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Published: June 16th 2009
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Dan and Rebecca are well under way on their tour of the U.S. on their trusty Honda motorcycle. We plan on touching the four furthest flung corners of the continental U.S. and we have a good start with the Northwest corner (Cape Flattery on the tip of the Washington peninsula) and the Southwest corner(Imperial Beach, San Diego) in the bag. The next corner in our sights is Key West, Florida.
Our route planning is, well, there is no route planning. We wake up and let the motorcycle decide which way we will be going. The shortest route is definitely not one our concerns. Visiting with family and friends and traveling the roads less traveled are the priorities for this adventure.
One of the best parts of this escapade is visiting our family and friends as we circle the U.S. We start our adventure in Everett, WA where we stayed at friend’s Kelli and TJ beautiful home for several days and had a great visit with Rebecca’s family Steve, Missy, Sarah, Kim, Dustyn and Jack. Then onward to Bellingham, WA where Dan’s daughter Sam and her fiancé Jon put us up and entertained us for several days. Dan’s daughter Kendall
took a break from college and her exams to make sure we had a good send off.
A couple ferry boat rides via Whidbey Island brought us to Port Townsend, WA where we stayed a few days with Dan’s sister Ann in her cozy home and visited Dan’s sister Quen at her botanical haven just outside of Port Townsend. Ann rolls a Suzuki 650 Savage and so there was, of course, much in the way of motorcycle talk. It seems that everywhere we go, we are part of an unofficial “motorcycle club”. Motorcycle riders are super friendly, and there’s a feeling of kinship between those of us who like traveling with our engine between our legs and our faces in the wind. Strangers always offer a friendly wave as we pass one another and at rest stops there is always lots of motorcycle chit chat. It’s a fun club with no dues!
Leaving Port Townsend we travel Hwy 101 to Cape Flattery on the tip of the Washington peninsula. After an overnight stay in Forks, WA we head down Washington’s Hwy 101 and then start our tour of the beautiful Oregon coast. We spent four days driving the
beautiful Oregon coast highway (Hwy 101) and were fortunate to catch a visit with Rebecca’s family (Dallas and Sally) enjoying their time-share in Gleneden Beach, which is about midway down Oregon.
We had our first opportunity to test our camping gear at Oregon’s Neehalem state park and we woke to the sound of rain on our tent fly. Our gear is working well, keeping us warm and dry and Dan’s “Jetboil” pot insures a hot cup of coffee every morning, no matter where we wake up.
Continuing on Hwy 101 we enter California and tour the Redwood Forest on the “Avenue of the Giants”. It’s then onward to San Francisco on picturesque Hwy 1. Overcast skies and cool weather have stayed with us all the way to San Francisco but despite a T-Storm warning, this hilly city is sunny and warm. We toured the must-see sights of San Francisco and after a breakfast in Haight-Ashbury we pushed on to the grape-growing and wine-tasting town of Pasa Robles on Hwy 101.
Pasa Robles was so nice that we stayed for two nights enjoying the small town and the wine that is produced in the surrounding fields. It has
a real small-town ambience and is certainly much less expensive than it’s wine producing big brother - Napa.
Our next destination is Upland, CA where Dan’s parents and siblings live. We left Pasa Robles early for our ride to Upland knowing it was going to be our longest day of riding yet (about 230 miles), but Dan made it even longer by taking a wrong turn and wound up detouring us about a hundred miles. Oh our aching butts!
Five nights were spent with Dan’s parents, Jack and Lee in Upland, CA. They graciously let us use their home as our Southern California base of operations. Dan’s sister Nan and her triplets Simon, Maxwell and Rebecca hosted a wonderful family dinner. We had several visits with Dan’s daughter Mandy and her husband Griff. Mandy is due in October so there was much talk about babies. Mandy is glowing in that way that only pregnant women can glow.
Of course one can’t go to SoCal without a trip to Disneyland. Rebecca and I spent much of a day with Mickey and Goofy and then did the tourist thing in Hollywood where we had a drink in probably the
ugliest bar in the entire world. We rounded out our L.A. area visit with a trip to Venice beach with Mandy who treated us to lunch complete with a vibrant and enthusiastic hip-hop (not rap) beach-side entertainer.
We hope that we didn’t wear out our welcome by the time we left Jack and Lee’s home after five nights. If we did, they didn’t show it. They gave us a great time with steak BBQs, a casino adventure and of course mom’s fabulous applesauce and whipped cream pancakes. Staying any longer with Dan’s mom would be very dangerous for the waistline. We got the hell out.
Our California adventure continues with a short ride down I-15 to San Diego where we met our friend Amanda who graciously took us on an automobile tour of her home town. We strolled the length of Imperial beach and tagged our Southwest corner of the U.S. After a delicious buffet dinner we spent our last night in California.
As we rode from San Diego, CA to Lake Havasu, AZ via Hwy 78 we had temperatures of 40F at the 4,000 foot level near Julian and then temps climbed to over 90F as
we descended into the Anza-Borrego desert state park. We went from having frozen fingers and toes to searing heat in less than an hours ride. Wow. We made it to our beach campsite at Lake Havasu State Park which we shared with many wild rabbits. Lake Havasu is just a big playground for guys with large, expensive and gas-guzzling boats. We also found that Arizona has no helmet law. Most of the local riders seem to disdain helmets. Interesting. After a comfortable night in our tent we checked our boots for scorpions and set off early for a warm ride to Sin City, aka Lost Wages.
Wish us luck and stay tuned for more of our travels!
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Nancy
non-member comment
Wow
You guys are always doing something new, way to go. Have a blast and live it to the fullest. I am thinking of you often, its great to hear from you.