Planning a Road Trip this Summer

[WildBlue]

Hi all, I'm relatively new to GSTwin - been stalking the forum for a while but haven't had a chance to post much. 

I'm planning a road trip on my GS this summer, I'm pretty excited about it.  My plan is to ride north along the Pacific coast from the SF bay area to a town in Oregon called Florence, then cut east to Eugene, north to McMinville (to see the Spruce Goose!  ) and Portland. 

From there I'll decide if I keep going north, in which case I'll ride back to the coast and all the way up to the border with Canada, take the ferry to Vancouver island, ride for a little bit, then another ferry to the city of Vancouver, and south through Seattle and back to Portland.  Finally after exploring the Columbia River Gorge for a little bit I'll ride back south through central Oregon and a bunch of national parks.  This for a grand total of about 2800 miles  in 2 weeks...  (  ? )

Bottom part of the route:


And then the north part:



Looks like I'll be going solo, since none of my friends is too excited about taking 2 weeks off... Oh well, should be sweet nonetheless...   And if there are any GSers along the way it'd be great to meet you!

[skoebl]

You'll be goign through two of my hometowns 

I was born and raised in Red Bluff....And lived the last 4.5 years in Crescent City. Am in San Diego now...but will be moving to Davis in December.

I very much recommend going on hwy 36 at some point in yoru trip. It's touted as being the #1 motorcycle road in California. It runs from Red Bluff to Fortuna. I believe it's about 156 miles, but is supposed to take 4 hours  .

I hope the trip goes really well. I hope to take a loooong voyage like that someday. I have some friends in Davis who ride who will be willing to go with me too 

[Gisser]

* I'd save the HWY 36/299 loop for another weekend since you live close-by and you'll need to save your strength on a trip this ambitious.

* If you head inland at Florence you will miss the so-called Oregon Coast (the scenic section lies between there and Astoria).  OTOH, the Cali coast between SF and Ft. Bragg is at least as scenic, warmer, less fog, and a better ride to boot.  Different ambience, though.  Frankly, the Washington coastline isn't very interesting unless you ride all the way up the Olympic Penninsula--in which case you can board the ferry to Seattle or wherever. 

* If you follow the Columbia Gorge it's much nicer to stay on the Washington side--I84 on the Oregon side is a freeway.  OTOH, the Oregon side does have the tourist stop known as Multinomah Falls.

* Mt. St. Helens is a good ride so set aside a day for that if you are in the area.

* On the way home, Grants Pass is one on the nicest Oregon smalltowns so you might want to juggle your route a bit there.  OTOH, Klamath Falls is home to a fellow GStwin poster, IIRC.  The Rogue River between these towns is a scenic, relaxing ride but doesn't get you any closer to home.          

Just thinking out loud.   
   

[RVertigo]

If you come through Seattle, let me know...  We can go ride.   

[Codger]

Exquisite man.

If I wasn't 1500 miles from connecting to your route, I would be with you.

[WildBlue]

Thanks for the tips and encouragement so far.  I've heard a lot about Highway 36, I'm actually going to do part of it on my way from Lassen National Park to Red Bluff, like so:



I guess that's not the most scenic part of 36, but it'd be a bit out of the way to do the western part on this trip...   

Multnomah Falls on the Columbia Gorge was on my list of things to see.  I also heard there's a replica of the Stonehenge monument somewhere along the river... anyone know where it's at?   

Hey IIRC, what's there to see in Klamath Falls?

Posted by: RVertigo
If you come through Seattle, let me know...  We can go ride.

Will do! 

[Gisser]

Hey IIRC, what's there to see in Klamath Falls?

  IIRC = if I recall correctly. 

Stonehenge is on the Washington side.  Go all the way to HWY97 and you're there.  Be sure to visit the Maryhill museum.  Then you can cross the bridge back to Oregon.   

 

[WildBlue]

  IIRC = if I recall correctly. 

Oh, lol.  I thought it was someone on the forum... 

[Kasumi]

This is in no way abusing america just the creativity. Are all your monuments and states based on English ones? I mean there's London, New England, New Hampshire, Stonehenge? Many more i can't think of right now.

[Cal Price]

WildBlue,

That looks like a great trip, very soon I will be doing a similar distance timescale into Eastern Europe alone. Have you done anything like that distance before, what luggage etc are you using? I will be enhancing my tool kit a little, taking puncture plugs, spare levers and spark plugs, roll of tape, spare bulbs, swiss army knike all the usual advice. Yesterday I did a 300 mile run-out ust testing all my kit starting here in SE England, ferry into France up to Brugge and Ghent in Belgium back down into France, Lille, Lens, Bethune, St Omer, Boulogne and Calais and ferry back to UK. I experienced some of the worst cross winds and downpours I have ever ridden in but everything worked out  OK.

The winds gave rise to some luggage issues. The magnetic tank bag blew to one side, it was held by the strap on the yoke but no joke when the bag starts thrashing around at 90mph so I put an extra strap holding it in place passing it through the gap by the petcock, if you are likely to meet bad weather of rough surfaces you will need to pay a lot of attention to securing your kit.  GOOD LUCK with it.

[Gisser]

This is in no way abusing america just the creativity. Are all your monuments and states based on English ones? I mean there's London, New England, New Hampshire, Stonehenge? Many more i can't think of right now.

Our Stonehenge is constructed of concrete, so something does get lost in the translation.  Nor is it in ruins, so there goes the Old World character, too.     In terms of authenticity, we'll never match the consecration via human sacrifice of the original.   Can't blame us for that!      

