The Goodmans' California quest for great roads and scenery

[Goodman4]

My brother says we saw more of California last week than 95% of Californians. If that's true, it's sad because it is such a beautiful and diverse state.

Over the last 6 years my wife and I have tried for a 5,000 mile 2 week trip each year. We missed one year due to work, and this year we had an opportunity to get together with my brother and 2 sisters in California so it looked like the long trip was not going to happen. I was trying to find ways to get one of my bikes out to California and ride it some, but it was going to be a pain. My brother has an older Valkyrie which I could ride some out there, but Tammy was not likely going to be able to put long miles on it with me, and that would take away from family time. We ended up renting a Harley Electra Glide Ultra for the week after our family visit and rode a loop down from San Francisco to LA, back up and across the sierras a couple times, then up into Oregon and back down the coast ending the loop in SF.

It was my first time on a Harley and I won't turn this into a long review, but it handled better than expected and we had a lot of fun. By the end I was not treating the twisties any differently than I do on the FJR or the Wing. I only noticed that I was on a different bike when passing. It reminded me a lot of my old VTX with the feeling of more torque but still sat a couple notches below the Wing on passing power and lots of notches below the FJR.

The actual motorcycle trip was July 19-27 and was 2354 miles. Here's the route:

Day 1 - Friday - SF to Nipomo (288 miles)

My brother lives in Nipomo / Santa Maria and he had left his Valkyrie up at his daughter's in SF so we could ride down the coast to his house together. We rented the bike in SF and caught the 1 at Santa Cruz. Nothing much to see until Monterey. Carmel is where the fun started. Big Sur was amazing.

Here's my brother with our bikes:

Even though it was my brother (along with my father) that influenced my love of motorcycles, I don't think we had ever ridden together. He was pretty nervous about riding down the coast as he's had a quadruple bypass and some more recent problems that has left him with a pacemaker/fibrulator. He's ridden a lot of years but never any long distances and that was his longest ride. I think he did better than we did on that first day. He said we inspired him and now we are planning another trip, likely in Colorado.

I've got lots of pictures of the bridge at Big Sur but I'll narrow it down to one more:

The road along the coast is twisty and scenic. Friday afternoon traffic was sporadic and most of the time we were able to drive about speed we wanted. It was chilly though. I usually wear my Rev-It adventure jacket when I have a mixed temp ride, but I planned for mostly heat and wore the Klim mesh jacket. I don't regret it, but I wish I had brought a liner.

To be continued...

 

[dcarver]

Keep them coming!

 

[SacramentoMike]

Ditto. The pic of your route doesn't open up like a link to your ride on Spotwalla would--hope you have that in store. Looks like you saw a lot of the best stuff. I almost agree with your brother about the 95%, since most people only see what you can see out of a car window from the freeway. But counting the motorcyclists, 95% is probably low.

 

[Goodman4]

Ditto. The pic of your route doesn't open up like a link to your ride on Spotwalla would--hope you have that in store. Looks like you saw a lot of the best stuff. I almost agree with your brother about the 95%, since most people only see what you can see out of a car window from the freeway. But counting the motorcyclists, 95% is probably low.

Yeah, he definitely was not talking about motorcyclists.

And here's the real spotwalla link for those interested:

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1eedc5d1e3c3965cbf&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes

 

[Goodman4]

Day 2 - Saturday - Nipomo to Lancaster (371 miles)

Said goodbye to my brother and sister-in-law as we headed out for our brush with northern LA

166 going across to the Maricopa Hwy was pretty straight but the scenery was different and kind of interesting.

My Butler map said the Maricopa was one of the best roads in Southern Cal. I agree with them. It was very twisty and scenic.

We had breakfast in Ventura and drove across to see the hills of Malibu. First, the coast by Sycamore Beach was quite pretty.

We had several options that looked like good roads up from the coast overlooking Malibu and we chose Deer Creek Road and Yerba Buena. It was not what I expected. Extremely twisty but a lot more remote than I expected that close to LA. Quick altitude change change as you can see looking down at hwy 1 just a little ways up.

We actually got tired of the narrow tight turns after about 30 minutes on Yerba Buena. It was still pretty but I was glad to be out of it.

Took Kanan Dume back down to the beach which was a lot quicker. Malibu was ok.

