J&K Most Excellent North Coast Adventure

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CAJW

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Prescott Valley, AZ
Memorial Day weekend the Mrs. and I headed up to Anderson, Ca to visit Rick Mayer and have the pillion seat blessed with his handiwork. Mine was done a few years ago and Mrs. Toecutter had so graciously loaned hers to my wife to try out and was hooked immediately. We'd spent the previous weekend with the Wheaton/AirBoss gaggle and enjoyed the coast so much that we decided to try and finish the portion above Bodega Bay that we had missed. Bright and early Thursday morn we slabbed it to Ricks', got the seat done before noon after which Rick invited us to lunch. We followed him to a deli west of Redding, had a great meal (Thanks Rick!) and good time telling lies and comparing aches and pains. Original plans were to stay the night in Redding, but after 300 miles on the stock seat, the Mrs. wanted to try out the new one , so we headed west on 299 to Eureka. Saw 4 CHP and 2 County Mounties on 299 between Redding and the coast, must be a lot of law breakers that frequent that highway. I40 + miles of mainly drizzle with a few moderate showers thrown in to test our rain gear and we arrived in Eureka around 5 pm. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that the Best Western Humbolt Bay Inn had a complimentary Limo! We traveled in style to the Lost Coast Brewery for a meal and my favorite Great White beer on tap and walked back to the room to work off dinner. The next day it was up to the Oregon border stopping along the way in Trinidad, Klamath and Crescent City for photo ops. Great weather, threatened all day, but no rain and very little traffic, strange for a holiday weekend. I had a couple of small American Flags on the bike for the holiday, but lost one somewhere near Orick. We wrote it off, but on the way back south, I saw it roadside on the fog line, pulled over and hiked back to get it. A little worse for the wear, but still serviceable. Saturday dawned wet and rainy, but we had about 300 miles of twisties and scenic Redwoods to cover, so we pushed off around 0730. Wet all the way to the Avenue of the Giants, but it quit raining long enough for us to enjoy the ride, take some pics and again, no traffic to deal with. Back on 101 south toward Fairfield (destination for the night) we ended up bypassing some of Hwy 1 south of Leggett due to the now driving rain. Weather radar showed that we just on the edge of the front moving through, but we couldn't get out ahead of it and ended up riding in moderate to heavy rain all day. Had a "squeeze play" maneuver brought on by a two up rider, (you know the make) who had been playing tag with is for about a hour. He was lolly gagging along until we slowly passed him, politely so as not to piss him off and make him look weak to his biker babe pillion. I pointed out a couple of pieces of recap tire in our lane to him, trying to foster good foreign (bike manufacturer) relations. Not to be outdone, he passed us, showed me how fast he can corner on wet slick roads and slowly pulled away. Near Piercy he got held up by a 18 wheeler and then passed him , in a passing lane, albeit not very fast. We had about a 1/2 mile of 3 lane (2 on our side) to pass the truck with spray blasting us from the open wheel trailer. The Dumbass on the bike got right next to the tractor and parked it there, just parked it! We were running out of real estate to pass the truck and it was getting to the point where I had to decide to jet past the jerk bike rider, on his right, between him and the tractor (oncoming traffic precluded on the left) or jumping on the brakes on wet pavement and trying to avoid the wheels of the trailer. I had been flashing my hi/low beams ( not time to warm up the Solteks!) and at the very last second, the jerk rider sped up as I was about to pass him on the right. After I regained my composure, we kept him in sight, but resisted the urge to pass him with a 1 finger salute, toss a rock at him etc... They turned off at a restaurant in Willits and it took all of my being (and cautions from my bride) not to stop and have a word or two with the sorry excuse for a rider. Other than that, not a bad day except for the constant rain which wasn't bad moving, but no fun dealing with stop and go traffic in the Napa area. Sunday morning was uneventful, again very little traffic, (must be the gas prices?) and we kept to the back roads mainly and ended up with a little over 1K on the clock for the trip. Hope to finish the rest of the coast soon and revisit the much missed Hwy 3 & 36. Hope ya'll enjoy the pics..... J&K Most Excellent Adventure

 
Great pictures John! Loved the light at the end of the tunnel!
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As for the jerk-off rider, I am glad cooler heads prevailed and that you ultimately made safe riding decisions. Karma is a bitch and if that jerk-off keeps pulling stunts like that, he will have his coming sooner or later.
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Great pictures John! Loved the light at the end of the tunnel!
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As for the jerk-off rider, I am glad cooler heads prevailed and that you ultimately made safe riding decisions. Karma is a bitch and if that jerk-off keeps pulling stunts like that, he will have his coming sooner or later.
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You're a better man than me John...I'm not one of the cooler heads...so I'm glad I wasn't riding with you during that incident. I might have embarrassed myself.

It was great to meet you while I was out there and put a face to a Forum handle. :clapping:

 
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Good stuff, John. Yours (with Kathy's urging) is the best policy with ass bags, but it's amazing how far advanced in age we have to get to start practicing it.* :unsure:

* The thing we too seldom think through is what happens if he reacts violently, including self defense issues. For example, having made the mistake of following him and starting an unnecessary confrontation, for most intents and purposes, one has all but given up his right to self defense, at least with deadly force (e.g., gun, knife, crowbar). Point being that even if his reaction would otherwise allow it, you're many times more likely to be charged for assault and battery, homicide or assault with a deadly weapon than have it treated as a justifiable act of self defense (not to mention the ramifications of legal defense costs and a potential civil action). Far better to do what you did and avoid being seen as starting, encouraging or escalating a confrontation in which he becomes violent. A dirt bag probably cannot be educated anyway, and it's almost never worth trying.

 
I like those Spot pic tours, and this was a good one. I think even Fred W would agree. :rolleyes: LOVED TWN's favorite rock, but no pics of your adversary? That would have been pretty funny, you passing him and Kathy snapping his pic. Would have made him nervous, at least. Or gotten you shot, one or the other.

Anyway, glad you had a good trip, despite the rain. I'm heading for Arcata Monday to spend a couple days with my daughter, so I hope you got it all. Thanks for the LEO warning too, but I've had the lesson on that already.

 
John, I wish I'd have known you were in the area riding, I certainly would have joined you for the run up the coast to Crescent City and back. It is a great ride! Great RR and pics!

FWFE

 
Sam, Mark, Rich & Mike - Thanks for the moral support in my leaving that dirt bag alone as stuff like that never turns out for the better. It was difficult to suck it up and ride on by, but after reading the note following Rich's comment, things probably worked out for the best.

Sam, Rog, Don, Rich, Mike & Eddie - Glad you enjoyed the pics, but almost all the credit goes to Kathy as she is constantly tail gunning while we're zinging through the twisties. I have to arm wrestle that Nikon away from her as she feels it's her "job" to record our rides and my "job" is to get her to those great photo ops.

Eddie - No worries, I hadn't noticed your hometown until now, sorry for the missed opportunity, will shoot you a note next time we plan on being in the area.

 
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