Message: 15 Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 13:08:45 -0700 From: "Leland C. Sheppard" <lcshepp@directcon.net> Subject: The 4th annual PCH ride (very long) - Trip Report Hi Coasters, I left home about 8AM on Saturday the 5th of September, headed for Eureka. Peter Noeth, Roy and Jerry Coss and I met at a Shell station in West Sacramento. After introductions, a little breeze shooting and gassing up, we were on our way to Eureka. I was anticipating a warm day on our inland route north but as we pulled out onto I80 heading west, I could see a VERY large fog bank in the distance. I figured that as in past years, the fog would be to our west when we turned north on US101. I figured wrong. When we pulled off I80 onto CA12, I pulled over and put on my warm suit. Ahhhhh... That's better. We headed west in a long line of cars either heading for the Napa Valley or for Sears Point Raceway. They call it something else now but it is still Sears Point to me. After turning onto CA121, we ditched most of the traffic including a Harley that fell in with us for a while. He pulled out fast, though, so I guess the silence must have disturbed him. Turning again onto CA116, we headed for Petaluma and 101. After riding north on 101 through Santa Rosa, we pulled off at Windsor for a burger. Have to have our own fuel, you know... After gassing up in Willets, we continued north to the start of the Avenue of the Giants. It's 30 miles of old US101 through the redwoods. The trees are as close as the edge of the road and as tall as 300 feet. I'm not a religious person but I have what can only be described as a religious experience every time I ride through here. We had made good time until now so we just poked through the trees enjoying every foot of this stretch. As we pulled into Eureka, we passed a red PC heading south. I thought it might be one of our group and it was; Ed Wahl was doing a little sightseeing. We pulled into the Motel 6 parking lot on Broadway and registered. Bob Walton from Milwaukie, Oregon was already there too. We spent the next couple of hours shooting the breeze and renewing our friendships. About 7:30PM, we headed out to Woodley Island and Cafe Marina for dinner. After dinner and much visiting, we headed back for the motels and some sleep. Sunday the 6th: Sunday is the day we take a long side ride through the mountains. It's a good ride. The first leg is sweepers for about a hundred miles; the road is CA299. At that point, we are in Weaverville and we stop for lunch at the Nugget Restaurant. We gas up there because there isn't a whole lot of gas from then until we get back to Eureka. And we have a good 130 miles of twisties and 20 miles of freeway between now and then. On the way to Weaverville today, we pass three PCs. One of them turns out to be Revill Dunn arriving from Texas, one turns out to be David Sigsbee arriving from Memphis, Tennessee and the third is a woman on an '89, apparently local, because we don't see her again. After lunch, about half the group turns around at Weaverville and heads back for Eureka. Bob Walton says that one of the stretches coming up is the only road that ever made him car-sick on a motorcycle... Roy and Jerry Coss, Ed Wahl and myself head off in that direction. We continue east on CA299 for a bit and then turn south on CA3. We take a rest stop at the junction of CA3 and CA36 where Roy and Jerry Coss head east on their way home; Roy has to be back at work on Monday. Ed Wahl and I continue on, west on CA36 back toward the coast. I stop in Hydesville and wait for Ed. We then make our way back to Eureka together. The weather was overcast and cool for much of the day but that was fine. Good riding weather. Very little traffic on 3 and 36 as usual. 299 has more traffic but it's tolerable. By the time we arrive back in Eureka, a bunch more folks have showed up. Harry Mitchell and Don Leitman had gotten in the night before but after we had gone to dinner. The first of the surprises had arrived as well: my buddy E. Buzz (Brian Soloway) from Virginia had flown out, bought a Very Fast Rocket and rode it to Eureka. The Williams boys, Dean and Kel, had also arrived along with Bruce Edenfield and Juan Goula from Alaska. Revill Dunn was there, as were David Sigsbee and Kevin Quosig. Kevin's matching Unigo trailer was already attracting attention as it would for much of the trip. About 7:30, we pull out and head for the Samoa Cookhouse out at Samoa. It is an old lumber camp cookhouse and a fun and interesting place to eat. We all get seated, start grubbing down when all of a sudden two of the three musketeers walk in: Ralph (Athos) McComb (Long Beach, CA) and Rick (Porthos) Corwine (Chanhassen, Minnesota) have arrived. Total surprise and delight for me!! I give them each a hug. They've been doing some riding. At least one of Rick's days was a 1200 miler... We push our chairs over a little and squeeze a couple more PCers around the