NOW WITH VIDEOS Last Update: 11/14/2004 The below as written by Dan:
Day 1 (Saturday 06/12/2004) begins at sunrise with our beautiful wives to kiss us goodbye.
Scott's lady was in her PJs so I couldn't post the picture of her and Scott for fear that she would
hurt me later. The bikes both have new tires and are almost lunging at their bits to get underway.
We roll out of Longmont, CO, heading north to I-80 west. The Checkerboard Boys ride again!
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Look closely at the last pic in Row 02 above - Monday's sunset is reflected on my bike.
Most of Days 1 and 2 are spent grinding through the wastelands of Utah and Nevada.
We rode hundreds of miles at
5,500 rpm
which is, umm, a little over 70 mph. :>)
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Here we are Sunday evening (Day 2) where we had a wonderful dinner
and stayed the night at Scott's sister's home in Berkely, California:
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Monday (Day 3) began with an unexpected parking lot tipover that damaged the windshield of my
bike. This required a side trip to the local Home Depot to borrow the tools to stop-drill the new
stress crack in the plexiglas. :>(
Even with the late start we got in some extrodinary riding on
CA Highway 1. There were enough peg-grinding bends to please even this old
Boot Scraper:
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That night we stayed in the beautifully restored Country Inn in
Gualala, CA along highway 1.
The rooms are large and lovingly decorated. The beds are heavenly and
the free breakfast is
extrordinary - and all for a reasonable price! Stay there if you ever get the chance.
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The last pic in Row 09 is the same ocean beach covered by the
Gualala Live Weather Cam
Tuesday (Day 4) ties with Monday as the best riding experience of my two-wheeled life (now in
its 51st bug-splatted year). The road would snake along the sea-misted coast for
a few miles and
then dive inland into the forest for a few more. There the turns would get tighter
and more frequent.
Peg to peg in 25 feet or less at "25-over" (you riders know what I mean), then again and again...
You'll just have to imagine the thrills because it's impossible to take pix during such motobatics.
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We took a side trip for the obligatory drive through a redwood tree.
There we met David & Sheila Lyon, a lovely couple from South Africa.
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After the redwood forest, CA highway 1 hands off to CA 101 and continues north.
Just after that we stopped at Rio Dell, CA for lunch at what had to be the world's
best hamburger joint. We both ordered the "Lumberjack Special" as shown in
the last pic in the row below. It included a double bacon cheeseburger,
with hotdog, "small" fries and a large-size drink - all for only $4.95.
"Yo Scott, you gonna be wantin' all them fries?"
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Another little side trip took us into a different redwood forest where one of the
giants had fallen across the road not too many weeks earlier. It must have taken
a really huge machine to make such a perfect vertical cut right through it!
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By now we had crossed the border into Oregon where the coastal scenery was even
more beautiful if such a thing could be possible. Day 4 ends with a twinge of sadness,
knowing that at noon tomorrow: game over - and we must head for home.
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Up early on Wednesday (Day 5) for a sumptuous breakfast, then off again into the ocean
mists along the thrilling Oregon coast. Below we share our
stream-of-conciousness
experience with you as our bikes throw away the miles. "Faster than a speeding bullet,
More powerful than a locomotive:" the ST1100s hurl themselves first at the northern
then the eastern horizons. To paraphrase Forrest Gump: "Beauty is as beauty does."
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We present you "Essence of Ocean" in these three panoramas:
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And here are some
VIDEO
clips to give life to our experience (4-6 Mb .avi files):
Thru the Tunnel
Into the Forest
On the Beach
Thru the Looking Glass
Days 6, 7, and 8 (Saturday) fly by in a literal blur. Even as we see these
scenes shrink in our mirrors, there is joy and anticipation knowing we are,
at last, homeward bound. We shared Thursday breakfast with
Bill & Linda Hutchings in John Day, OR, where they run a print shop.
Scott and I briefly toyed with the idea of buying new "Chopper" rides,
but in the end we took our old true loves back to the Motel and back Home.
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Must feed our trusty steeds -
Last fillup on the last day; Home is only three blocks away -
Praise God: We made it back OK; our families we'll see today -
Let the dreaming of next time begin...
Roll Me Away, again ,
We missed our goal of Moclips, Washington, and only got as far as Newport, Oregon.
We couldn't make the average speed it would have taken to do make northwest WA.
Oh well, maybe
next time
we'll get it right.
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