Eric B
Active member
My friend Josh and I decided a while back that we wanted to do our first SS1000. We also decided to take the opportunity to check out northern California, and Oregon on the way back to Tacoma. Here is my bike clean and packed-up, ready to go:
We departed the gas station on Canyon Rd and Hwy 512 at 3:45 A.M. on Thursday. Our destination was Red Bluff, CA, so we had to make a route that went out of the way to make 1000 miles. We went through Snoqualmie Pass and made our first gas stop at Ellensburg. From there our next stop was Pendleton, OR and we pressed on to Nampa, ID for our third gas stop and lunch. So far, the weather was good.
Our next leg took us down US 95 through Idaho and Oregon and down to Winnemucca, NV. The rain started through here and we rode through it for a couple hours. The weather cleared as we entered Nevada and we stayed on schedule through to Reno, NV where we stopped for our last gas stop and dinner at 9 P.M.
The last leg of the SS1000 took us up US 395 to Susanville, CA and then on CA 36 through Lassen Volcanic National Park and into Red Bluff. This is where progress slowed way down. As we left Susanville, the rain started to really come down. After adding a very twisty mountain pass and dozens of deer, we had to slow down quite a bit. I think our max speed was 40 mph for the 90 or so miles through the park and down towards Red Bluff. The pass through the park reaches somewhere around 6k feet, so the temperature dropped to 39F making things even more miserable.
We finally rolled into Red Bluff and got our final gas receipt at 1:20 A.M. We had successfully completed the SS1000! We did 1,078 miles in 21 hours and 45 minutes. Here we are at the hotel:
Day 2 was intended to be just a fun day of riding. We rode CA 36 west to Hwy 101. This road was the best of the trip, 140 miles of twisties!
This next picture is at the intersection of CA 36 and CA 3.
We the went down 101 and rode the Avenue of the Giants. From there we went back up 101 to Eureka for a afternoon Starbucks break. We then rode CA 299 across to Redding. The weather stayed beautiful all day making the ride that much better.
On day 3, we headed back north through Klamath Falls, OR and on to Crater Lake. The weather was supposed to be nice so we packed a lunch to eat up by the lake. Well, as we climbed up passed 5k feet into the park, it started to rain and was really foggy. We pressed on anyways since out plan had us leaving the north end of the lake. We wound up eating lunch at the visitor center while we warmed up a bit. From there we rode up to the lake and this is the best picture of it that day:
The temperature was 36F and it was either raining or snowing the entire ride through the park:
From there we dropped down to OR 138 and rode that to I-5. We headed north to Creswell and then took OR 58 back east to US 97 where we finished up the day in Bend, OR. Here is a scenery shot from somewhere along OR 58:
Day 4 took us north up US 97. There is nice scenery along this one but for the most part it looks like this:
So I took a picture of Josh on his Goldwing while on the move:
We crossed the Columbia River and took a break at the Stonehenge replica in Maryhill, WA:
From there we stayed on US 97 and had lunch in Yakima. We then took 410 over the Chinook Pass. It was pretty cold up there but the road was in pretty good shape since it just opened a few days earlier. From there, we took 123 down to US 12 and then on to Morton where we took our last break of the trip. We took WA 7 up through Elbe and into Tacoma.
Overall, it was a great trip. Neither of us had any problems with the bikes and I was very happy with the comfort of the seat I got made by Rich's just a month earlier. In the end we rode 2,418 miles and had a great time.
We departed the gas station on Canyon Rd and Hwy 512 at 3:45 A.M. on Thursday. Our destination was Red Bluff, CA, so we had to make a route that went out of the way to make 1000 miles. We went through Snoqualmie Pass and made our first gas stop at Ellensburg. From there our next stop was Pendleton, OR and we pressed on to Nampa, ID for our third gas stop and lunch. So far, the weather was good.
Our next leg took us down US 95 through Idaho and Oregon and down to Winnemucca, NV. The rain started through here and we rode through it for a couple hours. The weather cleared as we entered Nevada and we stayed on schedule through to Reno, NV where we stopped for our last gas stop and dinner at 9 P.M.
The last leg of the SS1000 took us up US 395 to Susanville, CA and then on CA 36 through Lassen Volcanic National Park and into Red Bluff. This is where progress slowed way down. As we left Susanville, the rain started to really come down. After adding a very twisty mountain pass and dozens of deer, we had to slow down quite a bit. I think our max speed was 40 mph for the 90 or so miles through the park and down towards Red Bluff. The pass through the park reaches somewhere around 6k feet, so the temperature dropped to 39F making things even more miserable.
We finally rolled into Red Bluff and got our final gas receipt at 1:20 A.M. We had successfully completed the SS1000! We did 1,078 miles in 21 hours and 45 minutes. Here we are at the hotel:
Day 2 was intended to be just a fun day of riding. We rode CA 36 west to Hwy 101. This road was the best of the trip, 140 miles of twisties!
This next picture is at the intersection of CA 36 and CA 3.
We the went down 101 and rode the Avenue of the Giants. From there we went back up 101 to Eureka for a afternoon Starbucks break. We then rode CA 299 across to Redding. The weather stayed beautiful all day making the ride that much better.
On day 3, we headed back north through Klamath Falls, OR and on to Crater Lake. The weather was supposed to be nice so we packed a lunch to eat up by the lake. Well, as we climbed up passed 5k feet into the park, it started to rain and was really foggy. We pressed on anyways since out plan had us leaving the north end of the lake. We wound up eating lunch at the visitor center while we warmed up a bit. From there we rode up to the lake and this is the best picture of it that day:
The temperature was 36F and it was either raining or snowing the entire ride through the park:
From there we dropped down to OR 138 and rode that to I-5. We headed north to Creswell and then took OR 58 back east to US 97 where we finished up the day in Bend, OR. Here is a scenery shot from somewhere along OR 58:
Day 4 took us north up US 97. There is nice scenery along this one but for the most part it looks like this:
So I took a picture of Josh on his Goldwing while on the move:
We crossed the Columbia River and took a break at the Stonehenge replica in Maryhill, WA:
From there we stayed on US 97 and had lunch in Yakima. We then took 410 over the Chinook Pass. It was pretty cold up there but the road was in pretty good shape since it just opened a few days earlier. From there, we took 123 down to US 12 and then on to Morton where we took our last break of the trip. We took WA 7 up through Elbe and into Tacoma.
Overall, it was a great trip. Neither of us had any problems with the bikes and I was very happy with the comfort of the seat I got made by Rich's just a month earlier. In the end we rode 2,418 miles and had a great time.
Looks like our routes crossed here and there ... 
