CALIFORNIA
DREAMIN’
By:
Pam
For all of you who said it couldn’t be done or could only be accomplished by riding a sofa on two wheels, I’m here to tell you that YES, you can ride your beloved SV650 cross-country and home again!
I
found myself with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
I belong to Motor Maids, Inc., www.motormaids.org, the oldest women’s motorcycling
organization in the
My bike had already been outfitted for touring. It’s an ’01 that has been lowered, higher handlebars replace the lower stock bars, and a Givi windscreen and hard bags have been added. Also, one of the first things I replaced on the SV when I got it was the stock seat with a Corbin. The sparkplugs, oil and oil filter had just been changed. I knew my rear tire (Bridgestone BT 020) was going to get me to California, but if I wanted to get home I would have to have it replaced once I got to Chico. In hindsight, I would have put a new chain on my SV. It was the original chain. I have a Loobman self-oiler, but that gave out on me halfway through my trip so I had to switch to PJ1 to keep my very sick chain well lubed. I elected to wear my Joe Rocket Ballistic jacket and pants and bring long-sleeved shirts and a sweatshirt in case the temperatures dropped to a point where the JR jacket was counter productive. I also had my boyfriend’s heated Gerbing jacket ready to go if I needed it.
My journey started in Richmond, Va., on June 29. I met up with three other ladies who were making the trip, and after much fanfare we hit the road around 8:30 a.m. In our group was a HD Fat Boy, a HD ElectraGlide 100th Anniversary edition, a Honda 750 Shadow and me. Of course everyone thought I would have a hard time keeping up with my small bike – little did they know!
The plan was to ride I-64 through Va. and W. Va. as far as Louisville, Kentucky where we had freebee lodging at a relative’s. I love riding in West Virginia. The interstate takes you through the mountains on nice, sweeping curves. And you can’t miss the gilded rotunda of state capitol building in Charleston, W.Va., although I could live without the $2.50 in tolls. Kentucky has more rolling hills, and signs of horse country are everywhere, down to the water tower in Lexington.
The next couple of days we stuck primarily to I-70 through Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. Fairly boring. We spent the next night in Columbia Mo., then on to Blair, Nebraska, where we had another overnight with a relative. The idea was to get out West as fast as possible, but zigzag through the states in order to ride in to as many states as we could for a postcard contest. We headed north on I-29 to Iowa with a quick jump off in Leavenworth, Kansas for the postcard contest (much to my chagrin since I was hot and tired), then picked up I-80 to Cheyenne, Wyoming for the next overnight. We made a detour in Cheyenne the next morning to get a new left-hand mirror for my bike. I met a patch of gravel in Nebraska gas station the previous day that wasn’t particularly friendly!
Finally, our pace slowed as we headed south from Cheyenne to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. The road up the to national park, US 34, through Roosevelt National Forest to Estes Park was the first chance I’d had to do any curves since Kentucky. I was riding in the rear behind the cruisers, SUVs and other cages. NOT FUN! As soon as I had a passing lane I was out of there! Once in Estes Park I pulled over to the side of the road at a gas station to wait for the rest of the group.
To get to the
proverbial short story, they passed me and I didn’t see them. Since I knew
where the next overnight was and I was anxious to get there, I left a message
on their cell phones letting them know I was continuing on to the spa at Hot
Sulpher Springs, Colorado, and would meet them there.
Imagine my surprise when I arrived at Hot Sulpher Springs Spa and the rest of the group was already there -- enjoying a massage to boot! Oh well, I still had a good ride. I got to the Spa in time to sit in the hot sulpher baths and kind of unwind. They don’t smell very nice, but you get used to the odor after awhile!
The next day, July 4, turned out to be somewhat challenging and a lot more fun! When we left Hot Sulpher Springs heading west (sort of) on US 40. As it turned out, at least a mile of the road was gravel and under construction. One of the riders hates gravel, but she left us to go on her own earlier that morning so we didn’t have to listen to her taking our names in vain! The rest of the road was a lot of fun – not too challenging, but a definite change for the better from the interstates.
