Day Five - 1435.1mi *

After breakfast at a biker-friendly joint (I think it's biker friendly, lots of bikes parked out front), I passed through the unique, but private, community of The Sea Ranch. I stopped at the Sea Ranch Lodge to try and take some photos of this environmentally sensitive community and I chatted with this resident who told me about all the restrictions designed to not affect the land they live on (he's probably 70+ yrs old):Bodega Bay is a definite stop to make if you are a Hitchcock fan because "The Birds" is based around that town. However, the schoolhouse is in nearby Bodega. In the upscale resort town of Bodega Bay I met a couple who had ridden bikes from Florida!!!
The roads were really twisty heading into Bodega Bay and I was following a couple through some really tight, cliff-side corners. I had the camera on so when they pulled over to let me pass I stopped and told them I could send them some video of that excellent stretch of road. Rocky and Glenda had ridden all the way from Utah up to Port Angeles!
UPDATE 31Jul08: Here's some video from following Rocky & Glenda (yes, I understand the cheesiness of the music):

Once through the twisties along the coast, the road threw me onto a huge 8-lane highway onto the Golden Gate! That was way too much so I pulled off to take some photos where Starfleet Command (Star Trek) will be in 500 years:

It was sad to see this lighthouse deteriorating. It is on a surprisingly isolated piece of coastline between San Fran and Santa Cruz and made a good stop on my way to the hotel.
The fire in Big Sur is still raging, so I will have to detour around it. In fact, its grown from 50,000 acres to 90,000. I'm going to go as far as safely possible.

Day Four - 1167.8mi *

I parked the night before between two Harleys with BC plates. Well I woke up to meet Jerry and Dawn from White Rock! They had just pulled out to the coast from the I-5 and were going roughly the same way I was. See you on the road, Jerry and Dawn!

I stopped at Walgreens to get some eye drops and other stuff and this man actually recognized my Kawasaki Versys. The pamphlet in his pocket says "Stop Smoking in One Hour!" so I took a photo of him while he waited for his (even older) friend. I wonder if he ever quit smoking...

On a website lead I thought I'd go look for the Ewoks on Endor at Grizzly Creek Redwoods National Park. The Park Ranger directed me to the Owen R Cheatham grove and the "Star Wars Trees". Being dressed like a stormtrooper and on a bike myself, I couldn't resist (I am humming the Star Wars tune):

UPDATE 3 Aug 08: I compiled my Redwoods videos to help illustrate how I felt riding through these majestic forests:

After a couple hours in 100+F heat, I rode my bike through a tree! Michael and Debbie from Conway, Arkansas took this photo for me (they flew into Sacramento):

It was cooler on the coast, and after some fantasically scary twisties through the forest, I pushed into the sunset to get to my alternate camp site because I knew I'd hit traffic the next day. Here's Day Four's parting shot from Manchester Beach State Park:

Day Three - 860.4mi

This is "The Money Shot"
At Cape Blanco, the supposedly most Westerly and windy point in the continental USA.

Today I was amazed by the views and also treated to some lovely stone-arch, Art Deco bridges. If you can only see one portion of the coast, the Central Oregon coast is it.

One noteworthy mention is Brookings, OR, just before the California borders. I was warned by Buzz (see below), that it was 104F there, and he had come north to escape the heat. Well, he was right. The hot air moves into Brookings from inland, and it was smoking hot in town, but otherwise cool and manageable outside town.

I continued to blast on to stop at the Ship Ashore, one of those road-side oddities where you have to stop and have some Oyster Fry, before pulling into the Crescent City Hampton Inn.

Crescent City itself isn't much to speak of - much of it was destroyed in the 1964 Tidal Wave. Yes, they called them "Tidal Waves" back then, but it seems "Tsunami" has more shock value now. Still, the Hampton Inn sits right on the rocky beach, where we were entertained by a night-time Search-And-Rescue.

Stories from the Road

On the Port Townsend Ferry:
Top Left: My bike. Top Right: A couple who have ridden their Harley from Wisconsin! Bottom Left: A woman who works at Burnaby Hospital, riding alone, just come from Montana and going as far south as she can before heading back home to work! She's on a Star 1100.


"The Turnaround" at Seaside, OR
On the left: A man from Utah, cycling from Burnaby to Tijuana! A lady from Burnaby (second fellow Burnaby resident I've met!), "just" going to Lincoln City. Those two have been cycling for 8 days!
On the right: Two kids from Alaska, cycling to Tijuana before flying home to go back to high school!

At the Tillamook Air Museum: Bill, from near Fresno. He and his buddy are going up to Vancouver Island, then over to Yellowstone Park. I gave them some tips on Victoria and Vancouver Island. He kept calling it "Busch Gardens".... (Buchant Gardens). Bill used to work in aerospace.


At Mo's in Florence, OR
This is Steve. Steve was born in Burnaby. He's been on the road about a week, but he started in Prince George! After my lunch at Mo's I came out and saw his British Columbia license plate so I went back inside, had the waitress point him out to me, and we had a good chat about being on the road! He doesn't know how far south he's going to get, maybe to the Redwoods then back home to Prince George.

At Cape Blanco, OR
This guy spoke perfect Korean. I know because his Korean girlfriend spoke to him in Korean. He took an interest in my bike, but it was hard to stand upright let alone have a conversation in the 60+km/h winds! He's from nearby, and you can tell because he's wearing shorts and a t-shirt while everyone was covered up!

Pistol River, OR
In the hills in the background they are filming some new car commercial (car was under wraps but there was a nicely placed Audi A6 nearby...) so I thought "this must be a good place to take photos of my bike then. I pulled over and Buzz came over to tell me about the history of Pistol River. He's waiting for the temperature in Brookings to fall (it was over 100F and boy was he right!) to work on his boat!

Day Two - 601.4mi

Aside from the endless parade of RVs heading back to cities, today was a good day for a ride.

Astoria is worth more time, but the other resort towns aren't. I met some cyclists from Burnaby in busy Seaside, and other motorcyclists going north at the fantastic Tillamook Air Museum.

Amazing views abound on the Three Capes Loop before I set up camp here at Beverly Beach.

Day One - 302.4mi

The one section of the Pacific Coast Highway where you'll most likely get rained on is where I got rained on today. Rain gear was a good idea.

Here's a photo of an ominous sky from the Port Townsend Ferry, where I met some other motorcyclists. It was a perfect day in Port Townsend.

If you ever get way out this way, to Lake Quinault, a great Salmon dinner can be had at the east end of the lake for about $17.

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California Fires Close Hwy 1

Follow updates on the Basin Complex Fire, which has closed Highway 1 in Big Sur, here:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/lospadres/conditions/

Photos when I get to the area.