There and back...The best vacation of my life

[BIGmackie]

Three years spent patiently waiting and preparing for a journey to an unknown destination. He waits… He prepares…

This story is entirely true…Except for the parts that aren’t.

Spending too much time away from home, making too much money He returns with a growing need. He needs a motorcycle… Cheap, not running, water in the engine sounds perfect!
Before:


After:


The project is complete, three years and every issue possible it’s a problematic bike that may not make it down the street. ’83 Honda GL1100A, a bike made for a long journey. And a long journey it will have.

The opportunity presented itself to take a needed vacation from work, as there are some staffing shifts going on and it will be about a year before I am able to take a vacation again. I need this. I’ve spent a great amount of time spit polishing this turd to make it ready for the road; she’s been off the road for six years. The Goldwing needs this. My wife is in Arizona for work and we just found out that she’s pregnant after trying for two years. She needs this, although she doesn’t know it.

The jumping off point is Oak Harbor, Washington. Washington is a beautiful state, lots of trees and mountain roads. I’ve been putting miles on the Wing around here for a few weeks before this trip and absolutely love the scenery. I packed on more than 500 miles venturing out from the island making sure that the bike was ready; it had a few small problems that I rectified. I’m confident that I will either make it the whole way, or will end up stranded on the side of the road in a town with more chickens than people. My contingency plan includes shooting the bike and hitch hiking…
Here are a few shots of the prep rides.
Fort Casey:

Swan lake/ Pacific Ocean:

Glacier, WA:


The plan is to head south out of Washington into Oregon and take the 101 the whole way along the coast, cutting east in San Louis Obispo through Bakersfield, over to I-40 then south to Tucson where my wife (henceforth known as Crazyhormones) was living/ working. I figured I could make it in a little more than three days on the road, so if I left Friday the 29th of April after work that would get me to Tucson on the 2nd of May. I got out of work at 2:30pm, was already packed, just wanted to give the bike one last going over before hitting the road.

Disaster Strikes!

Looking over my steed I notice something peculiar sitting on top of the engine, under the carb rack. A small spring sitting, minding its own business as if nothing could be wrong. Further probing into the matter reveals a pilot screw has fallen out of the front, left carb. This is a good time to start cursing…
A simple inspection reveals not one, but THREE of the pilot screws were loose! When I had the carbs apart last it seemed like the retainer springs were compressed, but I didn’t think that it would cause the pilot screws to fall out!
Two choices: Fix it and go, or throw in the towel.

Easy day, I pulled the carb rack (Out in just under an hour. Those who have done this know how difficult it is) set the pilot screw to stock in specs, carbs back in, then a quick carb sync. It was 5:30pm, I hit the road. At this point, the plan was to cruise to Portland, Oregon and if all was well I’d continue with the journey. If she went tits up before Portland, I’d just shoot it and call someone to get me; then have me a beer.

Note: Hindsight being what it is, I really wish I would have taken some pictures when I tore it apart. As it is, just take my word for it. I was pretty frustrated at this point and I just wanted to get on the road.

Coming soon: Chapter 2, the road

 

[Omega Man]

opcorn:

~O~

 

[joedrum]

:builder: :mrgreen: opcorn:

 

[mcgovern61]

opcorn: :Egyptian: :wave: :roll: :music: :clapping: :good: :music3: k: :good: :yahoo: :hihihi: :ahem: :whistling: :roll: :Egyptian: :wave: opcorn: :cool!:

We are all waiting on the next chapter!

 

[dan filipi]

Congrats on the pregnancy!

Good reading
Waiting on the next chapter.

 

[BIGmackie]

Muscling my steed southbound across the tarmac, chaotically racing the setting sun with a simple goal in mind: Embrace my wife and introduce myself to my growing child. The road unfolds before me, a four lane ribbon of blacktop espousing the Wing, allowing it to cross the boundary from mere “trip” into “adventure”!

I made my life simple after losing time with the carb issue and took the Clinton/ Mukilteo Ferry south on my way to Portland. It was 38 miles south on Whidbey Island to the ferry, and no problems with the bike. She had good power, even acceleration, no backfires. I wish I could have done the idle drop before heading out, to get the carbs REALLY tuned, but I am young and dumb, so getting on the road seemed like a better idea.

