This is my first post, let's see where it takes us...
Left Medford, OR about 10am, gassed up in Ashland. It was a quick zip on i5 over the Siskiyou pass to the hwy96 exit on the Klamath river. 96 is a great little hwy. About 140 miles of swwepin turns with killer views all along the Klanath river.
I was suprised to see so many houses & cabins out there, no services except the occasional general store. The houses were pretty typical "middle of nowhere" style with the rust museum out front. But the people were friendly and would take the time for a chat.
There was almost no traffic until Hoopa, & that's where the road got tight & rough. Fun twisties but bouncy, hole filled road that looked like it is a constant battle for the local road crews to keep it from sliding into the river.
I hit Willow Creek at 1:30 & stopped at Raging Creek for a Cajun burger and a butt rest. According to the window, the local music festival, the Sasquatch Stomp is coming up and Donna Hall is having her 60th birthday at Vets park, be sure to bring a side dish!2pm hitting the road & heading to 101.
The road from Willow Creek to 101 is beautiful wide sweeping sorners and once you crest the mountain the scenery changes drastically. You go from wooded glens and steep rocky but forested canyons to brushy rolling hills that drop quickly as you head towards the Pacific.
Reaching Eureka is like getting caught in a net at sea, suddenly it's there & it's a struggle to get out!
One your clear of the traffic of Eureka you find yourself again in the forest. Redwoods all around with their huge towering beauty that seems to spread an almost surreal air over the area. I love cruising past trees as big around as a house, little villages tucked between selling burls, carved bears and genuine castings from Big Foot himself. This is America at it's best & I love all our cooky quirks.
So at Legit, CA you turn off 101 & on to hwy 1 where you are immediately met with a 15 mph turn throwing you into 40 miles of twisty, skinny mountain road. Poping out the other end my cheeks were sore & it took a minivan to break the grin off my face. Sweet road. One of those roads where at the end your tempted to turn around & do it again!In that pass I teamed up with 5 guys on GS's & we rode together for the legnth of that stretch. About 20 miles in we came on a guy on a Gold Wing. Beautiful road bike, if you know how to ride it. This guy didn't. He'd twist the throttle out of every turn to rush into the next one where he'd slam on the breaks! He almost killed one of the GS guys! So he zooms in, the guy on the GS then me. We're eager and close behind the Wing, but giving him and us room to maneuver in the turns. I slid back just a bit & halfway through the turn the Wing & GS are in the on coming lane & the GS is slipping his rear tire trying not to pile into the old nube on the wing!
All shook up the GS waves me by & now I'm behind this guy, punching the gas & slamming the breaks, wobbling through the turns almost dumping it every time. I tried to pass 5 times, each time he'd gun it to the next turn. I wanted to pull him over, take his keys & call him a cab!
Well, once I was past him I had the road & fellow riders who were
experienced and the road was so full of love ;-) so I quickly forgot my frustrations & the grin was back.When you exit the forest road you have this incredible view of the Pacific as you slide down into an area of coast that's flat, like a small plain...
Hwy 1, N. California=perfect road
If you've never ridden the California coast, make the time. It's worth it...
More to come later.
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