Friday I had to work a half day and then quickly head home, finish packing the bike and then we would head out. I hate working half days because the morning just drags on and on and you just want to leave already. But that is just the way it had to be for this trip. I’m just so grateful to be able to be in a place that I can take trips like this without too much effort.
I finished my work, jammed home and packed up the bike and headed over to Aric’s place. We stopped for a bite to eat and then jetted up 680, then over a bridge, under a hole yadda yadda yadda and then onto I80. We pulled off the hwy and stopped at a stop sign when Aric turned to me and said something before he took off in a cloud of dust. I didn’t hear what he said, but I could guess what he was saying. “The ride starts here!”

It was too bad that my brother couldn’t find a bike for this trip. It was a good one at over 800 miles. Turned out to be just me and Aric on this journey as we set our destination to be the infamous HWY 36 which is 140 miles of roller coaster hills that are set in some really beautiful big redwoods country.

Our ride really did start at that stop sign at the beginning of Suisun Valley Road. We made our way up by Lake Berryessa and through Clear Lake and HWYs 29, 53 and 20. Just beautiful roads with perfect weather and I couldn’t ask for anything more. We had no first night destination which is the best kind of destination to have. As the Sun was setting we happened across the Calusa Casino which worked out well and after bargaining down the room price we settled on it. We had some dinner and listened to the live band in the lounge which was actually pretty good even if they didn’t move much. How can you play any ZZ Top song and just stand there… I don’t get it.

Day two was even better and when we got to HWY 36 we stopped and had to take this shot.

It was a fantastic road that didn’t seem to end. We just kept going and going and going.

Here’s a couple video clips:

At the end of the road I was running on fumes and we stopped at a little side shack for a break and chatted with the locals. Then we headed over to hwy 101 which was unbelievable. I’d never been on 101 this far north before as we always use 5. But wow… it is a perfect road that twists it’s way through huge redwood forest and these beautiful little old logging towns. No pics of that though… we were having too much fun riding.

We took turn off for Humboldt Redwoods Park and road down the Ave Of The Giants which zig zags across 101 as you ride through huge redwoods. Then back onto 101 which is just a great big twisty 4 laner with no one on it. Craziness.
From that point we came down 101 and stopped in Willits and made our way to the nearest pizza joint and we compared pictures and videos and basically crashed as we had over 300 miles that day.

The final day came and our main destination was Skaggs Springs Road. This road is completely sick. I actually reduced my chicken strips on this one. The road made me feel so comfortable on my bike I thought I was gonna scrap my side bags.

Then it was onward and home bound and we came down off of our “high” as we headed back into the bay area. It was a great trip and I was so happy to get out onto these amazing roads. When’s the next trip?

Here is a slideshow of our complete trip. Hope you enjoy the pics.

here is our mapped route: