California or Bust 2021
California Or Bust 2021 Trip
This trip was two years in the planning. Rescheduled from 2020 due to Covid. This would be our first two week vacation in 25 years. The plan was to get to the west coast and back. It would be a fast paced, not a lot of flower sniffing, run across the USA. It would give us the opportunity to figure out where we want to come back and spend some time. The plan was leave Massachusetts and head west across NY, PA, OH, IN, IL, IO, then into Colorado going up Mt Evans, through Utah hitting Moab, Arches, Monument National Parks, then accross Route 50 through Nevada to San Fransico and then heading south on the pacific coast highway past Big Sur and then inland to Sequoia National Park, Yosemite and then on to Death Valley, Vegas, Hoover Dam, back into Utah to explore more national parks and awesome roads then back into Colorado then home. Of course, things don't alway go to plan.
We left home Friday afternoon June 11th and headed to Salisbury Beach to grab a photo and some sand, then made it all the way to Buffalo NY. Yesterday, we left Buffalo at 4:30am and traveled through the rest of NY, PA, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois (with a pit stop to the old jail from the Blues Brothers movie in Joliet to get a photo) and then to Des Moines Iowa for the night. Today left at 5am and made it all over the way to Denver Colorado! The temps this morning were mid 50’s and then we saw 100 in the first part of Colorado! The grind across the flyover states is done. Tomorrow the flower sniffing starts!
Today started off on plan. We left Denver to head toward the Mt Evan’s auto road. This place is indescribably beautiful. It actually made me teary it was so spectacular!! The auto road is the coolest road I’ve ever ridden on; the views, the cute little marmot and the mountain goats - amazing. We lucked out and we’re able to go up without a reservation!!! We rode route 70, which is one of the most beautiful highways ever!! The temps started to rise and we saw a high of 103.3 on our way to Grand Junction, Colorado. Bob tightened his chain today, which had become a little loose over the last few days. The noise worsened over the day and we decided to search BMW dealers to get it replaced. There was one 2 hours away, Grand Junction Harley, BMW & KTM. We called and they had a chain in stock. When we got there we realized we didn’t have a chain breaker tool. We asked if they could just do the new chain. We were told not on a Monday by the Harley service writer. We did ask if we could use their chain tool and possibly a shady place to work. The parts dept was so great to deal with and they actually let us use their garage to work. We put on the new chain and were going to use a clip type master link, when we went to put on the clip, we wanted to check my chain to see which way the clip went and my clip was gone!!! Long story short, we couldn’t get the normal master link riveted on Bobs bike, the shop was closing and our bikes needed to stay at the shop overnight and we could try again tomorrow. Grabbed our clothes and walked next door to a Holiday Inn for the night. Besides this crazy day, our planned route needs to be changed because of a heat wave coming through the southwest over the next few days. Spent the evening planning our next route to get to California!!!!
For those following along, we were able to get
our chains worked on and left Grand Junction CO at 12:30. Jim, our service
writer was awesome and squeezed us in. (He even posed for a selfie with me).
The plan is to get to San Francisco by Wednesday because the heatwave is really
supposed to kick into high gear Thursday in between. Today we headed toward
Provo Utah, we saw a high temp of 109 just past Provo in Salt Lake. Riding
along Rte 80 by Salt Lake was crazy windy, hot and lots of traffic. It was a
long grind and looked like a wasteland. Beyond that the temps were steady at
107 for a couple hours. We did not get overheated, we had cooling vests,
neckies and shirts that you get wet that we soaked at every stop. The mountains
were continuous and the landscape ever changing and way more beautiful than we
expected!!! The road was endless, cutting the flatlands in half. The headwinds
wind were rough, the elevation was high. The bikes struggled to do the speed
limit! (80 most of the day). We were able to catch a beautiful sunset over the
mountains. We stopped at a truck stop that I swear I heard banjos (or whatever
the western equivalent is - lol). There was NOTHING except for a tiny store and
gas. We booked a hotel in Elko NV we are in line to get to San Francisco
tomorrow!!! Yay!!
So far we’ve gone 2874 miles from Salisbury
Beach!!!
Day 6 California or Bust!!!
