from LA to Yreka, Oregon border and back

[abhishekit]

Hi all,

I am new member of the guzzi community. On this Sunday, I am going on a ride from LA to Oregon border and back, along with buddy of mine. Any tips or suggestions?

Tentative route is hwy 1 all the way to fort Bragg, then take 101 to crescent city, 199 to grants pass. and take I5 and 395 to Reno. And back to LA.


cheers,

Abhi

 

[Rafael]

Hwy 1 is beautiful but the traffic can get over bearing; especially those RVs going 15mph on the twisties. I rode 199 south from OR and was surprised how boring the road is, the best part is in CA and only last about 20 minutes.

I recommend taking either, Hwy 36 E to hwy 3 N or 299 E then hwy 96 NE. If you like twisties, hwy 3 between Hayfork and Douglas City is fantastic. Just the right tightness to have loads of fun without doing twice the speed limit. It would be a shame to drive past the Trinity National Forest and not drive through it.

Then I'd take 5 north to Ashland; go east on the Dead Indian Memorial Hwy. Haven't been on it yet, tried last year but DOT had just laid a layer of chip coat. Took 66 east instead and it was a Harley road - mostly straight.

Or you can take 89 S to 299 E to 395.

If you go to Lava Beds National Monument, I'd take the forest service roads south to 89 then head east to meet up with 395.

There are some great hotsprings on 395 too.

good luck.

 

[abhishekit]

Hwy 1 is beautiful but the traffic can get over bearing; especially those RVs going 15mph on the twisties. I rode 199 south from OR and was surprised how boring the road is, the best part is in CA and only last about 20 minutes.

I recommend taking either, Hwy 36 E to hwy 3 N or 299 E then hwy 96 NE. If you like twisties, hwy 3 between Hayfork and Douglas City is fantastic. Just the right tightness to have loads of fun without doing twice the speed limit. It would be a shame to drive past the Trinity National Forest and not drive through it.

Then I'd take 5 north to Ashland; go east on the Dead Indian Memorial Hwy. Haven't been on it yet, tried last year but DOT had just laid a layer of chip coat. Took 66 east instead and it was a Harley road - mostly straight.

Or you can take 89 S to 299 E to 395.

If you go to Lava Beds National Monument, I'd take the forest service roads south to 89 then head east to meet up with 395.

There are some great hotsprings on 395 too.

good luck.

Thanks. I have modified the route past Eureka based on your recommendation.

cheers,

Abhi

 

[trandell]

Hi Abhi,
We meet a few weeks ago in Newport Beach when you were getting your windshield kit installed. How did that work out for you on this road trip?

trandell

 

[abhishekit]

Hi Abhi,
We meet a few weeks ago in Newport Beach when you were getting your windshield kit installed. How did that work out for you on this road trip?

trandell

Hey Trandell, nice seeing you here. Thanks for asking. It was a fantastic trip. Rafael's recommended roads were great. I am going to post the pics as soon as I get some time.

cheers,

Abhi

 

[abhishekit]

Summary
I and a friend of mine rode from Los Angeles to Oregon and back on a motoguzzi and a harley. We left on Sunday at noon and were back by Thursday 2:00 PM. We covered about 2000 miles in these 4 days. We deliberately took no cellphones. And stupidly, did not take any special winter gear…Ran into temperatures of 29F and high 30s in general. More on it later.

Route overview
pch 1 from LA to Fort Bragg.
pch 1 and 101 to Arcata.
299 E, 96 E, 263 S to Yreka
I5N to Ashland
Dead Indian Memorial Rd, 140E to Klamath falls
97S, I5S back to LA

Day 1 - the day of slacking
We were very late in leaving LA. We had planned to leave around 8:00 AM but we left around noon. My Griso has a small tank and not the best mileage. Hence the frequency of stops was around 80-90 miles. Our day 1 target was Monterey. At about 5:00 PM we were getting coffee at Ragged point and ran into a couple on a BMW adventure bike. They advised us to stay back in San Luis Obespo rather than going forward to Monterey because we would have missed the beautiful scenery along 1. Light was fading away. San luis obespo offered a nice college town environment and we headed back there for the night.