table. By this time, our number is up to about 16 and we are all sitting at one large long table enjoying fried chicken and huge beef ribs. After dinner, we make our way back to our motels and a good nights sleep. Monday, September 8th dawns. The beginning of the fourth annual PCH ride is upon us. About 8:30, we head over to Bayshore Mall parking lot and line the PCs up in a row. Great sight it is, too, with 13 of us there. We get pictures of the bikes, the riders, the riders photographing each other, etc. It's pretty foggy and I'm worried about what the rest of the day will look like. About 9:30 we pull out and head down US101. The ride has begun. Luckily, just a few miles south of Eureka, the fog lifts and we start to get some sun. We take the Ferndale exit onto CA211 and start out onto the Lost Coast. This road is a very narrow, rough, winding, switchbacky, gravel-in-several-spots road. And the scenery is breathtaking. We wind our way up over the mountains and back down right to sea level. Lots of photo ops along here. And the fog has disappeared and it's beautiful. We continue on and start back inland, through Petrolia, and we stop at Honeydew. Honeydew isn't even a wide spot in the road. It's a general store with a bathroom and we stop and take advantage of the facilities. Heading out of Honeydew, we cross an old wooden-decked bridge and start back up over the mountains. I spend a good deal of time tooting my horn along here. Lots of deer and the road is too tight for me to be able to go fast enough to have my deer whistles work. Up and over and down the other side we go. As we drop down the inland side, we start getting into the redwoods. CA211 winds through a gorgeous grove of them on the way back out to where we will join the Avenue of the Giants and cross under US101. We turn south onto the Avenue of the Giants and, once into the trees, pull over for a butt break and photo op. We continue on south all the way to Phillipsville and the end of the Avenue of the Giants. At that point, we merge back onto US101. Not too many miles down the road is Garberville. We pull off there for lunch, gas and a fair amount of whatever. While there, a local fellow who had just bought a PC came over to visit with us and to check out the bikes. His wife said that as soon as he saw us pull in he started drooling! :-)
Harry Mitchell is charging his digital video camera at this point so he can try and get a movie of the stretch between Leggett and the coast; the start of CA1. We continue south on 101 to Leggett. We turn right onto the start of CA1 and more fun begins. This is a dandy stretch, similar to Deals Gap in the tightness and constancy of the curves. It is a 22 mile stretch with 3 straight pieces, 1/2 mile, 1 mile and 2.5 miles long respectively. That leaves a lot of corners. When we get out to the coast, we pull over and wait for everybody to arrive. Harry gets there and, much to my delight, has been able to film the entire stretch. (I have the tape and we will try to get it onto DVD and/or into MPEG format if we can.) This is a beautiful spot and we get lots of pictures and then head on down 1 toward Fort Bragg. The weather has been sunny and not too warm. Darn near perfect, so far. We get to Fort Bragg early enough that I want to try the side ride I've had listed for 4 years: Up CA20 to Willets and back. The prior week I had been in Fort Bragg and rode back via 20 and really enojyed it. Any takers? Sure. The Williams brothers and I took off. Bruce Edenfield was going to join us as well but we lost him to a motel down the line somewhere and didn't manage to hook up for this one. Anyhow, we jumped on CA20 and spent the next hour and a half going up to Willets and back about as fast as we could go. Nice road. Sweepers, twisties, not a lot of traffic, etc. On the way back, we just toodled. We were all tired and it seemed like the thing to do. It was just as well. About half way back, a county sheriff's car caught up and passed us. If we had been going hell bent for leather, we might have ended up with a piece of paper we didn't want... Back in Fort Bragg it was time to relax after a great motorcycling day. Lou Severson and Tom Humphrey joined us here in Fort Bragg. About 7:30 we left for The Wharf restaurant for a good dinner and lots more camaraderie. When they kicked us out (not quite but it was almost that late), we headed back for our motel(s) and a good night's sleep. Tuesday was another story. We left about 9AM. The Williams boys had already headed on down the road to catch some breakfast. This morning, Bob Walton and Bruce Edenfield had each headed home. Somewhere along the line today, Ed Wahl did the same. There was some fog as we headed south from Fort Bragg but it was high enough to not be a problem. The farther south we got, the wetter it got. I finally decided that this wasn't mist from fog but a drizzly rain. As we went through Point Arena, we spotted the yellow