FLH03RIDER
Recedite, plebes!
Author's note: Long read. Hey, a lot can happen in 24 hours! And this isn't going to be some photojournalist, mamby-pamby, European, latte sipping, foie gras and pinot grigio pairing while staying at some kinda French villa so there ain't a lot of pictures!!!
It's all about the "RIDE" man!
PART I
Ok, for some time I've wanted to do this... Criteria was to ride to four states and return home within 24 hours and mileage being at or over 1000. So early June I started pursuing my DeLorme maps and a couple routes stood out, but being centrally located in the middle of Kalifornia meant that I'd have to ride a bunch of miles just to get "out-of-state". My original ride date was going to be the last weekend June as it was also a Full Moon and just past the summer equinox. So what does that all mean? Well more day-light, more light at night from the Full moon, and typically at little cooler temperatures than later in summer. Because of family obligations I wasn’t able to go in June so I decided to do the ride on July 14th and 15th with the 15th being my birthday.
arty and
, now that's the ticket!!!
Now back to the routes... Selection one: Head East into Nevada to Winnemucca, then North into Oregon and over to Idaho and return. Second option: Ride South to Bakersfield, East to Las Vegas, dip down into Arizona and Northeast up to St. George, Utah.
Now the kicker is the 24 hour self imposed time limit. Looking at seasonal weather conditions also factored in. The Southern route would be in the 100's + while option one is about 10 degrees cooler, mid to high 90's.
Option one it was… ride East on 80 to Winnemucca, then 95 North into Oregon and East over to Jordan Valley, Oregon which is about a mile from Idaho. Now from Winnemucca to Jordan Valley it’s about 178 miles but the “unknown” was if the gas station was still there and open at night as it has been 20 some years since I last rode through there. I decided to carry some extra fuel with me and used four MSR 33oz fuel bottles. An extra gallon would get me up to Homewood / Nampa, Idaho if the station in Jordan Valley was closed, but would add about two hours and 80+ miles. Speed limit in Oregon is “55” and man is it super hard to do when there’s miles upon miles of straight road in front of you and just an occasional big rig and even fewer cars.
The Official Route:
[gmap]<iframe width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Livermore,+CA&daddr=Yturri+Boulevard,+Jordan+Valley,+ID&hl=en&geocode=FdL6PgIdt_e9-ClxIFo4huWPgDFx2GvLMSLTmA%3BFUyCjwIdHnMG-SnlpU0akPSxVDHd_RqxorGsjA&mra=ls&sll=42.962201,-117.027912&sspn=0.01118,0.02341&ie=UTF8&ll=40.329796,-119.399414&spn=8.038365,14.0625&z=6&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=Livermore,+CA&daddr=Yturri+Boulevard,+Jordan+Valley,+ID&hl=en&geocode=FdL6PgIdt_e9-ClxIFo4huWPgDFx2GvLMSLTmA%3BFUyCjwIdHnMG-SnlpU0akPSxVDHd_RqxorGsjA&mra=ls&sll=42.962201,-117.027912&sspn=0.01118,0.02341&ie=UTF8&ll=40.329796,-119.399414&spn=8.038365,14.0625&z=6" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>[/gmap]
I decided to start my journey from Tri-Valley Motors in Livermore (since I was riding the K1300 GT) and leave at 10AM so by the time I got to Sacramento the commute traffic would be over and I wouldn’t be riding into the early morning Sun. Kevin and Bill greeted me and I showed them my route map, etc. and at 10AM I was on the road!!!
First gas stop was at Colfax at 140 miles and 12:06 PM. Stop time was about 10 minutes as I had to wait for the attendant to print a receipt for me. Temperature was about 85 deg. But knew it would cool off riding up into the Sierra’s. No traffic to speak of, just the semi’s over in the right lane with blinkers flashing, making the crawl up the grade. Ah, the open road and the views and sweet smells of the mountains. Still great even though I was slabbing it on “80” (Remember that 24 hour time limit so I had to put down some miles.)