The 30 miles from Woodland Hills to Hwy 2 was more what I expected from the LA area. Very large interstates with occasional stop and go traffic. It was already getting hot which always shortens my patience and tolerance for traffic. I was wondering if it was going to be worth it to ride Angeles Crest.

It was worth it. There is still the detour which adds about 8 miles, but the detour is not a bad road either. Hwy 2 - Angeles Crest is not bad scenery, but for me the experience of the road is the flow of the curves. No traffic at all and a really smooth flow of sweepers made it a great road.

Big Pines Hwy was also a decent road before getting into the straight boring roads of the desert headed up to Lancaster.

Not much to see in Lancaster unless you get excited about the musical road. The Harley was so loud, you could barely hear it play the out of tune William Tell. We went to a Mediterranean restaurant and Tam ordered the dish below. The green bell pepper she took a big bite of turned out to be some sort of demon pepper from hell. It was funny until I tried it and had to spit it out.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Nice ride...standing by for the next installment!

~G

 

[Goodman4]

Day 3 - Sunday - Lancaster to Fresno via Trail of 100 Giants (294 miles)

Kern Canyon was fun on a motorcycle, but there was some traffic which dampened the ride some.

Lake Isabella

Took Mountain Hwy 99 up to Trail of the Giants

This sequoia fell in 2011 and they still haven't fixed the bridge and path.

Redfish Hunter said that Hwy 190 was the twistiest road he's ever seen. I now can confirm he's right. The tail of the dragon has a lot less curves. It's a good road, too. Great pavement and a nice flow. I about got wore out on it, but the back and forth curves were like doing a serpentine for 21 miles. It was a blast and Tammy liked it too.

Spent the night in Fresno on the north side so we could hit Yosemite before the crowds in the morning.

 

[Bugnatr]

IN!

 

[Goodman4]

If you're here for the pictures, Monday and Tuesday are the picture days. Sorry if I post too many...

Day 4 - Monday - Fresno to Truckee via Yosemite, Mono Lake and Monitor Pass (328 miles)

We got up at 5:00 and were on the road before 6:00. Our goal was to get to tunnel view before 9:00.

Fairly low traffic on the way up Wawona Road to Yosemite, but of all things, there was a student driver car with three of us following all the way to Tunnel view. No chance to pass. I can't imagine what drivers ed teacher would take their student to Yosemite to learn to drive. Anyway, here's tunnel view at 8:10 am. The sun was a little too low for pictures here, but the lack of people made up for it.

El Capitan was much more massive than I expected. I had high hopes for Yosemite and it surpassed them.

Bridal Veil Falls

Yosemite Falls

I was surprised how good the views of half dome were

Saw a bear eating berries. Tam took a quick pic and got away. I looked around and made sure there were people slower than me taking pictures and then watched it for 5 minutes.

Tioga Road was also amazing. At times it reminded us of Beartooth Pass.

Ate lunch at Lee Vining and took a few pics of Mono Lake. We had a lot of pictures of it from a previous visit with my brother so we didn't spend much time, but it's a very interesting place.

That's when the clouds started getting interesting. Seems like one day of our trips there are unusual clouds just begging to be photographed. I never notice them until I see Tammy's pictures from the back of the bike. I didn't edit any of these other than a crop or two.

We took 395 up to 89 so we could cross Monitor Pass. On 395 we were following a pack of Harleys in traffic going right at the speed limit. It seems everybody wanted to go a little faster because every time there was a passing lane the pack of cars and Harleys all rev'd up to 85 mph and raced to see how many of the slow cars they could pass. It seemed like a Nascar race that kept getting yellow flagged. If I had the FJR they wouldn't have seen me long.

Monitor pass was also beautiful

I had meant to go around the west side of Lake Tahoe but I didn't notice my GPS was liking the east side better so we went into Nevada and hit a lot of traffic. Lake Tahoe is nice but it was too crowded. We were glad to get to Truckee for the night.

 

[Bugnatr]

Looking good so far and yes Tahoe traffic sucks in the summer, come back in mid October and it is tolerable.

Yosemite has to be seen to appreciate how big everything is, glad you were not disappointed.

 

[Goodman4]

Day 5 - Tuesday - Truckee to Mt Shasta via Lassen (288 miles)

We experienced endless forests on 89 up to Lassen Volcanic National Park and decent roads. It was a nice relaxing morning and we were looking forward to seeing Mt Shasta. We had no idea what to expect from Lassen.

