Hi Coasters and PCHers,

Well, the Y2K+6 PCH ride also known as S.O.U.P.C.A.N. was a dandy.

I started out Saturday 9/9 from Placerville with Handsome Hannigan loaded with stuff. I headed for the usual rendevous in West Sacramento where I met Peter Noeth, Roy Coss and Mike Kanitsch.

We headed west and after winding through the Napa wine country for a couple of hours descended on the Mickey D's in Windsor.

After lunch, we headed north on US101 until we got to the junction with CA128. Following this lovely road which angles off toward the northwest and the coast at Albion, we cruised through Boont (Boonville) and the surrounding wine country. We stopped for a brief break at the junction of CA128 and CA1.

Several more people joined us in Fort Bragg and we had a good dinner and conversation at the Cliff House Saturday evening.

It seemed strange not to be staying at the Vista Manor this year. They had been booked up when I made my reservations and I ended up staying at the Super 8 at the other end of town. A bunch of the other folks had run into the same problem and were also at the Super 8. That worked out quite well since we were able to walk to dinner at the Cliff House and, if there had been a sidewalk, we could actually have walked to the Wharf on Sunday as well.

Sunday, we took a little jaunt back up through the coastal mountains. >From Fort Bragg we took CA20 to Willits (a dandy stretch of road that one), US101 to Ukiah, CA253 (another dandy) to CA128 and into Boonville for lunch.

After lunch, Peter Noeth headed for home. Roy Coss suggested we try an alternate route to get to the coast so we took Mountain View Road out of Boonville down to CA1 where it intersected just above Point Arena.

This road was reminiscent of the Lost Coast route in that it was rough pavement. But it was a good route with lots of curves and good scenery. Good thought, Roy. We might just incorporate that one into the regular route for Sunday.

We got a nice run up the coast on CA1 from below Manchester all the way to Fort Bragg.

At several points after we left Ukiah, Roy took the lead on his Wing. Handsome Hannigan and I just weren't going quite fast enough. I think I did better at following someone else than at leading with the sidecar rig during this trip.

Sunday evening, bunches more people had arrived and we had a good dinner at the Wharf. During dinner, Tom Humphrey passed out a bunch of goodies that Ann Reid had sent. I had made the mistake of telling Ann how quiet I thought the ride would be since she wasn't going to be there. She took care of that in good shape. :-)

Everyone, including the staff, ended up with lighted fingers, aliens in their pockets, etc. My pictures, which will soon be on the web, pretty well show the situation. Ann was certainly there in spirit.

Monday morning we headed for McKerricher Park just north of Fort Bragg. There is a nice 2 level parking lot right on the beach. Makes for a good photo op and we took full advantage of that getting photos of the PCs, the mongrel (non-PC) bikes and the folks riding all of them.

After that, we headed for The Ugly Iguana, that wonderful stretch of CA1 that stretches from the coast to Leggett. Tom Humphrey said he counted 329 corners. I thought there were more than that but in any case, the sidecar was in the air for most of those. Yeeeehaaaaaa!!! Handsme Hannigan and I were getting a workout!

We stopped briefly along CA1 at Leggett and, when everyone had gathered, headed for the drive through Chandelier Tree in Leggett. Most of us got our pictures taken driving through the tree. Handsome Hannigan JUST squeezed through. In getting off to get a picture of the bike sitting in the tree, I had to climb out between the sidecar and the bike.

Next we headed for Garberville and GettyUp Burger for lunch. They told us that if they had known we were coming (again), they'd have locked the doors. Hmmmm... I THINK they were kidding! :-)

After Garberville, we headed onto the Avenue of the Giants, a long, winding, smooth stretch of pavement through the redwood groves. Gorgeous route. Giant trees.

Coming out of the woods, at one point, we turned onto Mattole Road and headed out onto the Lost Coast area. At this point, Dean Williams took the lead followed by several others. I spent the next hour and a half chasing the 4 of them. That was fun. And I was keeping up with them, sidecar or no. My cornering practice had paid off. Call me tickled...

