Ferry Ride to Oregon
June 29 - July 7, 2013
After buying the 2010, I decided to sell my '05 ST1300 to my son Justin, who lives near Portland (Beaverton). That meant that Justin would have to fly down here to SoCal and ride it back up. And dang if I was going to let him have all the fun by himself! Pre-Trip Preparations In May, Chris and I did our Spring Fling with the SabMag group in Pine Grove CA (Old Gold Country). And after several hours of poking around in the foot hills, I noticed the ’04 smelled like oil. So to make a long story short, I decided to swap the parts from the ’04 to the 2010 and make it ready for the trip north. I took the entire Memorial Day Weekend to swap 90% of the parts over, and then took a few more days to finish it up. After swapping parts, I also put new tires on the 2010 and the ’05. Thank you Byron! After Justin came down, a few days before we took off, we changed out the oil/filters and the rear end gear oil. We were ready! Day One, Saturday, June 29th. Justin and I got up early (well, early enough) and left the house around 7am. Because the weather was supposed to be HOT, we rode over to north I15 and took off. We made a quick stop for breakfast and back on the road to 91 West. Traffic was a little heavier than I would have liked, but not as bad as it usually gets on the 91. We continued on the 91 to I110 North then I105 West to I405 North to I10 West, to Hwy 1 along the coast. The temp was starting to climb, we saw 80F just before we got to the coast. The coast was still overcast with the temperature only at 64F. All the way up Hwy1 through Malibu the overcast stayed with us and just before Oxnard, we cleared it and the temps started rising. We found our way to the 101 and headed north/west. When we got into Goleta (West of Santa Barbara by about 10 miles) we stopped for gas and took a break. And Justin ran into the Kmart to find a better pillow, since his little cheapy air pillow had developed a leak and wouldn’t hold air and his tail section was already starting to complain! Due to the heat, we stayed on 101 and didn’t hit the heat until we left the coast at Gaviota. As we climbed on the 101, so did the heat. Going through Buellton and Santa Maria, it was already above 95F. I think I saw 99F and Justin said he saw 100F. Hwy 101 dips by the coast near Pismo Beach (nice 85F), then goes inland again to San Luis Obispo. It was at least 95F there too. In San Luis Obispo, we found Hwy 1 again and headed for cooler temps! As we approached Morro Bay, we decided it was time to get something to eat, so we stopped for a hamburger in town. We took a little ride downtown then headed for the power station and then Morro Rock. Took pictures and then headed for our room for the night in Cambria. Our room was at the Cambria Palms. A very oldish motel (from the 50’s I’m sure) but it was renovated and pretty nice. It was also one of the more expensive ones we had for the whole trip. Once checked in, we took a little break. About an hour or so later, we rode around to check out the area, down by the beach, stopped, took pictures then headed back. Once back, we went to find some dinner. After checking prices at some of the restaurants, we choose to go to a little deli in a store. They had good sandwiches! We rode about 335 miles to get there and then another 30 or so to check out the area for the day So about 365 total miles. Day Two, Sunday, June 30th Justin and I got up early and we had bought pop-tarts when buying our sandwiches the night before, and I had a Pepsi, so we had a quick breakfast while loading our gear. This was so we could make a fast break to try to beat the traffic again. After topping off the bikes a short ways from our motel room, we were on our way and not much traffic to deal with. A bit up the road, we saw a Lighthouse that I wanted to get a picture of. When we stopped, we could hear what sounded like some pigs off in the bushes. But I wasn’t sure and as we were getting ready to take off, Justin said he would like to find a bathroom someplace soon. Not more than a couple of miles up the road I spotted a couple of portable out-houses next to a closed down motel. I turned into the parking lot and rode up to them. Again we heard what sounded like pigs in bushes, only this time the noise was coming from just a short distance to the west of us, by the beach. We walked over to the edge of the cliff and about 30 feet down, we could see several Elephant Seals in the water and on shore. They were making all the noise. We took a number of pictures of them and then got back on the bikes and continued north. We stopped here and there and took a few pictures, but we needed to get up to travis AFB, so we couldn't stop as much as I would have liked. There were a couple of times we were stuck behind slow moving cages and we made short work of them, the first chance we had. Once, after getting stopped for one-lane closed construction, we came around a bend to see a big concrete structure that CalTrans was building to handle the