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Pacific Coast ride

SilverFoXD

Junior Member
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Friend Dave and I set out on Sunday, 9/25, for the Pacific Northwest. Dave was on his '09 EG Classic while I rode my '07 SuperGlide.

We headed north from the Phoenix area through Lee's Ferry (photo) and to Jacob Lake for ice cream. Stopping there is family tradition dating back to the 1930s when my dad explored the west from his Model A. The next day we visited Zion NP (photo) and hiked some of the tourist trails, then visited Cedar Breaks NM. We had frost on the bikes in the morning.

Bryce Canyon NP was next, then the Escalante NM, Boulder Mountain, and north. We drove around Salt Lake City and on to Challis, ID, then through Salmon, ID, over the Bitterroot Mountains on Monida Pass, then west from Lolo, MT. The canyon and Lochsa River were as beautiful as ever (photo). We were on the edge of the "A River Runs Through It" country and would have liked to stay and fly fish.

From there we rode to Vancouver, WA, and stayed with friends, and then to Seattle to see my son. Afterwards, took the ferry across to the Olympic Peninsula and picked up Hwy 101 (photo).

We followed the 101 all around the Washington and Oregon coasts, stopping at overlooks for the sea stacks and walking the beaches. We had rain from Vancouver to southern Oregon and made as little as 185 miles a day. We also had 92 octane gas in these states, and my Dyna got lower mileage than on the more usual 91 octane. The rain was the reason?

We stopped at the Tillamook Dairy Co-op for lunch and their great ice cream, and met a couple from Tasmania on a just-purchased Dyna Street Bob. They were riding down the coast also and would be shipping the bike home from Los Angeles. They may join HDforum.

California was great, and we spent time in the Redwoods NP and along the Avenue of the Giants. Hard to photograph the trees, so huge you cannot get a shot from close up.

From Leggett we caught Hwy 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, south through Fort Bragg , Pt Arena (photo), and Jenner. Lunch there in a hole-in-the-wall cafe was the best of the trip, with a crab sandwich with over an inch of crab meat in a homemade roll.

We came inland then along the Russian River, and headed south over the Golden Gate Bridge ($6.00 toll) and through San Francisco. Spent the night in Gilroy, where one of the Indian motorcycle reincarnations occurred, then rode through Hollister just to do so. At one gas stop a woman in a red car pulled up and asked it I wanted to trade. I didn't think quickly enough to ask what she had in mind, which in retrospect was just as well.

We skipped the rest of the PCH as we had both ridden it before and Dave was scheduled to take another ride along it in a couple weeks with a friend.

Spent the night in a downscale motel in Bakersfield then rode home through Needles, CA, and Parker, AZ. We were on this trip for 15 days, rode 4,112 miles, and I spent $335 for gas. Overall mileage on the Dyna was 49.45 mpg, the EG was less when we compared at gas stops, but Dave did not keep an overall record.
 

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  • Lee's Ferry.JPG
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  • Zion.JPG
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  • Lolo Pass.JPG
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  • Olympic Peninsula.JPG
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  • Point Arena lighthouse.JPG
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Nice ride. I am trying to talk a buddy of mine into making a similar ride from San Diego into the Pacific North West.
 
Thanks for sharing the pics looks like you had a great ride It has been a lot of years since I have been out that way:s
 
soooooooo jealous! the trip sounded fun. thanks for posting it helps those of us that just put their bikes away for the winter already.
 
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