Member Spotlight of the Month

If members wish to submit a story and pictures of their latest motorcycle adventure, or a member profile, please contact our Secretary. We all want to get to know you better!

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This month features John T’s trip to the west coast back in 2013….

The Great Corkscrew Adventure Also known as the Ring the Fire Ride It all started when August 23, the day before the big Minden destination ride when I sent this picture to a few of the “organizers”. It depicts gliders on the tarmac at the Minden airport – grounded due to 3 mile visibility caused by the fires west of Yosemite. This action was followed by three hours of back and forth phone calls in an attempt to obtain a consensus among three what to do. There may be faster riders than me in our assemble of roving riff raft, but no one can apparently think faster. I immediately came up with plan “B”:

Plan B: Since Tom and Pam had an appointment the following Wednesday in Napa to taste some grape squeezings, and I was already thinking of where to go to expand on the adventure – I decided that what we could do was “reverse” the route from Minden to Napa, and instead head southwest, pick up the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and conduct a clockwise tour, circumnavigating the “ring of fire”, ending perhaps in the Sierra if the fires had been arrested. Tom and Pam agreed. The others apparently fell into full abort mode and decided to bag it all and retreat to the Christian Reading Room. Thus the adventure began; a 0730 departure south on our beloved I15 through Lost Wages and Barstow. Just west of Barstow, we gazed on the pleasant abandoned-ness of Hinkley CA, made famous for the $330 million law suite won by What’s her Name – played by the ever attractive Juliet Roberts – against evil PGE. A quick gas stop at Kramer Junction and past CHP cruisers into Inyokern for some fine MEX. Then around the very, very, very dry Lake Isabella and up the Kern River into the Sequoia National Forest. We could have called it a day and had a great evening with live entertainment, drinks on the veranda – all of that -at a quaint Mom and Pop motel on Highway 190, but Tom couldn’t let his size 14’s hang over the edge of a queen size bed. On to Porterville where all the kings were taken as well. Finally settled into a fine BW in Tulare / Visalia.

The plan for day two was to head east and do more of the Big Tree thing in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. We began to enjoy the experience of 15 MPH 270 degree hair pin turns. Actually, while a rather technical ride, the scenery was spectacular. CA 198 picks up CA 180 which dead ends in the Kings Canyon. Tom did the unusual and actually pulled over on a few turn outs on the way back out for a couple of Kodak moments:

We stopped at an local cafe and fuel stop. Didn’t pay the $1.78 per liter but took the photo op anyway at the probably the last gravity pumps in the western world. The afternoon was drudgery as we headed southwest across the Central Valley to hook up with the PCH in San Simeon. We admired the kelp washed up on the beach outside out Motel. Day Three began in the fog headed north on the Pacifica Coast Highway. What a continuous maintenance project this is for CalTran! The three hundred, feeling like five hundred mile day, took us through Monterey and across toll free day on the Golden Gate Bridge. Maybe Pam got some pictures from the back seat of the Gold Wing, but we stopped only to capture these beauties:

It was free toll day across the Golden Gate because the I80 Bay Bridge was closed. We exited 101 just north of the bridge to continue on CA 1 through some of the twistiest asphalt I’ve ever ridden or driven on. Hours later we rendezvoused with Vern and Pam in what seemed the busiest little hamlet on the California Coast – Point Reyes Station. Outrageously priced gasoline and the need to pay $.25 more to take a pee. Very Californian. Onward we pressed, through probably 200 more cork screw turns (you knew I’d work that title line in) – now a group of three, towards the night’s destination of Fort Bragg. Not a destination point I’d recommend as an daily objective again. But we did find a king size bed. Yahoo. Well, we split company on Day Four – Pam and Tom towards their appointment with the sommelier in Napa along with Vern and Sue. I continued my quest to conquer the last kilometer of CA 1, which occurred at the junction of CA 101 south of Fortuna. It was nice to roll some miles off at 65 MPH for a change. But the tourist in me soon came out again, and I left the divided highway for the Avenue of the Giants. And they were.

Then on to again what was becoming almost endless – more turns. Well it is the mountainous after all. My plan was to get through Redding and Lassen National Park into Chester CA. But all those hills and turns clearly made that impossible. So I hung it up at Redding for the night with the expectation of seeing Lassen in the morning night. It was a good decision. Mount Lassen blew its top twice August 12 and 15, 1915. It was quite the event I suppose for those early days. CA 89 does a delightful tour through the park, for $5.00 motorcycles if you care to pay. I missed the visiter center and the tour of the lava tubes, but got some great photographs. Allow me to expound.

I was really glad I took the extra time. From Lassen it was pretty much a delightful cruise through slightly widening country south on CA 89, CA 70, and CA 395 and I80 at Reno. The smoke for the Yosemite fire was still prevalent – I got into some of it a good 45 miles north west of Reno and didn’t get out of it until almost to Fallon NV. I80 is were the trailer broke. It was holding me back in all those turns anyway. You can see Tom’s king size mattress I was hauling for him. The final morning in Fallon, I had to clean ash off the bike. Then onto the “Loneliest Highway”. Stopped for breakfast in Austin which is were I really wanted to spend the last night, but all that picture taking in Lassen was the trade off. Eureka, as many know, is also a delightful town. I think I need to put both of these on the list for one or two night over night trips in the future. Each has plenty of history and I’m sure starry, starry nights. I did take a few iconic pictures of Eureka – then headed down NV 93 to 98 degree St. George. All and all it turned out to be a great alternative trip to the day trips out of Minden which I was also looking forward to. Perhaps next year we can combine a repeat of that destination ride with my desire to explore Austin and Eureka.

