Pete Nickerson. May 8, 2010
The planning.
When riding our Harley Davidson Electra Glide Ultra Classic motorcycle (Big Blue), Susan has been my navigator on trips we have been taking. Since she has not been riding much with me in the last few months, almost to the point where she was seemingly avoiding riding, I was beginning to think that her fervor for motorcycles was dying out.
Of course, timing and our work schedules had something to do with it. Still, she seemed to have an almost coolness to the mention of riding. I was quite surprised when she brought the subject up to me last week. She had gotten her work schedule for this week and saw that she had some time off. This is my scheduled short week where I work Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. She told me that if I took off Tuesday we could have a 4 day ride, so long as she could get back on Friday early enough to go to work that night.
Where to go? I checked the maps, did some Googling and pickled a tentative route. I checked out the weather and everything looked good. We went over the route together and were both good with it.
Day 1.
For the first day’s ride we planned to take the 5 Freeway to the 99 up to Visalia, a small city that is the County Seat of Tulare County and is also near the Sequoia National Park. We left our home in Tustin, after we were sure that the rush hour traffic was over and headed North on the 5 Freeway. One thing you should know about the 5 Freeway, as it wends its way through Los Angeles, is that it is always busy from very early in the morning until well after the sun had gone down at night. While rush hour was over before we got there, as we made our way through Los Angeles there were several areas of very slow traffic.
We made it through the city and got out into more open roads where we could just glide along on cruise control. By the time we got around Castaic, which is about 1/3rd the way up to Visalia, we thought it might be a good idea to give our butts a little rest. We pulled off and stopped at a Denny’s for some light refreshment.
Castaic is an unincorporated community in Northern Los Angeles County and is the gateway to Castaic Lake and Pyramid Lake, popular recreational areas.
After a short break, we hopped back on Big Blue and took off, back on the 5 Freeway. Now traffic was lighter and I put Big Blue on cruise control as we seemed to glide along the roadway. We effortlessly transitioned over to the 99 Freeway and soon came to Bakersfield. We saw a big Harley Davidson signpost and turned off to visit with them.
It is always interesting to visit a Harley Dealer. We like the atmosphere and drool over the bikes and merchandise. We usually buy a couple of T shirts too. This was an exceptionally friendly place to visit and they treated Susan and me like we were visiting royalty. If we are ever back in the neighborhood again we will definitely stop in for another visit.
After our visit we got back on Big Blue and headed to the nearest gas station where we filled the tank. After that we headed back out on the 99. I put it in cruise control and glided effortlessly all the way up to Visalia. We pulled off the 99 and drove a short distance to the Holiday Inn. We had stayed here before and had enjoyed our stay. The rooms were comfortable and the Hotel restaurant was very good.
We relaxed for the rest of the day, getting ready for our ride up to Kings Canyon and the Sequoia National Park the next day. Dinner at the restaurant was good. I had the Fish and Chips (my standard for judging restaurants) and Susan had Italian Sausage and penne pasta in Marinara sauce. My fish and chips were above average and Susan’s dish was excellent. The next morning, before our ride, we had the Buffet Breakfast and that was very good.
Day 2
After breakfast we made our final checks and headed out to Kings Canyon in Sequoia National Park. From the hotel we took the 198 East then the 245 North toward Kings Canyon. At first the 245 took us by some farms and there were a few 4 way stops. I told Susan that I hoped it was not like this all the way up to Kings Canyon, another 45 miles away. Well my hopes came true. Listen up when they say “be careful of what you wish for.” For the next 40 miles we encountered some of the tightest uphill twisties I have ever experienced. It was challenging and there was a certain thrill. Many times the edge of the road was a sheer wall of stone or a sheer drop off of indeterminate height (I was not about to stop and look over the edge).
A little past the halfway mark we stopped at the Mountain House Saloon. There was a old Chevy pick-up truck and a BMW motorcycle parked out front, so we figured it had to be ok. There was a nice young lady tending the bar. We both ordered sodas and she suggested we sit out on the back porch to enjoy the view. The view from the porch was indeed spectacular with mountains and trees. We also noticed horseshoe pits and a couple of hitching posts behind the saloon. This looks like it might be fun here on a Friday night.