PC and the Bavarian Buffalo on main street: The Williams boys had found their spot for breakfast. We got to Jenner. Time for gas and a butt/potty break. It was getting wet enough by now that I pulled out the rain covers for my Eclipse tank bag and my Tourmaster tail bag. Everybody filled one tank and drained the other and we continued on to Bodega Bay. I changed the lunch stop to Bodega Bay this year since half the group had already been stopping there and since, the week before, I discovered that the place had better food than where we had been stopping. We pulled in to The Boat House and lined up against the back side of the parking lot. Great sight, all those PCs lined up! Hugh Brown of Santa Rosa joined us for lunch. We had a bite to eat and most people decided at this point to head inland in order to get out of the rain faster. Stubborn as usual, I continued on down 1. Besides it had stopped raining by this time and I could always hope, couldn't I? By the time we got to the Valley Ford turn and Juan and David missed the turn of CA1, it was just me, Kevin Quosig, Tom Humphrey and Revill Dunn left. We kept on truckin'. It didn't rain any more but was still foggy overhead. We stopped at Point Reyes Station for a few minutes and then continued on south. Peter Noeth caught up to us at that point and Tom Humphrey headed inland. We skipped our usual jaunt out to Point Reyes Lighthouse because of the chance of more rain and the likelihood that the Point would be completely socked in anyway. No fun when there was nothing to see. The section of CA1 south of Point Reyes Station is famous as a speedway for motorcycles on Sunday mornings. Everybody would start out in Mill Valley and head north on 1 as fast as possible. When they got to Point Reyes Station, everybody would stop for breakfast and then do the same thing on the way back. That's been going on for as long as I've been riding and probably a lot longer. It's a great stretch of road. Fortunately, we were coming through on a week day. Unfortunately, there was enough traffic that it took a lot of the fun out of it. Besides, as we climbed up the cliffs, we got into fairly heavy fog so the roads were a little damp anyway. Revill and Kevin were stopping for pictures so Peter and I lost them along the way. When we got to Marin Headlands for our photo op, you could barely see San Francisco from the first stop and the second stop, where I usually go, was completely socked in. We got a couple pictures of the fog and continued on into San Francisco. We were too early for commuter hours so we had to pay the $5.00 toll to get off the Golden Gate Bridge. Heading down 19th Avenue (which is CA1 in SF) we spotted Harry Mitchell and Brian Soloway at a gas station. We tooted and waved but the traffic was such that we kept on going. When we pulled into the motel in Pacifica, many of the folks who had headed inland were already there. The saving grace was that although it had been wet in the morning, it wasn't very cold; that had helped. Since the motel is right on the beach, while we shot the breeze we could also watch the surf and the surfers. About 10 minutes to 8 we walked next door to Nick's for the evening's dinner. More visiting, a good meal, more pictures, more PCer fun. Wednesday morning looked promising. There was a little sun light to the east of us. Maybe... Maybe? I could always hope... We leave late on Wednesday because it's a short day. Also, we don't want to overwhelm Alice's restaurant before all the help is there. About 9:30, we pull out and head south. There is some fog but it is overhead and the road, so far, is dry. We head through Devil's Slide, past Montara and the light house and hostel where a bunch of folks stayed in 2000 and 2001 and where, I suspect, Revill is probably staying. I don't see him, though, and we keep on going. Soon we reach San Gregorio and the junction with CA84. This is a great road reportedly designed and laid out by someone that rides motorcycles. I can believe it. We start up into the twistie section and I start sliding. Ooops... We get to a one lane section and the stop light there and Dean Williams pulls up and says, "I think I've got a tire going." I respond, "It's slippery; it got me too." We cool it through the rest of the corners without further incident. The weather was sunny, clear and cool but rain and fog and drizzle had occurred the day before and during the night so this whole section was wet. It is shaded enough that neither Dean nor I had noticed the moisture until it almost bit us. We got to Alice's and it was gorgeous. Sunny day. Alice's is world famous as a motorcycle stopping point along Skyline Boulevard. It sits at the junction of Skyline (CA35) and CA84. On Sunday mornings there are literally hundreds of bikes here. In the past, we've encountered international touring motorcycle groups here. Food ain't bad either. PC after PC is pulling in at this point. Roy Coss, Rennie