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BHPian Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: London
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| California Road Tripping: 1,347 miles on a Harley Road King I am not really a great one for much advanced planning. Last week I arrived at middle age (40), a milestone which I viewed as neither cause for celebration or commiseration. I decided that since I was off work anyway (winter furlough), it would be a good time to disappear and neatly avoid any fuss or expectation of parties. I left myself all of about 5 days to plan and pack. The criteria for where to go was simple:
The first & second criteria removed pretty much everywhere in Europe. The last criteria removed a fair bit of the Southern Hemisphere. As you can tell from the thread, I decided on California, primarily to do the classic "Highway 1" Pacific Coast Highway road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Now I had to decide on transport. As my only passenger was to be my fiance Faye, the options were... RV This would have been pretty cheap cost wise. Rates for a small 3 berth truck based V8 RV would have weighed in at around $450 + $210 for every 600 miles + gas. The big advantage of an RV would be the lack of need to find hotels. The disadvantages were also obvious - hard to find safe parking locations in cities & boring to drive. Car Car hire was really cheap, even for something relatively enjoyable like a Mustang convertible. The advantages over the other options would be that it would cover the highest mileage with the most ease and comfort and offer the most flexible way to do the trip. Heading inland to Yosemite (which is cold in December) became an option. Motorcycle Expensive. Very limited luggage. Logistically difficult (safety gear). Not great for covering big mileages, especially 2 up. Advantages - unless you ride, you wouldn't see any, but as the saying goes "4 wheels move the body, 2 wheels move the soul"... ...so a bike was the only real choice. Faye is an adventurous soul who rides a 125cc enduro bike on the UK roads as well as passengering with me in the UK and abroad. She has also ridden scooters in India, Thailand & Indonesia, so I was not surprised when the question "how do you feel about going to California and riding around on a Harley Davidson?" was met with an enthusiastic response. Of course, it had to be a Harley "because America". Riding 2 up over multiple days when renting means you need to pick a bike configured to do that as standard, so I decided to pick one of the full size "baggers". Well known rental company Eaglerider have done a commercial tie-in with Harley recently and offer a great selection. At a fixed price of $129 a day, I could choose between the Electra Glide Ultra, which is a full dress tourer featuring navigation, passenger armrests, a stereo, and a caverous top box, the Road Glide, which has the Electra's "batwing" fairing and dashboard but no side pods, top box, or pillion armrests, or the Road King, which is the naked version - just a big big bike with built in pannier boxes. Nothing fancy here - a fixed perspex screen and a basic tank mounted speedo. It does feature foot boards for both rider and passenger, and a substantial back rest for the latter with a built in luggage rack. I went for the Road King, simply because it looks absolutely bad ass, and who needs a fairing in the sunshine? Research - Highway 1 is closed for a few miles due to a massive landslide. Ok, no big deal. Southern California is suffering an oubreak of wild fires, oh well, better give those a miss! Still going. So, Road King secured near LAX, a first night hotel at LAX was located, dismal cheap flights were booked with an economy carrier from my least favourite airport (London Gatwick), and I managed to get a night at the airport Holiday Inn with a weeks parking for £140. Next up was the bike gear. I had some suitable boots and gloves designed for UK summer riding, and a good pair of Kevlar armoured jeans. My leather jacket is fairly tight fitting and really hot though. Anybody who has ridden a traditional cruiser will know, it's just not the same in a full face helmet, and you cannot see the tank mounted speedo either! I have a "jetfighter" style helmet, but I have kind of given that to my Dad along with my old skool Honda XBR500J which he uses to ride with me, and Faye only has a full faced helmet, so some open faced lids were also on the shopping list. Her bike jeans are not the most comfortable and she often complains that her boots rub if she walks in them, and only has a textile jacket which does the job but hardly looks the part for cruiser riding. So, off to the bike shop it was. £600 lighter of wallet, I emerged with a pair of matt black open face helmets with built in sunglasses, a pair of kevlar armoured combats for her and a new pair of kevlar armoured bike jeans for me, a suitable new jacket each, and some new boots for Faye. Saturday