great shape but it was a very blustery ride pretty much from the Arizona border. Spent half my time riding south on 89 leaning into the wind. Wouldn't mind if it was a steady thing but the gusts were trying to pull my helmet off which I don't enjoy. So, when I take the wife to the Grand Canyon we will likely be in a cage, whenever that is. There were also areas where there were just clouds of dust being picked up by the wind ( which were actually indicated with SIGNS! on the highway ) and those were no fun to ride through aside from scaring the cagers into driving 40 mph.
I also noticed a lot of the resort/trading post places are closed permanently. I guess the age of the road trip has passed, when you can get souvenirs on-line. Have seen a black ST in Flagstaff, but nobody I recognized. Met a guy on an FJR out of Tucson who is getting in one last ride before he puts it away for the summer!!! Oh, the irony!
I am doing the slab into LA from here tomorrow, and you all know what that is like so I will resume posting after the weekend when the wife and I go up the Pacific Coast.
Keep the shiny side up! ( I need to clean a lot of dust off my bike to make it shiny again.)
Because - as incredible as the scenery is coming out of the mountains into southern Colorado I found it a very challenging ride to get to Flagstaff from there. I took 160 out of Durango as far as Tuba City (god, how I love that name) and then 89 down to Flagstaff. The roads were in great shape but it was a very blustery ride pretty much from the Arizona border. Spent half my time riding south on 89 leaning into the wind. Wouldn't mind if it was a steady thing but the gusts were trying to pull my helmet off which I don't enjoy. So, when I take the wife to the Grand Canyon we will likely be in a cage, whenever that is. There were also areas where there were just clouds of dust being picked up by the wind ( which were actually indicated with SIGNS! on the highway ) and those were no fun to ride through aside from scaring the cagers into driving 40 mph.
I also noticed a lot of the resort/trading post places are closed permanently. I guess the age of the road trip has passed, when you can get souvenirs on-line. Have seen a black ST in Flagstaff, but nobody I recognized. Met a guy on an FJR out of Tucson who is getting in one last ride before he puts it away for the summer!!! Oh, the irony!
I am doing the slab into LA from here tomorrow, and you all know what that is like so I will resume posting after the weekend when the wife and I go up the Pacific Coast.
Keep the shiny side up! ( I need to clean a lot of dust off my bike to make it shiny again.)
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Church rock, Arizona
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Arrived LA.
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moddy
the mod
Cool.
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Well, Highway 1 is definitely worth the price of admission. Stunning vistas, carpets of wildflowers and some 7% downhill hairpin turns that will put hair on your chest. Forget about cruise control. This is a road that will have you running from second through overdrive, and back again. It's been a fantastic day.
We headed out of LA yesterday and went up the Valley as we were heading to visit friends in Sacramento. Spent the day driving through where 60% of your produce section originates. Pretty amazing scenery if somewhat flat and uninteresting roadways. But today was a lovely ride through the Napa Valley and Petaluma to get to the Ocean at Bodega Bay. Even passed a Honda Pacific Coast bike ON the Pacific coast. Good omen or what?!
The weather was perfect. Cool and a mix of sun and cloud. Sitting here in the fabulous Mendocino Hotel sipping red wine and looking at the ocean. This is good. I can handle this. Ride safe my friends!
We headed out of LA yesterday and went up the Valley as we were heading to visit friends in Sacramento. Spent the day driving through where 60% of your produce section originates. Pretty amazing scenery if somewhat flat and uninteresting roadways. But today was a lovely ride through the Napa Valley and Petaluma to get to the Ocean at Bodega Bay. Even passed a Honda Pacific Coast bike ON the Pacific coast. Good omen or what?!
The weather was perfect. Cool and a mix of sun and cloud. Sitting here in the fabulous Mendocino Hotel sipping red wine and looking at the ocean. This is good. I can handle this. Ride safe my friends!
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The view from the hotel in Mendocino.
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moddy
the mod
I lived 90 miles East of Highway 1, in Modesto, for 21 years and was stationed on the North side of the Golden Gate Bridge at Ft. Baker for 3 of them. That highway has to be the windingest (not an actual word) road CA has to offer. I heard a story of a guy and his wife taking a 5th wheel on that road. Now that you've done it, imagine his delight of 15 miles or so pulling a 30ft rv
Glad you're having a good time.
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Day ? What day is it?
Mendocino, CA to Grant's Pass, Oregon.
Well, if there is too much of a good thing, today was just that.
Started out completing the northern section of Highway 1. As awesome as the day before, incredible scenery, very twisty roads and mild weather. Then we turned North on 101. Is this the wannabe Interstate we took out of LA two days ago? No, it is not. It is more often a two lane twist-fest like Highway 1 interspersed with (short) sections of four lane "highway". As awesome to ride as Highway 1, with the added benefit of now going through the redwood forests of California.
Special mention to the alternate route called "Avenue of the giants". This is a 32 mile ride that follows and parallels 101, but is deep in the groves of the oldest trees in North America. Truly a magnificent ride. Put it on your bucket list right now. I'll wait while you do that.
ready?
OK. So eventually you get to Crescent City and have to choose between 101 up the Oregon coast or 199 to Grant's Pass in Oregon. Another hour and a half of mountain twisties, with the odd stretch of four lane freeway in it to get here. So, as FANTASTIC as all that riding has been today, I would suggest breaking it up into two days so you can really enjoy it. 199 was every bit as challenging as 101 or 1, but I lost some of the enjoyment as I was getting tired by that point.
The heated gear was very much appreciated today. It made the day enjoyable for my passenger, and that is a very important part of my riding. And the Victory has stood up well to a very challenging day. I spent most of it between 2nd and 4th gear going through tight curves up and downhill. Really appreciated the cruise control on the "freeway" sections so I could rest my hands. The heated grips were very necessary as well at certain times.
The weather gods continue to smile on me, or at least, ignore me.
ride safe!
Mendocino, CA to Grant's Pass, Oregon.
Well, if there is too much of a good thing, today was just that.
Started out completing the northern section of Highway 1. As awesome as the day before, incredible scenery, very twisty roads and mild weather. Then we turned North on 101. Is this the wannabe Interstate we took out of LA two days ago? No, it is not. It is more often a two lane twist-fest like Highway 1 interspersed with (short) sections of four lane "highway". As awesome to ride as Highway 1, with the added benefit of now going through the redwood forests of California.
Special mention to the alternate route called "Avenue of the giants". This is a 32 mile ride that follows and parallels 101, but is deep in the groves of the oldest trees in North America. Truly a magnificent ride. Put it on your bucket list right now. I'll wait while you do that.
ready?
OK. So eventually you get to Crescent City and have to choose between 101 up the Oregon coast or 199 to Grant's Pass in Oregon. Another hour and a half of mountain twisties, with the odd stretch of four lane freeway in it to get here. So, as FANTASTIC as all that riding has been today, I would suggest breaking it up into two days so you can really enjoy it. 199 was every bit as challenging as 101 or 1, but I lost some of the enjoyment as I was getting tired by that point.
The heated gear was very much appreciated today. It made the day enjoyable for my passenger, and that is a very important part of my riding. And the Victory has stood up well to a very challenging day. I spent most of it between 2nd and 4th gear going through tight curves up and downhill. Really appreciated the cruise control on the "freeway" sections so I could rest my hands. The heated grips were very necessary as well at certain times.
The weather gods continue to smile on me, or at least, ignore me.
ride safe!
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Another day, another state!