rock slides that area was having. (Riding the other direction, south, on my way home, I got a few pictures of it.) Just before hitting the Big Sur area, we started feeling the wind, and it was pretty strong! That continued through Monterey and almost to San Jose. Temps stayed low and we were glad, because once we hit San Jose, it started getting warmer. We had taken 156 to 101 and went north to I680. We followed that up, hit the toll bridge at Martinez Straights and then found I80. I tried to find a Chevron station once we were off the freeway, but gave up and stopped at a 76. I called Dereck, so he knew to meet us at the front gate of Travis AFB. We arrived about 20 minutes later. We got registered and then rode to the base Inn, which is really nice, especially at the price of $53 per night! We had ridden about 255 miles for the day. And although our riding for the day was over, but the excitement of the day wasn’t! Dereck, Justin and I took off in Dereck’s truck (to avoid the heat) to my mom’s in Elk Grove. As we were heading back to Dereck’s with Dave on his bike, following us, we were west bound on US50/I80 Business and had just cleared the Sacramento River when we hear Dave yelling on the 2-way radio that his rear tire was losing air fast! He had to pull off and before we knew it, we had lost sight of him. We had to go another 1.5 miles before we could even turn around, then another couple miles before we could turn around again. When we did find him, he was sitting in the middle divider of an off-ramp that was splitting two different directions. He had just gotten off the bike was was in the process of calling us to let us know where he was. We pulled up behind him to find that he was fine, other than his rear tire was flat! I had left my tire plugs on my bike back at the base, but they wouldn’t have helped anyway, since whatever went through the tire, did a number on it. We tried to put some air in with Dave’s air pump, but all I got out of it was a couple of good burn marks on my arm. At that point we gave up trying to fix it and Dave called his insurance company for a tow. While he was calling, I called 911/CHP to get a Cruiser out there for protection. After Dave was on the phone for what seemed forever, I heard something about $50. At first I thought Dave would have to pay a $50 deductible for the tow. Then I heard it correctly, he would be responsible for anything over $50 for the tow! What? Are they serious? We needed the bike towed to Travis AFB, at least 40 miles away! $$$$$ was all I could think of. I told Dave to cancel that and I would use my AAA. Not long after calling AAA and getting the tow arranged, a CHP officer showed up. Really nice guy and was just as concerned where we were stuck as we were. Since he was hit not too long ago about 500 yards up the road! He did what he could to get our tow expedited. But it still took the tow truck a bit to get there. We loaded the bike on the flatbed, Dave with the tow truck driver and the two boys and I in Dereck’s truck and headed for Travis. Thank goodness, the Lord was watching over us. Dave when he got the flat, that he was able to find someplace to pull over without dumping the bike, and then for AAA and not having to shell out big bucks for a tow! He further blessed us as we were approaching the base, I remembered that Khris (Tankereng from the ST-Owners forum) lived close to where we were at the moment, so I went to text him and somehow hit the phone call button. After apologizing to Khris for the late night phone call and that I had meant to text him, he said, no problem he was just heading to the bed and had his phone in his hand. I explained our situation and asked if he knew where we could find a rear tire for a ST1300? He said sure, there was one in his garage. I told him I wasn’t talking about the one on his bike, and he said that he had a tire with about 80% of the tread left that someone had left there when they had him replace it. I made arrangements to meet him with Dave’s rim around 8am the next morning. Right after that, Dereck told me to have the towtruck drop Dave’s bike off at his place and we could work in his garage to fix the tire. (Which turned out to be a lifesaver. since we didn’t have to work out in a parking lot in the heat of the Sun! Thanks Dereck!) After dropping off the bike, the three of us headed to the Base Inn, in Dereck’s truck. Day Three, Monday, July 1st The three of us were up and going by 6:45am and ready to go to Dereck’s. With Justin’s help, I had the tire & rim off the bike and ready to take over to Khris’s at 7am. As I was placing the rim, with the disk brake on some cardboard, I looked down and saw that Dave’s Flange bearings were shot! Half of them were missing! My heart just sank! I was ready to cry! Instead, I text Khris and asked if he had a set of flange bearings. His response was, "I do indeed…"! Although we weren’t able to change out the bearing at Khris’s house, we got the tire changed out and any attempt to move the bearings wasn’t