We made it!!!! Left at 6:30am and rolled into Stinson Beach CA about 6pm!!! We saw temps of 103 today in lots of traffic coming into Sacramento. We’ve started each morning filling up our water jugs with ice/water. This morning I was contemplating which was better; Bedhead Mohawk or Helmet head, I’ll let you all decide. We rolled through the rest of Nevada on route 80 then onto route 50 into Lake Tahoe. The road from Carson City to Tahoe was just EPIC! The backdrop of the lake has towering snow covered mountains. It was just spectacular! After a lakeside lunch we headed toward the coast!! The ride was congested and hot. We finally made it to the coast. The big surprise at the end was that the road to the beach followed the coast high up in the mountains with crazy twists and turns with a 55mph speed limit. It was very tail of the dragon-like. If you look on the map, it looks like it was scribbled with crayon. Some of the corners were so tight I had to put it in first gear!! Crazy hard riding at the end of a long day!! We got our sand and photo done on the pacific!!! In for the night, had Uber eats deliver from High Tech Burrito - so yummy!!
Yesterday morning. we left our hotel and headed straight in to San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge. We stopped at the Marin Headlands first for the iconic photo of the bay and bridge. After the bridge we breezed right in and Up Up Up Lombard Street then down the other side. There were 3 four way stops going up the hill!!! Not cool, Bob kept telling me to lean forward over my tank bag it was SO steep! Thankfully there wasn’t a lot of traffic so the 4-way stops were ok. Heading down the other side on the cobblestones was so slow we had to coast!! We hit the infamous Fisherman’s Wharf for a photo op. Then headed thru Chinatown and south on highway One. We got into Santa Cruz and kept heading south, the plan was Big Sur but we got stuck in a traffic jam/back up, I said we were not lane splitting but after a Gold Wing went by, I knew we’d fit too, here the cars actually part for you to filter thru. I know in Mass we’d probably be squeezed out for getting in front..but this was so awesome to see it working! It was exhilarating and felt so wrong at the same time!! We got a tent site at the North Santa Cruz/KOA so we went there and set up camp. Then we had dinner with Liza Miller and Nak from the podcast Motorcycles & Misfits. We met 2 years ago when I did the Women Riders World Relay. I was really happy we got to see each other again!! We had a great dinner and got the inside tour of Santa Cruz and even got a sneak peek of the recycle garage! Thanks so much Liza!!
Day 8 California or bust!!
TODAY, we headed north back up the coast and it’s just crazy how beautiful it gets. Just when you think it can’t be any more breathtaking!! We made it all the way to Fort Bragg which is the home of glass beach! That’s been on my bucket list for a couple years. Alas it was disappointing as was our hotel room for almost $300 a night. I’m usually so anal about checking reviews but there is literally nothing here. All I will say is I am sleeping in my sleeping bag tonight.
We said goodbye to California this morning by making our way further up the coast. We got out of that horrible hotel at 5:30am. The roads were tight and twisty, it was hard work heading north. Our next stop was the Avenue of Giants. The Redwoods are amazing & peaceful. We made it there pretty early so had the road to ourselves. Our farthest point west was Crescent Beach, CA. We had a great lunch on the water and then turned East heading north into Oregon. I’ve wanted to see Crater Lake since I was a kid!! It was a long trek, the temps reached 95 degrees. It was more beautiful than I even imagined!!! Check that off my list !
Yesterday was a long day of getting from the
middle of nowhere Oregon. We stayed in a Klamath Falls. There were 250 miles of
desolate back roads to get to the highway! The whole valley was smoky. We had
to keep checking and make sure the road was open ahead. There were wildfires on
a couple of mountains, it was crazy how much smoke there was from them. After
getting out of the smoke, we had about 100 more miles of high desert to get
thru. We passed a salt lake, Lake Albert, it’s 15 miles long and 7 miles across…no
water, all salt. The last 4 hours were a grind up the highway to Idaho Falls.
It was so windy, there were a ton of wind farms along the way. We did over 700
miles.
Today on the other hand was a flower sniffing day!! We made our way to the Grand Teton National Park. This was another bucket list item for me. And it did not disappoint. Arguably the most breathtaking view I’ve seen!! They are so majestic and cragy, something I would expect to see in Europe or Nepal. Just amazing to see right here in our country!!! I feel so lucky to have been able to see it. After the Tetons, we went in to Yellowstone!! Saw a few Buffalo, and some Caribou (we think). The roads through the park took us up over 8000 feet. After leaving there, we went through Cody and then we had reservations in Sheridan. We went up and over the Big Horn Pass, it’s the biggest I’ve ever ridden over!! We went up over 9k feet. It was crazy!! At the top it was a whole new world. An epic day over all!!! Tomorrow we head to Devils Tower and Badlands!!
