ive only been to california twice in my life. once when i was a little kid riding in back of the folks' 39 chevy club coupe and once for boot camp in ft. orde when i was a bigger kid. didn't get to see much of the land of sunshine. i've always wanted to see some of the rural and high country as well as the pacific coast highway. we all know the best way to do that is on a harley so my riding buddy and i decided to go for it. we planned to take i40 west to barstow, then down and across to north of L A and over to the coast. i thought that rt could take us through simi valley where our so cal rocker chick sarah lives part time. i always am honored and pleased to meet people from the forum so i thought we could just maybe get together for lunch and maybe a little ride when we went through. also i could ask her if she knew of any side trips for us as we went on north up the coast highway. i pm ed her and wow! she said to come on out and she had a rural high country ride in mind. she went on to describe a mountain country ride from simi valley north to santa maria. she said she had a friend who had been wanting to ride that route and would ask her if she wanted to ride also. her friend valerie also rides a rocker. so now we are riding rural and mountain roads from simi valley north to santa maria with two southern california rocker chicks on point. saaaaaweeeet!!!! lunch in santa maria, then the ladies and us split up. jack i will head on north on coast highway and the ladies will return home. thank you very much santa and mr genie, that takes care of christmas and my three wishes! also a very big thanks to our sarah for her arkansas southern hospitality! that lady is definitely a peach! i will post some photos when we get back. tommy
It's going to be an awesome ride! It is one of my favorite routes. The scenery and views are amazing with very few people. It will feel like the road is ours. We'll take a lot of photos!
We will be taking a route through the Los Padres National Forest and Santa Barbara Mountains. Some highlights include:
165 miles of mountain/canyon riding. We will go from sea level to about 6,600 feet with a birds eye view of the San Joaquin Valley.
We will see:
Sulphur Mountain
Steckel Park
Hwy 33, "Pray for Me I drive 33"
Ojai, Deer Lodge
Wheeler Hot Springs (nations smallest post office)
Wheeler Gorge
Rose Valley
Nordhoff Ridge
Sespe Creek
Sespe Gorge
Chorro Grande Canyon
Pine Mountain
Lockwood Valley
Apache Canyon
Santa Maria - Destination or...
Solvang (Chumash Casino & Vintage Motorcycle Museum) (35 miles south)
or Morro Bay (45 miles north)
or Monterey (175 miles north)
UPDATE: I got confirmation this evening that there will be six of us all together. My sister, Vicki, and I, my friend Valerie and her friend Kim plus Tommy and his friend, Jack. Valerie and I are on Rockers, Kim is on a Breakout, and my sis is on a Vulcan 900 Classic.
A little update. Tommy and his friend Jack have made great time so far on their trip. They will reach Simi Valley (my home) late this afternoon. Then it's an evening of pizza and "living room" music. The epic ride will begin in the morning. I will take lots of pics and post them Saturday evening or Sunday morning. It's awesome meeting forum buddies!
Don't know your final plans. Offer up visiting Morrow Bay on Hwy 1. Weather has been clear and windy should not be much fog up there. You can pickup Hwy 1 here and travel up thru Guadalupe then into Pismo Beach and Avila Beach area. Another route is 101 north out of Santa Maria to Atascadero (49 miles) have A&W Root Beer, not many around. From there you can travel 41 west (20 miles) take back way into Morrow Bay, great 2 lane ride. Miss all tourist beach traffic in Pismo area.
PM me I can give you my cell phone# then see what happens. Ride safe
Hopefully Tommy is checking in. We stopped at a little bar (?) where 101 and 166 meet. After a drink, Tommy and Jack headed north, the girls and I headed south. I'll post some pics as soon as I can.
The day was perfect. Warm and sunny. The ride was spectacular. I never get tired of riding Hwy 33!
Okay, to recap the weekend. Tommy and his friend Jack arrived in Simi Valley on Friday night. Jack stayed at the hotel while Tommy picked up some pizzas from Toppers and came over for an evening of Country and Classic Rock.
Tommy relaxing.
Me and my sister, Vicki singing some harmonies.
I played the guitar and we sang for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. By 10:00 everyone was ready to call it a night.
Saturday morning we had an old fashioned breakfast. Coffee, OJ, eggs, sausage, and hash browns. Everyone got their fill and we got all geared up to start our mountain ride.