night was spent installing our Scala rider G9x Bluetooth comlinks into the helmets and synching them back up to each other and our phones, emptying other bike clothes of their armour until I found a suitable level 2 back protector for each jacket, and a single set of knee/hip armour each that would fit both pairs of trousers (with no rain forecast we decided on spare bike trousers rather than waterpoofs). My Amazon parcels had arrived throughout Saturday too - a £30 US sim card with 4gb data, a black magnetic tank bag with a clear pocket to allow a smartphone to be used as a sat nav (£16) and a bargain £30 fully waterproofed 70 litre duffel bag. I also picked up a 4 way USB travel charger, a new heavy duty battery pack & a set of spare leads - with 2 phones, 2 comlinks and cameras to top up each night we had plenty of charging to do! Come Sunday the 10th, we had 8 inches of snowfall here in middle England, and I live in a farmhouse. Facebook alerts informed me that at least one road out of the village was impassable, but my Dad turned up quite happily in his Volvo S50 on summer tyres with a snow shovel to help me clear the drive, as Faye's MPV was stuck. All thoughts of driving my Lexus GS450 to the airport were abandoned, I dug Faye's Fiat out, threw a shovel in the back, and loaded that up instead. We removed the back protectors from the jackets and packed them and 60% of our clothing in the duffle bag, with the rest in 2x30 litre backpacks with the helmets strapped to them as hand luggage. We wore our jackets and boots onto the plane, which got us some strange looks and a few questions, and I was singled out for a bag search. After landing at around 16:30 local time (00:30 UK time) we discovered the SIM slot on my Galaxy S7 (which I had gotten unlocked in preparation) was jammed shut. Luckily Faye's Galaxy A5 was purchased outright as a new handset so was already unlocked, and we quickly decided we would have to use that instead. This now meant I would have to swap the comlinks over in order to hear the nav, which really annoyed me as I'd loaded my phone with music to listen to on the ride via the Bluetooth streaming ![]() After a pleasant evening spent chugging local craft beers and chatting to various friendly Americans in the hotel bar in order to adjust my body clock (me) or just sleeping 12 hours (Faye), we were up and dressed at 06:45 and strolling down the street to a diner for a big American breakfast. By 10am, we were at Eaglerider in bike gear signing the paperwork. We had managed to find trip insurance specifically designed for motorcycle touring with a UK company offering kit insurance, various "get you home" bits and £5m cover for both medical expenses and 3rd party liability at £94 for us both, which I think was a good idea & deal. Therefore, I skipped the more expensive and lower coverage Eaglerider 3rd party damage waivers, but took out the full zero liability damage waiver at $35 a day - a lot of money, but, without buying SOME additional cover you are legally liable for the full replacement cost of the bike if stolen AND ALL recovery costs for whatever reason (even for a flat tyre). One of many examples where the USA just makes me as a European think "you what?!?" So, the bike. Now first off, I hadn't actually ridden a bike for about 3 months as I've been busy, so that made me a little nervous. My regular bike is a Honda VFR800 which weighs about 209kg dry, so maybe 230kg wet. I've ridden it heavily loaded solo, and unloaded with Faye on the back, never both. The heaviest bike I've ridden was a 290kg 110 cubic inch twin cam Harley Lowrider S, which I took for a 40 mile blast and got on really well with. The Road King is another order heavier at 370kg wet, plus luggage & passenger, maybe 450kg. It looked mean, moody & magnificent in gloss black. It was the new 2017 model with 6,000 miles on the clock. This bike features Harley's all new 107 Cubic Inch (1750cc) "Milwaukee 8" engine which ditches the twin cam heads but moves up to 4 valves per cylinder. The Lowrider S that I previously experienced was utterly dominated by the high performance "screamin' eagle" motor, which is solid mounted and gives the bike the impression of being in the midst of an epileptic seizure at idle, with the merest twitch of the wrist smoothing things out whilst unleashing a cacophony of thunder from the exhausts, and if moving in any gear above 2500rpm, a riotous blast of acceleration - it is in short, an absolute beast. No such drama was revealed when Mr Eaglerider demonstrated how to fire up the Road King - the engine wobbling only a little on rubber mounts whilst emitting a deep throated rumbling purr. So, gear loaded, nav set, let the trip commence ![]() Last edited by Rehaan : 22nd December 2017 at 11:28. Reason: Adding an image to the first post :) |
