Colorado Cruiser: Pacific Coast Highway Ride

San Francisco to Eureka

STAY TUNED!! Nannette gets on a motorcycle today!!!

After breakfast, we headed North up the 101 toward the Golden Gate Bridge. Traffic wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought it would be. We made it to downtown San Francisco within 30 minutes. The freeway ends and dumps you into normal street traffic until you get over near the Golden Gate. We had a couple of wrong turns as we struggled to get across town.

We turned right on Lombard street and headed towards the twisty steep road. Nannette and Shauna drove ahead of us and got out to take pictures of John and I as we rode the motorcycles down the street. It was fun, but there were so many cars trying to do the same drive that we went down at a walking pace. They did get some great pictures though.

After Lombard we headed toward the Golden Gate Bridge. We stopped for pictures at the scenic turnout right before the bridge. The clouds and fog were allot thinner than yesterday and not nearly as much wind. The sun broke through and we got some really nice pictures. It was fun to just sit and watch all the different people looking at the bridge and trying to take pictures. We probably heard every language there was in the world, but someone holding out a camera towards you and pointing at themselves is universal language for "will you take a picture of us?"

We got back onto the highway and headed toward the bridge. We got a bit jumbled coming out of the parking lot so we weren't lined up how we'd wanted for taking pictures. We probably violated a few ordinances as we jockeyed to get next to each other for pictures, but we got some really good ones.

After we crossed the bridge, we turned off onto Highway 1 again. It went out the back of the town and quickly led us up into the hills. The road wound around every little hill and stream, steadily climbing up, then dropping down towards the ocean. There was allot more fog on this side of the bay, but the sun breaking through now and then made for some beautiful contrast.

We stopped by a particularly beautiful spot to get pictures. There was not a turnout, but lots of people were stopping because of the beauty. After taking a few pictures, I jokingly said to Nannette "So are you ready to ride on the back of John's bike?" and she shocked us all by saying "OK".

It was a bit chilly so I got out my heavy coat and gloves for her. She put on Angela's helmet, and with a bit of coaching from Angela, she climbed on behind John. Now my bike is a good one, but John's bike is geared for 2 up riding with the wide soft seat, and the high wrap around backrest. Plus John has about 100 times the riding experience that I do, and on those winding roads, I almost wanted to ride behind John rather than ride it myself.

We pushed on down the road and after a few minutes John said over the radio "She wants to know if she HAS to open her eyes". I was following behind and could see her pointing here and there at various vistas, so I know she was looking and at least noticing the views. I kept expecting John to pull over to let her off, but he kept going.

The road continued to wind right out on the edge of bluffs over the ocean for about 25 miles, then it cut inland a bit. By this time is was 1:00 and the girls in the car announced that finding a restaurant would be a nice thing. They pulled up the GPS and found the Route 1 Cafe about 5 miles ahead. We pulled in there and Nan got off the bike. She said it was fun, but that No, I didn't need to buy a new bike to carry her. We all chuckled and went in for lunch.

We looked at the map and realized that we had barely begun to move up the coast from San Francisco. We were going very slowly and it was going to take a very long time to get to Eureka.

The cafe had great hamburgers and shakes, and afterward, Shauna volunteered to drive and let Nan and Angela get naps. We continued on Highway 1 and the road continued to wind and twist on the coast and up and down bluffs. After another 30 miles of winding the road seemed to climb up on top and straighten out. Our average speed went up from 30mph to about 50mph and we started really moving up the coast.

We stopped for gas, and Shauna said she really wanted her turn to ride on the back of John's bike. So Angela drove, and Shauna geared up and got on the back. The miles seemed to fly by with the scenery constantly changing around us. Sometimes we were out on a wind swept coast and sometimes we were in a forest dropping into a gully.

We got up to a town named Fort Brag and gassed up again, and Shauna still wanted to ride on the bike, so Angela said ok. When we got near the point where we the highway turned away from the coast, we stopped for a few last pictures on a high cliff.

Highway 1 turned back to the West up through a beautiful forest. We'd follow a stream for a bit, then climb up over a ridge and back down by another stream, then along a bluff face. It was another very fun section of road to ride.

When we came out at Highway 101 we turned off on a little drive towards one of the drive through redwood trees. We took turns driving in and taking pictures, then got a picture of all of us standing by both bikes in the tree. So now we are REAL Northern California tourists.

The last 80 miles from Leggett to Eureka was kind of a blur. We were all very tired and ready to go to sleep.

Riding down Lombard Street