Day 2 - determination strikes back
No more slacking was the mantra. Planned target for Day 2 was Fort Bragg. Since we were way off on day 1, this meant a lot of riding. We started around 7 AM. Ride from San Louis Obespo to Monterey was very beautiful and definitely worth staying back. It was meant to be enjoyed in the glorious light of dawn.

There was a brief break of communication and we got separated around Monterey. Usually, the modus operandi was that whenever I got too far ahead, I would stop for 5-7 minutes so that the Harley can catch up. Another rule was that I would always stop before taking the exit (even when the exit is agreed upon). So, on the monterey exit I stopped but apparently I did not stop long enough. When my friend did not show up for 7 minutes I took the exit. We had thought about this possibility and the agreed contingency plan of communication was to call my wife in LA and talk through her. So, after borrowing a phone and making 2 phone calls I came to know that he is waiting at a gas station 4 exits ahead. Good! problem solved…But no.

As soon as I joined the highway again, at the end of the ramp there was an accident. It was a car crash and the EMT van was there. In 10 minutes a couple of cop cars arrived. Situation was not looking good. My biggest worry was that my friend was waiting up ahead and if he gets impatient and leaves his position, we will have to go through another round of phone calls. Traffic was all piled up behind me with a long line of cars. As I was thinking what to do, a cop came up and said ‘nice Guzzi, the make great bikes’. He then told me that the traffic is not going to open any time soon. I asked him whether I should just go back opposite to the line of traffic…He said ‘I wouldn’t ask you not to’…ha ha, Good cop. Thank you sir. And I went back among shocking stares from the cars. Thankfully, my buddy was still waiting at the agreed spot, but with a big WTF look..

SFO to Bodega Bay was just full of curves. I have never see a steeper hairpin than at the end of that route. Overall great day, we made our target. And hit some heavy duty curves.

Day 3 - race track on the mountain
Since we were back on track, day 3 was much more relaxed. Our target was Ashland. Started around 7 AM from Fort Bragg and reached Ashland around 5:30 PM. We had the most amazing routes on this day. 96 E was terrific. It is probably one of the best roads I have had the opportunity to ride on. Curves were not as difficult but they were never ending. It was like a race track on a mountain. Very light traffic to enhance the experience. Whenever we made a fuel stop, there was a big smile on both our faces. At every stop, both of us discussed how amazing the route is. From this point on, throughout the trip, we never stopped talking about how heat 96 was.

Day 4 - ice, ice, baby
We left Ashland in the morning around 7:30 AM. The temperatures had been a bother for last 2 days. Neither one of us had winter gloves. Both just had summer riding gloves. For the past 2 days, we would get temperatures of around 38F in the morning when we left. Then it would warm up around noon. Today, it was not the case.

We headed to Dead Indian Memorial Rd. It is a beautiful road and it rises up pretty fast. 5 minutes into the ride, temperature dropped to 29 F. The ‘snowflake’ warning sign came on the Griso dashboard at 36. After about 30 minutes, my left hand started paining with cold. I was just hoping not to get a frostbite. Hugging the engine helped for a little bit. Towards the end of 1.5 hours in 29F, my hands were about to drop off and chilling wind at the neck was painful. We made a stop and warmed up the hands at exhaust. There was no way out of this except to keep riding towards Klamath Falls because there was no place to stop.

Finally, as dead indian memorial rd ended, and we headed east on 140 towards Klamath falls, the temperature got upto 37 F. And I tell you friends, 37F has never felt so warm…It was pure bliss as if someone has turned the heating all the way up. It stayed at 37 until Klamath. We found a gas station. And drank an ungodly amount of hot coffee. This should never be repeated again. It was the stupidest oversight not to take gloves even with a little bit of protection.

Day ended in Sacramento with a nice steak dinner.

Day 5 - back to LA
Day 5 was all asphalt on I5S. The only exciting thing was a ‘speed test’ on I5. I clocked 133 mph. There was still about 500 left to redline but I moved off gas. We made it to LA by 2:00 PM. Overall, about 2000 mile trip. And one of the most awesome rides we have ever done.

 

[Rafael]

Looks like a fun ride. I did a day ride up to Markleeville last month. Took hwy 26 to 88, then 89 to 4 back home.