good, so we figured we would see if we could find a machine shop. We at one point, I thought we lucked out, there was one just off base. When I asked the guy if he would press out the old and press the new in, he told us he wasn’t interested in helping us! What? What a jerk! A five minute job and he could have made some easy money! So we went back on base, asked the Firestone shop and they didn’t even have a press! So we proceeded to find the base auto shop. They weren’t opened yet, so we decided to go back to the Base Inn and get changed for the day and checked out. We then went to the base hobby shop, to see if they had a press. Sure enough and five minutes later we were in business with new bearings…but then I thought about the Moly60 grease we needed for the rear flange! So, another call to Khris and he was just on his way to lunch and if we could stop by his house, he would put some in a baggy for us. Khris saved us again! Thank you buddy! We drove back to Dereck’s and by 12:30pm, we had Dave’s bike back together and his, along with Justin’s and my bike, were loaded up and ready to go. But we decided to wait a half hour in the house so we could cool down before taking off in the 100+ heat. At 1pm we were on the road, I80, heading west to 101 north, via CA37. Once we were north of Santa Rosa area, the traffic lightened up a lot and we were able to move pretty good on 101 north. But the temps were rising and we knew we would have to stop soon. Besides, Dave didn’t start off on a full tank of gas to begin with! We found a service station in Cloverdale and stopped to take a break after filling up. Dave and I dawned our cooling vests and Justin watered down his shirt. After about 45 minutes, we were off again. Due to the heat and the fact we were 6 hours behind schedule, we didn’t stop for any pictures (We wanted to go through the Valley of the Giants, but no time!) and just kept riding until we got to Fortuna to fill up again and get a small snack. Another hour long break and we were on the road again. Between Eureka and Crescent City, we were hitting fog and it was getting a bit cold and dark. So we stopped at one point and changed out our visors to clear and put on some warmer clothing. My shirt was still damp from the cooling vest. Since our destination was still a good 55 miles north of Crescent City, we just pushed on and didn’t take any more breaks. About 10 to 15 miles before Gold Beach, we encountered our only dear alert! There was a huge deer on the side of the road, just watching us as we rode by, but it made me slow down a bit! We finally made it to Gold Beach, very tired of course, the Motel 6 was on the north side of the town. But we made it and the night person was glad to see us, since we were the last to check in. Although a couple of guys, without reservations got there just before us. I think they got the last room available, besides our rooms. With a 6 hour delay with the heat and such traveling 425 miles from Travis to Gold Beach, we made it in 10 ½ hours. Day Four, Tuesday, July 2nd Dave asked me the night before, what time should we take off? I said 8am, but when 8 came and went, we weren’t even close to getting out of there. Finally around 9am, we were ready. By then the fog had started to clear and we could see the bridge that ran over the river from our front door. I checked us out and off we went. There were a lot of small towns to go through, so speeds were not very good. But the ride was good and the temps were okay. We stopped at one point to gas up, and then continued on our way. When we got to Brandon, we were hungry and decided it was time to eat. I spotted a restaurant and pulled into the parking lot. I saw another rider, also just parking and when I looked closer, I recognized Don Feyma! The first time I met Don was a chance meeting at Four Corners, when Byron and I were on our way to WeSTOC in Taos NM. It was funny to run into him like that again, in the middle of nowhere. We had a great breakfast talking to Don about his and our adventures. Then, after breakfast, Don continued south and we continued on our northern route. Like I said, "lots of small towns and slow speeds", and no time to gawk at the sites. We just kept the pace up the best we could, stopping every now and then to stretch our legs and rest. But it was back on the bikes and continue on our way! Earlier that morning, Justin's wife called him and suggested that she meets us in Tillamook, so Dave and I wouldn't have to ride all the way into Portland. At first I wasn’t too keen on the idea, but then I thought, we have a lot of miles to do today, 40 less would be good! The whole reason for heading to Tillamook, besides avoiding the high temps of I5, was to see a plane they have on display at their Airport Museum, there called the "Mini Guppy". The reason that plane had any meaning to Dave and I, was because as kids, we watched them build that very plane at the Santa Barbara Airport in Goleta, CA. They built a second one too called the "Mini Guppy