SF Bay to Green Bay - 2021

[Smudgemo]

Around 30 years ago I followed my wife (then girlfriend) from Milwaukee to Berkeley because she went to school in SF and was done living back home after one winter. My family has never been tight-knit and my job wasn't much of a thing, so it wasn't a big deal to pack up and go. Fast-forward to the time of growing kids, limited time to travel, a pandemic and all the stuff Harry Chapin warned us about as we grew up, and I haven't seen my father for a couple of years. Okay, longer, stop twisting..

So I realized that the old man is going to be 84 in a month and I haven't had any time off to speak of since August of 2019, I decided it's time to find out why everyone raves about the ST bikes. I'm packing my ***** and heading out tomorrow to the Wisconsin peninsula to surprise my dad on father's day, and I'm going by bike. Some of you may recall my initial "What should I look for when buying?" thread a few years ago, or my "I bought a '96 and I'm gonna tear into it" work from last summer, or even the "Man, some guy just unloaded this crusty '97 on me for $300" adventure I'm currently experiencing, but put that all on hold because I have never done a proper road trip on a motorcycle and you may want to point and laugh. However, I have lots of time and the ideal old motorcycle to pull this off.




I don't know what my route is going to be on the way back, but I'd really like to see Devil's Tower and have mashed potatoes for dinner that evening. That and Colorado again, that would be nice, but I'll probably avoid the gravel road out of Crested Butte we took in for a mountain bike trip back in '01.

So as the kids say, "*****'s gettin' real." Not my kids, though - they're angels. But I have hotels booked in towns I've never heard of, the tank is topped off, I have camping gear just in case the hotels won't have me or maybe just because. I think I have enough civvies to get me through to Titletown before I want the services of a washer-machine or a place to buy new ones. I'm especially looking forward to riding the Sierra (my all-time favorite place to be), CO and western South Dakota. My younger digs Harley merch so I'm going to stop at the shop in Sturgis to buy her something in size skinny and see if the guys there encourage me to buy a real bike when I have funds. Ha ha, joke's on them - I'm way too cheap.

I have no idea if this bike has ever been to Cheeseland, or if it has ever ventured this far anywhere, but I have. One comment I keep remembering from my searches regarding moto-touring is that this country is a lot bigger than you think. And it is. I keep thinking about that, and you know, no pressure. If I decide to bail and head home after a day or two, it will be part of my ride report, but I'd really like to make this happen. My friend did it on a Ducati Monster 20 years ago, so c'mon. I also really, really like the maritime feel of the Great Lakes, and while it's not where I'd move to now that I no longer need to be in the office (because winter..) I'm excited to visit. Al Johnson's! I just hope I don't give my dad a heart attack showing up unannounced..

 

[NTausch]

So don’t know if you want to be at your dad’s place on Father’s Day or before. We doing LOCSTOC southwest of Madison in Spring Green starting Wednesday night. Riding to Sturgeon Bay is an easy day trip from there. Even if you want to make a little detour and hang with us you’re welcome.

 

[flyfisher]

Looks like it's gonna be darn hot....have fun, stay hydrated

 

[John OoSTerhuis]

Good luck with the trip, Ryan! You’ve got the right motorcycle for it.

Just a thought though… while the unannounced ‘surprise’ sounds good, if it was my son making a long-awaited visit, I’d love to know about it beforehand, to follow along during his journey “home.” The anticipation would be so very enjoyable, and would make the eventual face-to-face arrival even sweeter.

Of course, that’s just my humble opinion… for what it’s worth… in my dotage.

Regards, John

 

[bstig60]

Good luck with your trip. keep us posted and lots of pics.

 

[Smudgemo]

Figured I should do a quick update. I had thought I'd be better at posting some photos and words, but dang, I'm beat. Again. NV isn't so bad for places to stop on 50, but UT is terrible. All gravel and most of it looks soft, so I did the last 90 miles non-stop. Man, these bikes want to go fast, don't they?

The cooling vest I grabbed before the trip is awesome but I'm going to have a funny looking face tan when I'm all done. I'm sure glad my tires were almost new. Flat in the middle of nowhere with nowhere to stop would be bad.