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| re: California Road Tripping: 1,347 miles on a Harley Road King We hit the road at 10:50 and soon found Highway 1 just north of Santa Monica. It meanders along the Pacific Coast, 2 lanes each way with a generous shoulder. The weather was gorgeous and the traffic light. Speed limits varied from 35-65mph with a few intersections here and there. After around 90 minutes riding, we stopped for iced coffees, a navigation check, and to get a bottle of water. I couldn't see any sign of the wild fire reported to be raging near Ventura and was starting to wonder what all the fuss was about. However, at this first stop we met some people living near the fire who had fled south for the day, some of them sat working on Starbucks Wi-Fi. They told us the smoke covered a huge area and was like a fog, it was unpleasant but the roads were open. After rather too long spent chatting, but undaunted, we carried on. Just south of Ventura, Highway 1 merges with the newer Highway 101 which has largely replaced it for through traffic as it runs as a 4-6 lane Freeway inland of 1 along the same route. It was here we hit the smoke. Visibility was OK, several hundred metres, but the sun although high in the sky, glowed red, the temperature dropped and the whole world was darker, like early evening twilight. We passed some burned out hillsides but didn't see any flames. The smell was unpleasant too - the overall effect was rather like a very bad day in Delhi x2. We saw lots of car passengers wearing masks but all we could do was double up our neck rolls and pull them up to our eyes like bandits. The big Harley hit 80mph as we pushed on in heavy traffic. The whole ambience was like some sort of dystopian apocalyptic movie scene. After an hour we were through it and back in clear air and sunshine. With nowhere to stay booked and the sun beginning to set, we decided to pull over at 4pm and start looking for somewhere to spend the night. We found a place with a "vacancies" sign at a town called Morro Bay amidst a strip of motels and shops on a road parallel to the highway. ![]() It was cheap and basic, but clean and comfortable - our cheapest room of the stay at $45. The place was run by an Indian family who were surprised to find out that not only were we English, but Faye had worked over in India, and we have both travelled in the subcontinent. The enticing scent of their dinner on the stove wafting through to the reception made us hungry. With the bike unloaded we bought a few provisions and enjoyed a slap up Mexican meal and an early night. ![]() Last edited by Rob UK : 21st December 2017 at 18:04. |
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| re: California Road Tripping: 1,347 miles on a Harley Road King Next day was set to be a bumper one as I wanted to push on. As you move north of Half Moon Bay you enter a part of the world called "Big Sur". This is the longest undeveloped stretch of coastline in the lower 48 states, cut off from the inland region by mountains. It's awesome. Words and the meagre camera phone pictures I can share at the moment don't do it justice (more pictures and helmet cam to follow eventually when I get my laptop fixed). The highway drops to 2 lanes and alternates between long straights where the cruise control allows you to ride 1 handed with your feet on the crash bars, and sweeping bends that rise and fall around the cliffs in majestic fashion. I had already decided to ride as far as the road block and then work out my next move. However, after some distance, we came to the fabled seal beach, where a colony of giant Elephant Seals have made a home. Faye loves wildlife, so I had kept this a secret and just pulled in. The experience is amazing as the beach is narrow and has a low natural rock formation separating these huge beasts from the public which allows you to get within 10m of them in total safety. The seals are accustomed to visitors so they are unperturbed by your presence. ![]() As this is the low season, the car park (which is free) only had a handful of cars in it, although riding on gravel on such a big bike was a cautious process and I parked facing so I could ride away again without turning round. After half an hour or so admiring these huge animals we returned to the bike just in time to see a huge MPV park directly infront of it, cutting off my exit. Glaring at the family who emerged from the aforementioned people carrier oblivious to the irritation they had caused, I manhandled the bike around and we were on our way. The road block emerged half an hour later at a place called Ragged Point after the first truly stunning section of road. The lady staffing it was very helpful and showed me some maps which she allowed me to photograph. The diversion would have been short if taken immediately, but for us, it involved a 30 mile ride back. On the way, we stopped at Cambria (Cambria is the Welsh word for Wales, and I could see the resemblance to the best parts of North Wales in geography if not weather). Cambria is a delightful little town. Touristy, yes, but in these out of season times the locals far outnumbered