We rode through Rabbit Ears Pass to Steamboat Springs where we made a wrong turn because of all the detours set up for their Fourth of July Parade and almost ended up at the rodeo! In Jubilee, the locals were lining the streets waiting for the parade and the sound system was blaring marching music. We all waved to everyone sitting on the curb (all three of us that is) like we were part of the parade. (The beauty queen wave is elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, touch your lips and blow a kiss!) It was a hoot! We passed the little town of Dinosaur with its big pink dino, then stopped for lunch in Vernal, Utah. We stayed on US 40 until we reached Park City, then picked up I-80 in to Salt Lake City for the next overnight. US 40 takes you through several Indian reservations and national forests where you see a smattering of the geological formations for which Utah is famous. I-80 in to Salt Lake City is actually pretty cool, too – some real interesting corners for an interstate! That evening we sat outside the Holiday Inn to watch fireworks, and I was feeling very fortunate to have the freedom to see this country’s purple mountain majesties from sea-to-shining-sea – on my own terms.
The next leg of our trip took us from Salt Lake City to Reno, Nevada. Back on I-80 again, past the Great Salt Lake and through the Bonneville Salt Flats. What an incredible sight! You think you are looking at something from the moon – the white vastness of the salt flats contrasted with the snow-capped mountains in the background. Unfortunately, the track where all the land speed records are set wasn’t groomed so nothing was happening there. Also, the surrounding area is a test center and proving ground for the Air Force, I presume, with no travel permitted. That was a little creepy.
We filled up with gas at the rest area near the Bonneville Flats and continued on to Reno. Althea, who was on the 750 Shadow, has a smaller gas tank than mine, so we had to really watch our mileage and the distance between gas stops. Overall, my gas mileage had been fairly lousy. Carrying approximately 50 extra pounds of luggage, high winds and speeds around 80mph were the reason. We filled up every opportunity we had, but when we got gas in Winnemucca the locals told us that if we wanted to get to Reno, more than 160 miles away, we would have to stop in Loveland or we would be out of luck. Guess what they were right, and guess what else – gas was around $2.00 a gallon. Ouch!
We pulled into the Nuggett Casino and before we even got off our bikes, I handed a bellman my camera for the perfect “Kodak moment!” We got settled in our room, ate a little dinner, then play a couple of the slot machines. I got lucky, won $50, and called it quits.
Finally, our last leg to Chico, Ca. We stayed on I-80, which was bumper-to-bumper traffic once we got past Grass Valley. I guess everyone was heading back home to Sacramento after the holiday weekend. We finally exited at Marysville and made our way to Chico. The ride was great. It felt nice just to be moving at more than a snail’s pace! When we pulled in to the Holiday Inn at Chico, we were greeted by other women motorcyclists from around the country, and, doing the girlie thing, we all hugged and cried and couldn’t believe we actually did it! What a gratifying feeling! Of course, the first thing I had to do was phone my boyfriend and let him know I made it all safe and sound.
We spent the next week doing our Motor Maid thing, having our bikes serviced and shopping. The Suzuki shop in Chico seemed to have gone out of business, so I ended up buying a new rear tire from the Yamaha dealer. They didn’t have what I wanted, so ended up paying a fortune for a Dunlop D207, and hoping that tire was going to get me home okay. In all fairness though, they did give a discount to all the conventioneers. I also needed new rear brakes; and they checked out my chain, lubed it good and said it was good to go. As it turns out, I finally located the Suzuki dealer who had just been bought out by Cycle Recyclers, and that’s where I got my rear brake.
The idea was to leave Chico bright and early on Friday morning, July 11, heading north. Well, you know the best laid plans of mice and women – a little shopping, then packing, unpacking, repacking – we were on the road again – late!
This time we decided to take a more northerly route home and, unlike the trip out that had been carefully planned with reservations made in advance, we decided we would just make it up as we went along. A lot of our route home would depend on the weather. Up until now we had not had any problem with the weather other than a few pop-up showers and severe lightening that sent us to a Cracker Barrel near St. Louis to wait it out. Mainly we just had a lot of heat. I had the Sahara vest from Joe Rocket to wear under my Ballistic jacket, but in all honesty, I’m not sure it really worked as well as I had anticipated. Two of the girls who had camelbacks ended up purchasing one for me, which turned out to be a great help in combating dehydration even though we were getting drinks every time we stopped.
