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Cooter rides the west coast!

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Cooter

Cooter

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 1, 2012
Messages
11,046
Location
Crawling up your skirt
Every year just after my B-day, I like to pick a direction (not a destination), load up the saddle bags and go. Anywhere.
The only 'rules' I have for myself are to do the least amount of freeway miles possible, and If I start feeling like I'm in a hurry... to slow down.
The STT has morphed into the perfect bike for me to do that. It's super comfortable for 400 mile days, lots of suspension, and can kill corners even when loaded down with Bigfoot 'fridge magnets and stolen brewery coasters.

This year I left Los Angeles and headed North. I live on the coast, so thats how I went. Stopped at Big Sur to camp for a week with a friend. No cell service for a week!, yay!

WOXN6mXkR1ugOWW3zh4Lxw by Cooter!, on Flickr WoHJ1ldzRieMm9hLSmMBzA by Cooter!, on Flickr IMG_4604 by Cooter!, on Flickr
 
You can see the smoke from the fires all the way from Nor Cal!

After a week of silent camping bliss, I hopped on Stella and headed north on the PCH. That highway is seriously amazing. I fully expected sweeping vistas and epic backgrounds to my trip. Lots of good corners and surprisingly little traffic. Lots of sightseeing foreigners in rental cars and motorhomes, so be prepared for people to stop on the highway in front of you to snap some pics. Must. Not. Kill...:(

Anyway, I wanted to ride the Golden Gate Bridge. I've been up in the area on my bike before and done the rest of the bridges, but touristy/ cheesy was on the list. Little did I know I would do it 4 times.
Had a good breakfast next door to the Antique Vibrator Museum (gotta love SF)
QwGnvWQtReSTm+9ja1Y5jg by Cooter!, on Flickr
and took a note in case I need an attorney
bDdN7LjnRZCq7DGFmHPSbQ by Cooter!, on Flickr

I stuck on the coast and left.
San Fransisco always provides the most stellar scenery! The road to John Muir Woods (do it)
gZrmrabaSO2BuWUNwB1qeQ by Cooter!, on Flickr
 
The 1 from North SF to Point Reyes Station is 3 gold star, Cooter approved, chicken strip burning heaven. I was literally LOL-ing like a psychopath in my helmet.
It's also about a full tank of gas away from the city, so when you try to get gas in PRS you realize the hotel clerk didn't hand back your license and credit card:mad-new:
Oh well, you remind yourself that:
A) You aren't in a hurry
B) It's your fault
C) You now get to do that whole section of road again!
D) I like making lemons into a tasty beverage.

I decided on a different route back to SF, thankfully I stayed on the North side! And went across the Golden Gate bridge again, this time a bit of fog had burned off, so I could see all the way to the guardrail. Got my stuff, went down the road to John Muir Woods at a much brisker pace:) and as a happy accident I got to stop by Ernies Tin Bar for lunch. It's a great stop I like to make and I would have missed it passing by at 9am (the first time)

Theres NOTHING around it and it's alway happy and full of local farmers playing dice on the bar. Today was no exception:eagerness:
c3O6h5+0S3G3GOUhFhmGbA by Cooter!, on Flickr EaQcUAJnQ1WAKN%XeIVYBA by Cooter!, on Flickr
 
Redwoods are big
zA%STBIIRiq5osU54SHPiw by Cooter!, on Flickr uASanX1gQsybFI3lAcedoA by Cooter!, on Flickr

You can't see in the pics but my Michelin PP3's are super hot and sticky. The section of highway in Nor Cal, where the 1 turned towards (and into) the 101 is another bucket-list stunning ride to do. There's 22 miles of back to back 20-mph (recommended, haha) corners that are all perfectly paved and clean.

Like I said... Cheese.
Hmt5G2HoTquvyPpRE3D%vg by Cooter!, on Flickr
 
All that wood! This lumber mill was 4 miles long. 4 MILES long. MILES!
pWqRXE8aTf+P7dLH5%SQYQ by Cooter!, on Flickr

And to the Klamath river!
Found a secret road that turned to gravel, then single track
d80B9dYfReOfIEfD475%%A by Cooter!, on Flickr
And a 1/4 mile hike to a camp spot with this view. Yes that sand is black! I'm pretty sure it's obsidian. Crazy weird though.
Sz6JmHO9SfurJtk2RPXIsQ by Cooter!, on Flickr

Redwoods! I'm in Oregon now and my path is clear. I now know my purpose for this trip.
KZ2fl3c9RDqyAutmqLatEw by Cooter!, on Flickr
 
Pie. This pie to be exact.
fullsizeoutput_82c by Cooter!, on Flickr

Marionberry pie from Betties. She makes them fresh of course. She has a cabin/ diner just outside Crater Lake.
.000000022 seconds later
od0C4Vz9Qvy3Oeuc0MJKsg by Cooter!, on Flickr

Crater Lake is one of my top 5 beautiful places in the world list. And currently on fire:(
See that smoke?
EN8FRg4ERP+eYoWLI0gzUw by Cooter!, on Flickr

I couldn't even see the lake when I got up there. But the roads were worth it! It was completely empty because of the fires so I had the place to myself! My own personal race track, nothing to worry about but the deer. I came out the other side sweaty and panting. Felt like a track day! Haha.