In spite of the condition of the road, the "highway" through the Lost Coast is CA211. You'd never know it. At one point, the road runs right along the beach. I stopped to get a shot of Handsome Hannigan with the Pacific in the background. It's a beautiful spot. Just Hannigan and me and the cows and an occasional PCer going by.

At the end of this stretch of road is a grade that I would guess is close to 25%. There are a couple of sections in the Sierras that are 23% and 24% (on CA108 and CA4 respectively) and this one is at least that steep. At the top is a SHARP right hander. I had been concerned about navigating this section with the sidecar rig but needn't have been. I climbed the hill in second or third (I forget which) and took the right hander in second. Most likely the sidecar was off the ground during the latter but I don't remember for sure. In any case, the PC handled that grade and corner without batting an eye.

At this point, several others had passed me and I was following Rick Corwine on his FJR 1300. When we got down the hill into Ferndale, we stopped for a butt break. Dean and the others were already there.

We finally continued on from Ferndale into Eureka for the night. Dinner was out at Cafe Marina on Woodley Island and it was good as usual. We had the back room to ourselves and had a good time visiting and eating.

Tuesday, we left Eureka and headed into Oregon. We had a good lunch at the "usual" place in Brookings; can't remember the name of it but my stomach sure recognizes it when we get there. The Port Orford motorcycle museum had closed earlier in the year so we didn't have that stop. We did stop at the Cape Blanco lighthouse in spite of the fog. It was cold, windy and foggy out near the point but you could see the lighthouse. A few photos and then back to warmer climes.

We got into Coos Bay early enough for me to go shopping to find a new pair of shoes. My old Clark's disintegrated on me on the way to Coos Bay. Too much using the feet as the reverse gear for the sidecar rig for them to take, I think.

We rode down near Benetti's, walked the last couple of blocks and had a fine dinner in the second floor dining room. Nice view across to the water, good food and the usual terrific camaraderie. A few new folks joined us at Coos Bay.

Wednesday, we started out and headed for Mo's in Newport. Good clam chowder, charming atmosphere. After lunch, we continued on north to Seaside. As we left Mo's I was remembering the wet miserable day Dean Williams and I had on my preview ride in May of 2004. It was here that Dean lent me his Aerostich over-gloves and headed home. None of that this year though. It was fine all the way to Seaside.

Instead of taking the 3 cape tour this year, we stayed on 101 and headed for the air museum at Tillamook. They have it in a dirigible hangar which is vintage WWII. Amazing thing about the huge hangar is that it is ALL wooden construction. Amazing. The arches (wooden) are 192 feet tall.

Great display of airplanes. I spent 2 or 3 hours wandering around. There were many cockpits you could climb into. And some folks did. This is a good museum. And they fly most or all of these airplanes. They had drip trays sitting under most of them as a way of proving it. I wish I had time for the biplane flight; maybe next time... They had everything from WWII war birds to modern jet fighters, engines, engine cutaways, gyrocopters, etc. Even a small blimp and a couple of helicopters including one that had twin rotors. Now this is not unusual except that these two rotors were NEXT to each other. THAT took some engineering!

At Seaside, we walk across the parking lot for dinner. The locals had told me that they eat at Big Foot's Pub and Grub which is next door to the Motel 6. Rick Corwine said he felt a thirst coming on... Big Foot's is rustic and the food is good. Signals got crossed though because the waitress was NOT expecting to do separate tickets even though I had reminded her boss that we wanted it that way. She recovered and handled things OK and we got out without incurring the wrath of the local gendarmerie or washing dishes. I know I quenched my thirst; I expect that Rick did too.

It was at Big Foot's that Dean Williams brought out the second package of stuff from Ann Reid. More merriment. Once again, Ann was very much there in spirit.

Thursday we lost several people to the weather report. It was raining lightly as we got ready to depart from Seaside and this discouraged several folks from continuing on. Unfortunately for them, it rained for about 10 minutes and stopped and the rest of the day was cloudy but mostly dry. An occasional sprinkle but nothing more.

