The Redwoods and beyond

Aaaaah, the Redwoods. Giants of 346 ft high, and some 2,200 years old. They were around with Alexander the Great, and when the Great Wall of China was completed, and when the Romans … you get the picture. They are old…. But I’m jumping ahead.

Reluctantly, we left Mendocino – the kind of place where you could hang out or go for cliff walks or collect driftwood from the beach for days. The road from there was twisty for miles – tiring but exciting for riders – until we reached Humboldt Redwoods State Park then turned into the Avenue of Giants to see the tall and mighty Redwoods.A walk round the Founders’ Grove circuit brought us up close to some fallen giants and some uprooted trunks with a surface area bigger than a small apartment. It was humbling. Also shocking to note that only 2% of the original forests of Redwoods have been saved!


Now we needed a campsite for the night and settled on a beautiful spot on the Smith River called Panther Flat, where the river ran fast and cool along side the sites and the washroom had hot running water and showers! Music to a camper’s ears. campsite neighbour was taking an 8-week ride on a BMW through the national parks of CA, MT, UT and OR (he’d clocked up 18 so far) and still had 3 weeks to go. Couldn’t decide if he was super wealthy or just out of work.

We debated our route through Oregon for the next day – straight up the Interstate 5 (Yuck!), or a detour on some far more interesting roads, at the expense of a longer route. We opted, of course, for the backroads and loved our second trip through Cascade Lake Country, with wide-open roads, bordered by forests and mountains. Destination Elk Lake. the last campsite, threw up the tent and ran into the lake to cool down. This is our favourite lake – snow-covered Mt Bachelor as backdrop, crystal clear cool water, and a rustic resort next door that serves cold beer.

620 km today! After an early breakfast in Bend (also a favourite town), we motored through rolling hills of the Deschutes National Forest all morning until we reached Portland and from there it was one long slog up the Interstate 5 to Seattle. I won’t dwell on the traffic that blights the Seattle corridor solidly for about 3 hours. Seattle is better avoided altogether. We stayed outside in a small hotel in Bothell for the night where a pool and comfortable bed awaited.

Day 14 - We headed to BC next morning and were home by noon – elated, a little tired, and looking forward to sharing our pictures.

By the Numbers:
Total KM: 4,500
Camping nights: 8
Hotel nights: 7
National parks: 3
States:3
Cities: 3
State Parks and Forests: countless
DHs 27 including DH1,3,5,12 and 18
Sore bums: 2

Thanks for reading our blog ! Happy Travels and safe riding!

The route to Mendocino

San Francisco to Mendocino. 275 km


Well, I thought we were leaving behind the life of the rich and famous to pitch our tent at a campsite. After a 5-hr drive along a seriously winding coastal road from Sausalito to Mendocino Peter drew up in front of the MacCallum House Hotel, the most beautiful inn in Mendocino! And here we are again enjoying a  lovely room with a private garden and its own hot tub (Peter recalls the town as 'hot tub central' in the 80's when everyone came here for communal hot tubbing!) as well as fireplace. 
But to go back to the road, it was the most eye-popping scenery from the minute we hit the coast, with tight  turns, rugged rocks and big waves, sweeping views over coastal headlands - although Peter drove skillfully, my knuckles were white from end to end. It's often the cars you have to worry about, sluggishly meandering along and never pulling over. The temperature ranged from 24 degrees in Sausalito to 15 degrees as we encountered a little fog closer to Mendocino. Stopped to add a fleece and were serenaded by a hippy-looking guy playing guitar and singing beside his Jesus truck decorated with T- shirts and posters advertising Jesus - and accompanied by his dog. There is always a dog. 

Last night was a lot of fun: serendipity played a starring role. Cycling back to 'our' houseboat we came across a band playing Credence Clearwater Revisited songs in a gazebo on Sausalito waterfront - part of an oyster festival - with lots of 'oldies' dancing on the grass. stopped for a while to join in, then cycled on and came across a salsa night at the local 'Seahorse' musica caffe right by the houseboat. It was hopping like a downtown bar and everyone was dancing salsa or cha  cha cha and coming out to mop their brow as the heat built up.  We ate some excellent pasta with a glass of Italian wine, then joined right in (shorts and all), and salsa-ed  like the best.

