CenCal Tag Run Sunday 02/20/11

After nearly a week of rain I was ready to go for a nice long ride. My original plan was to go on Saturday and move the CenCal tag from Larkspur to Sunol. Alas, it rained all day Saturday as well... So Sunday morning I headed out around 9:00am for what was promising to be a nice dry day. 

After the tag move I would figure out where else I wanted to go on the fly. The important thing was that I was going to get to ride!

I captured the tag at the Larkspur Ferry:

Then I made my way over to Sunol to set the new tag. I was going to set it at Bosco's but I changed my mind when I got there and set it here instead:

As it was still to early for lunch and I was not ready to stop riding, I started thinking of places to ride to, like Gizdich for PIE... and trying to figure out where I should eat lunch. I ended up riding down to Phil's in Moss Landing. I'm not sure why but I just felt like I should go there even though I have gone there several times recently.

The line at Phil's was out the door again and I waited patiently in that long line. This time I ordered the fryer combo with squid, scallops, and oysters (yes, I know fried food is bad, blah, blah, blah). Then while I was hunting for a place to sit I ran into my former boss Mark - who helped me get my 1st motorcycle and learn to ride it in his culdesac - who was there with girlfriend. We had a nice lunch and visit. When we were done I had them follow me in their cage to Gizdich for PIE (now don't act all surprised, you knew the pie was coming). 

After pie we said goodbye and I headed back to Hwy 1. I was going to head north to Half Moon Bay and then head home. Unfortunately as I neared Santa Cruz the rain showers were back! So I reluctantly took the exit for Hwy 17 and made my way home.

I didn't get to ride as much as I wanted but I did get to ride and I had lunch and dessert with friends. I could be all snowed in like the guys back in the northeast... I am just tired of the rain - after all isn't it supposed to be sunny California?

Trip total: ~258 miles

Another Sunday Seafood & Pie Run 02/13/11

Sunday was another beautiful day in the bay area and to make up for cutting our trip short on Saturday RudeSTer and I decided to head down to Phil's for a nice bowl of cioppino.

RudeSTer greets the fisherman outside... 

The line was insane... It went all the way out to the parking lot, and yes we waited through it.

Yum! The calamari was excellent...
 

My lunch arrives, cioppino and salad - enough for two people - but I definitely was up to the challenge!

 

After lunch we walked out to the beach behind Phil's to help the giant lunch settle in our stomachs...
 

On the way out I decided to pose with my new friend. I like him a lot because he doesn't talk back...
 

The line was still out the door when we were leaving at 2pm...
 

Next up was PIE at Gizdich Ranch. Olallieberrie a la mode and some fresh pressed apple juice made on site at Gizdich...

Then we headed toward home over Hwy 152 turning off to ride by Uvas Dam. Another nice but short ride on a truly beautiful day.

Trip total: ~131 miles

Howard's Cafe RTE, NorCal Tag run, & 1st Tip Over Crash 02/12/11

It was a beautiful day for a ride and lunch. RudeSTer and I met PestoMike in San Carlos and the three of us headed up to Howard's Cafe in Occidental for the RTE.

It was a small turnout but the food and company were excellent - squirrelHunter (Mike) came all the way from Folsom:

Rudester (showing off his giant bowl of Mocha, you guessed it - he had two!) and PestoMike:

Dmcleane (Dave) from Muir Beach... He's holding RudeSTer and my ride plan for the day... We had planned on going up to Redding to visit his cousin and stay the night...

My breakfast... Smoked Salmon Omelette Florentine... Heaven on a plate:

STeeds in the parking lot:

After lunch RudeSTer and I made our way to the NorCal tag in Comptche:

Then we started to make our way to Ukiah... We were going to set the new tag there and then jump on Hwy 20 to I5 and zoom up to Redding... Unfortunately, we lost a lot of time visiting at the RTE and riding around on the little country roads getting to Comptche...

Then we lost a few more minutes when I had my first mishap on Gigolo on Orr's Spring Road. I came into the second sharp turn of a double switchback and realized I was still in 2nd gear when I should have been in 1st, and I was in the steepest part of the turn. The engine was really lugging and about to stall... I tried to save it by putting it into 1st gear quickly but it stopped in neutral!!! YIKES! Lickety split I had it in 1st gear for real but when I released the clutch and hit the throttle it stalled anyway. 