Smooth travels, John T. August / September 2013

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This month features Tom & Pam’s amazing vacation….

Our 2015 summer adventure

Our summer travel this year was a 3 week trip through parts of Utah, Idaho, Washington, British Columbia, Montana and Wyoming. I think we have seen some of the best those states/country have to offer. Our method of travels were shared between the Indian Chieftain and Mazda since we didn’t want the weather to interfere with vacation destinations. Our new trailer was a real show stopper until we opened the back door and the Indian Chieftain appeared to oohs and ahhs. I told Tom we should get Indian to pay our travel expenses for the great advertising we did for them. President John, you made a good choice of a ride.

Our first destination was Blanchard, Idaho, northwestern part of the state where we spent a week riding all the back roads. Since our home-base was a golf resort, the social event of the week was a golf cart drive -in concert, complete with a bar. Not to be missed. Rode through many national forests and a wildlife refuge, Pend Oreille Lake (49 miles long, 1100′ deep with 40 bays), and the International Selkirt Loop (one of 32 scenic byways in the country), and Priest Lake which is the second clearest lake in the country ( Lake Tahoe is first). It’s 19 miles long, 1 1/2 miles wide 360′ deep. We followed a section of the Franklin Roosevelt River (it begins at the Coulee Dam in Washington and ends in British Columbia). Rode through Selkirk Mountains, Panhandle National Forest, Colville National Forest, Kootenai, Cabinet Mountains, Priest Lake Forest, Kanisku Forest and hundreds of miles of rolling hills of wheat. Also discovered the Bird Aviation and Invention Museum consisting of a museum and hangar of planes, old cars, motorcycles and displays of resuscitation machines from the 1950’s and other inventions.

The forecast was for inclement weather for our trip to Canada so we drove the Mazda and left the bike and trailer with friends in Washington. Although the weather was only stormy one night with a few sprinkles one day taking the car was a good decision due to the tourist traffic which was horrendous. We were much safer in a car. The entire Okanagan Valley in British Columbia is gorgeous, filled with vineyards, fruit and vegetable farms and markets. The 69 mile Okanagan Lake is 3 miles wide and has its own monster called Ogopogo. The city of Kelowna is an arty, fun-loving town with a huge marina and beach area. We let our hair down at a public yacht club bar.

Magnificent is the only word to describe the national parks we saw in Canada – Yoho, Mt. Revelstoke and Glacier in British Columbia and Banff in Alberta. Takakkaw Falls in Yoho drops 1165 ‘, one of the highest in Canada. Lake Louise in Banff with its aqua hue from the glacial ice, is a must-see along with the historic Fairmont Chateau Hotel on its banks. Lots of bear sightings so you had to hike in groups of 4 so you would make enough noise to scare the bears away.

Our next ride was in Missoula, Montana where we spent 2 days riding the area which included Great Falls and along the very scenic Rte 12 in Lolo. Many of the stops on our travels included Lewis and Clark sites and interpretive centers. We even found the actual trail which they walked through the Bitterroot Mountains in Lolo, MO. At Great Falls, Idaho we learned about their Great Portage, an 18 mile trek around 5 falls. In addition to a variety of displays, they have a full scale replica of the cottonwood canoe in the Interpretive Center.

The next leg of our trip took us past Deer Lodge, Montana where we stopped to visit a museum and the old Montana State Prison. The museum was filled with floor after floor of rows of classic cars from the 1900’s to the present, one of the best collections we have seen. The prison, 1871-1979, had a history of overcrowding, underfunding, riots and murders. There is even a theater on the grounds where both prisoners and the public could attend performing arts programs. A very interesting lesson in prison reform.

Our last stop was a week at a rented time share condo in Jackson Hole, Wyoming with Tom’s siblings and spouses nearby. More riding (found the Sacajawea Cemetery in Lander), hiking in Grand Teton National Park, and white water rafting on the Snake River. Wildlife viewings included eagles, ospreys , many in their nests with babies, a grizzly bear who strolled across the highway while we were riding, a momma moose and her baby that came into our backyard and continued on into the parking lot, many roaming cows, bighorn sheep (ram and females), and numerous deer. The most memorable animal will be the antelope. We were just an hour into our 600 mile drive home from Wyoming on Sunday when an antelope sprang into the road, unannounced. Tom swerved to miss hitting it and thought we were home free until the antelope changed (her?) mind and attempted to return to the side of the road. That didn’t work so well for the antelope or the car. In addition to the damage to the car, the trailer and bike suffered sight damage also. The bike tire was now in sideways in the chock. Trying to move it out to reset it straight was becoming impossible. ( I need more workouts at the gym to be of more help) so I flagged a guy down to assist (guess I am better at that). With help, the bike was repositioned and we motored on home, checking often to be sure everything was still attached. We certainly felt grateful that we weren’t on the bike (and we had been riding the day before on that same road), glad there were no injuries and no towing service was needed especially since we were out in the middle of nowhere.

Very concise summary of our trip, leaving out a variety of details. Nice to be home with some wonderful memories to share and suggestions that this is definitely a road trip worth doing.

Golf Cart concert

Tom on the Indian Chieftain

Photo of Banff area

Lake Louise

Pam at Takakkaw Falls, Yoho National Park, B.C.

Moose and baby

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John T is this month’s Member Spotlight of the Month. Here are some of his beautiful pics of Wyoming and Canada from his trip last summer 2014. Thanks John – Gorgeous!