West Coast Run

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desertrefugee

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Left Phoenix on Thursday and stopped in Santa Barbara. Made our way up the coast on the 101 and have been in Salinas bopping down to Laguna Seca for Superbike championship series racing. Great weather here. Headed to Santa Cruz for the day to eat all manner of fried stuff on the boardwalk. We haven't decided which way we're headed tomorrow...some tough choices.

What a country.
 

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If your heading North, I would take Highway 9 out of Santa Cruse up to skyline drive and then North till it ends at 93, then back to the coast and half moon bay. If you are going to hit Napa valley north of San Francisco I know most of the good wineries up there and Calistoga it a great place for bed and breakfasts or just spending the night.

I have ridden those area's for many years off and on so know them very well.
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=176588#p176588:elj0a42d said:
OldWrench » 3 minutes ago[/url]":elj0a42d]
If your heading North, I would take Highway 9 out of Santa Cruse up to skyline drive and then North till it ends at 93, then back to the coast and half moon bay. If you are going to hit Napa valley north of San Francisco I know most of the good wineries up there and Calistoga it a great place for bed and breakfasts or just spending the night.

I have ridden those area's for many years off and on so know them very well.
My wife and I been thinking about doing the B&B think on our next anniversary.
Can you recommend one?
 
Were you going to Calistoga, the last B&B we did was Fort Brag, CA. Let me check with a friend of mine up there to see what he is recommending for Calistoga. You must stop at Sterling Vineyards, they have a tram that takes you up to the winery, it is pretty cool.
 
If you are in the area I can highly recommend the Spring Hill Suites in Madera Ca. In 2013 it was excellent with a great buffet breakfast included in the room rate for both my brother Kim and myself. :good: :salute:
 
I am not good at providing play-by-play travelogue'esque updates on road trips. Too busy road-trippin', I guess. And too beat to upload pics in the evening. Anyway, our trip turned out to be a whirlwind and got cut short as we had to high-tail it back to Phoenix due to my buddy's daughter and some issues she was having. Sheesh. A grown woman. Long story.

Anyway, I can check a couple of things off my bucket list: Laguna Seca, Pacific Coast Highway (Monterey to Cambria). The PCH has taken it's rightful place as THE MOST beautiful ride I've ever taken. And I've taken a bunch. We were smart and did it on a weekday - far less traffic. Just stunning. Photos can't do it justice. Oh, and let me just say that I don't recommend the Mojave Desert at midday in July. At least we were prepared and had the proper gear with LOTS OF WATER. What a miserable stretch (Route 58 and I40).

Valkyrie didn't miss a beat. From cool, foggy mornings in Salinas needing the choke to start to blistering heat with oil temperature running 230*. Purred like a big ole kitten no matter what I threw at it.

Life is good.
 

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My wife and I use to ride the PCH at least once a year, now we drive it. She is hooked on San Simon and Hearst Castle. I need to ride it again as well as 1 and 101 north of San Francisco, just incredible scenery.

Shame your trip got cut short, but you are braver than I am riding through the desert in July.
 
I will post two more images of California. Both seaside shots. Both illustrating scenic moments for folks "in the right place at the right time".

Nice place to visit.
 

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In 2011 my brother Kim and I rode up to San Lois Obisbo and spent the Thursday night there. In the morning we headed north but didn't quite make it as far as Big Sur as there was plenty of road works with automatic traffic lights and we turned around at the second set. It was fairly prudent as we had to drop my rental Road King back at OC Harley Davidson by 5pm and it was after 10am when we made our uturn. It was pretty cool to see the coast line on the way back as in the morning the marine layer prevented us from seeing much more than the guard rails. We also had plenty of excitement getting into and through LA during Friday afternoon peak hour traffic to drop the rental off in time. Plenty of high speed lane splitting. :yes:
On our big ride in August 2013 we were once again caught up by roadworks and ended up parked on the Bixby Bridge for about 10 minutes, which was absolutely brilliant and a great photo opportunity. Five days later I was able to drive our rented Dodge Charger up the PCH to Napa with my wife and daughter. They weren't as impressed with the drive as much as myself as this was their first big drive after getting off the plane from Oz the morning before and didn't fully appreciate my schedule for them ( almost had a mutiny on the first day of their road trip). :hihihi:
 
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