Pacific Coast highway trip 2011

It has been more than 2 years since I have posted to this blog. I guess Facebook kind of took the place of the blog, but this is a good place to document the epic adventure which is the PCH 2011.  I left on the Harley at 0430 Monday morning, 6/26/2011 and am heading to Portland, OR.  I should arrive on Wednesday. Angela is flying to Portland Wednesday and then we will spend the next 7 or 8 days riding the Pacific Coast Highway s/b to at least San Fransisco.

I stopped in Tonopah, AZ to rehydrate. Tonopah is about 100 miles down I-10 from home. As I got off the Harley I noticed my left side saddle bag was hanging open.  I then noticed that Angela's rain suit was gone. So, somewhere between home and Tonopah there is a nice set of Frogg Toggs laying in the street.

My route took me through Vicksburg AZ on my way towards Lake Havasu City.  I ran across Mark Martin and David Ragan's car haulers heading east after Sunday's NASCAR race in California.

From there it was on to Havasu and a quick stop at the famed London Bridge for a photo op.

From Havasu it was w/b to Barstow CA and then n/b on US 395 towards Reno, NV.  The first 550 miles were pretty boring as the scenery was nothing but desert. I thought I was going to have to deal with sweltering heat all day but it never really got bad. I dont know what the temps were but Im guessing the highest I encountered was about 105 and that really wasnt too bad as long as I kept moving.

I stopped in Coso Junction, CA for gas and water and noticed a nice shady picnic area.  This is where it was 105 but with a breeze the shady area was actually pretty nice.

So....I went over the picnic tables and drank my bottle of water and ate a power bar. I would have layed down and rested on the table but it had a lot of bird poop on it.  After a little while I returned to my motorcycle and that is when I noticed the "other" sign.  I saw "picnic area" but look closely at the sign on the other side of the opening.  It says, "caution snakes".  Yikes!!!  Had I seen that I never would have gone in there.  I was creeped out because I hate snakes.   Why would you designate a snake infested area as a picnic area anyway??  I spent the next 10 miles worried that one had crawled into a saddle bag or onto the frame of the bike when I wasnt looking.......

Finally, after the 550 miles of desert, the terrain began to change near Lone Pine CA.  This was where I had planned on stopping for the day but it was only about 3pm and I was still feeling good so I kept on going.  The scenery turned into rolling farm land set against the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevadas and then evolved into mountain grades and curves through thick forests along beautiful lakes and rivers. 

Another 200 miles and I finally decided to call it a day in Walker, CA.  Walker is a small wide spot in the road and I love little towns like this.  I have no cell service and no phone in the motel room but I have free wifi and satellite TV so all is good!  I love the mom and pop motels too....

The view from my front door....

So Monday ended with 755 miles ridden in elevations ranging from 500 feet above sea level to over 8200 feet in elevation, hours of desert to beautiful forests and temps ranging from the mid 60's to over 100 degrees.  Tuesdays weather forecast calls for lots of rain and thunderstorms as I head through the Lake Tahoe area into Oregon.  Uh oh........