The Adventure Begins

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Arriving in San Francisco we were met at the airport by Chris Carter the owner of Motion Pro a supplier of Keith's who gave us amazing hospitality over the next 3 days at Motion Pro's base in Loomis. Chris drove us there, had organised a hotel, supplied a workshop & tools and had also organised a driver & trailer to take us to PCP Motorsports the dealer we had purchased our new Suzuki DRZ400's from.

Back at Motion Pro's workshop we set the bikes up with our GPSs, Spotrackers & a few other bits & pieces over the next day & a half. Chris shouted us a Mexican meal & generally turned on the hospitality. On the second day of being at Motion Pro they had a staff BBQ which we were invited to. This was to celebrate American Independence Day on the 4th - the next day. That afternoon we decided to do a 80km shakedown ride to ensure everything was in order & I managed to get a puncture - good tube replacement practice. We also found that a couple of the bikes were missing which we figured was altitude combined with the emissions stuff they fit here to save the planet! A few mods required.

DAY 1:

Leaving Loomis on 4th July, American independence Day at 8am we headed North on Highway 49 -so named as it was the original Gold Miner route during the 1849 Gold Rush. We were soon into a series of gnarly forestry roads & gravel tracks interspersed with some sealed sections on the convoluted route we had plotted. We reached the small town of Burney late afternoon after 400kms, where we had pre-booked a basic motel. After some bike & gear adjustments we found a local diner for dinner, then a bit more route planning before a well earned night's sleep.

DAY 2:

Breakfast at the motel then gassed up & rode to the Mcarthur Burney falls. Spectacular falls which we walked down to the bottom of & had a workout climbing back up to our bikes. Onwards North we headed up into another forest on another gnarly track after checking the gate locked sign only applied in winter. The track reached around 1300m and is apparantely unpassable in winter. This trail degenerated into a single track sandy bush bashing exercise for a while before improving to a double track, occasionally soft sand testing our riding skills. Around noon we stopped on this trail to have lunch which we had brought with us. After the break a few more kms of this trail & we came out onto a sealed road. Unknown to us we had come out of the forest into a National Park. After a bit of fast talking from Ian at the Toll Booth we were allowed out for no charge and continued on seal the 30kms into Klamath Falls where we had pre-booked but at 2 different motels due to most having no vacancy - holiday season..

More route planning, some gear washing & the end of a short but hard - 230km day.

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Comments

[Mike Browne]

Weather look good.

[Richard Vinsen]

Photos
Sounds like fun. Love the photos - they tell the story quickly without wasting my data reading ???. No photos of Keith. Is he there ?