In the wait line for the Ferry I met Don. Don is a volunteer umpire for youth baseball and he rides a ’91 Honda CB750. I didn’t take any pictures of Don, but he was a nice man who instigated a conversation based off the fact that we were both riding motorcycles. At the time I thought it was a bit odd. After my 5th or 6th encounter just like this I didn’t think it was odd. I didn’t get any pictures of the Ferry or of Don because we were having such a good conversation and because I ran into some people I know from work who were also taking the Ferry. Don and my co-workers think that I am crazy for heading southbound on a Goldwing. Don and my co-workers are also jealous.

The ride from Seattle to Portland was quite uneventful, all highway riding, and it was starting to get dark. The biggest landmark was after I had gone 200 miles because that’s the furthest I had gone in one stretch.

After Portland is where things get a bit interesting. Out of Portland, OR I had every intention of going to the coast via HWY 18 west. To get to HWY 18 west from the I-5 you take HWY 99 west for about 26 miles. I took HWY 99 west for about 150 mile. By my calculations that means I shouldn’t be a mathematician.
In all fairness this is my navigation system:

The map is pocket sized and doesn’t really show detail. I like to keep things loose in my travels…

So I rode and rode and rode and rode and rode for a little bit and finally had enough of not making it to the coast and decided it was time for some shut eye.
I hadn’t planned of specific destinations for sleep when I first planned this trip out, I had just figured that when something good presented itself and I was tired I would sleep there. It turns out, states parks and good sleeping areas are few and far between on HWY 99 west in Oregon. It was about 2 in the morning when I finally pulled off the side of the road just outside of Corvallis and rode about ½ mile to a vineyard. As I was pulling my sleeping essentials out, a truck approached quite menacingly and stopped with its headlights aimed right at me. I froze, not knowing the demographic of the area I was in and if I was about to be shot for trespassing. I waited, the apprehension building inside me thinking I had just made the last error of my life…
Then a gravelly voice beckoned from beyond the lights, “Everything alright? Just wanted to make sure you didn’t go off the road.” I told him I was fine and asked if this was his vineyard and if he would mind if I stayed there for the night. As it turns out, it wasn’t his land, he was the person in charge of it and he didn’t mind one bit if a weary traveler rested their eyes in their vineyard.

Here’s a picture of my first resting spot, sorry for the poor quality:


A brief nights respite and it was time to ride again, remember that I was making up for lost time from yesterday.

…and I was a little lost.

I continued on HWY 99 west to Eugene, Oregon where I made a brief pit stop at a big box store for some needed supplies. While stopped in a big city I reviewed my map and was pretty pissed to find out that I had basically paralleled the I-5 for 150 miles when I thought that I was going west toward the coast. It was decision time, how do I get to the coast?

The most logical choice for me was to take HWY 126 west to Florence.

If any of you are in the area, I highly recommend taking HWY 126 west to Florence. It was a stunning stretch of road with gentle twists passing through the Oregon dunes, which I didn’t even know existed, and following the Siuslaw River to the coast.

A stopping point on HWY 126 along the Siuslaw River:


Florence, Oregon acquainted me with the 101, which I had been searching for the previous night. I also saw the Umpqua River Lighthouse, David Dewett Memorial Highway, the Cocquille River lighthouse, and Battle Rock where I got my first truly great look at the Pacific Ocean and its scenery along the 101.
Here’s the highlights:
Umpqua River Lighthouse:


David Dewett Memorial:


A little “Me” time along the 101:


Cocquille River Lighthouse, where I learned that if I kept stopping at every lighthouse along the road I wouldn’t get anywhere:


That’s battle rock right behind me, the pacific is behind that:


My final shot for Oregon, this guy tried hitchin’ a ride, but I told him that the wing may be big, but it’s not THAT big:


Next chapter, Kalifournya

 

[toytender01]

I just love these serial stories. :Egyptian: I made that ride down the oregon coast from northern boarder to to Ukiah Calif. Stopped at every thing along the way... took 3 days. Great Ride. I spend lots of time at the mouth of the Klamouth River fishing, around August. Anyway waiting for the next episode ( thhis is better than the mivies when I was a kid :music: :salute: :good: :heat:

 

[mcgovern61]

opcorn: WOW, great story......romance, adventure, suspense (I was concerned when you missed your turn), drama (I covered my daughters eyes when the truck came tearing across the field at high speed bearing down on you) will the weary traveler get locked up or go missing! :shock:

The little detour turned out to be a great adventure! Gotta love when that happens! HEY, congrats on the baby!!!!

If I told the story of my trip from NJ to Florida, it would go something like this......I left and hopped on I-95.....and we rode in a STRAIGHT.....FLAT...LINE......for 1100 miles.....THE END! :smilie_happy:

 

[dan filipi]

Great story!

