Installment #2 of the "ME" trip.

DAY 3

A call from ex #2, who I tend to refer to as "IT", awoke me about six am. She was taking Ariel to the hospital for a tummy ache that wouldn't go away. Knowing "it" to be a drama queen and a professional hypochondriac, which she engages in vicariously if called for, I put little stock in what she had to say, but it did stress me a little. I guess you can't get away from everything. I got up and packed waiting to hear from her so I would know whether to head north or go home. Camilla(my middle daughter)called about eight am and said all was well so I geared up, gassed up, ate as I checked a few possibilities for the day and hit the road. It was another perfect weather day and the air was crisp and cool, which allowed me to leather up, which I love doing!

I lit off on 101 north and climbed up into the Redwoods. WOW! If you haven't been to the Redwood forests of Northern Calif. you need to go sometime. It is a must see thing. I had been in the old van, but it is a very different trip on a bike. The scents, sights and feel from the saddle in such a place are magnificent. These are not trees off in the distance that require a hike to enjoy their majesty, they are right next to the road and I mean RIGHT next to the road. A lapse in concentration in many places would wad me up into one of the crevices in a trunk! Not that it would bother the fifteen foot diameter Sequoia! It's so cool that 101 goes right through them. The ancient groves are so dense that even at mid morning I had to take my sunglasses off to safely negotiate the road as it wound through the forest. The air was cool and damp and smelled pines and organic decay. I loved it!

After leaving the Richardson Grove, the road turns into a nice four lane highway where I caught up with a large group of Harley riders. I fell in behind them figuring that when they stopped, I would share some road stories and meet a few new people. They exited 101 at the "Avenue of the Giants" near Phillipsville, Ca. I followed them onto the famous drive through another section of the Redwood forest. The group stopped at a big turnout and we all got off our bikes. I nodded to the couple in front of me and said "Hey, how ya doin"? I was was rewarded by the fellow with "French..all French". These folks were all from France! How cool! It took me awhile to find the only one who spoke english and found out that they had flown into Vegas a few days before, rented the bikes and were on their way to Canada. We talked about the differences between riding here and in Europe and talked about how we planned on getting weher we were going. He laughed when I told him I really didn't know where I was going or how I was going to get there. We said our "See ya's", saddled up and took off. I followed them to the next 101 on ramp at Miranda where I jumped on the freeway and got going again because I didn't see that the "avenue" was any more impressive than the groves I had already gone through earlier.

Just as 101 went back into two lanes I hit my next construction delay. It wasn't as long a wait as the one on 20 had been but it gave me time to put on some heavier gloves as my hands were getting chilled. I was stuck behind a few big rigs and with nowhere to get around them and the other cars between us I just settled in for a slow paced ride to the next wide spot. The smell of trees and nature was replaced by that of diesel exhaust. Soon enough, though, it widened out into freeway again and within a few seconds I was at 90 mph and ahead of the slow, smelly trucks.

Once clear of the offensive smelling trucks and multitude of SUVs full of families enjoying the last week of summer break I kicked my highway pegs down and relaxed as I watched the sights of No. Cal. glide by at 70mph. It's cool to get up there and see things you will never see down here like old chip burners the size of small mountains, logging trucks everywhere and rivers with real water in them! Then there is the Pacific Lumber Company in Scotia. It is enormous! Truly the size of a small city with roads and RR tracks everywhere. I'd love to go take a tour of it. Maybe next time!

I stayed on 101 to Fortuna where I gassed up, made a couple of calls and rested my butt. I decided to cut across to I-5 here so I left the 101 for the undiscovered country(to me anyway)of highway 36 east which would, with a couple of other byways, land me in Redding. On the map the road looked so isolated, but I was surprised at how developed much of it was and there was even a branch of the Pacific Lumber Co. in Hydesville just outside of Fortuna and with that development came a moderate amount of traffic. Even with these factors it was an excellent road. Another riders road snaking through the hills and vales in the cool No. Cal. morning air. I look forward to using it again someday.

After about an hour of winding across the beautiful country of pines, streams and meadows and passing communities with populations of less than five hundred with names like Bridgeville, Dinsmore and Cobbs I came to a spot in the road called Mad River. It was nothing but a few picnic tables and a small camp trailer that had been converted into a burger joint. I needed to shed some leather as the temperature was beginning to climb and I needed a shot of Propel. I wasn't hungry yet so I chatted with the folks eating there, checked the map to make sure not to miss my next junction and off I went saying goodbye to Mad River, population 56.

About twenty miles past Mad River I turned off 36 and onto Hwy. 3 which was also a very nice ride, but was more a road for experienced riders. It was much more technical, rough and had many miles of unmarked, unlined sections with more than a few sections of single width with no signs designating it as such. I had to be very careful and aware especially on the many blind turns. There were places with sharp dips that bottomed my meager suspension and kicker bumps that made me nostalgic for the motocross bikes of the 70s..the ill handling tubs! It could be very dangerous for anyone not paying attention. I stopped at a little place called Peanut and took off the rest of the leather as it had become flat out hot as I dropped out of the mountains and back into the central area of the state.

About thirty miles up 3 I came to a town called Hayfork. Hayfork hosts the Trinity County Fair, has a population of over 2,500 and only one gas station. I was 89 miles from my last gas at Fortuna and was unsure how far it was to Redding so I pulled in and gassed up. The pumps had no card slots so I went inside to pay and was rewarded with some great smells coming from the little lunch counter inside. I gassed up, got the maps and took my now hungry self inside to eat. The 34th St. Carwash Deli in Bakersfield has the best cheeseburgers I have ever had, but I tell ya, this place is a close second!

After fueling the bike and the body I hit the road again and got seven point six miles down the road before being halted at another construction delay. I guess I know where all the money for roads in the state coffers goes because it certainly isn't down here! It really shows up north too because most of the roads, no matter where they are or where they go, are in great shape. I was stopped for about ten minutes, but was first in line this time so when they let us go I knew I had a clear road ahead of me. It was awesome and well timed because I was in the mood to push it a little and did some footboard scraping and high speed straightaway riding. It lasted all the way to the junction with Hwy. 299 which was the connector to I-5 in Redding. I made a pit stop at the Whiskeytown Reservoir, whos in and outlets are underground tunnels! Pretty cool. I went on into Redding, which is a much bigger place than I had thought. It was near 100 degrees there so I stopped and took a water break and decided to visit Shasta Dam.

I had been there as a kid but remembered very little about it other than feeding a deer and looking down the spillway. I love dams and was able to walk out onto this one once it was ascertained I was not carrying any explosives. I checked out the surrounding scenery and got some great shots of the dam. I spent about an hour piddling around there taking pix and stretching my legs then it was back on the bike for a rocketship run up I-5 to Weed, Ca. where I would tie up for the night.

After finding most of the non smoking rooms in town sold out I finally got a room in an old, beat up joint called The Summit Inn. If you are ever in Weed, pass this place by. It was old and musty, the wooden door had to be forced open it was so swollen and bent. It had obvioulsy either recently been a smoking room, had been one for so long it didn't matter anymore or someone had simply smoked there anyway because even though the bedclothes were fine, it reeked in there! It had an in window A/C unit that was woefully overmatched by the room size and that sucked, but it was, however, clean and had an awesome view of Mt. Shasta right out my door. After a great pizza and a pitcher at the place next door I hit the sack, read a bit and ended Day three in a fitful sleep.