Glover and Paul Elliot joined us here at Alice's. Introductions, how-did-you-do-thats, breakfast or lunch depending on your whim, eating outside on the deck, all was well with the world. It doesn't get a whole lot better than this. Before leaving Alice's, I get everyone to gather on the steps of the restaurant for a people photo. That one is on the ride web site now: www.pcpch.org After brunch, I'm hoping, that the road will have dried off. Alas, it was not to be. Much of this road is shaded by huge trees and it probably would take a couple of days for it to dry off... We take it easy and head back down to the coast and CA1. We turn south and about 5 miles down the road pull off into the San Gregorio Beach parking lot (the second one) for a photo op with the ocean in the background. Unfortunately, it is just foggy enough that you can't see the Pacific in the photo I took. You can see a bunch of PCs lined up, though, and it is still a great sight. Not everybody made this photo op; a couple of people headed to the east side of San Francisco Bay and Honda of Milpitas to get parts. Except for Brian Soloway, they were going to catch up with us in Monterey. Brian went and got new tires on his Very Fast Rocket and headed for Virginia. The rest of us headed south again, through Santa Cruz and into Monterey. I had forgotten to fill up before leaving this morning and had to pull off at Moss Landing. By that time, I was sweating bullets that I was going to run out and have to coast or push the bike up to a pump. "Where is the leader of your ride?" "Oh, he's a couple of miles back there pushing his bike this way..." I made it; it took only 4.109 gallons which meant that I had a couple of tenths left and could have gone a few more miles... :-)
We cruise past the dunes of Fort Ord and get off CA1 at Seaside and continue on into the motel in Monterey. Time to relax, sight see or whatever. I take my PC across the street and wash the dust, salt spray and bugs off the bike. Back to the motel and a relaxing afternoon. About 7:30, we head out for the restaurant on Cannery Row. Yes, that is the same location that John Steinbeck wrote about; there isn't a whole lot else besides the name that Steinbeck would recognize though... In past years, we've been able to park right in front of Bullwacker's. A nice sight for sure. Tonight, though, only a few of us get parked in front. I try to step out into a parking space that opens up to hold it for the PCers coming around the block but the driver of a car that wanted in just started to back right over me. Discretion being the better part of and not wanting to have both my legs broken, I decided to move out of the way. Bullwacker's is fun. We eat on a patio that, if you didn't look up, you wouldn't know was outdoors. When the temperatures are cool you realize it because it gets cold out there; they've had to turn on the gas heaters in past years but not this time. We get 12 or 15 of us seated around a single table and enjoy our meal and our usual visiting. Much to my delight, the Williams boys, George Hilsinger and the other folks staying north of Monterey in Marina have come in to visit with us even though they had already eaten. Charles Cervantes from LA shows up as well. He usually catches us at Alice's but missed this time. At least we got to say hi, shake hands, etc. By the time we leave, there is plenty of parking out in front. As usual. We wait for the folks that had to park elsewhere to make their way back to the front of the restaurant and we all head back to the motel together. Thursday morning, I missed Rick Corwine and Ralph McComb, two of the three Musketeers. They took off real early, Rick for Minnesota and Ralph for Long Beach. The Williams boys also turned around at this point. I swear, one of these years I'm going to convince them to spend AT LEAST one more day with us and get them through the beautiful Big Sur section of CA1. At least I'm going to try! About 9AM, we headed south, past Monterey, past Carmel and past the sign that says, "74 miles" and has one of those wiggly arrows indicating a winding road. Yessssssssss!!! The Big Sur stretch of CA1 is the one that Honda used in their poster to advertise the PC. "Ride the Pacific Coast" it says and shows a section of CA1 we are about to ride through. (Bruce Bowman from Honda of Milpitas brought that poster to the 2000 and 2001 rides - you can see a picture of it on the ride web site.) It's drop-dead gorgeous; photo ops around every bend. It has a few very tight corners but is generally made up of sweepers and some straight stretches where one can really move if one chooses. :-)
The road climbs up and down the cliffs and in some places you can see
miles of it winding ahead or behind you. Point after point jutting out
into the ocean with the road winding around the edge of the point so all
you can see ahead or behind is the section of road at the tip of each
point. Breathtaking.
