Khunajawdge
Toto El Mundo!
For weeks now the coastline south of San Francisco has been fogged in and a bit nippy to ride in. Just inland 4 miles or so it can be quite hot out here on the left coast. Sometimes the fog is a great break to those who ride toward the Pacific to cool off, but for those who are fog bound a little sun is needed occasionally. So, we Central Coasters rode as far as Mendocino on a quest for coastal sun. Note: If you don’t like long reads, then don’t go past here. 
Sunday, August 14
At 8:00 AM met up with Rudy Lopez in Paso at the Denny’s near the intersection of 101 and 46. Rudy was riding his BMW R1200rt and I was on my V-Strom 1000.
The reason that this group rides together is that we all own or have owned FJR 1300’s. Rudy and I still have ours, but Robert has turned his in for an FZ1. We all have enjoyed our FJR's but for different reasons we've moved to other models/makes. This ride began from CenCal (San Luis Obispo/Paso Robles) heading north on the 101. Approaching Gilroy at the "Garlic Shop" intersection of 25 and 101, Rudy and I picked up Robert Van Houtte on his FZ1. At 11:30 AM we all stopped for lunch at Kevin’s Noodle Shop on Irving Street just off 19th Ave. in San Francisco. Love that Pho'. :clapping:
After lunch we continued on 19th Ave. toward the Golden Gate Bridge in some horrendous traffic. And temps in the mid 80’s. Even when splitting lanes, we had a very slow go of it from California St. Through the Lake District tunnel to the merge onto Doyle Way overpass then onto the Golden Gate Bridge. The Zook was running its fan to try to cool the engine down, as we were barely moving. The voltmeter was showing a definite drop in voltage and the bike started to sputter. Not a good place to have to push it, so we redoubled our efforts to split lanes in order to get clear of the mess. Finally we made it to the tarmac on the steel girders and were on our way to Marin. It took nearly 20 miles or so (Petaluma) running the motor above 5K to see the voltage above 14 Volts on the Zook’s voltmeter, which tells me that the Suzuki has an even more anemic alternator than the FJR does.
From Petaluma we took the Bodega Rd. east toward Bodega Bay into some fog, Just out of Bodega Bay we broke into sunshine at about 70 degrees. = Perfect! The ride continued north on “the one” until we reached Timber Cove Lodge just north of Jenner by the Sea where we pulled over for a refreshment;
3:00PM and Suitably refreshed, we continued north again until reaching Pt. Arena. We took note of the beginning (or end?) of Skagg’s Springs Rd at Stewart’s Pt. as we passed by. We would be back to ride this road. :yahoo:
Arrived at our goal (almost 400 miles for the day) at the KOA at Manchester Beach.
We checked in and found our cabin (cabins sleep up to 4 for 75.00/night) at around 5:30PM;
This KOA has 40 cabins or so and was full of overnighters of all types. Lots of family’s, MoHo’s, and a few tent campers were already established. We unloaded the bikes and set up camp. Later, we built a fire and ate some knash that we had brought with us, and then turned in.
Monday, August 15
Awoke to a beautiful clear morning on the coast. Robert and I plugged in Rudy’s coffee pot in the cabin a percolated a couple of cups of coffee. After the morning coffee, Rudy was grumbling about his eye being swollen from a previous recurring ailment and he needed some eye drops. He insisted that his eye would take most of the morning to get back to normal? So Rudy decided to lay low and keep his eye shut in the cabin for the morning. Robert and I saddled up around 7:30 AM with our fishing gear and took a ride back to the Pt. Arena Pier (south about 5 miles) to dip a line.
After arrival at the pier, Robert and I assembled our break down rods and walked out onto the pier. Some guy had given us some squid and Robert began with that, while I worked the kelp with artificials. Robert caught a small California kelp greenling (aka sea trout). A beautiful fish, but it wasn’t enough for breakfast. No action, so around 10:30AM we broke down the rods and rode back toward Manchester. Stopped at the Pt. Arena Lighthouse Lodge and had a great B-fast of chicken fried steak and eggs. On the way back to the KOA Robert and I took a short ride down to Manchester Beach to get a look at the Pt. Arena Lighthouse from a distance.
Back at the KOA Rudy has been busy with the help of the KOA staff in finding a local ophthalmologist who happens to be up in Ft. Bragg (about 40 miles north). After all that chasing around with the phone, he decides not to go that distance, and still isn’t up for a ride. Robert decides to take a nap. Pouf, there goes the afternoon? I was not up here to lag around a campground ALL DAY, so I take off solo to explore some roads on the Zook.h34r:
I ride north on “the One” past Elk, Ca. to Highway 128 and turn east. The road ran along the Navarro River in the Redwoods. This section of CA Highway 128 was being resurfaced and wasn’t in great shape, but it was cool in the shade of the redwoods. I turned north on the Flynn Creek Rd. toward Comptche. Luckily that turned out to be a great twisty ride on good pavement through a forest of trees. Reached Comptche and turned West on Comptche/Ukiah Rd. Lots of up and down in this heavily forested area but again good pavement and twistys. Rode past a berg called Melbourne and eventually arrived in the town of Mendocino.
