Day 3 500 Miles
We
broke camp early today near the border of Nevada, the plan was to make it to
the ocean today. The previous day ended near Markleeville and we had to ride
back through there on the way out and I snapped this quick pick. Instead of
heading straight into Nevada and Carson City we detoured a little bit and went
through Lake Tahoe.
Lake Tahoe was a bit of a disappointment to me. I expected something more dramatic, enormous mountains surrounding a clear lake. It looked more like a tourist trap that someone made into a loop. In all fairness, I’ve heard Lake Tahoe needs to be seen from the top of the mountain on a chairlift or skiing down a run with fresh powder and the lake as the backdrop. For us though, the best part of the Lake Tahoe loop was getting there and back.
This
is Highway 50 coming down from lake Tahoe. The road was a non stop sweeper
going from one side then the next and off to the side were gorgeous views. It
eventually ended up in Carson City and from there we just made a beeline to the
North. We ended up in Susanville on Highway 395 and ate breakfast.
Outside
of Susanville we got onto Highway 44 and back up into the pines. This ride down
into Redding was great for me but apparently David was burning up wearing
riding pants for the first time of the trip. He ended up riding the rest of the
day in shorts and his riding boots. I was having a great time riding in the
thick pines of Northern California.
Originally
I thought this was Mount Shasta during the ride into Redding but after looking
at the map I think it was Prospect Peak or Cinder Cone.
Outside
of Redding was an enormous reservoir and since Redding was near triple digit
temperatures, we pulled over and had a swim at the reservoir. The water was
perfect to cool down in and after the swim and drenching my shirt in the lake,
the heat didn’t seem too bad anymore.
Coming
down to the Coast near Eureka we were on Highway 299. 299 is an unbelievable
road for motorcycling and you could tell everyone else knew about this road too
by the sheer number of bikes out on the road.
The
day was clear and warm and everyone we talked to on the way to the coast talked
about how cold it was. Our reply was “were from Arizona and ready for some
cold”, Dooh, it’s really cold. In the afternoon we ended up making the coast
and found a nice place to camp for the night.
This
is the spot we found at Patrick Point State park in California. Bunny the
Bartender at the hole in the wall bar in Trinidad told us about it and she was
right about it being a nice place to stay.
This
is the view 20 feet behind the
campsite.
Today wasn’t my day for the bike either. I broke my mirror today dropping the bike, being stupid and now I’ve got to buy a new one in Seattle, mirror that is not bike. What made matters worse was I found out later David walked down by the river and was looking at naked girls sun bathing while I was breaking my bike. Should have been the other way around or both of us down there checking out the scenery. Also if that wasn’t enough when I got to camp I almost did it again turning my bike around. I caught it but sacrificed my riding pants, now they have a little character, I suppose just modified ventilation.