We spread out and go like the wind for a couple of hours until we reach
Ragged Point. Good place for a rest stop. I park the bike on the road
so people coming behind me will see us. There is a resort at this
location so coffee, delicious rolls, snacks, gas, bathrooms etc. are all
available. As we are pulling in, a group of great looking and sounding
hot rods pull out heading north.
Kevin's Unigo trailer attracts its usual amount of attention so he's
showing and explaining it to a couple of interested motorcyclists who
were heading the other direction.
Fortified and tanks drained, we continue south. Past the elephant seals
on the beach, past San Simeon and Hearst Castle, past Morro Bay with
that gorgeous hunk of rock out in the bay.
The road straightens out here quite a bit. Long stretches where you can
see miles of ocean and miles of road fore and aft.
We reach San Luis Obispo, end up on US101/CA1 for a ways before turning
off at Grover Beach. South of Oceano, we stop at the Rusty Pig Barbeque
for lunch. Messy burgers but delicious. Hole-in-the-wall place in the
middle of nowhere. Blink and you would sail right by it.
While having a bite at the Rusty Pig, we get to talking with a guy just
finishing his lunch. Turns out to be a PCer, Roy Thomassen, who used to
live in the SF Bay Area. I wondered what had become of him; turns out
he moved to Atascadero. Still has his PC.
We continue on south, through farming country, past Vandenberg Air Force
Base and into Lompoc. This area was on fire when we came through here
last year. Fortunately, it was not burning again this year.
The restaurant where we eat here, Saletti's Italian Restaurant, had
moved. I rode down to be sure they were opened up OK; I had not been
able to reach them by phone. The doors are locked and the place is
looking very much "under construction." Oh, oh...
No need to worry. I get back to the motel, call them again and manage
to raise someone. "What is your name again?" "We don't have you down."
"But we can handle you OK." Whew... I knew they had received my
letter about reservations because they had called me to tell me they
moved...
About 7:45, we head for Saletti's. Boy, are they open. We can't find a
place to park. We head across the street, to their old location, and
park over there. Turns out to be only their second day in the new
location but we had a good dinner anyway. Visiting, pictures, good
food, good PCer stuff.