Next stop was to find Green Peter Lake. I was told it's a "must see".
dd71IVByQbW3bG3MaT43tA by Cooter!, on Flickr

Its a Hard-as-hell-to-find-with-no-signal
otxCxkSuTNWSufKWMsw6vw by Cooter!, on Flickr
 
It is in nowhere so gas up before you start looking (I didn't). It also has a road that is empty, perfectly paved and begging to be apexed. Until is gets narrow. Then the lines disappear, then is gets bad, then turns to gravel:upset:
My one complaint is that Stellas range is about 150 miles IF I uncomfortably stretch it. Side note: I had put a different tune on her before I left and it killed my MPG leaving me to actually coast into my first gas stop. I dropped my AFV to 95 at that stop but still have a bit of range anxiety.
My trip 2 reads 110 and I know for a fact I've been corner killing for 31, which would leave me back on the highway at 141 and I hadn't seen a gas station (or a person) for the last 40 miles south.

This road is obviously not going to have a walmart super center at the end of it so I flip her back towards the beginning and hope theres a town north of where I turned off to this pretty lake.

k8CQGaNsQzStJSCKSrdGqQ by Cooter!, on Flickr

Cliff notes, Yep I made it!
 
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Being that far north on Orygun, and my Mom lives in the PNW so theres only one thing to do!
Laundry at Moms!:angel::love_heart:

I was a kid up there when Mt. St. Helens blew, and we both remember it vividly so i took her on a road trip to the center up there. So worth it! What a great display.

I remember it being bigger?
6HwZu6cZTaqXv%+o5GiLHg by Cooter!, on Flickr

lol, nope, just more crushing fog. Couldn't see a thing:( I'm sensing a theme to this trip.
Stayed with my Mumzy-lady-of-the-manor-master-of-all-she-surveys for a few very relaxing days. Got a new rear tire Michelin Road 5 (should last a little longer than the PP3 I hope) picked up a pair of nice non-perf gloves to save me from frostbite on the coast, and headed out.
I swear this is my last breakfast with her. Marionberry pie and delicious coffee. She knows how to treat a house guest!
97r1CVMZSemEWHSjXupx4A by Cooter!, on Flickr
Next destination on the way to the coast was Tillamook. I hadn't been there since I was 8 years old.

It's grown up a bit:applause: They just finished the new "Tillamook Experience" 9 months ago, and being a saturday it was packed with mid-western cheese enthusiasts.
B8i9fj5UTX6jbJap16kxfA by Cooter!, on Flickr

Pugrrrrr-ific!!
B87kHWpKQAyqjVbYiEjgUQ by Cooter!, on Flickr

Remember I'm traveling alone, so perspective that I'm doing this silly crap by myself:eagerness:
 
These trees are ridiculous!
A guy in a gas station 100 miles away told me about a secret road through the Redwoods.
MPIgbBsqTrOqUFBtRwOqcQ by Cooter!, on Flickr

Zoom in and just look at the size of that tree!!!
eyRMCgbmTGKx2jzCtoITgw by Cooter!, on Flickr

Totally felt like "Land of the Lost"
6rse3iycTS6e3KSTYdiiWg by Cooter!, on Flickr

I was gonna stash the bike and camp there but even though I carry (allegedly)... Big Foot would still make me his bitch.
 
Nice trip - some of my old stompin' grounds (WA/OR) in there as well.

Nice to see marionberry pie again...most folks don't even recognize that varietal. Our favorites (WA state) were marionberries and tayberries...crazy good.
 
Thanks guys! It really was. I'm assuming about 3600 miles in 3 weeks? I really like to ride:)
And ya Wicked, I really like to ride:cool:

I left the Redwoods and took a locals suggestion to go down 299/3. My inept map/zoom/scale operation left me with the thought it would be a nice mountain detour. It was! But it was all of 350 miles in one day that left me exactly 38 miles further south on the 1 than I started. Holy wow I'd do it again. Once more an empty road with epic curves and the biggest town I went through all day (pop.120) had a freaking Buell Lightning out front of the only open bar! Really nice guy who joined me riding for about the next 20 miles just for fun. He must have a BALL with that bike around there and nothing else to do but burn the edges off his tires:)
elvXt6IOQgKLWGf24xnrJA by Cooter!, on Flickr

Woke up just at the south end of the Trail of Giants feeling a bit homesick. It had been a very long time since I'd felt my own bed and that blond that Wicked likes so much had been sending enough dirty pics to get this guy on the road home:anonymous:

Totally forgetting I was exactly 200 miles north of San Fransisco and home is basically the LAX airport I was in for a ride. BUT. You don't pass SF at lunchtime without Boudains. You just don't.
44305927622_91c57f1db8_c.jpg


Right on Fishermans Wharf and I have a secret to never wait in line that I'm not sharing. Sorry:eagerness:

A very late lunch (3pm) in SF and I still think I can make it home in one long day. Duh.
 

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