I drove a pickup towing a car to So Cal along that route.
Beautiful country.

opcorn:

 

[joedrum]

macie i just got to say that your mixture honda stuff and after maket stuff you used on your bike is just stunning in my opinion ..you bike is on fine looking dresser all these pics of the trip make your bike as pretty as the sceanery in the pics ....and story s great .... opcorn:

 

[BIGmackie]

Campaigning forward, becoming one with my mechanical steed. The road before me changing with each turn, with the scenery morphing into a land of giants. I am in awe…

I’m a big fan of forests, the denser the better, so when I entered the redwood forest in northern California I was blow away.
I took a trip when I was five or maybe six years old to the Sequoia’s in California, but I was a little kid then, so all trees were really big to me. Coming through the Redwoods and seeing what big trees really look like was awe inspiring. These massive trees cannot be described by me; I just don’t have the words…



This is a pretty famous statue in Klamath, I didn’t stay here very long and didn’t get more than just this picture, which I am really sad about. Nevertheless I know that I was there and I mostly remember what I saw. (Note: I wanted to take a picture of the rear side of the Blue to capture the giant testicles because I think it’s really funny that they were added, but there were WAY too many people there to sneak onto the sculpture and get a pic.):



As the 101 unfolds, each turn reveals something truly breathtaking. It’s a great road and a trip that I will recommend to anyone who is ever afforded the opportunity. Here I decided to stop in Trinidad because my posterior was becoming quite sore, plus my right side mirror had given up the ghost the day before. The side mirror is the first mechanical problem I had. I was pretty proud of this old beast making it this whole way without dying under me!

Trinidad was pretty interesting stop, there’s a “Lost at sea” memorial that was placed there for apparently no good reason. I couldn’t find any info as to why Trinidad was the spot, it doesn’t seem like a place more people would get lost from than usual Anyway, the view was breathtaking and it was a good spot to stop for lunch.



Well, it can’t all be break time. I continued on and reached this famous landmark by about 6pm:


I loved riding through this section of the 101 because of all the tourist stops that accompany it. I wish I would have had a few more hours to stop at all of them; the Trees of Mystery, Log Cabin from one tree, roadside shops. I would have stopped at them all!

As it was, I was already running later than I wanted to. Leggett, California is where HWY 101 ends and HWY 1 begins (when headed southbound). The first section of HWY 1 is 22 miles of TIGHT twisting and winding road through the redwoods along steep drop-offs. It was a gorgeous stretch of road that is a motorcyclists dream!

This is where I came to a harsh realization… I am NOT as good of a motorcyclist as I think I am.

A little back story on me: I’m 28 years old, heading into 29 and have been involved in motorsports since a young age. My father was a mechanic with a keen interest in motorcycles. In fact, I was being given rides on my dad’s Husky and Yamaha at 3 weeks old. I could ride a mini-bike before I could ride a bicycle. I was doing 50 + mile off road tours at 12. I had my first road bike at 19 and was pretty proficient, I could hold my own in the local scene. I’m no expert, but I’m not a newbie either.

HWY 1’s first 22 miles on the Goldwing kicked my butt something FIERCE! The tight twists and steep upgrades and steep downgrades gave me quite a workout on the Wing and made me come to a realization: I need to figure out what the hell I’m doing here!
With that it was just a matter of “nut up or shut up” and get to it. Once I figured out how much the Wing likes to lean and where its capabilities lie, the road became much less imposing. In fact, it took some time, but I was really enjoying this section of road by the time I reached the coast. Unfortunately once I made it to the coastline, it was sunset and I needed to start the search for shelter. No vineyards in sight, but there were plenty of campgrounds. I wanted to get a little further down the road and I don’t like camping directly on the beach (call me crazy, but the wind gets on my nerves) so I found this nice state park nestled in the woods called MacKerricher State park, plus it had a whale skeleton. What’s better than a whale skeleton?

Here’s the sunset on HWY 1 when I finally reached the coast:


Here’s my campsite the next morning:


This was by far the best night’s sleep I got on this journey. I suggest to anyone interested in following in my footsteps to stay in a campground. It’s much better than a vineyard.

Stayed tuned for more of my adventure!

