I needed to visit the four Tour of Honor sites in Northern California and wanted to meet and ride with some guys out of Sacramento locally known as the Old Farts. Soooo, consulting the local crystal ball for weather, I decided the week of October 15 would be better than the week of the 22nd. That and some of the Old Farts would be out of town the week of 8 October sort of narrowed it down a bit.
Overland Stage Steakhouse by
jdgretz, on Flickr
Since I was on a rather tight schedule, I didn't take a bunch of photos but here goes...
I headed up US-101 for the Northbound run and had planned to come back down either by US-395 or PCH. However, I ended up returning via I-5 and cutting my trip short by a day.
I enjoy interesting cafes and other places. This cafe had a poker parlor attached to it. Atascadero, California, along Highway 1
The first location I stopped at was in Santa Clara - the Santa Clara Veterans Memorial. A quick photo and then find a place to sleep.
Santa Clara Veterans Memorial by
jdgretz, on Flickr
Before bed, I filled the tank. Using Gas Buddy on the cell phone, I found this place with relatively inexpensive fuel.
Rotten Robbie - Gas by
jdgretz, on Flickr
The next day was a blast up to Weed, CA and the Living Sculpture Memorial Garden by way of Santa Rosa.
The Pacific Air Museum was the next stop.
Outside the Pacific Coast Air Museum - Santa Rosa, CA by
jdgretz, on Flickr
This was great! I'm a sucker for old aircraft and found a bunch of really cool stuff, including three of my all time favorites:
BD5-J by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1157.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
UH1-D/H by
jdgretz, on Flickr
The BD is on my short list of fantasy airplanes to own. Totally impractical, very touchy to fly and a complete blast.
The F-4 holds a special place in my heart. I had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours in the back seat after picking up a downed pilot of one on the beach in Vietnam.
Of course I always am drawn to the UH-1D/H models. I flew those in Vietnam for a couple of tours as well as when I got back. What a work horse. With continued upgrades they are still flying. Unfortunately the Army has seen fit to replace them with the Blackhawk.
Interstate 5 (I-5) up in NorCal is not the flat land boring I-5 we know and love here in SoCal. The scenery was great and riding up through the canyons was very nice.
IMG_1201.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1170.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
On the road North out of Weed (CA-97) headed to the next stop.
IMG_1172.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
Mt. Shasta by
jdgretz, on Flickr
The photo on the ToH site showing this memorial does not do it justice. Part of my brain was saying "Let's get this over and get back to lower elevations and rest". Wednesday promised to be a fun day and this second 500 mile day was getting tiring. Once I got there, however, I was totally blown away. I was unprepared for the impact his site had on me.
I parked at the Hot LZ and walked toward my destination.
IMG_1175.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1196.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1195.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1193.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
The Greatest Generation by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1188.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1183.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1184.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1189.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1186.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1182.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
Finally the unassuming entrance to my goal for this stop
IMG_1190.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
Getting closer, it hit me what this really was
IMG_1176.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1177.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1178.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1181.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1180.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1179.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
Sort of changed my whole outlook on the day. I spent a lot longer there in contemplation and remembrance. I left six behind on one day in 1971 - four pilots and two crew chiefs. Their bodies were never recovered even though we believe at least some of them started off as POWs. That was one of the not-so-good days from my tours.
Leaving the Memorial, I took this shot of the north face of Mt. Shasta. Nice peaceful vision to keep with me on my way back down.
IMG_1197.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
A stop in Weed, CA. I mean, how could you not stop here?
IMG_1198.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1200.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
Spent the night at Travis AFB and on Wednesday met up with the Old Farts for breakfast and a ride. I knew I had fallen in with a bunch of Yankees when I asked for Grits at the waffle place and was told they didn't have that on the menu.
Getting ready to head out...
The Old Farts by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1205.jpg by jdgretz, on Flickr
I'm not real sure where all they took me
IMG_1209.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1208.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
I know we went this way
IMG_1207.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
At one point we came from there
IMG_1210.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
And were headed this way...
IMG_1211.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
Moving right along
IMG_1213.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
Until we came to here.
IMG_1215.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
This is the memorial to the five riders killed on their way to Hope Valley. Here is a blog like about this memorial -->
LinkyWe left there and headed toward Apple Hill for lunch.
IMG_1214.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1212.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
No photos of lunch as I was too busy eating and enjoying resting my butt. Those old guys ride pretty damn good - and relatively quick as well. It sure helps to know the roads. Many thanks to Papa Ken and the boys for showing me some beautiful roads, welcoming me to the group, and some really fine apple cider. It was pretty cool being the youngest in the group for a change ;D
I'm working on editing down the almost two hours of video I shot into something that won't put people to sleep when they view it. I'll post a link to that when it's done.
Here's a link to the
map of the lunch ride. Pretty close to a 200 mile round trip. After lunch, the group broke up and I headed in to Sacramento to bag the last of the four sites I came up here for. Papa Ken later gave me the following directions:
We did take the backroads to the outskirts of Auburn to tie in with 49.
Took that down across the American River up to Cool. At that point 193
to Georgetown and Wentworth springs rd. to Ice House Rd. down to 50 turned
east on 50 to silverfork rd. at Kyburz and went south to Mormon Immigrant and
the five crosses memorial, then onward to High Hill Ranch via Snows Rd. to Camino.
Back in downtown Sacramento - right across from the State Capitol building is the California Peace Officers' Memorial
IMG_1220.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
IMG_1219.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
I debated on staying another night at Travis, heading toward CA-1 and stopping by San Francisco, or finding my way over to US-395, but instead turned south on I-5 and slabbed it home, arriving somewhere around 1am.
1717 miles in three days or 28 hours of road time
IMG_1223.jpg by
jdgretz, on Flickr
The bike ran flawlessly, but I do need to either reconfigure my ass or the seat if I'm going to do many more of these multi-day 500 mile plus days.
jdg
