California Bound

So long story short, some friends of mine called me up last week and told me they were throwing a party at their house, in Ben Lomond, CA.  Not only that, but some other friends I know were going to fly/drive into town for said party.  It's going to be a rare opportunity to see people I normally would never get to see.  After some negotiations with the wife, I come to find out she had already made plans for an event with her sister the weekend in question.  She couldn't go (sad face), which opened the opportunity of taking the bike (happy face).  Now of course! the sad face is very big and eclipses the happy face in every way, shape and form. (It's rumored that said wife is known to read this blog from time to time and so the sad face is very very sad and wife will be missed immensely!!) 

In honor of the wife I will attempt to carry on through, open road, adventure, time away from work, redwood forests, coastal roads, good friends.  It's going to be darn tough but I am up to the challenge:) The rain gods are going to hit me hard for this post.

So, first things first.  How to get there? Ben Lomond is about 842 miles (14 hours) from Tucson.  And that's mostly Interstate highway.  I hate Interstate highway.  But I'd like to maximize my travel time getting there so Interstate it is.  I plan on leaving Thursday morning, and my butt can only handle about ~500 miles from past experience.  This means a stopping point somewhere near the northern part of LA.  I think I'm going to play it by ear and find a hotel when I decide I'm done for the day.  Day 2 will be more interstate but I've found a nice little B&B nestled in the woods as my finishing point.  Day 3 will be party city, with a little time to explore the surrounding roads, and they look FABULOUS for motorcycle riding.  At this point, the trip becomes a little more nebulous.  I keep having new ideas on what I can do.  I have a friend in Mission Viejo who has told me I'm welcome to crash in a bed.  The plan right now is to take the 101 south...with the possibility of getting to see the famous "Rock Store".  From there... not a lot of plans.  I have to be back to work on the 9th so that will be finally decision maker.  I'm hoping to use BlogPress to blog from the road so anyone can follow along if you feel so inclined.

I intend to do a few more posts prior to leaving, so check back if you are interested in more prep talk. A.K.A how a noob plans a trip:)


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I hate making a post without any pictures so here are a few shots of a ride I took through Gates Pass on Oct 6th.  This was a weird day in Tucson..a freak cold snap rolled through in the afternoon and we dropped from ~70 to 56 degrees in one hour!  The temperature was so nice I made a quick Pass run and pulled over to snap some pics as the sun was setting.  Enjoy!