First trip

USGP at Laguna Seca

 

DAY 1 -- 204.0 miles    

Leaving Billings, MT about 3 pm. and 3 hours later turning off Interstate 90 at the Three Forks exit to Hwy. 2 and stuck to the back roads going up towards Whitehall., MT.   I had never been this way by highway.  Only on the train as a part of my work as a Railroad Engineer . The tracks of our 5th subdivision branch line run right by thecampground and I had always wanted to see the Caverns.  The tracks on the south side of the river were Milwakee Road I think.  They no longer existbut are shown on the map. The road is fun on a bike even though the surface is rough in spots.     I camped in the campground at the Lewis and Clark Caverns and had planned to see the caves this evening but they closed at 6 pm. Had a nice chat with the ranger at the Park and walked down to the Boulder River to watch the Fly fishermen.   After I pitched the tent,  I rode over to Whitehall.  I knew their wasn't much in the way of restaurants over there so I came back to a bar just west of the caverns had a burger on the deck., Rode around and explored the area  a bit before coming back to camp.  About dusk the deer come down to the river by the hundreds.  Mostly mule deer with some whitetails.  Lots of birds including some red tail hawks and some larger birds of prey.  Bald eagles are plentiful around here. Photo taken from the Train near Sappington, Montana

DAY 2 363.0 Miles

After sleeping in this morning, I took the second tour of the day of the caverns.  The tour takes about 90 min. and I was surprised to find out that the cave is way up the mountain from the campground.  Fun road on the bike but full of deer.  After breaking camp I decided to take hwy. 2 over to Butte.  I had driven over this road once  in a car when I was working up in Whitehall and I thought it might be a fun one on a bike.  I was right! This road goes up where some abandoned Railroad tracks must have served the logging industry up here.  There is a big Railroad trestle that I would like to hike over to some day.  I love bridges and especially wooden trestles. Great smooth pavement with a nice section of twisty road on the other side of the pass as you come down into the back side of Butte, MT. I spent some time in looking over the Copper mining area there. Lots of history in this area.  My wife had family that supposedly made a fortune up here back in it's heyday.

Doubling back south on Interstate 15 until I intercepted U.S. 93 then turned north on it and I drove up to Hamilton and stopped at the local tennis club. I had heard it was the nicest indoor facility in the state.  Very nice.

Met up with a couple of guys on sport bikes from British Columbia when I pulled over to rest at and abandoned gas station / grocery store.  We rode north together for a while but I really didn't like running the Old Wing 85 and 90 like them so I let them go.  It wasn't long before I caught up to them.  I had no trouble passing them as Mr. Montana State Trooper had them both in the back of his car.  The guys looked pretty glum.

Note:  There isn't any posted speed limit anymore, this was during the old 5 dollar ticketdays when there was a posted speed limit (55 in this case) Reckless driving was a possibility that is even more likely now. Note Note 6/99: Summer of '99 Montana has reinstituted a speed limit and it is generous with secondary roads posted at 70 mph   

  Rolled into a small campground at Lolo, MT and piched the tent, went to the diner.

Day 3 -

The photo at left is along US 12 between Lolo and Lewistown.  The Lochsa River. This is one of the best motorcycle roads I have ever been on.  It has been called the "ST Mother Road" Low altitude with Mountain senery, very little traffic with very little straight stretches of road. At the entrance to US 12 there is a great sign.

I stopped in Dayton for a mid afternoon lunch and ended up spending a few hours. Nice little town. My Dad always took pictures of court houses. Cleanest town I ever saw.  Spent about 2 hours here. There was a little depot all restored that doubles as the town library. Dayton is Northwest of Walla, Walla. Beautiful weather would turn into downright hot by mid-morning. Wearing all the leather makes it uncomfortable in the 95° heat unless you keep moving so I pretty much stayed on the bike all day, stopping only for gas and a bite. Still, I wasn't able to make great time. But the bike doesn't even care about the heat.  The temp gauge only moves up about a needle width.  The weather cooled off a bit once I was riding along the Columbia river. Spent the night in a motel with a Railroad theme at The Dalles, OR

Day 4

I am now well into the Columbia river valley and alternate over the river from the Oregon to the Washington side nearly ever bridge I come to.  Some of the bridges are really cool.  I stay on the Washington side alot so that I get to go through all the little towns and stay away from Interstate 84.  There is fabulous scenery along the both sides with sheer cliffs and waterfalls everywhere and of course the BIG Columbia River.  This is a popular area for windsurfing.  Looks like people travel for miles on the boards here.South along highway 101 I run across a couple of Canadians on very small motorcycles.  One is a Honda 550-4 and the other is an old 400 something of some kind.  The Honda is having electrical trouble and isn't charging the battery.  I stop and let them use my multimeter. 

We get to talking and they are going to the USGP race like I am.  I've learned to let motorcyclists work on their own bikes and don't hold much hope to fix it anyway.  Turns out the guy is an Electrical Engineer and has been a motorcycle nut for years.  He owns a bunch of them including some antiques.  Really knows what he's doing.  He figures it to be a solid state problem and there is no part in Tillimook available.  My battery will fit his bike and I have a aux. kick starter, so we switch batteries and ride all day by switching back and forth.