travellers, and a stop for breakfast yielded much friendly conversation. I bought a sticker at the gas station and mounted it on my helmet. The detour route we had been advised to take diverted us first to Paso Robles, then up the 101 again for a short distance before we rode inland to a military base called Fort Hunter Leggitt where we paused for a drink in the early afternoon heat to the sound of automatic weapon fire! ![]() From here we rode about looking for a tiny mountain pass back to Highway 1 called the Nacimiento-Fergussen road, the nav was really unclear which of the unmarked side roads it might be. We stopped and asked a local police patrolman where it was, and he indicated a narrow metal bridge a few hundred feet away from which a lone rider on a Harley dyna had just emerged. However, further conversation indicated he didn't think Highway 1 was passable to the north of here. I re-examined my pictures of the maps: ![]() ![]() One map appearred to show Highway 1 closed again further north at Pfeiffer Canyon if this route was was taken. Eager to avoid further diversions, we decided not to risk it, headed back to Highway 101, and set a course north, turning off past the famous Laguna Seca Raceway heading for Montery where we stopped at an all you can eat pizza buffet around 14:00ish, back to the 1, and north to Half Moon Bay just 30 miles short of San Francisco where we booked a hotel online. Still stuffed from pizza we ate a few snacks, I drank a couple of beers I'd been hauling since the previous supply run, and we went to bed early. ![]() Last edited by Rob UK : 21st December 2017 at 18:08. |
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| re: California Road Tripping: 1,347 miles on a Harley Road King The next day was my birthday, and I had high hopes for some good riding. We left at 9am just after the traffic had died and rode on to San Francisco, with the sat nav set to a location near the famous Golden Gate Bridge. As you emerge over the crest of a hill to see SF for the first time, the entire bay is laid out infront of you - it's an incredible sight. No real drama as we headed on down to the vicinity of Golden Gate, although SF is fabled for its' steeply sloping streets which makes uphill intersections "interesting" on nearly half a ton of loaded cruiser. My method for negotiating them was to bring the bike to a 2 footed stop on the front brake, steady the bike, go to one foot whilst applying the rear brake, staying in first and not quite at biting point. Setting off was a matter of reversing the procedure. A good pillion is essential - a bit of lean to the right and you are both going over, too much left and the bike and pillion are over. Luckily Faye is a good pillion most of the time! ![]() After a few arbitrary shots at the bridge, we blasted over it on Highway 1 and headed north. The Facebook groups dedicated to the Honda VFR are populated by a lot of accomplished riders and a few North American members had recommended the ride out to Stinson Beach, which ordinarily offers a choice of a winding section of Highway 1 or a road called the Panoramic Highway - Hobsons Choice in our case as the 1 was partially closed, and I'm rather glad of it as the Panoramic Highway was a simply fantastic collection of switchbacks up and down through old Redwood Forrest and over peaks. Local drivers pulled over for the Road King and many liberties were taken with the 35-45mph limits as I dragged side stand round bend after bend in a 2nd-4th gear ride of sheer enjoyment. At one point I pulled over to admire a view hundreds of feet down to Stinson Beach, when a Triumph Bonneville T120 came past behind an SUV. We jumped back on and gave chase, catching up swiftly. Just before Stinson Beach the SUV pulled off and the Triumph opened the taps, as did I. Coffee stops forgotten and the sat nav route over, we blasted through Stinson and onwards, the Bonne rider wasn't pushing too hard or he'd have left the big bagger for dead (I hit the mountains in Europe last year on a Tiger 800 with my friend on an 883 Sportster, which is rather more nimble than a Road King - the rate at which I could "drop" him was comical, taking maybe 20 seconds to pull so far infront I was out of sight when really going for it - not an ability or ego thing just "horses for courses"), but on the 65mph sections we were hitting 80-90 on the straights and I was working the big 107 hard to make up the cornering deficits. After 20 magical miles keeping the Bonne in my sights, the big Harley had had enough. The brakes had gone a little soft, the suspension was becoming distinctly bouncy and floppy as the shocks got warm, and despite short-shifting to avoid flying up behind him aggressively, the engine was running hotter than a kettle. I pulled over, and we ate seafood for lunch - in my case local speciality clam chowder, which was delicious. ![]() Some locals we spoke to recommended we turned off the 1 and headed out to Point Reyes Lighthouse, a