Some crazy engineering for the railroad and roads along the feather river

Made it into Lassen a little after noon

I see why people recommend riding Lassen North to South. It builds that way. But it was very good riding South to North for us, too. It was like a smack in the face of this beautiful mountain and then riding away from it just basking in the experience. The timing was perfect with it only being open three weeks as there was lots of snow.

In Lassen we had taken our earplugs out and forgot to put them back in as we rode north. We stopped for lunch at a subway in Old Station and both Tammy and I were deaf from the wind noise. The older lady working there was also very hard of hearing. It was quite the comedy routine with us trying to order. We didn't get what we intended but it was fine.

Burney Falls was great and a little different from most waterfalls with all the porous rock emanating the many streams of water.

We saw Mt Shasta in the distance and knew we were going to fall in love with it as many others have. This view was from the small town with the same name as the mountain where we stayed:

We ate at the Black Bear Diner in Mt Shasta and Tammy had the worst Salmon we've ever experienced. My steak was also not great and I paid for it the next morning, but fortunately that didn't last and I can spare you those details. Just avoid the Black Bear Diner.

We just loved the mountain, though. It is a special place. I had read that the views of the stars on the mountain were fantastic because of the low light pollution. Tammy wasn't up for it, so I drove out myself late that night to see the stars. I found a spot on Google maps driving up the mountain road about 2 miles that looked like it was isolated but not too far and had a loop I could turn around on.

Let me preface this next story by alerting you to my personality. Some people are fearless. Some people are fearful and never take risks. I am certainly not a fearless person, but I enjoy calculating the risk and then going ahead with the fear. I was very aware of the presence of bears and other wild animals as I drove up that VERY isolated road. I was also thinking of the stories I've heard about the drug activity and dangerous people living in the Deliverance-like area. I missed the road I was looking for. It was REALLY dark and the Harley lights were not as good as I had hoped. I couldn't find a side road on the mountain that looked like a good place to stop and turn around. I made it over 5 miles up the mountain road when I finally saw a pull-off on the right. Wanting to be headed downhill if I saw a bear or Bigfoot or Charles Manson, I carefully maneuvered the bike to the spot. I turned off the bike and looked up. I remember seeing the milky way on the farm before dad put up lights, but that has been over 45 years. As my eyes started adjusting, it all started coming into view. My nerves were still all jumping, but I wanted to take it in more, so I got off the bike, took my jacket off and put my helmet on the seat. I looked up, fascinated by the sky, as my helmet rolled off the seat down the mountain hill.

Thank God for bluetooth, because I could see the flashing blue light stop 15 feet down. I was able to get it easily (and quickly) as it wasn't as steep as I'd feared.

The stars were worth it.

More of Mt Shasta on the next installment...

 

[Goodman4]

Day 6 - Wednesday - Mt Shasta to Crescent City via Crater Lake (355 miles)

We took this pic from the hotel parking lot as we were getting ready to leave

I love mountains. Growing up, Pikes Peak was always my favorite mountain. My extended family lived near there and we took a few trips to see them and the mountain. There was always a tongue-in-cheek, never quite validated story that I made a trip back from Pikes Peak 9 months before I was born. Then Tammy and I saw the Grand Tetons a few years ago and we fell in love with them. This trip we found ourselves with a new favorite mountain - Mt Shasta.

"When I first caught sight of Mt. Shasta, over the braided folds of the Sacramento Valley, I was fifty miles away and afoot, alone and weary. Yet all my blood turned to wine, and I have not been weary since."
- John Muir, 1874

The views of Mt Shasta from the north on 97 are the most picturesque, and they extend almost to the Oregon state line.

Shasta is 14,179 feet tall which is only 326 feet less than Mount Whitney. Whitney is hard to get a feel for without going up to the portals and then you are already really high up. The Rocky Mountains are probably more spectacular but some of the massiveness gets hidden by the height of the surroundings. Shasta just rises out of nowhere with it's white majesty. The sudden change in topology is what makes Shasta so beautiful.

I think what people notice and appreciate most in nature is change. Whether it's coastline, mountain, canyon or cliff, we are drawn to significant change. We fear and dread change in our lives, but change in nature is powerful and draws us to it, making us feel smaller, yet part of something bigger. Probably there is a lesson for me there about coping with change but I'm also sure the native Indians didn't appreciate the change this mountain volcano brought to their lives at the time it erupted.

