NorCal Ride of June 19-23, 2005Lake Tahoe - Ave of Giants - Trinity Alps(Page 3 of 4)
Day 3 was from
Mike's digs in Gridley to the Comfort Inn & Suites out in Fortuna. (1) Mike's digs. (2) Gridley Rd. (3) Colusa (gas).
(4) Clearlake. (5) Lakeport (breakfast). (6) Hopland. (7) Boonville-Ukiah Rd.
(8) Boonville (gas). (9) Mendocino (gas). (10) Fort Bragg (suds). (11) Leggett (gas).
(12) Fortuna (motel).
Our scoots spent the night in the backyard
shed at Mike's digs in Gridley. Mike, while loading up his system with nicotine and
caffeine that morning, snapped this shot. We rode 105 miles from here to Lakeport
for a hearty breakfast at a cafe near end of town.
We pulled over onto the turnout by the 2495'
summit of
Hopland Rd to take in the views of Clear Lake. This sure was one twisty road!
Clear Lake from Hopland Summit. We stayed here
awhile drinking in the view before resuming our journey to our next stop in Boonville, 49 miles
from Lakeport, where Kurt could get gas while we rested our arses. Hwy 128, as
it careemed through the redwoods, was terrific at least until we fell behind a pack of
cagers although we blew past them before reaching the coast.
In Fort Bragg, 49 miles from Boonville, Mike
repaired his cracked exhaust bracket with bailing wire and hose clamps. No biggie as
we all split a cold pitcher of Acme Brown Ale at the North Coast Brewing Co. Kurt got himself the Old Rasputin sweatshirt.
We stopped here at Leggett Patriot for a butt break. Man,
the route from Rockport to Leggett was twistier and steeper than my memory banks could recall. This
is where Kurt needed gas as it had been 92 miles since he last filled his tank in Boonville. Quite
a few other motorcyclists stopped here.
The famous redwood tree located in Founder's Grove that doesn't make your ass look
fat unless yours happens to be a bark shredding 13' wide. =8^).
It was starting to get dark here in Founder's Grove, but this vertically challenged
photo came out looking fairly decent. It's a totally different experience when there's no other tourists about.
Here's a pic of Kurt on his thirsty, uh, trusty steed parked in front of a redwood tree
in Founder's Grove. This was his first visit to
Avenue of the Giants.
Plenty of parking available at Founder's Grove as we
were just about the only ones there that evening. We then blasted north to Fortuna where we got a
room at the Comfort Inn overlooking our scoots in the parking lot. We had a great time at the
Eel River Brewing Co that night after doing
at least 319 miles of backroads for the day.
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