spot atop cliffs hundreds of feet above the ocean famous for whale spotting. The road was really rough in places and had me sat upright peering over the screen to dodge the worst bits. The last bit was the worst, with one section of around 20m of road covered in a couple of inches of sand. I remembered hard lessons past, and hit it at about 15-20mph in 2nd with neutral throttle, bum hovering just off the saddle to allow weight transfer, the Harley giving a little shimmy as we traversed it but no more. ![]() Whilst we didn't see any whales, the view was pretty amazing. From here, a rather more sedate cruise back to SF was followed by a nice meal and "a bit of a session" on the beer and whiskey for me to celebrate and close off one of my more memorable birthdays. Last edited by Rehaan : 22nd December 2017 at 11:29. Reason: Moving 1 image to the first post :) |
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| re: California Road Tripping: 1,347 miles on a Harley Road King Hangover duly acquired, the old adage "12 hours from bottle to throttle" was followed, and we headed out for a leisurely brunch and a long walk around the lovely marina district. ![]() The weather was yet again fantastic, 18 degrees and bright sunshine - perfect for me, but Faye had trackies on under her bike gear from here! After this, we loaded up and checked out, taking a meandering route back to the 1 via downtown and a bit of 2 wheeled sightseeing. We headed an hour south to Half Moon Bay, where we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts opposite the hotel from 2 nights previous (Faye's lunch choice!) and did an ATM / Fuel / Supplies top up before cruising down to Carmel, just south of Montery and a quirky little hotel specialising in California wine, but I didnt partake after the previous nights excesses! In fact we were both weary after 3 days riding and fell asleep, waking up hungry at 9pm. A Hispanic guy I got talking to on the plane over had recommended "In N Out" for the best California junk food, so I set a map and jumped on the unloaded Harley alone. Solo, the big beast felt rather more nimble and responsive and I was soon back with burgers. ![]() The next day we agreed to do the whole "missed" section of Highway 1 through Big Sur, before heading inland to dodge the smoke, which was now visible from Cambria. The remainder of Big Sur truly was majestic. I was trying to time mandatory fuel stops, so had put only $10 in the previous day, leaving me a half empty tank to fill up 30 miles into the ride at one of the few gas stations on this section, which I judged would mean only one more fuel stop that day. The Nacimiento-Fergussen road was indeed accessible after some impressive rebuilding, so we did all but about 3 miles of Highway 1 one way or the other. The Nacimiento-Fergussen turned out to be similar to a European mountain pass - both dramatic & challenging on the big Harley, with several steep first gear bends. ![]() Somebody had also repaired potholes recently, but left loose uncompacted tarmac on the repairs - one of these almost caught me out accelerating out of a 2nd gear right hand bend at about maximum lean angle, with the rear end sliding out, but thankfully I didn't panic slam the throttle closed, instead I slammed a foot down and managed to gather it up. An hour later, we were back at Fort Hunter Leggitt, crossing the bridge we had seen earlier. After this I really opened the taps to get to Paso Robles, where we ate at a diner and booked a hotel in San Fernando, a 170 mile ride further on. We filled up and hit the road. From this point it got challenging. Highway 68 cuts across the high central desert plain of California. 80mph in huge cross-winds, with dust blowing everywhere, tumbleweed blowing across the virtually empty 4 lane blacktop, and vultures and coyotes patrolling for roadkill. My face was turned to the side to catch a breath at times. One advantage of the size of the bike is that it was utterly rock solid through these winds. After almost reaching Bakersfield we turned south on interstate 5, the sustained top gear riding at speed drinking fuel at an alarming rate, we were forced to do a "splash n dash" for more, with range showing as 50 miles and dropping with 35 to go. Normally a full tank showed 220-250 miles range and this tended to be pretty close, but this time it had gone through most of it in 135 and was only projecting making 185 total with the forecast getting worse by the minute. The temperature had really taken a downward turn, and Faye was now sat with a blanket around her legs. The last section of I-5 was a quick ascent followed by a long descent through very dramatic hills, all in shadow and with traffic moving very fast and close together. I enjoyed it, but Faye was glad to be closing on L.A. We arrived at the hotel worn out and lay in bed watching a film. ![]() Last edited by Rob UK : 21st December 2017 at 18:15. |
