Friday I slept in and hit the road late. The weather was gloomy and cold, but my heated gear worked perfectly. Territorial HWY has a lot of tree debris right now so I elected to burn slab down to Grants Pass. At Canyonville I cut off the slab and ran Tiller HWY. I had heard that the torn up section up top had been fixed. Tiller was clear, the pavement at the top was new, and only a few corners had wet leaves. More or less a win. I took a break in Shady Cove after giving myself a scare at Tiller/62, proof that highway hypnosis can happen even on twisty roads. From Shady Cove I burned up Sams Valley/Gold Hill hwy, then I-5 on into Grants Pass. Nothing terribly of note for the day. I dragged my sister in law out for coffee, then we all had dinner, drinks, and passed out for the night.
Saturday I burned slab Grants Pass to Ashland to meet my dad. We fueled up and said bye to Mom who had come out to see us off.
Dad and I ran down I-5 to HWY 96. Just like last year I ran ahead at that point. HWY 96 has some new patch work but otherwise is slowly degrading. Also like last year we had pizza in Happy Camp. Nothing really to note, although Happy Camp is one of those cities where people like us feel really out of place.
Hwy 96 south of Happy Camp is lots of fun. The section just north of Hoopa is recently re-paved, which is awesome because its nicely twisty.
We fueled up at Willow Creek. Willow Creek seems to be the stopping point for all the hitch hiking Rastafarian-looking youths traveling out to Eureka and Humbolt.
Hwy 299 is a lot of fun. There is a LEO presence though so I had to keep my speed in check. After Weaverville light was fading fast and I made as much ground as I could. Unfortunately I was coming down Buckhorn grade in the dark, with lots of traffic coming towards me. Going through twisties in the dark, downhill, with oncoming lights isn't fun.
After checking into a Motel 6 (slightly better than the one in Eureka, still smelled bad) in the ghetto and putting all my luggage inside we went and ate In N Out, the only reason one could ever have for visiting Redding.
Rather than take our chances with staying in Redding any longer than absolutely necessary we elected to blast up to Weaverville for breakfast. Diners in small tourist towns always have the best breakfast right?
Out of Redding the weather was beautiful and sunny. I ran up Buckhorn grade at a very respectable clip and ran right into a cloud. Right on the other side of the summit the entire valley was socked in a thick cold cloud. I came down the other side of the grade thankful for my D616 tires, my heated gear, and that my Icon gloves have a visor wiper built into the left glove.
At Weaverville we stopped at a little restaurant called The Nugget. Both of us ordered something that included Biscuits and Gravy. One thing almost nobody in the restaurant business screws up is good ol' B&G. When our meals arrived the B&G was cold. Like just out of the fridge cold.
We complained to the waitress who microwaved it then stuck her finger in it to test the temperature.
Out of Weaverville on HWY 3 we were still in the cloud for twenty minutes then climbed out of it into the Trinity mountains. This section of 3 has a lot of tar snakes, but thanks to the cool weather it wasn't an issue. The road is nice and curvy, I had a lot of fun. Its depressing riding by what the signs refer to as lakes and seeing nothing but a hole in the ground with rock piles. I guess the drought is worse than I thought. I blame the Prius drivers.
Eventually I got to Scott Mt. Everyone I'd talked to about HWY 3 always mentioned a section where you're in first gear in switchbacks up a mountain. This was that section. Its steep with switchbacks. It also has a very nice view.
If you do HWY 3, do yourself a favor and go South to North. Going uphill through this is more fun than going downhill would be.
On the other side of Scott Mt I dropped down into Scott valley and it got cold again. Just past Callahan it got colder and foggy. This part of the ride wasn't fun. The roads weren't twisty, it was cold, and there was a bit of farming traffic. I made hast to get through it.
Refueled in Yreka, observed the local druggy transients, and druggy HD riders, hit I-5 back to GP.
Turkey dinner with family, then food coma.
Monday morning, sleep in, then depart with dad up I-5. We narrowly missed getting tickets in Douglas county by the OSP. Breakfast at Canonyville. Dad departed south, I burned up North.
Just past Roseburg the cold northern wind hit me. You know the one, it smells like snow. I turned up my heated gear and tucked behind my CBR's diminutive windscreen.
My last stop before home was to get some ethanol free gas. I probably won't get to ride much for the next couple months and I don't want e10 gumming up my fuel system.
All in all a good ride. Northern California has a lot of great roads to offer and November is past the tourist season.
I think I finally found the right winter gear. The two exceptions are my helmet and my jacket. My helmet fits perfectly, which doesn't leave any room for my balaclava, which means my head is cold when its cold out. The other is my new Fly winter jacket. It came with some seams open, and other seams opened up during the trip, They weren't catastrophic failures, but it sucks that they have QC issues like that.
Tomorrow once more into the breach.