We rode 97 into Oregon into Klamath Falls where there was lots of logging

We took 62 up to Crater Lake and thoroughly enjoyed the views there

At 1,949 feet, it is the deepest lake in the US and is a volcanic crater (a caldera) formed in Mount Mazama. The depth of the blue color was unforgettable.

We looped all the way around the lake and then took 62 down to I5 then down 199 back into California. We started seeing California Redwoods on 199 and then the road was really twisty near Crescent City.

We stayed at an odd motel right on the coast. It was pretty decent but was right by a run-down RV park.

We drove over to Battery Point Lighthouse. You can only get near it at high tide but it was still nice to see.

It was very cold and windy and the wind was making shapes in the sand

I took some shelter on the beach from the wind but it didn't help a lot

 

[Goodman4]

Day 7 - Thursday - Crescent City to Ft Bragg via Hwy 101 and Avenue of the Giants (238 miles)

The coast is supposed to be beautiful south of Crescent City, but we wouldn't know. The fog was blocking the coastal view every time we got close.

Here you can see the fog creeping in by the trees on the right

Took Drury Scenic Parkway as a short detour from 101 and enjoyed it a lot

After Drury and some more of the invisible coast we got to Avenue of the Giants. This trip was our first time seeing the California Redwoods and they were awesome! Riding among them was a special feeling and we enjoyed walking down the trails by the trees.

Hwy 1 south of Leggett back to the coast was fantastic

The fog had burned off a lot and we got to see some great coastline down to Ft Bragg

We checked into the motel at Ft Bragg and drove out to Glass Beach

The story behind glass beach is interesting. They dumped crap there for years and after they stopped and cleaned out the bigger stuff, the ocean took care of all the glass by polishing it. There wasn't as much glass as we had hoped, but it was neat and it is a nice beach.

 

[Goodman4]

Day 8 - Friday - Ft Bragg back to San Francisco (184 miles)

Even though we slept in to let some of the fog clear, it didn't clear much. It was 57 degrees all the way down.

Stopped at Point Cabrillo Light just south of Ft Bragg

Point Arena Light was nice but we couldn't see it through the fog until we were almost there

It finally cleared up around Fort Ross and was really pretty between there and Jenner

As we got near Bodega Bay, the rocky coast was impressive

And finally back to SF

We spent the evening walking around SF and rode the cable cars and saw some of the touristy stuff we missed the first weekend.

 

[Goodman4]

Day 9 was just 8 miles back to the rental so there's nothing much to add, but I'll add some pics from before the motorcycle part from SF and the Santa Maria area if you're interested...

Week -1 - July 12-18

Alcatraz

The audio tour is worth doing if you get the chance

Right across from our very nice hotel this guy took a crap in the street. My sisters were traumatized. It didn't phase Tammy since I crap in the street at home all the time.

Amoeba Music in the Haight Ashbury district had every vinyl album I could think of. Took me back to when music was fun to buy.

Why is it this clear just 100 yards from the fogged in bridge?

The painted ladies. My mother-in-law lived in SF and said this used to be postcard row before they painted them

The top of nutty Lombard Street. We had no desire to ride stop and go down this on the bike.

Transamerica building

Back down in the Santa Maria area, the seals were hanging out near Avila Pier

Whalers Island by Port San Luis Pier is the white rock. They say a family with 14 children lived on this rock.

Rancho Guadalupe Dunes was very interesting

The dunes were the location for several movies including GI Jane, Hidalgo, and one of Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The black and white Cecil B Demille 10 Commandments movie was filmed here and instead of tearing down the sets they just buried them in the sand.

In San Simeon, the elephant seals were still there. There are up to 17,000 there at times and now there are just some males left that are molting, but they were pretty cool

I think I've seen these guys here on the forum before

San Simeon Pier

Pismo Beach

Morro Rock

Sunset in Santa Maria

We truly enjoyed the whole trip. If you have any questions about my rental experience feel free to PM me. Thanks for following our journey!

 

[road runner]

AWESOME!!!

 

[1Gifford]

That looks like a fantastic adventure!

I am sure Harley doesn't include unlimited mileage on their rental plan.

Curious what the rental expense was?

 

[Bugnatr]

Very nice report, excellent route!

 

[dcarver]

Excellent photos too!