On the way in, we notice that there are crowds of people standing
around. Turns out there was a bank robbery in progess next door to
where we parked. The police were there and the robber was inside the
bank. Don't remember if there were hostages involved or not. In any
case, it was still going on when we left a couple of hours later. No
end of excitement on this ride! :-)
Friday morning, Kevin Quosig headed home. We started out at 9AM as usual. I like to keep moving on Friday so we get through LA before the rush hour. A little south of Lompoc, we encounter a sign that says "End CA1" as we are joining US101. I don't know why it's posted that way because it isn't true. We head south on US101, through Santa Barbara, past Ventura (where we lose Revill Dunn to a gas stop) and into Oxnard where we pick up CA1 again. We go through Oxnard, stop for gas, stop for a burger and then continue on CA1 which now moves back to the coast again. We continue on through Malibu, through Santa Monica, Westchester, LAX (yes, CA1 goes right through the middle of the airport. We go under one of the runways just as a plane is landing. Strange experience...) and back out to the coast again. In Long Beach, we encounter a detour. I follow it left. We had lost three people some lights back so we stop to wait for them at the first point we could stop. Unfortunately it was out of sight of the start of the detour. We wait. And wait. And wait. Finally, I decided that since Peter Noeth was with the missing group and since he has a GPS mounted on his PC that he had probably created his own detour. Turns out that is correct. I didn't see it but there were two detours. One to the left (which I took) and one to the right (which Peter and company took). They ended up in Long Beach Harbor, turned around and found their way back onto CA1. Anyway, we continued on, back out to the coast, through the Beach Cities and on into San Clemente, past Dave's Mexican Restaurant and into the Casablanca motel. My favorite motel of the whole trip. It's expensive but the rooms are huge, all those on the second or third floors have a balcony with table and chairs, etc. Large central courtyard where they serve a continental breakfast, parking under the motel, etc. Nice place. When we get there, we find Peter already there and I find out about the "other" detour. I pull out my tripod, set my camera up and get a picture of those left, myself included, on the steps of the Casablanca. At that point, Lou Severson, Harry Mitchell, Don Leitman and David Sigsbee all take off. They are headed for San Diego and home or relatives. That night Peter and I walk down to Dave's for dinner where we find George Hilsinger already going through the menu. We are the only ones left. We enjoy Dave's good food including (for me) some wonderful stuffed jalapenos! We say goodnight to Dave, head for our motels and some shuteye. Saturday morning, I get a call from the front desk that someone is waiting to see me, a PCer. I finish dressing and head for the courtyard where I see Phil Grice. Phil and I sit and shoot the breeze for an hour or so at which point several more of the southern California PCers arrive for our Saturday side ride. Ben Crisologo, Jerry Williams, Chuck, a friend of Jerry's and Bob Wood arrive and we take off. After a gas stop, we head out onto the Ortega highway (CA74). This is a famous motorcycle route, CHP everywhere, and it's a dandy motorcycle road. We get stuck behind a couple of pickups that are crawling and in spite of the signs that tell slower traffic to pull into the turnouts, they won't budge. And I don't have a long enough straight to get around them. Finally Chuck, on a Yamaha crotch rocket, scoots past them and slows WAY down right in front of them which allows the rest of us to get around them OK. Never thought of doing that but it sure worked. We never saw the pickups again. Unforunately, a few miles later, as I started to pull out into a parking area overlooking Lake Elsinore, Jerry's friend Chuck went down. His Yamaha was still ridable (after we did some work to the shift lever) but he and Jerry decided not to finish the ride and to head home. We continued on into Temecula to Mad Madeline's for some good burgers for lunch. After lunch, Ben and Bob said so long and George Hilsinger and I headed south on I15. We turned on CA76 back toward the coast. I wanted to do a little exploring south of San Clemente to see if I could find anything left of CA1 down there. We rode better than half way to San Diego on "Historic 101" while seeing absolutely no sign of old CA1. We stopped for refreshments, George said goodby and headed for San Diego via the freeway. I continued on south all the way to La Jolla with the same results: No trace of old CA1. At that point I turned around and headed back to San Clemente and the Casablanca. Saturday evening Peter Noeth and I enjoyed dinner at Rick's Tropicana Bar and Grill. The food is good. The front of the restaurant is open to the breeze which gives you an idea of the climate here: Temperate. After dinner and before the live band gets started, Peter and I walk out onto the San Clemente Pier to watch the fishermen and check out the view of the lights up and down the coast. After trying to get a few time exposure shots of the lights we head back to the Casablanca. The 2003 ride is over. I always hate to see it end. But then there is next year...