Thanks for the thoughts, and John, my father was all about airplanes, but is no fan of moto. He'd be more worried about me dying than probably interested in tracking me. My wife called this the trip of the lifetime but said I'm an idiot for booking such cheap places. But hey, so far they're not fancy but they have been clean and tidy. So it's off to Craig, CO tomorrow! At least there will be places to stop and stretch, and I'm going to make sure I do that.

 

[Smudgemo]

Well, I made it to Craig. I'm getting between 44 and 47 mpg, and I found the bike will do an indicated 105 on an incline at some altitude and still be pulling. I also think I have an idea of what you Texas guys hate about the windy areas. No close calls, but I got hit with two blasts in short order that really got my attention. I went out for a bite and found the bike was running really rough, even stalling out. Not exactly fun 1,000 miles from home and on a hot day. But I think it's fuel starvation from the tank not venting. Easiest thing first, so I opened it, noted the pressure change, then it began to run better until normal. Which is good because I hadn't picked up my food yet and walking time per Google is 43 minutes.

This was at the junction of 6 and 191 in UT.



I brought my DSLR and carry it in my tank bag for quick access, so I tried to take photos where I was able to stop and it was pretty. I'll share those with the ride report. Tomorrow I'm heading up into the mountains.

 

[Smudgemo]

I got home yesterday, so here's my ride report. I bailed on the original plan and decided this would be a CA to CO ride as I just didn't have it in me to cross the plains, then turn around and ride the whole way back. In total, it was nine days, four states and 2,350 miles.
Day 1 Berkeley CA to Fallon, NV under 300 miles
I decided to ride through the Delta and Lodi to Hwy 88 through Jackson, Kirkwood, Garnerville NV, Carson City, then Hwy 50 to Fallon NV. Interestingly, Kirkwood ski resort was dead. They should embrace mountain biking for the summers like Northstar. Have I mentioned how much I like riding in California?











Once in Fallon, I got dinner at Slanted Porch. I think it was my first trip inside a restaurant where nobody had a mask on. Here in the Bay Area, most everywhere inside we're still doing masks. However, I was beat and wondering whether this was a good idea. I guess this is a mining town like many in NV. The standard vehicles around here seem to be 4x4 pickups and junky econoboxes that look like they were once part of a rental fleet.

Motel6 left the light on for me. Very not-fancy, but clean and comfortable, and good enough for a dope like me.

Day 2 Fallon NV to Delta UT 400+ miles
I got an early start, and passed through Austin, filled up in Eureka. It was here that I first donned my wet vest, and OMG, what an amazing thing to have on this trip to help keep cool. NV had recently chip-sealed 50+ miles of highway, so that was fun. Thankfully it was long enough that there wasn't really any dust as warned by the signage, but it still was unnerving when making turns whether there was any loose piles.



Beautiful scenery and sunny all day. I stopped in Ely for some lip sunscreen and rest in the park shade before heading for a slog to UT.



Pretty much nowhere to stop until the next town unless you can navigate a steep and soft shoulder. Bye bye state of sin and hello state of virtue..



Hwy 50 really is the loneliest road in America. No shoulder, few places to pull over, so don't break down or expect to stop and stretch. But it sure is pretty in many places.





I pulled into Delta plenty tired, and dang, I went to the wrong hotel. And ***** is with UT tar snakes? I almost dropped the bike in the parking lot. Not even the right place and drop the bike? That would have been lame. I head over the to correct place, and gee, not as nice.. But again, clean and comfortable so good enough.

And because it's Sunday evening in rural Utah, nothing open but a grocery store and McD’s, so I got some boiled eggs for breakfast and some burgers for dinner. Haven't had any golden arches for a great many years, and no great loss for me (says the food snob.)

Day 3 Delta UT to Craig CO 350 miles ~6 hours
Hwy 6 out, then off of it for a bit, then back on. It was here where I was thinking about whether my cases were properly installed as I took them in last night. Turns out one was not. I am an idiot. But it never fell off so don't tell anyone.

 

[Smudgemo]

I made my way through Price Canyon, and past those giant wind turbines to this visitor center. Amazing scenery. Then down 6 and turned onto 191, only to be greeted with more beauty.










Before reaching the Colorado border, there's a overlook spot for Blue Mountain that's worth stopping for.







And then all of a sudden:




And if you gotta go, the Dinosaur Monument is a fine option. Many dinosaurs died to give us a reason to put services in the middle of nowhere, so be respectful.



