day 10
Well, I started the big push homeward today. I departed Los Angeles at 8am this morning with the intent of taking advantage of the clear weather and heading as far north as I could. It paid off. I rode under some cloudy skies through the San Joaquin Valley today but the temperature remained about 50 degrees, so I pushed through to San Francisco. While crossing San Francisco, I missed one of my turn offs following I-580 westward towards the coast, and my GPS immediately recognized I was off route and found the most suitable route to get me back on track. Unfortunately, my GPS happened to select a ‘Bus Only’ lane going across the Bay Bridge and I was dumb enough to follow its directions. Needless to say, I got stopped by one of San Francisco’s Police and had to play the lost tourist routine. The cop bought my story and gave me directions on how to get back to my intended route. The cop-stop was a bit of luck because I had to cross the Bay Bridge, drop down to Treasure Island Naval Air Station, and reverse my route back to I-580 to head westward again. I had a chance to grab some great snaps of the Bay;
As you can see, the weather crossing San Francisco today was perfect. I pushed ahead northward on Hwy. 101, covering 500+ miles today and nearly half the distance of my trip home. I decided to stop for the evening in Ukiah, California, (the southern gateway to the Redwoods again). Tomorrow I’m hoping for similarly fair weather to cross back into Oregon, and hopefully back into Beaverton by tomorrow evening.
Again, I’ll keep everyone posted on my progress. With a little luck, I’ll be home tomorrow evening and I’ll post my last post of this trip.
day 11
Day 11, mile 2372, and I crossed back into Oregon at about 3pm this afternoon. I ran out of daylight and warm riding temperatures in Southern Oregon, so I decided to do one more hotel flop in Grants Pass, OR.
I left Ukiah, CA about 10am this morning because the temperature had dropped below freezing last night in the Redwoods, and I walked outside to a very frosty motorcycle this morning. I figured I should wait for the sun to rise and melt the frosty road surfaces before I pushed northward through the Redwoods again. It was still a somewhat chilly ride out of the Redwoods, but the weather warmed up again as I rode along the northern California coast.
Rather than completely retracing my Oregon coast route I rode a week ago, I chose to cut inland on Hwy. 199 between Crescent City in California and Grants Pass in Oregon. After getting to Grants Pass, I was going to head up I-5 for home.
Like I said earlier, I ran out of daylight and warm riding temperatures before I got out of Grants Pass, so here I stay for a night and head back to Beaverton in the morning.
No pictures today, sorry. I wanted to get as far northward into Oregon today as I could, so I didn’t stop to take any snaps.
I should be home by tomorrow afternoon, I’ll send my final trip report as soon as I roll into Beaverton again.
Happy New Year all,
