Day 17

I have a down day today.  After I got my tire yesterday, I got on the road to Portland as quickly as possibly.  My bike actually needed 2 tires and to be serviced, but if I had all that done in Phoenix, I wouldn't have made Portland yesterday.  So today my bike is in Greystone HD today for the additional work.

Meanwhile, Jerry, James and Joe were going to Mt. St. Helen's today.  We hope to meet up later when they get back into Portland.  If they take and send me any pictures I will post them later today or tonight.

Day 16

I'm waiting for the dealership to open up so I figured I'd give everyone a weather update. It is a cool 57 degrees, and what looks like fog is actually smoke from wildfires. It got pretty thick last night and my throat is already starting to get a little scratchy from it.  When I went to my bike this morning it was covered in ash. 

D&S Harley of Phoenix Oregon came and picked the bike up at the hotel this morning.  I was checked in by 10:20, and I hope to be back on the road within 2 hours.

It was Harley Dogs for lunch.

The folks at Phoenix Harley Davidson were outstanding.  They very accommodating and took my bike in right away.  I was on the road at 12 noon, and made it to Portland by 5 o'clock. It was in an uneventful trip except the 90 miles through smoke from the all the wildfires.   Now I'm going to spend a couple days with my son Matt and his wife Megan. 

Day 15

I start out this morning at 5:20 a.m. Pacific time headed towards Portland. I made it about 160 miles on Interstate 5 when I got a flat rear tire. Right now I'm in a little town called Dunsmir.  Dunsmuir I just found out is famous for fly fishing, and coincidentally I'm in front of the Dunsmuir Rod Company.  Apparently fine purveyors of top quality bamboo fly rods. Too bad I'm not here to fish.  I have a tow truck on the way, and they're taking me backwards 50 miles to a Harley Davidson dealership in Redding. 

Stay tuned folks I'll let you know how I make out.

News flash.  The Harley dealership is closed on Mondays.  I guess I'm staying in Redding for the night and probably a good portion of tomorrow.

Well after the tow truck driver picked me up, we called the Ins. Co. and they authorized him to tow me to Medford Oregon. So that's about 86 miles forward instead of 55 miles backward. 

Well the dealership as it turns out is in town called Phoenix not Medford.  And Phoenix is a shit hole. I didn't leave my bike in front of the dealership. I had the tow truck driver drop me and the bike off at a motel about a mile away. I'd rather push it that mile than leave my bike out in it overnight.

Day 14

Today started out cold, misty, foggy, and windy.  We took Route 1, the coastal highway until we got our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean.  The Road was so winding and twisty and slow that we only managed 114 miles before lunchtime.  And because of the weather I just described all along the coast, we only saw small fraction of what would probably be a majestic scene if the weather was nice.

We had lunch at Bones Roadhouse and the pulled pork and smoke brisket was terrific.  But after lunch it was time for me to say adios to my three amigos.  While they continued north on coastal highway 1, I had to peel off and head east alone towards interstate 5. I'm doing this because tomorrow I'm heading up to Matt's house in Portland.  They will be meeting me there in a few days.  Not long after I left them, I went up and over a mountain range. As I descended the weather got warmer and the sun came out.  Once in the valley it was evident I was in wine country with miles and miles of grapes and pears.  It was up and over two more mountain ranges before I came to town of Williams, right on Interstate 5.  In the process, I saw the first wildlife since West Virginia when a coyote ran across the road right in front of me.

From here its 529 miles to Matt's house. I plan on being on the road early and I hope to be there by late tomorrow afternoon.

The Pacific

Nobody was more exited to finally see the Pacific Ocean than Jerry and Joe.

Jerry picking up his souvenir rock.

Day 13

We started out the day by going to Muir Woods National Monument. Muir is a forest of giant redwood trees.  And it was only 7 miles from our motel.   The road to get there was winding and twisting with tight curves. And if that wasn't challenging enough, the fog got thick as pea soup. It's a good thing it wasn't good weather because then we would have seen just how far down the cliffs were since there was about 6 inches of dirt shoulder at times. This park was well worth the stop and was amazing.

After the park we headed back over the Golden Gate Bridge and back into the city. Today we were going down to Pier 39 and the fisherman's wharf area. We got to see Alcatraz and the harbor seals.  Then we had lunch at the Crab House on the pier.

There was not a lot of riding today, we just mingled with all the tourists, and it was pretty crowded. There were a lot of foreigners visiting the area, mostly from China and Germany that I could tell.  

We never really got to see the Golden Gate Bridge in clear nice weather. Every time  we went over the bridge, it was very cold very windy and very foggy.  From what we're learning that's pretty much the norm this time of year. 

Laundry day

Laundry day before we go back into the city.  So we went next door to Mama's for a cup of coffee. If you look closely, I also signed our names to the painting on the pole that said we rode coast to coast.  Yes, those are toilet seat guitars.

Day 12. The land of fruits and nuts

We headed into San Francisco from the hotel this morning. What started as a wonderful ride into the city soon became crap for me. Somewhere along Route 580 before the San Mateo Bridge, I lost my cell phone when a strong gust of wind lifted my jacket which dislodged my phone.  James said he saw it fall and break into pieces. But there was nothing we could do about it so we continued on, directly to the intersection of Haight and Ashbury. After I located a Verizon store with the help of Jerry, I went off to the store which was about 5 miles away while everyone else went to explore the Haight Ashbury section of town and had lunch.  It took me a couple hours to get to the store get a new phone and get back to where they were.

The center of the 60s hippy culture is alive and well. While we saw plenty of strange people, the one that really took the cake was a guy that was walking down the street completely buck naked, except for something blue wrapped around his pecker.

After we left the city, we rode across the Golden Gate Bridge, but by then it was overcast and the top half of the bridge was in a fog so I wasn't able to get any good pictures of it today. Hopefully tomorrow.  We headed north on Route 101 and James found a harbor of house boats that he saw the last time he was here. The houseboats were truly houses built on a barges.  The one big green house is 4200 square feet.

Because of the loss of my phone I don't have as many pictures to post today.

We settled into Mill Valley Travel Lodge for the next two nights. 

James is having trike envy this morning. We met Adrian and he let me sit on his Boss Hog.