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| re: California Road Tripping: 1,347 miles on a Harley Road King The last day and a half were a lot more gentle. We started late after a leisurely breakfast by riding up to the Griffith Observatory for a view over the city, before visiting Hollywood, riding around Beverley Hills and down the infamous Sunset Strip where a random guy in an Audi told us we were cool and offered to buy us coffee, taking in Santa Monica boulevard to the famous pier, the traditional end of route 66, before chilling on the beach and booking a hotel 20 minutes further south down Highway 1, the day closed off with a fabulous Italian meal. ![]() The next day involved a meander down the 1 to "Rolling Hillls" district which appears to be where the rich folk live, with holiday homes starting at "just" $1.5m in one development. We stopped for a photo opportunity at Point Vincente. ![]() ![]() The last of the ride concluded by going an hour or two further down the 1 through Long Beach and along the coast of Orange County, blasting back up the interstate to drop the bike off safely at 2pm before a quick dinner at a local hotel, where we shed and packed our armour, and caught a cab to the airport to catch our 10 hour flight home at 18:30. ![]() So concludes our 1347 mile Californian winter road trip ![]() Last edited by Rob UK : 21st December 2017 at 18:17. |
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| Re: California Road Tripping: 1,347 miles on a Harley Road King Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing! |
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| Re: California Road Tripping: 1,347 miles on a Harley Road King Glad you came out to CA! Cold as heck right now...but still great riding weather. Too bad you didnt check out Skyline Blvd (Hwy 35) . Great ride up to Alice's (decent restaurant.) awesome spot to check out bikes. |
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| Re: California Road Tripping: 1,347 miles on a Harley Road King Awesome travelogue with amazing narration! Quote:
So glad that you chose the Harley for the road trip over the RV and a car. The joy of riding is something many people relate to. Fun fact - Eaglerider is now in India as well (related thread). Although they do not have the wide range of motorcycles like they do in America, it's just about alright. Also, they do not have the option for accommodation along with the bike rental. Quote:
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Thanks for sharing. ![]() | |||
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| Haha! Cold is relative - SoCal was pretty hot by the coast for me, one thin T-shirt with the jacket half unzipped for the first and last 2 days. I don't enjoy riding in much over 25 degrees fully kitted up unless I can keep the speed up over 30mph. The 12-18 degree weather around SF right now is perfect. I think I'll be back one day, there are still other places I want to go. Vegas / Grand Canyon for one. Quote:
I could do a review on the Road King over in the motorcycle section I guess. There are a few minor irritations, but I can forgive them as it is just such a good looking bike! Last edited by tsk1979 : 22nd December 2017 at 14:00. Reason: merged back to back posts | |
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| Re: California Road Tripping: 1,347 miles on a Harley Road King
Great choice and cheers to you wonderful couple. There are people who think about doing this and then there are some who actually go and do it. Kudos!! |
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| Re: California Road Tripping: 1,347 miles on a Harley Road King Quote:
Very true! Hopefully this thread will encourage somebody else to have a go! I'm not a hard-core road trip kind of person, but every now and then I do enjoy it. Last one I did was 2600 miles over the Swiss Alps to the Italian lakes and back in my Toyota MR2 - roof down all the way and drove round the Monaco GP track as well 😎 | |
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| Re: California Road Tripping: 1,347 miles on a Harley Road King
AFAIK SF weather is always just about perfect... Had an uncle who lived on the coast at Carmel years ago, and covered some of the same ground as we traveled up the coast - some of the most memorable scenes during a 2-month-long cross-country trip. I've been meaning to post a thread re: an East-Coast tour I did this past Spring... this may prove inspirational. But the CA/OR/WA coastal roads are so beautiful, and an easy-going Harley seems just the right machine for it. The U.S. is my homeland, but little opportunity to be out on that side (and no V-twin), so I could be truly wistful / envious. -Eric Last edited by ringoism : 26th December 2017 at 00:59. |
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| Re: California Road Tripping: 1,347 miles on a Harley Road King It's taken a while to edit something together, but here are the highlights from my birthday ride. |
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