It was somewhere east of here that I found the old girl was quite capable of an indicated 105mph on an incline and some altitude and still be pulling.

When I got to Craig and found my place to stay, I also found it was right on 40, and all the dudes with their diesel 4x4s were more than happy to roar by so I called my wife and said I wasn't sure I wanted to stay here. The angel that she is, spent a bunch of her points on another place that was far quieter and potentially nicer, so I went on over and got checked in. It was at this time I was questioning my interest and ability to make it all the way to WI, and she pointed out that a big part of this was supposed to be fun, and if it wasn't, why do it? So I decided to shorten the trip and call my dad to tell him what I was up to.

It was also at this point my bike started to act up. The place I was getting food was a bit too far to walk, so I decided to ride on over, and on the way the bike started running rough and sputtering until it died. Hoping it was just a cap venting issue, I opened the tank. I then managed to get it started and limping back toward the hotel, but as I went it began to run properly, so yay me! Turned around and got my food.



Day 4 Craig CO to Steamboat Springs 45 miles under an hour
Not much to report as it was such a short day.








I rolled into Steamboat, and found the town was very busy, traffic fairly heavy. Road construction and Google Maps not knowing it made it rather difficult to find my hotel. But I finally got there and checked in. I like the mountains.



And a long lens is nice to have with you.





I liked this place.

 

[Smudgemo]

Day 5 Riding Colorado 112 miles 2+ hours
I took 40 out of town, then Hwy 131 to 134 to cross Gore Pass, and back up 40. And wow, hey, the riding here is almost as good as CA!














Hwy 134. I love aspens.








Didn't run too bad considering the elevation.




Back on Hwy 40.

 

[Smudgemo]

Day 6 Steamboat Springs CO to Park City UT 300+ miles, 5:30 ride time
It was a relatively cold morning - yay for my wool sweater and heated grips! I got gas in Craig, and made my way back west on Hwy 40 heading to Utah. This looks nice.















And then it happened. Heading downhill at a good clip to exit the Uinta Nat Forest and the bike starts running rough, pull in the clutch and it dies. Thank goodness I was approaching a very large paved turnout. And hey, it was a darned pretty place to break down.



So I did what anyone with a bit of mechanical know-how would do. I checked for cell service and grabbed my camera to get some good shots of the area. But at best, all the bike would do is to start maybe every third time and run for a few moments with the enrichener lever on. Touch the throttle and it would die. I could see fuel in the filter, and it seemed like the pump was pumping something, but it probably wasn't nearly enough. I was worried about the battery giving up so I quit trying for a bit and flagged down a woman in a pickup who said probably five miles to cell service and ten to town. It was only like 2:00 so I decided to repack my gear and see what would happen if I decided to just wait. If it was heat related, there was a nice, cool wind coming down the hillside that would fix things. I have to admit, I was kinda scared at that point. Flag down another motorist hoping to load my gear and take me to town, and hope someone had a vehicle to tote my bike to where I could maybe install the Quantum fuel pump?

But nope, at some point I tried again and it fired right up and ran perfectly. Like the puppy who messed the rug, forgotten moments later. Off to town to fill up and not get so low on fuel again. I think I was at around 230 miles or so.

Now I'm on my way to Park City, and now I'm also constantly thinking about this thing dying again, but it doesn't. My wife got me a room at Yelopad, which I'm not terribly in love with. It's like they looked at every usual feature about a place to stay and decided to do something different. I've seen this sort of thing in San Francisco and didn't really care for it here either. I mean seriously, trying to figure out how to pull the bed out of the wall was not the trip's highlight. Might be fun with kids sleeping on the bunk beds on a ski trip, maybe. But again, it was comfortable.




The valet who is normally required to park vehicles for visitors wanted nothing to do with parking my bike, which was incidentally exactly how I was feeling so I did it myself.

I thought the area was pretty and I do enjoy the mountains, but wasn't the Sierra or Rockies.








The rest of the trip was spent worrying the bike would die in a bad place, so I stayed mostly on I-80 and made the desert more manageable.