We make it into Coos Bay pull into the Motel 6.  There is only only room available and the 3 of us pile into 1 room.   They pay...cool!  "THE CANADIANS"  notice how dreary it is here at Coos Bay 

 

Day 5 - Coos Bay, OR to Point Arena, CA

The next morning the Canadians call the Honda shop and I give them my cheapo multimeter and we go our separate ways. The fog lifts when I gain altitude and I alternate from hot to cold as I go from drizzle to bright sunlight. Riding right on the beach but can't really see it until I make the turnoff off the interstate and cut over to the entrance of the Pacific Coast Highway. At this point it's been awhile since I got any gas, but I don't think about it and impulsively start down Highway 1. Shortly after making the turnoff, I have to turn on the reserve because the bike sputters a bit. I didn't expect this part of the highway to be so isolated and it's awhile before I realize there may not be any gas available. I make it to the top of the pass, stop, get out the map and I see how far it is to fuel. I figure I can go about 45 miles at the most. Still, I follow a truck that very obviously knows this twisty-twisty road like the back of his hand. It's downhill for miles so I shut off the engine and coast. When I make it to the Pacific Ocean, I have to start the engine again and hope I make it. Guess what? I keep going like I have a choice and limp in by switching from reserve to main tank a number of times. I manage to get every drop out of the main tank and make it into a tiny place looking at the map I think it was maybe Union Landing, CA? About 5 houses and a grocery store. Dark clouds and it's cold. The grocery store has an old gas pump. Doesn't look like it works. Regular unleaded anyway. The old Gold Wing is designed to run on Premium leaded gas. I've tuned it so it will run on Premium unleaded, but I have to fill it up with regular unleaded anyway. Kids are flocked around looking at the bike. Small town, not much else to do. I doubt if a motorcycle is much of a novelty here. I think about camping on the beach but the wind is really blowing . I blast off south and roll into Point Arena, CA about dark.There is a Lighthouse here. I find a cheap motel. It even has a carport for the bike. It's still drizzling a bit and very cool. I get settled in the room and decide to go get a bite to eat. I run back to the north side of town and find a restaurant with a K75 BMW motorcycle in front of it. There's only one customer inside but it's a nice little place. I notice the one customer has a red aerostich riding suit on ( see photo, that's him on the right) and he motions me to come over. He turns out to be a great guy and he is going to the race as well. Mike Iiams had ridden all the way from Atlanta, by way of the Canada Highway. All the way across to Vancouver, B.C., then down the coast! And my brother Tyler calls methe road warrior.

Day 6 - Point Arena,CA to Carmel, CA.

Went down to the lighthouse first thing this morning and the area sure looked familiar. (It was used as a location for the movie ???(guess)??? . In the final scene Mel Gibson lands a B-25 on the field in front of the lighthouse . Mike and I hook up and head down the coast. We have a great day. He lets me ride his bike some even though the transmission was acting up on it. Mine is working fine :-) We eat lunch a a lousy place in Sasulito and brave the San Francisco traffic. Blasting down the highway in traffic takes some getting used to again south of San Francisco. WeI make onto the off ramp to Monterey. Mike had called ahead for a reservation at the KOA campground. I would learn that he is pretty organized and particular. Wish I could be more like that. We say good-bye and make plans to hook up together at the race. That never happened, but we have remained in contact for the next few years by postcard and telephone.

Note: Mike Iiams and I have keet in touch. I saw him last April '98 when I went to Atlanta to go to Talledaga for the NASCAR race. Note Note: Mike has moved to Seattle! We will be getting together more often I'm sure now that he is only 12hrs away.

Arriving in Carmel, CA. about dark, I have some trouble finding the condo address. Carmel is pretty dark without many streetlights and I reminded myself to: A. Not ride after dark and 2. Talk to Clint Eastwood about putting some streetlights up in his town. I wandered around for quite awhile until I spotted Hughes. He had seen me and was chasing me around the courtyard on foot trying to get my attention. Now, remember, I have a full face shield and he has never seen this bike. He said, "When I saw that big red cooler, I knew it was you. " He teased me about it for the rest of the visit. We went out and got a bite to eat. I bought my wife a Carmel Sweatshirt. Drank a few beers and went back to the Condo. Later that night Bill Happy showed up. He had driven all the way from L.A. on his Suzuki Katana AFTER getting off worklate in the evening. We checked the bikes and I saw a ST1100 at the same place we were staying. I've wanted one every since Brian thought it would be ideal for me.

We pile into Steveo's Accord and head to Laguna Seca racetrack near Monterry.We park in the shuttle bus lot an ride the bus up to the track. The crew brings a styrofoam cooler for the beer, so we're pretty much all set. We make our way up to the corksrew and watch the big boys practice. They hold the front tire in the air until braking for the left, then the quick right. Watching Mick Doohan put the front tire down in almost the exact same spot lap after lap is amazing. Soon he bites it and scatters pieces of the bike all over the track. A girl on the infield moat doing a demo for watercraft adds to the spectacle. We go down to the manufactuers tents and see all the new bikes. I get a close look at my first ST1100.

Nine years later I bought a used one.

I went home via Yosemite Park --The Reno Air Races--and Sun Valley Idaho