 

[toytender01]

Man I been there every mile of it...Stopped at every CG and Botanical place there :Egyptian: ....Had the wife, mother-in- law and mother :heat: :whip: :whistling: was just returning from Tacoma Wa. after seeing my youngest son's third son. Am hoping to ride up to Seattle on or before june 11 to hook up with two friends comming from Chicago to Sacramento. My youngest son now lives in Desmoines. :good: If I can make the connection will also be following the same route South....I have frienda at the Klamouth river and in Maranda at rhe south end of the Ave. of the Geants :lazy: arty:

 

[mcgovern61]

I'll tell ya.....this thread makes we want to head West Coast and take the trip! (Now that would be an iron butt trip for me!) :music2: :music: :clapping:

 

[dan filipi]

It's no lie there is SO much to see on the 101.

When I drove down that route it was like, "would be cool to check that out", "hey look at that" the entire time.
This thread makes me want to plan a camping trip up there with my son.

 

[aslatk]

Thanks for sharing BIGmackie. It's really a great read. What good pictures too. My wife is going to be gone for around 3 weeks this summer and what an opportunity to make a run like yours. I might just take some time off work and take a "Road Trip". An opportune time to get together with my oldest son who has an 82 Honda Sabre V45. Company would be nice. Being located in Central California gives me some great options for sightseeing. Yosemite National Park is just a couple hours away.
Now back to your adventure.....waiting opcorn:

 

[joedrum]

opcorn:

 

[dan filipi]

What happened with the mirror, did you get it fixed?

Sent from my SGH-i917 using Board Express

 

[BIGmackie]

Dreams igniting the fires of adventure inside me, I long to continue my mission of costal domination. Still, I sleep long, I dream…

Waking refreshed really makes an impact on your day. I was able to choke down a mostly warm cup of instant coffee and some oatmeal, get everything packed up, and get back on the road shortly after sunrise. Having overcome my issues with leaning my motorcycle the previous day; I loved the tight turns and gentle slopes of HWY 1, all while enjoying picturesque views of the Pacific Ocean. The coastal towns dotting the road adding a local flavor that would draw me in and make me want to be a tourist in their town. If I didn’t have a destination that is…
I was hell bent of making it past Los Angeles by sunset, not wanting to look for a place to rest in the land of the crazies, so I stuck to the road with gusto, keeping my sightseeing limited to about 50 meters from the edges of the shoulder.

This is a random stop along the 1 where I needed to rest my throttle hand. Awesome scenery and a road sport bike riders dream of. I was even heading south on a Sunday and the traffic wasn’t terrible.


As I rode, I occasionally consulted my map and made mental notes of things that I wanted to see. First on that list was San Francisco. I’d never been there before and have only heard good things.
Here’s my only picture:


I’ll apologize in advance to anyone who lives in, or enjoys San Francisco, but I was quite unimpressed. I think it had a lot to do with the hour and a half of traffic that I sat in so that I could pay six bucks to cross a bridge into a city that is completely gridlocked and un-navigable by humans. The people that I encountered were also rude and people did not look out for motorcycles. Gas was also pricey. I got out of town as quickly as I could, picking up the 101 south to San Jose.

Next on my Northern California bucket list was Half-moon bay. I started surfing when I lived in San Diego and Mavericks has always been kind of the “holy grail” of California surfing. This was the first time that was in the area, so I thought I’d give it a look. I took the 92 west which was VERY congested, but this time I had the benefit of being able to cut lanes which helped 10 fold. Half Moon bay was nice, but Mavericks wasn’t very big that day and parking was complete crap. Here’s a shot across the bay looking toward the biggest swell on the west coast:


This is where things actually get a bit interesting. If you’re interested in this sort of thing.