Because we got away so late, we only made it as far north as Klamath Falls. So the next morning we got an early start headed to Crater Lake National Park. What a beautiful ride. Crater Lake is one of the most gorgeous places I have ever seen. I would like to have had the opportunity to camp to fully explore the park. Then it was on to Bend for an early night and laundry. We continued north with Walla Walla, Washington as our goal so we could mail a post card from Washington State. Our journey north included a breakfast stop on US 97 in the ghost town of Shaniko, population 30, and a ride on I-84 along the very windy Columbia River.
We had an overnight in Lewiston, Idaho, so naturally we had to take pictures of our bikes in front of the Lewis and Clark monument. We stayed on US 12, the Lewis and Clark Highway, through Idaho. This is one road that everyone needs to ride. It is an absolute treasure. I loved the warning sign as you enter the national forest. It has the arrow pointing up with the squiggly line and it says “next 77 miles.” Whoo hoo! No cars to speak of. I hung back way back from the cruisers so I could ride the road at my own pace. You could really enjoy the views because of the road’s nice sweeping curves, not any tight corners to speak of. The two-lane road follows the Lochsa River, which is a wild and scenic river corridor in the Clearwater National Forest. The river is on one side of the road and mountains are on the other. I expected to see someone standing in the middle of the crystal clear river fishing or a little log cabin with smoke trailing from the chimney tucked away among the trees. Again, it’s incredible! Lunch at a Lolo Pass in Montana, and we were on our way again.
The ride through Montana was probably one of the weirder experiences of my life. Evidently the cowboys don’t only ride horses, they are also behind the wheel of their pick-ups brandishing 42 oz. Budweisers. We got behind this yahoo on I-90 –one of the other members of the group decided to pass him and like idiots the rest of us followed. I started falling behind because of the wind, so I was basically riding pretty much on my own. Well, he ended up following me on the interstate –no matter where I went or at what speed, he was right there. I felt like I was in a bad horror flick. For whatever reason he hopped of the interstate. I caught up with the rest of the group, and we were able to make a stop to file a police report.
Our next destination was Yellowstone. We just did the north road through Yellowstone so we could pick up Bear Tooth Highway. Yellowstone was really kind of a disappointment after Idaho, but Bear Tooth Highway was something else. I’ve ridden Deal’s Gap, and Bear Tooth Highway, at least 68 miles of it, makes running the Dragon look like a cakewalk. We’d had a little bit of rain while we were in Yellowstone, but it had stopped, thank goodness, before we entered Bear Tooth. I was also thankful for that new rear tire!
We wanted to go up to North Dakota, but we were running out of time, so we headed straight for Spearfish, South Dakota to do a short loop through the Black Hills and Deadwood on the way to Sturgis. Remember two of the bikes in the group are Harleys. I wasn’t too impressed with Sturgis and in hindsight would have opted to go to Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. But do you know what they don’t sell at the Harley shop in Sturgis? Motorcycles. They had to refer one of our riders to the Suzuki/Yamaha dealer to replace a bolt on her saddlebag. Go figure! As it turns out she ended up getting everything done in nearby Rapid City.
We spent that night at Wall and did a lot of shopping at Wall Drugs (souvenirs, not pharmaceuticals). The following day was the last time we rode together. One of the group members said she wanted to run into Minnesota to mail another #$% postcard. I was tired from the wind and just said I would continue towards Iowa and would meet them at the first rest area on the interstate. After waiting more than an hour, I left a message on their cell phones and got my self a room in South Sioux City, South Dakota.
The rest of the trip home I was on my own. We kept in tough with each other via cell phones, but we never rode together again. With some directions from my boyfriend, who has made this trip four times, I was able to take a route that got me off the interstate in Iowa and for most of Missouri. By the way, I think Iowa is the worst smelling state I have ever been in. I didn’t get back on the interstate until St. Louis. I was able to pick up I-64, which is a straight shot home. So I spent the last three days on my own. I actually enjoyed those last days being on my own. I was able to set my own pace and stop when and where I wanted. Solitude can be a good thing sometimes.
I would do this ride again in a heartbeat. I learned a lot and saw a lot. I wouldn’t trade my experiences for anything in the world. So when you get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, don’t let it pass you by. The advise from the 50-plus year-old girl, is Go For It!