We wish our bike pals, Christie and Stu, were with us, but are raising a glass to them at every stop and hoping their golf swings are noticeably improving instead!

San Francisco

San Fran





Day 9 Had lots of plans to go sightseeing - museums and art galleries - in SF but were seduced by the neighborhood cafes, shops and generally strolling around without a plan. Went up the Coit Tower for city overviews, took a trolley bus, ate a picnic lunch in Presideo Park - not before being offered marijuana in a ziplock bag - and shopped in vintage clothing stores ( our weakness). Watched Harry Potter one night in a 15-screen cinema and gorges on fresh crab at Joe's Crab Shack, complete with dancing waiters who tie a plastic bib around your neck.



Day 10 Waving good-bye to the Holiday Inn, we sped off over the Golden Gate Bridge to our new home, a Luxury houseboat in Sausalito. Walking  along the pier we spied a gorgeous white wooden boat among many whimsical and quirky homes in this waterside community  - this was the SS Maggie, kindly offered to us by friends.A 100 years old, the Maggie's role was transporting freight from Fort Bragg to Monterey. In the 90s her hull was rotting and she was completely renovated to the grand lady she is today. 





SF to Santa Rosa 210 km
Hard to drag ourselves away but yesterday we rode north on the 101 through Sonoma to Santa Rosa and met a friend for lunch at Fresh, an urban market and restaurant where we ate a fabulously fresh salad outside, then headed to a wine tasting.First winery was St Francis, a beautiful place surrounded by lavender filled gardens set up for a wedding, then BR Cohn where we strolled around a collection of vintage cars and another wedding set up, before starting an olive oil tasting. Fruity 25-year old balsamic vinegars and tasty estate olive oil ($25) were favorites. 

Day 11 Sunday morning after yoga and stretches on the deck, we had a leisurely breakfast at the HGTV-style patio table  while a posse of stand up paddle boarders poled past admiring "our" home! Tempting to loll around all day with music in every room and every comfort at hand.
as the SF fog looked set for a few hours we set off for Stinson Beach along a twisty road, dipped our toes in and picnicked then continued along more curves and twists to Point Reyes Station, fabulous road with velvet covered hills of yellow grass, dotted with deep green bushes. (75 km)



Took a cycle ride around Sausalito and a trip down memory lane for Peter (he lived here in 1987). While debating where to dine tonight we came across a live music restaurant right in the harbour, where the band was pounding out salsa. We were immediately sold, locked up the bicycles and ordered  pasta dinner and Italian wine, then salsa-ed with the Latino crowd till it was time to go home. Last night on our boat - sadly - then time to move on. Mendocino tomorrow. I thought we were camping, but Peter has a surprise up his sleeve, as he often does. 

Yosemite to San Fran

Today we took Eagle Lk trail (with a few hundred others) steeply up from the lake with views of Lk Tahoe and snow-capped peaks. We soon shook everyone off and followed the trail to the other end of the lake, had lunch on a huge rock, then Peter headed off across a scree slope towards a waterfall. Jayne had a meditative few moments overlooking the lake.  He returned in an hour crestfallen at having lost his Blackberry somewhere on the rocks. Urgent words to St Anthony did not prevail this time ...we cancelled the phone. 

We did like the locals this night and scoffed a huge pizza and local beers. 

day 7 - Lake Tahoe to Yosemite. 256 km
We started the day with a DH51. For the uninitiated this is a Destination Highway rating based on scenery, twistiness,  curves, surface etc. Peter has designed the trip to take in the top rated roads. This was a beauty, hugging the lake, throwing in hairpin bends and giving the passenger near heart failure!

We met bikers from Canada over breakfast in Markleeville and discussed routes, bike virtues and DHs of course! It's been amazing to me since I have joined the (fringes of the) biking community, how much camaraderie exists between bikers. From the friendly salute or wave to every biker passing, to lengthy discussions on the relative virtues of the ST1200 versus the BMW 1200RT etc, they are so passionate. Many have several bikes and one couple we met had driven from Cincinnati and was en route to the Grand Prix in Laguna Seca -blatant devotion, I'd say.