Tommy scoping out the rides.
Vicki and Tommy shootin' the breeze.
Vicki rides a Vulcan 900 and it wouldn't start. We knew the battery was getting pretty weak over the summer and never seemed to get around to replacing it. We've jumped it a few times and after being ridden it would hold a charge for a couple of days. Tommy had a battery pack and we were able to jump it from that. A very handy gadget f'sure!
I'll fess up right now that I had a Blondesheimers moment. After trying so hard to get Vicki's bike started and finally jumping it, I got on my bike and hit the button and.....nothing! I was so perplexed I grabbed my tools and removed the seat to jump it. I should have just slowed down a second and thought it through. My battery is almost new, after all. As it happens, Vicki's start button is in the same location and shape as my turn signal. So, when I hit the turn signal I thought I was hitting the start button....oh well.
The girls are ready to go!
We took several back roads from Simi Valley to Santa Paula. From Santa Paula we took Hwy 150 to Ojai. Along the way we went past Sulphur Mountain and down the Denison Grade into the Ojai Valley.
Ojai is a neat little town with a ton of great restaurants. After fueling up my sisters bike wouldn't start. Tommy was a sweetheart and took her to an auto parts store for a new battery.
While the battery was charging we had time to grab lunch at the Deer Lodge before heading up the mountain. Jack and Tommy.
Tommy and Val.
Kim enjoying a salad.
Me, Valerie, and Vicki.
At Wheeler Gorge, Tommy and Jack got to see the smallest post office in the U.S.
The next hour or so was winding roads, switchback curves, and raw beauty.
We reached Santa Maria and stopped at a little place to cool off and get something to drink. At this point we parted way. The girls and I headed south to go home. That last time we saw Tommy and Jack, they were headed up the coast.
While Tommy and Jack headed north to San Francisco the girls decided to hit Mulholland Hwy and "The Snake". My friends Valerie and Kim live in San Diego and were all on board to tackle some of our curves.
Cruising through a couple of tunnels and we were treated with extremely serious curves. The Snake also consists of the famous/infamous "Edwards Corner", a 270 degree curve.
After Edwards Corner and a series of tight turns you end up at the popular "Rock Store".
Great photos Sarah. I am jealous. Some day Mary Ann and I hope to spend months touring the country. We have rode in about half of our states and hope to hit them all.
We have a great country to ride in. California is my favorite, but I have great memories from quite a few states. I've also ridden in about half of the states, the most memorable being, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Arizona. Every state has something nice to see.
Great photos Sarah. I am jealous. Some day Mary Ann and I hope to spend months touring the country. We have rode in about half of our states and hope to hit them all.
Great pictures, Sarah! It looks like you, your sister, and friends showed Tommy and Jack a really amazing time. I miss those Cali roads! Your pictures of the riding brought back a lot of great memories.
Update. I got a text from Tommy last night. He and Jack left Jack's sons house in the morning and jumped on I-80 heading to US-50. They stopped in Ely, NV. They are well on their way back home to Kansas.
I think when we reached the summit of Pine Mountain, Tommy and Jack realized they weren't in Kansas anymore! Sorry, I couldn't resist that.
im sorry to be so slow to report on the cali ride. got home last friday to no computer. laptop went belly up and laurel had changed high speed provider and had them put wireless router in other end of house knocking out desk top. got the desktop hard wired from router port back to where it resides this morning and got laptop back. we left right after getting back from texas twister so i have to report on that also. another thd. had a great time on both rides.
first, i'd like to thank sarah so very much for all she did to make this the best road trip ride ever! my friend jack and i left on wed morning about 8:30 to head west to simi valley to meet up with sarah, her sister vickie and their friends valerie and kim. all very pretty young ladies! we started by heading west out of independence, ks where jack lives. we started down hwy 160 out through western kansas to hwy 54 in texas panhandle going on to i40 on through new mexico and nevada into california at barstow. hwy 160 through western kansas blew me away. ive been in s.e. kansas all my life, have been west out of wichita on 400 which becomes i50 , just before entering colorado. i agree with stangs, in summer it is hundreds of miles of flat straight road featureless and hot as hades. it sucks pure and simple. i have done that many times. we planed to take south rt to barstow going out on i40. instead of going s to tulsa and west to okc to get on i40 we went out hwy 160 through western kansas and i was blown away very pretty and senic rolling hills like the flint hills on steroids. never seen it before, very nice. the rest of the ride out through was senic and nice through new mexico and nevada into cali. it was all new to me so i enjoyed it a lot. stopped wed nite in tupencari. on through new mexico and nevada was nice but the real fun started west of barstow as we got into sierras. after leaving the pretty ladies and heading over to hwy 101 we had a nice run up the coast to monteray get there late and got the last room in town due to a cancellation. next day headed up the coast to sanfrancisco to spend the nite with jacks daughter. then on up the coast to jacks sons place in sacramento to spend another nite. then we took i80 from there over to hwy 50 all mountain rds from sacramento to montrose co on east over monarc pass and down into the foothills of the rockies. it was all pretty much in, on or on top of mountains from barstow to sarahs place up pine mountain back down and over to coast n to sacramento and east to ely first nite and montrose second nite garden city third nite and on home fourth day. about 2600miles of mtns, man. we would just go what seemed forever through beautiful mountain roads some three lanes with 80mph sweeping turns i just was like a kid who found santas workshop. my most favorite of all was a turn out just about or maybe on the summit of pine mountain with sarah. it looked out over a breathtaking mountain vista with the pacific beyond. the first time i had seen the pacific, wow. knowing my geography at least well enough to know that ocean makes the atlantic look like a duck pond by comparison and seeing it at a distance was very moving to me i could really feel it deep down inside. sarah saw that im shure, she is very perceptive, and knew i knew i was'nt in kansas anymore i shall never forget that sight. thank you sarah, as always, at the time, i just could'nt find the words. enough about the road. i know you guys want to hear about sarah.:grin
sarah is the real deal. a peach. prettier than her picture. a really genuine person. it was such a rare treat to meet her and spend a little time with her in her home, meet her sweetheart of a sister vicki, also very pretty. sarah played the gituar and sang harmony with vicki. sarah can play that thing like glen cambell and they sang so beautifully it really blew me away. valerie, kim and i sat listening to them and felt so thankful to be hearing the magic. they really do make beautiful music together. i can still hear it. really, thank you sarah for that also and to you both for making me feel so comfortable and welcome in your home. sarah showed me photos of their 34 foot sail boat. man, it is beautiful, with a galley, sleeping quarters for each of them, those girls are living the dream. she showed us her gituar restorations, one of a really rare one. her latest aquisition. sarah had jack and i over to breakfast before our saturday ride up pine mountain. no melon balls and kale their, home made hashbrowns sausage eggs to order toast oj. now thats and arkansas way to begin the day! after breakfast i used their washer and dryer to do a quick load. left their with all clean clothes and made it the rest of the way and home without laundry. sarah was getting bikes ready while the ladies were getting themselves and their bikes ready for a days ride. and sarah can ride that rocker no bs about that. when we ascended the mountain kim who also hits those twisties very aggressively let me in behind sarah and i was dragging my foot boards trying to keep up. that girl can really ride that harley. hell yea she looks great on it the oncoming biker dudes were waving their butts off at the chicks. but this girl can really ride. i'm most of those on their very nicely painted rides would be quite suprised to see themselves getting smoked by a girl they did'nt have a chance of catching up to. she gave me one hell of a run and i cant wait to go back for more. for that i thank you too sarah, and one of the best saturday rides i've ever had. i love meeting forum members too, sarah. and i'm shure i will always love meeting you the most. spending the day riding with you and the other ladies was just a dream come true! :banana
I'm so glad you had a good time, Tommy! It's great meeting other forum members and to get to ride with them is a special treat. Thank you very much to making us a part of your vacation plans and please give our best to Jack. If you find your self in SoCal again, just give a shout and I'll show you some of my other favorite rides. :smile
i shure will let jack know the ladies mentioned him and invited him back. i'm riding with him again tomorrow. we have already talked about next trip, so cal is in for 2017! simi valley, sanfrancisco and sacromento again but route will be different. we hope y'all had a great time at bro. please tell vicki, val and kim we said hi. keep a keen edge on the ka-bar! this is where is i usually say "have fun and be happy" but i know y'all will do both. i shall do likewise. tommy:banana
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