Turbo", which I toured with my drafting class in early 1970. That May, the second one crashed out at Edwards, killing all on board. But it was neat to get to see it and since we made it one hour before they closed, we were able to get in and look inside the Mini Guppy and take lots of pictures of it and the other planes there. After we left the museum, we headed for town to gas up, say our good byes to Justin and Barb and Kenssy (Barb’s daughter). Dave and I then rode Hwy 22 to Salem, took an extended "dinner" break and then took I5 south. At this point we were both getting tired, but we had to get to the Super 8 in Roseburg, where we were spending the night. We were really tired and worn out by the time we got to our hotel! For the day, in about 13 ½ hours, we rode about 453 miles (minus stops of course), many of them really slow speeds through the small towns. So it turned out to be a really long day! Day Five, Wednesday, July 3rd After the long riding day and late arrival of the day before, we weren’t in a super hurry to get moving. But we needed to anyway! We knew we had a long HOT day ahead of us! First stop would be the "Free" Breakfast (Nothing is free, it’s just part of the room fee), but with their breakfast, they should have paid us to eat there… :( We loaded up the bikes and left, first stop was just down a mile for gas. Good thing we didn’t need too much, it was the 2nd most expensive gas I had paid and then back on I5 heading south. As we approached CA, we hit some major construction and lots of traffic going only 30 to 40 mph. And although it slowed us down a bit, it wasn’t too bad. Once we were back in California, the temps continued to climb. We never saw anything below 95F after that and it started getting really warm! By Yreka, it was time to pull the cooling vests out again. So we stopped at a gas station and threw ice and water into the cooling vest bags and let them soak for a bit…a long bit… Seems once Dave gets off his bike, he is in no hurry to get back on. Me, on the other hand, usually only take short breaks because I know the longer I take there, it just adds to the days riding time! We finally got the very wet and cold vests on and off we went. By that time the temps were up to over 100F and they would only climb from there! Less than an hour, our vests were dry. We found one country gas station, but decided they wouldn’t do. South, we continued until we spotted another station right off the freeway. When we pulled into it, I kept looking for shade and I found some in the back. Only one-way in and one-way out, no place to turn around, but it was shade! Again we stayed there for a long time, I guess until Dave regained his strength. Soaking the vests in ice water made them real cold when we put them on, but with the temp at 105 or more, it feels pretty good! Off we went again! Shortly after that, we were in the Redding area, where we were hearing by the weather guessers, the heat would really be intense! The weather guessers were correct, Dave saw 117F and I saw 116F. We had probably traveled 40 to 50 miles when we saw a very large dust devil going across the road in front of us. As we passed the area where it went over the road, I could literally feel any moisture in my vest evaporate just that fast. It was a weird feeling! With the vests dry again, we pulled over into a service station to top off and soak the vests again. After what seemed like a couple of hours, sitting in the 115F heat, we dawned our vests again and took off. We were getting closer, and the farther we rode, the temps went down. We decided to make our last stop at the original spot that we were going to meet Monday morning, that was until I convinced Dave and Justin to go up the coast. That was a station just north of where I505 splits off of I5. So we made our last stop. Kind of sad, knowing that the adventure that started with Justin and me just five days before in Murrieta was about over, except for my trip home…by myself! We had a great time! This was the first time Justin and I ever have spent time like that and it was worth it! We got along better than I ever thought possible! Then the three of us working on Dave’s bike (With Khris’s help!) to get him set up so he could ride with us. I guess it was like the Three Amigos! We took off and soon parted, Dave heading to Stockton, via I5 and me on my way to Travis AFB on I505. It didn’t take me too long and I was on I80 and then surface streets to the base after gassing up one last time. When I got to the Hotel on base, I text my wife that I was there and she said, "Where"? Me: "Outside the Hotel!" Her: "No you were supposed to come to Dereck’s." Me: "I told you I needed a shower as soon as I got there!" Her: "We were waiting for dinner on you getting here!" Me: "I need a shower! Please meet me inside the Hotel Lobby!" Her: "it will be a few minutes" After a short wait, I went up to the front desk and asked if I could have a key to my room. After a few questions, I had the key in hand! Took a short shower, then rode the bike to Dereck’s and parked it in the garage. And didn’t touch it until Friday the 5th to wash it. Dave’s mileage was a little different than mine that day, (it was farther to Stockton than was Travis AFB) I did about 415 miles to Dave’s 450 miles.