Quick stop at Mono Lake, which once supplied LA's water until depleted by 50% - when the community stepped in to save it. Recharged our various batteries over iced tea in Lee Vining with a cafe-full of other laptop and iPad nuts - -next stop Yosemite National Park!  

It's my job to take photos while we drive. Some work out well. I love taking the road ahead with it's twists and turns.  Sometimes the helmet, glasses and gloves just wreck good intentions. The iPad doesn't seem to upload images to the blog easily, hence the lack to go with the text.

Yosemite was as grand and inspiring as I'd hoped it would be. By starting out at 7am and lining up for a site at 1pm we were lucky to be allocated the last tent site at 2 pm. After 4 nights we have the set up down to a fine art and were soon cooking spaghetti, garlic and mushrooms, before heading off on a sunset hike. We powered up the back of Lembert Dome, a giant slab of granite, and watched the sun go down beyond Tuolumne Meadows with 360 degree views of snow-capped peaks.

the light dimmed fast we scurried down the slope like mountain goats and enjoyed a glass of Chardonnay around the campfire. 

Camping, if you haven't been for a while, is no longer about beans and bangers. Campers now command a choice of red and white wines packaged in handy two-person sized tetra packs, and the Tuolumne store sold fresh veggies, burritos, and civilized ingredients. (The post office was also the 'post restart' for hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail to restock with supplies on their 2000 mile / 6 month journey from Mexico to Canada.

Yosemite deserves much more time. It is the kind of place you can just be in and feel there's more to it than scenery. Just a short walk is like a lesson in geology.  Reading the history of the US parks, the vision of John Muir to preserve special places, makes me want to return again soon. We also said a special farewell to a travel writer friend, Lynn Ferrin, who recently passed away - Yosemite was her favorite place.



Day 8 Yosemite to San Francisco. 470 km!
Oh...my...God. The sky last night was the starriest I can ever remember. We who live in urban areas are sadly missing something very special. So this morning the temperature was 2 degrees (34 F) and by 11 am it was 27 degrees!

We took the Tioga Road from 10,000 ft, passing sight after sight  -  El Capitan, fragile flowers growing beside giant boulders, waterfalls, rangers on horses and mules - down to the visitor 'honeypot' around the Yosemite Valley. time to head out. 

Once out of the park the temperature shot up to 35 degrees as we sweltered through the St Joaquin Valley in leathers and full face helmets. I had to laugh to myself yesterday at a gas station: it was warming up and I peeled off a layer -my fleece - leaving 2 t-shirts and a jacket still on. A Harley drew up alongside and the biker babe was wearing a strapless tube and holding a slushy!

San Francisco here we come! Peter drove like the wind along the highway (trying to find some cool breeze maybe) as we passed orchards ripe with nectarines and peaches, then scorched dry hills covered in wind farms

Finally the skyline of SF came into view and we knew we could at last wash our socks, sleep in a bed and eat crab !

Lake Tahoe Keep It Blue

Day 4 Ashland to Lassen. 330 km
Stopped in Shasta City for latte and muffins at a cafe - $15  to support the cooperative! Classes in forgiveness and reconciliation alongside crystals set the scene. Met a Brit who had an epiphany while living in SF and settled in Shasta city with a smaller family footprint.  Made friends with Sharon, a lovely lady with eye patch, and whimsically decorated bicycle, and chewed the fat about the brakes on her Harley sportster. She gave us an apple and cycled off. 


We took a detour to the McArthur-Burney falls state park and stretched our legs with a walk to the falls (Burney was killed by 'Indians' so the tale goes) then set up camp at Manzanita Lake camp site in Lassen National Forest, the least visited park in the USA! Peter finds the best places. With the 10,457' snow-covered MT Lassen as backdrop, the lake was picture-perfect. (Christie and Stu we had  'your' cabin picked out.) A red-winged blackbird hitched a ride aboard a canada goose, and fly fishermen cast their lines. 

The only thing wrong with this picture was the dinner: we scrambled together some ingredients from the park store and ate corn tortillas with retried beans and guacamole. Probably our worst meal yet. But we had a laugh heaving huge rocks into place around the fire in the absence of lawn chairs, and washed it down with beers, which always helps. Camping by motorbike is an exercise in minimalism.