The Obligatory Start Picture at Tri-Valley Moto.
![ROFL :rofl :rofl](/forums/data/assets/smilies/24.gif)
![BARF Salute :twofinger :twofinger](/forums/data/assets/smilies/twofinger-2024.png)
PART I
Ok, for some time I've wanted to do this... Criteria was to ride to four states and return home within 24 hours and mileage being at or over 1000. So early June I started pursuing my DeLorme maps and a couple routes stood out, but being centrally located in the middle of Kalifornia meant that I'd have to ride a bunch of miles just to get "out-of-state". My original ride date was going to be the last weekend June as it was also a Full Moon and just past the summer equinox. So what does that all mean? Well more day-light, more light at night from the Full moon, and typically at little cooler temperatures than later in summer. Because of family obligations I wasn’t able to go in June so I decided to do the ride on July 14th and 15th with the 15th being my birthday.
![Ride :ride :ride](/forums/data/assets/smilies/ride.gif)
Now back to the routes... Selection one: Head East into Nevada to Winnemucca, then North into Oregon and over to Idaho and return. Second option: Ride South to Bakersfield, East to Las Vegas, dip down into Arizona and Northeast up to St. George, Utah.
Now the kicker is the 24 hour self imposed time limit. Looking at seasonal weather conditions also factored in. The Southern route would be in the 100's + while option one is about 10 degrees cooler, mid to high 90's.
Option one it was… ride East on 80 to Winnemucca, then 95 North into Oregon and East over to Jordan Valley, Oregon which is about a mile from Idaho. Now from Winnemucca to Jordan Valley it’s about 178 miles but the “unknown” was if the gas station was still there and open at night as it has been 20 some years since I last rode through there. I decided to carry some extra fuel with me and used four MSR 33oz fuel bottles. An extra gallon would get me up to Homewood / Nampa, Idaho if the station in Jordan Valley was closed, but would add about two hours and 80+ miles. Speed limit in Oregon is “55” and man is it super hard to do when there’s miles upon miles of straight road in front of you and just an occasional big rig and even fewer cars.
The Official Route:
[gmap]<iframe width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Livermore,+CA&daddr=Yturri+Boulevard,+Jordan+Valley,+ID&hl=en&geocode=FdL6PgIdt_e9-ClxIFo4huWPgDFx2GvLMSLTmA%3BFUyCjwIdHnMG-SnlpU0akPSxVDHd_RqxorGsjA&mra=ls&sll=42.962201,-117.027912&sspn=0.01118,0.02341&ie=UTF8&ll=40.329796,-119.399414&spn=8.038365,14.0625&z=6&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=Livermore,+CA&daddr=Yturri+Boulevard,+Jordan+Valley,+ID&hl=en&geocode=FdL6PgIdt_e9-ClxIFo4huWPgDFx2GvLMSLTmA%3BFUyCjwIdHnMG-SnlpU0akPSxVDHd_RqxorGsjA&mra=ls&sll=42.962201,-117.027912&sspn=0.01118,0.02341&ie=UTF8&ll=40.329796,-119.399414&spn=8.038365,14.0625&z=6" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>[/gmap]
I decided to start my journey from Tri-Valley Motors in Livermore (since I was riding the K1300 GT) and leave at 10AM so by the time I got to Sacramento the commute traffic would be over and I wouldn’t be riding into the early morning Sun. Kevin and Bill greeted me and I showed them my route map, etc. and at 10AM I was on the road!!!
First gas stop was at Colfax at 140 miles and 12:06 PM. Stop time was about 10 minutes as I had to wait for the attendant to print a receipt for me. Temperature was about 85 deg. But knew it would cool off riding up into the Sierra’s. No traffic to speak of, just the semi’s over in the right lane with blinkers flashing, making the crawl up the grade. Ah, the open road and the views and sweet smells of the mountains. Still great even though I was slabbing it on “80” (Remember that 24 hour time limit so I had to put down some miles.)
The Obligatory Start Picture at Tri-Valley Moto.
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