Not by motorcycle, but if you ever need to get from Las Vegas to San Francisco, this is a great ride.
My wife and I flew into Las Vegas on Sunday to drive to San Francisco (Walnut Creek) for my youngest son's wedding on Saturday the 12th.
Spent two days in LV and saw a show, gambled , toured the Imperial Palace Auto Show and left just about even........
From LV we headed to Amargosa Valley and then via Rt 373 into Death Valley. On a motorcycle DV might be quite boring, very long straight roads, but it's an interesting area for history buffs. We had breakfast in a little roadside stop that had breakfast, gas, groceries and adult entertainment.....All in the same building..........I guess it was too early for the adult entertainment, but my wife swears our waitress does double duty...:-)
We hooked up on Rt 190 at Death Valley Junction and followed this all the way to Rt 395S.........We wanted to take another road across the Sierra Nevadas and through Sequoia Park, but the higher elevation passes were still closed from snow. So we headed south a bit and hooked up with Rt178 which crosses the sequoias at a lower elevation.....
I'm here to tell you, Rt 178 heading toward Lake Isabella is a motorcycle dream road. Amazing twisties with great elevation changes and fantastic mountain scenery............Fifty miles of one of the best motorcycle roads I'd ever been on, and zero traffic!
From Lake Isabella we worked our way north to Rt 155 to Delano. And if I thought Rt 178 was amazing, the best was yet to come! Rt 155 is even better..........Soooo many twisties and it's so long (73 miles) you actually get tired steering......... Fantastic scenery, wildlife and perfect road surface. We witnessed a huge snow storm up at the summit but we were in total sunshine and 50 degrees. Just doesn't get better!
From Delano we high tailed it on some of the straightest and longest (130 miles) roads I'd ever been on in the valley just north of Bakersfield CA. We made it to Cambria on the Pacific Coast Highway at Moonstone Beach for the night. Amazing sunset right outside our Inn window..............Total miles 500...
The next morning we woke early and headed up the PCH. We saw all the Sea Lions on the beach a Lighthouse Point and a few mile further we saw Elk standing on the side of the road. Got pictures to prove it! The PCH is a truely great ride. I just wish I had been on a MC......(My sons new house is right on the PCH in LA County and he has room to store one of the bikes so I'm sure I'll get to do it again on two wheels....)
The PCH took us Through Big Sur where we had a great breakfast at the Whale Watchers Inn (didn't see any whales) and then on to Carmel By The Sea to do a bit of shopping and a coffee break. Just for hoots, we looked at a house for sale. 1400 sq feet, two bedroom, 1.5 bath, no garage......$1.2M.............You gotta be nuts!
From here is was a long haul to Walnut Creek and our Hotel for the next few days..................Total miles today 275....
California has a lot to offer the motorcycle crowd................I'm certainly coming back on two wheels.............
My wife and I flew into Las Vegas on Sunday to drive to San Francisco (Walnut Creek) for my youngest son's wedding on Saturday the 12th.
Spent two days in LV and saw a show, gambled , toured the Imperial Palace Auto Show and left just about even........
From LV we headed to Amargosa Valley and then via Rt 373 into Death Valley. On a motorcycle DV might be quite boring, very long straight roads, but it's an interesting area for history buffs. We had breakfast in a little roadside stop that had breakfast, gas, groceries and adult entertainment.....All in the same building..........I guess it was too early for the adult entertainment, but my wife swears our waitress does double duty...:-)
We hooked up on Rt 190 at Death Valley Junction and followed this all the way to Rt 395S.........We wanted to take another road across the Sierra Nevadas and through Sequoia Park, but the higher elevation passes were still closed from snow. So we headed south a bit and hooked up with Rt178 which crosses the sequoias at a lower elevation.....
I'm here to tell you, Rt 178 heading toward Lake Isabella is a motorcycle dream road. Amazing twisties with great elevation changes and fantastic mountain scenery............Fifty miles of one of the best motorcycle roads I'd ever been on, and zero traffic!
From Lake Isabella we worked our way north to Rt 155 to Delano. And if I thought Rt 178 was amazing, the best was yet to come! Rt 155 is even better..........Soooo many twisties and it's so long (73 miles) you actually get tired steering......... Fantastic scenery, wildlife and perfect road surface. We witnessed a huge snow storm up at the summit but we were in total sunshine and 50 degrees. Just doesn't get better!
From Delano we high tailed it on some of the straightest and longest (130 miles) roads I'd ever been on in the valley just north of Bakersfield CA. We made it to Cambria on the Pacific Coast Highway at Moonstone Beach for the night. Amazing sunset right outside our Inn window..............Total miles 500...
The next morning we woke early and headed up the PCH. We saw all the Sea Lions on the beach a Lighthouse Point and a few mile further we saw Elk standing on the side of the road. Got pictures to prove it! The PCH is a truely great ride. I just wish I had been on a MC......(My sons new house is right on the PCH in LA County and he has room to store one of the bikes so I'm sure I'll get to do it again on two wheels....)
The PCH took us Through Big Sur where we had a great breakfast at the Whale Watchers Inn (didn't see any whales) and then on to Carmel By The Sea to do a bit of shopping and a coffee break. Just for hoots, we looked at a house for sale. 1400 sq feet, two bedroom, 1.5 bath, no garage......$1.2M.............You gotta be nuts!
From here is was a long haul to Walnut Creek and our Hotel for the next few days..................Total miles today 275....
California has a lot to offer the motorcycle crowd................I'm certainly coming back on two wheels.............