-- Leland Placerville, California, USA
Message: 3 Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2003 23:53:30 -0700 From: "Leland C. Sheppard" <lcshepp@directcon.net> Subject: New route home Hi Coasters, I took a new route home from the PCH. Ben Crisologo had suggested that I should try the Angeles Crest Highway. The road is famous and I already knew the name. I decided to check the map and discovered a new, albeit long, route home. I left San Clemente about 8:30AM on Sunday. Got gas before I headed north on I5. I was looking for CA2, the Glendale Freeway. That also happens to be the highway designation for the Angeles Crest Highway. About 60 miles later, I veered east on CA2 and, following the road signs, soon ended up on a climbing two lane route with the same designation and a BUNCH of bikes. I got by a couple of Harleys and, up the road a bit, a couple of BMWs and a slow moving crotch rocket. I figured that with so many bikes and such a reputation that the gendarmes would be in full force. They were. I saw 5 CHP cruisers, 1 CHP SUV and 1 CHP motorcycle officer. The cruisers were all going the other direction and when they passed me (radar aimed?) I was doing between 5 and 10 over the limit. The motorcycle officer was writing a ticket for a crotch rocket that had passed me a while back and the SUV was writing a ticket for an old Suzuki standard bike that had come sailing by as well. I stuck with my 5 to 10 over, had a ball, and didn't get a ticket. That's a nice road, Ben. Thanks for the suggestion. It climbs from about 600 feet to 7300 feet and has beautiful views around every corner. And it has a lot of corners... :-)))) 60 miles of corners later, I got to the end of CA2 and turned right on CA138. After a few miles, I turned east/north onto I15 and after a few more miles turned north on US395. US395 is one of favorite roads on the planet for sightseeing. It runs through the desert in southern California (where I was at the moment) and then up the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. From the time the Sierras come into view, the ride consists of one breathtaking view after another. I spent the next several hours skirting the eastern side of the Sierras. Gas at the junction of I15 and US395. Gas again in Big Pine. I was hungry so I stopped at Erick Schat's Bakery in Bishop and had a super ham and cheese sandwich on Sheepherder's bread. Delicious. When I got beyond Mammoth Lakes, I turned into June Lake Loop and took that little side trip past 4 jewels: June Lake, Gull Lake, Silver Lake and Grant Lake. Back out on 395, I turned onto 120 and took the 12 mile side trip up to the top of Tioga Pass and back. It is one of the most breathtaking stretches of road on the planet, I think. I have ridden it as many as three times in one day... Just once today, though... Back from the heights, I headed north on 395 again. Past Lee Vining (where I usually stay with the motorhome and one of the PCs for my mountain forays), past the start of Bodie Road (Bodie being my favorite ghost town), past Bridgeport and the breathtaking views coming into and out of that little town, past Sonora junction and the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center, through Walker Canyon where Walker River has almost dried up, through the little town of Walker which has two of the best burger joints around, to the junction with CA89. Turning west on CA89, it looked as though the whole mountain range was on fire. There was smoke covering the sky to the north. I'm still not sure where the fire was but I never did see it and I did get past the smoke. Winding my way up and over Monitor Pass and down the other side on a really good motorcycle road. Smooth pavement and over 20 miles of mostly curves, from 5000 to 9000 feet in elevation and back down again. At the end is the junction with CA4 coming down (at 24% grades) from Ebbetts Pass. A few miles farther through a river canyon and into Markleeville. Filled up at an automatic 24-hour gas pump for $2.75 a gallon. Since it took 4.237 gallons to fill it, I was happy to pay; I could have gone about 2 more miles with the .054 gallons left in my tank. :-) Continuing on down CA89 toward Woodsford, I ran into fire trucks blocking the road, lights flashing. Turns out there was a motorcycle accident up ahead and I had to detour around. By the time I got through the detour and called my roommate to let her know I was going to be late, the accident had been cleared. I never did see or hear what had happened. Up at the junction of CA88 and CA89, I stopped and put my warmer suit on. It was getting dark by this time (about 7:30PM) and getting colder. I was at about 6000 feet, I think. Continued on CA88, over Carson Pass, past Caples Lake (another jewel), Kirkwood ski area, Silver Lake, and finally onto Mormon Emigrant Trail. Down Mormon Emigrant Trail, past Jenkinson Lake (so dark by this time I couldn't see it) and onto US50 and home. The bike turned 70,000 about a half mile from home; arrived at 9:30PM. Ended up being a 13 hour, 676 mile day. Great way to end a great PCH ride. Leland Placerville, California, USA