I remember yelling "Oh Shit!" as we tipped over and I was thrown off...

I was trying to pick up poor Gigolo when RudeSTer came back for me. He had to take pictures first of course. The pictures really do not show the true steepness of the hill...

Fortunately, the only damage was to my pride... We finally made it to Ukiah and I set the new NorCal tag:

Then we stopped to use the wifi and upload pictures of the drop and the tag. It was getting so late that our arrival time in Redding would have been almost 9pm and we decided to just come home.

Trip total: ~393 miles

Seafood and PIE

 Finally, after a week of being flat on my back sick (again) I felt up to trying a short ride today. It was such a gorgeous day, sunny with temps in the mid 70s - even on the coast.

My first stop was Phil's Fish Market & Eatery in Moss Landing, where I had a lovely lobster roll and shrimp cocktail for lunch. Such an improvement over hot soup which I've endured for days on end in hopes of making my bronchitis go away...

I also bought myself a T-Shirt while I was at Phil's... Kind of shows my disposition...

After lunch I made my way north on Hwy 1 to Gizdich Ranch for some dessert, Olallieberrie pie ala mode

When I finished with my pie I was ready to go home. I am still not quite 100% and even though I really wanted to run up the coast and find a nice quiet beach to relax on, I just was not up to it.

I did make one little stop at Mackenzies Chocolates in Santa Cruz though... I only drop by there a couple of times a year so I figured since I was close I could pick up some gifts for Valentine's Day.

Not a long day on the road for me but it was enough. Hopefully next weekend I will be ready for big ride. Gigolo is getting a little antsy...

Trip total: ~136 miles

My current favorite bumper sticker...

If I had a bumper this one would be on it...
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California & Oregon Tag Trifecta Sat 01/22/11 - Mon 01/24/11

Rudy and I hit the road Saturday at around 7:15am for a weekend of riding and leap-frog tagging... Leap-frog as in one of us moves the tag and then the other moves it immediately afterwards. Adding to the fun and confusion, by tagging rules you are allowed ride to where you want to set the new tag before you actually capture the existing tag, which we did a little...

The original plan was to move the CenCal tag in Fairfield and the NorCal tag near the Oregon border in Dorris. After thinking about it a little bit we decided that going for the Oregon tag in Florence was doable as well and revised the grand plan. Saturday we would try to grab the CenCal and NorCal tags and then ride to Medford, OR ~450 miles. On Sunday we would grab the Oregon tag and then ride to Eureka, CA, ~450 miles. Then on Monday we would have a shorter, more leisurely ride home to San Jose making time to ride through the Ave of the Giants, ~320 miles.

It was still pretty cool and a bit overcast as we left San Jose and headed up Hwy 680 to Fairfield but soon enough the sun was peeking out. We had dressed for the expected cool weather further north so we were okay. We arrived at the CenCal tag at Jelly Belly HQ around 8:30am and I spent a couple of minutes taking pictures for the tag capture.

After a short discussion about where I could put the next CenCal tag, Rudy suggested a little town called Esparto. We headed there to choose the tag and I ended up selecting the Burger Barn.

 

When we finished taking pictures - me to set the new tag and then Rudy to capture my tag - we headed to the nearest Starbucks to use the wifi to upload my tag pictures and make the move complete. Leaving the 'bucks we again headed north keeping a lookout for a good place for Rudy to set the new tag. When we stopped in Williams to fill up our gas tanks and stretch our legs Rudy found his tag.

We hit the road again stopping near Willows at a Mc Donalds to grab some not so healthy food and use the wifi so Rudy could upload his tag pictures.

Later we stopped for a short rest break somewhere along the way on Hwy 5:

When we stopped for gas in Castella Rudy decided to use the post office next door as his new NorCal tag. Here is my picture capturing his tag:

Eventually, we made it to Dorris where Rudy captured the NorCal tag (confused yet?). The flagpole in Dorris is said to be the tallest in America.

We stopped in Klamath Falls, OR and tried but failed to find a Starbucks or McDonalds where we could upload photos, but Rudy found a Blue Star Memorial that he would later use as his new OR tag.

