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:
 04      

      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?"
 14          

      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

      RETURN TO TOP

      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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 28   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.

Visit The Ones I Rode Page

Visit The CHECKERBOARD TOUR Page

Ride the GHOST TOUR with Elena

Visit Dan & Sheryl's Home page

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The below is the complete original content of this site, before we left for California.
It remains archived below, mostly because the text and links have much
interesting information about our motivation, our motorcycles, and our mission.

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FLASH:   Saturday 2PM MDT 06/19/2004: Scott and I have returned.  All prayers answered!   A day early for sure but very well traveled after 3,365 miles!  We have some beautiful pictures to share with all of you but it is going to take a week or so to get them organized and posted.

Friday 6PM MDT 06/11/2004: We leave at 5 AM Tomorrow morning.   We ask your prayers for our safe return, and for the safety of our families while we're away.   We're due back in Longmont CO the evening of Sunday June 20th.

This page is reserved for the photos from a tour that friend and neighbor Scott and I plan to ride in June 2004 from Longmont, CO to [near] San Francisco, CA.  ...And this will be just the beginning!  From there we will proceed north up the beautiful costal highways 1 and 101 through the states of CA, OR, and WA.   We'll go as far northwest as possible in the USA - which appears to be Moclips, WA.

Chorus (360K .wav):
            He wore black denim trousers and motorcycle boots
            And a black leather jacket with an eagle on the back
            He had a hopped-up 'cycle that took off like a gun
            That fool was the terror of Highway 101

I first heard this song in a 1953  Olds Rocket 98 while driving with my buddies to Shawnee-Mission (KS) High School in 1955,  and because of it I have had a recurring obsession since way back then to discover for myself just what Highway 101  is like.  Here is the  whole tune (300K .wav).


This Honda Sport-Touring 1100cc motorcycle (same as Scott & Dan's bikes) is Star Wars engineering compared with the  1950 Triumph Thunderbird  650cc twin pictured on the sheet music above.   The ST1100's advanced 16-valve V-4 Engine makes almost 100 hp to the T-birds 35.  The "ST" accelerates furiously and it can stop on the proverbial dime with its three oversized aircraft-style disc brakes.  This potent combination can virtually  explode from zero to 100 mph back to zero in less than 20 frantic seconds - and all in little over a quarter mile!  Compare the ST1100 specs with those of the baddest boy from Detroit, the  2005 Chrysler 300C Hemi.  And don't forget that the "ST" (which some say stands for Super Tanker because of its 7.5 gallon fuel tank) gets 50 mpg compared with the 300Cs guzzling 17 mpg.  Sweet...

From Longmont CO to San Francisco is about 1,200 miles, then 900 miles north up the coast to the northwest corner of WA.  In all about a 4,200 mile round trip.   We plan to do it all in only nine days: Two days to S-F, four days up and back down the coast, and two days back to Longmont CO. That leaves us one day of slack for side trips, making bail, etc...


Why the name Left Coast Tour, you ask?  If you recall the 2000 election, the liberal (i.e., "Left") states of California, Oregon, and Washington were almost the only western states that  voted Democrat.   In November 2004, even fewer states voted Democrat, but California, Oregon, and Washington steadfastly held their list to port.

 Meanwhile, here are some links to help guide you in previewing what we'll see:

 CA Motorcycle Roads
  CA Highway 1 Photo Album
  CA, OR, and WA 101
 Oregon 101
 Washington 101:
 U.S. Highway 101
 OnLine Highways - Highway 1
  Ups and Downs of Highway 1
  Highway 101 Live Cams

Thank you for sharing this time with us.  Please check back often, especially around the end of June 2004, when we hope to have (Lord willing) the photos from our tour posted here.   We close - for now - by presenting Bob Seegar's Roll Me Away , (1.6Mb .mp3) an anthem that embodies, for this biker at least, both a vision and a prayer:

     Took a look down a westbound road, right away I made my choice
     Headed out to my big two-wheeler, I was tired of my own voice
     Took a bead on the northern plains and just rolled that power on!
     ...
     Gotta keep rollin, gotta keep ridin', keep searchin' till I find what's right
     And as the sunset faded I spoke to the faintest first starlight
     And I said next time - next time - We'll get it right

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