Soon we left the saloon and headed back out on the 245 for 18 more miles of tight twisties. Exciting. Then we came to the 180 and took a right turn to go to Kings Canyon. The 180 was a curvey road that lead us higher and higher into the mountains. Soon we were passing by snow pack on the sides of the road. When we got to the Kings Canyon Ranger Station, Susan pulled her jacked out of the tour pack and put it on. I was wearing my heavy denim Harley vest and a long sleeve mock turtle shirt, so I left my jacket in the trunk. We got to see some Giant Sequoias, which were truly giants.
Then we headed back to the hotel. This time we took a different route that bypassed the twisties. The route was longer in distance but much shorter in time. When we got back to the hotel we were exhausted, but very satisfied with the ride for the day.
Day 3
We were planning on making our third day destination Lompoc, but as we talked about it we thought that we would much rather go to Solvang, just about the same distance. We have been to Solvang several times and had always enjoyed it. So, Solvang it was to be. We did some quick re-calculations and plotted our course.
After a hearty breakfast we headed out, West, on the 198 for about 24 miles. Here we got onto the 41 which took us Southwest through some beautiful farm country where we saw miles and miles of orange and lemon and almond groves, vineyards and many fields of assorted vegetables. We also saw many California Contented Cows lazily roaming the pastures and hillsides. We expected them to break out in song at any moment.
When we came to the US-101 we took that South about 80 miles. There we took the 246 West past some Ostrich, Llama and Horse Ranches to Solvang, a quaint Danish style village. Solvang was founded in 1911 by a group of Danish educators. Today Solvang is a somewhat quaint village, offering a taste of Denmark in California. We like to visit here because the people who live and work there are friendly and instill an atmosphere of a simpler and gentler time.
When we got there we checked in at the Holdiay Inn Express, a hotel where we had lodged on an earlier visit. The rooms were neat and clean and the service was courteous. After checking into the room we took a leisurely stroll down the street. We stopped in The Danish Bakery for coffee and a pastry, then continued our stroll and stopped in the D’Alfonso-Curran Wines tasting room. The hostess, Jordan, explained to us that their wines were aged in stainless steel barrels to give the wines a crisper, cleaner and drier character. There were no sweet wines in this collection. I did a tasting, and she was right, there were no sweet wines. That was fine with me. While some of these wines were quite good (you would have to judge for yourselves) some of them lacked the character that oak ageing imparts to a wine.
After leaving the tasting room we headed back to our room stopping briefly at a local grocery to pick up some food and drink to enjoy as a light dinner in our room. Tired as we were by now, we slept well that night.
Day 4
We were up, not quite at the crack of dawn, but we did get up to rejoin the world of the living. After lazing around for a while and enjoying a cup of in-room coffee, we got dressed and headed down for the complimentary breakfast. The breakfast buffet was not as extensive as the breakfast buffet in Visalia was, but is had ample choices and it was free. After eating we packed up and started on our final leg of the journey, one that would take us home.
I fired up Big Blue and Susan climbed on. I pointed the bike toward the road and we were off, on the 198 to the 41 and down to the 101. We took the 101 down, through some more very beautiful country to the 405. It was interesting to see how the scenery changed as we got closer and closer to the city.
Let me talk a little about carpool lanes. One thing nice about them is that you can usually maintain a reasonably decent rate of speed and not have to worry much about people cutting into the lane in front of you. Motorcycles are allowed on the carpool lanes in California; that is a good thing. The carpool lane in the 405 did not run the full length of the freeway last time we took it, but now it does; that is another good thing.
When we got on the 405 we got in the carpool lane. There was only one delay and it was for an accident in the middle lane of the freeway. The accident did not affect the carpool lane except for “looky-loos” as they are called here in California, or “rubberneckers” as we call them back in New York. Otherwise we made it back to Orange county without undue hindrance.
At the junction with the 55 freeway there is a “flyaway” that allows us to go directly from the 405 carpool lane to the 55 carpool lane. A real timesaver, we took that and the 55 lead us home. The total distance of the ride was 720 miles. That is the longest ride Susan and I have ever taken together, We saw just how beautiful this state is and we really enjoyed the ride and we enjoyed Big blue.
P. S.
After we got home and unpacked I went directly down to the gas station and filled up the tank. For the trip we used a total of 16.3 gallons for an amazing 44+ mpg. Gotta love that bike.