As I’ve mentioned, HWY 1 is full of up’s and down’s and twists and turns; this requires a considerable amount of shifting and clutch work. Having ridden 3 days now, I was really getting a feel for the bike and the capabilities thereof.
Somewhere along the 1 before San Francisco I got the feeling that the clutch was slipping at high RPM. I continued to ride, testing this theory and was quite convinced that it was slipping under moderate/ heavy loads (i.e. uphill) and high RPM. I did a bit of research (helped out mostly by the good folks at https://www.classicgoldwings.com) and was made privy to a major error in my maintenance routine. I had, prior to setting out on a trip of this magnitude changed the fluids in my machine, including the engine oil, where I used a full synthetic 10w-40. This is the second oil change I’d done in my machine with a full synth, but up until now it hadn’t really been put under any extreme pressure and the clutch slip problem hadn’t/ wouldn’t have revealed itself. Along with that, the bike and I were not yet intimate enough for me to know if it was slipping. My research revealed, and this may not be new to anyone reading this, that automotive oils contain additives which do not work with wet plate clutched in motorcycles and may cause them to slip. I was F’d!!!!
Being the resourceful person that I am, I thought a great deal about what I needed to do to rectify my current situation and came to a resolution. I stopped at the O’reilly’s in Santa Cruz and got a gallon of shell 15w-40 Rotella T diesel oil (which has been recommended for these bikes as a substitute for motorcycle oil) and a gallon of water. Then I stopped at Burger King for lunch (early dinner actually) and asked the nice 15 year old girl if she minded if I did some work on my bike in the parking lot. She smiled and giggled at me, but didn’t really say if it was OK or not.
To be fair, I tried buttering her up first by flirting with her, and I think she was a little creeped out that a dirty, smelly guy, who hadn’t shaved was asking her weird questions. I did my work anyway.
I drank the water from the gallon jug and used it to catch the oil from my bike, then quickly replaced it with the Rotella T only spilling a few drops along the way. The kids getting stoned in the van near me didn’t even notice I was doing anything weird! Then I took my waste oil to the O’reillys for recycle, because I’m environmentally friendly!
After this little fix, the clutch slip faded away. It didn’t go away all at once (like I hoped…Actually I had hoped for instant performance improvements and a more supple seat) but it did fade away after fifty miles or so,

After Santa Cruz, it was time to get off the 1 and make up some time, so I headed for Salinas via the 101. I’ve been to Salinas before since my wife has some friends there and I wasn’t too excited about it, but I came across a pleasant surprise.
Mazda was having a dealer day at Laguna Seca and the whole track was open to drive around. I got there just after everyone was leaving, and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to be snooping around. The gate lady just waved me thru though, so I figured I’d see what I could see. I ended up all the way in the pit area with all the race cars. There was even a track official there with the gate open to the track. I was almost positive that if I asked him he would have let me do a lap around the race track on the Wing, but I was on a time budget and couldn’t hang out long. I had to settle for some pics of the track.

Here’s the wing in front of turn 3:


So, the rest of the day was just spent riding as I wanted to get south of LA to avoid the psychopaths and I needed to get to Tucson in the early evening of the next day.

My trip from here was mostly uneventful and I rode in the dark for a long time to make up for time spent sightseeing. I did take the infamous HWY 46 to I-5 which is the road James Dean crashed his Porsche on, and then took I-5 through L.A. to the I-10.

The rest of the trip to Tucson was spent on the I-10 and I was pretty anxious to see my wife at this point, plus I’ve driven this road a few times before so I wasn’t interested in seeing anything. This is where it stopped being an adventure and was a race to get to Tucson. I did sleep off to the side of the road again, but didn’t get any pictures…
Here’s a shot of my breakfast:


After breakfast I rode and rode and rode and rode and rode, stopped off at the Colorado River where the California and Arizona borders are and took the first bath of the trip, the water was a steamy 50 degrees that felt like about 20:


I also got the Wing stuck in the sand, but renewed of energy from my dip in the river I was able to extricate myself from this potentially sticky situation fairly quickly.

The AZ sign:


Then I rode and rode and rode and rode and rode and rode passing through Phoenix and into Tucson. For those who are not familiar, this is really a pretty desert, but it’s still a desert. I faced relatively high winds and moderate heat, about 85 degrees. All in all I survived the trip to Tucson.

I was only afforded two days of relaxation in Tucson (which I did, Mexican food in the southwest cannot be beat!), before I needed to make my way North to Prescott Valley, Arizona. Prescott Valley (Also known as P.V.) is nestled in the high desert of Arizona at 5000” elevation. It’s much cooler and surrounded by pine forests. This is where I grew up, so I didn’t do any sight seeing here either, just took I-17 north to HWY 69 into P.V.. If you ever get a chance to come through here, try to enjoy the ride, it really can be breath taking. Here’s a shot taken while riding just outside of Black Canyon City on the I-17:


Prescott Valley having been reached, this is not nearly the end of my journey. This is just the end of another chapter. I assure you that mundane endings to this portion of the trip are but an intermission to the adventure that lay before me. Stay tuned!!

 

[BIGmackie]

What happened with the mirror, did you get it fixed?

Yeah, it was an easy fix. I just needed to tighten the lockscrew on the backside that tensions the spring. It had been giving me fits ever since I left, but hadn't really gotten on my nerves until I was on the 1. Funny thing is, after I fixed that mirror the other one loosened up and I had to perform the same surgery on it a few days later.

 

[aslatk]

opcorn: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping: