Wheaton finally rides to California

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It appears they're taking the popular "Farmland Tour" northwest of Sacto.Niehart must be leading.
... Poor bastards....
...and now this traveling PNW group has a name!

Really looking forward to seeing these boys (and everybody else) tomorrow morning.

(Hope "the end" doesn't come before I get some coffee.)

 
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Had a GREAT ride down on Del Puerto Canyon Rd. to Mt. Hamilton. Toured the Lick Observatory, amazing ride and views. Arrived at motel abt. four. No sign of the flying circus yet. Thank god I brought the Macallans! Let`s PAR-TAY! (alone if I have to.)

 
the Rapture is occurring on May 21, don't you?
Oh, I'm sure there'll be all kinds of rapture going on around that time... I'll gladly stay back with all my fellow heathens! :D
I made it home in one piece just a bit ago and when I got to the door, I found this... thank goodness I was out with my fellow heathens! :D

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* I am home also....... well, I am at work .....UGH, it was very cool meeting you Wheaties, Airboss ... and seeing a bunch of the motley crew... :p

B

 
I'm home safely.

It was sure good to see many old FJR friends and to make a couple of new ones.

Mark and Carl were genlemen, as usual. It was a fantastic time meeting the Tragveling Circus in Coalinga Friday and riding northward on Hwy 25. The coast on Saturday was pure joy and the group I was with made it even more enjoyable.

On the way home from Bodega I rode through Guerneville and took 101 south to The Gravenstein Hwy, turned from Lakeville Rd. onto Stage Gulch and....dayang...the bike is turning like a truck. Checked front tire: no problem. Checked rear tire: 10 lbs...What the heck!?!?

Aired it up and rode across Jameson Canyon to Cordelia....back down to 10 lbs. Can't find a hole or hear a leak, so empty a can of "stop leak" into the tire and fill to 42 lbs. Put bike in low to spin the wheel/tire to let the "stuff" work. WHAT??? The back wheel is bent! I remember running through some really rough construction but don't remember hitting any edges THAT big.....anyway, it held air all the way home and is still aired up.

Let's see....for this weekend:

Dropped small camera on Hwy 25 (card still good)...........$75.00 :blink:

Cell phone committed suicide (screen won't unlock)........$90.00 (to upgrade to iphone in 3 days) :unsure:

New rear wheel assembly (repairing old one as spare)...$????? :eek:

Greeting and riding with friends: Priceless!! :yahoo:

 
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I am also home safe. Over 900 miles for the weekend, heading down to Coalinga with Madmike on Friday, then was the only one in pursuit of Fairlainer in Santa Clara when he took a wrong turn on 101 and still managed to reach the hotel at the same time I did. Saturday Madmike, Beemerdon, Fairlainer, SacramentoMike and I left early from the Hotel to do a ride to Big Basin Redwoods, and passed the main group along Skyline Blvd on the way to Alice's Restaurant. After breakfast, it was twisties for desert to Pescadero Beach. It was a windy day along the coast Saturday as we wound our way north past the Zoo, Cliff House and on to Ft. Point under the Golden Gate Bridge. Most of the FJRs in California were present at the Bodega Coast Inn Saturday evening, Today, we returned to sacramento by way of the twistiest roads in California with Puppychow. Great day. I'm tired and have over 250 photographs to sort through for a trip report.

I vividly recall riding north on Hwy 29 and watching as Madmike ejected his blue camera onto the road and into the weeds. Mike is off the hook for a road report. Well done!

 
Home safe and sound. Great to meet Mark & Carl. Mark, I really mean that. :p

Had my own pit crew, thanks Sac Mike for the light bulb and then the instillation. Good thing he did because the other bulb burnt out before I got home.

I seen some ugly waiter folks but the ones that bought me the pie at Alice's, :yahoo: , just kidding. Thanks, that peach pie was awesome.

Tyler, wow, what a job you did. Thanks :clapping:

And last but not least, my 3 Pacific Northwet Amigo's that put up with me for 4 day and 1900 miles.

Once again as MM II says, "Ya meet the nicest folks on FJR's!"

 
It appears they're taking the popular "Farmland Tour" northwest of Sacto.Niehart must be leading.
Looks like they're in Fairfield on I-80 now. Poor bastards. All that cow and sheep ogling has probably caused them to miss their window for light traffic approaching Santa Clara. It's Friday afternoon, after 4 pm and they have to get through the east bay and Santa Clara valley traffic still. At least they aren't going the other direction or doing this an hour later, but it would have been a lot easier an hour earlier. Cold alcoholic beverages will be required.
We finally got to Hwy 70 at about 3. A gaggle of motorbikes were coming out of the canyon as we are going in. We get to the first bridge, and whatta you know? Entire 4 lane road is freshly paved, and not a soul on it except us.

It's like Hwy 70 got a call:

"Yes...this is Hwy 70.

Three of you? From the PNW? Niehart is with you? You haven't seen sun for 40 days?

Well, we'll have it freshly paved when you arrive."

So at the end of this freshly paved paradise, we get stopped for road construction and weasel our way up front behind a Gullwing and an 1200RT. We wait for like 20 min, all the time thinking it's gonna be real late when we get back to the hotel. But the wait just served to clear out the traffic in front of us.

Seventy miles later, Panman finally slows down when Quincy's finest gives him the red and blue "welcome to Quincy" light show. He's at least 20 over the limit.

He's got a big shit eating grin on his face from having knocked off 70 miles worth of twisties at highly illegal speeds. His two PNW mates are waiting for him 10 miles back at the turn off to Greenville, which he's missed cause he was having so much damn fun.

Panman has little to say for his excessive behavior. It works. The friendly officer points him back towards the correct route back to Yreka and tells him he'd better hurry if he wants to make it there before midnight. And mind the speed, please.

No ticket.

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Panman meets up with the PNW crew, who are also sporting shit-eatin grins.

The Gullwing and the RT ride by about 20 min later. They are in awe.

They make it back to Yreka via 89 at least an hour ahead of schedule.

Georgie is waiting at the hotel when we arrive at 8 p.m. He's had a shower, a nap, washed his bike, cleaned and hung dry his "man-t-hose" and even caught an hour of Ophrah's farewell show.

Life is good. For Georgie. For Panman. For the PNW crew.

Thanks to everyone who showed up and made this happen. For Tyler in planning a great event. And for Wheatie, deciding to head out to Cali in the first place.

More to come on RR when I rest up.

 
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.

Well, glad I'm getting the first pics posted so I won't suffer from the comparison right away, artistry-wise. Plenty of time for that later. Great to see and/or meet everyone, though it was short for me. I had to leave right after breakfast at Alice's. For once, the FJRs were in the majority in the parking lot. It was REALLY neat to see so many come so far for this impromptu meeting--Vancouver Island, Seattle and environs, Arizona, and of course, Illinois. What a bunch!

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That ride up to Big Basin was fun, and we had an unusual sighting. Luckily, no one hit this animal we saw in the road, since I don't think there's an appropriate symbol to indicate a peacock strike. (Sorry I didn't frame it better. I was doing about 85.

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On the way, the ride over Mt. Hamilton is a "Must Do" for any NorCal rider who hasn't done it yet. Here's one from the parking lot of the Lick Observatory on top. Check out the road down. Fun as hell heading either east or west.

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Wow, what a weekend! Good trip, no performance awards (although not for lack of trying :clapping: ) and great to see Mark and Carl, plus the Cali crew.

Tyler -- over the top, dinner was fun and entertaining, and breakfast at Alice's... yum :) I'm going to have to plan another excursion to the Bay area!

Got to practice a little lane sharing both on the way in Friday and out Saturday morning, what a trip! I'll never look at stopped traffic the same way again!! :lol:

--G

 
Thanks again for a wonderful riding adventure with my Fine FJR Forum Friends. Greatest people on Earth and even better Motorcyclists. Mas Caminos y Mas Amigos!

 
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Home safe also. I had a lot of fun this weekend. Great seeing lots of good friends and lots of good riding too! Thanks for a great weekend! :)

 
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Home safe yesterday, tired but safe. Great to see Mark and Karl again, meet up with the usual suspects, and also meet a coupla new faces. Some really great riding on the weekend :yahoo: , saw parts of the Bay Area I'd only read about before :huh:

Big thanks to Ty for getting this ride/meet to mesh so seamlessly :)

 
I have just a few more photos to go through but thought I'd prove the naysayers wrong and prove that the Wheaton boyz really made it to the West Coast... Pescadero Beach on Saturday after breakfast. B)

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