We even had lunch at Lana's Hangar Cafe in Hoquiam, Washington again and this time we had no deluge and actually got to see a couple of planes take off and land.

We continued north after a good lunch and I was looking for gas. Rick's GPS said there was gas about 16 miles north and the waitress at Lana's had agreed. Unfortunately, neither was correct. There was a market at that location but no gas. Although starting to sweat, I continued on and, whew, 15 or 20 miles farther up the road we found a gas station. I was pretty much running on fumes by that time; it took just under 4 gallons to fill the beast at that point (that was actually less gas than I figured it would take...).

When we got to Forks, Washington, our destination for the night, I asked the lady at the motel desk if they had had any rain that day. They had not.

We headed up the road a couple of miles for dinner at the Smokehouse. The smoked salmon fettucini alfredo was as delicious as I had remembered. My stomach thanked me.

Friday morning it was clear that some rain had fallen during the night. But the sun was out and it was looking like a good day. It was not so good a day for Jim Geary. He had filled his ST1300 that morning and as he was getting ready to pull out of the parking lot, it was NOT sounding good. Sputtering, no acceleration, smoking some, etc.

I have photographic proof that I am no longer the only PCer to put diesel in his bike. Jim had added over 3 gallons of diesel to the tank of his ST (he also has a PC so he qualifies as a PCer). That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Fortunately, mechanic extraordinaire Roy Coss was with us. Roy helped Jim get the seat, shelter cover and various other parts off so Jim could drain the lower tank (it's in two sections on the ST) and get rid of the diesel. I contributed my 5 gallon can of gas so that once the diesel/contaminated gas was drained out, we could put some fresh gas into Jim's bike. It worked. The bike sounded rough for a little bit but by the time we got to Port Angeles, an hour or two away, Jim said it was running like normal. Whew. Catastrophe avoided. Thanks, Roy, for your always able assistance!!

Crescent Lake, on the way to Port Angeles, was gorgeous as usual. We stopped for a photo op along the lake. Rick Corwine had headed north and was going to catch up with us later. We will probably give Rick's route a try on the next northern run since it was only 18 or 20 miles longer than the route we took.

At Port Angeles, we stopped for fuel and then headed up Hurricane Ridge. The road was wet and we were in the clouds for much of the trip up. It was cold, too, and had dropped to 36 degrees by the time we got to the visitor's center. A cup of hot cocoa at that point took care of the problem. The cloud cover was heavy but the sun would peek through now and then as would mountain peaks, glaciers, etc. Definitely worth the trip up. And if the road had been dry, it would have been a REALLY good run up. And down...

Coming back down, we stopped at a couple of overlooks, one of which allowed us to see all the way to Canada, the other side of Puget Sound, etc. Great view.

We continued on to Fat Smitty's. Fat Smitty's is a local institution near the turn off to Port Townsend. There is a statue (wooden, I think) of a burger out in front of the place. We got a table and a note. Turns out that Ned Porges, Rick Corwine and someone else had skipped Hurricane Ridge and gotten to Fat Smitty's ahead of us. They waited for a while and then left us a note and went on. We ate.

Boy, did we eat. I looked at the menu and opted for the "Fat Smitty's Burger". I wasn't paying attention to the fact that it was the second most expensive burger on the menu. And when it arrived, it was HUGE. I got a couple of pictures because it borders on the unbelievable. Biggest burger I have ever seen or eaten. Must have been a pound of meat, half a pound of bread, etc. I have a big mouth and used every inch of it to take a bite of that sucker. Fortunately, I was hungry so down it went. In fact, I got kudos for the fact that I out-ate the kid (Jason) and finished mine before he finished his. What went almost unnoticed was the fact that John Treiber, the other old fart at the table was right with me, bite for bite. We finished at exactly the same time. Several people gave up on theirs about half way through. I'm sympathetic. When we got back outside, I realized that the burger statue in front is an exact replica of the burger I had just eaten.

