Wednesday dawned cool in the Rubys. The sun didn’t reach Taylor Canyon campground before morning hands were chilled breaking camp. We rolled out and went just five miles to breakfast in Lamoille, at the bitter End Tavern. Under the menu section for beverages was a section, “Better Beverages.” Bloody Mary? Bloody Christ!! Sent here by Detective Mike, we were soon preparing for the first dirt section of the trip, a county road from Lamoille to Secret Pass Road. It was an 18 mile section of dirt and gravel, in excellent condition. How does one prepare for dirt? The first [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday dawned clear with the cacophony of bird calls. Crystal Crane Hot Springs creates a small wetland and Spring is in the air. The hot springs were largely peopled with birders visiting the Malheur Wildlife refuge, and they were up at 0500 preparing for their day. The first 100 miles to Fields took us through Frenchglen and over the Catlow Rim. The Malheur wetlands, fed by the Blitzen River draining the West slope of Steens mountains, were full of birdlife of every variety. The reptile factor was remarkable. As we rode along, numerous snakes crossed the road in front [View Full Entry]

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Rolling out of the garage at 0500 seemed early enough. By the time we’d gone over the GPS route and maps, the Issaquah Starbucks went from empty to full of Monday morning working stiffs. Bummer. We’re on vacation! Too bad the four State Troopers drinking coffee got on the road before us. The miles of slab to Vantage went quick enough. But our Kiona turn on the vineyard side route ran afoul of construction. After an unplanned drone on I-84, we finally got to the twisties. Highway 395 from Pendleton to Burns is one of the greatest cross-state routes in [View Full Entry]

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Bill: A trip of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And a trip begins with a thousand freaking details. Over coffee and cupcakes at the West Seattle Cupcake Royale (shameless plug!) Brother Chuck and I recently made our final plans for the ride to Utah. The Plan: leave Monday May 18 and return Sunday May 31st. The destination: Utah, desert, twistys, gravel, dirt, campfires, stars, avoid the slab. Reverend Chuck and I have been making final preparations to our bikes: Chuck's BMW R1150GS and my Suzuki DL650. We've both added handlebar risers and metal foo [View Full Entry]

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Alturas, California makes a great staging point for a run up the middle of Oregon. A clear night produced morning temps of 24F at 0600. I enjoyed my morning coffee and yogurt watching Moto GP Free Practice 2 from Estoril, Portugal. By 0900 temps had risen to 38F, sunshine, and it was time to hit the road. Gassing up in town before departure, I noticed coolant leaking from my bike. I was about to head out across 150 miles of southern Oregon's Great Basin Desert, so it was time for some investigation. In a small town like Alturas, the guys at [View Full Entry]

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There were three days left for riding and some choices to make when I chose my route home from Fortuna. Having been thwarted by the weather on the southbound leg, I still wanted to ride my favorite central Oregon roads on the way home from the coast. It would require a traverse, west to east, across the north end of California. Last April I had ridden such a traverse, and my experience on that trip left me wanting more of this area's roads. The route options from Fortuna to Alturas are many if time is not an issue. In order to [View Full Entry]

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Having spent a delightful time on California's Central Coast, it was now time to ride the epic Pacific Coast Highway northward. Considered by many to be the finest drive drive in America, we experienced a portion of the PCH last summer on the family vacation road trip (that blog can be found at: http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Arnim-Hucks-Roadshow/). Much of the time while piloting Lurch, our Aerostar van up the PCH I had to tell myself to not imagine riding that marvelous road on my bike. This was my chance to finally ride it. The first half of this two day jaunt held the prize [View Full Entry]

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Monday brought more clear warm weather, and after a little campsite blogging, the days plan reformulated. A brake lever was waiting for me at a Honda dealer near San Francisco, but rather than ride up the coast that day, the Central Coast region beckoned further exploration. The plan was to loop inland over the Santa Lucia coast range, run north a ways through wine country, and cross back over the range to the ocean. A 30 mile southbound run on the Pacific Coast Highway would finish the loop back to camp. The loop comprised about 150 miles. My route up and [View Full Entry]

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After yesterday's limp up from Jalama, this was a perfect day to kick back and enjoy the locale. Camped just a few miles away, this morning was spent touring Heart Castle. Hearst Castle was one of six homes built by William Randolf Hearst, heir to the largest silver mining fortune in the world, and builder of the first multi-media empire. He was not permitted by his mother to build on the site because she thought he might "get carried away." Within a week of her death and inheriting the family fortune, he began drawing up plans with his architect. Mother was [View Full Entry]

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My lovely wife Dana suggested today’s title. (She’s the woman who bought me eleven six-packs of beer for my birthday a couple years back!) Friday April 4th dawned clear, mid-40s and breezy. Before sunrise surfers were in the water and fishermen were casting into the waves. After unburdening my bike of all it’s luggage for my day ride, I down loaded a route into the GPS. Intelligence was gathered from a subscription website, Pashnit.com, which contains hundreds of beautiful motorcycling roads in California. The site is run by a photojournalist and his photos combined w [View Full Entry]

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