San Diego to Boston on a loaded VFR

[Professor ST]

After a little issue with the first shipper, stidelivers.com did an outstanding job and delivered the bike directly to my hotel in San Diego.  I hit the road on Friday and here are the summaries of the first two days.

Day one 7/7 left SD at 10, lunch with friends at 2 in Santa Monica.  stopped by Venice Beach for a few pictures and to dip my toes on the water.  Headed north on the PCH through Malibu, absolutely stunning views all along the road.Stopped for Coffee in Santa Barbara, which is a bit 
Ike an arty Newbury Street.  Ten miles up I settled in Goleta and have a few IPAs at the Mercury Lounge a 5 minute walk from the Super 8

Day two, 7/8 on the road at 8:22 and headed to SF and perhaps north.  stopped for a couple of pictures, cloudy and cold, but still awesome mountain and farmaland views.  Stopped for coffee and a bagel in Morro Bay.  Continued up the coast, through Big Sur with spectacular roads and views, through Monterey and stopping is Los Gatos to find an end point for the day.  I wanted to get through SF and found a Days Inn just North, in Novato.  Drove though San Francisco, which looks like a nice place to visit and drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, which was a real thrill.

[sleazy rider]

Keep your eyes peeled for a two up silver Connie and a green Ninja 650 headed south on the PCH.  Their report is here also.

Oh, and..

 

Glad to hear your having fun.     It's a lifetime trip you're doing.

[Professor ST]

Dumb question, how do I add pictures from my iPad?

[Hotbrakes]

Dumb question, how do I add pictures from my iPad?

Upload them to a hosting site like Photobucket then copy and paste the image code in the body of your post.

[sleazy rider]

Having free wifi available makes it much quicker too.  3G uploads are sketchy, at best.  I had issues while traveling the Plains on occasion.  Use the iPad Photobucket app on iTunes to help ease the strain.

http://photobucket.com/ipad

[919]

Sounds like a great trip, can't wait to read more.  

Is there a back story to this trip?  What made you decide to ship your bike to the west coast and ride home versus the other way?  

I'm not criticizing in any way, just wondering.

[Professor ST]

the story is that we had a four-family vacation to SoCal with 19 people in total and when they got on the plane to go home, I got on the VFR!

Day 3  7/9. Novato to Crescent City, CA.  The PCH beat me up pretty good with all the switchbacks and the going was slower than I hoped.  Only 366 miles today.  as promised, the Northern California coast was beautiful, even with fog and temps in the low 50's.  also saw a group of 5 big Elk graving at the side of route 101, amazing animals and clearly possessed of a calm that only comes from being completely in charge!  I met a father and son traveling for 27 days from SoCal through Canada on GS1200's and then ran into a husband, wife and son who were going south on the PCH as I was headed North.  the folks on SportTouring.net told me to keep an eye out for them, but I never imagined we would actually cross paths.  They took a picture which may already be posted.  Another  great day.  Crater Lake Tomorrow!

[wibornz]

Zack, Professor ST and me Wibornz.  Professor saw us riding thorough a small town along the coast.

 

[veefer800canuck]

Wow small world!

[sleazy rider]

Keep your eyes peeled for a two up silver Connie and a green Ninja 650 headed south on the PCH.

Zack, Professor ST and me Wibornz.  Professor saw us riding thorough a small town along the coast.

 

Damn, I really didn't expect you would stumble across each other!     Its a real small world out there.

[919]

the story is that we had a four-family vacation to SoCal with 19 people in total and when they got on the plane to go home, I got on the VFR!

That's awesome that things lined up for you like that!  I'm jealous.

Zack, Professor ST and me Wibornz.  Professor saw us riding thorough a small town along the coast.

 

This is also awesome that you ran into these guys!  Have a safe trip.

[2RR2NV]

so where is the pic of the VFR? i'm a sucka for one.

[Professor ST]

Day 4 7/10 started out a little misty and 50 in CA, but as I moved inland it cleared up to become a truly beautiful day.  I headed directly to Crater Lake, OR and it was as stunning as promised, then a stop in Chemult, OR for iced tea and chicken taco salad at a nice local diner.  After lunch, it was a straight, 200 mile shot up 97 and east on 20 across the Oregon Badlands.  High desert, sagebrush and vistas that seem to go on forever.  Stopped for the night in Burns, OR.

Day 5 7/11 a nice sunny day to start for the first time.  Left Burns, OR at 7:30 and stopped in Vale OR at 9:30 after a quick 110 miles across scenic farmland as yesterday's high desert gave way to lower elevation, more water and more life.  Crossed into Mountain time about 50 miles back, so it's now 10:30.  should hit Idaho soon, headed to Idaho Falls.  Wildfires, Moon Craters and giant Buttes accompanied my ride into Idaho Falls.  Idaho Falls is a nice, clean town with small falls and a large Mormon Temple.  After checking in, I took the motorcycle to a self service wash and cleaned off all the bugs and then went for a 3 mile run along the river (two more sure signs that I'm not a "real" biker).  Now I'm having Dinner at the Sandpiper where the special is fresh caught Gold River Salmon.

[Professor ST]

Venice beach


Morro Bay
Golden Gate bridge
Endless California coast
Ten feet from this big boy
Snow on crater lake
Crater lake
Idaho wildfire
Craters on the moon
A big butte

[sleazy rider]

   

[Professor ST]

Day 6 7/12. A quick 100 miles from Idaho Falls put me at the West Yellowstone entrance and I spend most of the day tooling around at a leisurely pace and stopping to take a lot of pictures.  No bears or bison, but I did get to see Old Faithfully erupt and lake Yellowstone was great.  Even the right from the East side to Cody, WY, through the Shoshone National Park was spectacular.  The landscape changed a lot from scrub desert to huge rock formations.  Cody, WY is a cowboy town gone commercial, but the have rodeo every night and a local steakhouse has a shoot out at six.  265 miles today.  So for I've covered a total of  2152 miles.  Tomorrow should mark the halfway point.

[sammyseaman]

 

[919]

Thanks for taking us along, but lets see some pics of that loaded up RWB VFR!


Safe Travels!

[Jay S.]

What a small world to run into some fellas from the forum along the way! Enjoy the trip...pics of the VFR perhaps?

 

[Professor ST]

Day 7 7/13 on the road to Mt. Rushmore. At 7:50 odometer at 5460.  Cloudy and 66 but expected to hit 90s today.  As predicted, it was hot!  Crossing Wyoming through the Big Horn National Forest and then on To Hill City, SD for the night.  After checking  in about 4 I went for a 3 mile run, a dip in the. Pool and an early dinner before riding up to Mt. Rushmore to see the evening lighting program.  The ceremony was terrific, but the lighting made it impossible to get good pictures and the ride backwash a little hairy.  it gets really dark out here!  after dropping everything back at the Hotel, I'm relaxing with a old beer at the Mangy  Moose Tavern.   478 miles for the day and 2630 for the trip overall.