Yesterday we left Sheridan Wyoming. We stayed
at a Holiday Inn Conference center. When we pulled in there were Harleys
everywhere. A huge line under the awning. We pulled up and parked along side
them. We def didn’t fit in with our dirty bug ridden bikes. When we went in, we
were told it was an annual combat veteran motorcycle week. There was a Harley
18 wheeler in the lot and tons of vendor tables ready. We left in the morning
and headed downtown to the Cowboy Cafe for breakfast, it was really yummy!!
Thanks Jeff Arsenault for the suggestion. After eating we went
toward Devils tower. It was really warm out and the traffic going in was backed
up a half mile, so we ditched, since we have been there before. We planned to
go to Deadwood for lunch and grab a coddiwomple letter D bonus. After lunch we
headed to Sturgis, I grabbed a cheap pair of sunglasses, the sun has been so
hot and my sun visor isn’t very dark, so I wanted to double up. We took a cool
back road into Badlands to our campground (Badlands KOA) for the night. At the
campground, we met a BMW rider from Wisconsin and checked out each other’s
bikes (it’s a biker thing - lol). he told us about this RDL seat that came on his GS that he didn't like. Bob asked if he'd be interested in selling it. We also met a family from Kittery - small
world. The temps lowered, the campfire was nice, the moon was full!
Today we had wanted to plan a rest day, so we
didn’t rush out. The KOA Badlands offers FREE pancakes so we partook in that
and chatted with the one of the owners. Then we packed up and headed to
Badlands National Park. If you’ve never been, picture being on the movie set,
“Honey I Shrunk the Kids” (I know I’m dating myself-lol) and you are walking
around in kids’ sand castles. Or like walking around the set of Star Wars. In
keeping with our “rest day”, we headed down route 90 to Sioux Falls SD. One
thing we remembered from our last trip thru South Dakota on 90 was the crazy
wind! Today we were pretty lucky for most of the way. The last hour, the wind
picked up and was challenging to ride through. We made a quick stop after
crossing the Missouri River and a pic of the Dignity Statue. It’s so beautiful.
We made it to the hotel near 3:30 and have been chilling out & laundry
since. Tomorrow we are beelining early to get as many miles in as possible to
beat some incoming weather the next few days.
We are knee deep in the grind home! Left Sioux
Fall S.Dakota this morning at 5am. Grabbed a coddiwomple letter D bonus photo
in Dexter SD. The rain started around noon time. It was really coming down
along with some lightning 
We pulled off to wait out the storm at a Love’s Truck stop. Can
I just say, they are the best place!! They have spotless bathrooms, gas and all
the supplies we might need. Plus they usually have a subway for lunch. We’ve
eaten a lot of subway on this trip, it’s reliable, works for our new eating
lifestyle and is filling and yummy. Ok back to the rain, did I mention it
started at 12? When we stopped at 5:45, it was just stopping!! Besides the
rain, we crossed the Mississippi River and then we sat in tons of traffic
getting through Chicago and Gary Indiana. We did 690 miles today and ended the
day cold and wet!!
Day 15 - Elkhart Indiana to HOME
Yesterday morning we set the alarm for 4:30 hoping to get an early start on our last stretch home. We woke to big thunder and lightning!! That wasn’t the plan. We had checked the weather the night before and it looked like we would be able to squeak out before/or in a window of a stalled front causing rain/flooding etc.. in the morning we looked at the radar again and it seemed we may be stuck there for the day/night. Forecast was severe thunderstorms and flooding until Saturday midday. The majority of the storms were west of us but at the time there was a big cell of red over us. We went down to breakfast and kept pouring over the radar on multiple apps. We calculated that there was a window and if we were going to get out before Saturday we’d need to go for it. We packed up and left about 6:45. The goal was to stay in the window as the storms headed north east. So not too fast as to run into the one in front of us and to not get swallowed up by the one coming towards us. We got about 30 miles and another cell had branched up toward us. We waited it out at a rest area and then as soon it was past, on we went. It was light rain for maybe 40 mins, then the sun came out and the rest of the ride was beautiful!!! We rode 915 miles and made it to my own bed about 10pm last night. What a day!!!
15
days
18
states
7739
miles
122
hours of seat time
Thank
you all for your comments and well wishes. It really was a trip of a lifetime
and we loved sharing it with you all. We live in such a beautiful country with
ever changing landscapes around each corner or over each mountain pass! If you
can get out west, do it! The roads are less traveled, the people are really
great, and it’s nothing like out here!
We
washed our dirty bikes and added a whole bunch of new stickers to our bags
yesterday!!! #homesweethome
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