On to Tumwater.

That night, we ate at El Sarape Mexican Restaurant which is within walking distance of the Motel 6. Another thirst hit the group. Needless to say, I had a VERY small Mexican dinner. No room after that burger. Lots of shooting the breeze at this meal because it is usually the last for a number of folks.

Saturday, us die hards left, heading for Seattle and the Museum of Flight. Boy, was it worth the trip. There are WWI and WWII and modern sections. There was an SR71 as well as a Sopwith Camel. Talk about running the gamut. We spent 4 or 5 hours here and could easily have spent many more. There is a replica of the first Boeing Aircraft factory. That was fascinating too. For some reason, no cameras were allowed in the section on the Wright Brothers and their machines.

Outside, there were a number of modern jets, a Concorde and an older Air Force One. The Concorde and Air Force One were open to the public to walk through.

Roy Coss and Mike Kanitsch left us after this as Mike had a plane to catch and Roy was going to deposit Mike at the Seattle-Tacoma airport and then head back home.

So Mike Knutter, Rick Corwine and myself headed for Fauntleroy Cove and the ferry to Southworth. I tried to lead from memory, lost a couple of steps in the process and let Rick take over with his GPS. I think I have it committed to memory now, though, so I could and plan to repeat next time. Anyhow, we got to the ferry terminal, paid our dues, got on board and had a very smooth ride to Vashon Island and then to Southworth. The day was absolutely gorgeous.

After departing the ferry (disembarking?) we headed for Gig Harbor. A charming little town. The Harbor Inn was a charming restaurant. I got lost on this one too and had to ask directions; we then found the restaurant OK. Very nice restaurant, excellent food, very good service. We wandered around the marina for a while afterwards to walk off a little of the dinner.

On the way back, we crossed the Tacoma Narrows bridge. This is the replacement for the bridge that started galloping (Galloping Gertie) in the wind back in the 50s (?) until it collapsed. They built a replacement at that time and now they are building another replacement.

We continued on until Mike Knutter cut off to see some folks and Rick and I headed for the barn.

Sunday, Rick and I said our goodbyes. He was heading for US 12 and starting back toward Minnesota and I was heading north to visit an old friend in Canada.

Monday, I started a Saddle Sore 1000 (Iron Butt run) in Aldergrove, BC, Canada at about 9AM. I drove the rig all the way to Tracy, California and turned around and headed for home. When I reached Cameron Park, California I had about 1020 miles on the rig. It was 3:30AM or so for an 18 and a half hour SS1000. And I only ran off the road once. :-)

Just north of Sacramento, I moved into the high speed lane on I5 to pass a truck and woke up on the shoulder/median. Since I was driving a sidecar rig, gravel at 70mph didn't hurt a thing. I slowed down to about 45 by turning the throttle off and, at 45, pulled back onto the freeway. I worked VERY hard not to let that happen again the rest of the way home.

It was a good trip. 2829 miles total. My mileage on the sidecar rig varied from a low of 26.7mpg to a high of 39.9mpg. I drove at 65-75mph most of the time.

Except for about 10 minutes of rain at Seaside and a few sprinkles at various other locations, the weather could not have been a whole lot nicer.

And as usual, we had a really good time.

Thanks for joining me, everybody. Looking forward to next year.

Leland

--
Leland Sheppard
Placerville, California, USA

...Life is good on the Pacific Coast...

'94 Pacific Coast, "Black Beauty", 205,050 miles
'89 Pacific Coast, "Shadow Dancer", 97,650 miles
'90 Pacific Coast, "Red Baron", 77,300 miles
'96 Pacific Coast/SuperSport sidecar, "Handsome Hannigan", 23,350 miles
'02 Ural Patrol, "Boris Blueanov", 12,000 kilometers
'89 GB500, "Little Bugger", 12,308 miles (arrived today with 12,219 miles on it)
iPCRC #72; IBA #10582; AMA #481368

Mother of all PC800 Web Site Lists: http://www.pc800links.net