Day 5 Lassen to Lk Tahoe   355 km

After a dawn walk around the lake (Peter) and some lakeside stretching and reading (Jayne) we braced ourselves for a ride alongside high snow banks through this volcanic park. it was rider's (not a passenger's) descent through about 5,000 ft with twists and turns and hairpins that leave you breathless. Stops today included freshly baked bear claws and coffee at Carl's Bakery, a 100-yr-old concern, where we met 2 chatty cyclists, and a chocolate malt at a bustling store in Greagle.  Every town in this county, Sierra, was called  ville - Sierraville, Susanville, endlessly. Then to Truckee - an old railroad junction done up for visitors with snazzy gift shops and cafes.  Watched an Amtrak pull in, very stately, and load passengers bound for Colorado. 


Next stop Lake Tahoe, Mediterranean-style lakeside towns built high up on the mountainside overlooking the turquoise lake strewn with Crisscross Craft and fancy motor boats. Another pretty campsite beside the lake where swimming is de rigeur altho chilly until the sun bursts out. At 6,400 ft the nights are star-filled and cool, the days are baking. 

day 6 - Lake Tahoe - Eagle Lake hike
Relaxing day of hiking, swimming, soaking up the sun and not riding the bike. On that subject, for the first 2 days my backside was crying out for a stretch after every hour of riding. By day 3 our 'butts' seemed to embrace the saddle and there is no more pain!

En Route to California

Day 1 First long trip on the new bike - Honda RT1300 - with suitcase-like hard 'saddlebags' and fancy new Givi back box and lean for passenger. Goes like a rocket. First time I rode on the back was like being in a hurricane, head pummeled from side to side like a Formula 1 driver battling G-force, so Peter bought a fancy new windscreen. It's better now but still nothing like the 'bubble' he sits in. 

The less said about the Interstate 5 the better. Took hours to get past Seattle on 8-lane Highways as far as the eye can see. We emerged eventually and reached Portland in time to check in, swim, eat, drink beer and exercise stiff knees. 

Peter has devised the itinerary as usual with all the twists and turns that make the riding and the route full of surprises.

A word about our new communication system, the Scala Rider G3: it's fabulous. Our biking friends Christie and Stu will be grateful to hear that after putting up with listening to calls of "Can you hear me?" "Can you hear me?"repeatedly for years as Peter tried other systems. (Stu always maintained that I secretly never turned my button on so I could remain peacefully in my cocoon!)

Day 2. We avoided the infamous Interstate 5 for most of the day and chose a route through the Willamette Valley, following the river through acreages, horse breeding ranches, and then berry fields and vineyards. The scent of fields of mint jolted me from my stupor. (One day when Peter slows down I joke we'll trade the 1300 in for a GoldWing and I'll be safely strapped in to doze lazily at the back without my head lolling forward each time nod off.)

Sleepy towns like Newberg and Dayton were untouched by billboards tried to lure us for a visit. Next time. We bought strawberries -the last and sweetest of the crop she said - and we ate them on a lawn surrounded by hydrangeas. Eugene enticed us to lunch, at a sidewalk table Mediterranean style, where we watched the world go by - a mix of affluent 60-something's and pan-handlers. 

Our home for the next 2 nights was Jackson WellSprings - a campsite-cum-hippy hang out where the whimsical pool and spa is adorned with statues of Shiva and Ganesh, logging is optional and the scent of bud wafts through the meadows all day. Dinner is a heaped plate of wholesome vegetarian food - Stu you would have loved it! - and the tap water comes direct from the mineral springs and tastes of sulphur. 

Armed with berries, lavender goats cheese and fresh baked loaf from Ashland Saturday market we walked through the city's river-side park which stretches for miles into the hills. Lithium water flows from the hills into the town's fountains - a mineral petillant flavor that's an acquired taste - as cold as glacier water. 

OSF, the Oregonian Shakespeare Festival: Henry IV Part II was nearly rained off but Falstaff and Hal and his band of miscreants took it in their stride and entertained us 'in the round' for 3 hours. Two American sign language experts interpreted the whole play simultaneously oma small Section of the audience. Quite a feat.