Seattle - Monterey: Coast or Inland?

[Johnny Drunkard]

Originally Posted by batfink

Roy Orbison..... yeah....... I think it was those chemical gloves that did it though......

Did I mention I've got a vinyl fetish...

[Johnny Drunkard]

Originally Posted by GSguy

The coast will be a nice run down there. I did that a couple of years ago heading for Las Vegas and just had a blast riding by my self at my own pace. Hook up the N.O.S. for a quick blast around the campers that you will need to pass.

Paul and Blue

Another of the trees of mystery

The ave of the giants

Yeah, I'm anticipating lots of RV's & traffic. I just gotta remember not too be in too much of a rush. The whole "its the journey not the destination" attitude.

[Johnny Drunkard]

Originally Posted by Stosh23

JD,

Have a great and safe ride. Enjoy, relax, take your time and get back in one piece.

Enjoy

Thanks stosh. Cya when I get back.

[Johnny Drunkard]

Originally Posted by markjenn

Johnny, sounds like a fun trip.

I'm a bit of a wimp, but I think you're going to find the coastal route a bit of an endurance ride, albeit one with gorgeous scenery and pleasant temps.

Assuming you cut over at Olympia, the coastal route is about 1075 miles all the way to Monterey. This route has a lot of traffic (especially RVs), lots of small towns, lots of road construction (probably including a few single-lane, wait for 20 minutes for a pilot car deals), and lots of police, so I'd be surprised if your rolling average is better than the high-40's, especially given the traffic around the Golden Gate and through SF.

Figuring 47.5 mph, you're talking about 23 hours on the bike. Add in a minimal two hours a day for meals, gas, and breaks, and you'll shut down at 7:30PM after rolling at 6AM. Not my cup of tea, especially camping, but you got to do what you got to do.

If you have an extra half day to cut the mileage by using one of the track days, that certainly helps. You could also make up time staying on 101 at Leggett rather than taking 1, but you'll miss Leggett to the coast, about 25 miles of "all time top-ten roads" in the world. My suggestion would be to turn at Leggett, do 1 for awhile, and then turn back east at Stewarts Point and do Skaggs Springs Road back to Healdsburg and 101. (www.pashnit.com details all these great CA roads.) The roll S of Bodega Bay on 1, while knock-your-socks-off scenic, gets very slow, especially in the late afternoon.

As I said, I'm a bit of a wimp about 14 hour days, so take this into account. You'll have a blast.

- Mark

Hey mark, thanks again.

Tentative plan is to run to Coos Bay or abouts on Day 1, this should be the longest day (still looking into camping options). Day 2 Coos Bay - Fort Bragg, found some free camping near Fort Bragg. Day 3 Fort Bragg - Monterey, I'll prbly take the route you recommended, time permitting.

[Johnny Drunkard]

Originally Posted by spowers

I did the coast route in April to SF. It helps to get on the road EARLY. This lets you avoid the crush of RVs. Also, fill up the night before. One less thing for the morning - also some smaller towns have limited facilities that may not open until 8 AM or later.

Highway 1 near Ft. Liggett is nice, but it's slow and it's also very technical. Not recommended at the end of a 700 mile day. DAMHIK

700 mile day?

I've been plugging the route into Yahoo & Google maps.

Astoria - Coos Bay is ~250 mi./~ 6 hrs., add ~200 mi./~4 hrs. f/ Kingston - Astoria.

Coos Bay - Fort Bragg ~350 mi./~ 8 hrs.

I've found Yahoo maps to be pretty reliable on distance & time. Do you think those numbers are way off?

[gentry]

Ride Safe Johnny, see ya on the next one,

Chad

[Johnny Drunkard]

Originally Posted by gentry

Ride Safe Johnny, see ya on the next one,

Chad

Neah Bay

[markjenn]

Great plan Johnny. You've worked up a good compromise. See you there (probably not, but you never know).

- Mark

[Stosh23]

Originally Posted by Johnny Drunkard

Neah Bay

ride safe and get back so we can do this ride.......enough talk already

Enjoy

[GSguy]

Neah bay, is there a date for this yet or are you blow holes still just talking

[Stosh23]

Originally Posted by GSguy

Neah bay, is there a date for this yet or are you blow holes still just talking

Mid -July....as I recall. You in?????

[GSguy]

Day ride or overnighter?

[janders]

I just did this ride in reverse. A balls out blast down I-5 to San Jose to get to some work meetings in the bay area. Then goofing off up Hwy 1 and Hwy 101 through CA, OR, and WA over three days.

One word: brilliant.

Hwy 1 is stupid fun from just north of the Golden Gate bridge to almost all the way to Eureka. I loved that road.

Some other not-to-miss spots: Hwy 101 from Yachats,OR to Florence, OR. Cannon Beach, OR. Cool town. Lotsa money there. Gold Beach to the CA border.

Bah, it's all good. You're gonna have a stupid good time. Ride safe!

jason

[raindog]

Ok Johnny boy..My phone didn't ring today.also saw a blue weestrom heading north on 101 about 4:00pm as i was heading home from newport..could that have been you backtracking.....

[Guaglione]

Johnny, if you are pressed for time, consider these two options:

Burn down I-5 to Eugene, then cut over to the coast from there ( It's hwy 26, I believe) It's a nice stretch of road, pops you out at Florence, which is where the Oregon Coast gets interesting. North of Florence the OR coast is not as nice, and it'd be worth saving that time for other nicer roads, like 1.

-OR-

slab it via I-5 as far as Yreka, then cut over on hwy 96 to Arcata. 96 is one of the nicest MC roads ever. period. It's the Klamath River Hwy, and actually starts about 8 miles north of Yreka.

EIther way, both of these routes put in in Cali in a day, and should leave you plenty of time to get to Monterey.

If you can't hit 96 on the way down, try to work it in on the way back. I rode it on my way to RawHyde, and if we'd had the time, we would have ridden it again. On the same day.

Have a great trip.