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Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to 
Part the First
Having left the GSA at a friend's warehouse in San Francisco following a Summer trip from Dallas to Laguna Seca and up the PCH to Mendocino and back to the bay, this past weekend we availed ourselves of some vacation time, Southwest Airlines miles & Marriott points, heading back out West for a loosely planned trip to drop the bike back off at my company's Las Vegas warehouse.
Feel free to hop aboard for the ride if you're so inclined;
Following a fairly late Thursday arrival in SFO, a quick Uber trip to our hotel & some very average pizza (hey, it's late, we're open OK) we set off Friday morning for our 1st overnight destination in Groveland, CA. Getting off the 680 as fast possible, we cut over to CA-130 which passes over Mount Hamilton and the Lick Observatory before finally kicking you off some 65 miles later at the I-5. Now when a pair of avid pair motorcyclists claim a road may have been just a little too twisty, you know it was really twisty! Some of the turns are 1st gear jobs, almost pointing you skywards & I'm going to apologize for not having anything in the way of pictures (some video later) but when the road looks like this & you're 2-up & loaded for touring, the mind tends to focus rather singularly on the road ahead.
What is incredible is how quickly the hustle & bustle of the South Bay disappears and you are riding through rugged country free of any traffic. California continually seems to deliver this type of experience, one minute city traffic and the next, blissful solitude. Once the gnarly bits were done I did manage to snap a few shots from the GoPro knock off as we descended into the much dryer central valley grasslands & things got much hotter. Some video to follow.
Then it was a slog across the valley, amazing if for nothing else, the millions of almond trees in dusty groves beside the roads. We stopped for coffee in Modesto, not much to report there before heading on CA-120 into Groveland where at least the last 10 miles or so are some good riding.
Our bed for the night was at the family owned, extremely welcoming & very comfortable, Hotel Charlotte. Which happened to be right across the street from yet another "oldest saloon in California" where we had an excellent burger & fries.
Returning to the hotel we discovered that the bar had an incredible selection of whiskeys including some unusual California distilleries. We chatted with the owner (who rides an SV-650 herself) and on her recommendation, thoroughly enjoyed some Redwood Empire.
Total for the day = 175 miles, much of it hot & dusty so a soak in the deep clawfoot tub & then bed were the next items on the agenda.
Having left the GSA at a friend's warehouse in San Francisco following a Summer trip from Dallas to Laguna Seca and up the PCH to Mendocino and back to the bay, this past weekend we availed ourselves of some vacation time, Southwest Airlines miles & Marriott points, heading back out West for a loosely planned trip to drop the bike back off at my company's Las Vegas warehouse.
Feel free to hop aboard for the ride if you're so inclined;
Following a fairly late Thursday arrival in SFO, a quick Uber trip to our hotel & some very average pizza (hey, it's late, we're open OK) we set off Friday morning for our 1st overnight destination in Groveland, CA. Getting off the 680 as fast possible, we cut over to CA-130 which passes over Mount Hamilton and the Lick Observatory before finally kicking you off some 65 miles later at the I-5. Now when a pair of avid pair motorcyclists claim a road may have been just a little too twisty, you know it was really twisty! Some of the turns are 1st gear jobs, almost pointing you skywards & I'm going to apologize for not having anything in the way of pictures (some video later) but when the road looks like this & you're 2-up & loaded for touring, the mind tends to focus rather singularly on the road ahead.
What is incredible is how quickly the hustle & bustle of the South Bay disappears and you are riding through rugged country free of any traffic. California continually seems to deliver this type of experience, one minute city traffic and the next, blissful solitude. Once the gnarly bits were done I did manage to snap a few shots from the GoPro knock off as we descended into the much dryer central valley grasslands & things got much hotter. Some video to follow.
Then it was a slog across the valley, amazing if for nothing else, the millions of almond trees in dusty groves beside the roads. We stopped for coffee in Modesto, not much to report there before heading on CA-120 into Groveland where at least the last 10 miles or so are some good riding.
Our bed for the night was at the family owned, extremely welcoming & very comfortable, Hotel Charlotte. Which happened to be right across the street from yet another "oldest saloon in California" where we had an excellent burger & fries.
Returning to the hotel we discovered that the bar had an incredible selection of whiskeys including some unusual California distilleries. We chatted with the owner (who rides an SV-650 herself) and on her recommendation, thoroughly enjoyed some Redwood Empire.
Total for the day = 175 miles, much of it hot & dusty so a soak in the deep clawfoot tub & then bed were the next items on the agenda.