 

[Smudgemo]

Day 7 Park City UT to Elko NV 250+ miles, 4:00 ride time

As noted, I stuck to Hwy 80 for safety and services, and due to mileage and amenities, I decided to hit Elko next. The day began cool and warmed up early like the others. Even though 80 is safer than 50 for a variety of reasons, I still couldn't get the possibility of another breakdown out of my mind. I still took time to take a few pictures here and there.





I had a surprisingly tasty lunch at a place called McAdoo's, actually on par with stuff I can get here at home. Highly recommended for your next visit.

I was extra-excited because the hotel had a laundry room and I was able to get my clothes cleaned. My riding jeans had all these days of use and only got rinsed once along the way. I preferred them to my Olympia over-pants, so I opted to keep using them.

Day 8 Elko NV to Fallon NV 250 miles, 3:30 ride time

I had a nice chat with a fella from VA who was impressed with the big ST. Said he had a CB550 back in the '70s that he really liked. Nothing really noteworthy happened for me in Elko, and once again I was on the road.

Being sure to keep my fuel cool, I stopped for gas in Winnemucca and tried a few times to recall the cities Johnny Cash sang about as he was totin' his pack along a dusty Winnemucca road, but I'm not good at memorization of that sort and I've probably only been to a third of them.

Photos for days 7 and 8 are scarce. It got hot and I didn't want to stop and potentially overheat the fuel pump again. Who knows when it will fail again? Not me. There was about 25 miles of two-lane highway between 80 and Fallon that were barren, very lightly traveled and lacking any sort of shoulder. Definitely disconcerting, but I made it.

Lunch was at the Slanted Porch again. The waitress and hostess remembered me coming through last week. They were closing up for a private thing that afternoon, but since I was sitting outside in the shade minding my own business, they said to stay as long as I wanted waiting for my room to be ready. Eventually it was and I left. It got pretty hot that day. My front tire sank into a wide tar snake in the hotel lot, and I decided to use my Johnny Cash t-shirt to cover the dash just in case things got focused just right to do some melting of the dash as some have experienced. I'm sure Johnny would understand.

 

[Smudgemo]

Day 9 Elko NV to Berkeley CA under 300 miles, 5:30 ride time
I left early because I wanted to be home in the afternoon so my family could tell me what an awesome father I am, and they did not disappoint. My wife's seared halibut over black rice is to die for, no lie.

So I rolled out on Hwy 50 and through the Carson City area to climb up to South Lake Tahoe. I don't think I've ever been on this road before, and it's nice. I pulled into a view area to get a few shots and I'm remembering why I love this place so much.
















I got rerouted by the Maps and missed some more good view spots, but I'll be back in August so no huge loss. Heading down the mountain on 50, I must have missed a "reduce your speed for the corner" sort of sign because I came into this turn kinda hot, and before I knew it, I had the bike leaned way over. And the turn kept going, and while I'm saying, "oh *****, oh *****, oh *****" to myself, I"m continuing to apply counter-steering pressure, and staying off the brakes, trusting the tires and staying calm like we've been taught, and nothing bad came of it. I was careful to note any speed reductions from that point on.

I decided I'd fuel-up in Placerville, but my maps settings thought I wanted to go downtown, so I got run through a long line of traffic twice. However, the second time a guy on a Harley came through lane splitting (loud pipes split lanes) so I just followed him through two long lines of cars. First time I have ever split on a big bike like this and I didn't love it, but felt it was necessary.

The rest of the trip was I-5 from Sacramento to the roads lining the levees until home. I would have like to have taken a few photos, but decided to press on just to be sure.

Rounding the bend from Hwy 4 to I-80, and the temperature is dropping. Stop for a burger at Habit and I'm stripping off my cooling vest. Getting close to home and ho-lee cow, it’s cold here! My A/C brand is the Pacific Ocean, and when it's on, it's on.

So that's it. I appreciate the welcome from the Cheesehead meet-up guys, and I'm sorry I didn't make it that far, but I'm also not terribly sorry I didn't try harder. I met some nice people, I did something I'd never done before, and I visited some place I'd never even heard of before. I think I need to go get my back cracked, and I think I'm going to order a sheepskin pad to see what that does for longer rides, but I also think I'll be do some more of this.

 

[Smudgemo]

I'm sorry, photos aren't showing up. I tried to resize them and thought it was working, but still no. I'll try again if there are any tips. I did a forum search and didn't find anything useful other than sizing.