Day Eight; Saturday, July 6th - The Start of the Ride Home On Saturday, my wife was flying home (since I couldn’t convince her to ride home with me) and had to leave by 8am. That was perfect for me, since I needed to get Dereck, Dave’s Safety vest, which I had worn on base, so Dereck could give it back to Dave. So we both stopped at the vistor’s center and I took the vest and gave it to Dereck, then gave the wife a kiss and off they went to the airport and off I went to I80 West. My plans (which I stuck to) was to go and catch I80, then I680 to 101 and then catch Hwy 1. I wanted to go slow down Hwy1 so I could take some pictures. Which was a good thing, because there was a lot of traffic and most of it was sightseeing, and they were not paying attention to the speed limits. Most were going from 10 to 30 miles an hour slower than the speed limit! I did pass a few, but I was stopping enough that most probably passed me. I was having a great time stopping getting pictures of the coast. I had put my camera around my neck, so I could have it at the ready at a moment’s notice. I then found I could turn it on with my gloves! So I was taking shots while watching the road. The only thing that bugged me was that the Sun was nowhere to be seen. But I still took pictures! As I was approaching Morro Bay, I stopped and took pictures and then thought I would stop there for something to eat and look around. Within 10 miles of my last stop, I could tell I was starting to get tired! So I decided to continue on to Santa Maria. I drove through San Luis Obispo, found Hwy 101 and headed south. Fatigue was starting to take over and as I was approaching the first off-ramp in Santa Maria, I decided I better find a gas station so I could take a break. I found one about ¾ of a mile from the off-ramp, filled up and then searched for my hotel. It was back up the way I came, just about a ¼ mile from the freeway! So I made a beeline to it so I could rest up. I let Chris know where I was, than just relaxed for about an hour, before going and getting dinner. I did about 320 miles for the day. Day Nine; Sunday, July 7th - The Finish of the Ride Home As soon as I could, I loaded the bike and checked out of the Hotel. That was around 7:30am. I jumped back on 101 and headed south. As I approached Buellton, I looked at different fast food places on my Garmin and found a Carl’s on my route I was about to take. Stopped long enough to eat and mount my new to me Contour camera. Off down to CA154 that would take me to Santa Barbara. This way was not the way Justin and I came a few days before, because of the heat. This day was much cooler and there was still overcast. (BTW, the camera didn’t work… I need to find out why the waterproof case doesn’t turn it on…first time trying to use it like that) I wanted to stop in Ventura to see a school mate that I hadn’t seen in 43 years. She lives and works in the Ventura Marina and knows the owners of a Boat Touring company that takes people out to the Channel Islands. I wanted to get the information for my father-in-law, so I figured it would be a quick visit. We talked for a good couple hours, which surprised me, since we were never real close friends, but knew a lot of the same people. So we were able to talk about some of them as well! She showed me her sailboat she lives on and then walked down to get the information. Quite the life, I must say. But I get sea sick real easy and not much of a boat person! It was fun seeing/talking to her and we said our good byes and I took off to home after filling up one more time. I had about 150 miles to go and decided it was time to get home, since I had been gone for over a week. From 101 I took CA126 to I5 then to I210 to CA57, then CA71 to CA91 to I15 and home. It took me right at 2 ½ hours to make that run. And that was with some traffic here and there. It was good to be home, but what a great ride! That day I did about 265 miles. Grand total, depending if you go by Google Maps VS my odometer, I did about 2,468 (Google) and 2,554 (Odometer) miles for the trip. The daily mileage I posted in this report was using Google Maps (Since I didn’t keep track of my daily mileage – maybe next time I will). I’ll go by my Odometer for overall mileage, since there were a couple of side trips we took that didn’t show on the daily mileage I posted. I had the same issue when I rode out to Taos with Byron five years ago. Oh well! So there you have it! Another great adventure for me on my bike! I just love these ST1300s and glad I was convinced by Dave to buy the '05 back then. And now with the 2010, after I get the bugs worked out, I should be able to ride a lot more without having to worry about a bunch of maintenance! If I feel I need to work on one, I have the ’04!