Gassed up in Mendocino, and rode through the downtown center. Stopped by the Mendocino Art Center and snooped around to see what was going on. Not much at 4:00Pm on a Monday, but they do offer workshops all summer long in drawing, papermaking, painting, ceramics, and metalsmithing.
On my return South, I stopped to visit some friends in Little River at their new digs then,
returned to the campground. Rudy and Robert had gone shopping at the store in Manchester and came up with some nice looking rib eye steaks. I am usually the cook, so I broke out the cookery while they lit the charcoal. Dinner consisted of steaks, lightly dry rubbed with my wife’s secret recipe. Boiled zucchini squash and flavored steamed rice with a local Mendocino micro beer for accompaniment.
Tuesday, August 16
Broke camp, packed the bikes, and headed South on Highway One by 8:00AM. At Stwart’s Point we turned east on Skagg’s Creek Rd. WOW! What and adventure! We had never ridden it before and as others have posted riding it on this forum, it was well worth the effort . We were so busy riding that we didn’t snap any pictures until we ended up at the Lake Sonoma overlook.
I will ride that road again perhaps in the opposite direction?
Exiting at Healdsburg onto CA. Hwy 101 South we rode to the turnoff onto Hwy 37 near Novato. I didn’t want to put the Zook through the mess at the Golden Gate bridge again, so we opted to take a more easterly route and skirted the San Pablo Bay to Vallejo, where we merged onto the 680 South. In San Jose we were back on the 101 and heading for home. Robert peeled off near Prunedale for his return home to Monterey and Rudy and I continued south. Near King City I saw this plume of smoke over near Hunter Liggett. Not sure what this fire was called?
Altogether the total ride was over 950 miles on the ODO. The Zook was a worthy steed, except for the weak alternator problem. Running at highway speeds in 6th, gas mileage is not quite a good as on the FJR, probably around 35 mpg? The "Feeger" would have been closer to 40. We filled or topped off 7 times.
Now I gotta get the FJR out of mothballs and mount up a new rear tire, bleed the brakes, lube splines, and change out the rear pumpkin oil before our trip in 3 weeks to Quincy. Life is good!
Sunday, August 14
At 8:00 AM met up with Rudy Lopez in Paso at the Denny’s near the intersection of 101 and 46. Rudy was riding his BMW R1200rt and I was on my V-Strom 1000.
The reason that this group rides together is that we all own or have owned FJR 1300’s. Rudy and I still have ours, but Robert has turned his in for an FZ1. We all have enjoyed our FJR's but for different reasons we've moved to other models/makes. This ride began from CenCal (San Luis Obispo/Paso Robles) heading north on the 101. Approaching Gilroy at the "Garlic Shop" intersection of 25 and 101, Rudy and I picked up Robert Van Houtte on his FZ1. At 11:30 AM we all stopped for lunch at Kevin’s Noodle Shop on Irving Street just off 19th Ave. in San Francisco. Love that Pho'. :clapping:
After lunch we continued on 19th Ave. toward the Golden Gate Bridge in some horrendous traffic. And temps in the mid 80’s. Even when splitting lanes, we had a very slow go of it from California St. Through the Lake District tunnel to the merge onto Doyle Way overpass then onto the Golden Gate Bridge. The Zook was running its fan to try to cool the engine down, as we were barely moving. The voltmeter was showing a definite drop in voltage and the bike started to sputter. Not a good place to have to push it, so we redoubled our efforts to split lanes in order to get clear of the mess. Finally we made it to the tarmac on the steel girders and were on our way to Marin. It took nearly 20 miles or so (Petaluma) running the motor above 5K to see the voltage above 14 Volts on the Zook’s voltmeter, which tells me that the Suzuki has an even more anemic alternator than the FJR does.
From Petaluma we took the Bodega Rd. east toward Bodega Bay into some fog, Just out of Bodega Bay we broke into sunshine at about 70 degrees. = Perfect! The ride continued north on “the one” until we reached Timber Cove Lodge just north of Jenner by the Sea where we pulled over for a refreshment;
3:00PM and Suitably refreshed, we continued north again until reaching Pt. Arena. We took note of the beginning (or end?) of Skagg’s Springs Rd at Stewart’s Pt. as we passed by. We would be back to ride this road. :yahoo:
Arrived at our goal (almost 400 miles for the day) at the KOA at Manchester Beach.