[Cal Price]

Yeah I understand the problem, we have had to ease back on the human sacrifices since 16yrs old virgins have gotten so difficult to find. (Alledgedly)

[scratch]

Looks like fun!  One word of warning: the wind is brutal going north on the coast.  And 580 is potholed badly, dangerously, see here: http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=012ab9ca57a76fd8ec6c4a9aff21c995&threadid=163212

[WildBlue]

WildBlue,

That looks like a great trip, very soon I will be doing a similar distance timescale into Eastern Europe alone. Have you done anything like that distance before, what luggage etc are you using? I will be enhancing my tool kit a little, taking puncture plugs, spare levers and spark plugs, roll of tape, spare bulbs, swiss army knike all the usual advice. Yesterday I did a 300 mile run-out ust testing all my kit starting here in SE England, ferry into France up to Brugge and Ghent in Belgium back down into France, Lille, Lens, Bethune, St Omer, Boulogne and Calais and ferry back to UK. I experienced some of the worst cross winds and downpours I have ever ridden in but everything worked out  OK.

The winds gave rise to some luggage issues. The magnetic tank bag blew to one side, it was held by the strap on the yoke but no joke when the bag starts thrashing around at 90mph so I put an extra strap holding it in place passing it through the gap by the petcock, if you are likely to meet bad weather of rough surfaces you will need to pay a lot of attention to securing your kit.  GOOD LUCK with it.

Hey Cal, your trip sounds like a lot of fun too.    I haven't done that kind of distance before, only 150 mile or so trips, but I'm planning on working up to it with some weekend trips beforehand, since I won't be going until mid-late August.

As for luggage, I have a set of Tourmaster Cortech saddlebags and tail bag, that Kerry was nice enough to loan me (thanks sir!  ).  The setup looks like this (from Kerry's web site):



I don't have a tank bag yet, but I'm thinking of getting one.  Given your experience with wind, and Scratch's observation that the wind will be very strong, I should consider securing it with straps like you did - good call!

The list of things to bring is getting longer and longer.  Again, Kerry has given me some great advice based on his long-trip experiences.  In addition to that, I found this article on the AMA web site interesting:

http://www.amadirectlink.com/roadride/riderresc/TouringTips.asp

and their list of things to bring:

http://www.amadirectlink.com/roadride/riderresc/TouringList.asp

Yah, the things you mention sure seem essential, I'm building my own list too, which I'll summarize here when it's complete for future reference.  Duct tape - you can never overstate the power of duct tape.

Posted by: scratch
And 580 is potholed badly, dangerously, see here: http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=012ab9ca57a76fd8ec6c4a9aff21c995&threadid=163212

I didn't realize it was that bad!  I'm going to modify my route to avoid 580, thanks for the heads up scratch! 

[Cal Price]

If you got the kit from Kerry I am sure you got good advice as well, if you can manage then minimise your luggage.

I have buffalo touring paniers, a GIVI E460 topbox (takes two helmets) plus Buffalo tail-pack that I can mount back-to-back with the Givi and the "Oxford-1" tank bag. I made a provisional decision to try and do without the tail-pack, my recent experience makes me question this but all in all I stay in favour of the tank bag because it is very convenient also a good place to put brief marker-notes, road numbers, place names etc in the map pocket also snacks and a bottle or two of water or still drinks, you can grab a mouthfull at lights even, the other reason is I don't like too much going on behind me that I can't see. I am off fairly soon so I take every opportunity for rides with the luggage as the bike is a different animal with it all.

I posted these pix in April but since then have fitted the bigger E460 top-box, also a list of my "essential" bits and bobs.
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=25924.0

[Cal Price]

This is useful to anyone thinking about a big trip as well.....
http://www.motorcycle.co.uk/Motorcycle-Touring-Europe/

[Kerry]

Cal & I were on separate short(ish) trips at the same time!  Sounds like Cal did his 300 miles all in one day, while I spread mine over two.

I left home about 4:20 on Friday, and got back 24 hours and ~300 miles later.  I packed lighter than usual because I knew it was only for one day.  In fact, this packing arrangement (for camping) was a new one for me:



The other reason I packed this way was because I stupidly lost part of one of the mounting brackets for my hard saddlebags.  (See my usual "full on" luggage setup near the top of the Day 1 page from my 2003 trip to Canada.  Please overlook my Dad's packing job -- he tends to "buy it cheap and stack it deep".  Besides, his hard bags don't hold as much as mine.)

Never fear ... I plan to fabricate a replacement part for the mounting bracket before my next BIG trip.  Then the tent will go back in one of the saddlebags, and I can strap my soft tailbag on again.

[Jake D]

What do you have planned for a BIG trip?

I'm trying to plan one, too.  But I am feeling out how far I can tolerate my new bike.  It isn't much of a tourer.  I have come close to 150 miles in one on it however, which doesn't get you to very much cool stuff in Missouri.

Looks like you've said, "Load triangle be damned!"

[WildBlue]

Hey Cal, thanks for that info, it's great stuff.  I saw your other thread about your trip to Prague, it'll be kewl!    Your setup with the saddlebags and the Givi trunk looks pretty clean, I'm going to have to experiment loading the bike soon to see what the best way to mount everything is.

Kerry, good to see you around here!  How do you like your windshield?  I'm thinking about getting something similar for the trip because my F-16 is likely not going to cut it for long distances.

[GS Jenn]

Hey I used to live on Vancouver Island... great motorcycling, you'll love it. Truely fun twisties up the mountain called the Malahat north of Victoria.