From Klamath Falls we headed to Medford via Hwy 140, which would have been a nice road to ride through the mountains on a warm sunny day. Instead we saw frozen rivers, snow along the country side, and slick, wet roads most of the way to Medford, with temperatures ranging from 34F to 39F. We took it very slow just in case there was black ice on the road. 

At one point my GPS was trying to tell me to turn off onto Dead Indian Road but I had studied the route in advance and stayed on Hwy 140. I was pretty sure we'd both be dead indians if we made that turn!

We arrived in White City, just outside of Medford, at about 5:30pm where we decided to stop for the night.

Saturday's mileage: ~475 miles

We awoke Sunday morning to heavy fog and cool temperatures. It was 32F when we stopped for gas in Medford on our way to the existing OR tag in Florence. Fortunately since there was already a good amount of traffic on I5 the pavement was fairly dry, but we took it easy and kept our speed down just in case.

As we made our way west the temperature quickly rose to the low forties. When we stopped at the Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville to take my new OR tag picture it had risen to about 52F.

Before heading west on Hwy 138 we stopped in Sutherlin for a lunch and photo upload break. On the way out of town we stopped for another photo op:

Later we found our bronze friends at the Tsunami Art Gallery on Hwy 101 in Gardiner:

We arrived at the existing OR tag location in Florence at about 1:25pm and I got my tag capture picture:

Here is a better picture of the Florence Bridge over the Sluislaw River:

We stopped at a McDonalds in Coos Bay to upload my OR tag pictures, the old on at the Florence Bridge and the new one at the Seven Feathers Casino. Once I was done posting my pictures to move the tag, Rudy posted his which moved the tag to the Blue Star Memorial in Klamath Falls that we visited on the previous day. 

Along the way south we found a nice spot in Port Orford to take some pictures:

When saw the dinosaurs we had to stop to take pictures at the Prehistoric Gardens located 44 miles north of Brookings, OR. Rudy parked a little too close - the dinosaur roared and the STeed tipped over in fright. It took both of us to get the bike righted and all the gravel did not help!

It was already well past sunset when we arrived in Brookings at 6:05pm so we decided to stop for the night instead of continuing on to Eureka.

Sunday's mileage: ~345 miles

Monday morning we hit the road at about 8:00am hoping to make good time since we did not meet our goal of Eureka on Sunday. Just outside of Brookings we stopped to get pictures as we were entering California: 

As we were riding through Cresent City we saw Ocean World and stopped for pictures again. Too bad they were not open... Shark petting just might have been real interesting.

A short rest break along the coast to stretch our legs and take some more pictures:

Had to stop at the Trees of Mystery in Klamath:

We arrived at the Samoa Cookhouse in Samoa, just outside of Eureka, at about 10:30am. This is my new NorCal tag picture. Even though we had eaten breakfast in Brookings, Rudy was hungry so we went in for breakfast - or as we chose to call it, an early lunch.

When we were finished with second breakfast it was back to the road. We jumped off Hwy 101 for a nice ride down Avenue of the Giants. It was a perfect day for it, nice and warm, and hardly any traffic. I had planned to have some pictures of the ride from my GoPro camera but due to technical problems I didn't get any. Oh, well, there will be other chances to repeat the ride and try again.

We made a quick stop for gas in Garberville and then headed to Leggett and the Drive-Thru-Tree:

We made one more stop in Cloverdale where we gassed up and took a break at Starbucks. I got to upload my NorCal tag pictures, the old tag at the Castella Post Office and the new tag at the Samoa Cookhouse. My glory was short-lived as Rudy moved the tag behind me using his photo from the Drive-Thru-Tree.

We waved goodbye at Hwy 880 where I took the Hwy 237 exit and I parked in my driveway, tired but very happy from the great trip, at about 6:30pm. 

Monday's mileage: ~422 miles

Trip total: ~1243 miles

Tag total: 7 moves

CenCal tag: 2     

•  Jelly Belly HQ to the Burger Barn (Me) 
• Burger Barn to Williams (Rudy) 

NorCal tag: 3     

• Flagpole to the Post Office (Rudy)
• Post Office to the Samoa Cookhouse (Me)
• Samoa Cookhouse to the Drive-Thru-Tree (Rudy)

Oregon tag: 2    

• Florence Bridge to the Seven Feathers Casino (Me)
• Seven Feathers Casino to the Blue Star Memorial (Rudy)