We checked in and found our cabin (cabins sleep up to 4 for 75.00/night) at around 5:30PM;
This KOA has 40 cabins or so and was full of overnighters of all types. Lots of family’s, MoHo’s, and a few tent campers were already established. We unloaded the bikes and set up camp. Later, we built a fire and ate some knash that we had brought with us, and then turned in.
Monday, August 15
Awoke to a beautiful clear morning on the coast. Robert and I plugged in Rudy’s coffee pot in the cabin a percolated a couple of cups of coffee. After the morning coffee, Rudy was grumbling about his eye being swollen from a previous recurring ailment and he needed some eye drops. He insisted that his eye would take most of the morning to get back to normal? So Rudy decided to lay low and keep his eye shut in the cabin for the morning. Robert and I saddled up around 7:30 AM with our fishing gear and took a ride back to the Pt. Arena Pier (south about 5 miles) to dip a line.
After arrival at the pier, Robert and I assembled our break down rods and walked out onto the pier. Some guy had given us some squid and Robert began with that, while I worked the kelp with artificials. Robert caught a small California kelp greenling (aka sea trout). A beautiful fish, but it wasn’t enough for breakfast. No action, so around 10:30AM we broke down the rods and rode back toward Manchester. Stopped at the Pt. Arena Lighthouse Lodge and had a great B-fast of chicken fried steak and eggs. On the way back to the KOA Robert and I took a short ride down to Manchester Beach to get a look at the Pt. Arena Lighthouse from a distance.
Back at the KOA Rudy has been busy with the help of the KOA staff in finding a local ophthalmologist who happens to be up in Ft. Bragg (about 40 miles north). After all that chasing around with the phone, he decides not to go that distance, and still isn’t up for a ride. Robert decides to take a nap. Pouf, there goes the afternoon? I was not up here to lag around a campground ALL DAY, so I take off solo to explore some roads on the Zook.
h34r:
I ride north on “the One” past Elk, Ca. to Highway 128 and turn east. The road ran along the Navarro River in the Redwoods. This section of CA Highway 128 was being resurfaced and wasn’t in great shape, but it was cool in the shade of the redwoods. I turned north on the Flynn Creek Rd. toward Comptche. Luckily that turned out to be a great twisty ride on good pavement through a forest of trees. Reached Comptche and turned West on Comptche/Ukiah Rd. Lots of up and down in this heavily forested area but again good pavement and twistys. Rode past a berg called Melbourne and eventually arrived in the town of Mendocino.
Gassed up in Mendocino, and rode through the downtown center. Stopped by the Mendocino Art Center and snooped around to see what was going on. Not much at 4:00Pm on a Monday, but they do offer workshops all summer long in drawing, papermaking, painting, ceramics, and metalsmithing.
On my return South, I stopped to visit some friends in Little River at their new digs then,
returned to the campground. Rudy and Robert had gone shopping at the store in Manchester and came up with some nice looking rib eye steaks. I am usually the cook, so I broke out the cookery while they lit the charcoal. Dinner consisted of steaks, lightly dry rubbed with my wife’s secret recipe. Boiled zucchini squash and flavored steamed rice with a local Mendocino micro beer for accompaniment.
Tuesday, August 16
Broke camp, packed the bikes, and headed South on Highway One by 8:00AM. At Stwart’s Point we turned east on Skagg’s Creek Rd. WOW! What and adventure! We had never ridden it before and as others have posted riding it on this forum, it was well worth the effort . We were so busy riding that we didn’t snap any pictures until we ended up at the Lake Sonoma overlook.
I will ride that road again perhaps in the opposite direction?
Exiting at Healdsburg onto CA. Hwy 101 South we rode to the turnoff onto Hwy 37 near Novato. I didn’t want to put the Zook through the mess at the Golden Gate bridge again, so we opted to take a more easterly route and skirted the San Pablo Bay to Vallejo, where we merged onto the 680 South. In San Jose we were back on the 101 and heading for home. Robert peeled off near Prunedale for his return home to Monterey and Rudy and I continued south. Near King City I saw this plume of smoke over near Hunter Liggett. Not sure what this fire was called?
Altogether the total ride was over 950 miles on the ODO. The Zook was a worthy steed, except for the weak alternator problem. Running at highway speeds in 6th, gas mileage is not quite a good as on the FJR, probably around 35 mpg? The "Feeger" would have been closer to 40. We filled or topped off 7 times.
Now I gotta get the FJR out of mothballs and mount up a new rear tire, bleed the brakes, lube splines, and change out the rear pumpkin oil before our trip in 3 weeks to Quincy. Life is good!
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